Allen Steele, Writer Guest of Honor

AllenSteele.com

Allen Steele is professional science fiction writer, with fifteen novels, five collections of short fiction, and a collection of essays to his name; his work has received numerous awards, including two Hugos. A former journalist, he has worked for newspapers and magazines in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Missouri, and Tennessee. He serves on the Board of Advisors for the Space Frontier Foundation, and has testified before the U.S. House of Representatives. He and wife live in western Massachusetts.

Ron Miller, Artist Guest of Honor

Black Cat Studios

RON MILLER is an illustrator and author living in South Boston, Virginia, specializing in astronomical, astronautical and science fiction subjects. His work has appeared on scores of book jackets, book interiors and in magazines such as National Geographic, Reader's Digest, Scientific American, Science et Vie, Sky & Telescope, Astronomy, etc. In addition to writing dozens of magazine articles and professional papers, he has had some sixty books of his own published.

These include the Hugo-nominated The Grand Tour, Cycles of Fire, In the Stream of Stars and The History of Earth. He also authored the Hugo-winning Art of Chesley Bonestell as well as a series of more than 25 highly regarded books for young adults.

Considered an authority on Jules Verne, Miller translated and illustrated a new, definitive editions of Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and From the Earth to the Moon. The Dream Machines was nominated for the prestigious IAF Manuscript Award and won the Booklist Editor's Choice Award for 1994. Miller has also written a trilogy of fantasy novels—Palaces and Prisons, Silk and Steel and Hearts and Armor—published by Ace in 1991 and 1992, as well as a fourth volume, Mermaids and Meteors. Other novels include Bradamant and Velda.

He has been a production illustrator for motion pictures, notably Dune and Total Recall, and has done preproduction concepts, consultation and matte art for David Lynch, George Miller, John Ellis, James Cameron and UFO. He was the art director, production designer and co-author for the computer-generated showride film, Comet Impact! (SimEx, Toronto). He has taken part in numerous international space art workshops and exhibitions, including seminal sessions held in Iceland and the Soviet Union, and has lectured on space art and space history in the U.S., France, Japan, Italy and Great Britain. Miller has been on the faculty of the International Space University. His original paintings are in numerous private and public collections, including the Smithsonian Institution and the Pushkin Museum (Moscow).

Miller is a contributing editor for Air & Space/Smithsonian magazine, a member of the International Academy of Astronautics, a Life Member, Trustee and Fellow of the International Association for the Astronomical Arts, an Honory Member of the Sociétè Jules Verne (Paris), a Member of the North American Jules Verne Society and a Fellow of the British Interplanetary Society.

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Lisa Ashton, Fan Guest of Honor

Lisa Ashton

Lisa Ashton is a Science Fiction & Fantasy and historical costumer and fan, living in Maryland. She started costuming after attending Noreascon in 1989 in Boston, having been to exactly one con prior to that. On viewing the Worldcon Masquerade, her first thought was not "How do they DO THAT?" but "Could I do that?!", a goal she set out to achieve starting immediately after.

More than 20 years later, she is still trying to design and build that perfect costume that will make people laugh, gasp and gaze in wonder. Costumes of the past few years include a Victorian and steampunk wardrobe; "Mary Gothins—Perfectly Evil,";"The Elder Days," a Snow goddess mythos in Pacific Northwest style; "Urban Legend" with beaded collar, apron and gauntlets, at Balticon 2009; "The Invasion," a reptilian alien in blue, green and yellow with a pink glowing shopping bag, at Arisia 2009; and a 5-costume group for Anticipation in 2009 called "Timeless," Egyptian gods no longer worshipped and left to perish. In addition, she completed her 5th year performing at Castle Blood, the haunted attraction in western Pennsylvania.

She also takes an active role in her local County Fair each August; besides entering items, she demonstrates various sewing and beading techniques as a docent. Of late, she has *graduated* to planning and coordinating Costume Program tracks for various East Coast cons, and is on the Committees for CC29 and CC30.

Ms. Ashton has two grown children, Tommy and Celia, and in mundane life has worked 25 years as a Physician Assistant, first in Surgery, then in Emergency Medicine (where she frequently sews her patients). In addition to the many avenues afforded by the costuming habit, other passions include beads and beading, hunting, stamp collecting, gardening and canning, and the newest: collecting authentic Victorian era photographs to study fashion history. She is the queen of flea markets and yard sales, often being able to sniff them out from miles away.

Albacon caught up with her this week for a few quick questions:

Favorite costume? "The one I 'm working on now? Sorry, can't say any more. It's a surprise"
Favorite film? "Costume epics, of course! 'Shakespeare in Love' is high on the list"
Favorite season: "Fall--both hunting and Halloween--what could be better?"
Favorite electronic device? "I have several I love, but right now it's my GPS."
Favorite con? "Albacon, of course!"

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Kimi Alexandre—Talechasing

Writer, voice actress and podcaster, Kimi Alexandre has been on the Web since the mid-90s.

Her award-nominated podcast Tale Chasing, a show for urban fantasy readers and writers, is now in its third year. Guardians, her podcast novel about angels is currently in production. In addition to her voice-over work for the internet, radio, and award-winning author Holly Lisle, she has had guest roles in podcasts such as The Metamor City Podcast, Angel Between the Lines, The Ties That Bind, and Digital Magic. Tale Chasing was a finalist for the 2008 Parsec Award for best writing-related podcast and both Guardians and Talechasing were nominated for the 2009 Parsecs. She¹s interviewed NYTimes Bestselling Author, Scott Sigler as well as many others such as Jackie Kessler, Stacia Kane, Mark Henry, and many others. A native of Kansas, she currently resides in New Jersey and goes for more of a Dean Winchester type.

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Inanna Arthen—By Light Unseen Media

Inanna Arthen owns and operates By Light Unseen Media, a small press dedicated to fiction and non-fiction on the theme of vampires. A fervent student of vampire folklore,/p>

media and culture since the 1960s, Inanna's non-fiction articles have been cited by countless websites and numerous scholarly books. Her contemporary fantasy series, The Vampires of New England, began with *Mortal Touch* in 2007 and continues with *The Longer the Fall,* released in June, 2010. A trained actor, speaker and artist, Inanna is a member of Broad Universe and New England Horror Writers and a contributing writer for Blogcritics.org. For more information about her activities, go to inannaarthen.com.

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Debi Chowdhury

Byron Connell

Tina Connell

Kathryn Cramer

Kathryn Cramer is a writer, critic, and anthologist presently co-editing the Year's Best Fantasy and Year's Best SF series with her husband David G. Hartwell. Her most recent historical anthologies include

The Space Opera Renaissance and The Hard SF Renaissance, both co-edited with David Hartwell. Their previous hard SF anthology was The Ascent of Wonder (1994). She won a World Fantasy Award for best anthology for The Architecture of Fear, co-edited with Peter Pautz; she was nominated for a World Fantasy Award for her anthology, Walls of Fear. She also co-edited several anthologies of Christmas and fantasy stories with Hartwell. She was a runner-up for the Pioneer Award for best essay on SF of the year, and is on the editorial board of The New York Review of Science Fiction, for which she has been nominated for the Hugo Award many times. She is an Internet Consultant for Wolfram Research, Inc. in the Scientific Information Group.

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Susan Hanniford Crowley—susanhannifordcrowley.com

Susan Hanniford Crowley is an active member of SFWA, an associate editor with Space and Time Magazine , and a science fiction and fantasy author. Her most popular character being Ladyknight in "Ladyknight" from the Spells of Wonder anthology and

"Piper" in Sword and Sorceress IX . In addition, Susan is a member of RWA, CTRWA, and the Futuristic, Fantasy, and Paranormal chapter of the RWA. She is the founder of the Nights of Passion blog and is the author of the Vampires in Manhattan series. Her latest release, the 4th in the series is Vampire in the Basement. Tease Publishing LLC is also releasing her mythology romance Poseidon's Catch. She is working on a steampunk romance next as well as expanding her series. Susan will be signing her vampire romance novel The Stormy Love Life of Laura Cordelais at Albacon.

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Bianca D'Arc—biancadarc.com

Biochemist, lawyer and business consultant, Bianca D'Arc is also the author of several speculative fiction series including her EPPIE Award winning erotic /p>

sci fi romance series, the Resonance Mates, her epic fantasy romance series, the Dragon Knights, and a number of paranormal romances for the small press and ebook market. She recently broke into the mainstream with a series of military paranormal romance novels featuring zombie villains, including ONCE BITTEN, TWICE DEAD and A DARKER SHADE OF DEAD, which releases in November.

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Elizabeth Darvill—elizabethdarvill.com

Roberta DeCaprio—robertadecaprio.com

was born in 1950 with a walking impairment, and even though society at that time had much discrimination toward the disabled, I never let that stifle my life and what I believed I deserved. Now, as I enter the middle years of my life, I am happy to say

I have accomplished much. I have had a good education, drive, married, have two grown children and two granddaughters, and my first novel has just been published. COMA COAST is a paranormal romantic suspense published by Wings Press. To read an excerpt and learn more about me, visit my personal site by logging on to www.robertadecaprio.com. To order a copy log on to www.wings-press.com. And don't miss the sequel coming in August of 2007. THE VANITY is a paranormal romantic thriller that will have you scared to pass a mirrior.

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Patrick Downing —iheartdoomsday.com

Patrick Downing is a filmmaker/musician from Montreal, Quebec. He grew up in Calgary, Alberta where he spent his formative adult years performing rock music with his bands A Team and the Dudes.

After being kicked out of university for paying no attention to his studies, at the prodding of his mother he attended and completed the Vancouver Film School’s foundation film program. Recording and touring and just incessantly rocking out left little time for much in the way of film creation until he finally chose to part ways (sort of) with loud guitars and moved to Montreal. There, he became the technical director of Theatre Ste. Catherines, an independent alternative venue, and found himself immersed in the dramatic universe. This led to a partnership with the theatre-owner, close-friend, and producer Eric Amber in which they threw themselves earnestly into the world of the motion picture. I Heart Doomsday (2009) is Patrick’s first dramatic feature. His second feature project will go into production in early fall 2010.

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Ron Drummond

Born in Seattle, Ron Drummond has lived in Coronado, the Green River Gorge, the high California desert (where he caretook the land of a native American elder), a Taoist monastery in the Colorado Rockies, on

close to 100,000 miles of road via thumb and luck, and is currently living on the Hudson River a block north of the house where Herman Melville wrote Typee and Omoo. A graduate of Clarion West '87, Drummond has edited or proofed fourteen books by Samuel R. Delany and six by John Crowley, and as a small press publisher is nearing completion of a long-awaited new edition of Little, Big. He has excavated and arranged publication and performances of long-silent music by several Czech contemporaries of Mozart and Beethoven, and designed a World Trade Center Memorial that drew the praise of architecture critic Herbert Muschamp. Drummond's publications include "The Frequency of Liberation" in Science Fiction Eye #12 (reprinted online) and a short story published late last year in Issue 11 of Steve Erickson’s CalArts literary journal, Black Clock. He hopes to live out his final years on the fourth planet from the sun.

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Jan Dumas — aka Fibrowitch

Jan Dumas is a retired occupational safety engineer. Member of the Zombie Squad, dedicated to teaching fen how to prepare for emergencies. She refuses to grow up, and hopes

to grow old. Jan has some severe food allergies and would like to spend the weekend at Albacon instead of in a hospital. So please be careful around her. We kind of like her. Last (but not least), she has a service dog now. His name is Byron and he goes with her everywhere.

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J.A. Fludd—The Quantum Blog

J.A. Fludd (Joe) is a writer and artist in Albany, NY. He contributed reviews to the Fantastic Four Website, before it suspended operations. Joe is a fan of all the Star Treks, and was a Screenwriting Intern for

Star Trek Voyager. Joe's interests also include The Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits, Star Wars, Dr. Who, and Heroes. Joe illustrated the super-hero feature Sentinel (later Pride) for Gay Comics. He sells work on eBay and displays at the Quantum Male Art Blog. His work can also be seen at Comicspace. Joe's essays are online at The Quantum Blog. Joe can be found on Facebook under the name J.A. Fludd.

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Carl Frederick—Dark Zoo

Carl Frederick is theoretically, a theoretical physicist. After a post-doc at NASA and a stint at Cornell, he left astrophysics and his first love, quantum relativity theory (a strange first love, perhaps) in favor of high-tech industry.

He attended the year 2000 Odyssey Writers Workshop and subsequently took a first place in the Writers of the Future contest. He is predominately a short-story writer, having sold a couple of stories each to Baen's Universe and Asimov's, and over thirty to Analog. He fences epee, learns languages and plays the bagpipes. He lives in rural, Ithaca NY, and rural is good if you play the bagpipes. He has since returned to his aforementioned first love.

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William Freedman—Land That I Love

William Freedman is a writer of science fiction, dark fantasy and horror who injects humor, to greater or lesser degree, into his work. His novelette "Forever and Ever, Amen" appeared in the

2006 Spirit House chapbook and his short story "Intentions" is scheduled to be published this year in Ash-Tree Press’s Holy Horrors anthology. He is a founding member of the Long Island-based LISciFi critique group and a perennial Literature-track panelist at the I-Con convention in Stony Brook, N.Y. He holds degrees in journalism and international business and his non-fiction work has appeared in Investor’s Business Daily, Euromoney Books, Global Finance magazine, Treasury & Risk Management magazine, and many other business and financial news outlets both in print and online.

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Ethan Gilsdorf—ethangilsdorf.com

Ethan Gilsdorf is the author of the award-winnning travel memoir/pop culture investigation "Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks:

An Epic Quest for Reality Among Role Players, Online Gamers, and Other Dwellers of Imaginary Realms." National Public Radio described the book as "Lord of the Rings meets Jack Kerouac¹s On the Road." Wired.com proclaimed, ³For anyone who has ever spent time within imaginary realms, the book will speak volumes.² "Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks" was also named a "Must-Read" book by the Massachusetts Book Awards. A poet, teacher and journalist for the New York Times, Boston Globe, National Geographic Traveler, he has appeared at Pax East, DragonCon, Gen Con and on radio and TV as a fantasy and gaming expert. His blog "Geek Pride" can be found on PsychologyToday.com.

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David Hartwell

David Hartwell is a Hugo and World Fantasy Award-winning editor, small press publisher, professor, Clarion instructor, reviewer, and principle of the World Fantasy Convention board. He also

administers the Philip K. Dick awards, and currently works as the senior editor at Tor Books, SF¹s leading publisher. His New York Review of Science Fiction has had a Hugo nomination for best semi-prozine every year from 1989-2009. He lives with his wife, co-editor Kathryn Cramer, on an apple farm in upstate New York with their two children.

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CJ Henderson—cjhenderson.com

CJ Henderson is the creator of the Piers Knight supernatural investigator series and many others. Author of some 70 books, including

The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction Movies, Black Sabbath: the Ozzy Osbourne Years, and Baby's First Mythos, he has also written hundreds of short stories and comics and thousands of non-fiction pieces. Wacky, thoughtful, charming, old, feeble, befuddled, this amazing mass of contradictions is one of the great entertainers of our time. For more information, to read sample stories, or to leave threatening messages, feel free to visit him at his website.

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Nancy Holzner—Nancy Holzner

Nancy Holzner is the author of the Deadtown urban fantasy series, published by Ace. A recovering academic,

she's worked as a medievalist, English teacher, corporate trainer, and freelance editor. She lives in Ithaca, NY, with her husband Steve, where they both write from home without getting on each other's nerves. Her latest novel, Hellforged, will be released on 12/28/10

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Felicitas Ivey

Felicitas Ivey is the pen name of a very frazzled helpdesk drone at a Boston-area university. She's an eternal student even with a BA in anthropology and history, since

free classes are part of the benefits. She lives with her husband, known as 'The Husband' and her cat Smaugu. She is the author of two romantic fantasies "Dreamlands" and its sequel "Back to the Dream", as well as an uraban romance "Company Man", all within the male/male genre.

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Heidi Hooper—heidihooper.com

Heidi Hooper is the Dryer Lint Lady -- Believe it of Not. A graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University's sculpture department, she later studied for her master's at the University of California Long Beach and the Massachusetts College of Art.

After cancer ate most of her upper arm, she has tried to find new ways of making art and has become perhaps the nation's leading dryer lint artist. Her work has recently been purchased by Ripley's Believe It Or Not where it is showing at their museums around the world, and Heidi will be featured in their next book due out late 2010. Her work is also currently showing in galleries in Virgnia, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Heidi is, along with her husband Michael A. Ventrella, one of the founders of modern LARPing and currently runs the Alliance LARP.

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Kayleigh Jamison—kayleighjamison.net

A writer and musician at an early age, Kayleigh Jamison wrote her first novella at the age of seven, and first picked up a violin at eight. By eighteen, she had won several state and regional awards for the performance arts, recognizing

her accomplishments in violin, viola, and oboe. An amateur linguist, Ms. Jamison speaks five languages, including Spanish, Russian, and Arabic. With a Bachelors degree in English and Philosophy and a Certification in Legal Studies, Ms. Jamison spends her days attending law school and her nights immersed in the rich fantasy worlds of her imagination. She enjoys rewriting history, exploring not only what was, but what could have been, mixing real historical figures and events with spicy, no-holds barred fiction. Ms. Jamison is a member of the Romance Writers of America, as well as her local chapter, First Coast Romance Writers, and the Beau Monde Chapter, EPIC, the ERA, and the AWA, the Historical Society, the Historical Romance Club, and the Historical Novel Society. She is the former Editor in Chief of Aphrodite's Apples Press.

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Cat Johnson—CatJohnson.net

An award-winning author of contemporary erotic romance in sub-genres including military, cowboy, ménage and paranormal, Cat Johnson uses her computer so much

she wore the letters off the keyboard within a year. She is known for her creative marketing and research practices. Consequently, Cat owns an entire collection of camouflage footwear for book signings and a fair number of her consultants wear combat or cowboy boots for a living. In her real life, she’s been a marketing manager, professional harpist, bartender, tour guide, radio show host, Junior League president, sponsor of a bull riding rodeo cowboy, wife and avid animal lover.
Visit the authors website at www.CatJohnson.net
Or email the author at Cat@CatJohnson.net

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C. Margery Kempe—cmkempe.com

Margery Kempe is the author of witty and intelligent erotic romance like the sexy spy thriller CHASTITY FLAME (Ravenous Romance), the fairy tale romances LOVE ME LIKE A REPTILE and SPINNING GOLD (Noble Romance) and musical romp, SEX CYMBALS (Freya's Bower).

Jackie Kessler—jackiekessler.com

Jackie Kessler writes about demons, angels, the humans caught between them, superheroes, the supervillains who pound those heroes

into pudding, witches, ghosts, vampires, and the occasional Horseman of the Apocalypse. In her spare time, Jackie gets the tar kicked out of her in tae kwon do. Her debut novel for teens, HUNGER (written under the byline Jackie Morse Kessler), hits the shelves on October 18, 2010.

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K. A. Laity—kalaity.com

The author of Pelzmantel: A Medieval Tale (Immanion Press), Unikirja: Dreambook (Aino Press) and many short stories, plays, essays and scholarship. She is also a weekly columnist for BitchBuzz, the global women's lifestyle network.

Andre Lieven

Andre Lieven has been an active Canadian SF fan for a third of a century now, and enjoys attending conventions over a wide area. His interests also cover a wide area, including space history, nautical history and the history of fandom. In fact, his 300th con was Albacon two years ago.

Kit Marlowe—kit-marlowe.com

Kit Marlowe is a writer of historical romance with wit and humour. Her first publication, "The Big Splash," a novella of Jazz Age London will be released by Noble Romance on October 11, 2010. Her novel The Mangrove Legacy, a comic gothic tale about mystery, romance and pockets will be released by Tease Publishing in Nov 2010.

Michael J. Martineck—michaelmartineck.com

Michael has written for DC Comics, several magazines and a novel for young readers. Cinco de Mayo, (EDGE Science Fiction and Fantasy ) is his first major work for

a wide, adult audience. Michael has a degree in English and Economics, but has worked in advertising, a career he credits with inspiring his newest novel. Michael lives with his wife and two children on Grand Island, NY.

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Melissa Mead—Carpe Libris Writers Group

Melissa Mead, a local author, has been attending Albacon since 2002. For more info, check out the Carpe Libris web page.

Steve Miller

Steve Miller is co-author of the best-selling Liaden Universe® series written with his wife, Sharon Lee—they have been writing together since the first "Kinzel" short stories hit Fantasy Book in the early 1980s. They have published seventeen novels and

several dozen short works together, garnering a number of awards as well as invitations as Guests of Honor and Special Guests at SF cons coast to coast in the US and Canada. Steve first entered the SF community as a club and fanzine fan as well as a professional critic in the late 1960s; Steve's fiction began appearing in the small press before he broke into Ted White's Amazing in the mid-1970s. Steve was Vice Chair of the Baltimore in 80 WorldCon bid while becoming Editor of the science fiction tabloid Star Swarm News, when the News folded he and Sharon started Bookcastle & Dreamsgarth, Inc, a genre bookstore with a traveling convention SF art agency.

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Ira Nayman—Les Pages aux Folles

Ira Nayman is a Swift Satire award-winning comedy/humour/satire writer. He is the author of two books of science fiction journalism featuring the Alternate Reality News Service (ARNS) in print: Alternate Reality Ain't What It Used To Be and

What Were Once Miracles Are Now Children's Toys. They grew out of a political and social satirical project Ira started in 1984 called Les Pages aux Folles; the project migrated to the World Wide Web () in 2002. Since it was started, Les Pages aux Folles has grown to include experimental writing, cultural parody and satire and three original cartoons, My Toronto, Blackout Funnies and Delicate Negotiations. New articles and cartoons are posted weekly; new Alternate Reality News Service articles are posted every third week (look for the ARNS label). The Alternate Reality News Service Café, a Facebook group for fans of the books, can be found at . It contains original material and ways for fans to contribute to the Alternate Reality News Service. Most recently, Ira produced the pilot of a radio series based on Alternate Reality News Service stories called "The Weight of Information" - you can find it on YouTube.

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Tony Pacitti—MY BEST FRIEND IS A WOOKIEE

Tony Pacitti is the author of "My Best Friend is a Wookiee: A Memoir" He has written for southcoast247.com as a features writer and video game reviewer and

has had his short science fiction published at 365tomorrows.com. He has been the writer for the comic books RoboPlanet and The Silencer published by Pandemonium Comics. Tony lives in Providence, Rhode Island and is probably watching The Empire Strikes Back on laserdisc at this very moment.

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Paul Park

Paul Park lives in Berkshire County with his wife and kids. He teaches at Williams College and is

the author of a number of books, among them Celestis and A Princess of Roumania. His short story, This Space for Sale, is on the ballot for the World Fantasy Award.

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KT Pinto—KT Pinto

You don't know who KT Pinto is? How is that possible? Well, it's time we fixed that!

Peter Prellwitz—Shards Universe

Peter Prellwitz is the MIS Director for a precious metals refining company located in Philadelphia. Peter has been writing stories, plays and skits since the fifth grade. As a child and young adult,

Peter saw limited publication of one play and two series of children's puppet skits.

Presently, Peter has a total of nine novels published in trade paperback and ebook, all by Double Dragon Publishing. His novel Horizons was selected by Mike Resnick as Best Science Fiction and awarded that publisher's 2003 Draco Award. Four of his short stories appear in the anthology Twisted Tails, which won the 2006 Dream Realms. Five of his novels have also been finalists in the Eppie Awards over the past few years. He continues writing novels and short stories, as well as a web comic, Celeste The Pirate. Three more short stories will be in anthologies later in 2010 and early 2011. Together with more than four dozen short stories located on his site, Peter's novels help weave a tapestry of mankind's exploration and settling of the galaxy over the next two and half millennia.

A native Arizonan, Peter has also lived in Wisconsin, California, Hawaii, New York, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania, where he now lives with his wife, Bethlynne, and four of their five sons. In addition to writing, Peter enjoys history, backpacking, and languages.

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Stella Price—stellaandaudra.com

The elder of two sisters, Stella Price has been a model, ice cream designer, bartender, web wizard, retail slave and snowboard instructor.

Now in her 30's, shes the older half of Stella and Audra Price, authors of all things dark and romantic, and has over 18 books to her and her sisters credit. Aside from writing, Stella maintains a career as a graphic designer and art director for Tease Publishing. She is also the managing director for the Authors After Dark convention each year and believes happy endings dont always have to be sweetness and light.

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Robert V.S. Redick—The Red Wolf Conspiracy

I have two beloved home towns: Charlottesville, Virginia, and Iowa City, Iowa. I’ve been writing since I could hold a pen, and began my first novel, about purple monsters invading

a Chicago apartment complex, when I was twelve. After that my tastes somewhat diversified. I studied literature and Russian at the University of Virginia, tropical conservation and development at the University of Florida, and fiction writing in the Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College. Among my wonderful former mentors are Jim Shepard, John Casey, Wilton Barnhardt, Judith Grossman, David Haynes and Chuck Wachtel. More at robertvsredick.com

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Roberta Rogow—Floating Filk

Roberta Rogow is a long-time Fan and Filker who also writes historical mysteries and knits costumes. She recently retired after 37 years as a Children's Librarian in New Jersey.

Isabel Roman—isabelroman.com

Who is Isabel Roman? The short answer is:
A sci-fi loving, movie watching, occassionally paranormal, mostly erotic romance writer with way too many ideas and so little time to write them all down.
The longer answer:

Currently I'm addicted to NCIS reruns on USA, and hope to catch all the just-past season on reruns some place. With summer, I don't plan on working on my garden, I have bad allergies, but do plan on enjoying the outside and, more importantly, the warmth! I adore the beach, walking, and reading. I don't enjoy messing with Dreamweaver, but that's what I chose as my website program. The 1000+ book that didn't come with it is a big help and a better deadweight.

Not all my stories are paranormal but the majority are: Druids, werewolves, vampires, ghosts, maybe even a genie or two. One or two of my stories aren't erotica, either, but they're all filled with tension.

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Chuck Rothman —Chuck Rothman

Chuck Rothman has been publishing science fiction for over a quarter of a century, with one novel and over 40 short stories published in places like Asimov's, Fantasy and Science Fiction, Realms of Fantasy, Strange Horizons, Space and Time, and other markets living and dead.

Steve Sawicki—booksfantastic.wordpress.com

My short stories have been published in Plot, Read Me and Shadowsword and online at Minds Eye Fiction. I had a novella (Invisible Friends) published in the Spring 2001 issue of Absolute Magnitude, a short story in

the 2001 Transversions anthology and a short story in Reality Escapes. My opinion pieces have been published in Between Dimensions and Pirate Writings. I have written eight screenplays, including an adaptation of Piers Anthony's On A Pale Horse. My review work has appeared in: Absolute Magnitude, Tangent, 2AM, Science Fiction Review, Fantasy Commentator, Random Realities, and many other places. For the past few years, I’ve been collaborating with novelist Barbara Chepaitis. So far, we’ve written a teleplay, four screenplays, and a novel and we’re working on more. When not writing I'm spending time killing plants in the garden or working to put the finishing touches on the house I built in upstate NY.

I just placed my novella, Invisible Friends, on smashwords. I hope you’ll take a moment to visit the site. You can read almost half of it for free.

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Jennifer Schwabach

Jennifer Schwabach is the author of over 50 short stories and poems. She has two novels out with Double Dragon Press. She is a founding member of the Carpe Libris Writer's Group. This is her umpteenth Albacon appearance (she is on her fourth Albacon venue.)

Ryk Spoor—The Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor)

Ryk E. Spoor is a professional science-fiction and fantasy writer with five books published by Baen; his most recent, both out this year, are Grand Central Arena and Threshold (with Eric Flint; sequel to Boundary). His "day job"

is R&D Coordinator for International Electronic Machines in Troy, NY, where he writes proposals for high-tech research projects and oversees a number of such projects in wireless sensing, smart sensor design, and multispectral imaging, among others. He has worked as a project manager and QA director for another small company, performed editing, proofreading, and other technical writing, worked in retail, and a number of other diverse jobs, as well as game design work for Wizards of the Coast. A Great Old One of the Net, he sent his first Email in 1976 and ran the first play-by-email RPG campaign in 1977; he is also a well-known anime fan on the East coast and online. He lives in Troy with his wife Kathy and their four children Chris, Gabe, Vicky, and Domenica.

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Ian Randal Strock

Ian Randal Strock is the editor and publisher of SFScope.com (the electronic trade journal of the speculative fiction fields) and the publisher of Fantastic Books. Previously, he was

the news editor of Science Fiction Chronicle, the editor and publisher of Artemis Magazine, the associate editor of Analog and Asimov's science fiction magazines, and held a variety of other non-sf editorial positions. As a writer, his sf has appeared mostly in Analog and Nature. His first book, the nonfiction "The Presidential Book of Lists", was published by Random House's Villard imprint in 2008. In his copious (yeah, right) free time, his personal on-line homes are ianrandalstrock.livejournal.com, and his eponymous Facebook page (facebook.com/ianrandalstrock).

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Leslie Thomas—13th Hour Books

Leslie Thomas, 13th Hour Books from out of Alexandria, VA Has been in sci-fi world since 1985. Started publishing World of H.P. Lovecraft in 1992, has published several other sci-fi related titles over the years.

Jo Lynne Valerie—JoLynneValerie.com

Jo Lynne Valerie is a multiple Award-Winning Paranormal novelist. Former Editor in Chief of print journals Nature's Wisdom Magazine (holistic health) and Full Moon Rising Magazine (metaphysics),

Ms. Valerie was also on the team of writers for a PBS holistic television show, which she eventually co-hosted. Jo Lynne recently launched ParaGoddess Podcasts, wherein she discusses all things Paranormal, holistic and metaphysical. When not writing a new book, Jo Lynne Valerie enthusiastically tests her theory that a vegan author needs nothing more to drink than a steady flow of frothy cappuccino, pure water and cold white wine.

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Michael A. Ventrella—michaelaventrella.com

Michael A. Ventrella was born in Richmond, Virginia on August 3, 1958. His father was an artist who did commercial graphics and his mother did her best

to control Michael, his two brothers, and a sister. Michael was dramatic from an early age, acting in community theatre and writing his own plays with his siblings. He also wrote puppet shows and performed them for his school. His earliest desire was to be a cartoonist and his drawings adorned school newspapers and posters. Later, he discovered music and taught himself to play guitar and piano, writing simple songs with his friends.

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Morven Westfield—morvenwestfield.com

A vampire fan since she saw her first Hammer film, Morven is the author of two vampire novels, Darksome Thirst and The Old Power Returns.

As interested in computers as she is in vampires, she produced a monthly podcast called "Vampires, Witches, and Geeks" (on hiatus for the summer) and is the webmaster for New England Horror Writers (NEHW). She is a board member of Broad Universe, a non-profit international organization that promotes science fiction, fantasy, and horror written by women. Morven lives in Massachusetts with her husband, a pragmatist who is mildly amused by his wife's interest in things that go bump in the night.

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The Albany Fans Association Star Trek Sci-Fi Meetup Group—Albany Sci-Fi Meetup Group

We are a group of Star Trek -Scifi fans getting together to share in our enjoyment of media Scifi. We can attend conventions, do different activities,contribute to the community, socialize, learn, etc.

The Wombat

The Wombat, aka jan howard finder, has been reading SF for more than 60 years and active in SF circles for about 35.

He chaired 2 Tolkien conf., 69 and 71. After finding fandom in 72 and cons in 73, in the UK, he ran 2 SF cons, 77 and 79. In 93 he was accorded the genuine honor of being named as an Honored Guest at CONFRANCISCO, the 1993 Worldcon. He came out of retirement in 96 to chair ALBACON 96. Still brain dead, he successfully chaired SFRA 2001, an academic conf. on SF. Survived as Chair of ALBACON 08. He participates in, judged and MC's masquerades. He is one of the best auctioneers found at cons. According to backs that know, he gives the best backrubs north of the South Pole. He put out an award winning fanzine, The Spang Blah. He sold a short story in 81 to Microcosmic Tales and edited an SF anthology, Alien Encounters, in 82, and published his incredible Finder's Guide to Australterrestrials. He is a marsupial groupie. In 99 he attended A3, afterwards he drove about Oz for a total of 174 days looking for wombats. He puts out an irregular fanzine on Arthur Upfield, an Australian mystery writer. He also likes aerobics, learned to scuba, is taking up sailing, learning how to play cricket, has a budding film career, visited Middle-earth in JAN 04 and MAR 06, and trying to save the World with SUTs. Ask him about Yaminons, wombats, BYTELOCK, visiting Middle-earth and other stuff. He is a neat guy. Buy him a Pepsi!

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Tom Wysmuller

For over 10 years, Tom Wysmuller has been giving presentations about the Science of Climate Change around the world. After getting a B.A. at NYU, Tom Wysmuller was a meteorologist for the Royal Dutch Weather Bureau in Amsterdam, then

interned for NASA (before, during, and after the Moon Landings!), and was the youngest ever selected to NASA¹s Source Selection Board for Agencywide Computer services. He followed as Admin Director of Govt. Operations at Pratt & Whitney, where he wrote the code that solves the Polynomial Regression Algorithm now resident in millions of Texas Instruments calculators, and as an executive (and board member) in the insurance industry. He frequently lectures on science and history at NASA field centers, NOAA, Weather Centers, various Colleges & Universities and other Science oriented organizations worldwide.

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George Zebrowski

George Zebrowski’s more than forty books include novels, short fiction collections, anthologies, and a book of essays.

Science fiction writer Greg Bear calls him "one of those rare speculators who bases his dreams on science as well as inspiration,” and the late Terry Carr, one of the most influential science fiction editors of recent years, described him as “an authority in the SF field." Zebrowski has published about a hundred works of short fiction and more than a hundred and forty articles and essays, and has written about science for Omni Magazine. His short fiction and essays have appeared in Analog, Asimov’s Science Fiction, Amazing Stories, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Science Fiction Age, Nature, the Bertrand Russell Society News, and many other publications.

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