We love to bring talented members of our community in to do interesting panels and events! Our 2019 panelists appear below.

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A.M. Burns

A.M. Burns lives in the Colorado Rockies with his partner, several dogs, cats, horses, and birds. When he’s not writing, he’s often fixing fences, splitting wood, hiking in the mountains, or flying his hawks. He is a former president of the Colorado Springs Fiction Writers Group. You can find out more about A.M. and his writing at www.amburns.com, or follow him on twitter @am_burns

Aaron Michael Ritchey

Writing as Aaron Michael Ritchey, he is the author of numerous short stories, and he’s appeared in several anthologies alongside such authors as David Farland and Brandon Sanderson. He’s also the author of seven well-received young adult novels including the award-winning Long Live the Suicide King. His epic sci-fi western series, The Juniper Wars, is available now through Kevin J. Anderson’s WordFire Press. The first three books have all been nominated for InD’Tale Magazine’s YA Speculative Fiction novel of the year. Writing as Aaron Crash, he is the co-author of War God’s Mantle: Ascension (Shadow Alley Press) and other over-the-top sci-fi/fantasy novels. He’s been an Amazon All-Star and his books have broken into Amazon’s Top 100. He lives in Colorado with his wife and two daughters but frequently travels to writers conferences and comic cons across the U.S. selling books at Bard’s Tower, meeting fans, and collecting pen names.

Aaron Spriggs

Scientist by day, rock star by night. Aaron is the poor man’s Buckaroo Banzai. Aaron goes to Burning Man every summer, and usually a band tour (not always in the USA). Aaron loves to talk about insects & spiders and helped send spiders into space. As an author, he has published poetry, short stories, and has one novel to his name.

Alastair Mayer

Born in London, England, Alastair Mayer was dragged to Canada by his family as a young boy. Years later, he escaped to Colorado, having spent the intervening years working with computers, writing for Byte magazine, running L5/NSS chapters, learning to scuba dive and to fly planes. The Canadian Army also taught him how to operate various firearms as well as radio and teletype equipment.

He started selling his science fiction stories in 2009, first to small anthologies and webzines, breaking into Analog SF&F in 2010

with enough subsequent sales to qualify for MAFIA (Members Appear Frequently in Analog). His short fiction has taken a back burner lately, with so-far seven novels in his T-Space (terraformed space) universe, which originated with the story “Stone Age” in Analog. Somewhere in there he fathered and helped raise three now-adult children.

He has since escaped from his day job at a network satellite company and now writes full time.

Ana MacDonell

Ana was born and raised in Spain, and came here 25 years ago. She is been a congoer for +30 years. She is a pirate, alien, trekkie, walking dead, shieldmaiden, companion, Sith, Stark, Gryffindor, Pikachu, Asha’man, mystery lover, and all around pun lover.

Andarta

Andarta is a professional psychic who performs tarot and oracle card readings, past life regressions, shamanic journey work, and Reiki healing. Andarta is an Empath who can sense people’s feelings, as well as a Clairvoyant and Clairaudient, to hear and see any messages that people need to know. She is a Reiki Master who heals people with Reiki energy, as well as teaches Reiki classes. She also is a high priestess who performs legal handfastings and weddings, and is a Priestess of Avalon, who helps the land and the people to heal. She is a Druid, and a member of the Order of Bards, Ovates, and Druids (OBOD). One of her crafts is to create anointing oils, which are used for ritual purposes, simple candle magic, and with some oils, can be used as a perfume and bath oil. Andarta makes envelope spell kits that are used for various types of spells. She also performs various rituals and spells, such as house cleansings and protection spells. She performs Reiki healing to humans and animals.

Andrew Hallam

Andrew Hallam earned his PhD at the University of Denver. His dissertation was an analysis of the interplay between myth and allegory in in The Lord of the Rings. He is a scholar of sci-fi and fantasy, Star Wars, superheroes, and Beowulf.

Ashley M Vasquez

Ashley M Vasquez is a Denver based writer, movie fan, and all-around nerd who loves to play in the world of make-believe. She is currently published in 4 anthologies: Adventures in Zookeeping, Just Desserts, Wit and Whimsy, and Shatter your Image.

Betsy Dornbusch

Betsy Dornbusch is a fantasy writer from Colorado. The Books of the Seven Eyes trilogy was released in English speaking territories in 2016 with a German release following. Her fifth novel, The Silver Scar, released October 2018. Her short fiction has appeared in many magazines and anthologies, most recently Blood Business and the forthcoming Straight Outa Deadwood. She regularly speaks at fan conventions, and she’s the sole proprietor of Sex Scenes at Starbucks http://betsydornbusch.com where you can believe most of what she writes. In her free time, she herds teenagers (like cats, only they talk back), snowboards, air jams at punk rock concerts, and follows Denver sports teams.

Beverly Warner

Beverly Warner of Charmedseed Costuming has created dozens of costumes in various genres, played Society for Creative Anachronism, run costume contests & judged costuming events like WorldCon, Nan Desu Kan & Denver Comic Con. When not living the cosplay life, Beverly advocates for maternal mental health and mortality & writes Star Wars fanfic.

Bill Farrand

Dr. Bill Farrand is a Planetary Geologist with the Space Science Institute with a lifelong interest in space exploration (and science fiction!). He has a PhD in the Geosciences from the University of Arizona and has worked on numerous government and commercial remote sensing programs. He currently is a member of the Mars Exploration Rover science team and is involved in other Mars and Earth science research programs. Dr. Farrand is the Director of the Space Science Institute’s Center for Mars Science and is the first author of over 20 peer-reviewed publications as well as a number of popular science articles. He is an avid rock climber and a big fan of dogs.

Billy Van Ark

Billy has been helping out behind the scenes at Denver conventions since early 2013. Contributing part tech support, part treasurer, part teacher of chainmaille, he does his best to make everything run smoothly.

Blair Bartlett / Alternate Realities Studio

Blair has been doing photography of one type or another since the 4th grade. After trying his hand at various different forms, he decided to stop selling his services as a photographer and instead concentrate on photography as an art form. He has been showing his work in various local convention art shows for the past 5 years, and this year has started adding other forms of art to his skills.

Blair does all his own matting, and also photographs his wife Mitzi’s sculptures. In 2018 he joined with a group of fellow creatives to form the Convention Artists Guild in Colorado. Blair lives in Colorado with his lovely wife of 30+ years, Mitzi, and their feline overlords Koda and Sparo.

Bonnie Lass Cosplay

Bonnie Lass Cosplay is swimming in as a mermaid to share her love of folklore and mythical sea creatures from around the world.

Brenna Deutchman

Whimsical Whiskers creates treasured friends. Unique dragons made with love and care. Don’t forget to dress your dragon with a variety of accessories!

Bret Carter

Bret Carter is an English teacher. He was a guest lecturer at Westercon 2018, where he presented two lectures: “How Science is Killing Fiction” and “Future Tense: How to Make Fairy Tales into Science Fiction.” His fiction has appeared in publications such as Future Visions Vol. III, Perihelion, Mysterion, and Boston Literary Magazine. In 2008, he had the opportunity to work with the author Orson Scott Card at Card’s Writer’s Bootcamp in San Diego. If you count coffee shops, Bret is an amateur musician and songwriter. He has written over thirty plays several of which have been produced at the Broomfield Community Theater. He lives in Denver with his wife, two daughters, and a baby who is due in November—and he’s having a great time.

Brian Ziman

Brian Ziman has studied Applied Physics, Computer Science, and Linguistics. For fun, he has translated the Tales of Beedle the Bard back into Ancient Runes. Brian is a board member of Shiny Garden, the non-profit organization that hosts Myths and Legends Con.

Calvin Studzinski

The website of Calvin Studzinski contains his current projects and interesting articles on minutia of pop culture.

Carolyn Kay

Carolyn Kay enjoys writing about an eclectic variety of things, and imagining what normally inanimate objects would do if given life. She is currently collaborating with award-winning illustrator, Chaz Kemp, on the World of Ashelon, a series of novellas set in a steampunk fantasy world. When she’s not writing, she can be seen dancing with Batavia, a tribal fusion belly dance troupe, knitting or playing with her beloved cats. You can catch up on her latest shenanigans at carolynkayauthor.com.

Catherine Winters

Catherine Winters writes urban fantasy, women’s fiction, and literary fiction. She is an undefeated four-time Chopped champion and a former model. When she’s not writing or cooking, she enjoys teaching French to cats. At least one of these things is actually true.

Charles Orndorff

Both Charles and Tauni Orndorff are Colorado natives that started creating costumes for Halloween shortly after getting married. They have been costuming for over 20 years and have participated in several costume events to include MileHiCon, Opusfest, Starfest, World Con (Denvention), and Bubonicon in New Mexico. They have earned best in show as well as other awards in a many of these venues. Most recently awarded Best In Show Workmanship at Archon in St Louis. For them costuming is a great hobby that they both can enjoy together, additionally they love to share their knowledge and experience. Recently they have worked with a local theater group and independent film makers for their costumes and effects. Also makers in residence at the pikes peak library district in colorado springs.

Chaz Kemp

Bram Stoker Award finalist Chaz Kemp embraces an Art Nouveau style that incorporates vibrancy and color into fantasy and steampunk art in a way that is rarely seen. As an illustrator, the influence of Alphonse Mucha is evident in his award-winning work that combines the artistic energy of the Roaring 20s with the untamed diversity of steampunk and fantasy.

Chaz Kemp is a featured artist in steampunk legend Paul Roland’s book “Steampunk: Back to the Future with the New Victorians”. Amazing Stories magazine featured him in the November 2014 issue, and his work has been seen in other publications such as Steampunk Magazine, Savage Insider and Aurealis. Over the years Chaz has created art for game publishers, sci-fi/fantasy conventions and several book covers including the anthology “Cthulhu Passant” by Travis Heerman & the “Oilman’s Daughter” by Local Hero Press. In 2012, he illustrated his first graphic novel entitled “Behind These Eyes” written by Guy Anthony De Marco and Peter J. Wacks. The graphic novel was a Bram Stoker Award finalist.

His latest pieces have been featured in the work that he and his wife, award-winning author, Carolyn Kay created for the World of Ashelon. These include two novellas entitled, “Dien Vek” and “Sikevra” in which he did the cover and interior art. He recently finished his three-year project called the Ashelon Oracle Deck; a 52-card divination deck featuring characters that appear in the World of Ashelon. You can find his work at www.ChazKemp.com, buy the Ashelon Oracle Deck here: http://bit.ly/AshelonOracle or become his patron at: www.Patreon.com/ChazKemp

Chris “Gilly” Gilbert

Gilly is a space scientist and futurist, working at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics and the Fiske Planetarium in Boulder. His research is focused on better understanding measurements of the Sun. He is also very interested in science outreach, and is very excited about future technology.

Clockwork Rose Cosplay

Magnus Rose is an award winning cosplay craftsman and disability inclusion advocate for the con community. With 16 years of sewing experience and a passion for creativity, they specialize is original designs and budget oriented creation.

Colin Heintze

Colin Heintze is a Colorado native whose developing young mind was warped by the likes of Ray Harryhausen, Frank Frazetta, Neil Gaiman, and Joe Bob Briggs. After a brief post-college career in East Asia and the Middle East, he returned to Colorado to become a civil servant.

Dana Bell

Dana Bell enjoys writing regional Colorado tales and has lived in various other places, which serve as settings for her tales. Some star the many cats she’s been owned by. Her works include her novels Winter Awakening and God’s Gift, a cat vampire short story series, and various others. She has edited several anthologies including Different Dragons, Different Dragons 2, Supernatural Colorado, Love ‘em, Shoot ‘em and Extinct? For fun, Dana builds and decorates doll houses and colors in her coloring books.

David J. Peterson

David J. Peterson is a language creator, writer, and author. He is best known for creating the Dothraki and Valyrian languages for HBO’s Game of Thrones, but has also created languages for the CW’s The 100, Syfy’s Defiance, Marvel’s Thor: The Dark World, Marvel’s Doctor Strange, Netflix’s Bright, and many others. He has BA’s in English and Linguistics from UC Berkeley (2003) and an MA in Linguistics from UC San Diego (2005). He’s the author of Living Language Dothraki and The Art of Language Invention, both from Penguin Random House, and he has a number of new projects on the horizon.

Erin Card

Erin is an award-winning aficionado and advocate of all things costume and couture. A seamstress, designer, and costumier 20 years in the making, she loves to bring her wealth of knowledge to the table and convince those in her presence, and not, to come to the shiny, make-it-yourself side (we have brownies).

Erin Peterson

Gregory R. Hyde

Gregory Hyde is a Writers of the Future Honorable Mention and Finalist. He has seven honorable mentions in the St. Martin’s Years Best Horror and Fantasy anthology, edited by Ellen Datlow. His short story collections include: A Pound of Ezra, Ezra by the Pound, and Four from the Fringe. Wu Li is scheduled to be released this summer. The latter two can be found on Amazon.

Greg’s a small town Michigan native and a Catholic school survivor He spent 20 years as a Mental Health professional before changing careers to telecommunications. He has two kids, Gareth and Elektra, and a cat named Turquoise.

Guro/Sifu Raul DeLay

Raul is a huge extended Star Wars universe fan. His favorite author is Steven Erickson. He spends all available free time study and teaching Muay Thai,boxing, JKD, Silat, and Kali.

Guy Anthony De Marco

Guy Anthony De Marco is a speculative fiction author; a finalist for the Scribe and Bram Stoker Awards; winner of the HWA Silver Hammer Award; a disabled US Navy veteran, a prolific short story and flash fiction crafter; a novelist and poet; an invisible man with superhero powers; a game writer; and a coffee addict. One of these is false.

A writer since 1977, Guy is a member of the following organizations: SFWA, RWA, ITW, WWA, SFPA, IAMTW, ASCAP, MWG, SWG, HWA. He hopes to collect the rest of the letters of the alphabet one day. Additional information can be found at Wikipedia and GuyAnthonyDeMarco.com.

HopeFully Cosplay

Hope began cosplaying in 2013 and mermaiding in 2016. She tends to create cosplays from existing pieces, and placed first in the Creative Division of the costume contest at AnomalyCon 2017 with Steampunk Firestar. Hope enjoys cosplaying lesser-known characters, such as Clawhauser from Zootopia, or variations/mash-ups of popular characters, such as Jedi Jolteon. She uses cosplay as a way to express passion for her favorite characters, and loves to bring smiles to others with both cosplay and mermaiding.

IA Mullin

IA Mullin is a native Colorado author. She attended Colorado State University and Front Range Community College, obtaining her Bachelor’s degree in Zoology and her associate’s degree in Veterinary Technology. She loves working with all kinds of animals, especially birds. In addition to reading and writing, her favorite pastimes include crochet, needle work, camping, and bird watching. In 2010, she left the veterinary field to raise her family. She began to write in earnest and in 2016 finished her first manuscript, which she started in high school, 19 years earlier. She has since founded Avio Publishing, LLC and is excited to have entered the ranks of independent publishers and authors.

Ian Brazee-Cannon

At the dawn of time there was a crack in reality. Through this tear in time and space emerged beings of unfathomable power bent on shaping the destiny of the universe towards their sinister goals. Great battles that would drive any lesser beings insane raged on as reality took shape during this chaotic period. In the end the universe was spared by the self destructive nature of these beings, fighting each other into nonexistence until none were left.

Uncounted ages later, on a small planet that often is unnoticed by the rest of the universe, Ian Brazee-Cannon was born. A story teller from a young age, he became a writer, film maker, game designer and podcaster. Over a dozen of his short stories have seen publication. ‘Divided States of America,”The Fifth Di…’, ‘Wondrous Web Worlds’, ‘Forgotten Worlds’, ‘Tales of the Talisman’ and various anthologies have featured his works. You can hear him discuss all manner of subjects as a founder and regular co-hosts on the Amateur Skeptics.

Ian Thomas Healy

Ian Thomas Healy is an author of superhero and speculative fiction and the creator of the Just Cause Universe of superhero novels. His publishing company, Local Hero Press, focuses upon high-quality crossgenre speculative fiction.

J.D. Harpley

J.D. Harpley is Astral Scribe, a dedicated word ingester and producer. A past laden with science fiction books led her to follow in the footsteps of those she found great to create vivid, brain-tantalizing works of her own.

Project Manager at a game studio by day, she spends her weekends and nights furiously typing or gaming.

Her fiction is inspired by authors such as Stephen King, Mary Shelley, Orson Scott Card, Harry Harrison, and Robert Heinlein. Expect elements of horror, lengthy and delectable action scenes, and a heroine sporting some kind of deadly weapon–in no need of a hero to save her.

J.D. Harrison

J.D. Harrison is a lifelong horsewoman, often found in the uncommonly intelligent company of her horse, Smoke. She believes in soul satisfying relationships with animals, conversation with genuine people, supporting her friends and reading voraciously.

With over a decade of experience squiring at a championship tourney, and a long term love affair with all things medieval and renaissance, she brings to life the culture of jousters and their unorthodox lifestyle. Chivalry isn’t dead, it’s just in hiding.

Gallant Hearts- giving falling hard a whole new impact!

J.L. Forrest

J.L. Forrest is the author of short fiction and novels for the likes of Analog Science Fiction and Fact, Crossed Genres, the Robot Cowgirl Press, and others. His fiction cross hard science, dark fantasy, adventure, and literature.

His most recent book, GODS OF THE NEW MOONS. It is the second in the SONGS AT THE END OF THE WORLD, available through Amazon and booksellers everywhere. He is also the author of MINUSCULE TRUTH, DELICATE MINISTRATIONS, and REQUIES DAWN.

Traveling the world, Forrest studies the cultures, histories, myths, ideas, and hopes of the places and people he encounters. The best fictions, he believes, reflect back upon ourselves and our culture the deeper truths of our own existence. Fiction has the power to transform us.

A nomad of sorts, Forrest has often scribbled from the snowy Rocky Mountains, the misty forests of the Pacific Northwest, the ancient landscapes of Vikings, and the Eternal City of Roma, Italia

James Van Pelt

James Van Pelt teaches high school English in western Colorado part time and writes the rest of the time. His fiction has made numerous appearances in most of the major science fiction and fantasy magazines. He has been a finalist for a Nebula Award, the Sturgeon Award, the Colorado Blue Spruce Young Adult Book Award, and been reprinted in many year’s best collections. His first novel, Summer of the Apocalypse, was released in 2006 and was named a Best Book for Young Adults by the American Library Association. His third collection of stories, The Radio Magician and Other Stories, received the Colorado Book Award in 2010. His latest collection, The Experience Arcade and Other Stories debuted at the World Fantasy Convention last year. He blogs at http://jamesvanpelt.com

Jan Scott-Frazier

Jan is a public speaker, storyteller, multimedia artist, and art/creativity educator who has been an invited industry guest speaker at over 250 anime, sci-fi , and comics conventions. She is Executive Director and Founder of non-profit Voices For and does education and outreach for the LGBTQI community.

Jason Henry Evans

Jason Henry Evans always wanted to be a writer, he just didn’t know it. His short stories and essays have been published in several different anthologies. His debut novel, The Gallowglass, was released July 10th. Stop buy the author nook to meet Jason! Social Media Contact: Twitter: @evans_writer, Facebook Author Page: Jason Henry Evans Website: www.jasonhenryevans.com

Jason Philip

Jason Philip is (yet another) aspiring writer. He is one of the co-administrators of the Facebook group “Dino Punk”, and assists in the fossil preparation lab at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science.

Jessica Lauren Gabarron

Jessica Lauren Gabarron, Slytherin, movie quoter, and book enthusiast, once failed creative writing in high school, but that hasn’t stopped her from writing and getting published. She’s owned by a cat and a dog that watch over the house while she’s at her day job.

Jim Humble

James Humble lives in Colorado and attends or mails artwork to shows across the country. He paints mostly digitally and sculpts in clay. James’ art is mythically themed and was heavily influenced by a three year stay in Europe. You can see his work online at: www.humblestudios.com

Jo Fontana

Jo Fontana lives in Denver, Colorado with her daughter and their cats. She is a member of the Colorado Authors’ League and the author of the Turtle Monkey series. She has written an anthology under the pen name of A.J. Hallows titled Approaching Darkness. The author won first place for her short story “The Plant Lady” at the Quid Novi Festival, 2014. She just completed her first novel, The Egg Quest.

Karina Scott

Karina started Freedom Inside as a means to help her friends and family reach their dreams. Now she is growing it to help as many people as possible find the freedom they need to live their lives.

KatOfDiamonds

KatOfDiamonds has been cosplaying since 2012 and has been streaming cosplay progress on Twitch since Late July 2018! She loves talking cosplay and troubleshooting as she is self taught in most things. Cosplay mashups are her favorite to create! Check out her cosplays or reach out on her social media @KatOfDiamonds. (Photograph by Marcus Taylor Photography)

Ken Lizzi

Ken Lizzi lives in Oregon with his wife, daughter, books, home brewing gear, and antique weapons. And a cat. When he’s not lawyering he writes fiction. All right, he writes more fiction. His novels “Reunion” and “Under Strange Suns” are available from Twilight Times Books. “Thick As Thieves” is available from Alternate Universe Press. He still dislikes writing about himself in the third person.

Kevin Frost

Once upon a time, Kevin Frost was a shellback. Then he contracted a mortal terror of Davy Jones. Now he sails the sagebrush seas of northern New Mexico along side a fleet of earthships. He is the lead editor of the retropunk short story zine Curiosities and was a Parsec Award finalist for the companion podcast, Gallery of Curiosities, in 2018 in the Best Speculative Fiction Story: Short Form (Small Cast) category. When the rural wireless goes down, he resorts to managing the slush pile from a lonely crossroads diner, and has only occasional bouts of vertigo from living so far inland.

Kim Klimek

Dr Klimek is currently working on a textbook, The Global Middle Ages, a comparative work surrounding medieval concepts on a world stage. Her other projects include the use of graphic novels in history classrooms, and PTSD and medieval Crusade veteran

Kimberly Keane

Kimberly lives a secret life of writing speculative fiction, playing with large data sets, and answering questions for her adult children like: “How do taxes work,” “What’s a copay,” and “Should I opt out of my 401k plan?”

She longs for the days she spent an inordinate amount of time in coffee and tea shops, and sneaks out to do just that when the opportunity arises.

Lee Moody

Leslie Hudson

Leslie Hudson sings modern retellings of women’s stories from ancient times to the present. Drawing on myth, folklore, spiritual and cultural traditions, pop culture, family history and a lifetime of personal growth, she gives multi-genred voice to the synaesthetic spectrum of divinities and denizens, mortals and mysteries, the queens and querents who tell Her Stories.

Now a regularly touring musician across North America (venturing to Europe in 2018), Hudson is bringing her unique brand of powerful piano-centric performance to communities, venues and events supporting women’s voices and the strength of diversity.

Find out more at http://lesliehudson.com .

Lorelei Suzanne

Losing Lara

Losing Lara is an avid YouTuber, posting weekly videos ranging from nerd-themed songs to convention vlogs. She has been playing guitar and writing music for almost 4 years. Her songs highlight the fandoms of Harry Potter, Firefly, Captain America, and more. She has participated in the Yes All Witches Wizard Rock tour and performed at WhimsyCon 2018, MALCon 2017, and GeekyCon 2016. She just finished her first book, a LGBTQ sci-fi novel, Prism. If you are interested in getting it published please consider supported her Patreon.

Lou J Berger

Lou J Berger is an Active member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) and has published short stories in Galaxy’s Edge Magazine, Daily Science Fiction, and a handful of anthologies. Recently, he was a Finalist in the Writers of the Future contest. He can be found on Facebook and on Twitter (@LouJBerger), and his website is: http://www.LouJBerger.com His website is: www.LouJBerger.com.

Mario Acevedo

Mario Acevedo is the author of the bestselling Felix Gomez detective-vampire series and the YA humor thriller, University of Doom. His debut novel, The Nymphos of Rocky Flats, was chosen by Barnes & Noble as one of the best Paranormal Fantasy Novels of the Decade. He contributed short fiction to the anthologies, Nightmares Unhinged, CyberWorld, and Blood Business from Hex Publishing, and You Don’t Have a Clue, from ArtePublico Press. His novel, Good Money Gone, co-authored with Richard Kilborn, won an International Latino Book Award. He edited the anthology, Found, for Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers, which won a Colorado Book Award. He edited the anthology Blood & Gasoline from Hex Publishers. His most recent novel is book 7 of his Felix Gomez adventures, Sex Slaves of Shark Island. Mario serves on the writing faculty of the Regis University Mile-High MFA program and Lighthouse Writers Workshops. He lives and writes in Denver, Colorado.

Master Victoria Wagner

Master Wagner is a 4th degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do and twenty-two year old owner of Kicks Martial Arts. She has taught self-defense classes all across the state and has practiced martial arts for 15 years.

Melanie Unruh

Melanie is an artist and maker of decorative and functional pottery, and sartorial arts, ranging from historical to fantasy, Viking to Victorian, and hats to spats. Melanie uses juxtapositions between mechanical and organic motifs, metal against fabric, and things hidden and revealed, and Asian influences in her work.

One of the instigators in the Denver Victorian & Steampunk Society, Melanie is also Vice-President of the Arapahoe Ceramics Guild, and a founding member of the Convention Artists Guild. Melanie lives in the Denver area. Her work is shown at Guild and Convention shows in the Denver area several times a year.

Melissa Koons

Melissa Koons is a former English teacher who now works as a writer and editor for Spine Press + Post author services. She still contributes to education as a tutor, and academic writing. She has one novel published, multiple short stories, and has ghostwritten over 60 novellas. Her novel, “Orion’s Honor”, academic workbook “Writing a Critical Essay”, and horror anthology “Aberration” are available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and her own website Write Illusion. Her short story “Reconciling the Dragon” is featured in Wordfire Press’ “Dragon Writers” anthology available on Amazon and other platforms with a new short story featured in their “Undercurrents” anthology.

Mermaid Ara

Mermaid Ara is swimming in from her home in Neverland to join her mermaids friends at MALcon! She can’t wait to learn more about human culture and share mermaid folklore!

Michelle Reeves

Michelle Reeves has been in the Denver Sci-fi community for over 10 years. As a mother of 3, she knows the importance of including the next generation of geeks in conventions and strives to create fun and innovative panels for all ages and abilities.

Mike (mikeyzart) Kloepfer

Mike (mikeyzart) Kloepfer is an award-winning artist with a career over 3 decades. He has drawn over 1,000 professional portraits and 12,000 caricatures for collectors worldwide.

Mike is a founding member of the Convention Artists Guild (CO Chapter)

Mike Cervantes

Mike Cervantes is a graduate of creative writing and communication from The University of Texas at El Paso. He is a humorist, a cartoonist, a steampunk enthusiast, a regular contributor to Denver’s many local conventions, and just a swell person besides. He writes and publishes stories featuring his steampunk hero characters ‘The Scarlet Derby and Midnight Jay’ regularly on his website, TheScarletDerby.com.

Mitzi Bartlett

Mitzi Bartlett is a local polymer clay artist who specializes in small, whimsical figurines of a fantasy and science fiction nature. She has been focused on this for the last fifteen years, and hopes to keep doing so for as long as life allows.

Mr. Harmel

Terry Harmel has been practicing and teaching martial arts for almost 30 years. He has been a sc-fi fan for closer to 50, but has only recently rediscovered the convention scene.

Nikki Ebright

Executive Director for Shiny Garden and convention chair for Myths and Legends Con.

Nonir Amicitia

Nonir Amicitia has never really fit into molds or boxes. They claim labels such as queer, nerd, Heathen, and Social Justice Cleric, but none of those completely describe them. As a lifelong outcast, they know how hard it can be to not fit in, and they hope Wandering Jotun can help provide a little bit of help to others who feel like they don’t belong. Through my art and writing, I advocate for mental health awareness, human rights, and inclusion of all marginalized identities.

Olivia Wylie

Olivia Wylie is a blogger, comic artist, professional horticulturist and illustrator whose works revolve around the themes of self-determination, freedom and the natural world throughout folklore and history. She is currently focused on the projects ‘Smoke And Roses: A Steampunk Language of Flowers’ and Parmeshen, the steampunk webcomic she serves as artist. She owns the small landscaping company Leafing Out Professional Gardening centered in downtown Denver.

Her comic work can be viewed at http://parmeshen.webcomic.ws/

Her horticultural work can be viewed at

http://www.leafingoutgardening.com/

Pamela M. Nihiser

Pamela M. Nihiser is a horror/scifi author based in Colorado Springs. She’s the author of, ‘Bathory’s Vanity, Jim the Food Stamp Zombie’ and many other short stories. When she’s not writing she’s lead singer in the band “Punch Clock Heroes.”

Paul Lell

Sci-fi/Fantasy author Paul Lell currently resides in Westminster, Colorado with his family; a wife, two sons, a giant dog, and two equally giant cats. Paul writes daily, reads everything he can, and works on refining his stories, and games at all hours. Paul has ten novels, numerous short stories, and three going on five RPGs in print today.

Pearl the Mermaid

Mermaid Pearl is a super friendly and curious mer-person who loves to guard the fishes of the 7 seas. She loves to visit sharks down in the depths and the lovely manatees, she also enjoys coming up to the surface to give children shells that she collects at the bottom of the oceans floor. she tends to be easily excited when talking about her home and the creatures she loves to be around. She also loves her fellow mermaids and enjoys putting on shows with them. She also loves being silly and making terrible mer-puns that are just fin-tastic!

Peri Charlifu

Peri Charlifu was born in 1962 in Alamosa Colorado, his Father was an art teacher and his Mother was a social worker. His Mother is now retired and living in Aurora Colorado. He grew up in Denver and Aurora Colorado, studying art from an early age and continuing to this day. He attended Metropolitan State Collage and studied Art, Psychology and combined his studies using Art as therapy. He now does Art full time.

Peri has been selling his work for 34 years, and has been selling almost exclusively in the science fiction convention market for almost 11 years. He teaches workshops and seminars in Pottery, sculpture and theory on a regular basis. He is Guild master for Art and Artisans and a founding member of the Stoneleaf potters guild.

Although an accomplished and proficient graphic artist, Peri’s first love is pottery. He is highly skilled in both Wheel thrown and hand-built work. He mixes all his own stains and glazes, and has developed an underglaze technique that he uses in 90%

Pink Pitcher

Pink Pitcher is a seamstress, textile and domestic historian, and artist (among other titles). She enjoys costuming and cosplaying in a variety of genres. She is currently publishing her very first comic – Root & Branch. She would really love to talk about neolithic spinning techniques, with pretty much anyone.

R. Alan Brooks

R. Alan Brooks teaches graphic novel writing at Regis University, and is the writer/creator of “The Burning Metronome” graphic novel, a supernatural murder mystery with social commentary. He also hosts the popular “MotherF**ker In A Cape” comics podcast, which focuses on marginalized members of the geek world, and he writes The Colorado Sun’s weekly comic, “What’d I Miss?”, as well as educational children’s comic books for Pop Culture Classroom (the non-profit that stages Denver Pop Culture Con). In addition, Alan is a musician and noted stage host, regularly emceeing celebrated events, like the DINKys Award Show and the main stage at Arise Music Festival.

Richard E. Friesen

Richard just loves telling stories, and has found novels to be an ideal length-anything under 75,000 words is too short for him. His first fantasy series, The Dreaming King Saga is complete. All 5 books are available now: The Tower of Dreams, Oathbound Sisters, An Uncivil War, and On Black Mesa, and The Gates of Heaven. He also has several short stories available online (and one free one on his website). He is now working on a humorous superhero story where the hero’s power is to fall asleep, and take you into his dreams. This year at Malcon will be the release of Prodigy’s Loss, a new space opera novella.

Robin Baylor

Robin is a veteran (notable: extensive training on how NOT to blow things up) , an engineer with an aerospace company (now retired) and a musician who can harmonize at will and play almost anything with strings to some extent (except for mandolins). She has lived in 4 timezones, and is fascinated with tech past, present and future. Currently living in Colorado has given her a chance to attend local fiber fesivals and seriously up her game on knitting, crocheting, spinning, and other fiber arts.

Formerly of the group N-Strings Attached with now-husband Fred Capp and singer Lynn Gold, she has written a tidy collection of song parodies and is featured on 3 collections (alas, all out of print) .

Lives with husband, two near-adult daughters, a cat. (Not a cat person)

Rubiee Tallyn Hayes

Rubiee is a renaissance Pooka who sings, writes, blends geeky loose-leaf teas, and creates functional pottery. It is said that her mischievous grin, and bright laugh herald her arrival. She owns Dryad Tea and Dryad Pottery, where her art is available for purchase. Find her in the vendor area or online at www.dryadtea.com!

Sam Knight

Sam Knight has been Distribution Manager for WordFire Press, Senior Editor for Villainous Press, and has curated and edited four anthologies. He is the author of six children’s books, four short story collections, three novels, and over three dozen short stories, including two media tie-ins co-authored with Kevin J. Anderson.

A stay-at-home father, Sam attempts to be a full-time writer, but there are only so many hours left in a day after kids. Once upon a time, he was known to quote books the way some people quote movies, but now he claims having a family has made him forgetful, as a survival adaptation. He can be found at SamKnight.com and contacted at Sam@samknight.com

Sarin Tatroe (Sariochan Arts)

Sarin is a local artist living in Colorado. She’s a native Coloradoan and of course, doesn’t know how to ski. Her art style is a mix of realism and anime/manga style. Sarin loves to use most art mediums with Copic markers being one of her favorites.

Scott Crosson

Scott Crosson is a long time pod caster and armature comedian. His newest project is a Super Hero review channel.

Shullamuth Ballinger

Local novelist, literature teacher, and amateur Joycean. Ballinger’s work brings mythology out of folklore and into modern contexts. She takes the larger than life characters in the Greek or Celtic pantheons and applies the mythology’s perspective to contemporary challenges.

Stace Johnson

Stace Johnson is a Colorado writer, musician, and IT guy. He is a copy editor for the Inquisitr website, has published fiction, poetry, and non-fiction articles, and has performed geeky music sets at various writing-related conventions and conferences. For more information, please visit http://lytspeed.com/.

Stant Litore

Stant Litore is the author of Ansible, The Running of the Tyrannosaurs, The Zombie Bible, and Dante’s Heart. Besides science fiction and fantasy, he has written the writers’ toolkits Write Worlds Your Readers Won’t Forget and Write Characters Your Readers Won’t Forget, as well as Lives of Unstoppable Hope and Lives of Unforgetting, and has been featured in Jeff Vandermeer’s Wonderbook: An Illustrated Guide to Creating Imaginative Fiction. He has served as a developmental editor for Westmarch Publishing and holds a Ph.D. in English. He lives in Aurora, Colorado with his wife and three children and is currently at work on his next novel.

Tanya Cook

Tanya Cook is a sociology professor at the Community College of Aurora near Denver, Colorado. After defending her dissertation “Exploring Childbirth Outcomes: An Analysis of the Interactional Components of Pregnancy, Labor, and Birth,” Cook began researching fandom-based charity work. Her current project, Always Keep Nerd Fighting: Fandoms as Social Movements, investigates how and why fans are becoming more charitable and politically engaged. She also works as an inclusive excellence facilitator. Her research interests include social movements, sociological theory, popular culture, and science and technology studies. When she’s not trying to find new ways to use popular culture and fandom to democratize the classroom, you can probably find her at comic con.

Tauni Orndorff

Both Tauni and Charles Orndorff are Colorado natives that started creating costumes for Halloween shortly after getting married. They have been costuming for over 20 years and have participated in several costume events to include MileHiCon, Opusfest, Starfest, World Con (Denvention), and Bubonicon in New Mexico. They have earned best in show as well as other awards in a many of these venues. Most recently awarded Best In Show Workmanship at Archon in St Louis. For them costuming is a great hobby that they both can enjoy together, additionally they love to share their knowledge and experience. Recently they have worked with a local theater group and independent film makers for their costumes and effects. They are also Makers in Residence with the Pikes Peak Library.

Todd A. Walls

Todd A. Walls is a writer as the result of a truce. The stories that keep clamoring for attention will calmly await their turn, as long as Todd keeps writing them down. In childhood, authors like C. S. Lewis and Piers Anthony inspired him to exhaust the juvenile section of his public library and to beg his teachers for more books to read.

Today, with the calm and quiet of Colorado’s eastern plains outside—and the majestic Rocky Mountains marking the horizon—Todd’s characters speak to him of their dreams and accomplishments, along with their failures and shame. Todd’s imagination is a conduit to the end of time, riding the many failures of humanity to their inevitable outcomes, and embracing the heroic efforts of those who refuse such a fate.

Tomas O’Dreams

Liam Bootzin has been entertaining adults and children with his stories since 1987.

Vennessa Robertson

Vennessa Robertson is a Colorado author and is active in the writing and historic reenactment communities. She taught high school with dueling degrees in both English and History in Colorado and Alaska until a traumatic brain injury in 2009. Now, she lives in rural Colorado. When she is not writing or homeschooling her two small children she is managing their ever-growing large and small animal rescue ranch. www.vrobertsononline.com

Veronica R. Calisto

Veronica R. Calisto spends her days massaging data, weekends massaging people, and the spaces between at the mercy of the superheroes and giant spiders in her head. She is the author of several books including Diary of a Mad Black Witch and the first two in the SparkleTits Chronicles series.

Her demons can be yours too, with a purchase or two.

Vivian Caethe

When not fighting our robot overlords or tinkering with Tarot spreads, Vivian Caethe writes weird fiction, science fiction, fantasy, quirky nonfiction and everything in between. She also crafts, crochets, and goes on long quests to find the perfect knitting pattern. She lives in Colorado with a super villain cat. She can be found as a writer at VivianCaethe.com and as an editor at WordsMadeBeautiful.net.

Vonie’ Stillson aka Lady Vo

Vonie’is a lifelong comic book reader and sci-fi fan, she advocates geek culture as positive for mental health, leads the American Dance Therapy Association’s Multicultural and Diversity Group for geek culture and is Captain of Airship Iron Opal, a NOCO based all ages social steampunk group that stresses that without Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathmatics there would be no steampunk. She recieved a MA in Dance Movement Therapy (DMT) & Counseling from Antioch, a BA in DMT from Naropa, and has 10+ years Certified Aquatic Rehabilitation Specialist.

She is the ADTA’s former Southern Chapter President and current Rocky Mountain Chapter President. She’s presented DMT at mental health conferences, aquatics conferences, community-based workshops and pop culture conventions, as well as introduced other professionals to the wonderful world of fandoms.