- Writer GoH: Allen Steele
- Artist GoH: Ron Miller
- Fan GoH: Lisa Ashton
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Short bios of our Guests of Honor and our program participants.
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 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.
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!"
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.
Inanna Arthen—By Light Unseen Media
Inanna Arthen began studying vampire literature and folklore in the 1960s, when she persuaded a reluctant librarian to allow her to borrow
Montague Summers' The Vampire in Europe and an unabridged copy of Dracula from the adult stacks. In the years since then she has amassed a collection of non-fiction and scholarly material in the field of vampirology that includes academic monographs and unpublished doctoral dissertations along with more popular works. She is also publisher of By Light Unseen Media.
Ruth Burroughs—Carpe Libris Writers Group
D. Cameron Calkins—cameroncalkins.com
Debi Chowdhury
Byron Connell
Tina Connell
Susan Hanniford Crowley—susanhannifordcrowley.com
Elizabeth Darvill—elizabethdarvill.com/
Jan Dumas — aka Fibrowitch 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.
Roberta DeCaprio—robertadecaprio.com/
Judi Fennell—judifennell.com
J.A. Fludd—The Quantum Blog
William Freedman—Land That I Love
Tilly Greene—tillygreene.com
Tilly Greene was born into the easy folds of a sleepy beach town and embraces the laid back mindset she grew up with.
Later, she settled into a polar opposite lifestyle from the one she¹d been living by moving abroad to further her education. Despite the frigid climate, the fast pace existence melded in, making her a person who is adaptable and enjoys experiencing the diversity surrounding her. While traveling around the world with her husband, she researches and writes erotica and erotic romance novels in a variety of genres and sub-genres. Every day she looks forward to writing about women who are independent and confident, the men who love them, and their twisting passionate path to each other.
Nancy Holzner—Nancy Holzner
Kayleigh Jamison—kayleighjamison.net/
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
C. Margery Kempe—cmkempe.com
The author of erotic romance like CHASTITY FLAME, SPINNING GOLD and SEX CYMBALS.
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.
Melissa Mead—Carpe Libris Writers Group
Stephanie Mowery
Ira Nayman—Les Pages aux Folles
KT Pinto—You don't know who KT Pinto is? How is that possible? Well, it's time we fixed that! KT Pinto
Pete Prellwitz—Shards Universe
Pete is an award-winning author with nine novels, a dozen short stories and a web comic. Most of his writing is based in a universe of his making and cover mankind's future history over two millenia.
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.
Robert V.S. Redick—The Red Wolf Conspiracy
Roberta Rogow—Floating Filk
Chuck Rothman
D. Liza Ryun
Steven Sawicki
Steven Sawicki is a screenwriter/writer/reviewer best known for the DamnAliens series of short fiction/reviews. He has 9 published short stories to his credit, a novella, two screenplays and thousands of reviews.
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.)
Kathleen Scott
Ryk Spoor—The Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor)
Jo Lynne Valerie—JoLynneValerie.com
Jo Lynne Valerie is an Award-Winning author of Paranormal Fiction and magazine columnist.
Ms. Valerie is the former editor of print publications Nature¹s Wisdom Magazine, Full Moon Rising Magazine and she was a writer for Nature¹s Wisdom Television (PBS), which she eventually co-hosted. Jo Lynne Valerie is known for the metaphysical classes she teaches both locally and online, including Numerology, Cosmology, Aromatherapy, Intuitive Development, Tarot and Shamanic Meditation.
Michael A. Ventrella—michaelaventrella.com
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.
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!
August 9, 2010
Joining Programming at Albacon are Jennifer Schwabach, Steven Sawicki and Pete Prellwitz.
July 21, 2010
Art show forms are now available for download
More Info
July 1, 2010
Joining Programming at Albacon are Morven Westfield and Inanna Arthen.
July 1, 2010
Joining Programming at Albacon are J.A. Fludd, D. Cameron Calkins, Nancy Holzner, Roberta Rogow, and Robert V.S. Redick.
May 17, 2010
Gaming and Videos make their appearance on the Events page. Details will be added as they are scheduled.
More Info
May 12, 2010
Roberta DeCaprio is joining Programming at Albacon.
May 5, 2010
William Freedman, Kayleigh Jamison, and Elizabeth Darvill are joining Programming at Albacon.
March 31, 2010
Online registration deadline extended to 15 May. Register now while the low rate is still available.
March 31, 2010
New registration information! More Info
March 26, 2010
The next Albacon Committee Meeting will be on Wednesday April 28, 2010, at 5:45 PM. Location: Best Western Sovereign, 1228 Western Avenue, Albany, NY 12203. All meetings are open to the public.
March 24, 2010
Bianca D'Arc is the latest addition to our Writers' Workshop
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March 23, 2010
The Masquerade is Saturday evening’s big show! It is a stage presentation by costumers from the area and beyond it of their creative best. Expect everything from simple presentations of costumes to elaborate team presentations of costumes that glow and rotate!
More Info
March 23, 2010
You may win a hall costume award ribbon and certificate from one of our roving hall costume judges.
More Info