MEMBERSHIPS

Hotel

Registration Hours

Participants

Len Berger

Len, known as the "movieman", keeps the freebie tables full of movie posters, flyers and anything else we receive. He is performing the functions that the late Barry Bard started decades ago and has done his best to "walk" in Barry's shoes. Let him know your appreciation when you see him hovering around the freebie tables or giving away free stuff. He attends many movie screenings a year, the Phoenix Film Festival and the International Horror and Sci-Fi film festival. Len is a member of CASFS.org, Leprecon, Inc. and WesternSFA.org.

Nathan Blackwell

Phoenix-based filmmaker Nathan Blackwell began his career like many of his counterparts ... a manic eleven year-old running around with a camera, making terrible movies. He's since directed over forty short films, two low-to-no budget feature films, written seven feature film screenplays, and won over twenty-three awards for filmmaking.

Sarah Clemens

Sarah's early love of science fiction and fantasy art came even before she could read, from looking at the covers of science fiction magazines. The artwork she most enjoys doing are those connected with the fantastic and she has been going to conventions since the late seventies. She is gratified at the response of con-goers to her award-winning paintings of the cat and dragon Magnus and Loki, which have been the most fun of all. She is a photo-real artist working in oils, exhibiting her mainstream paintings in galleries in Boca Raton, Florida and Scottsdale, Arizona. Growing up in a darkroom contributes to her love of photography and she still does photo work occasionally. All of the models used in her notorious and award winning St. Labia series were photographed by Sarah. She has published short stories with Asimov's magazine and Ellen Datlow anthologies. Recently she has had her paintings published in The World's Greatest Erotic Art of Today, Volumes 2 and 3 and in Fantasy Art Magazine in China. You can see samples of her art at clemensart.com and at at the interior website for Magnus and Loki.

J. J. M. Czep

Born in small town Whitesboro, New York, Czep spent much of her childhood wandering fields and swamplands surrounding her parents' home. Content to create imaginary companions and adventures, Czep took to writing down the stories.At twenty-two, Czep moved to the desert city of Phoenix, Arizona with her husband and infant son. She currently teaches writing workshops for teens and adults at various community centers and in her home studio. Czep also teaches the art of Bellydance; participates in rapier tournaments; and performs in stage shows and festivals with The DREAD Fleet.She has two books published now and several short stories published in compulation books.

Hop David

Hop David is an artist with an addiction to geometry. "Artists such as M. C. Escher and Albrecht Durer have made a strong impression on me," he says. "Mathematics is a very beautiful and powerful language. A visual approach can clarify otherwise difficult math. And art inspired by geometry can have a strong visual appeal." It is David's hope that his coloring books will get kids addicted to geometry. The books contain unique collections of swirling symmetrical designs, intricate, interlocking images of people, animals, and abstract patterns ranging from realistic figures to bug-eyed frogs and flying pigs."Conic Sections and Celestial Mechanics Coloring Book" is David's third coloring book. His first two coloring books, Magic Mirror Image Coloring Book and Geoscapes are published by Dover.

Bruce Davis

Bruce Davis is a Mesa AZ based science fiction author and editor. His works include the YA novel Queen Mab Courtesy, published by CWG press (and recently reissued by AKW Books as the e-book Blanktown). Also published through AKW Books are his military science fiction novel That Which Is Human, and the Profit Logbook series, including Glowgems For Profit, and Thieves Profit. In his other life he is a Trauma Surgeon who occasionally consults on medical matters for authors and screenwriters.

Emily Devenport

If you visit my blog, you will discover that Emily Devenport, Maggy Thomas and Lee Hogan are the pen names I used when I wrote my novels. I've been published in the U.S., the U.K., Italy, and Israel. My novels are SHADE, LARISSA, SCORPIANNE, EGGHEADS, THE KRONOS CONDITION, GODHEADS, BROKEN TIME (which was nominated for the Philip K. Dick Award), BELARUS, and ENEMIES. Now I write exclusively as Emily Devenport. Look for my new novels, THE NIGHT SHIFTERS and SPIRITS OF GLORY, in ebook format everywhere. I'm hoping to get my whole backlist into digital form within the next couple of years. I just finished recording my first audiobook, THE NIGHT SHIFTERS, and I'll have a new ebook available by Dec '11, PALE LADY. I'm married to artist/writer Ernest Hogan, I write reviews on amazon as Emily Hogan.

Jenny and Brian Duncan

Jenny Duncan has been going to cons since she was 9. She has since moved from "Robert Peacock's Daughter" To a member of the Duncan Clan. She loves to read. And she loves various sci-fi, her favorites are "Dr. Who, Fringe and Haven."Brian Duncan has been an attendee since he was 16. He loves dressing up, and lots of different aspects of sci-fi. From comic books to cartoons to movies to comic book movies. His favorite thing to do is to "geek out" at the movies in costume in front of his kids.

Michele Ellington

A longtime attendee of Leprecon, Michele Ellington has sold science fiction and fantasy art on four continents. She is a primarily self-trained artist who enjoys working in a wide variety of mediums; drawing, painting,sculpting, stained glass, etched glass, jewelry making, paper making, and mixed media. She works as a City Planner in El Paso, Texas, where she and her rescued Great Dane Simba volunteer with Paws for Love, and her Siamese cat Jasmine dozes on the sofa.

Jessica Feinberg

Jessica Feinberg is a quirky freelance illustrator who is best known for mixing mundane and magic in her paintings of trees, dragons, faeries, and clockwork creatures. She illustrates both privately and commercially, including book covers, games, art books, prints and other products.Blending traditional media and magic with new technology, Jessica works in watercolor, digital paint, pencil, ink, clay, and even cake. In addition, she teaches fantasy art to people of all ages and tries to encourage everyone to find a creative outlet.She currently resides in Tucson, Arizona with coyotes, roadrunners, jackal-opes, her three crazy cats, and her dog.

Maryeileen Flanagan

Maryeileen is a retired English and science teacher who began her educational career as a costumer at ASU's Department of Dance. Her costuming experience later expanded beyond humans to include horses and other animals. She has led several successful groups for young semi-pro writers. Additionally she helped design and later owned the SF, F and Horror forum on Apple's eWorld before it was swallowed up by AOL. In her later years she has served as Programming Chair of several local cons, most notably the World Fantasy Con held in Tucson where Harlan Ellison was GOH. She still doesn't know what she wants to be when she "grows up."

Dain Gore

Dain Q. Gore is a 2009 MFA recipient from ASU and current Faculty Associate. Having studied End-Times myths of his culture, he presents doom and redemption in a humorous and mocking way. His cast of absurd characters shifts between the religious and secular worlds to suit his own vision of the supernatural realm. His work recalls the populated, image-heavy landscape traditions of Northern Europe and the kinetic sensibility of classic film animation. The settings often evoke the limited space of the theater and an altered, exaggerated scale inspired by the world of puppetry: a fully realized puppetry piece was performed alongside his exhibits in painting at Eye Lounge in downtown Phoenix, titled DESERT RELIGION (2010) and HOLY FOOL? (2011).

Mark Greenawalt

Artist Mark Greenawalt has been a fan of the fantasy and sci-fi genre since childhood and has enjoyed incorporating it into his art ever since. He is best known for his live bodypainting demonstrations at conventions such as ComiCon, CopperCon, and even Local Artist Guest of Honor at LepreCon 38, plus many other gallery exhibitions and corporate projects. In the past year, Greenawalt has revisited his two-dimensional art with new fantasy illustrations for book and CD covers, filmmaking including a film that was included in international festivals, and songwriting and musical performances. By day, his alter-ego is a professional electrical engineer and lighting designer at a national architectural engineering firm, but by night he fills every waking moment that he can creating some form of art for your entertainment and enjoyment.

Bennie Grezlik

Bennie Grezlik has been writing and publishing lies since 1978. In the last few years, Stonegarden.net has released three of his novels, the latest being The Search For Earth. They will be releasing The Blade of Daxel in 2013 and The Nine Planets Murders in 2014. He has written stories for a number of anthologies, the most notable being a series of zombie tales for Yard Dog Press. He also wrote and produced for about five years the Skip Thruster, Space Detective plays that were brought to life for ApolloCon by enthusiastic fans. Skip Thruster radio plays were first aired on KPFT, Houston.In another life back in the psychedelic sixties, Bennie was a technician at the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston from 1966, through 1969. This was before the center was named for its mentor, Lyndon B. Johnson. And, yes, Bennie used a slide rule because it was sexy and because it was B.C. (Before Calculators/Computers).

Vandy Hall

Vandy Hall is an award-winning multi-media artist from Portland, Oregon. While Vandy is best known for her blown glasswork and muli-media drawings, her wide skill set also includes such diverse things as: printmaking, blacksmithing, needle felting and spinning. Vandy began blowing glass in 1998 and soon discovered her passion for historical reproduction work. While earning an art history and sculpture degree through Portland State University, Vandy worked as an intern at Pacific Northwest Art Objects Conservation, and then as an intern in the rights an reproductions department of the Freer and Sackler Galleries of Art at the Smithsonian Institution. After graduating from art school Vandy took a position as an Artist in Residence at Chehalem Parks and Recreation where she taught a wide variety of art classes to both adults and children. This allowed her to create while being able to travel and both teach and continue to take classes. She first studied, and then was a teaching assistant at the Corning Museum of Glass in New York. Vandy visited the Roman Glass Furnace Project in Thruxton, UK, and most recently, in spring of 2012, blew glass in Visby, Sweden.Several years ago, Vandy attended her first science fiction convention, Orycon, in Portland, Oregon. A friend suggested that she should go and enter her work in the art show. After winning three blue ribbons and selling several prints, she decided that cons were fun, and was hooked. Vandy went on to win the Orycon Art Show Grand Prize in 2011, and the Orycon People's Choice First Prize for Multi-Media Artwork in 2010 and 2012. Vandy now displays her work regularly at west coast science fiction and fantasy conventions such as Orycon, Norwescon, and Radcon.

Francis Hamit

Francis Hamit is a professional writer and has been for 46 years (and counting). He has published two novels about the American Civil War, the most recent one the (slightly) alternative history "The Queen of Washington" about the Confederate spy Rose Greenhow, and "The Shenandoah Spy" about Confederate Army spy and scout, Belle Boyd. Currently he is working on "Meltdown", a thriller which he describes as a “heartwarming sentimental little fable about a terrorist attack on a nuclear power plant”. His fascination with the dark side is also represented by the forthcoming film "MARLOWE", which is based upon his 1988 play about the poet and playwright Christopher Marlowe (author of the genre classic "Doctor Faustus" - about a man who sold his soul to the Devil) and his day job as a secret agent for the Crown. Francis has a background in military intelligence and the security industry, and has now been to 108 science fiction conventions. He hopes that these facts will dispel those nasty rumors about him being “normal”.

Ernest Hogan

Ernest's novels, Smoking Mirror Blues, Cortez On Jupiter and High Aztech, are still getting great reviews. He's had short fiction in ANALOG, AMAZING STORIES, SCIENCE FICTION AGE, SEMIOTEXT(E) SF, and many other publications. "Hindenburg's Vimana Joyride" can be read online at DAYBREAK MAGAZINE. "Plan 9 in Outer Space", a collaboration with his wife Emily, is in SPACE HORRORS: FULL-THROTTLE SPACE TALES. And "The Great Mars-A-Go-Go Mexican Standoff" is in TALES OF THE TALISMAN. "Radiation is Groovy, Kill the Pigs" in 2020 VISIONS edited by Rick Novy. "Doctora Xilbalba's Datura Enema" is online in Rudy Rucker's FLURB. "Death and Dancing in New Las Vegas" will be appearing soon in ANALOG. And this just in - "Guerrilla Mural of a Siren's Song" (that was expanded into his novel Cortez On Jupiter) will be reprinted in Marty Halpern's ALIEN CONTACT anthology. His blog includes other culture war activities can be tracked on my Chicanonautica postings at La Bloga. He's comforting himself through these troubled times by watching weird cartoons and bullfights online.

Rick Holderman

Rick is a Master Falconer with 20 years working with birds of prey. He retired from the Air Force after 24 years, 1 month, and 21 days, protecting and defending the Constitution of the United States from all enemies, foreign and domestic, especially the freedom of speech allowing left leaning writers, pundits and politicians to trash the values he defended. He writes extensively in Falconry and in that niche market is an international best seller.

P. J. Hultstrand

Patti Hultstrand has been writing since the 7th grade when her English teacher took an active interest in her poetry and short story writing. She became hooked when one of her short stories was published in the local library sci-fi magazine. Her first love became science-fiction when she was introduced to the works of Ray Bradbury. Fandom bit her when she actually met the man behind the works in 1987, at a special engagement speech in Phoenix, Arizona. She had taken many of those writing tips and life examples to apply in her everyday life. "Never stop to edit, just keep writing until you're done, then go back and edit, and edit, and edit again until you're satisfied."Patti has been applying some writing in almost everything she has done from that time forward. Now writing as PJ Hultstrand, she has four published novels which are time-travel romances, and has written many articles for various mediums. With her long career of 22 years in graphic design and publishing, Patti has an accolade of four catalogs, twelve program books, four magazine titles, and over 60 books. She has been the Managing Editor of the long-standing, Arizona grown speculative fiction newspaper, ConNotations NewsZine. This year, Patti has moved her experience to a regional fan/convention publication, The WOD Newspaper.

Donald Jacques

Donald Jacques is currently the Executive VP, and a past president of the Moon Society of Phoenix, and spearheading multiple projects exploring technologies for the colonization of space. Donald is owner of Wiz Kidz, International, a web design and hosting company, Weavers of Dreams dot com, an author tools website, serves as President of Az Publishing Services, a Book Publishing firm, and is the author of four books.

Zachary Jernigan

Zachary Jernigan is a 32-year-old, quarter-Hungarian, bald male. He has lived in Northern Arizona, with occasional forays into the wetter and colder world, since 1990. His favorite activities include: listening to 70's-00's punk and post-punk music, cooking delicious and often unhealthy foods, riding human-powered vehicles, talking and/or arguing about religion, and watching sitcoms. During his rare periods of productivity, he writes science fiction and fantasy. NO RETURN, his first novel, comes out March 5th, 2013 from Night Shade Books. His short stories have appeared in a variety of places, including ASIMOV'S SCIENCE FICTION, CROSSED GENRES, and ESCAPE POD. Please visit him at zacharyjernigan.com.

Greg Lundberg

By day, Greg Lundberg manages a small defense engineering and manufacturing firm in Phoenix, AZ. By night, he writes fiction and non-fiction. Greg is the author of two books: a science fiction novel, "Metamorphosis," published in March 2011 and available from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, and the iBookstore; and "How To Publish An Ebook For Under $350," published in March 2012 and available from Amazon. Both works can be purchased in ebook or trade cover format.For fun, Greg plays an occasional round of golf and pilots Cirrus SR22s when he has both the time and money.

Jack Mangan

Jack Mangan is an author, podcaster, musician, father, etc., born in New Jersey, but now residing in Arizona. His novel, "Spherical Tomi", was among the first wave of podcast fiction releases, and was the first number one title at Podiobooks.com. His fiction and non-fiction writings have appeared in numerous online, print, and podcast venues, including such prestigious outlets as Michael A. Stackpole's Chain Story, Tales from the Ministry, Interzone Magazine,Podthology: The Pod Complex, Theme and Variations, 2020 Visions, Variant Frequencies, and Tales of the Talisman - - in addition to independently-produced audio productions of his work at Wander Radio, Variant Frequencies, and Beam Me Up Radio. His Deadpan Podcast has enjoyed a dedicated following since 2006. More info about Jack Mangan and his work can be found on his website.

Bob Nelson

In 1994, Bob co-founded Anthology literary magazine with writer J.A. Giunta. The magazine would run for ten years and print a wide variety of up and coming writers. Also in 1994, Bob (started the Essenzaslam Poetry Slam, which runs to this day as the longest running poetry slam in the Southwest. In 1999, Bob founded Spokenworld.com (now Brick Cave Audio), a pioneer internet radio station focusing on spoken word programming.In 2008, Bob founded Brick Cave Media, a media microglomerate (his home office) for the crazy film, book and audio ideas that his friends dream up. In 2011, BCM released it's first full length feature film, Sacrifice. Sacrifice was shown on the opening night of the 2011 Phoenix Comicon. BCM has also published The first book of the Ascension series by fantasy author J.A. Giunta and in 2012, will publish six additional titles, release a new film Yellowstone Sunset, and release 5 new albums of material.

G. David Nordley

G. David Nordley is the pen name of Gerald David Nordley, an author and astronautical engineer. A retired Air Force officer, he has extensive experience in spacecraft systems operations, engineering, and testing as well as research in advanced spacecraft propulsion. As an author he is a past Hugo and nebula award nominee as well as a four-time winner of the Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact annual "AnLab" reader's poll. His latest novel is To Climb a Flat Mountain, from Variationspublishing.com. A pair of short stories should be released this year; "Haumea" in the Extreme Planets anthology and "The Fountain" in Asimov's. He lives in Sunnyvale, CA, with his wife, a retired Apple Computer programmer. His website is www.gdnordley.com.

Rick Novy

Rick Novy lives in Scottsdale, Arizona. Holding degrees in physics, mathematics, and engineering, he has flown satellites, helped develop surgical implants, and worked with various integrated circuits and sensors. He is now a freelance writer and an avid aquarist, having kept nearly 40 different species and breeding eleven species to date. He has a soft spot for livebearers and killifishes. Related work has been published in "Livebearers" and "WetWebMedia Online Maazine."Rick started writing seriously in the summer of 2004. In 2005, he attended Orson Scott Card's Literary Boot Camp. Since then, his fiction has appeared in dozens of venues both online and print. His novels, Neanderthal Swan Song, Rigel Kentaurus, and Fishpunk are available at most major online retailers. Learn more at www.ricknovy.com.

Nick Pace

Nick Pace of Nick Pace Entertainment's (www.nickpe.com) most recent project is a Pirate card game called "Raiding Parties" that utilizes artwork done by Don Maitz (who is the creator of the Captain Morgan Spiced Rum logo). Growing up in many countries such as Korea, Russia, Japan, and Canada, he is the only child to a loving family of overseas school teachers.With all that childhood traveling, Pace has taken a great interest in trying to get back out on the road after residing in AZ since the start of college, 6 years ago. A website he has created about the lifestyle is www.vacilandos.com. Pace is excited to start attending various festivals and conventions around the world, in an effort to help promote Raiding Parties and to live the wanderlust lifestyle.

Jeff Perryman

A Twenty-year veteran of the gaming industry, Jeff brings outstanding experience, along with an infectious enthusiasm for his work (and a walking frame and ear trumpet, for he is venerable and aged).He began his career in digital games in 1992 at Bethesda Softworks. There Jeff worked as an artist/animator on games such as "The Terminator: 2029" and "The Elder Scrolls: Arena". He continued his experience at NorthStar Studios, the first developer in the U.S. for the Playstation I. Finding his way to Texas, Jeff joined 3DO-Austin where he worked for several years as a lead artist/animator and later worked at Big Sky Interactive building and designing levels for games such as "Jimmy Neutron Boy Genius" and "SpongeBob Squarepants: Revenge of the Flying Dutchman".Wanting to give back to the industry, Jeff became one of the founding faculty at The Guildhall at SMU where he, and other industry veterans, taught masters level classes, his being in Level Design; the first Masters degree ever offered in this field. After spending five years teaching and creating some of the best Level Designers in the industry, he decided to move forward with his career again and joined the ranks at Superstition Studios working on an unannounced project.Now Jeff has once again donned the artist's floppy hat and smock to serve as Angry Limes lead artist and animator.

Gary B. Phillips

Gary B. Phillips is a horror, science fiction, and fantasy writer. He is currently working on a YA Horror novel along with numerous short stories. His work has been published in Stories in the Ether, Lacuna, and Interstellar Fiction, and is forthcoming in Daily Science Fiction and the Another 100 Horrors anthology. He lives in Arizona with his wife, two daughters, three cats, and four chickens. He has no plans to shave his beard until the novel is done.

Ryan Quackenbush

Ryan Quackenbush is a Phoenix based freelance illustrator and matte painter for the sci-fi comedy web seires "Voyage Trekkers." A student of emmy winning special effects supervisor David Stipes, Ryan is also matte painting for local projects "Mantecoza" and "Space Rangers." Aside for doing assorted illustration work and designs for local valley projects, Ryan is also the artist behind the comic book "Heroic" written by Glen Curren. He has been published in Image Comics and has exhibited work in local shows.

David B. Riley

David B. Riley lives near Vail, Colorado, where he works in the hotel business. When not doing that, he's busy with a lot of literary endeavors. He is the author of over 100 short stories, poems and articles. He also edits Science Fiction Trails, a small press fiction magazine focusing on science fiction and the Wild West . David is the author of four novels and has edited six anthologies. He is an active member of the Horror Writers Association. There is also a recent collection of his short stories out called Flying Saucer Stories.

JoAnna Senger

For someone who never wanted to be anything but a writer, JoAnna Senger took her time. JoAnna was born and raised in the Kansas City area. With a day job full of facts and figures, JoAnna took refuge in murder mysteries and horror novels at the end of the day.Barbara Custer, Publisher, Night to Dawn Magazines and Books, has published a number of JoAnna's short stories including the Bodies Day and Night series (about a vampire run athletic club) and The Pet Door series (about a portal to some other world for pets and ... some unimaginables).She has one son and two stepsons, each with children of their own. Sometimes, life is beautiful.

Brian Sheriff

Brian Sheriff is a Visual Effects Artist currently working in the Phoenix area. He is originally from Amarillo, Texas. Growing up he was a curious child, taking apart devices and putting them back together, sometimes with them not working the way they use to. He switched his curiousness over to computers and computer software.As time went on and Brian learned how to draw, design, write, and create objects and environments, lead him to earning a degree in Game Design at Collins College. Working in the game industry didn’t provide the excitement he was looking for, and went back to find his true purpose, visual effects and motion graphics at the Art Institute of Phoenix.Thanks to that school and teachers like David Stipes, Mr. Sheriff has had the opportunity to work on three productions in the valley as a visual effects supervisor and compositor. Working on sets for "Voyage Trekkers", "Mantecoza", and "Space Rangers" have given him the opportunities to expand his mind and skills only real world experience can create.He has learned much in his time, but still has a long road ahead of him. He hopes to continue to work in the media industry and keep creating effects and environments that people of all ages can enjoy. When Brian isn't working on classes or projects; he enjoys reading, writing, video games, and movies of any kind.

Chet Shupe

Chet Shupe's professional background is in Electronics Engineering. As a young engineer never did he imagine he would someday be developing a thesis that addresses sociological issues. At some point at mid career however, he was inspired to apply his background in control theory to the human condition. Out of this has come a unique perspective addressing the perplexing issues that increasingly face us, including, among other things, our lack of intimacy and the discussion of utopian theories. Chet has applied his experience and knowledge in his book, "Eden: Regaining our Spiritual Freedom".

Sharon Skinner

SHARON SKINNER grew up in a small town in northern California where she spent most of her time reading books, making up plays, and choreographing her own musicals (when she wasn’t busy climbing trees and playing baseball). She has been writing stories since fourth grade, filling page after page with fantastical creatures, aliens, monsters and, of course, heroes. She loves reading, drawing, arts and crafts, sewing, and costume-making (especially Steampunk). She lives in Arizona with her husband and four lovable cats. Her website is www.sharonskinner.com.

T L Smith

T.L. Smith was born in Louisiana, but calls Phoenix, Arizona home, between bouts of wanderlust. Even a stint in the U.S. Air Force as a radar specialist brought her back to the desert. Her time in the service taught her to appreciate the military culture and ever-changing technologies, giving life to the Science Fictions she loves so much. Her debut novelette, “The Thing Down the Road”, is a dark Science Fiction/Horror available through Musa Publishing. She can be reached through her website.

Ken St. Andre

In 1975 Ken rebelled against the earliest version of Dungeons and Dragons and vowed to create his own fantasy game that would make more sense and be playable with just 6-sided dice. He did it, too. And so was born Tunnels and Trolls, the second fantasy role-playing game in America, but the first to actually be copyrighted with the Library of Congress. Ken went on to be one of the pioneers of the fantasy role-playing movement. His games include Tunnels and Trolls (Flying Buffalo, Inc.), Stormbringer (Chaosium), and Wasteland (Electronic Arts). For the last several years he has been writing stories and novels set in his own fantasy world—the Trollworld of the Tunnels and Trolls game system. Rose of Stormgaard is his third and longest book so far. Previous short novels include Dragon Child: Just a Thief from Khazan, and Griffin Feathers. Find them if you can! Currently Ken is working on Deluxe Tunnels and Trolls, offered as a Kickstarter project and funded triumphantly. He hopes to have it finished by summer, and to make it the best and most complete edition of Tunnels and Trolls yet.

David Stipes

David Stipes is a filmmaker, two time Emmy-winning visual effects supervisor, artist and educator working in Phoenix, Arizona. For over thirty years David worked on scores of commercials, T.V and film projects. His television credits include "Star Trek: The Next Generation", "Star Trek: Voyager", "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine", "Battlestar Galactica" (the original), "V" and "V: The Final Battle", "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century", and the feature films "The Ice Pirates" and "Real Genius". He is currently Visual Effects Producer on the sci-fi comedy web series "Voyage Trekkers" and a full time instructor The Art Institute of Phoenix.

Leigh Strother-Vien

Francis Hamit's editor, cheerleader

David Lee Summers

David Lee Summers is the author of seven novels and over one hundred short stories and poems. His writing spans a wide range of the imaginative from science fiction to fantasy to horror. David's novels include The Solar Sea, which was selected as a Flamingnet Young Adult Top Choice, Vampires of the Scarlet Order, which tells the story of a band of vampire mercenaries who fight evil, and Owl Dance, which is a wild west steampunk adventure. His short stories and poems have appeared in such magazines and anthologies as Realms of Fantasy, Cemetery Dance, Six-Guns Straight From Hell, and Apocalypse 13. In 2010, he was nominated for the Science Fiction Poetry Association's Rhysling Award and he currently serves as the SFPA's vice president. In addition to writing, David edits the quarterly science fiction and fantasy magazine Tales of the Talisman and has edited two science fiction anthologies, Space Pirates and Space Horrors. When not working with the written word, David operates telescopes at Kitt Peak National Observatory. Learn more about David at davidleesummers.com

Gary Swaty

Gary Swaty has been attending Science Fiction Conventions since the early 1970s. The first convention he worked was IquanaCon II, the 1978 Phoenix WorldCon. He worked Info Desk, Security and did supply purchase runs during the Con. After that Gary confined himself to helping with Set-Up and Tear-Down at CopperCon and LepreCon until the 1990s. Sometime in the mid-nineties he was asked to be Filk Liaison to Phoenix Area Conventions for the Phoenix Filk Circle. He has been responsible for obtaining Filk GoHs and scheduling Filk Events at CopperCon and LepreCon since then. He handled Filk at Westercon 57/ConKopelli in Litchfield, Arizona in 2004. He has run Registration for HexaCon, World Horror and World Fantasy. He worked Ops at DarkCon 1 and was a General Henchman at AniZonas 1 and 2 and ran registration at AniZona 3. He was Chairman of HexaCon 16 in 2006 and Chairman of CopperCon 28. He was Committee for Filk at FiestaCon/Westercon 62. He also helped administatively at RandomCon in July of 2010.

He handled Filk at CopperCon 30 in September of 2010, LepreCon 36 May 2011, CopperCon 31 in September 2011 and at LepreCon 37 in April of 2012. He did the Pre-Con Filk Preparation for CopperCon 33 which he could not attend.He was Staff for Things Musical at MythosCon in 2011.

Vaughn Truede

Vaughn Treude is a science fiction writer whose novels reflect his interest in political and social issues. His major influences are the masters such as Asimov, Heinlein, and Dick, as well as more recent writers such as Neal Stephenson and Ken MacLeod. Treude's first book, Centrifugal Force, draws on his years of experience as a software consultant. Published in late 2012, it is the story of a group of computer hackers and fugitives who take desperate action to save America from a tyrannical government. His current project, Fidelio's Automata, is due to be released sometime in late 2013. Set in 1901, it is an alternate history in which a gay Cuban engineer and a cowboy turned Quaker team up to oppose a disastrous war.

Tom Tuerff

Tom Tuerff is a Valley-based marketing and advertising writer by day and a humorous singer-songwriter by night. His two CDs have been featured on such national radio programs as "The Dr. Demento Show" and NPR's "Midnight Special." Tom is also currently co-host of the popular Valley burlesque review, "Romantasy Cabaret," where he writes and performs comedy skits with his wife, Janice. He has been attending Arizona SF cons on and off for over 30 years. He is also a performer on (Leprecon 39's Filk GOH) Nancy Freeman's "Stardust County" album, a fantasy/filk/folk opera.

Randall Whitlock

Randall Whitlock is a geologist by training and a costumer by inclination. His research specialties include meteorites and Arizona environmental geology. His costuming interests run to medieval/renaissance, science fiction, practical stitchery and a wee bit of steampunk. Randall publishes the “Randwulf’s” line of sewing patterns on his web site at www.moirandalls.com and serves as newsletter editor and webmonster for the Southwest Costumers Guild (www.southwestcostumersguild.org). Randall also serves as president of the Central Arizona Speculative Fiction Society and leads the second-Tuesday-of-the-month CASFS Book Social discussions at Samurai Comics in Phoenix (www.meetup.com/Science-Fiction-Book-Club/).

David Williams

Dr. David A. Williams is an Associate Research Professor in the School of Earth and Space Exploration at Arizona State University (ASU), Tempe, Arizona. Dr. Williams is the Director of the Ronald Greeley Center for Planetary Studies, the NASA Regional Planetary Image Facility (RPIF) at ASU. He is also the Director of the NASA Planetary Aeolian Laboratory at the Ames Research Center in California. David currently performs research in volcanology and planetarygeology, with a focus on planetary mapping, geochemical, and remote sensing studies. His research has included computer modeling of seismic wave propagation through planetary interiors, visible and near-infrared spectroscopy of the lunar surface, planetary geologic mapping of the satellites of Jupiter, Mars and Vesta, computer modeling of the physical and geochemical evolution of lava flows in a variety of planetary environments, and petrologic study of lavasamples from Mount St Helens. He was a student affiliate with NASA’s Magellan Mission to Venus and a postdoctoral research associate with NASA’s Galileo Mission at Jupiter. He is currently a Co-Investigator on the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) experiment on the European Space Agency’s Mars Express orbiter mission, and he is also currently serving as a Participating Scientist on NASA’s Dawn Mission at asteroid Vesta. David was the 2010-2011 Chair of the Planetary Geology Division of the Geological Society of America, has served onseveral NASA committees including the 2007 Jovian System Observer Science Definition Team, and served a 5-year term (2008-2013) as a steering committee member of the NASA Outer Planets Assessment Group.

T. M. Williams

TM Williams lives in Scottsdale, Arizona, with her husband, their little boy, and their two crazy dogs. She spends her days hanging out with her son and nights getting lost in books, whether it's reading them or writing them. Her journey to becoming a writer happened by accident, when a single song inspired an entire story about a woman named Carter. Besides books, her passions include her business endeavors, salsa dancing, the arts, eating fabulous foods and laughs with her handsome husband, and tormenting her best friend any free chance she gets. She's looking forward to a long road as a writer and all the fun twists it will surely bring.

Matthew Yenkala

Matthew Yenkala is a writer, filmmaker, performer, promoter and business owner who has been involved in Phoenix-area fandom since Westercon 1988, right up through the current Leprecon and PCC. He is well-known for his many years running ROCKY HORROR in the Valley, as well as being the former owner of the late, great Chandler Cinemas, where many events, including Don't Stop The Serenity, the International Sci Fi/Horror Film Festival, and the Arizona premiere of REPO: THE GENETIC OPERA were hosted in its all too brief time. Presently he splits his time between his native Phoenix and Hollywood, CA, writing (articles and screenplays), continuing to grow his GENUINE LOVE PROMOTIONS business, and plotting to take over the world (via a number of as-yet-unrevealed projects). He also has catlike reflexes, the strength of ten men, and was raised by poodles.