Con*Stellation XXVII: Cassiopeia

October 17-19, 2008 in Huntsville, Alabama

Guests!

We have a great lineup of guests this year! The Guest of Honor will be author Diane Duane. Our Artist Guest of Honor will be cartoonist Bill Holbrook. The Master of Ceremonies will be author Mike Resnick. Our special guests will be Peter Morwood, and Laura Resnick. Also expected to attend are Hugo nominated editor Lou Anders, author Julie Cochrane, author William Drinkard, author Allan Gilbreath, author and scientist Les Johnson, author Stephanie Osborn, author and publisher Bill Snodgrass, and author and scientist Dr. Travis S. "Doc" Taylor. There will be a special performance by Jeff Ugly Shoes and the Cemetery Surfers. Check in often for more info and updates! To view info about each of our guests, click a link to the right.

As you can see, many of the Con*Stellation guests are authors. You'll find, however, that our guests can't really fit into a single category. Not only has our Guest of Honor, Diane Duane, written best-selling and award winning novels, including some set in the Star Trek™ universe, she has also written many scripts for both live-action and animated TV series, as well as work in comics and computer games. Bill Holbrook, our Artist Guest of Honor, is a well known comics artist and author who is quite experienced in both the print and web comics world. Mike Resnick, our Master of Ceremonies, is a prolific author who has written more for more print mediums than anyone may know. He has written novels and short stories, as well as articles for fan publications.

And that is just the beginning! Click any link to a guest biography on the right and you'll find out about each of our guests!

Diane Duane - Guest of Honor

Diane Duane has been a writer of science fiction, fantasy, TV and film for more than twenty-five years. Besides the 1980's creation of the Young Wizards fantasy series for which she's best known, the "Middle Kingdoms" epic fantasy series, and numerous stand-alone fantasy or science fiction novels, her career has included extensive work in the Star Trek™ universe, and many scripts for live-action and animated TV series on both sides of the Atlantic, as well as work in comics and computer games. She has spent a considerable amount of time on the New York Times Bestseller List and has picked up various awards and award nominations here and there. She lives in County Wicklow, in Ireland, with her husband of twenty years, the screenwriter and novelist Peter Morwood. Find out more about Diane Duane by visiting her website.

Bill Holbrook - Artist Guest of Honor

Bill Holbrook is a prolific American comic strip & webcomic author and artist. He is a 1980 graduate of Auburn University. Holbrook draws three strips:

He says that every week he writes the story line for the next three weeks for one of his strips and draws the next three weeks' worth of strips for another. Find out more about Huntsville native Bill Holbrook by visiting this website where you can read Kevin & Kell as well as blogs from Bill.

Mike Resnick - Master of Cermonies

Locus, the trade journal of science fiction, keeps a list of the winners of major science fiction awards on its web page. Mike Resnick is now the leading award winner for short fiction among all science fiction writers, living or dead.

Mike was born on March 5, 1942. He sold his first article in 1957, his first short story in 1959, and his first book in 1962. He attended the University of Chicago from 1959 through 1961, won 3 letters on the fencing team, and met and married Carol. Their daughter, Laura, was born in 1962, and has since become a writer herself, winning 2 awards for her romance novels and the 1993 Campbell Award for Best New Science Fiction Writer. Mike and Carol discovered science fiction fandom in 1962, attended their first Worldcon in 1963, and 81 sf books into his career, Mike still considers himself a fan and frequently contributes articles to fanzines. He and Carol appeared in five Worldcon masquerades in the 1970s in costumes that she created, and won four of them. Mike labored anonymously but profitably from 1964 through 1976, selling more than 200 novels, 300 short stories and 2,000 articles, almost all of them under pseudonyms, most of them in the "adult" field. He edited 7 different tabloid newspapers and a pair of men's magazines, as well.

In 1968 Mike and Carol became serious breeders and exhibitors of collies, a pursuit they continued through 1981. (Mike is still an AKC-licensed collie judge.) During that time they bred and/or exhibited 27 champion collies, and were the country's leading breeders and exhibitors during various years along the way. This led them to purchase the Briarwood Pet Motel in Cincinnati in 1976. It was the country's second-largest luxury boarding and grooming establishment, and they worked full-time at it for the next few years. By 1980 the kennel was being run by a staff of 21, and Mike was free to return to his first love, science fiction, albeit at a far slower pace that his previous writing. They sold the kennel in 1993. Mike's first novel in this "second career" was THE SOUL EATER, which was followed shortly by BIRTHRIGHT: THE BOOK OF MAN, WALPURGIS III, the 4-book TALES OF THE GALACTIC MIDWAY series, THE BRANCH, the 4-book TALES OF THE VELVET COMET series, and ADVENTURES, all from Signet. His breakthrough novel was the international bestseller SANTIAGO, published by Tor in 1986. Tor has since published STALKING THE UNICORN, THE DARK LADY, IVORY, SECOND CONTACT, PARADISE, PURGATORY, INFERNO, the Double BWANA/BULLY!, and the collection, WILL THE LAST PERSON TO LEAVE THE PLANET PLEASE SHUT OFF THE SUN? His most recent Tor releases were A MIRACLE OF RARE DESIGN, A HUNGER IN THE SOUL, THE OUTPOST, and the THE RETURN OF SANTIAGO.

Even at his reduced rate, Mike is too prolific for one publisher, and in the 1990s Ace published SOOTHSAYER, ORACLE and PROPHET, Questar published LUCIFER JONES, Bantam brought out the Locusbestselling trilogy of THE WIDOWMAKER, THE WIDOWMAKER REBORN, and THE WIDOWMAKER UNLEASHED, and del Rey published KIRINYAGA: A FABLE OR UTOPIA and LARA CROFT, TOMB RAIDER: THE AMULET OF POWER. He has recently completed A GATHERING OF WIDOWMAKERS for Meisha Merlin, DRAGON AMERICA for Phobos, and LADY WITH AN ALIEN for Watson-Guptill, and is working on STARSHIP: MUTINY for Pyr and THE MOEBIUS TRIP and A CLUB IN MONMARTRE for Watson-Guptill.

Beginning with SHAGGY B.E.M. STORIES in 1988, Mike has also become an anthology editor (and was nominated for a Best Editor Hugo in 1994 and 1995). His list of anthologies in print and in press totals more than 35, and includes ALTERNATE PRESIDENTS, ALTERNATE KENNEDYS, SHERLOCK HOLMES IN ORBIT, BY ANY OTHER FAME, DINOSAUR FANTASTIC, and CHRISTMAS GHOSTS, plus the recent STARS, co-edited with superstar singer Janis Ian.

Mike has always supported the "specialty press", and has numerous books and collections out in limited editions from such diverse publishers as Phantasia Press, Axolotl Press, Misfit Press, Pulphouse Publishing, Wildside Press, Dark Regions Press, NESFA Press, WSFA Press, Obscura Press, Farthest Star, and others. He recently agreed to become the science fiction editor for BenBella Books. Mike was never interested in writing short stories early in his career, producing only 7 between 1976 and 1986. Then something clicked, and he has written and sold more than 140 stories since 1986, and now spends more time on short fiction than on novels. The writing that has brought him the most acclaim thus far in his career is the "Kirinyaga" series, which, with 64 major and minor awards and nominations to date, is the most honored series of stories in the history of science fiction.

He's recently begun writing short non-fiction as well. He sold a 4-part series, "Forgotten Treasures", to The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, and is a regular columnist for Speculations ("Ask Bwana") the SFWA Bulletin ("The Resnick/Malzberg Dialogues"), and wrote a bi-weekly column for the late, lamented GalaxyOnline.com. Mike now edits every issue of Jim Baen's Universe plus contributes an articel to almost every issue, plus he writes at least one article for every issue of Guy Lillian's Hugo-nominated Challenger.

Lou Anders

A 2008/2007 Hugo Award nominee, 2007 Chesley Award nominee and 2006 World Fantasy Award nominee, Lou Anders is the editorial director of Prometheus Books' science fiction imprint Pyr, as well as the anthologies Outside the Box (Wildside Press, January 2001), Live Without a Net (Roc, July 2003), Projections: Science Fiction in Literature & Film (MonkeyBrain, December 2004), FutureShocks (Roc, January 2006), Fast Forward 1 (Pyr, February 2007), and the forthcoming Sideways in Crime (Solaris, June 2008) and Fast Forward 2 (Pyr, October 2008).

William H. Drinkard

William H. Drinkard, an Alabama native, is a life long SF addict and novice SF writer. His main interest is SF novels with realistic alien cultures. In March 2008, Tor Publishing released his first novel, Elom. Elom was praised by David Drake, “Engaging characters in a story told with the feel of a myth passed down by word of mouth.” Drinkard is hard at work on his second novel, Fair Chance, which should be finished by the middle of 2008. For more information about William H. Drinkard, please see his website.

Les Johnson

Les Johnson is a NASA physicist and manager, author, husband and father. By day, he manages the Science Programs and Projects Office for NASA at the George C. Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. In his spare time he writes popular science books and articles, reads science fiction, and fulfills the role of husband and father to his two children. Mr. Johnson has co-authored books on Solar Sails and Living Off the Land in Space. For more information about Les Johnson, please see his website.

Laura Resnick

Laura Resnick was born in Chicago, as were many famous gangsters. When she was a teenager, her family moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, where (according to Mark Twain) everything happens ten years later. Which explains Laura’s relationship with her deadlines.

Having grown up in a writer’s house (she is the daughter of science fiction author Mike Resnick), Laura swore the one career she would never pursue was writing. She’d seen close-up what a godawful lifestyle writing is and how deeply weird most writers become due to years of dealing with pirates, rapists, and thieves (a.k.a. “publishers”). But despite that vow, she somehow wound up writing for a living.

Laura's epic fantasy novels include The White Dragon, which made the "Year's Best" lists of Publishers Weekly and Voya, and The Destroyer Goddess, which Publishers Weekly describes as "a marvel of storytelling." Under the pseudonym Laura Leone, she is the award-winning author of more than a dozen romance novels, including Fever Dreams, which Romantic Times named as a "Top Pick," and Fallen From Grace, which was a finalist for the Romance Writers of America's Rita Award. Laura is also the author of A Blonde In Africa, a non-fiction book about her 8-month journey across the continent. And she has written dozens of columns, articles, essays, and short stories.

Uniting her multi-genre talents in a new project, Laura’s latest book is Disappearing Nightly, a cross-genre novel that combines fantasy, romance, comedy, and mystery; the next book in this series, Doppelgangster, will be published in 2008. Laura's current release is a non-fiction book, Rejection, Romance, & Royalties: The Wacky World of a Working Writer (Jefferson Press, July 2007), a collection of her columns and essays on the craft and business of writing professionally.

In addition to her fiction commitments, Laura is finishing a master's degree in journalism at Ohio University. During 2006, she interned at a news bureau in Jerusalem. She also currently serves as the president of Novelists, Inc., a national organization of professional novelists.

Peter Morwood

Peter Morwood, novelist, screenwriter and recipient of the Polish Silver Cross of Merit, was born in 1956 in Lisburn, Co.Antrim, a town near Belfast in Northern Ireland. He can no longer remember when he first started writing about subjects as diverse as tanks and knights, fighter-planes and pirates, dragons and spaceships, all of which sometimes appeared in the same story. But it was during his attendance at Friends' School, Lisburn, at the tender age of thirteen, that he experienced his first public success in the field of fiction - getting a skilfully forged sick note past his games-master, and so avoiding having to play rugby on a particularly foul November afternoon.

He wrote his first novel at nights while still working for Customs and Excise, but at one point was reprimanded by his immediate superior for writing during his lunch hour and making the others in the office "look lazy." This functionary told Peter that he would never come to anything as a writer, and that he should stop wasting his and the Department's time on "pointless scribbling" and concentrate on being a good civil servant. Under the circumstances, Peter was immensely gratified when his first novel, THE HORSE LORD, was quickly accepted and published to critical acclaim in 1983.

It was soon followed by several sequels (THE DEMON LORD, THE DRAGON LORD and THE WAR LORD'S DOMAIN), resignation from the Civil Service, and marriage to fellow writer Diane Duane. While continuing to work in his particularly vivid and unsettling branch of fantasy with novels like PRINCE IVAN, FIREBIRD, THE GOLDEN HORDE, and the first two "Clan Wars" novels, GREYLADY and WIDOWMAKER, Peter also turned his attention to science fiction and collaborative writing, both in print and on the screen.

Peter has written numerous short stories for science fiction anthologies, both solo and with Diane: with her he also wrote the "Space Cops" series of SF novels, and a Star Trek® novel, THE ROMULAN WAY. He returned to the Star Trek universe with a solo Star Trek novel, RULES OF ENGAGEMENT, which spent some weeks on the New York Times Best-Seller List. He then went on to write screenplays for such animated series as BKN Productions' THE LOST CONTINENT, Warner Brothers' BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES, Walt Disney's GARGOYLES, and Fox's SPIDERMAN UNLIMITED, as well as comic scripts for Epic Comics' FUSION. His most recent screen work is the screenplay for the miniseries / feature film RING OF THE NIBELUNGS, in collaboration with Diane.

Present novel-writing projects include the first in a military/political science fiction series, DEEPFLEET; the first in an historical fantasy series, BLOOD'S RUBY; and a stand-alone epic fantasy, THE CLOVEN HOOF. He is also outlining the third in his "Clan Wars" fantasy series and his fifth "Horse Lord" novel. Also in the works are screenplays for a miniseries and another feature film.

After a brief tenure in Los Angeles and Philadelphia, Peter relocated with Diane to County Wicklow in the Republic of Ireland, where they now reside. Peter consults both formally and informally on weapons and armour, specialising in the Middle Ages, and recently provided English translations for battle reconstructions on display in Torriano Castle, Italy. Other hobbies include travelling (preferably by rail) all over Europe; the cooking and eating of interesting ethnic food (the genteel ferocity of Peter's curries is famous, as is his recipe for pork with chillies and chocolate); adding to his collection of books on military history, arms and armour, folklore and food & drink; studying the fighting techniques of the European medieval and Renaissance periods: and collecting high-quality replica medieval weapons.

Julie Cochrane

Julie Cochrane was born in Ohio and grew up in New York and South Carolina, with a lot of time in Alabama along the way. She wrote her first stories at five years old, and made her first attempts at novels in junior high and high school when she had more appetite for science fiction and fantasy than money for books.

Initially studying Chemistry at Georgia Tech, she got her bachelors in Psychology and promptly decided that Computer Science really would have been a better way to earn a living. She spent a number of years as an Oracle Database Programmer and Usenet Addict. After leaving the cubicle jungle to homeschool her daughter, she discovered more time to write fiction and the wonderful world of Baen's Bar. She lives in the Atlanta Metro area with her husband, their daughter, one very enthusiastic German Shepherd, and the gerbil custodian of the secrets of the universe.

Read more about Julie Cochrane at her website.

Dr. Travis S. "Doc" Taylor

by John Ringo

The following appreciation, as they are usually called, was written about Dr. Travis S. "Doc" Taylor for the Con*Stellation XXVI (2007) convention program guide. It is reproduced with the permission of the author.

Once upon a time Jim Baen (may he rest in peace) sent me a very cool manuscript he was considering for publication called Warp Speed. Naif, a trifle rough in places, it nonetheless captured something I hadn't seen in a long time in SF: that sensawunda that was found only in the Golden Age stories. That sense that space was cool and all that us monkeys had to do to reach the stars was get a grip and go for it. All of that grafted to the most bleeding edge physics and cosmology. Doc Smith's allotropic iron became cassimer energy and flubells. Wormholes and fluctuation fields and super-tornadoes, Oh My! There was even a female, red-headed, hot-tempered, almost-assuredly-virginal, Air Force colonel who was a physicist and an astronaut. You can't get more Heinlein girl than that.

I later met the author at LibertyCon and discovered that the whole damned thing was a "Peggy Sue". Doc Travis is the main character, and should be, because Doc has all the requirements of a main character in a good-old-fashioned pot-boiler SF story. Multiple degrees, background in astronomy and other hard sciences, worked for various agencies over the years, but mountain bikes, does karate, is a private pilot and SCUBA diver. Doc is a character from Golden Age SF. He's even done extensive professional research on FTL drive systems. He's Doc Savage with a drawl, Buckaroo Banzai but plays better rock-and-roll guitar.

I'll admit to having used him as a character myownself. Characters like that don't grow on trees, you know.

Since then Doc and I have collaborated on several novels. He's managed to get some aspects of quantum physics to almost stick in my head, and I hope that I've managed to smooth out his writing. It's a testament to Jim's foresight and love of the genre that he perceived the central fact of Travis Taylor, Ph.D.: That he loves the stars and thus cannot fear the night.

Over the years Doc and I have become good friends and I cannot imagine a better Guest of Honor for Con*Stellation than a good-ole-boy from Huntsville who coon hunts and wears a ballcap, yet has become a leading light in science fiction and in the space industry.

Next step: Warp Speed!

--- John Ringo

Read all about Dr. Travis S. "Doc" Taylor and his work in both science and science fiction at his website.

Bill Snodgrass

Bill Snodgrass began writing during his high school days. In the winter of 2003, however, he embarked on the journey of becoming a published fiction author. Bill writes fantasy, science fiction, and other fiction. Bill is Executive Director for Double-Edged Publishing and is part of the editorial teams for several of its magazines. He is also an assistant professor at Visible School, and a partner in a web development company, Web-Net Solutions. In his spare time, he pursues another graduate degree from Memphis Theological Seminary. You can read more about Bill Snodgrass here.

Stephanie Osborn

Stephanie Osborn is a former payload flight controller, a veteran of over twenty years of working in the civilian space program, as well as various military space defense programs. Stephanie is currently retired from space work. She now happily "passes it forward," tutoring math and science to students in the Huntsville area, from elementary through college, while writing science fiction mysteries based on her knowledge, experience, and travels. Her current novel in work at Twilight Times Books is Burnout, a science fiction mystery about a Space Shuttle disaster that turns out to be no accident. You can read more about Stephanie Osborn here.

Allan Gilbreath

Mr. Gilbreath is an author of horror novels and short stories. He is an active member of the Horror Writers Association. You can read more about Allan Gilbreath here.


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