|
|
 Guests
Confirmed VERICON VIII Guests
|
|
ORSON SCOTT CARD
Guest of Honor
Orson Scott Card is the author of the novels Ender's Game, Ender's Shadow, and Speaker
for the Dead, which are widely read by adults and younger readers, and are increasingly used in schools.
Besides these and other science fiction novels, Card writes contemporary fantasy (Magic Street,
Enchantment, Lost Boys), biblical novels (Stone Tables, Rachel and Leah), the American
frontier fantasy series The Tales of Alvin Maker (beginning with Seventh Son), poetry (An Open Book),
and many plays and scripts.
Card was born in Washington and grew up in California, Arizona, and Utah. He served a mission for the LDS Church
in Brazil in the early 1970s. Besides his writing, he teaches occasional classes and workshops and directs plays.
He recently began a longterm position as a professor of writing and literature at Southern Virginia University.
Card currently lives in Greensboro, North Carolina, with his wife, Kristine Allen Card, and their youngest child,
Zina Margaret.
Visit Orson Scott Card's website at http://www.hatrack.com
|
|
Lois Lowry was born in Honolulu, Hawaii and educated at Brown University and the University of
Southern Main. She has an honorary doctorate from the University of Southern Main and Elmhurst
College, is a Fellow of the MacDowell Colony, and is a member of the Authors Guild, Pen American,
the PEN New England Executive Board, and the Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators.
She has written magazine articles and thirty-one books for young people and has won numerous
awards, most notably the Newbery Medal for two of her books, Number the Stars
and The Giver.
http://www.loislowry.com/
|
| 
|
|
|
Matthew Tobin Anderson is an author, primarily of picture books for children
and novels for young adults. He has written such young adult books as Thirsty,
Burger Wuss, Feed, The Game of Sunken Places and Octavian Nothing.
Anderson attended Harvard, University of Cambridge, and Syracuse. He worked at Candlewick Press
before Thirsty was accepted for publication. Anderson is a former instructor at Vermont
College in Montpelier, Vermont and former music critic at The Improper Bostonian.
Anderson is also a board member of the National Children's Book and Literacy Alliance
a national not-for-profit that actively advocates for literacy, literature, and libraries.
|
|
Marie Brennan is the pen name of Bryn Neuenschwander, an alumna of Harvard, HRSFA,
and the Vericon staff. Her short fiction has won several awards. Her first two novels, Doppelganger
and its sequel Warrior and Witch, came out in 2006 from Warner Books.
http://www.swantower.com/
| 
|
|
|
Randall Munroe, a cartoonist from southern Virginia, is the creator of the webcomic 'xkcd'. For
a time, he worked on robotics at NASA, but left to make a living drawing comics. He spends his
time speaking at universities and conferences about internet culture and training computers to
beat humans at Rock-Paper-Scissors. He lives in Somerville, Massachusetts.
http://xkcd.com/
|
|
Pete Abrams is the writer and illustrator of the online comic strip Sluggy Freelance. He
went to Joe Kubert School of Graphic Design and started Sluggy Freelance
as a creative outlet when he became a webdesigner. Sluggly Freelance began as a quickly drawn
daily strip and has since become more sophisticated both in terms of graphical and
narrative depth. Sluggy eventually became so successful that it is now his full time job,
and he is reputed to be the first person to make a living at drawing webcomics.
Pete Abrams currently lives in Denville, New Jersey, U.S., and is married with two
daughters, Leah Nicole Abrams and Sarah Emily Abrams.
http://www.sluggy.com/
|
| 
|
|
|
James Patrick Kelly has written novels, short stories, essays, reviews, poetry, plays and
planetarium shows. His short novel Burn won the Science Fiction Writers of America's
Nebula Award in 2007 and two of his novelettes have won the World Science Fiction
Society’s Hugo Award. With John Kessel
he is co-editor of Feeling Very Strange: The Slipstream Anthology and Rewired:
The Post Cyberpunk Anthology. He writes an online column for Asimov's Science Fiction
Magazine and is on the faculty of the University of Southern Maine.
http://www.jimkelly.net/
|
|
Kelly Link is the author of the collections Magic For Beginners
and Stranger Things Happen. With her partner, Gavin J. Grant, she runs Small Beer
Press and edits the twice-yearly magazine Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet, as
well as the fantasy half of The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror. Her short stories have
been published in numerous magazines and anthologies. She once won a free trip around the
world by answering the question "Why do you want to go around the world?"
("Because you can't go through it.") She lives in Northampton, Massachusetts.
http://www.kellylink.net/
|
| 
|
|
|
Cassandra Clare is the author of City of Bones, the
first book in the Mortal Instruments Trilogy and a New York
Times Bestseller. She was born overseas and spent her early years
traveling around the world with her family and several trunks of
books. Cassandra lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her boyfriend,
their two cats, and these days, even more books.
http://www.mortalinstruments.com/
|
|
Donna Jo Napoli attended Harvard and initially went into academia. She stumbled into writing years
later and now writes for preschoolers
through high schoolers in a variety of genres from contemporary humor to gothic psychodramas. She has also
worked a lot on folktales, fairy tales, myths, and religious stories. She is a professor of linguistics at
Swarthmore College, a mother of five, and a grandmother of one.
http://www.donnajonapoli.com/
|
| 
|
|
|
Sharyn November is senior editor for Viking Children's Books and the
editorial director of Firebird,
a mainly reprint imprint publishing fantasy and scifi for teenagers and adults. She is a
two-time World Fantasy Award finalist in the Professional category -- in 2004 for founding
Firebird, in 2005 for editing -- and Firebirds Rising, her second original anthology
for the imprint, is a 2007 World Fantasy Award finalist for Best Anthology. She survives on caffeine.
http://www.sharyn.org/
|
|
William Sleator grew up in St. Louis, Missouri. He attended Harvard
University, where he met Blair Lent, an author and illustrator of
children's books who helped Sleator begin his career as an author.
Sleator's third novel, House of Stairs, was his first work of science
fiction and was voted one of the 100 best young adult books of the past
fifty years by the American Library Association. He has written over 30
books, including the popular Interstellar Pig, and now divides his
time between homes in Boston and rural Thailand.
| 
|
|
|
Elizabeth Haydon is a fantasy author, whose 1999 debut, Rhapsody: Child of Blood,
garnered comparisons with Goodkind, Jordan, and even Tolkien. She has written two fantasy series,
the fantasy/romance/whodunit fusion called The Symphony of Ages and the young adult series
The Lost Journals of Ven Polypheme.
An herbalist, harpist, and madrigal singer, Elizabeth Haydon also enjoys anthropology a
nd folklore. She lives on the East Coast of the United States.
http://www.elizabethhaydon.com/
|
|
Jeph Jacques was born in Rockville, Maryland, and graduated from Hampshire College.
He is the writer and artist of the webcomic
Questionable Content. Filled with references to the indie music scene, the webcomic
follows the life of music fan Marten Reed and his quirky circle of friends, ranging from
ex-Goths to a mischievous AnthroPC. In addition, Jacques also writes and draws
IndieTits, a webcomic that mixes
bird and music humor. Jacques enjoys playing guitar and lives in Easthampton, Massachusetts.
http://www.questionablecontent.net/
| 
|
©Copyright 2001-2006
HRSFA
|
|
