Guest List by Announcement Date

Tim Bradstreet

Artist and illustrator noted for Shadowrun, Vampire The Masquerade, Hellblazer, The Punisher, Star Trek, Hellraiser, Jennifer Blood, Bad Planet, The Shadow, Pestilence, and many more.  His TV/film work includes Blade II, The Punisher, The Walking Dead, The Expanse, and Creepshow. Tim is currently working on Cinematica and Fire Outlook.

Meredith Garretson

Meredith Garretson can currently be seen in the leading role of Kate Hawthorne in Resident Alien. You can also see her portray Ali MacGraw in The Offer. She is also a member of the DC Comics universe, having portrayed Delores Winters on Stargirl on the CW.

Devan Henderson

Devan Henderson is a specialty costumer for film and tv who works on iconic superhero suits. He is also Co-DM of the live actual play podcast D4, alongside Dustin Fletcher.

Anson Mount

Anson Mount is known for his television roles as Cullen Bohannon in the AMC's series Hell on Wheels, Jim Steele on NBC series Conviction, the Marvel Comics superhero Black Bolt in Marvel's Inhumans, and Captain Christopher Pike in season two of Star Trek: Discovery and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.

Ethan Peck

Actor Ethan Peck is best known for his roles in the movies The Sorcerer's Apprentice and In Time, and the series 10 Things I Hate About You and Star Trek: Discovery. In addition, Peck has lent his voice to Halo 4, Halo 5: Guardians, and Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII.

Cobie Smulders

Cobie Smulders has worked in film, television, stage, and audio narration. Smulders is known for her starring roles as Robin Scherbatsky in How I Met Your Mother, Anne Coulter in American Crime: Impeachment, Simone in High School for Amazon Studios, and most recently Maria Hill in Marvel's series Secret Invasion.

Jamy Ian Swiss

Jamy Ian Swiss is a sleight-of-hand artist, speaker, and author. Television appearances includes The Today Show and The Late, Late Show. Penn and Teller call him, “James Bond with a deck of cards as a pistol!” The New Yorker declared, “Swiss is widely thought to have one of the most masterly sleight-of-hand techniques in the world today.”

Sarah Tomko

Sara Tomko is an actor and CEO of In The Pocket Productions. She is most notably known as Asta Twelvetrees in the hit show Resident Alien. She is an actor, producer, poet, singer, artist, earring maker, thrift store seeker, and mental health advocate. You can find her on Instagram @saratomko19

Alan Tudyk

Multi-dimensional actor Alan Tudyk never fails to surprise us. He made us think in I, Robot, terrified us in Dollhouse, made us love him in Firefly and Serenity, and commiserate with him in Con Man. He is currently starring in Resident Alien. And that only skims the surface.

Alice Wetterlund

Alice Wetterlund is a stand-up comedian and actor who performs regularly at San Francisco's Punchline, LA's Largo, and The Hollywood Improv. You can see Wetterlund in Silicon Valley, People of Earth, and Resident Alien. Her special My Mama is a Human and So Am I is now streaming on Amazon Prime.

Atlanta Swing Orchestra

The Atlanta Swing Orchestra is a group of musicians that really love to play the big band music that gets you tearing up the dance floor! They are dedicated to keeping the Great American Songbook alive by playing tunes from the 30s and 40s to modern classics.

DJ Neon the Glowgobear

DJ Neon the Glowgobear has been the DJ and producer of the Spectrum party for over 10 years running.

Robert Hendrickson

Robert Hendrickson has created artwork for some of the largest brands in entertainment, Star Wars, The Walking Dead, The Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones and more. Clients include, Lucasfilm, Disney, and New Line Cinema. He has produced artwork for over 15 years in the Star Wars Universe seen worldwide.

Dan Jeannotte

Dan Jeannotte is known for portraying Ryan Decker in The Bold Type, James Stuart the Earl of Moray in Reign, Brandon Russell in The Good Witch, and Sam Kirk in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. He also did motion capture and voice performance for Arno Dorian in Assassin's Creed: Unity.

Melissa Navia

She can do a whole lot more than fly the ship! Check out Melissa Navia on Bull, New Amsterdam, or Tower of Silence, before she took on the role of Lt. Erica Ortegas, helmsman of the USS Enterprise.

Babs Olusanmokun

Babs Olusanmokun is a Nigerian-American actor best known for playing Dr. Joseph M'Benga in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (2022–present) and Jamis in Dune (2021) and Dune: Part Two (2024). He also appeared in the video game Max Payne 3 as Serrano, providing both acting and voice content.

DJ Scapegoat

Currently DJing various clubs and events in Glasgow, Scotland, Scapey is an alternative DJ who has been on the go since 1998.

The Faithful Sidekicks

The Faithful Sidekicks are a comedic geek folk-pop/filk duo who write and perform original catchy songs about fandoms, gaming, and technology who won the 2021 Best Performer Pegasus Award. They play fun songs with a ton of heart and a touch of snark for nerds, geeks, and fans of all kinds.

Kathleen O'Shea David

Kathleen O'Shea David started working with puppets at a young age. Along the way she has learned few more skills. Her puppets are in various collections. She is an equity stage manager with an MFA from Yale. She is a published writer and editor of various works.

Chloe Bennet

Chloe Bennet is an American actor, model, and singer. She starred as Daisy Johnson / Quake in the ABC superhero drama series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and voiced Yi in the animated film Abominable and the television series Abominable and the Invisible City.

TC Costello

For over a decade TC Costello has been bringing his Celtic steampunk music to the dive bars, street corners, and festivals of Europe, Asia, and the United States.  The last few years have seen him playing on the streets of Dragon Con, and this year he is thrilled to finally play the stages of the happiest convention on earth.

Brett Dalton

Brett Dalton is an actor best known for playing Grant Ward and Hive in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., as well as Detective Mark Trent in the series Found, and Michael Munroe in the video game Until Dawn. He also provided the voice and motion capture for Freyr in God of War: Ragnarök.

Dallas Liu

Dallas Liu is an American actor who made his acting debut as young Jin Kazama in Tekken. He has gone on to appear in the television series PEN15 as Shuji Ishii-Peters and as Carter in Legendary Dudas. He portrays Prince Zuko in the Netflix series Avatar: The Last Airbender, a live-action remake of the animated series of the same name.

Jared Padalecki

Jared Padalecki is best known for playing the role of Sam Winchester in the TV series Supernatural. He rose to fame after appearing on the television series Gilmore Girls as well as the films New York Minute, Flight of the Phoenix, House of Wax, and Friday the 13th.

Andrew Robinson

Andrew Robinson has painted covers for all the major publishers, illustrating such titles as Batman Detective, Hawkman, Starman, Superman Rebirth, Ironman, Hydra, Star Wars, Black Panther, and The JSA. He is a multi-award winning, NY Times bestselling illustrator for his painted work on The Fifth Beatle.

Lindsay Hays

Dr. Lindsay Hays is the program scientist for the Astrobiology program and Mars Sample Return campaign lead scientist in the Planetary Science Division at NASA Headquarters.

Dustin Fletcher

Dustin Fletcher is a specialty costumer for film and television focusing on the superhero and horror genres and produces high quality Actual Plays with Elder Eye Entertainment.

Kathy Hunter

Kathy Hunter is a fiber artist, painter, costumer, musician, and technical support for the Kurt Hunter Marionettes. She is a seamstress with a great knowledge of fabrics, techniques, and color.

Andy Brown

Andy Brown is a CSC associate cinematographer and award winning director. Brown's vast experience has allowed him to develop a keen eye for creating stunning images and thought-provoking stories.

Raymond Daniel Carr

Raymond Carr is an Atlanta based Jim Henson Company puppeteer who has traveled to every major city in North America and parts of Europe working on multi-million dollar productions.

Cady Coleman

Cady Coleman, a former NASA astronaut who flew twice on the space shuttle and spent six months on the International Space Station, coached Sandra Bullock in Gravity and played a space duet with Jethro Tull. Her book is called Sharing Space: An Astronaut's Guide to Mission, Wonder, and Making Change.

Margaret Downey

Margaret Downey is best known at Dragon Con as the world's only friggatriskaidekaphobia treatment nurse. She developed the character in 1996. Downey has organized and implemented the Skeptics parade for 15 years. She is also a panelist at the Skeptrack and occasionally delivers presentations of interest to the Skeptic community.

Kurt Hunter

Kurtis is known for his innovative solo marionette work. In 2008 he received an UNIMA-USA Citation of Excellence and in 2018 was awarded a grant from the Jim Henson Foundation.

Greg Keyes

Greg Keyes is the author of 30+ novels, from original works to licensed universes including Star Wars, Babylon 5, Pacific Rim, Godzilla, and The Elder Scrolls.

Audrey Martin

Dr. Audrey Martin is a planetary scientist who studies the composition of asteroids and is a collaborator on NASA's Lucy mission. She is also a Walkabout the Galaxy podcast co-host!

Travis Vagn James Nielsen

Educator, entrepreneur, marine biologist, podcaster, and long time D&D nerd. Current DM and producer of Dugongs and Sea Dragons.

ALAN J. PORTER

Alan J. Porter is a writer and podcaster. He has over 30 fiction and non-fiction book publishing credits and hundreds of magazine articles on multiple subjects.

Shadow Girls Cult

Shadow Girls Cult, co-founded in 2018 by Cass Bray and Zane Exactly, is a queer shadow puppetry and projections duo based in Seattle, WA.

RezMonk Walker

Matthew M. Walker (RezMonk) is the community director of Obsidian Brews: A Black Tabletop Experience. Walker, along with Obsidian Brews, has hosted panels and BIPOC gaming spaces at conventions nationwide.

Latoryah Alexander

Latoryah Alexander, known for her role as the puppeteer and voice of Kayla on Sesame Street, performed this year in Sesame Street the Musical at the Center for Puppetry Arts.

Melissa F. Olson

Melissa F. Olson is a novelist and comic book writer. She is best known for her 16 books in the Old World universe and the Project: Cryptid anthology from AHOY.

David Mack

David Mack is an Emmy nominated, New York Times bestselling author and artist of Kabuki, writer of Daredevil, cover artist of Neil Gaiman's American Gods, Jessica Jones, and Fight Club 2. He is the artist on Jessica Jones Netflix opening titles and Captain America: The Winter Soldier film titles.

Merle S Robinson

Retired DoD analyst, Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, and lead designer for National Security Decision Making Game (geopolitical live-action roleplay). Outreach director - Connections USA, Co-founder of Connections Online.

Todd J McCaffrey

New York Times bestselling author Todd J. McCaffrey has collaborated with Anne McCaffrey (his mother) on five Dragonriders of Pern novels and has written three Pern novels on his own.

Garrett Wang

Garrett Wang is best known for his role as Ensign Harry Kim on Star Trek: Voyager. Wang's other work includes Star Trek: Of Gods and Men, Into the West, Demon Island, Star Trek: Voyager Elite Force (game), The Auteur Theory, Hundred Percent, Ivory Tower, Angry Cafe, and Flesh Suitcase.

Ches Cipriano

Ches Cipriano (they/them) is a Filipino, Queer, first-generation American based in Minneapolis. They operate as a community cultivator, producer/organizer, radical joy seeker, and mixed-media collaborator.

Jack Coleman

Jack Coleman is best known for his starring role as Noah Bennet in the series Heroes and Heroes Reborn. Coleman has recurred on the hit CBS show Hawaii Five-0 as well as Scandal, Burn Notice, Criminal Minds, Vampire Diaries, Castle, and The Office, and has performed on Broadway and off Broadway.

Greg Grunberg

Greg Grunberg is known for his role as X-wing pilot Snap Wexley in Star Wars, and roles in Star Trek, A Star is Born, and alongside Al Pacino in the Barry Levinson film Paterno. Additionally, he has held series regular roles on shows Heroes, Castle Rock, Lost, Alias, and Felicity.

Black Sunshine

DJ for the Doctor Who Ball since 2018, Stranger Things prom and Georgia Aquarium since 2019, and the past two years of the Open Casket goth party!

Cruxshadows

One of the most notable dark-wave bands internationally, The Crüxshadows\' motto is \"live, love, be, believe,\" and it serves as a reminder that while The Crüxshadows may write catchy songs, the band has depth that extends beyond the dance floor.

Raspberry Pie

Our act incorporates elements of classical ballet, acrobatics, street dance, and tons of audience participation, all set against a backdrop original nerd-funk music performed by the six piece band.

Vision Video

Goth rock band lead by Dusty Gannon (AKA Goth Dad) that plays music that pays homage to horror with a serious message.

Aurelio Voltaire

Aurelio Voltaire is often described as a modern day renaissance man. He is a singer, performer, author, creator of comic books, films, animation, toys, and home decor.

WilSun

WilSun is a rising electronic music act based in Atlanta, Georgia thought up by Wilson McKay. Recently has had a top ten release on Beatport and currently planning a summer tour.

Rob Allsopp

Robert Allsopp trained in theatre design, prior to working as a costume-prop maker. He has run his own business in London making costumes, props, and puppets for film, theatre, and television for over 30 years. He is known for working on Doctor Who and on Ridley Scott movies .

Danny Trejo

Trejo has starred in dozens of films including Desperado, Heat, the From Dusk Till Dawn series, Con Air, Once Upon a Time in Mexico, the Spy Kids movies, Machete, Machete Kills, the Bad Ass trilogy, Dead Again in Tombstone, and co-starred in Death Race 2, Death Race: Inferno, and more.

Elemental Cosplay

Elemental Cosplay is a scientist IRL and has been a cosplayer for five years. As an award winning cosplayer and conservation biologist, her favorite is Captain Planet.

jake quatt

Jake Quatt is a multidisciplinary artist who is currently illustrating graphic novels with Madhat press, animating for the Science Museum of Minnesota, and puppeteering with Heart of the Beast Theatre.

Gordon Cormier

Gordon Cormier appeared as a recurring role in Stephen King's limited mini series The Stand and has voiced numerous animation roles. Cormier most recently appeared as Aang in the Netflix live action series Avatar: The Last Airbender. When Cormier is not acting, you will more than likely find him at a local skateboard park, or skating around Vancouver streets.

Matt Yang King

Matt Yang King is known for his roles as Appa and Momo in Avatar: The Last Airbender, Liu Kang in Mortal Kombat 1, Marty Mantle on Riverdale, Lutz and Alan Ripple in Pixar's Elemental, and Kerry Eurodyne in Cyberpunk 2077. He has lent his talents to franchises such as The Witcher, GI Joe, Transformers, Batman, Justice League, and Love, Death, and Robots.

DJ Spider

Nerdy, geeky DJ and veteran cosplayer with fingers in filk, goth, 80s, 90s, dance, EBM, industrial, and synthpop, plus whatever else comes along 🙂 #thatdjspider is just about everywhere online.

DJ Phasim

DJ Phasim has been deejaying since his teens and has deejayed at bars and clubs in Toronto, Boston, Richmond, and New Zealand! He has deejayed at various Dragon Con parties since 2018 and provides a mix of current and classic hiphop, house, dance, and remixes to keep you entertained all night!

DJ R. Lane

DJ R. Lane is a tech house and deep house DJ with a focus on remixes of current and classic popular songs bringing good vibes and house music energy. 

Scott G Edgington

Dr. Scott Edgington is a planetary scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. He specializes in atmospheric physics and chemistry of the outer planets and spacecraft operations. He currently works as a science engineering liaison on the Mars Perseverance mission.

II Tone DEF

II Tone DEF is an open format DJ duo designed to bring \'feel good music and vibes\' to the masses. Live mashups and remixes across multi-genres provide the audience with a fresh vibrant experience every time.

Samuel J Lewis, II

Sam Lewis is an actor, poet, vocalist, and recently a puppeteer. In the early 2000s, he found a vintage Black Americana marionette in an attic, which began his puppetry journey.

Nori Noir

Get ready to dance away your last HP to the bass pumping, nostalgia driven, fun fest that is Nori Noir. Original tracks and remixes of some of your favorite games and show tunes, along with some of the best mixes to give you those \"best night of my life\" vibes. Put on your +5 dancing shoes, drink some water, and bring your booty to the dance floor!

The Blibbering Humdingers

Goofy acoustic nerd rock for wizards, witches, gamers, Jedi, hobbits, Time Lords, LARPers, Browncoats, SCAdians, and every manner of hoopy frood. You will be positively gruntled by our non-sequitur nonsense and musical mayhem.

DJ Limit Break

DJ Limit Break is a Twitch partner from Chicago, IL. He usually performs several nights a week at nightclubs within the MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV realm, but he\'s traveled all the way from Eorzea to spin live at Dragon Con again this year! Bring your cactuars and get ready to /beesknees! 

Sarah Frechettist

Sarah Frechette is a touring puppeteer, teaching artist, and stop-motion animation fabricator. She mentored with master puppeteer Albrecht Roser at his studio in Buoch, Germany and has toured internationally.

James C Mulligan

James Mulligan has been a Disney artist for over two decades, with properties featuring everything from the classics to recent favorite Frozen. His design, fine art, and gallery work includes Playboy, Coca-Cola, Fox, Dreamworks, Warner Brothers, the Chuck Jones family, Marvel, DC, Lexus, and the Elvis Presley Estate.

Beth Patterson

With a repertoire ranging from Celtic, singer-songwriter, filk, comedy, and the occasional Rush cover, Beth Patterson has multiple tricks up her sleeve. Armed with her eight-stringed Irish bouzouki and saucy banter, one can expect the unexpected.

Rogue

Rogue is the lead singer, song writer, front-man, and founder of the band the Cruxshadows. With close to 200 song-writing credits, over 20 CDs, several chart-topping hits in Europe and the U.S., and well over a thousand live performances all over the globe.

Martin Simmonds

DJP

You want a Party where you hear what you remember from the soundtrack of your life?  That\'s what you\'ll hear at one of DJP\'s Events! Come one, come all.  Everybody\'s welcome to the party!   

Chris Spotts

Chris Spotts is a nationally recognized miniature painter and teacher. Teaching at several large conventions and competing at a national level, he runs The Spotted Painter social media.

Wendy Carson

Wendy Carson, founder of the Chattanooga Vintage Dancers, teaches sewing, hair and makeup, dance, history, and etiquette workshops from the late 1700's to the 1960's.

Cyn (Cyn's Corner & Soundbooth Theater)

Cyn is an avid lover of stories and good storytelling. Her YouTube channel was born from her burning desire to talk about them with others who share that same passion.

Kelly Fast

Kelly Fast is the acting planetary defense officer in the Planetary Defense Coordination Office at NASA Headquarters, which plans the response to the asteroid impact hazard.

Eloy Lasanta

Eloy Lasanta is an RPG creator (i.e. Part-Time Gods 2E, Pip System). He has also contributed to other TTRPGs like the Firefly RPG, Into the Motherlands, and video games like Subterrain: Mines of Titan and Dream Tactics. Eloy has undoubtedly left his mark on the tabletop and video game industry.

Daniel Alexander Lyman

Daniel Alexander Lyman, a versatile trans-male actor, has portrayed creatures and characters on The Walking Dead, Legacies, Lodge 49, and recently Francis Ford Coppola's highly anticipated film Megalopolis.

Mr. Damon's Shadow Puppet Theater

Damon Young is the producer of Mr. Damon's Shadow Puppet Theater, teaching artist at the Center for Puppetry Arts, musician for The Changelings, and hand shadow puppeteer on Marvel's Hawkeye.

Joshua Pepper

Dr. Pepper is an astrophysicist, a professor at Lehigh University, a program scientist at NASA headquarters, and an expert on the discovery of planets and the search for extraterrestrial life.

Antonio Fuso

HEALTH

Scored the R* videogame Max Payne as well as music for Grand Theft Auto V, Grand Theft Auto V Online: Arena War, Cyberpunk 2077, and Ultrakill. Have released tracks with Nine Inch Nails, Lamb of God, Jpegmafia, and Ghostmane. Played most major US and EU festivals including Coachella, Primavera, and Hellfest.

Karl Herlinger

Herlinger is a ventriloquist known for his irreverent and unique approach. He has performed at shows including The Magic Castle, Flappers, Tomorrow Show, and the LA Guild of Puppetry.

Killbillies

We are a three-piece national touring Irish-influenced band that plays Irish standards, originals, and various other types of music in a bluegrass Irish style. We have a unique blend of instrumentation with feet drums, banjo, guitar, saxophone, upright bass, and at times mandolin, harmonica, and even a hurdy-gurdy.

Rikishi

Solofa Fatu Jr. is an American professional wrestler, best known under the ring names Rikishi and Fatu with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), where he is a one-time Intercontinental Champion, two-time World Tag Team Champion, and one-time WWE Tag Team Champion.

Steel Samurai

Since 2013, Steel Samurai has been melting faces with its mashup-driven powerhouse synth-metal, best described as an atomic collision between iconic film and TV soundtracks, classic rock riffage, and the deepest-cut video game music.

Charming Disaster

We are a musical duo who perform playfully dark original songs inspired by death, crime, myth, magic, science, and the occult, combining vocal harmonies and clever lyrics with ukulele, guitar, and foot percussion (like a two-person one-man band). Our interactive, theatrical shows straddle the line between concert and theater.

Kraken's Release

Five-piece folk punk band from Newnan, GA. Music styles include Irish, Gypsy, pirate, Polka, sea shanties, bluegrass, Southern Gothic, and who knows what else! This high-energy group is always the life of the party!

LandLoch'd

Traditional and modern Celtic and pirate music performed on guitar, mandolin, bodhran, pennywhistle, and fiddle.

Wakefire

A six-piece full rock band with music that ranges from nouveau Celtic to dark circus and features high-energy main-stage vibes, thumping beats, and strong vocal harmonies. We will transport you to the distant past and connect deeply with you in the here and now with all our nerdy hearts.

Gil Gerard

Gil Gerard has starred in numerous successful made-for-television movies as well as feature films. He is best-known to SF audiences as Capt. William "Buck" Rogers in the SF TV series, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century. His other roles include several movie and TV series appearances including: Airport '77, Beyond, Bone Eater, Ghost Town, and many more.

Barehead Bards

The Barehead Bards bring traditional Irish and Scottish pub songs and fiddle tunes, Lord of the Rings covers, comedic banter, and audience participation. Instruments of the band include fiddle, tin whistle, guitar, and bouzuki. 

Jeff Ello

Jeff Ello (aka "jello") is a filmmaker/technologist with an encyclopedic knowledge of the latest technology and techniques for filmmakers, CG artists, and content creators of all kinds. He develops solutions for visual effects, high-volume video production, and live streaming.

Raspberry Pie

With the sounds of late 70s funk and disco, combined with a nerdy lyrical sensibility, Raspberry Pie have been packing dance floors since 2015. Their tasty grooves and singalong choruses can turn any venue into a dance hall, with audience members becoming active participants in a full body funk experience.

Steranko

Steranko is a graphic artist, comic book writer-artist-historian, magician, publisher, and film production illustrator, best known for his work on Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. Steranko earned lasting acclaim for his innovations in sequential art during the Silver Age, particularly his infusion of surrealism, op art, and graphic design into the medium.

Fabrizio De Tommaso

Fabrizio De Tommaso is an artist from Brindisi, Italy.  He collaborates as a cover artist for some Sergio Bonelli Editore properties like Dylan Dog and Morgan Lost, Cyberpunk for Dark Horse, and Something is Killing the Children for Boom Studio.  He has recently begun a collaboration with Marvel.

Jeff Hays

Jeff Hays is a voice actor with tremendous range, a producer and narrator of over 200 audiobooks, a musician and composer, and founding CEO of Soundbooth Theater.

Chuck Parker

Chuck Parker is a filk singer and songwriter of original slice-o-life geek tunes.  He is a solo performer at cons in the mid-Atlantic.  He has performed at Dragon Con with the Blibbering Humdingers since 2014 and been a part of virtual Dragon Con \"Fresh Filks\"  since 2020.

Alan Quah

Christine H. Taylor-Butler

Christine Taylor-Butler is the author of more than 95 books for children. She was named a Visiting Scholar at MIT focused on children's literature.

Darrell C Hazelrig

Darrell C. Hazelrig is a founding member of the experimental puppetry film collective New Puppet Order. In 2020, Hazelrig joined with Eric Fullerton to create YouTube channel Eric and Darrell.

Matt Nitchie

Matt Nitchie is a local Atlanta actor, puppeteer, and co-host for Dragon Con's own Late Night Puppet Slam.

Nancy Northcott

Nancy Northcott has published 17 books, a mix of science fiction, fantasy, and romance. She has taught college courses on science fiction, fantasy, and society.

Heather Boddy

Heather Boddy (she/her) is a size-inclusive fitness professional in NYC who creates safe spaces for nerds to geek out while they work out.

John de Lancie

John de Lancie is known for his portrayal as Q in Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Picard. He has previously appeared on Stargate SG-1. De Lancie has voiced Discord on My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic and characters in multiple video games and shows during his career.

Jonathan Frakes

Jonathan Frakes is best known for his portrayal of Commander William Riker in the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Picard.

Jennifer J Greco

Jennifer Greco is an astronomer turned science educator. She works as a member of the science faculty and the STEM coordinator at St. Ursula Academy.

Luke Gygax

Luke Gygax is the son of Dungeons & Dragons co-creator Gary Gygax and Founder of Gary Con®, a memorial convention held annually in Lake Geneva in honor of his father, Gary Gygax. Luke grew up at the gaming table with the designers that built the foundation of the RPG industry. He played the iconic character Melf, aka Prince Brightflame.

Robert Viktor Hill

Founder of the Flying Nuggets LLC, a non profit in Atlanta with the mission to inspire excellence in STEAM programming through competition and instruction for k-12.

Omega Jones

Omega Jones is an actor, tabletop GM, designer, streamer, and host. He has worked with companies including Wizards of the Coast and World of Darkness and created the theme song for Critter Hug, a Critical Role talk show. Recent credits include Heroes' Feast and Faster, Purple Worm! Kill! Kill!

JP Karliak

JP Karliak is the voice of Morph (X-Men '97), Green Goblin (Spidey and His Amazing Friends), the Joker (Suicide Squad Kill the Justice League), N.Tropy (Crash Bandicoot), Kozo Fuyutsuki, and Boss Baby (both Netflix). He advocates for LGBTQIA+ voice talent as founder of Queer Vox and is co-founder of NerdsVote.

Ed Larson

Ed Larson is founder and CEO of Tampa Deep Sea Xplorers, Inc. TDSX manufactures autonomous underwater vehicles and was founded to compete in the Shell Ocean Discovery XPRIZE.

Gates McFadden

Gates McFadden is best known for portraying the character of Dr. Beverly Crusher in the television and film series Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Picard.

Brent Spiner

Brent Spiner is best known for his portrayal of the beloved android, Data, on the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Picard.

Ashlei Sharpe Chestnut

Ashlei Sharpe Chestnut is an American actor and writer who has worked on Broadway, film, and television. She is best known for her role as Ensign Sidney La Forge in the third season of Star Trek: Picard.

Hunter Cressall

Hunter is a writer and director working in Birmingham, Alabama. He, with his partners Brian Pace, David Woods, and Phil Sutton, run Obvious Notion a multimedia production company.

Brittany Horn

Brittany Horn has worked in the film industry for over a decade in various roles and departments. From small indie films to Marvel blockbusters, she has seen it all!

Terry Matalas

Terry Matalas is a television writer, director, and executive producer, best known for co-creating and showrunning 12 Monkeys, which ran for four seasons on SyFy. He was a showrunner on the fourth season of MacGyver and the second and third seasons of Star Trek: Picard.

Todd Stashwick

Todd Stashwick is an American actor and writer. He is known for his roles as Dale Malloy on The Riches and Theodore Deacon on 12 Monkeys. He played Captain Liam Shaw in the third season of Star Trek: Picard.

Fred Tatasciore

One of the #1 video game voices in the world, Fred Tatasciore is the animated voice of the Hulk since 2008. He has done over 30 episodes of The Family Guy and American Dad. His IMDB page lists over 450 credits, including Soldier: 76 in Overwatch.

Nathan Fillion

Nathan Fillion is an actor and voice actor known for his role as Richard Castle on the ABC series Castle, and his earlier portrayal of the lead role of Captain Malcolm Reynolds in the television series Firefly and its feature film continuation, Serenity. He recently starred in ABC's The Rookie.

Ben MartinMooney

Ben, co-founder of Amateur(ish) Productions and professional GM, streams TTRPGs on Twitch and co-hosts the How the F#!k podcast.

Catherine Tate

Actor and writer, Catherine Tate is well-known in the UK and internationally for a diversity of work in television, film, and on the stage - in particular, for the award winning The Catherine Tate Show and her roles on Doctor Who and The Office.

Kris Kersey

Kris Kersey is a passionate maker and cosplayer who shares his knowledge on 3D printing and maker projects through his YouTube channels, Kersey Fabrications, and The OASIS Project.

C Mantis

C Mantis has a million views on Royal Road and 2,000 rating on Amazon. Mantis knew nothing at the start and has taken a unique path as a fantasy writer.

Nicholas Eftimiades

Nicholas Eftimiades is a professor at Penn State University, Homeland Security Program.​ He retired from a 34 year government career that included employment in the CIA, the Department of State, and Defense Intelligence Agency. ​Eftimiades has appeared as an expert before Congress and on dozens of news articles and shows.

Michael A. Stackpole

Michael A. Stackpole is a New York Times bestselling author best known for his Star Wars novels I, Jedi and Rogue Squadron.

Hawthorn and Holly

Hawthorn & Holly are a pop punk band that plays songs about Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Dr. Who, and other fandoms. Started in 2007 from Charlotte, NC, Leah Schroeder and Christie Mowery weave gorgeous harmonies with Eddie Mowery on guitars, while Dave Beaucar of MD slaps the bass.

Brian Urbanek

Game designer with 27 years of experience in the video game industry, most recently on Call of Duty with Activision.

David Afsharirad

David Afsharirad is an editor at Baen Books. He is the editor of several volumes of short fiction and the author of many published short stories.

Michael J Allen

USA Today bestselling author of multi-layer, character-driven, full-spectrum science fiction and fantasy, Michael J. Allen has infused his quirky sense of humor into 30 plus published works.

Griffin Barber

Griffin has written stories across the SF&F field, from hard SF, space opera, dark fantasy, to zombie fiction. He has short stories set in different universes coming out in 2024.

Kaitlin Bevis

Kaitlin Bevis is the author of the Daughters of Zeus series. She has also written a young adult horror novel called Blood and Other Matter and a handful of short stories.

David Boop

David Boop is the author of The Drowned Horse Chronicle Volume 1 and She Murdered Me with Science. He also edits and writes short fiction, comics, and screenplays.

Kurt Boutin

Boutin currently hosts This Week in MCU, Story Time with Kurt, Wise_N_Nerdy, Plus Size Stories, and publishes daily Fat Guy/Fit Guy vlogs focusing on weight loss on TikTok.

Bill Budington

Bill Budington is a longtime activist, cryptography enthusiast, and a senior staff technologist on EFF's Public Interest Technology team. He is the lead developer of Cover Your Tracks and apkeep.

ChelseaBytes

ChelseaBytes, a distinguished Twitch partner, host, and computer scientist, serves as a lead for the Twitch Unity Women's Guild, contributing to the empowerment of women in the gaming space.

Pamela Cole

Pamela Cole is a costumier who graduated from Goodman Theater in Chicago over 50 years ago and continues to work with dance, opera, movies, museums, reenactors, in the Atlanta area.

Katie Cross

Magic lover Katie Cross has published more than 50 titles in YA fantasy because she likes to hang out with dragons in wild places.

Brian Duckwitz

Brian Duckwitz is the author of over 20 products for tabletop RPGs. He has also worked in the video game industry as a narrative designer and writer for Pixagon Games.

Galactic Empire

Galactic Empire is the galaxy\'s foremost instrumental Star Wars cosplay heavy metal John Williams tribute band.

Tom Fleming

Chesley Award nominee, Tom Fleming has done art for Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, Image, WWE, Heavy Metal Magazine, Magic the Gathering, World of Warcraft, and Iron Maiden covers.

Barr Foxx

Barr Foxx is an award winning cosplay artist and television/film producer. His national brand, Cosplay Your Way, encourages individuals to embrace the art of cosplay through imagery and film.

Stacey Gordon

Stacey Gordon is a puppeteer based in Phoenix, Arizona, where she runs Puppet Pie, a puppetry arts studio and puppet ice cream truck. She is the puppeteer for Julia on Sesame Street and works with and advocates for neurodivergent communities.

Matthew Guariglia

Dr. Matthew Guariglia is a senior policy analyst focusing on government surveillance and police technology at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and is a visiting scholar at Emory University.

Jarvis Hammer

Jarvis Hammer is a drag king, comedian, and star of The Boulet Brothers' Dragula season 5 (AMC+/Shudder).

May Hemmer

May Hemmer has been making her way around the country as well as internationally. This 2017 Miss Montreal Burlesque is not only a burlesque performer, but a cosplayer.

Christian Hubicki

Dr. Christian Hubicki is a tenured robotics professor and a castaway on CBS' Survivor: David vs. Goliath. Hubicki's research in controlling walking robots has been honored internationally.

Bethanne Kim

Bethanne Kim is a publisher with Eric Flint's 1632 & Beyond and a writer in the 1632-verse. She also writes about emergency preparedness, zombies, and the U.S. Constitution.

José M

José is a grassroots advocacy organizer at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, where he works with local groups that advocate against police, workplace, border, and carceral surveillance.

Brianna Marie

Brianna Marie: co-owner of Dungeons and Randomness podcast. Behind-the-scenes wizard with a passion for D&D, anime, and obscure horror films. Excel queen and organizational guru keeping the podcast in line. A true nerd with diverse interests and indispensable skills.

Jason Massey

Starting Dungeons and Randomness 12 years ago, Jason has been a professional dungeon master since then. He has hosted hundreds of sessions of D&D and many other tabletop games.

Jeffrey Nix

A fantasy author, scientist, and national champion martial artist with a master's degree in applied psychology, Jeffrey Nix writes the web serial, Impractical Magic.

Omisade Richardson

Dr. Chateé Omísadé Richardson is a keynote speaker and panelist on his(her)story, African spirituality, African futurism, diversity/culture, paranormal, and is featured in two documentaries.

J. P. Valentine

J.P. "Nixia" Valentine has penned bestsellers across the LitRPG and progression fantasy spectrum, including The Nothing Mage, This Quest is Bullshit!, Dungeon Devotee, and The Stargazer's War.

Jessica Wade

Jessica Wade is an executive editor at the Ace and Berkley imprints of Penguin Random House.

Christian Waggoner

Christian Waggoner is known worldwide for his Star Wars Reflection series paintings. He has been working with Lucasfilm over 12 years. His uniquely enhanced, photo-realistic style makes viewers wonder how he achieves such detail with a mere brush and canvas.

Dai-Shihan Roy Wilkinson

Dai-Shihan Roy Wilkinson has been training in Ninjutsu for over 40 years, and is one of the most senior master instructors of this art in the western world. He is ranked Judan Kugyo and is chief instructor of the Atlanta Bujinkan Dojo, the original Ninjutsu dojo in the Western Hemisphere.

Trisha J. Wooldridge

Award winning Trisha J. Wooldridge (child-friendly T.J. Wooldridge), writes The 27 Kingdoms, and her first collection of short fiction and poetry, Where Monsters Pray comes out June 2024.

Chris Donio

Chris Donio is a specialty costumer for film and TV. His portfolio includes some of your favourite superhero movies. His most recently work being Blue Beetle and Shazam 2.

Alexander G. R. Gideon

The Pan Librarian Wizard, Alexander Gideon, is an expert in most things from writing great fantasy, sci-fi, and horror, to High Magick, to looking like you own the world!

Aron Siegel

Aron Siegel, producer and sound mixer, whose work includes The Unwanted, Implanted, Thor: Ragnarok, DC's Black Lightning, Walking Dead, and Vampire Diaries, also mixed portions of Trek fan film Axanar.

Hayley Tsukayama

Hayley Tsukayama is associate director of legislative activism at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, focusing on state legislation. Before joining EFF, she was a consumer technology reporter at The Washington Post.

Ken Applegate

Ken Applegate is the owner and DJ of Mad Hatter Music and Crafts. He will be the DJ for the Kids Dance hosted by the Kids Track.

Dave Cook

Dave Cook is a local illustrator of various talents. You may have seen his work as the official poster artist for the Atlanta Rollergirls, in promotional art for Netherworld Haunted House, or gotten a zombie portrait at Dragon Con in past years.

Addie Dove

Dr. Addie Dove is a planetary scientist and professor at UCF with a passion for space and science communication. She is a cohost on the Walkabout the Galaxy podcast.

Greg Leatherman

Greg Leatherman is an award winning game designer for the TTRPGs Glitter Hearts and The Mystery Business, and is a founding member of the actual play podcast Very Random Encounters.

Bendy Mitchell

Bendy Mitchell is the head of Obsidian Brews: A Black Table Top Experience. Mitchell and their fellow brewers have hosted panels & BIPOC gaming spaces at conventions nationwide.

Meredith Filak Rose

Meredith Rose, a senior policy counsel at Public Knowledge, a consumer advocacy organization in Washington, DC, where she focuses on tech, copyright, fandom, and music, is also a SFFH author.

Harlequin's Shadow

A mixture of rock, filk, and a whole lot of neurodivergence: one person, one guitar. When literature, music, and mayhem collide, Harlequin\'s Shadow is somewhere in the middle of it all.

Stephen Green

Stephen Green is an artist and penciller residing in Savannah, Georgia. Despite various rumors, he did not attend school there. His work has been featured in Dark Horse Presents, The Legacy of Luther Strode, Hellboy and The B.P.R.D., and Lobster Johnson.

Jody Houser

Jody has written numerous titles including: Mother Panic, Supergirl, Harley Quinn & Poison Ivy, Star Wars, Web of Black Widow, Stranger Things, Critical Role, StarCraft, Doctor Who, Orphan Black, Star Trek, X-Files, and Faith. Her upcoming works include: Star Wars Yoda, Assassins Apprentice, and Stranger Things Tales from Hawkins #2.

Robert Madison II

Robert Madison II (MadDrRob) is the director of gaming and map maker of Obsidian Brews: A Black Tabletop Experience. Together they host panels and BIPOC gaming spaces at conventions nationwide.

Bob Burden

Atlanta's own Eisner award winning comic artist, graphic novelist, and screenwriter, Bob Burden, created the world's first surrealist superhero, Flaming Carrot, leading to Mystery Men, which was made into a feature film. Burden has also successfully adapted Gumby for the comic book medium.

Jennifer M Gilley

Jennifer Gilley is an artist whose work focuses on body arts including tattoos, prosthetics, special effects, body painting, and illustrating. She owns and operates Sundog Art Studios & Tattoos.

Scott Harris

Scott Harris is the consulting director of the Charleston Planetarium and an Atlanta-based planetary geologist who is a leading researcher in the fields of meteorites, petrology, and hypervelocity impacts.

Paul Mounts

Paul Mounts is an artist who has worked as a colorist on comics including Fantastic Four, Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, and Ultimates. Mounts was one of Marvel's most prolific comic book-themed trading card colorists in the early 1990s.

Andy Price

Since issue one, Andy Price has been the lead pencil/ink artist for the incredibly successful and record breaking My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic comic book from IDW Publishing. MLP broke the 100,000 pre-sale mark, the first independent book to beat out DC or Marvel in nine years!

Chris Ryall

Chris Ryall is co-founder and publisher at Syzygy Publishing, writer/co-creator of Zombies vs Robots, Onyx, Groom Lake, The Hollows, and Dreamweaver. He has written Transformers, Rom Spaceknight, Mars Attacks, The Mighty Marvel Calendar Book, Origins of Marvel Comics, and was an executive producer on Netflix's Locke & Key.

Michael Watkins

CEO and EIC of Highburn Studios, Michael Watkins is a creator and illustrator with over 20 years experience in the comics industry. He is known as creator of Guardians and for his work on Transformers and Sonic the Hedgehog. Additionally, he is also a voice actor and avid martial artist.

Ayla Almee

Ayla Almee is co-director of Antipode Geek Bellydance. Almee has entertained thousands with stage productions, and workshops on modern and traditional Silk Road culture: cuisine, fashion, and dance.

Jason Behr

Jason Behr first starred in Roswell, for which he was twice nominated for a Saturn Award, followed by roles in the films The Shipping News and the American remake of the Japanese horror film The Grudge. Behr also had recurring roles in the television series Dawson's Creek and Breakout Kings.

Leigh "The Talent" Bennett-Conner

Leigh is the co-host of 50 Days of Dragon Con podcast. She is the one with questions, makes double - or triple - entendres without meaning to, and then gets embarrassed.

Joshua Colwell

Dr. Joshua Colwell is chair and Pegasus professor of physics at the University of Central Florida. He hosts Walkabout the Galaxy, the fun astronomy podcast.

Eugene Cordero

Eugene Cordero is an actor, writer, and comedian best known for his roles in Star Trek: Lower Decks and the Disney+ series Loki. Cordero's film roles include the comedy-drama The Kings of Summer, the monster adventure Kong: Skull Island, and the crime drama The Mule.

Majandra Delfino

Majandra Delfino is best known for her role as Maria DeLuca on Roswell, and as Andi on the CBS sitcom Friends with Better Lives.

Brendan Fehr

Brendan Fehr is a Canadian film and television actor, perhaps best known for portraying Michael Guerin in the WB television series Roswell, and for portraying lab tech Dan Cooper in CSI: Miami. Fehr also played Jared Booth in the Fox television series Bones.

Zayne Geisler

Zayne Geisler is a professional artist and cross-skilled craftsperson with over 10 years of leather working and sewing skills. They were a professional leather working teacher for several years.

Kali Holder

Kali Holder is a professional poker of dead things and zombie prevention expert. As a veterinary pathologist for the National Zoo, she has decapitated more species than anyone you know.

Mike Krome

Mike Krome is an Australian artist whose work has been featured in children's books, magazines, computer games, film promotions, and comics. His work can be seen on the covers of Dynamite, Zenescope Entertainment, Image, Coffin Comics, Valiant Comics, BOOM! Studios, and Rothic Novels.

Caroline La Porta

Caroline La Porta has been building costumes for 20+ years, including with The Radio City Rockettes, the New York City Ballet, Broadway and touring productions, several feature films, and TV.

Matthew Lewis

Matthew Lewis rose to fame as Neville Longbottom in all eight Harry Potter™ films. He went on to star in Wasteland and appeared in Me Before You. Lewis's TV credits include Bluestone 42, The Syndicate, Ripper Street, and Happy Valley. His live stage performances include Our Boys, Verdict, and Unfaithful.

Shannon Nicole Locke

Shannon Nicole Locke is an award winning narrator with an ear for accents, a knack for comedy, and a dedication to bringing the beating heart of beloved characters to life.

Jack Monkey

Jack Monkey provides special makeup effects and creature creation for film and TV. Recent credits include Crimson Cove and Exorcist: Believer. She is currently the makeup department head for Netherworld.

Tawny Newsome

Tawny Newsome is an American musician, comedian, and actor best known for playing Chelsea Leight-Leigh on Bajillion Dollar Propertie$, co-starring in Space Force and the third season of Brockmire, and co-hosting the podcast Yo, Is This Racist?. She voices one of the main characters, Beckett Mariner, on Star Trek: Lower Decks.

Dustin Nguyen

Dustin Nguyen is an American comic artist whose body of work, for the past 10 years, includes flagship titles for both DC Comics and WildStorm.

Jennifer May Nickel

Jennifer May Nickel is a costume designer for film and television. Recent credits include Gotham Knights, Legacies, and Containment for CW. Nickel has also designed for Netflix, Hulu, and more.

Rae Pendergrass

Rae Pendergrass is a comedian and edutainer who has worked with everyone from National Lampoon to National Geographic. She is also the producer of the Solve for X Variety Show.

Stefan Price

Stefan Price is a professional artist and maker with 27+ years in film, entertainment, and themed attractions. He founded Roundtable Productions as a props and special effects company.

Lezli Robyn

Lezli Robyn is executive editor/associate publisher of Arc Manor and an author. Since her first sales to Clarkesworld, Asimov's, and Analog, Robyn has won two awards.

The Gekkos

Hailing from Orlando, Florida, The Gekkos are the greatest goth nerd polka band on planet Earth. Comprised of brothers Jared on accordion and Zack on keytar, The Gekkos are sure to get you pumped and ready to get spooky and weird!

Daisy Viktoria

Daisy Viktoria is a costume designer specializing in corsets and fairytale gowns. She has a background in corsetry and historical clothing, as well as modern and fantasy fashion.

Nick Wechsler

Sam Wechsler is an American actor best known for his roles as Kyle Valenti on the WB teen drama series Roswell, and as Jack Porter on the ABC drama television series Revenge.

Jodie Whittaker

Jodie Whittaker is best known for portraying the thirteenth incarnation of the Doctor in Doctor Who, Beth Latimer in Broadchurch, Adult Life Skills, and Wired.

Marv Wolfman

Marv Wolfman has created more characters for television, animation, movies, and videogames than any other creator since Stan Lee. At Marvel, Wolfman was writer-creator of Blade, the Vampire Hunter, Black Cat, Bullseye, and more. At DC, Marv co-created The New Teen Titans, Deathstroke, Vigilante, and dozens more.

Bonnie Wright

From 2001 to 2011, Bonnie Wright played Ginny Weasley in the Harry Potter series, where she developed an interest in directing. She went on to received a BA in film and television from London College of Communication, University of the Arts, London. Wright's production company, Bon Bon Lumière, was founded in 2012.

Mitch Stoltz

Mitch Stoltz is EFF's IP litigation director. Stoltz litigates copyright and trademark cases that impact free speech, defending the rights of software developers, website owners, nonprofits, and individual internet users.

Corwyn the Bardbarian

Solo singer-songwriter, acoustic, electric, and all points in-between. More rock \'n\' roll than Renn-Faire. 10 official releases, including a five song EP tribute to What We Do in The Shadows and 20 years of experience performing.

D.G. Chichester

Writer D.G. Chichester is famed for his Daredevil run, including The Fall of the Kingpin, Fall from Grace, and the recent Black Armor. He co-created the Midnight Sons and Nightstalkers, pioneered Marvel's CyberComics, and introduced Clive Barker's Hellraiser to comics. Chichester authored stories for Nick Fury, Punisher, and Judge Dredd.

Rich Gatz

Rich Gatz is a lawyer and cyber insurance and data privacy expert with over a decade of experience helping companies and individuals deal with the most challenging technological and privacy related legal risk.

Starchy Grant

Starchy Grant is the technical operations director at EFF, the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Clearly Guilty

These are the queers of Clearly Guilty! They\'re purdy, nerdy, and a little bit dirty. They do original music to celebrate those who feel underrepresented in fandom. Come find your anthem!

Andrew Aydin

Andrew Aydin is a #1 New York Times bestselling author and National Book Award winner. Aydin is co-author with Rep. John Lewis of March and Run, co-writer of The March, VR experience for TIME Inc, and has written characters such as Captain America and Batman for Marvel and DC Comics.

Kavura

Kavura, along with her husband Nayr, host the StarPodTrek and StarPodLog podcasts. She produces Ladies Trek Library and is in several Star Trek fan clubs and fan films.

Nayr

Nayr, along with his wife Kavura, host the StarPodLog and StarPodTrek podcasts. Having attended, as well as presented, at literally hundreds of conventions, his panels are engaging, entertaining, and informative.

Jon Padfield

Dr. Padfield is a former Indiana state representative, a business professor, privacy advocate, consultant for law enforcement, public speaker, and teaches graduate courses in data analytics.

Charles E. Blue

Charles Blue is a science writer and science communicator focusing on astronomy, astrophysics, engineering, and geophysics. He also hosts the bluethesciencedude feed on TikTok.

Andy Belanger

Andy Belanger works as a freelance cartoonist/illustrator. He does work in the mainstream comic market, plus a wide variety of work for the Canadian Film and Television industry. In the mainstream comic market, Belanger has worked for such comic publishers as DC Comics, Wildstorm, Devil's Due, and Boom!

Brobdingnagian Bards

The Brobdingnagian Bards are back for a Dragon Con reunion! They take traditional Irish and Scottish folk songs, mix it up with Lord of the Rings music, and create a unique brand of Celtic Filk.

Steve Horton

Steve Horton is the New York Times bestselling writer of Bowie: Stardust, Rayguns & Moonage Daydreams, which won two Eisners for art & coloring.

Cass Marks

Cass Marks is a sci-fi filmmaker/comic book artist who loves astronomy. He is passionate about science outreach and sharing the marvels of the universe alongside his collaborator Alexandra Yep.

Anya Martin

Anya Martin is a writer, co-hosts The Outer Dark podcast, co-chairs The Outer Dark Symposium, and believes fervently that weird fiction is vital to the 21st century.

Paul Edwin Niemeyer

Paul is the original artist on Mortal Kombat, TRON, PacMan Plus, Super PacMan, Professor PacMan, Tapper, Spy Hunter, WACKO, Satan's Hollow, Midnight Marauders, Time Killers, PopCap's Peggle and Bejewled II, Demolition Man pinball, Legends of Valhalla pinball, creative director at Eagle Games, and currently working on a seventh Nintendo Switch game.

Alexandra Yep

Alex Yep is a poet turned astronomer working at Agnes Scott College in Decatur, Georgia. She teaches physics and astronomy, researches young star clusters, and directs the Bradley Observatory.

Eddie McClintock

Eddie McClintock starred for five years on Syfy network's Warehouse 13. He appeared in a recurring role on Bones, as well as MacGyver, Supergirl, Agents of Shield, Backstrom, and Modern Family.

Palmetto Knights

The Palmetto Knights, the Southeast\'s premier medieval combat sports association, returns for their 10th year to Dragon Con for the event\'s celebrated Dragon Cup Tournament! The Knights bring a full contact, unchoreographed, medieval combat tournament. Competitors from around the country will battle it out in duels, group battles, and outrance (MMA in armor) for your entertainment.

Cheralyn Lambeth

Cheralyn "Cher" Lambeth is a professional costume, prop, and puppet builder, whose work includes feature films (The Muppet Christmas Carol, The Hunger Games), television (Dinosaurs!, Homeland), live/interactive properties (StarTrek: The Experience, Avenue Q), video games (Fortnite: Battle Royale), and books (Haunted Theaters of the Carolinas, Introduction to Puppetry Arts).

Mikey Mason

A nationally touring performer with more than a decade of professional stand-up comedy experience, Mikey Mason is a ball of contagious enthusiasm who makes songs about role-playing games, video games, sci-fi, fantasy, cats, and the general experience of being a geek.

Tom Smith

Tom Smith, award winning songwriter and performer, does funny and serious songs in a wide range of genres, topics, and musical styles. Silly, fantastical, political, cultural, uplifting, filled with puns - you name it, Tom Smith will help you sing along with it. And he has new albums!

Veronica Dashiell

Veronica Dashiell is half of the husband and wife puppetry team Felt Nerdy. They have been performing at conventions and local theatres across the Southeast for over 10 years together.

Charles Kelso

Charles is half of the husband and wife puppetry team of Felt Nerdy. They have been performing together for over 10 years at conventions across the Southeast.

Tony Moy

Tony Moy is an international artist known for forgotten history WWII comic The 4Forty2nd about the most decorated Japanese American regiment in US history. He creates artwork for Marvel Snaps, D&D, X-files, and more. He teaches watercolor and streams on Twitch and Paint Bros.

Kurt Opsahl

Kurt Opsahl is associate general counsel for cybersecurity and civil liberties policy for the Filecoin Foundation. Opsahl has worked almost 30 years on technology law and policy, representing internet startups in the dot-com boom, protecting digital rights at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and now focusing on protecting the decentralized web.

Marissa Cowart

Marissa Cowart has been the assistant costume designer for Gotham Knights, Legacies, and Step Up: High Water.

Chris Hamer

Chris Hamer is an artist based out of Georgia. He is working for Scout comics on his creator-owned book The Adventures of Byron, as well as variant covers for Scout releases. He has had work and is being published in the upcoming Hannibal: Artbook by Printed in Blood.

Amanda Hamon

Amanda Hamon is a senior designer working on Dungeons & Dragons at Wizards of the Coast. An award winning tabletop game designer and developer with more than a decade of experience, Hamon leads the creation of Fifth Edition books from conception through publication and beyond.

Valerie Dawn Hampton

Dr. Valerie Hampton, historical archaeologist, author, game maker, paranormal researcher, and Indie film producer, speaks on the intersection between popular fantasy and history, and has numerous publications.

Todd Lockwood

Todd Lockwood's illustrations have appeared on bestselling novels, magazines, collectible card games, and fantasy RPGs, honored with numerous industry awards, including appearances in Spectrum and other illustration annuals. Lockwood's novel, The Summer Dragon, was published by DAW Books in 2016, and his art collection, Found Worlds, in 2023. Visit http://www.toddlockwood.com

Gwen Pearson

Gwen Pearson is a professional entomologist. She also has worked as a freelance science writer for WIRED Science, the Washington Post, Science, and other news outlets.

T. Alexander Stangroom

T. Alexander Stangroom is chief operations officer at the ENNIE award winning TTRPG publisher Kobold Press. Stangroom is a TTRPG designer whose credits include titles by Modiphius and Wizards of the Coast, as well as a professional GM with over two decades of experience.

Nooligan

HaiNaNu "nooligan" Saulque is an artist, comic creator, and graphic designer based in Sacramento, Ca. From the cartoons of his youth to films he missed by decades, from golden age comics to classic newspaper strips, you will find a creator who has immersed himself in what he loves.

Jaime Castle

Jaime Castle is a #1 Audible bestselling author, including The Luna Missile Crisis, Dead Acre, Cold as Hell, The Buried Goddess Saga, Web of Eyes, Jeff the Game Master, and more.

Amy Chu

Amy Chu is a comics and TV writer for Netflix, Disney, Marvel, and DC. She wrote the Turning Red and Carmilla: The First Vampire graphic novels and two episodes of the anime series DOTA: Dragon's Blood. Chu's comics include Wonder Woman, Poison Ivy, Kiss, Deadpool, Spider-Man Noir, and Doctor Strange.

jonathan lee lewis clary

Jonathan Clary has 13 years of experience with leatherwork: teaching, selling leather and supplies, and consulting. Currently he teaches private classes, and is a consultant for small leather businesses.

Joanna Estep

Joanna Estep is the critically acclaimed illustrator of such titles as The Fantastic Four, X-Men, New Mutants, Spiderverse (Marvel Comics), Bitch Planet (Image), Death Head (Dark Horse), and The Thrilling Adventure Hour (Boom!/Archaia). Her work has earned her the S.P.A.C.E. Prize, and nominations for Eisner and Harvey awards.

Juan Gedeon

Juan Gedeon started working as an assistant at an art studio at 19, moved to Mexico at 23 to work in animation, and started working in American comics at 25. He is known for his short run on Venom for Marvel and created The Jurassic League for DC.

Bill Golliher

Bill Golliher has been an artist and writer for Archie Comics for over 30 years and has worked on scripting and illustrating a diverse set of titles and covers for the company. Golliher lives in the southeast and is excited to be at Dragon Con.

Bob Hall

For Marvel, Bob drew Spider-Man, Thor, What If, Squadron Supreme, The Avengers, and Emperor Doom. He co-created the West Coast Avengers. He was a Marvel editor in 1978. At Valiant, he wrote and drew Shadowman and created Armed and Dangerous. For DC, he wrote and drew Batman/Joker graphic novels.

Leo Leibelman

Leo Leibelman has worked in the comics and film/tv industry for nearly 30 years for many companies and has worked on dozens of films and tv shows.

Astrid OddPride Lundberg

Astrid Lundberg, also known as @OddPride, is a science communicator known for her short-form videos demystifying evolution and paleontology for a general audience. In 2023, she gave a short series of talks at Binghamton University on the accessibility of science in the digital age. She has also worked as a scriptwriter for SciShow.

Mostafa Moussa

Mostafa Moussa is a 25 year veteran of the comic book industry. Over his career he has worked for Marvel, DC, Image, Top Cow, Dark Horse, Hasbro, IDW, Mad Cave, Dynamite, Action Lab, Coffin, Zenescope, and many other publishers. Check out more of his work at: www.MostafaINK.net

Lan Pitts

Lan Pitts was born in Atlanta, now lives in Baltimore, Maryland, where he writes comics and is a staff writer for GameSpot. He loves wrestling, The Simpsons, and 1980s' animation. He is probably best known for his work on BOOM!'s WWE series and his tokusatsu-based comic, BEAST HEART! Strikers.

Benny Powell

Benny Powell is a publisher, writer, and artist most known for the hit White Widow comic and upcoming spin-off I Make Boys Cry. He is also the creator and writer for Wayward Legends, Darchon, AMPED, Duel Identity, Wayward Sons, Markiplier, and dozens more.

Madeleine Roux

Madeleine Roux is the New York Times bestselling author of the Asylum series and over 20 novels for adults, teens, and children.

Ashley Ruhl

Ashley Ruhl, 13 year veteran of the video game industry, has credits in game design, cinematics, and writing. She is currently the narrative director on Star Wars: The Old Republic.

Jeremy Whitley

Jeremy Whitley is a comic book writer and the creator of Princeless and Raven Pirate Princess, the writer for Marvel's Unstoppable Wasp and Titan's Sea of Thieves series, as well as a frequent contributor to My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.

Derek Yaniger

Derek Yaniger is a toothless hillbilly that has got a way long history of scratchin' out art for lots of king-sized bigwigs like Marvel Comics and Cartoon Network. But nowadays he strictly digs the gigs that let him beat his own bongos.

Samantha Avila

Art Director Samantha Avila's credits include Superman, Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol 3, Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, Spider-Man: No Way Home, Our Flag Means Death, and Westworld.

Tristan Gibbon

Tristan Gibbon is a founding member of the evergreen comedy show Botched: A D&D Podcast. He also produces the D&D one-shot podcast Dragon Night Adventure Friends.

Eric Johnson

Known for his early roles in Smallville and Flash Gordon, Eric Johnson has appeared in Vikings, American Gods, and Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin. Johnson also has roles in the video games Splinter Cell: Blacklist, Assassins Creed: Valhalla, and the upcoming game Star Wars: Outlaws.

Kristin Kreuk

Kristin Kreuk returns to The CW in the drama Burden of Truth. After her first role on Edgemont, she scored the title role of the television movie Snow White, and landed the role of Lana Lang on Smallville. Kreuk also starred in and helped produce Beauty and The Beast.

Ross Marquand

Ross Marquand is an American actor that has appeared on film, stage, and television. He is best known for portraying the role of Aaron on The Walking Dead. His voice acting talents can be heard in the likes of Robot Chicken, Family Guy, and American Dad.

Shellie Schmals

Shellie Schmals, Director of Field Marketing at Allied Global Marketing, Co-President of Georgia Production Partnership, and Board Member of Women in Film, leads promotions for Disney, Warner Bros., and Netflix.

Eric Whitten

Eric Whitten is an award winning filmmaker and actor who has performed/worked in dozens of film/tv/theatre projects and is the owner/operator of Hollywood South Self Tapes.

Valentine De Landro

Valentine "Val" De Landro is a Canadian comic book artist, illustrator, and designer. His credits include titles from Marvel, DC Comics, IDW, Valiant, and Dark Horse. He is known for Marvel Knights: 4 and X-Factor. He is the co-creator of Bitch Planet with Kelly Sue DeConnick.

The PDX Broadsides

Nerd-pop powerhouse trio The PDX Broadsides sing about fandoms and feelings with great vigor and harmony! From nerdy love ballads to science songs to odes to Nathan Fillion, you will be laughing and singing along the rest of the con.

Mera Rose

Mera Rose is a professional production designer and costumer, an educational and disabilities advocate, and the President of CosInternational and former Vice President and President of the International Costumers' Guild.

Tamara Robertson

Tamara Robertson is an Emmy-nominated producer & TV host, producer of Seekers of Science, host of Tinkering Belles, and known for her work as a co-host & fabricator on Mythbusters.

Yaya Han

Yaya Han is a cosplayer, designer, and author with over 400 costumes, two US Network TV shows and countless magazines, books, newspapers, and appearances under her belt. Han is the first cosplayer to bring branded cosplay-focused sewing and crafting products and a Yaya Han sewing machine to the mass retail market.

Z W Taylor

Z.W. Taylor is the author of The Bite series and other successful stories on Wattpad. When she is not writing, she fills blank pages with ideas for the future.

Keith Baker

Keith Baker is an award winning game designer and co-founder of Twogether Studios. In addition to creating the Eberron campaign setting for Dungeons & Dragons and the innovative RPG Phoenix: Dawn Command, his bestselling board games include Illimat, the Gloom franchise, and The Adventure Zone: Bureau of Balance.

Ron Daniels

Ron Daniels is an attorney who regularly handles cases involving credit reporting errors, abusive debt collection, privacy issues, and constitutional rights.

J.M. Dragunas

J.M. Dragunas is a freelance illustrator currently working on his creator owned book L.C. Noir. He is known for his contributions to the Little Nemo anthology, the 1001 Knights anthology, and being the illustrator for Harry Potter: A Cinematic Gallery.

Omar Francia

Omar Francia is a comic book illustrator from Argentina. His works include Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II, multiple Mass Effect comic series, Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight, and Doom Patrol. Currently, he is assisting pre-production on the DC animated series Creature Commandos.

HeWhoIsSteve

HeWhoIsSteve is a member of D&D podcasts Botched and Dragon Night Adventure Friends. He also creates informative humor videos on a variety of topics on Youtube and Tiktok.

Philip D. Keating

Philip D Keating is the creator, producer, and show runner of Botched Podcast. He also streams retro and horror video games on Twitch under the alias ImaginaryNomad.

Matthew Lane

Matt Lane is a former competition lawyer who now works on tech policy in D.C. and sometimes lobbies for better laws.

Dennis Lee Robinson

Dennis Lee Robinson is one of the deranged minds behind Botched: A D&D Podcast, and is also the award winning writer and creator of the comic series Lycan: Solomon's Odyssey.

Josef "Joe" Rubinstein

The first artist for Gambit, Elektra, and Apocolypse, Josef Rubinstein has inked more than 2,500 comic books in his career. Working with Dark Horse, Marvel, DC Comics and creating original fine art has brought him a diverse fandom, and an induction to the Joe Sinnott Inkwell Hall of Fame.

Elisa Teague

A 23 year veteran in tabletop games, Elisa Teague has worked on 100+ boardgames/RPGs, including writing for Dungeons & Dragons and the Marvel Multiverse RPG, and lead designing Kingdom Hearts Talisman, Betrayal at House on the Hill: Widow's Walk, and the G.I. JOE, Transformers, Power Rangers, and My Little Pony RPGs.

Matthew M Foster

Matthew M Foster has been a festival judge, emcee, panelist, and was the director of the Dragon Con Film Festival for 15 years. Foster is the chair of the Eugie Award.

Brett A McGuire

MIT Prof. Brett McGuire has a PhD in chemistry and has worked with the National Radio Astronomy Observatory and Harvard & Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. His specially is astrochemistry.

James Phelps

James and Oliver Phelps play the Weasley twins, Fred and George, in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, and the latest, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

Oliver Phelps

James and Oliver Phelps play the Weasley twins, Fred and George, in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, and the latest, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

Sebastien de Castell

Sebastien de Castell's acclaimed swashbuckling fantasy series, The Greatcoats, was shortlisted for both the Goodreads Choice Award for Best Fantasy and the Gemmell Morningstar Award. His YA fantasy series, Spellslinger, is published in more than a dozen languages. He spends his time writing, travelling, and going on strange adventures.

Daniel Griffith

Daniel Griffith is an award winning filmmaker documenting the history behind cult films and television shows, including Mystery Science Theater 3000, Dune, The Blair Witch Project, and The Twilight Zone.

Amie Stepanovich

Amie Stepanovich is an internationally recognized expert in privacy, government surveillance, and cybersecurity. She is currently vice president for US policy at the Future of Privacy Forum.

Elonka Dunin

Elonka Dunin is a professional game developer, writer, cryptographer, and TEDx speaker. A leading expert on the world's most famous unsolved codes, such as "Kryptos" at CIA Headquarters.

Bill Holbrook

Bill Holbrook is the creator of three comic strips; the internationally syndicated On the Fastrack and Safe Havens which are distributed by King Features, and the internet's longest-running daily webcomic Kevin & Kell.

Lia Holland

Lia Holland (they/she) is a social artist, author, and activist in the Pacific Northwestern US. After 13 years in the music industry, Holland now focuses on emerging tech, artists' rights, and surveillance issues at national digital rights nonprofit Fight for the Future, while keeping up a rigorous speculative fiction habit.

Cam Clarke

Cam Clarke is a voice actor and singer, known for his work in animation and video games. Clarke provided the voices of Leonardo in the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated series, Shotaro Kaneda in the 1989 original English-dub of Akira, and Liquid Snake in the Metal Gear video game series.

Townsend Coleman

Townsend Coleman is one of the most recognizable voices on TV. In addition to The Tick, he provided voices for Michaelangelo, Rat King, and Usagi Yojimbo on the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Waldo on Where's Waldo?, Gobo, Architect, and Wrench on Fraggle Rock, and Sentinel Prime on Transformers: Animated.

Tyler Desjardins

Tyler Desjardins is an astrophysicist at the Space Telescope Science Institute, working on NASA's upcoming Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope. His research background includes galaxies and supermassive black holes.

Scott Fleming

Dr. Scott W. Fleming is an astrophysicist who studies exoplanets and stars of all kinds. His team supports the archive of data from missions including Hubble, JWST, TESS, and Roman.

Bryan Scott Fyffe

Bryan Fyffe creates moody and naturalistic art inspired by gothic horror, nature, science, and themes. His work is a mix of hand drawn elements fused with a variety of photographic textures.

Jason Keith

Jason Keith is an Eisner Award nominated color artist, who for the past 15 years has colored exclusively for Marvel Comics. Credits include The Avengers, Hulk, Wolverine, Amazing Spider-Man, Mighty Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy, Ghost Rider, Ultimate Avengers, Star Wars, and Darth Vader.

Fruity Snacks

Fruity Snacks is an instructional designer who owns the Eorzean Aquarium and Eorzean Museum Network, and has a YouTube channel devoted to how to catch fish in Final Fantasy XIV.

Jason Aaron

Eisner and Harvey Award winning Jason Aaron has written such titles as Thor, Star Wars, Ghost Rider, Wolverine, Punisher, Avengers, Doctor Strange, and Southern Bastards. Aaron's DC Comics debut includes Batman Off-World and Superman's Action Comics. Aaron will be the writer for the relaunch of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Kelly Sue DeConnick

Award winning Kelly Sue DeConnick’s work spans stage, comics, film, and television. She is best known for Captain Marvel, Wonder Woman Historia: The Amazons, Bitch Planet, and Pretty Deadly. A founding partner at Good Trouble Productions, she has helped produce educational comics for NY Public Schools and Congressman John Lewis’s Run.

Barry Gordon

Barry Gordon became a fixture as a character actor in feature films and television, most prominently as a co-star on the hit series The New Dick Van Dyke Show, Fish, and Archie Bunker's Place. His voice was heard for decades as the Nestle Quik Bunny and he originated the voice of Donatello in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Renae Jacobs

She is best known as the voice of April O'Neil in the animated series Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Jacobs has been heard on numerous animated shows such as Rose Petal Place, Rose Petal Place: Real Friends, It's Punky Brewster!, My Little Pony, and Moon Dreamers.

Rob Paulsen

Emmy award winning Rob Paulsen voices some of the most well-known characters of all time, including Yakko Warner and Pinky (of Pinky and the Brain) on the Animaniacs, Raphael/Donatello in the TMNT, Arthur in The Tick, the title role in The Mask, Carl Wheezer in Jimmy Neutron, and many more!

Aliona Baranova

Aliona Baranova is a theatre trained actor and director, who has contributed to some of the most successful visual entertainment of the past 10 years. Her most recent project was working with Larian Studios and PitStop Productions to provide performance direction, voice and motion capture performances on Baldur's Gate III.

Jennifer English

Jennifer English trained as an actor at the Royal Birmingham conservatoire, with extensive experience across stage, screen, and video games. Her video game credits include projects such as Divinity: Original Sin II, Latenna in Elden Ring, and most recently as the iconic role of Shadowheart on Baldur's Gate III.

Neil Newbon

Neil Newbon has been an actor and director in performance capture and voiceover in games, television, and films for 14+ years in 130+ titles. He is known for his work as Astarion on Baldur's Gate III, Deliver Us Mars, Trailer Farms: Happy Together Borderlands 3 trailer, and Total War Three Kingdoms.

Theo Solomon

On screen, Theo Solomon appeared in ITV's Vera, Sky's Temple, and BBC's Enterprice. On stage, he played a lead in the Old Vic's Woyzeck, toured Hamlet, and performed the award winning play Shebeen in London and Nottingham. Most recently he has appeared as Wyll in the record breaking Baldur's Gate III.

Devora Wilde

Devora Wilde, BAFTA Breakthrough Longlist nominee 2022, is a Bulgarian-born actress who grew up in the UK. She plays one of the main origin characters, Lae'zel, in Baldur's Gate III from Larian Studios, as well as voicing characters in games such as Arknights, Battlefield 2042, and Total Warhammer III, among others.

Atlanta Radio Theatre Company

ARTC performs audio drama, both live and in the studio. We supply the story, the music, the sound effects, and the voices. The listener fills in all the other details with their imagination.

Eranga-D

Eranga D works as a freelance illustrator out of Birmingham, Alabama. He does cover and pinup work in the mainstream and indie comic market. In his time in comics, he has worked with Dark Horse, Dynamite, Scout Comics, Black Caravan, and contributed covers to several indie Kickstarters.

Adam Kubert

Adam Kubert began his career in comics at the age of 12, lettering for DC Comics. He is best known for his work at Marvel. Kubert's work includes the X-Men, Fantastic Four, The Incredible Hulk, Spider-Man, Avengers, Superman, Ghost Rider, and most notably, Wolverine.

Mikal Mosley

Mikal Mosley is an avid convention goer and costume designer. He has presented at several major conventions over the past 10 years, such as Dragon Con, MomoCon, and San Diego Comic Con. His professional costume credits include building costumes for the WWE, NFL, and various tv shows.

Bob Pendarvis

Bob Pendarvis was the original creator of SCAD's Sequential Art Department (he even named it) and taught dozens of unique classes for over 18 years. Pendarvis's most recent accomplishments are the successful publication of A Girl Teaching Art Classes in the Spooky Woods Near a Witch and the sequel James.

Sebastian A. Jones

Sebastian Jones is the owner of Stranger Comics and the creator of the world of Asunda, a shared fantasy comic universe with an emphasis on representation that is coming soon to HBO, where Jones will write and produce. Jones' flagship character Niobe was honored with a foreword by Viola Davis.

Thomas Gofton

Producing the Adventurers League series Legacy of Worlds and The Gamers: Natural One, Thomas designed Lynnvander's Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Pathfinder: Level 20, The World of Imaria, Cowboy Bebop, Dr. Who: Don't Blink, Evil Dead 2, Star Trek Alliance, and Battletech: Aces. Thomas streams D&D on Six Sides of Gaming.

Erin Macdonald

Erin Macdonald has a PhD in Astrophysics and is a writer, speaker, producer, and science advisor; currently the official science advisor for the Star Trek franchise. She has also voiced her fictional counterpart Lt. Cmdr. Erin Macdonald in Star Trek: Prodigy and the video game Star Trek Online.

P. Craig Russell

Harvey and Eisner Award winning P. Craig Russell has spent 40 years producing graphic novels, comic books, and illustrations. His work includes Coraline, Sandman, Elric, Killraven, Batman, Star Wars, Conan, Fairy Tales of Oscar Wilde series, classic operas, Jungle Book series, and many more.

Eldritch Arts

Eliza Eldredge is the owner of the costume and prop-making company, Eldritch Arts, based in western Massachusetts; and is known for her screen-accurate replicas of props and costumes.

Don L McGregor

Don McGregor, original writer of Black Panther comic books, has become one of the foremost writers in comic books today. With almost 30 years of experience in the field, McGregor incorporates a deep understanding of human nature into his stories, blending humanity with humility and pain with glory.

Nemesis

Nemesis is a 20+ year veteran of smashing dance club floors across the US and a ten time Dragon Con performer. High energy music and an unstoppable force keeping the party going! Techno, Electro House, Trance, Industrial, Goth, 80's, current, and more! Dark Shift provides stunning visuals on massive screens.

Bill Fawcett

Bill has been a professor, teacher, corporate executive, college dean, and game designer. As a book packager, he has created and edited over 400 books. He has collaborated on the Mycroft Holmes and Madame Vernet mysteries. His non-fiction includes Hunters & Shooters, The Teams, and Making Contact: a UFO Handbook.

John Jackson Miller

John Jackson Miller is a New York Times bestselling author of novels and comics for Star Wars, Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, and Marvel. His new novel, Star Wars: The Living Force, releases in 2024 from Random House Worlds. He is a Dragon Award winner and recipient of four Scribe Awards.

Rebecca Moesta

Rebecca Moesta is the bestselling author of 40 books, including Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Junior Jedi Knights novels. In collaboration with her husband, Kevin J. Anderson, she wrote the Crystal Doors trilogy, the Young Jedi Knights series, and others. Rebecca and Kevin are the publishers of WordFire Press.

Dot Steverson

Dot is a podcaster, producer, digital storyteller, and tabletop game designer. She combines her love of games and storytelling as a freelance writer and the marketing director of Kobold Press.

Jamie Michelle Waggoner

Jamie Waggoner is an author, podcaster, Pagan priestess, and occult expert. Author of Hades: Myth, Magic and Modern Devotion and co-host of The Way of the Weaver podcast.

Elizabeth Donald

Elizabeth Donald is an award winning writer of dark fantasy and speculative fiction and a freelance journalist of 25 years. Her books include the Blackfire and Nocturne dark fantasy series.

Dan dos Santos

Dan dos Santos' work spans many genres including novels, comics, and film. He has worked for every major publisher in the US, and his illustrations have graced the #1 spot on the New York Times BestSeller list. His illustration credits include covers for Brandon Sanderson, Patricia Briggs, and Patrick Rothfuss.

Nox Falls

Nox Falls is a "gothicc" international performing artist that calls the Pacific Northwest home, amassing multiple awards within their career ranging from "Best Costume", "Most Fierce", and "Queen".

Amelia Gotham

Amelia Gotham has voiced characters in video games such as Disneyland Adventures for Kinect, Final Fantasy XIII, as well as the voice of Mipha in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

Mindy Lee

Mindy Lee has an extensive and varied career in the entertainment industry. From video games to animation and beyond, she brings her experience and talent to the world of comics – most recently as the co-creator and artist of Bounty, and the artist of Crimson Lotus, both published by Dark Horse Comics.

Comfort Love

Chris Schweizer

Eisner-nominated Chris Schweizer is the cartoonist that divides his time between two graphic novel series: the award winning historical fiction Crogan Adventures (Oni Press) and the upcoming horror series The Creeps (Abrams/Amulet). Schweizer has previously taught aspiring artists at SCAD-Atlanta for five years.

Jim Shooter

Jim Shooter sold his first comic in 1966 at age 13 to DC Comics. He was Marvel Comics editor-in-chief from 1978 to 1987, where he revitalized Marvel and oversaw the company's largest growth since the 1960's. Shooter founded Valiant Comics in 1989, Defiant Comics in 1993, and Broadway Comics in 1995.

Spat

Spat Oktan of SpatCave Studios is an FX makeup artist, costume/prop maker, and author known for his MOBCon book series, his crazy costumes, and makeup effects.

Adam Withers

Comfort and Adam are an award nominated creative duo. Comfort and Adam made their name as professional self-publishers with their acclaimed comic series The Uniques and Rainbow in the Dark. They also wrote a massive how-to book for Random House called The Complete Guide to Self-Publishing Comics.

Dr. Emily Zarka

Emily Zarka is a monster expert and the creator, writer, and host of the popular YouTube series Monstrum.

Nancy Knight

Knight's writing career has spanned 40 years, her first professional sale in 1983. Author of 15 novels, with three scheduled for 2024, including a novel for Falstaff Books. She is a playwright, screenwriter, won the 2004 Hank Reinhardt Award, and was awarded a The Polaris Award for a lifetime achievement.

Charles Soule

Comics writer and novelist whose works include Daredevil, Death of Wolverine, Eight Billion Genies, The Rise of Kylo Ren, Darth Vader, Poe Dameron, The High Republic, and Dark Droids. His books include Oracle Year, Star Wars: The Light of the Jedi, Anyone, and The Endless Vessel.

Benjamin Wallace

Benjamin Wallace is the author of the Duck & Cover Adventures, the Shattered Alliance saga, Dads vs. Zombies, and other action adventure comedies.

Darin M. Bush

Darin M. Bush is an award winning science-fiction and fantasy short-story author. He is the founder and executive producer of Tables of Content, a virtual sci-fi convention.

Georges Jeanty

Georges Jeanty is an Eisner winner and NY Times bestselling artist for the critically acclaimed Buffy the Vampire Slayer. His art can be seen at Marvel on Xtinction, Captain America, and Star Wars:The High Republic. He is currently working on Disney's Star Wars: The Mandalorian.

Logan Jenkins

Logan Jenkins is a TRPG writer, content creator, and voice actor. He is a co-host on Very Random Encounters. He and his co-hosts wrote The Ultimate Random Encounters Book.

S. L. Rowland

S.L. Rowland is a bestselling author of cozy fantasy series Tales of Aedrea and LitRPG series Sentenced to Troll.

Ryan Tang

Ryan Tang is a LitRPG and YA Fantasy author based in Fremont, CA. His best known books are the Mimic & Me series, Tower Apocalypse, and the Crown Tournament series.

Kevin J. Anderson

Kevin J. Anderson is best known for his Dune and Star Wars novels, his Saga of Seven Suns, Terra Incognita, Dan Shamble, Zombie P.I. series, and steampunk novels with Rush drummer Neil Peart. He writes comics, edits anthologies, publishes WordFire Press, and the director of the publishing graduate program at WCU.

Corey Applegate

Corey Applegate is actively involved in a wide variety of fandoms including Star Wars, Wheel of Time, sewing, D&D, fantasy literature, history, travel, and Disney.

Alex Damon

Alex Damon is the co-creator and co-host of Star Wars Explained, a YouTube channel covering all Star Wars that has gained over 800,000 subscribers. He is also a 3-time winner of the Dragon Con Star Wars Trivia Contest.

Mollie Damon

Mollie Damon is the co-creator and co-host of Star Wars Explained, a YouTube channel covering all Star Wars that has gained over 800,000 subscribers.

Katie Mehera

Katie DeMatteis is a versatile Twitch streamer, podcaster, and professional marketer/writer, with experience in TTRPGs and video gaming. She interviews creatives on her podcast How the F#!k?.

S. M. Stirling

S.M. Stirling was born in France in 1953, to Canadian parents. He published his first novel, Snow Brother, in 1984. In 1995 he moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico. His latest are Conan: Blood of the Serpent and To Turn the Tide, a time-travel novel coming out from Baen in August.

Irene Zielinski

Irene Zielinski is a game developer at Steve Jackson Games. Her debut roleplaying game, Scurvy Buggers, is out now with 9th Level Games.

Devon M Chulick

Devon Chulick is the creator of Total Party Chill, the award winning D&D actual play channel. He is the co-founder of StartPlaying, the largest platform for finding professional game masters. He has been featured in Bloomberg, SF Gate, Marketwatch, Yahoo! News, Forbes, Polygon, Bleeding Cool, The Information, and more.

Stacey Rourke

Stacey Rourke is the award winning author of works that span genres, but possess the same flair for action and snarky humor. She lives in Florida with pets and family.

Katharine E. Wibell

Epic fantasy author Katharine E. Wibell's acclaimed novels include The Incarn Saga series and The Djed Chronicles series. The Guardian's Speaker novella series is an adult dark Viking fantasy.

Dean's Lyst

Walter Dean is a designer who specializes in custom-made costumes. He was featured by Marvel Studios in Marvel Becoming: Dora Milaje. He has also been spotlighted in several written publications.

Matt Green

Since 1986, Matt Green has served as a special effects coordinator, producer, and director. He brings a relentless drive to make captivating cinema and has directed 11 feature films and has over one hundred special effects credits to his name. Green has been a speaker at Dragon Con since 1987.

Andrew Lee Griffith

Andrew Lee Griffith is a pop culture artist best known for his stints as the lead artist on books such as Transformers, G.I. Joe, Star Wars, and Micronauts. He is currently working on Godzilla and the creator-owned comic SIGNA, as well as Magic the Gathering.

Amanda Conner

Amanda Conner has worked on Harley Quinn, Lois Lane, Codename: Knockout, Birds of Prey, X-Men Unlimited, Gatecrasher (co-creator), and The Pro, an Eisner-nominated creator-owned book for Image Comics with Jimmy Palmiotti and Garth Ennis. Recently she worked on the Before Watchman: Silk Spectre series with Eisner-winning creator Darwyn Cooke.

Bethany DJ Kesler

Bethany Kesler is a historian, writer, podcaster, and fabulous reader. Most of her work is under the pen name, DJ Gray, which she maintains for plausible deniability reasons.

Jimmy Palmiotti

A multi-award winning writer, creator, and editor. Palmiotti's works include Harley Quinn, The New West, Jonah Hex, Monolith, 21 Down, The Resistance, The Pro, Gatecrasher, Beautiful Killer, Ash, Cloudburst, Trigger Girl 6, Thrill Seeker, Trailblazer, Ballerina, The Twilight Experiment, Killing Time in America, Rage, Queen Crab, and Retrovirus.

Stephen Granade

Stephen Granade is a physicist, writer, and interactive narrative designer specializing in robotics and machine learning. He was most recently on the Science Channel's NASA's Unexplained Files, and his game, Professor of Magical Studies, is out now from Choice of Games.

Mari Mancusi

Mari Mancusi is the award winning author of over 30 books for kids, teens, and adults. She writes tie-in novels for Disney Press as well as sci-fi/fantasy books for other major publishers. An Emmy award winning former TV news producer, she also writes branching narrative fiction for mobile gaming companies.

Aretta Baumgartner

Aretta Baumgartner is education and advocacy director of the Center for Puppetry Arts, America's largest puppetry non-profit. A puppeteer for 30 years, she presents workshops and creates original puppet work.

Brian D. Anderson

Known as one of the great hybrid author pioneers, Brian D. Anderson has written more than 25 novels which have sold more than half a million copies worldwide.

Fon H Davis

Fon Davis appears on BattleBots, The Movies that Made Us, Prop Culture, Cake Masters, and Superfan Builds. He has worked on over 45 feature films including The Nightmare Before Christmas and the Star Wars series. More recently, Davis has been directing shorts and worked on Godzilla, The Mandalorian, and Interstellar.

Delilah S Dawson

Delilah S. Dawson is the New York Times bestselling author of Star Wars: Phasma and Inquisitor: Rise of the Red Blade, Bloom, The Violence, the Minecraft: Mob Squad series, the Hit series, the Blud series, the Shadow series (written as Lila Bowen), and the Tales of Pell, written with Kevin Hearne.

Ernest Dempsey

Ernest Dempsey is a USA Today bestselling author of archaeological thrillers and urban fantasy with over 50 books published since 2011. Inspired by books about ancient history, mysterious relics, and films, Dempsey's books offer a unique blend of history and fiction that blur the lines of reality.

Susan Griffith

Susan Griffith is the co-author of fantasy fiction with her husband, Clay, including the Vampire Empire series, the Crown & Key trilogy, and The Flash and Arrow team-up. She is a comic book writer for characters such as The Tick, The Simpsons, and Kolchak: The Night Stalker.

Stoner Gump

Daniel Gossard, AKA StonerGump. Author of Herbally Infused and Chronically Bemused. Elevated funny man and head astronaut.

Steve Jackson

Steve Jackson has been designing games for 45 years and has no plans to stop. His creations include Munchkin, Illuminati, the GURPS and The Fantasy Trip roleplaying systems, Ogre, Car Wars, and Zombie Dice. He is a citizen of the Internet until Texas cleans up its act.

Gini Koch

Gini Koch writes the fast, fresh, and funny Alien/Katherine “Kitty” Katt series for DAW Books, as well as many other novels, novellas, novelettes, and short stories in all the genres and under a variety of pen names, including G.J.Koch, Anita Ensal, Jemma Chase, A.E. Stanton, and J.C. Koch.

Cherie M. Priest

Cherie Priest is the author of more than two dozen books and novellas - most recently The Drowning House from Sourcebooks and Cinderwich from Apex Book Company. She is perhaps best known for the Clockwork Century series, beginning with the Hugo/Nebula/Locus nominated Boneshaker.

Don Rosa

Rosa became internationally famous in 1987 when he began creating stories based on his favorite comics, Carl Barks' Uncle Scrooge, for publishers in Europe where Barks' Duck comics continue to be the bestselling comics as they once were in America.

Jack Skillingstead

Since 2003 Jack Skillingstead has sold three novels and 40+ short stories. He has been a finalist for both the Sturgeon Award and the Philip K. Dick Award. His second collection, The Whole Mess and Other Stories, was published in 2023 by Fairwood Press. He lives in Seattle with his wife, writer Nancy Kress.

Abby Trott

Abby Trott is known for portraying Nezuko in Demon Slayer, Annette in Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Ivy in Netflix's Carmen Sandiego, Windblade in the Transformers: Prime Wars Trilogy, and singing the English version of the theme for Nintendo's Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

Trevor Valle

Trevor Valle is a former paleontologist and science writer who has appeared in documentaries on History Channel, Discovery, and in IMAX, and is a professional GM, TTRPG writer, creator, game tester, Twitch and YouTube Actual Play regular, and the dinosaur creator for Atlas Games' Planegea D&D setting.

Zach Aguilar

Zach Aguilar is an American, LA-based voice actor, best known for his roles as Tanjiro Kamado in Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, Aether in Genshin Impact, and Byleth in Fire Emblem: Three Houses/Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Aguilar is one of the youngest working voice actors in the field.

Giancarlo Esposito

Giancarlo Esposito is best known for his portrayal of Gustavo "Gus" Fring on the AMC series Breaking Bad. He has portrayed Sidney Glass/Magic Mirror on ABC's Once Upon a Time and currently portrays Major Tom Neville in the NBC series Revolution.

Larry Hama

Larry Hama is a comic book writer, artist, and editor, best known for G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, which he is currently writing. He has also written for Wolverine, Venom, Nth Man: The Ultimate Ninja, and Elektra. He co-created the character Bucky O'Hare. 

Jason Liebrecht

Jason Liebrecht is an actor & performing artist based in Austin, TX. His voice acting includes credits in genres from anime to gaming. Liebrecht is also a long-time company member and collaborator with the Rude Mechs. He also has a number of on-camera credits in independent projects and network television.

J.D. Blackrose

J.D. Blackrose writes The Summoner's Mark series for Bell Bridge Books. She has published The Soul Wars, The Devil's Been Busy, and the Zombie Cosmetologist novellas through Falstaff Books.

Jim Butcher

Jim Butcher is the author of the Dresden Files, Codex Alera, and Cinder Spires. His resume includes skills which were useful a couple of centuries ago. An avid gamer, he plays tabletop games in varying systems, a variety of PC and console games, and LARPs whenever he can.

Will Conrad

Will Conrad began his comics career as an inker on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Conrad became a DC and Marvel artist, working on Black Panther, Dark Avengers, Wolverine, X-Men, Batman, Justice League, Odyssey, Superman, The Flash, and Nightwing. He resides in Brazil, with his wife Bella and their two daughters.

Catherine Lee Jones

Catherine Jones owns a costume making company based out of Atlanta, GA. Her shop works primarily with the tv, film, and video game industry. Jones's shop specializes in sewing leather, creating knitwear, repairing sewing machines, and 3D modeling for garments.

Marco Rudy

Marco Rudy has been working in the comics industry since 2006, with longer tenures at DC (Swamp Thing, Action Comics, The Shield) and Marvel (Marvel Knights: Spiderman, Bucky Barnes: The Winter Soldier, Avengers, Uncanny X-Men), and many other companies under the sun, with works also in the gaming and advertising world.

Elizabeth Maxwell

Elizabeth Maxwell is a voice actress known for her work in Attack on Titan (Ymir), My Hero Academia (Midnight), and Dragon Ball Super (Caulifla/Kefla).  Other popular titles include The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom (Urbosa/Riju), Overlord (Albedo), Persona 5 (Sae Niijima), Genshin Impact (Rosaria), RWBY (Winter Schnee), and Fruits Basket (Arisa Uotani).

Alison Tracy

Alison Tracy Wynn, PhD is a senior research scholar with the Stanford VMware Women's Leadership Innovation Lab. As Alison Tracy, she writes YA and adult sci-fi/fantasy.

Bethany Brookshire

Bethany Brookshire is a PhD neuroscientist, science writer, and podcaster. She is the author of the 2022 book Pests: How Humans Create Animal Villains.

Jim Farmer

Jim Farmer led Out On Film, Atlanta's LGBTIA+ film festival, to become an Oscar qualifying film festival and is an award winning arts reporter who covers film, television, and theater.

Nancy Kress

Literary Guest of Honor Nancy Kress is the author of 34 novels, four story collections, three books on writing fiction, and over 100 short stories. She has won six Nebulas, two Hugos, a Sturgeon, and the John W. Campbell Memorial Award. Most recent work is Observer (2023), written with Dr. Robert Lanza.

John Picacio

Artist Guest of Honor John Picacio is a three-time Hugo award winner and one of the most acclaimed artists in sci-fi and fantasy over the last two decades. He has created bestselling cover artwork for 150+ major sci-fi/fantasy books including works by George R.R. Martin, Michael Moorcock, Leigh Bardugo, Rebecca Roanhorse, and Harlan Ellison.

Mandisa Lateefah Thomas

Mandisa Thomas is the founder and president of Black Nonbelievers. She has been featured in the documentaries gOD-Talk and Contradiction, and on CBS Sunday Morning and CNN.com.

Andrew E.C. Gaska

Andrew E.C. Gaska is the multiple award winning lore/adventure writer for Free League's Alien RPG. A franchise consultant to 20th Century Studios on Alien, Predator, and POTA, he is the lead writer for two Choose Your Own Adventure graphic novels and the Terminator and Planet of the Apes RPGs.

Ant Lucia

Very few alternate visions of established characters have captured the imaginations of fandom like the DC Comics Bombshells. When Ant Lucia unveiled his designs for such characters as Wonder Woman, Batwoman, Harley Quinn, and the rest in the series the popularity exploded!

Mary Abreu

Mary Abreu is a TV/film seamstress/tailor who has worked on Marvel, Sweet Magnolias, The Walking Dead, and the upcoming WWII movie, Six Triple Eight.

Dane Ault

Dane Ault is the artist behind Monkey Minion Press, an art company he runs with his wife and business partner, Ashlie Hammond. Monkey Minion Press has been publishing art books, kid's books, and all manner of POPaganda, science, and space-related art prints and posters for over a decade.

Brianna Garcia

Brianna Garcia is a professional comic artist and storyboard artist, working on titles such as My Little Pony, Disney Princess Comics, Batman and Harley Quinn, and Justice League Dark.

Panterona

Panterona is an award winning cosplayer, fashion/carnival costume designer from Trinidad and Tobago. She has been cosplaying and designing costumes for 20 years and has won several cosplay competitions around the world. Panterona has also directed, produced, and starred in television programs on costume design in the Caribbean region.

Rachel Rener

Rachel Rener is an award winning, #1 bestselling romantasy author of several series, including Gilded Blood, as well as a voice actor on the DnD podcast, Of Dice and Friends.

Greg L Burnham

Greg Burnham: comic book/children's book writer in Norcross, GA. With DC Comics stories under his belt: The Spoils (Superman), Ablution (Icon), and Fair Play (Mr. Terrific), Burnham has created quite the resume. His creator owned properties: Tuskegee Heirs, The Search for Sadiqah, Little Rock Files, etc. are all hits.

Ed Greenwood

Ed Greenwood is a Canadian writer, game designer, actor, scriptwriter, and librarian who created The Forgotten Realms fantasy setting. Greenwood has also created or co-created Stormtalons, Mornmist, and worked in Amber, Oz, and Middle Earth. His 450-plus books have sold over 60 million copies worldwide in over 40 languages.

Ian Harris

Ian Harris, "The Skeptic Comedian", is a 10 year veteran of Dragon Con; with his biting "thinking man's" comedy mixes, science, skepticism, and pop culture. For the past five years, he and Leighann Lord have done the Dragon Con favorite Science and Fiction Comedy Show.

Jeff Hubbs

Jeff Hubbs is a consultant specializing in energy systems and climate change research. A regular Dragon Con panelist since 2013, his presentations have covered energy storage, electronics, and lighting.

Sadie Witkowski

Sadie Witkowski is currently the director of communications for the Data Science Institute at the University of Chicago. In her free time, she hosts the podcast In Defense of Fandom.

Aaron Reynolds

Aaron Reynolds is the 4-time Webby award winning author of Effin' Birds, a comic strip pairing intricate artwork with mundane daily frustrations read by over a million people every day. His first book, Effin' Birds: A Field Guide to Identification, hit bookstores in 2019 and is a bestseller.

Sweeney Boo

Sweeney Boo is a comic artist and illustrator. When she is not busy drawing witchy girls and hairless cats, she works with various publishers. She is also the author and illustrator of graphic novel Eat, & Love Yourself and Over My Dead Body out with HarperCollins.

Ryan Browne

Ryan Browne is a professional comicsbooksman from Chicago, Illinois. He is WORLD famous for co-creating Eight Billion Genies and Curse Words with Charles Soule. He is infamous for fully-creating God Hates Astronauts for which he is currently on a worldwide apology tour.  Browne is an Executive Producer on the Eight Billion Genies movie now in development at Amazon Studios. 

George Lowe

George Lowe is the ad-libbing madman behind Space Ghost. Cartoon Networks wildly popular Adult Swim block was built on the cult hit Space Ghost Coast to Coast which ran for a decade with legions of fans responsible for its success.

Samuel John Baltrusis

Sam Baltrusis, author of Ghosts of Salem and featured in The Curse of Lizzie Borden shock doc, has penned 17 books and appeared on more than a dozen paranormal-themed shows.

Liz Delton

Liz Delton writes fantasy and steampunk stories ranging from cozy to epic, including her cozy fantasy steampunk series, Seasons of Soldark, and her YA Fantasy series, Realm of Camellia.

JC Kang

USA Today bestselling author JC Kang published Asian-themed epic fantasy before it was cool, and still moved 50k copies through 2018. Kang has nearly 250k followers across major platforms.

Dr. Law

Dr. Law is a published PhD-level behavioral scientist, photographer, podcaster, and gamer. He founded Dr. LAW's Photolab, and is part of the Stuff We Love, Stuff We Hate Podcast.

Leighann Lord

Leighann Lord is a stand-up comedian who has performed at Dragon Con for several years. She is the author of Dict Jokes and Real Women Do it Standing Up, has been a co-host on StarTalk Radio with Neil deGrasse Tyson, and has been on Comedy Central, HBO, and Showtime.

Eleni Rivera

Eleni Rivera is a video game writer and filmmaker for feature films, pilots, and AAA title games. She is currently a narrative designer at Blizzard Entertainment writing for Diablo IV.

Channing Scott Sherman

Channing Sherman, co-host of The Dragon Con Report podcast, co-founded the Black Geeks of Dragon Con to celebrate the love of cosplay in the Black Geek community.

Kyle Mackenzie Sullivan

Kyle Mackenzie Sullivan is a director and camera operator in film and television. He has worked on projects that include A24, Magnolia Pictures, and Outdoor Channel.

Rodney Barnes

Rodney Barnes is a Peabody Award winning writer/producer best known for his work on The Boondocks and Marvel's Falcon comics.

Michael Chatfield

Michael Chatfield is an international bestselling author with over 45 books based in fantasy, science fiction, and LitRPG universes!

Shawn Crystal

Shawn Crystal got his first job while in school, Resident Evil: Fire and Ice, a miniseries for Wildstorm. Around 5 years ago, Marvel hired Crystal on Deadpool, living his childhood dream. He is currently an artist for Marvel Comics and Valiant Entertainment.

Peter Capn' Cutler

Peter "Capn" Cutler, artist for New Legends' Tiki Zombie, has done work over the last 30 years for ABS Inc., Con-Tees, Galactic Press, East Cobber, and Guy Gilchrist Productions. Cutler is also working on his own Spookie Kookies art, books, and many other items.

Hans R House

Hans House, MD is a professor of emergency medicine at the University of Iowa. He lectures frequently both nationally and internationally on travel-related and emerging infectious diseases.

E.K. Johnston

E.K. Johnston is the critically acclaimed, New York Times bestselling author of 15 YA novels, including Aetherbound and The Afterward, and sometimes she gets to play in the Star Wars sandbox, too.

Sarah M Milkovich

Dr. Sarah M. Milkovich is a science storyteller, sharing her enthusiasm for robotic space exploration and the stories of the people behind the robots. She has spent decades exploring the solar system with a variety of spacecraft.

Daniel Schinhofen

Daniel Schinhofen has published over 50 books since 2016, receiving name recognition in the LitRPG and GameLit community. He has published in multiple other genres as well.

Kevin Stallard

Kevin Stallard has been an information security professional for more than 30 years. Currently, Stallard works as the director of security architecture for Xbox Gaming.

Fr. Bryan Small

Every DND group needs a cleric, no? A priest for over 15 years, Fr. Bryan Small loves to share in the fandoms with his fellow nerds.

David Moscato

David Moscato is a paleontologist, science writer, and host of the Common Descent podcast. He applies his experience as a fossil hunter, researcher, and educator to discussions about life on Earth.

Rob Southgate

Rob Southgate is co-founder of Southgate Media Group (SMG), VP of marketing and growth for 4 Horsemen Publications, and is the director of marketing for The Storyteller's Forge.

Sway

Joshua "Sway" Swaby has provided cover artwork for Entertainment Weekly, DC Comics, Vault Comics, Image Comics, and Marvel Comics. His art has brought to life many iconic properties, including Star Wars, Black Widow, Wonder Woman, Miles Morales, Thanos, Loki, and more.

Robert Chapin

Robert Chapin is a visual effects artist, fight choreographer, actor, writer, and director. He wrote and starred in Ring of Steel and The Hunted.

Christopher G Moore

Christopher G. Moore is an award winning filmmaker and screenwriter. He directed a segment in the horror anthology Worst Laid Plans. He is also a co-host for the podcast Gruesome Magazine.

D.R. Perry

D.R. Perry writes fiction for both YA and adult audiences. Among her works is Dragon Award nominated adult novel A Change In Crime and 40+ volumes of YA across the Revealed World series.

Jessie Pridemore

Jessie Pridemore is a nonbinary cosplayer who has been cosplaying for almost 25 years! They have cosplayed for numerous anime and video game companies including Funimation, Aniplex, Ubisoft, Amazon Games, and many more. They were also a contestant on Syfy's Cosplay Melee.

Alex Shvartsman

Alex Shvartsman is an award winning writer, translator, and anthologist. He is the author of Kakistocracy, The Middling Affliction, and Eridani's Crown fantasy novels; as well as 120+ short stories.

Ian Randal Strock

Ian Randal Strock is the award winning author and publisher responsible for Release the Virgins and Jewish Futures. He previously edited for Analog, Asimov's, Science Fiction Chronicle, and Baen Books.

Gogo Incognito

Gogo Incognito is a professional glamour nerd. She is a full-time performer, producer, emcee, and live entertainer. She regularly produces sell-out variety and cabaret shows in Nashville.

Dan Jolley

Dan Jolley began writing professionally at age 19, and has written comic books, novels, children's books, video games, and the occasional screenplay. He is most noted for co-creating the Jason Rusch incarnation of DC Comics' Firestorm and scripting the main story of the global bestselling video game Dying Light.

Terry Maggert

Terry Maggert wrote the Backyard Starship, Peacemaker Wars, Halfway Witchy, Messenger, Starcaster, and Shattered Skies series, as well as contributing to many anthologies. Maggert has written 79 novels.

Guy Dorian, Sr.

Guy Dorian Sr. is a comic book artist, toy designer, and cinematic art designer with over 30 years of experience who has worked for some of the largest mainstream companies in the world, including Marvel, DC, IDW, JusToys, 20th Century Fox, Marvel Entertainment, and Storm King Productions.

Teresa Spinelli

Teresa Spinelli is a mission director of the Cygnus spacecraft, resupplying the International Space Station. She is the youngest and only woman to be certified to lead a Cygnus mission.

Anna Stegg Gerard

Annie Stegg Gerard has always loved to paint. Her art career began at seven years old, when she had her first art show at school. Since then she has worked for clients across the world. Inspired by nature, folklore, and mythology, her work evokes emotion and imagination in the viewer.

Justin Gerard

Justin Gerard is an American illustrator heavily inspired by the works of JRR Tolkien, classical mythology, Arthurian legend, and the natural world. Using methods gleaned from the golden-age illustrators, he paints narrative-driven paintings of giant dragons, terrible monsters, and heroic figures in scenes of mythic chaos and medieval fantasy.

Joe Compton

Joe Compton is an indie author and an independent filmmaker who has worked on 40+ productions. He is also the executive producer and on air host for Go Indie Now.

Tony Reames

Tony Reames is an award winning writer and director, whose work includes short films, music videos, and commercials. Reames's directorial debut Spookt had its 2023 world premiere at London FrightFest.

Tom Heintjes

Tom Heintjes is the co-founder and publisher of Hogan's Alley magazine, the Eisner award winning magazine about contemporary and classic cartooning. He is a former managing editor of The Comics Journal and for years wrote biographical essays for Will Eisner's Spirit magazine for Kitchen Sink Press.

Trina L. Ray

Currently the deputy science manager and investigation scientist for the radar instrumentation NASA's Europa Clipper Mission. She worked 20 years on Cassini-Huygens Mission to Saturn (specializing in Titan), and started her career working on Voyager. She is an active public speaker, invited to give many talks around the nation.

Jon Armstrong

Jon stars in Magicians: Life in the Impossible. You have seen him amaze on The Today Show, cause Penn on CW's Penn and Teller's Fool Us to exclaim his act as “the most original I've ever seen!”, and wow Jay Leno on The Tonight Show.

Brandy Blanton

Brandy is an academic known for combining popular culture with current events. As a terrorism expert, she loves to help people learn about preparing for emergencies.

James J. Butcher

James J. Butcher is a new urban fantasy writer and author of Dead Man's Hand, the first book in The Unorthodox Chronicles series. He is the son of Jim Butcher.

Jessica Cail

Featured on NOVA's Secret Life of Scientists for her dual life as psychopharmacologist and stuntwoman, Dr. Cail serves as science advisor for Hollywood; including projects for Marvel, Disney, and Netflix.

A.C. Charania

As the Agency Chief Technologist, A.C. Charania serves as an advisor to NASA's administrator on technology policy and programs. He also leads technology innovation at NASA and aligns agency-wide technology investments with mission needs across the six mission directorates. Charania oversees technology collaboration with federal agencies and the private sector.

Sophia Corde

Sophia is a marine biologist and social scientist studying marine mammals in the Gulf of Mexico. She has studied manatees, African elephants, marine iguanas, and green sea turtles.

Richard J Estep

Appearing on numerous TV shows and the author of 34 books, Richard Estep writes and presents on topics ranging from the paranormal, true crime, history, and writing/publishing.

Richard Fierce

Richard Fierce is an award winning fantasy author of over 30 books, which have sold over 150,000 copies globally since 2020. He lives in northwest Georgia with family and pets.

Anthony Francis

Anthony Francis teaches robot learning, writes science fiction (including the Dakota Frost, Skindancer UF series and Jeremiah Willstone and the Clockwork Time Machine), and is coeditor of The Neurodiversiverse Anthology.

greendragon

Stage director, public speaker, and singer Kirsten Z. Cairns is a senior staffer for TheOneRing.net. Often seen at events as a panelist for TORN, a performer, or interviewing cast members, Cairns brings knowledge of literature, music, theatre, and fantasy to all her interactions with fans and celebs!

Will Harris

Will is a paleontologist, educator, and host of The Common Descent Podcast, where he applies his professional experience to entertaining and educational discussions about past and present life on Earth.

Matthew L Hawkins

Matthew Hawkins is a maker, paper toy artist, and illustrator. Hawkins weaves humor and energy into bold, whimsical art for humorous and often surprising results. He has made work for Disney, DC, Nickelodeon, Nintendo, Sega, and WWE.

Lucas Hernandez

Lucas Hernandez is the education coordinator at the South Carolina Aquarium. He is also a member of the Sprites of Life podcast, that discusses what games can teach us.

Jesse J. Holland

Jesse J. Holland wrote the Black Panther: Who Is The Black Panther? and the Star Wars: The Force Awakens: Finn's Story novels. He also wrote for Superman: Red and Blue.

Les Johnson

Les Johnson is a physicist, author, and chief technologist at the NASA George C. Marshall Space Flight Center. His recent books include A Traveler's Guide to the Stars (Princeton Press), The Spacetime War (Baen), and the forthcoming Pluto: The Dark World (Tor) and Crisis at Proxima (Baen).

Jim Mahfood

Jim Mahfood aka "Food One" has been a freelance artist for 25 years and has worked in the fields of comics books, illustration, advertising, animation, feature films, toy design, live art, and gallery exhibitions. Mahfood's current projects include illustrating loading screens for the Fortnite video game.

Andrea Lorenzo Molinari

Andrea Lorenzo Molinari, PhD is co-writer of The Shepherd Series with Scout Comics. Molinari serves as editorial director for Scout Comics. He has edited for Caliber Comics and Amigo Comics, and has edited books published by Action Lab Entertainment, Behemoth, Second Sight, Cosmic Times, and New Friday Comics.

Bryce O'Connor

Bryce O'Connor is the CEO of Wraithmarked Creative. He is also a #1 Audible Store bestselling author, with his works having sold over 500,000 copies worldwide.

Ande Parks

Ande Parks has inked titles such as Daredevil, Ant-Man, Superman, Wonder Woman, and Nightwing. He is best known for Green Arrow, with collaborator Phil Hester. Parks has written three graphic novels for Oni Press; the most well-known, Ciudad, was developed with the Russo brothers for Netflix as Extraction.

Forrest Valkai

Forrest is a biologist and science communicator who teaches learners of all ages to love science and each other on YouTube, TikTok, and shows like SkepTalk and The Atheist Experience.

H C Warner

HC Warner is responsible for the birth of the comics and pop art installation in a double suite poolside at the Courtland Grand, featuring an array of present leaders in the lowbrow and pop art arena. Warner has been part of Atlanta's lowbrow scene since the early '90s .

Marcusthevisual Williams

Stationed in Atlanta Ga, he spends most of his time toiling away late nights on everything from illustrating comic art, fan art, children's books, to random character commissions. He is excited about the direction of his comic properties, and looks forward to creating more forms of visual entertainment and stories.

Jason Metcalf

Jason Metcalf is a comic book cover artist whose work includes The Last Ronin, Batman and Maxx, Van Helsing, RAI, Bloodshot, War Angels, and more. Outside of comics, Metcalf has done production story art for HBO's Game of Thrones, History Channel's Vikings, and character design for Stan Lee's POW! Entertainment.

Gabriel Perez

Gabriel Perez is the composer and audio engineer for the Quid Pro Roll podcast, lead writer and sound designer for the Heartlands VR-RPG, and lover of all things strange.

John Giang

John Giang is an acclaimed cover and concept artist, whose covers include: Spider-Man, Batman, and Last Ronin; and film credits include: Rogue One, Avengers, TMNT, and Transformers. Giang has jammed with Marvel, DC Comics, Paramount, Disney, Lucasfilm, and Hasbro.

Nich Lyle

Nich Lyle (LCMHC) is a cosplayer and therapist who believes in the therapeutic power of pop culture. He works with fellow nerds and champions them in embracing their individual superpowers.

Hawkings "Hawk" Austin

Hawk is a radiation effects engineer, building the fastest computers in space, but he has had a number of other careers including: survivability engineer (DoD), environmental scientist (NASA), and a fight instructor for self-defense and stage. Hawk is a published author in history, science, and fantasy.

Chuck Brown

Chuck Brown is an Eisner and Ringo award winning comic book writer. He is the current writer for Aquaman. He has written Bitter Root (co-creator), The Punisher, Black Panther, and Wolverine. He is also the writer and creator of The Quiet Kind and On the Stump.

Jessica Cage

Jessica Cage is an international award winning and USA Today bestselling author from Chicago, IL. She is an independent publisher who focuses on writing strong characters of color in fantasy. Cage recently signed with Webtoon to produce exclusive content for their new reading app, Yonder.

Esther Friesner

Multiple Nebula Award winner Esther Friesner has published over 40 novels, more than 200 short stories, and has edited 11 anthologies including the Chicks in Chainmail series for Baen Books. She is also the author of the Princesses of Myth YA series for Random House.

Jeaniene Frost

Jeaniene Frost is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of fantasy romance. She is best known for the following series: Night Huntress, Night Prince, Night Rebel, and Broken Destiny. Frost's novels have also appeared in Publishers Weekly, Wall Street Journal, ABA Indiebound, and international bestseller lists.

Stephanie Mirro

Stephanie Mirro is an Amazon Charts bestselling author and best known for The Last Phoenix urban fantasy romance series.

Thomas Parham

Dr. Thomas Parham chairs the Department of Visual & Media Arts at Palm Beach Atlantic University and is a WGA member with produced credits.

aSwanNamedEmily aSwanNamedEmily

Emily Swan is a graphic designer and illustrator. Swan is showrunner of Doodle Crew, co-host of Sketching Shakespeare!, and a member of In Addition and Surprise Attack Book Club.

Judy Black

Judy Black is a writer who makes her home in Atlanta. She loves games, books, cats, things with caffeine, and is an Ennie-nominated writer of Dungeons and Dragons modules.

Ryan Cahill

Ryan Cahill is the award winning author of the bestselling epic fantasy series The Bound and The Broken.

Jordan Duncan

Jordan Duncan is a historian, researcher, and educator. He has been part of the Atlanta area paranormal community since 2008. He is also a podcaster and vlogger.

Adam Friedman

Adam Friedman is a scientist and artist exploring intersections between art and environmentalism. Friedman is an actor, director, and writer in the theatre community, co-founding the Atlanta Green Theatre Alliance.

Vandy Beth Glenn

Vandy Beth Glenn is a screenwriter, director, comedian, and civil rights pioneer. She has a journalism degree from UGA and is on Instagram [@vandybethglenn], Bluesky [@vandybethglenn.bsky.social], and Twitter [@RedVelvetCakes].

Laura Grabowski

Laura Grabowski is Executive Director of Middle-earth News, has presented with the Mythopoeic Society and the Popular Culture Association, holds a PhD in Computer Science, and is a professor at SUNY.

Joe Hansen

Joe is a marine biologist, has studied bottlenose dolphins, worked as a protected species observer, and has interned for agencies conducting research on killer whales, humpback whales, and sea otters.

Tara Lynne

Tara Lynne is an author, event planner, fandom culture expert, public speaker, host of the Geek Saga and Sagas & Sass podcasts, and founded Ice & Fire Con.

Gary Poole

Gary Poole is the founder and host of Robot Battles, edited four bestselling anthologies set in John Ringo's Black Tide Rising universe, and runs the Southern Fandom Resource Guide website.

Anne Schlea

Anne Schlea writes two series: The Retribution Universe and The Fallen. She enjoys blending true history into urban fantasy to create a dynamic world for her readers to step into.

Jonathan Thompson

Jonathan Thompson is a veteran filmmaker and author from England. He has helped develop over $150 million worth of content and his clients sell their films to major studios.

Rilo W. Ward

Rilo Ward is an animation enthusiast who hosts Guild of Calamitous Podcasts, centered around The Venture Bros; as well as a writer for the [adult swim] news website adultswimcentral.com.

Jason Lane

Jason Lane is a longtime writer of various stuff - mostly concerning horror, martial arts films, giant monsters, giant robots, pro wrestling, comic books, and any type of vanguard/cult cinema.

Birma Gainor

Dr. Birma Gainor is the Director of Counseling and Psychological Services at Clemson University. She has been engaged in college mental health for just over two decades.

Kim Harrison

Kim Harrison is best known as the author of the New York Times #1 bestselling Hollows series, but she has traditionally published more than two dozen books spanning multiple genres. She is currently working on a new Hollows book between other, non-related, modern fantasy projects.

Raychelle Burks

Raychelle Burks is a chemistry professor with a crime lab background. She brings her expertise to examine unusual cases, both real and fictional.

Chris Cummins

Chris Cummins is a professional nerd who writes for Archie Comics and is the producer/host of Sci-Fi Explosion - which celebrates the weirdest moments in science fiction history.

Paula Purcell Kelly

Paula Kelly; with a career of research, acting, and screenwriting; is the co-owner of In the Shadows Entertainment Group. Her book Ghostly Tales of McCracken County showcases her storytelling.

Cary Nord

Cary Nord is the award winning artist of comic books and graphic novels such as Daredevil, X-Men, and Conan The Barbarian. Throughout his career, Nord has drawn virtually every major character in comics; having worked on Superman, Wolverine, Mutant X, Ghost Rider, Spider-Man, Thor, and Star Wars.

Will Aymerich

Will Aymerich is the co-author of Souls of Norcross and Shadows of The Past, and founder of The Darkside Syndicate, a paranormal investigation team from Atlanta.

Colleen Doran

Colleen Doran is the New York Times bestselling artist for the Neil Gaiman graphic novel Troll Bridge and Stan Lee's autobiography Amazing, Fantastic, Incredible Stan Lee, which earned a Young Adult Library Services Great Graphic Novels for Teens nomination. Books she has illustrated have won Eisner and Harvey Awards.

Jason Dorough

Jason Dorough is the author of the epic fantasy Teshovar series, has worked as a voiceover artist for more than a decade, and is also a content creator on BookTok.

Tana Ford

Tana Ford is the artist on Marvel's Silk. She has done work on Gwenpool, Star Trek, Jem and the Holograms, VenomVerse, and The Amazing Spider-Man. She is the creator of the award winning lesbian comic book series DUCK! She has recently collaborated with writer Nnedi Okorafor in the Black Panther universe.

Alicia Fox-Lenz

Alicia Fox-Lenz is co-host of Queer Lodgings: A Tolkien Podcast, a steward of the Mythopoeic Society, and scholar interested in studying Tolkien through a cultural studies lens.

Scott Hanna

Scott Hanna is an inker in the comic book industry who has worked with DC Comics and Marvel. He started his career with Eternity Comics and worked for DC for five years. He has worked for Marvel Comics for almost 14 years and inked almost every major character.

Gavin Kelly

Gavin Kelly, the head honcho of In the Shadows Entertainment Group, digital cinematographer, and author of Ghost Hunting: Sensationalism in Social Media, captures the essence of the unseen.

Gordon Andrews

Ilona Andrews

“Ilona Andrews” is the pseudonym for a husband and wife writing team. Gordon and Ilona reside in Texas with their many dogs and cats. They have co-authored several bestselling series, including the #1 NYT bestselling urban fantasy Kate Daniels, rustic fantasy The Edge, paranormal romance Hidden Legacy, and Innkeeper Chronicles.

Matthew J. Brown

Matthew Brown, PhD, is a scholar of comics and pop culture. He is co-editor of More Critical Approaches to Comics: Theories and Methods and has organized panels at Dragon Con.

Creees Lee

Creees Lee is a variant cover artist and is the interior artist for Black Mask's Lab Raider. He has worked for Image, Dynamite, and Chapterhouse Comics.

Dr. Nicole Gugliucci

Dr. Nicole Gugliucci aka "NoisyAstronomer" is a physics professor, education researcher, astronomer, science communicator, and geek. Their passion for science education drives a number of projects, including home-built radio telescopes.

James A. Hunter

James Hunter is a bestselling author of Rogue Dungeon, Vigil Bound, Discount Dan, and the LitRPG epic Viridian Gate Online! In addition to writing, he also runs Shadow Alley Press.

J.D. Monroe

J.D. Monroe is a Georgia-based author who loves all things paranormal, magical, and downright fantastical. She is currently writing the Cursed Blood series, an action-packed vampire romance.

D.B. Jackson

D.B. Jackson/David B. Coe is an award winning fantasy author and has edited several anthologies. As D.B. Jackson, he writes the Thieftaker Chronicles. As David B. Coe, he has recently published The Chalice War Celtic fantasy series. He has a PhD in US History from Stanford University.

Lisa Manifold

Lisa Manifold is a USA Today bestselling author of paranormal women's fiction, urban fantasy, and romance; with her most recent releases in her series, The Oracle of Wynter.

Brandon H Strauss

Brandon Strauss is a doctoral candidate in entomology at Texas A&M. They are described as the real-life Hodgins and will tell you about decomposition and the wonderful smells it produces.

Sunlight of Astora

11 time award winning, Johnny Goodwill "Sunlight of Astora" creates costumes based off of dark fantasy and horror video games, along with props and effects for tv and film.

Jason R. Merrill

When asked to describe Jason R. Merrill, the word "dapper" is the inevitable answer. Merrill runs Blackbird Finery, providing antique, vintage, and reproduction gentleman's accessories to a modern audience.

Matt Frank

Since 2011, Matt Frank has been known in both Japan and America as the "Kaiju King", one of the most prolific American artists associated with the Godzilla franchise. In addition to many Godzilla comics, he has also provided art for franchises like Ultraman, Gamera, Power Rangers, Tremors, and more!

Clay Shepard Griffith

Clay Griffith is the co-author of the Vampire Empire series, the Crown & Key trilogy, The Flash, and Arrow. He is a comic book writer for characters such as The Tick, The Simpsons, and Kolchak: The Night Stalker. He recently wrote fiction in the Throne & Bones RPG universe.

Toni Weisskopf

Toni Weisskopf is the publisher of Baen Books, a leading publisher of SF and fantasy for 40 years. She is also a member of the Interstellar Research Group board of advisors. She has edited numerous anthologies, and is the co-author of Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts.

Wayland Smith

Wayland Smith calls himself pan-authorial because it is funnier than multi-genre. His novels include In My Brother's Name, a terrorist thriller, and the Wildside series about superhuman mercenaries.

Wen Spencer

Wen Spencer is the winner of the 2003 Astounding Award for Best New Writer and author of 15 books, including the Elfhome series.

Timothy Zahn

Timothy Zahn is the author of 16 Star Wars novels, the Cobra, Quadrail, Sibyl's War, and Dragonback series,  Star Wars: Thrawn Ascendancy: Lesser Evil, The Icarus Twin, and A Call to Insurrection (with David Weber and Thomas Pope). Upcoming books include The Icarus Job and The Icarus Changeling.

Alison Carrier

Alison Carrier is a design director at Scopely. As a developer, she has worked on Star Wars: Hunters and Halo Infinite, while advocating for diversity and equity in video games.

Mike Crugnola

Mike Crugnola can be seen on the D&D live play podcast Adventure Incorporated, on Ask the Pokedexpert, and on Twitch as a host on Swoontower Soccer and InAddition.

Tini Howard

Tini Howard is a comic book writer and swamp witch from the Carolina Wilds. Currently, she writes Euthanauts, Assassinistas (with Gilbert Hernandez), and Hack/Slash: Resurrection, with occasional stories for two of her favorite things: Rick and Morty and WWE. Previous work includes Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Pink and The Skeptics.

Roy Kilgard

Dr. Kilgard is an astrophysicist who researches black holes in nearby galaxies and how they grow over cosmic time, and lectures on astronomy in history, science fiction, and pop culture.

Muscle Nerd Jerry Peacock

Jerry Peacock co-founded Muscle Nerdz 10 years ago to help promote fitness and healthy lifestyle within the geek and nerd communities.

Marx Pyle

Marx Pyle is an author, screenwriter, filmmaker, podcaster, adjunct professor, martial artist, the author of Obsidian Monsters, and co-editor/co-author of the award winning anthology Dragons of a Different Tail.

David Weber

David Weber is a science-fiction and fantasy author best known for his Honor Harrington and Safehold series. He lives in South Carolina with his wife Sharon Rice-Weber, whom he loves a lot.

Stephen Adams

Stephen Adams is the host of the podcasts, Horseshoes and Hand Grenades and Those Were The Days, and a founder of the 2Dorks network of podcasts and live streams.

Jer Alford

Jer Alford is a comic historian and owner of Mini-Komix. He's the head of the Stupid Comics retrospective group, and reviews for the Anime Anyway website.

Jess L. M. Anderson

Jess Anderson, aka [@stressinabox] on social media, is a content creator with over two million followers and the author behind the fantasy series The Source Keepers.

Paul Barrett

Paul Barrett is an author and filmmaker. He has six published novels, has produced two features and two documentaries, and works in film and television production as his day job.

Davey Beauchamp

Davey Beauchamp is a librarian and artist. He has worked for BBC, BBCA, Penguin UK, Falstaff Books, Distraction Dragon Press, and others. He is currently art director for Tavern Publishing.

Jamie Bernstein

Jamie Bernstein is a data scientist who specializes in building statistical models that predict human behavior and is the co-host of the podcast EnterpriseSplaining about Star Trek: Enterprise.

Bobby Blackwolf

Bobby Blackwolf is the co-owner of the VOG (Voice of Geeks) Network podcast network and Twitch channel and has hosted a live internet show and podcast about video games since 2005.

Marco Bossow

Marco Bossow is a director and producer best known for the hit Star Wars web series Bucketheads - starring Troy Mundle and Mark Meer.

Jonathan Brazee

Jonathan Brazee is a retired US Marine colonel, full-time hybrid writer, USA Today bestseller, two-time Dragon Award finalist, two-time Nebula Award finalist, and the current Nebula Award Commissioner for SFWA.

Doug Burbey

Doug Burbey is the author of the Blood War military urban fantasy series. In addition to writing, he is a DoD Program Manager for advanced military technology development efforts.

Martha Carr

Martha Carr was a stringer for the Washington Post, national columnist, co-creator of Oriceran Universe, author of bestselling UF series, The Leira Chronicles, and a new trilogy, The Mermaid Detective.

Cathalson

Cathalson is an American author and screenwriter of over 50 publications. He is a fiction developer for Edgar Rice Burroughs Inc. and AntiMatter Games.

Catieosaurus

Catieosaurus is a mental health advocate, content creator, and actual play performer. As a professional streamer and TTRPG influencer, she opens conversations about neurodiversity and accessibility into the gaming community.

Cinda Williams Chima

New York Times bestselling author Cinda Williams Chima writes fantasy stories for teens of all ages, including The Heir Chronicles, The Seven Realms quartet, and The Shattered Realms series. Her newest duology, The Runestone Saga, marries Norse mythology and witchcraft with swordplay (axeplay?) romance and cut-throat politics.

Crystal Cleveland

Crystal Cleveland is an award winning actress, published model, horror short director, and Gruesome Magazine YouTube host for all things happening in horror films.

Ryan A Consell

Ryan Consell is an engineering professor, costumer, prop maker, and author with particular expertise in engineering science with research focused on composite materials and bicycle destruction.

Jason Cordova

Bestselling author Jason Cordova has had his novels published in multiple languages around the world. The author is both a John W. Campbell Award and Dragon Award finalist.

Michael Andrew Corrie

Michael Corrie, aka Props To History, is a prop maker/SFX artist and prop master for film, TV, and theatre. Props To History is a film, prop, and SFX historian.

Ryan Crissey

The MuscleNerdz host with the most. You have seen him on social media, with his Superman cosplays and Nerd Traps! Ryan Crissey is back to bring you an amazing showdown!

Stephanie Crugnola

Stephanie Crugnola is a chaotic, wholesome content creator specializing in Shakespeare, collaborative storytelling, soccer, and all things niche nerd.

Keith R.A. DeCandido

Keith R.A. DeCandido has written tons of novels, short fiction, and comics in licensed universes from Alien to Zorro, in his own milieus in the fictional cities of Cliff's End and Super City, and also New York and Key West.

Lali DeRosier

Science teacher and education researcher Lali DeRosier promotes youth involvement in science through student writing, art, and outreach. She tackles themes of science and diversity in sci-fi, fantasy, and horror.

Lucienne Diver

Lucienne Diver is a slinger of snark, specifically within Vamped and Latter-Day Olympians series. Falstaff Books will release her epic fantasy, The Shadow Girls, in July/August 2024.

Sean Fletcher

Sean Fletcher is the Amazon bestselling, award winning author of a number of YA fantasy series. He can be found speaking, teaching writing, and working as a professional editor.

Dr. John L Flynn

John L. Flynn, PhD is an author, screenwriter, and three-time Hugo nominee. His Kate Dawson series has been optioned by Netflix. Flynn's China White—Black Death has received critical attention.

J. B. Garner

Talented author and top flight editor, Jamie Beth "J.B." Garner has written over a dozen novels across multiple genres and edited hundreds more.

Seressia Glass

Seressia Glass is an author of 30 works including Sons of Anubis and Shadowchasers. Her latest works are The Love Con and Game On.

Nicoli Gonnella

Nicoli Gonnella writes Unbound, a bestselling LitRPG saga that has 10 books and counting.

Andrew Greenberg

Best known for work on roleplaying and computer games, Andrew Greenberg runs the Georgia Game Developers Association, Southern Interactive Entertainment and Games Expo (SIEGE), and has credits on 100+ game products.

Isabelle Hardesty

Isabelle Hardesty is the author of several YA book series, The Destroyer Witch Chronicles, The Delacourt Shapeshifter Trilogy, Viola the Vampire Witch, and Sea Witch High.

Laura Beard Hayden

Laura Hayden writes in a wide variety of genres. With 15 novels under her belt, she is also a founder and an eleven-time director of the Pikes Peak Writers Conference.

Hugh Howey

Hugh Howey is the New York Times bestselling author of Wool, Beacon 23, Sand, and over 20 other titles. His novel, Wool, was adapted into the TV show Silo on Apple TV and his book, Beacon 23, has two seasons on MGM+.

Storm Humbert

Storm Humbert has published in Andromeda Spaceways, Apex, Interzone, Galaxy's Edge, Cast of Wonders, and many anthologies, including Writers of the Future #36.

Kristin Jackson

Kristin Jackson is the director of communications and graphic designer for Frostbite Pictures, and worked on international and domestic art for Paramount Pictures and art for Dutch Boy Pictures.

Sherrilyn Kenyon

Defying odds is what #1 New York Times bestselling author Sherrilyn Kenyon does best. She has placed more than 80 novels on the NYT list in all formats and genres. With more than 70 million books in print, her series include: Dark-Hunters®, Chronicles of Nick®, Deadman's Cross™, and The League®.

Dakota Krout

Dakota Krout is an internationally bestselling author of fantasy and LitRPG with over 45 titles in his Completionist Chronicles, Divine Dungeon, Full Murderhobo, and Cooking with Disaster series.

K. N. Lee

K.N. Lee is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of epic fantasy, urban fantasy, and paranormal romance. She is also the host of Needed on Set.

Rob Levy

Rob Levy is a writer, blogger, DJ, and podcaster who has been published in several anthologies. He co-hosts the Modern Musicology and Weekend Justice podcasts, and Juxtaposition on KDHX radio.

Jeffrey Falcon Logue

Jeffrey "Falcon" Logue has been a professional writer for over seven years. He has published 20 books, having started the dungeon core subgenre with his original, The Slime Dungeon.

Megan Lynn Mackie

Amazon bestseller, Megan Mackie is the author of The Lucky Devil series, the Dead World series, The Adventures of Pavlov's Dog and Schrodinger's Cat, and the Working Mask series.

Scott Macmann

U.S. Army veteran Scott Macmann writes, edits, and publishes a range of speculative fiction; as well as writing and producing independent films.

Thomas Mariani

Thomas Mariani is a staff writer for Film Cred, host of the podcast Cinema To The Letter, and has been a panelist for nine straight Dragon Cons.

Morgan A McLaughlin McFarland

Morgan A. McLaughlin McFarland owns Salt Circle Games, publisher of the horror RPG Chill. She is a published fiction, nonfiction, and TTRPG author who also teaches writing and gaming classes.

Mark Meer

Mark Meer is known for his work on Bioware's Mass Effect trilogy, voicing Commander Shepard, Blasto, and more. Other voice credits include the Baldur's Gate and Dragon Age series, Neverwinter Nights, Hinterland Studio's The Long Dark, Starro the Conquerer in WB Games' Gotham Knights, and Deadalus in Beamdog's MythForce.

Travis Scott Merrill

Travis Scott Merrill currently works as a specialty costumer and break-down artist with IATSE local 479. He has worked on some of the biggest budget movies in the world. You can see his art in professional theater, television, and across the Marvel and DC Cinematic Universes.

Savannah Miller

Savannah Miller is a public health professional that has studied a range of public health topics including climate change, infectious disease, vaccines, toxicology, and health policy.

Mark Muncy

Mark Muncy is the bestselling author of the Eerie Florida and Eerie Appalachia book series from History Press. He is also the host of the Eerie Travels podcast.

Jody Lynn Nye

Jody Lynn Nye lists her main career activity as "spoiling cats". When not engaged in this worthy occupation, she writes fantasy and science fiction. She has published over 50 books and more than 170 stories. Nye teaches writing seminars and is Coordinating Judge for the Writers of the Future Contest.

Jon R. Osborne

Jon R. Osborne hails from Indianapolis. He writes modern fantasy and military science fiction, and his novel A Tempered Warrior was a 2018 Dragon Award Best Fantasy finalist.

Rachel Rawlings

Rachel Rawlings is a USA Today and international bestselling author of urban fantasy and paranormal romance. Her book, Ink It Over, is currently in development for film.

TJ Reynolds

Rose Reynolds has published 31 novels under the pen names TJ Reynolds and Atlas Kane. A transgender woman, she has found a home in the progression fantasy and LitRPG communities.

B. A. Richards

B.A. Richards aka Alison Sky Richards received an MFA in Creative Writing from Western Colorado University. Their passion involves teaching students to find their unique voice.

Seth Ring

Seth Ring loves telling stories, building worlds, and sharing those stories and worlds with other people. Check out his YouTube channel for his advice on writing and being an author.

Rob Roberts

Rob Roberts is an internet broadcasting veteran and co-creator of Orange Lounge Radio, the longest running weekly show about video games online since 2002.

Jynxie Rose

Jynxie Rose is a LGBTQIA+, Neurodivergent/AuDHD, family friendly content creator. Her community, The CephaloSquad, fosters a safe/cozy environment that fights bullying and raises awareness of mental health and self-care.

Amber Kayla Satterfield

Amber works in her spare time creating magic for kids as a professional Character Entertainer. Last year, she portrayed Bluey and helped organize the Character Encounter for the Kids Track!

Bruce Sentar

Bruce Sentar is a veteran fantasy writer spinning vibrant fantasy tales in his polyamorous fantasy series. He has over three dozen novels, most of which have reached international bestseller lists.

Shirtaloon

Shirtaloon is the author of the bestselling LitRPG series He Who Fights with Monsters.

R Alan Siler

R. Alan Siler is an author, editor, musician, podcaster, owner of kOZMIC Creative, and the author of four books about Doctor Who and a children's book Lucy Can't Dance.

Daviorr Snipes

Daviorr Snipes is the Director of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion for the Stratford Festival Theatre in Ontario, Canada and a Peabody Award winning actor working in theatre, film, and voice.

Anne Sowards

Anne Sowards is an executive editor at Penguin Random House, where she primarily acquires and edits fantasy and speculative fiction for the Ace and Berkley imprints. The talented authors she works with include New York Times bestsellers Jim Butcher, Patricia Briggs, and Kim Harrison.

Ash Sroka

Ash Sroka, known as Tali'Zorah in Bioware's Mass Effect trilogy, has been acting professionally since age six. She has worked for Comedy Central, CBS, Fox, ABC, Nickelodeon, and Nick Jr. In addition to being a voiceover, TV, film, and theater actor, Sroka is a writer, dancer, and medical clown.

Andrea Stewart

Andrea Stewart is the Sunday Times bestselling author of The Drowning Empire trilogy. Her debut, The Bone Shard Daughter, was a finalist for the Locus Award for Best First Novel.

Alain TheDungeonMeowster

Alain TheDungeonMeowster is an entertainer, performer, and tabletop professional. He is the co-founder of Goblins and Growlers, co-creator of the Quid Pro Roll podcast, creator of CelebriD&D, and Madlibs Tabletop.

Jesse A Trotter

Solar Wolf Cosplay is an award winning cosplayer and has been published in several cosplay magazines such as Cosplay Realms. His work has been in several cosplay showcases.

Arras Wiedorn

Arras Wiedorn is an animal behaviorist and professional informal science educator. She is also the owner of Endangered Art Books, which aims to bring scientific education to the public.

M. C. Williams

M.C. Williams is a structural engineer, podcaster, and writer. He spends his nights getting lost in ancient mythologies, futuristic civilizations, and unspeakable horrors.

Tao Wong

Tao Wong is a full-time author in the scifi and fantasy genres, writing predominantly in the LitRPG and xianxia subgenres. He is a multiple-time international Amazon bestseller.

Paris K Arrowsmith

Paris Arrowsmith's career has spanned stage, voice acting, and screen. After moving to LA, he started working as a podcaster on No Latency and freelance TTRPG writer for R. Talsorian Games.

Jay Boyce

Jay Boyce, daughter of a librarian and wielder of words, is primarily an editor turned writer. She currently writes A Touch of Power and Rise of the Mystic Mage series.

Rachel A. Brune

Rachel A. Brune is an Army veteran, former military journalist, novelist, and editor of the creepy and macabre. She is the Senior Editor of Falstaff Books's new horror imprint, Falstaff Dread.

Wesley Chu

Wesley Chu is the NYT bestselling author of many novels, including The Art of Prophecy, Time Salvager, and The Walking Dead: Typhoon. He co-wrote The Eldest Curses with Cassandra Clare. His debut, The Lives of Tao, won the YALSA Alex Award. He won the Astounding Award for Best New Writer.

Joe Corroney

Joe Corroney has been illustrating Star Wars artwork for Disney and Lucasfilm and Star Trek artwork for CBS Studios since 1997, as well as a host of other properties. New Star Wars artwork and various other licensees are in the works for publication later this year.

Milton J. Davis

Milton Davis is an award winning Black speculative fiction author and owner of MVmedia, LLC, a publishing company specializing in science fiction and fantasy based on African/African Diaspora history, culture, and traditions.

Charles E. Gannon

Dr. Charles E. Gannon‘s 25+ bestselling books have won the Dragon, ALA Choice, and Compton Crook Awards. He is best known for the hard sci-fi Caine Riordan series (four Nebula and two Dragon finalists) and The Vortex of Worlds epic fantasy saga (the most recent was a 2023 Dragon finalist).

Michael A. Gordon

Michael Gordon is a writer, editor, publisher, and podcaster. His creator-owned comic, Tiki Zombie, has been running for over a decade. He can also be regularly found saying “Howdy!” on the Earth Station One, Earth Station Who, and Dragon Con Report podcasts.

M. Haynes

M. Haynes is the mind behind the popular Elemental novel series, an educator, a blogger, and public speaker who hopes to show that everyone has the elements of a hero.

Madaug Hishinuma

Intense gamer, former teacher, and current mastermind of all around mayhem, Madaug Hishinuma first started writing in grade school. His current series include: Shadow Wars, Space Sovereign, and Sherrilyn's Worlds.

Topher Hunter

Topher Hunter is a professional biomedical science communicator and amateur droid builder, with a passion for trying new things and helping others to not make the same mistakes he/they made.

Richard Kadrey

Richard Kadrey is the NYT bestselling author of the Sandman Slim series, which was included in Amazon's 100 Science Fiction & Fantasy Books to Read in a Lifetime. He has been nominated for the Locus and BSFA awards, appeared in Year's Best Horror, and written for comics, film, and games.

Sue Kisenwether

Sue Kisenwether has been podcasting about sci-fi TV and movies since 2010. Currently, she co-hosts Women at Warp, exploring Star Trek through a feminist lens.

Andy Presby

Andy Presby is currently the Deputy Project Manager for the Fission Surface Power Project and leads NASA Glenn Research Center's team supporting the Space Nuclear Propulsion Project.

David Sherrer

David Sherrer is the marketing director and lead game designer of Chenoweth Press. His debut card game, Cat Magic: The Game, released in 2022 and was funded on Kickstarter.

TJ Sterling

TJ Sterling is a former Marvel and DC comics artist. Sterling also publishes comics through his own imprint, RAE Comics, and is a teacher at the Joe Kubert School of Comic and Cartoon Art.

Vanessa Ionta Wright

Vanessa Ionta Wright is an Atlanta-based filmmaker who founded and runs the Renegade Film Festival. She recently produced a feature film, SpookT, that should be released sometime in 2024.

Matt Dinniman

Matt Dinniman is the author of the bestselling Dungeon Crawler Carl book and manga series.

Naomi "Nao" Romero

Naomi Romero is a character designer for animation and illustrator for children's literature. They have worked for DreamWorks, Nickelodeon, Nick Jr, Sesame Workshop, Illumination Studios, Hasbro, Spin Master, and more. Romero is the current artist for the new baby dragon plush for Dragon Con.

Corinne Roberts

Corinne Roberts is an illustrator working in comics and children's books (Bug Bites, Drawing Dragons, and the Out and About series). Her other illustration projects include: Dragon Calendars, Wanderlust card deck, Unreal Estate, and more.

M.A. Rothman

Bestselling author, M.A. Rothman is an engineer first and foremost, and somehow or another this writing habit of his has turned into a bit more than just a run-of-the-mill hobby.

Jarrod Carl Alberich

Jarrod Alberich is the creator of his own original comic book, Hamilton vs. Burr: A Werewolf Tale. He is the writer for Z2 Comics, a trading card artist for Marvel Comics & Upper Deck, cover artist & inker for White Rocket Books, and a US Air Force combat veteran.

Tim Doyle

Tim Doyle is an illustrator and printmaker from Austin. He self-published Amazing Adult Fantasy and was the art director/lead designer for Mondo. He has produced art for Marvel, Dark Horse, Cartoon Network, Studio Canal, and art directs poster series for bands such as Metallica, Failure, and “Weird Al” Yankovic.

Rye L Hickman

Rye Hickman (previously published as Jen Hickman) is a visual storyteller. Past work includes Buzzing, Lonely Receiver, TEST, Moth & Whisper, Jem and the Holograms, and more. They get really excited about dystopian fiction, good coffee, and drawing hands.

Kenneth Hite

Kenneth Hite has written 100+ tabletop roleplaying game books, including the Star Trek Roleplaying Game, Trail of Cthulhu, The Dracula Dossier, Night's Black Agents, The Fall of DELTA GREEN, and Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition. He is half of the multiple-award-winning podcast Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff.

Bobby Nash

Bobby Nash is an award winning author, artist, and actor. He writes novels, comic books, short stories, screenplays, audio dramas, and more. Nash is a member of the International Association of Media Tie-in Writers, International Thriller Writers, and Southeastern Writers Association.

Robert Pope

Atlanta-based cartoonist, animation director, and illustrator Robert Pope draws Looney Tunes for DC comics, and Snoopy and the Peanuts gang for Simon and Schuster. Over the past 35 years, Pope has drawn Scooby-Doo, Batman The Brave And The Bold, Johnny Bravo, Grim Adventures, Powerpuff Girls, and many, many more.

Robert J. Sawyer

Robert J. Sawyer has won the Hugo, Nebula, and John W. Campbell Memorial Awards; all for best science fiction novel of the year. The ABC TV series FlashForward was based on his Aurora Award winning novel of the same name, and he was one of the writers for that program.

Jamie Tyndall

Jamie Tyndall is a Canadian Comic Book artist that has worked in the industry for over 10 years. He has worked for various publishers including Red Sonja, Vampirella, The Boys, Lady Death, TMNT, and Zenescope. Tyndall worked with Fox Studios on movies like Deadpool and X-Men.

Jennifer Whitworth

Jennifer Whitworth is a NASA engineer working at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center. She supports Artemis and Gateway Payload Integration destined for the Gateway Station or Lunar surface.

Bryan Young

Bryan Young has written in the BattleTech, Robotech, Doctor Who, and Shadowrun universes. Most recently, he wrote the companion book for The Big Bang Theory.

Thomas Zahler

Thom Zahler created the Webtoons Cupid's Arrows and Warning Label as well as Love and Capes, Long Distance, and Time and Vine. He writes and draws for IDW's My Little Pony series, has written for Disney Tsum Tsum, Star Trek, Disney XD's Ultimate Spider-Man, and Knights of the Zodiac.

BREED

BREED is a professional Sequential/Pre-Production/Animation artist whose work has been featured by Marvel Comics, Zenescope Entertainment, 20th Century Studios, IDW, Source Point Press, Counterpoint Comics, Stranger Comics, Action Lab Entertainment, Mountaineer West Productions, UpperDeck Co./MCU, Kymera Press, Entity Eye Entertainment, Warrant Publishing, and multiple production companies.

Jennie Breeden

Jennie Breeden is the creator of The Devil's Panties, a slice of life webcomic that has been posting daily since 2001. She has also been chasing kilted men around Dragon Con with her leaf blower for years.

Richard Lee Byers

Richard Lee Byers's books include The Things That Crawl, The Hep Cats of Ulthar, and This Sword for Hire. He has also written short fiction, a graphic novel, and gaming material. His screenplay The Plague Knight, based on one of his fantasy novelettes, is in pre-production.

Chandra Free

Chandra Free is the creator of The God Machine graphic novel and webcomic series, and co-founder of Machina Corpse. She illustrated on books like John Carpenter's Tales For A Halloween Night, Fraggle Rock, and The Graphic Canon. She has worked on TTRPG books like Carbon Grey.

Bernadette Johnson

Bernadette Johnson has written 50+ articles for HowStuffWorks.com, The Big Book of Spy Trivia, The Big Book of Horse Trivia for Kids, and The Big Book of Cryptid Trivia.

Amy J Murphy

Amy J. Murphy is a two-time Dragon Award nominee, a SFWA member, and a submissions reader for Apex Magazine. Murphy lives in Vermont where she works as a registered nurse.

Van Allen Plexico

Van Allen Plexico is a multi-award-winning writer best known for the Sentinels illustrated superhero novels and comics, 1960s crime novels, and The Shattering space opera universe. His White Rocket Entertainment network features multiple video and podcast channels covering James Bond, Babylon 5, The Avengers, and more.

j m tuffley

JM Tuffley writes about pop culture for various outlets and contributes to Need Coffee Dot Com's Weekend Justice podcast.

Robert Wilson

Robert Wilson IV is a comic artist and illustrator living in Dallas, TX. He is the co-creator and artist of Heartthrob at Oni Press with writer Christopher Sebela and colorist Nick Filardi. He also co-created Knuckleheads at IDW / Monkeybrain with Brian Winkeler and Like A Virus with Ken Lowery.

L. Marie Wood

L. Marie Wood is a psychological horror author, recipient of the Golden Stake Award, a MICO Award winning screenwriter, a two-time Bram Stoker Award® finalist, VP of HWA, and English professor.

Kevin Grazier

Kevin Grazier, PhD is a planetary physicist by education and is currently on the faculty at the United States Military Academy in West Point, NY. Grazier was previously a scientist on the Cassini Mission to Saturn. He has served as the science advisor for several television series and films and is  co-author of the Hollyweird Science series of science books.

Bill Mulligan

Bill Mulligan is an author, indie filmmaker, and podcaster. He can be heard on The Videostore Junkies and Decades of Horror podcasts. His novel, RAUM, was published by Falstaff Books.

Joelle Presby

Joelle Presby is a veteran U.S. Navy nuclear engineer and author of crunchy SF Dabare and steampunk telepaths at war with mages SF Multiverse (co-written with David Weber).

Aaron Michael Ritchey

Aaron Michael Ritchey has written over 50 novels. He has been an Amazon All Star, and the first book in The Juniper Wars series was a Dragon Award finalist.

Torrey Stenmark

Torrey Stenmark is an organic chemist, associate instructor, and an award winning costumer. She has taught almost every chemistry course on offer at Shoreline Community College.

DL Wainright

DL Wainright uses their degree in world religions and lifelong love of horror to write creepy books that incorporate folklore and mythology, which means someone gets eaten in every one!

Michael Bailey

Michael Bailey has been a podcaster since 2007, when he launched his first show Views From The Longbox. He has hosted, co-hosted, or guest hosted on a number of podcasts.

D.J. Bodden

D..J. Bodden is a sci-fi and fantasy author of 10 books and counting. He has written in the LitRPG Viridian Gate Online universe and created the science fiction FiveFold Universe.

Brad Bradley

Robert "Brad" Bradley is a former industrial chemist and the Research Director for The Center for Paranormal Research and Investigation. He has appeared in an episode of Ghost Hunters.

Bill Bridges

Bill Bridges is a writer and game designer most known for developing White Wolf's World of Darkness and the Fading Suns science fiction universe.

Jack Campbell

Jack Campbell (John G. Hemry), retired US Navy officer, writes the series Doomed Earth, New York Times bestselling Lost Fleet, Genesis Fleet, Lost Stars, and "steampunk meets high fantasy" Pillars of Reality. His latest books are In Our Stars, The Empress of the Endless Sea trilogy, and Rendezvous with Corsair.

Paul B Currie

Dr. Paul Currie is a health science administrator and recovering biology and chemistry professor. He has given numerous talks on the use of pop culture in teaching.

Michael Falkner

Michael Falkner is a writer and podcaster at Creative Criticality. He is the author of the Timestamps Project and is also one of the leaders for Dragon Con Newbies.

Craig Greathouse

Dr. Craig Greathouse, professor of political science at UNG, has published on topics European foreign policy, security and defense policy, strategic culture, strategic thought, international relations theory, and cyber war.

Matthew Curtis Jarrett

Matthew Jarrett has extensive experience as a manufacturing engineer, process engineer, and quality engineer supporting development and manufacturing in the aerospace, defense, and implantable medical device industries.

Erika Lance

Erika Lance is a writer of horror, suspense, sci-fi, and a little fantasy. She is also the host of the Eerie Travels and Drinking With Authors podcasts.

Sarah J. Sover

Sarah J. Sover is the author of the urban fantasy Fractured Fae series (Fairy Godmurder, Faed to Black) and the comedic fantasy Double-Crossing the Bridge, from Falstaff Books.

Shami A Stovall

Shami Stovall is a Dragon Award nominee for best YA Fantasy. She loves her husband John, reading, video games, and her doggos. She co-owns her publishing company, Capital Station Books.

Marisa Wolf

Marisa Wolf writes science fiction, fantasy, and every point in-between. She has six co-written novels, a solo novel from Baen Beyond Enemies, and over 20 short stories in print.

Jessi Ann York

Jessi Ann York's stories have been featured at PseudoPod, Vastarien, Cemetery Gates Media, Love Letters to Poe, and more.

AJ Hartley

A.J. Hartley AKA Andrew Hart is the bestselling author of 26 novels including Hideki Smith, Burning Shakespeare, Cold Bath Street, Impervious, Steeplejack, and (with Tom DeLonge of Blink 182) Sekret Machines. He is Professor Emeritus of Shakespeare at UNC Charlotte and has a J-rock YouTube channel.

Courtney Lytle

Courtney Lytle is a practicing attorney and adjunct professor at Emory University School of Law. She specializes in intellectual property law and is a partner at Culhane Meadows.

Gray Rinehart

Gray Rinehart is a USAF space operations veteran, a writer, and singer/songwriter. His music has been on The Dr. Demento Show and he is the "Slushmaster General" for Baen Books.

Jennifer Blackstream

Jennifer Blackstream is a USA Today bestselling author of urban fantasy and paranormal romance. She is amazed to have made a writing career out of a master's degree in psychology.

Tyra Burton

Burton is an author, professor, marketer, live-stream producer, and podcaster. Her podcast, Geek Meets Social, explores living a digital life and her love of Disney, Star Wars, coffee, and geekdom.

Beth Dolgner

Beth Dolgner writes paranormal fiction and nonfiction, including Nightmare, Arizona Paranormal Cozy Mysteries. She gives talks about Victorian death customs and Spiritualism, is a ghost tour guide and ghost hunter.

Marc Alan Edelheit

USA Today and Amazon bestselling author Edelheit has captivated millions with his Stiger's Tigers fantasy series. His passion for history and military seeps into his works, earning him multiple awards.

Kevin Eldridge

Kevin Eldridge produces and hosts The Flopcast, a weekly pop culture comedy podcast. He is a published science fiction author, an organizer and host of skeptic events, and comedy musician.

Jess Eppstein

Jess Eppstein is a former immortal hydra wrangler who spent a year putting tiny contacts on mutant mice in the dark. She now tells scientists how to do their job.

Robert E Hampson

"Dr.Rob" Hampson hasn't quite figured out what he wants to do when he grows up. He's a neuroscientist who recently joined an issue engineering and regeneration institute, an SF/F consultant on nonfiction topics ranging from brain science to bionics, and writes fiction ranging from zombies, to military SF, to…bionics!

Drew Hayes

Drew Hayes is an author from Dallas who has written several series including Super Powereds, Villains' Code, NPCs, Fred the Vampire Accountant, and 5-Minute Sherlock.

Leanna Renee Hieber

Actress, playwright, narrator, and author for Tor and Kensington, her Strangely Beautiful saga won numerous genre awards and her nonfiction, A Haunted History of Invisible Women: True Stories of America's Ghosts, was a Bram Stoker Award finalist. She has been featured on Mysteries at the Museum and Beyond the Unknown.

Walter H Hunt

Walter H. Hunt is a science fiction and historical fiction writer from Massachusetts. He has 11 published novels and is currently working on his third novel in the 1632 universe.

Chris A. Jackson

Author of fantasy, SF, horror, post-apocalyptic fantasy, fantasy/romance, and many tie-in novels with gaming publishers and other IPs; Chris Jackson has been at the writing game a long time.

Howard Andrew Jones

Howard Andrew Jones is the author of Baen's Chronicles of Hanuvar, the fantasy series Desert of Souls, The Ring-Sworn Trilogy from St. Martin's, and four Pathfinder novels.

Charlie Kaufman

Charlie Kaufman has worked extensively in environmental consulting, academia where he studied coastal erosion, and natural disaster impacts. He currently works for the government, so he is here to help.

Bill Keel

Astronomer Bill Keel is the author of The Sky at Einstein's Feet and The Road to Galaxy Formation. He hosts overnight live astronomy sessions and has spoken on cosmology, extrasolar planets, citizen discovery in astronomy, science in the Firefly and Avatar universes, spy satellites, and astronomical tourism.

Darin Kennedy

Dr. Darin Kennedy writes and practices medicine. Works include the Fugue & Fable trilogy, The Pawn Stratagem trilogy, the Songs of the Ascendant series, Carol, and The April Sullivan Chronicles.

Steph LaMassa

Astrophysicist Steph LaMassa works at the Space Telescope Science Institute on JWST and researches supermassive black holes.

Philip Ligon

Philip Ligon is an international bestselling author and Dragon Award finalist. His works range from steampunk to alternate history to fantasy.

FT Lukens

F.T. Lukens is a New York Times bestselling author of young adult speculative fiction. Their most recently release is Otherworldly.

Alex Matsuo

Alex Matsuo is an author and paranormal investigator who has been seen on shows: Paranormal Revenge, Tubi's Scariest Places in the World, Haunted Hospitals, and Most Terrifying Places in America.

Bob McGough

Bob McGough is an author, podcaster, and indie tabletop game designer. He is the author of the Jubal County Saga series and host of the Books, Beards, Booze Podcast.

Joseph Meany

Dr. Joseph Meany is a science consultant and director of The Interstellar Research Group. He is a co-producer of the podcast series, From Here to the Stars.

Violette L Meier

Violette Meier, the great-granddaughter of a dream interpreter, is a lover of all things supernatural and loves to write paranormal, fantasy, horror, among other genres.

James P. Nettles

James Nettles is a business and technology consultant, speculative fiction and nonfiction author, founder of Author Essentials workshop company, and a founder of the ConTinual convention.

JM Paquette

When JM Paquette is not writing fantasy and paranormal romance novels, she can be found teaching English, dissecting grammar, discussing Tolkien, editing, and guest co-hosting the podcast Drinking with Authors.

Sean Patton

Sean Michael Patton is a 20+ year costume design veteran and has designed more than 40 stage productions, eight short films, five features, and numerous media projects.

Berta Platas

Berta Platas is an award winning author of YA and urban fantasy. Her current title in a new paranormal cozy mystery series set in Charleston, SC, is Fine Ground Murder.

Noel Plaugher

Noel Plaugher writes fiction and nonfiction. Author of Standing Qigong for Health and Martial Arts and The Lady Dragon of Chinatown, he has written for Black Belt Magazine.

Phillip Pournelle

Phillip Pournelle is a science fiction author, war game designer, operations analyst, and military strategist. He has published several short stories for Baen and contributed to the latest Janissaries novel.

Ellie Raine

Ellie Raine is a Writer's Digest award winning author of the NecroSeam Chronicles. She is fueled by coffee concoctions brewed by the finest caffeine alchemists in the kingdom of Atlanta.

William Joseph Roberts

William Joseph Roberts is an award winning author, editor, and publisher with Three Ravens Publishing who lives with his loving wife, three smart children, and a pack of fur babies.

Robert W Ross

Robert W. Ross is the author of the award winning Sentinels of Creation contemporary fantasy and Paradigm 2045 sci-fi series, and is a guest lecturer at Ga Tech and KSU.

Steve Saffel

Steve Saffel has worked at Del Rey and Titan Books editing SF, fantasy, horror, and licensed fiction. He has collaborated with Eric Flint, Neil Gaiman, Stephen Graham Jones, Stan Lee, Robert McGinnis, David Morrell, Scott Sigler; and on Alien, Batman, Black Panther, Conan, Mass Effect, Spider-Man, Star Wars, among others.

Tony Sarrecchia

Tony Sarrecchia creates audio dramas including the award winning Harry Strange Radio Drama, the Scarlett Hood Adventures, and the Lady Sherlock Mysteries. He also writes screenplays, novels, and short stories.

Kim Steadman

Kim Steadman is a systems engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Currently she is a systems engineer for the Perseverance Rover Engineering Operations team and the technical group supervisor for the Integrated Planning and Sequencing for Surface Missions group. She has also worked on Opportunity, Curiosity, and Cassini.

Mel Todd

Bad Ash Publishing owner, Mel Todd has published over 40 stories. Between her Kaylid Chronicles anthologies, Blood War, and Twisted Luck series she has over two million words published.

Jack Trammell

Jack Trammell is a professor, author, researcher, and student of the paranormal. His books and talks range from vampires to Artificial Intelligence.

R.R. Virdi

R.R. Virdi is a USA Today bestselling author, two-time Dragon Award finalist, Nebula Award finalist, and has published 10+ novels under science fiction and fantasy, including Tales of Tremaine.

Constance G.J. Wagner

Constance G.J. Wagner, writer, editor, and Tolkien scholar, has spoken regularly on all things Middle-earth at both academic and fan-friendly events nationally and internationally.

Jean Marie Ward

Jean Marie Ward writes fiction, nonfiction, and everything in between. Her credits include a multi-award nominated novel, numerous short stories, and two popular art books. The former editor of CrescentBlues.com, she is the author interviewer for Book Bale and a frequent contributor to the online convention ConTinual.

Sean Weiland

Sean Weiland is the program manager for Kingsisle Entertainment, voice actor, award winning game developer, bartender, and podcaster. He currently hosts Wasted Knowledge and Tipple Theory.

Dave West

Dave West is an actor and interviewer who also hosts game shows, wrestling events, and rock-'n'-roll concerts. He can be found on the Needless Things YouTube channel.

Ben Yalow

Ben Yalow has attended 900+ conventions, and worked on about a third of them, including co-chairing the 2023 WorldCon in Chengdu, China. He is also a Hugo nominated editor.

Mark Daniel Zoran

Mark Zoran is an internationally recognized and award winning restorer of screen-used creations, costume and prop creator, and the creative mind behind Razorfly Studios.

Curt Anderson

Curt Anderson is a professional magician and speaker. He has performed across the country, around the world, and on worldwide television. His brand of performance is a fusion of magic, mental feats, and physical stunts that will leave you wondering what is real and what is magic.

Kevin Bachelder

Kevin Bachelder's podcasts have won four Parsec Awards in the Best Fan Podcast category. He also leads the Dragon Con Newbies group, which puts on events to help new attendees.

D.J. Butler

D.J. "Dave" Butler has been a lawyer, a consultant, a corporate trainer, and a registered investment banking representative. He is now a consulting editor for Baen Books.

Kevin Cafferty

Kevin Cafferty is an Emmy-nominated documentary filmmaker, head of creative at a Fortune 500 company, and podcaster.

R. E. Carr

R.E. Carr is the award winning author of the Rules Undying series, as well as exploring horror comedy and science fiction over her 20+ year book career.

Freddy Clements

Freddy Clements is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Jacksonville State University, where he taught classes in costume/makeup design and technology for the department of theatre and film. He has designed costumes for various regional theatres and has extensive experience in early 20th century corsetry and kilt construction.

Kacey Lyn Ezell

Kacey Ezell is a retired helicopter pilot who writes multigenre speculative fiction. She is a two-time Dragon Award finalist for Best Alternate History and has written multiple bestselling novels.

Clay Gilbert

Clay Gilbert has always believed in the power of the imagination to dissolve differences and forge connections between people. His most recent novel is the space fantasy Binary Sunset.

Dwayne Keith Goetzel

Dwayne Goetzel is an Austin-based intellectual property attorney specializing in trademarks, copyrights, contracts, licensing, and trial work in those areas. He takes a special interest in politics and governance.

Darrell Z. Grizzle

Darrell Z. Grizzle is a queer horror, urban fantasy, and thriller writer. He is the author of I Never Meant to Start a Murder Cult.

K.T. Hanna

K.T. Hanna is an author known for her series Somnia Online, Library System Reset, and The System Apocalypse Australia (with Tao Wong). She is entirely powered by caffeine, Chipotle, and sarcasm.

John G. Hartness

John G. Hartness is an author, publisher, and editor from Charlotte, NC. He is the author of multiple series, including the award winning Quincy Harker, Demon Hunter series. He is also the publisher of Falstaff Books and founder of the SAGA Genre Fiction Writers' Conference.

Tony P Henderson

Tony P. Henderson is a moderator, podcaster, and voice over artist known for the Tony P. Oddcast, In Addition, and Geek Vs podcasts.

Stuart Jaffe

Stuart Jaffe is the madman behind the Nathan K thrillers, The Max Porter Paranormal Mysteries, The Ridnight Mysteries, the Parallel Society novels, The Malja Chronicles, The Bluesman, Founders, Real Magic, and much more.

G. S. Jennsen

G.S. Jennsen is a bestselling author of 20+ novels and short stories. Starshine was named one of the best sci-fi novels by a woman in the last 50 years.

Gail Z Martin

Gail Z. Martin writes urban fantasy, epic fantasy, steampunk, and more. Urban fantasy series include Deadly Curiosities and Night Vigil. Epic fantasy series include Darkhurst, Chronicles of the Necromancer, The Fallen Kings Cycle, The Ascendant Kingdoms Saga, and Assassins of Landria.

Tamsin L. Silver

Tamsin Silver is a fantasy author based out of Albuquerque, NM, with a background in theatre and education. She writes both historical fantasy (about Billy the Kid) and urban fantasy.

Allen Slonaker

Allen Slonaker has been involved in paranormal research, as a member of the Center for Paranormal Research and Investigation (CPRI), since 2007 and currently serves as the Central Virginia Regional Director.

Emily A Finke

A forensic anthropologist by training, but a science communicator by passion, Emily Finke has spent the past 20 years teaching in museums, nature centers, pubs, conventions, and more.

James Palmer

James Palmer is an award winning writer of sci-fi and pulp adventure, author of the Shadow Council Archives series, and editor of the Monster Earth series and League of Monsters.