Guests

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Rodney Barnes

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

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.

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.

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.

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. 

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.

Jeff Burns

Jeff Burns is the author of the humorous urban fantasy novel The Adventures of Elena and Ned, Gargoyle P.I. and has penned over 50 geeky erotica tales under his Riley Rose Erotica banner. He hosts the geeky improv comedy show Super Geeked Up and has contributed to several fantasy anthologies.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Mark Dos Santos

Illustrator and comic artist Mark Dos Santos has worked with creators such as Steve T. Seagle (Imperial) and Garth Ennis (A Train Called Love). He has created book covers for Silence in the Library and writer Morgan Gendel (Planet 6). He is currently working on the board game Tokyo S.O.S. Kaiju Attack.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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).

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.

Andrew E.C. Gaska

Andrew E.C. Gaska is the UKGE and Ennie award winning settings/adventure writer for Free League Publishing's Alien RPG. A franchise consultant to 20th Century Studios on Alien, Predator, and POTA, he is also the lead writer on The Terminator RPG and two Choose Your Own Adventure graphic novels.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Kevin Grazier

Kevin Grazier, PhD is a planetary physicist and was a scientist on the Cassini Mission to Saturn team. He has served as the science advisor for several television series and feature films and is the co-author of the Hollyweird Science series of books.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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. 

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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+.

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.

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.

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.

Josette James

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.

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.

Les Johnson

Les Johnson is a physicist, author, and NASA technologist. His recent books include A Traveler's Guide to the Stars (Princeton Press), Saving Proxima (Baen), and the forthcoming Pluto: The Dark World (Tor) and Crisis at Proxima (Baen). At NASA, Johnson works on advanced in-space propulsion systems and space flight demonstrations.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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®.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

Elizabeth Maxwell

Elizabeth Maxwell is a voice actress whose voice is heard on Attack on Titan (Ymir) and The Major in Ghost in the Shell: Arise (Motoko Kusanagi). Other popular anime titles include Soul Eater Not! (Shaula Gorgon), Noragami (Bishamon), Fairy Tail (Jenny Realight), Nobunagun (Cyx), and Space Dandy (Poe).

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Jeanne C Stein

Jeanne C. Stein is the author of the Anna Strong Vampire Chronicles and the Fallen Siren Series, written as S. J. Harper. In 2021, she co-authored a sci-fi adventure trilogy, 180 Degrees Magnetic. Her most recent short story appeared in Shadow Atlas, Dark Landscapes of the Americas.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 .

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.