INVASION!

MarsCon 2009 Guests Of Honor

(click the name for a short bio)

Musetta Vander
Media Guest of Honor

Scott Rosema
Artist Guest of Honor

Suzanne Hiza-Rosema
Artist Guest of Honor

Wally Pleasant
Music Guest of Honor

Jeanne Cavelos
Author/Science Guest of Honor

Authors

S.N. Arly
St. Paul science fiction and fantasy writer, S.N. Arly has had short stories featured at FearsMag.com and in a limited edition DragonCon 2000 chapbook. She has received an honorable mention from the L.Ron Hubbard’s Writers of the Future contest. She is a member of two local critique groups, Guts and Rocks, and Pengames.
www.visi.com/~moobeast/page3.html

Ruth Berman
Ruth Berman has published fiction and poetry in many magazines and anthologies, including science fiction, fantasy, general, and literary publications. She is one of the co-authors of Autumn World by Joan M. Verba et al., and has written articles on sf/fantasy for many journals. Books she edited: Dear Poppa (MN Historical Society), The Kerlan Awards in Children’s Literature (Pogo Press), Sissajig and Other Surprises (short fantasy by Oz author Ruth Plumly Thompson). She is a longtime Twin Cities fan.
www.tc.umn.edu/~d-lena/RuthBermanPage.html

Cynthia Booth
Cynthia Booth is a published poet and playwright presently living in Hibbing, Minnesota.

Roy C. Booth
Roy C. Booth hails from Bemidji and Hibbing, Minnesota, and is a published author, comedian, poet, journalist, essayist, screenwriter/doctor, but is mostly known as an internationally award winning playwright with 40 plays published to date with over 560 productions of his work worldwide. His most recent projects include the dramatization of Brian Keene’s bestselling paranormal suspense novel, Terminal, a series of radio plays for BBC Radio 4, and various ongoing genre-based television/film deals.
profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=42831173

Walter H. Hunt
Our 2006 Author Guest of Honor, Walter H. Hunt has been writing for most of his life, both professionally as a technical writer in the software industry and as an author of fiction. In 2001, his first novel, The Dark Wing, was published by Tor Books; the second book in the series, The Dark Path, was published in 2003. The third book in the series, The Dark Ascent, was published in 2004, followed by the fourth book, The Dark Crusade, in 2005. He is also a contributor to the anthology Hal’s Worlds, dedicated to the late Hal Clement, with his first published short story “Extended Warranty”, drawn from the Dark Wing universe. He has a background in history, with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, and he speaks two other languages (German and Spanish). A member of the Freemasons, Walter H. Hunt has served as Master of two different Lodges in Massachusetts, and has just completed a successful Master’s year in 2005-06. He and his wife and daughter are involved in a colonial reenactment group and attend Renaissance fairs whenever possible.
www.walterhunt.com/

P M F Johnson
P M F Johnson has published dozens of poems, including genre poetry in Asimov’s and Tales of the Unanticipated, mainstream poetry in Threepenny Review and Nimrod, and haiku in Modern Haiku, Acorn and a couple international “Best Of” anthologies. Along with his wife, Sandra Rector, he has published stories in Amazing Magazine and several pro anthologies.
www.stonedragonpress.com/au_rj01.html

Naomi Kritzer
Our 2008 Author Guest of Honor, Naomi Kritzer is the author of three fantasy novels in her “Dead Rivers” series: Freedom’s Gate (2004), Freedom’s Apprentice (2005), and Freedom’s Sisters (2006), and short fiction in Realms of Fantasy, Strange Horizons, and Tales of the Unanticipated. Naomi recently completed an urban fantasy novel set in the Seward neighborhood of Minneapolis (involving a Wiccan woman who unexpectedly inherits the Ark of the Covenant from her great-uncle), and is currently working on a children’s SF novel.
www.naomikritzer.com/

Craig R. Lang, MUFON
Our 2002 Featured Guest, Craig Lang is the coordinator of field investigation for Minnesota MUFON, the local chapter of the Mutual UFO Network. He investigates sighting and close encounter reports in the Twin Cities and surrounding areas. Craig is a Certified Hypnotherapist, with the National Guild of Hypnotists. His “day job” is as a computer engineer, working with an electronics firm in the Twin Cities. Mr. Lang has been interested in astronomy, ET life and UFOs since childhood. He is an amateur radio operator (KC0̸ZH), and also dabbles in writing science fiction.
www.craigrlang.com/

Catherine Lundoff
Catherine Lundoff’s stories have appeared or are forthcoming in over 60 publications including So Fey: Queer Faery Stories, Time Well Bent: GLBT Alternate History, Periphery: Erotic Lesbian Futures, Farrago’s Wainscot, Khimairal Ink and Simulacrum. She is the author of two collections of lesbian erotica: Crave: Tales of Lust, Love and Longing (Lethe Press, 2007) and Night’s Kiss (Torquere Press, 2005) and editor of the forthcoming fantasy and horror anthology, Haunted Hearths and Sapphic Shades: Lesbian Ghost Stories (Lethe Press, 2008). She is also a contributor to Women in Science Fiction and Fantasy: An Encyclopedia (Greenwood Press, 2007).
www.visi.com/clundoff

Rebecca Marjesdatter
Rebecca Marjesdatter is a past winner of the Rhysling Award for Speculative Poetry. Her work has appeared in Tales of the Unanticipated (TOTU), The Magazine of Speculative Poetry, the anthology Women of Other Worlds, and a future issue of Asimov’s. She is the current Poetry Editor of TOTU. She is a student in the MFA program for Creative Writing at Hamline University and lives in Minneapolis with two cats.

Kelly McCullough
Kelly McCullough is an international award winning short story writer and national best selling author in science fiction and fantasy. His Ravirn series has received extensive critical praise, including a Publisher's Weekly starred review. His short work has appeared in such venues as Weird Tales, Writers of the Future, and the illustrated collection, Chronicles of the Wandering Star—part of an National Science Foundation funded middle school curriculum used on a large scale in several states.
www.kellymccullough.com/

Lyda Morehouse, aka Tate Halloway
Lyda Morehouse writes about what gets most people in trouble: religion and politics. Her first novel Archangel Protocol, a cyberpunk hard-boiled detective novel with a romantic twist, won the 2001 Shamus for best paperback original (a mystery award given by the Private Eye Writers of America), the Barnes & Noble Maiden Voyage Award for best debut science fiction, and was nominated for the Romantic Times Critic's Choice Award. She followed up Archangel Protocol with three more books in the AngeLINK universe: Fallen Host (Roc, 2002), Messiah Node (Roc, 2003), and Apocalypse Array (Roc, 2004). Fallen Host made the preliminary Nebula ballot, and Apocalypse Array was awarded the Special Citation of Excellence (aka 2nd place) for the Philip K. Dick award. Lyda is currently working on a chick-lit vampire series writing as Tate Hallaway. She is a member of Wyrdsmiths and lives in Saint Paul with her partner of twenty years and their amazingly adorable son, Mason.
www.lydamorehouse.com/

Jason D. Wittman
Jason D. Wittman lives and works in Minnesota. In addition to having fiction published in SCIFI.COM, the hardcover anthology The Best of Baen’s Universe 2006, and Tales of the Unanticipated, he also has two games, Tile Chess, and Spooks, both published by Steve Jackson Games.
www.sff.net/people/jasondwittman

Bryan Thao Worra
Bryan Thao Worra is a Laotian-American poet, writer, and journalist. Bryan was born Thao Somnouk Silosoth in Vientiane, Laos on January 1, 1973 during the Laotian Secret War (1954-1975). He came to the United States in July, 1973 as the adopted child of an American pilot working in Laos for Royal Air Lao. One of the most widely published Laotian writers, his work has appeared in the Bamboo Among the Oaks anthology, as well as Whistling Shade, Urban Pioneer, Unarmed, the Asian Pacific Journal and the Journal of the Asian American Renaissance, among many others.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bryan_Thao_Worra

Musicians

Wally Pleasant
Hear an interview with our Music Guest of Honor here.

Rob Balder
Rob Balder is a self-described “renaissance geek,” who spreads his creative energies across the fields of comics, game design, small press publishing, writing, poetry, and filk.
www.thefump.com/artist.php?id=5

MC Lars
One of the hottest acts in the nerdcore genre, you can pick up his albums and merch at Hot Topic, you can get his videos on your TiVo, and you can see him doing commercials for Channel G4. His anthem “Download This Song” tells old media where they can stick it. His forthcoming CD has appearances by “Weird Al” and Jonathan Coulton.
www.mclars.com

Positive Attitude
C minus and EMC came to Con on the Cob in the fall of 2007 and blew the roof off the place with their first ever live performance together. Since then they’ve opened for Green Jello, submitted several songs to the FuMP dot com, and occasionally make plans to rehearse. They’re a welcome addition to the nerdcore ranks of MarsCon Dementia.
www.myspace.com/positiveattitude

Marc Gunn
Marc is one half of the legendary, popular, and kilt-clad duo “The Brobdingnagian Bards”, and he has posted many songs at the FuMP dot com. If you ask him nicely, he might be convinced get out his autoharp and sing you a Celtic song about his cat. Maybe.
www.marcgunn.com/

The Feng Shui Ninjas
The Midwest meets the Far East with the local Twin Cities folk act, “The Feng Shui Ninjas”. Sometimes moonlighting as the Player Characters for Beth Kinderman, they’re bringing their old-timey sounds to the sci-fi scene for some good times to be had by all!
www.fengshuininjas.com/

Insane Ian
Ian has been making funny songs for years, and is a regular contributor to the FuMP Sideshow. His song “Guitar Hero” was #11 on Dr. Demento’s Funny 25 of 2008. Not only does he look like Simon Pegg, but he’s met the guy too.
www.insaneian.com/

Soggy Potato Chips
Alchav, another contributor to the FuMP Sideshow, has been attending MarsCon for years. He performed his cover of “Shaving Cream” at the Dementia Fan Showcase last year to much applause. He’s also performed at Con on the Cob in Akron, OH.
soggypotatochips.com/

Beth Kinderman
Beth Kinderman and her group the Player Characters do both serious and funny songs, making them a favorite of local folkers and filkers. Be sure to visit the Space Oddity Music Club & Brew Pub on the 13th floor on Friday and Saturday night for more fun with Beth!
www.bethkinderman.com/

Carrie Dahlby
Carrie has continued to provide lead vocals for the great Luke Ski and Devo Spice, and contribute her own original songs and parodies to the FuMP dot com. Her second album “Giant Kitten” is being released at MarsCon 2009, and her performance will once again feature her father Mike Hazelman on gitaur and/or fiddle. She’s also a blushing bride who will be getting married this May, so be sure to throw some rice at her.
www.myspace.com/carriedahlby

Devo Spice (aka Sudden Death)
In 2007, Sudden Death dominated the charts of the Dr. Demento Show. In 2008, front man “Devo Spice” decided to drop the group name “Sudden Death”, and continued under his singular stage name to make awesome and hilarious hip hop tracks such as “Life in the Fleet” (BSG), “PC Halloween”, “Lean Christmas”, “Brain Food” (zombie gangsta rap) , and his tribute to convention room parties “The Geeks Come Out At Night”.
www.devospice.com/

DJ Particle
DJ Particle, the RIAA-cidal lesbian parodist who hosts the “Mad Music Dementia Top 20″ Podcast as well as “Revenge of the Particle” on Dementia Radio has become a player in the comedy music scene. She returns to MarsCon to host the Dementia Fan Showcase, perform in the FuMP Sideshow Concert, and most likely belt out several tunes at Karaoke Joe’s.
www.djparticle.com/index2.html

Possible Oscar
Having the distinction of being the band who had to drive the shortest distance to get to the con, Possible Oscar has doubled in size from a duo to a 4-piece full rock band, who will be ready to blow the doors off the place come Friday night. Soon fangirls everywhere will be debating, “Who’s their favorite ‘Oscar’? Is it Jared, the cute one? John, the brooding one? Nathan, the quiet one? Or Jeff, the other one?”
www.possibleoscar.com/

Power Salad
Chris Mezzolesta of Power Salad has been creating comedy songs with his partner Craig Marks for 30 years and submitting them to “The Dr. Demento Show”. At the end of 2008, a longtime dream came true for him as the Power Salad cel phone song “Hold On, I’ve Got To Take This” became the #1 most requested song of the year on Dr. Demento’s Funny 25 Countdown. Come witness his talent and quirkiness for yourself.
powersalad.com/

the great Luke Ski
Co-Chair of the Dementia Track, lover, fighter, prominent bacon enthusiast, the great Luke Ski continues to be MarsCon’s favorite comedy music artist who writes blurbs about himself in the 3rd person. His latest CD, “Target: Audience” has tunes about Battlestar Galactica, Babylon 5, Heroes, 24, and recently a song about Lost. If you want everyone to think you’re cool, you’ll need to get one of his “Grease Wars” t-shirts. Please?
http://www.thegreatlukeski.com/

Worm Quartet
What words come to mind when one says the phrase “Worm Quartet”?â€¦ Mullet? Nipple? Menacing former West Virginian? Gleeful prancer? Synth-punk comedy god? Popeye hater? Carrot mentioner? Sex? Drugs? Satan? Dan Rather? All of these are close, but the correct answer is simply “ShoEboX”, the lone member of this group who continues to be a dementia force to be reckoned with in the new millennium.
www.wormquartet.com/

Wyngarde
MarsCon favorite Earl Luckes a.k.a. “Wyngarde the Conqueror” will be on hand to help MC the dementia concerts when he’s not off helping run the MarsCon AV Club movie room on the 13th floor.
www.comicspace.com/wyngarde/

Other Guests of Distinction

Paul Edmon
Paul Edmon is a 5th year astronomy graduate student at the University of Minnesota and received his B.S. in Physics from the University of Washington. His research deals with numerical simulations of particle acceleration at astrophysical shockwaves caused by stellar winds and supernovae. He is also interested in the mythology and history of the ancient world. Aside from his academic pursuits he also enjoys science fiction, fantasy, anime, pen and paper roleplaying games, and video games.
webusers.astro.umn.edu/~pedmon/

Andrew Helton
Andrew Helton is a 5th year graduate student in the Department of Astronomy at the University of Minnesota. His research focuses on classical nova eruptions, explosions on the surfaces of white dwarfs residing in binary systems where they are siphoning material off of their Sun-like companions. Though a long time fan of Sci-Fi and fantasy, Andrew only recently discovered the phenomenally entertaining Firefly because, since entering college, he has suffered an acute lack of television access. Now he’s lamenting Firefly’s termination 6 years late.
www.astro.umn.edu/outreach/uitp/

Peter Kokh
Peter Kokh joined the National Space Society, then NSI (National Space Institute) as “Life Member #2” shortly after it was founded by Werner von Braun in 1974. Kokh is best known as the editor and principal contributor to Moon Miners’ Manifesto, which has been published monthly since December 1986. He is currently retired, but busier than ever writing and laying foundations for the future.
www.moonminersmanifesto.com/

Ky Michaelson, Rocketman
Ky Michaelson, ‘The Rocketman’, has worked on over 200 films, television programs and commercials, as well as the majority of stunt specials that have been seen on TV over the past 30 years.
www.the-rocketman.com/Ky_bio.html

David E Romm
David E Romm, aka Baron Dave aka DavE, produces a radio show/podcast called Shockwave Radio Theater, now in its 29th year, specializing in science fiction humor. He has been going to science fiction conventions for so long he thinks it’s unnatural when people aren’t wearing nametags. He was Fan Guest of Honor at the 2004 MarsCon and they haven’t been able to keep him out off programming since. He takes pictures, gives backrubs, expounds on esoteric subjects and makes puns, often in combination. www.romm.org is one of the oldest web sites in the world and is still shiny.
www.romm.org

MARSCON 2009
March 6-8
Holiday Inn Select
Bloomington, MN

≡ 2009 Home ≡ ≡ Art Show ≡ ≡ Charity Auction ≡ ≡ Contact Info ≡ ≡ Dealers’ Room ≡ ≡ Dementia Track ≡ ≡ Flyer (pdf) ≡ ≡ Gaming ≡ ≡ Guests of Honor ≡ ≡ Hotel Info ≡ ≡ Mars Today ≡ ≡ Links ≡ ≡ MarsCon History ≡ ≡ Meeting Schedule ≡ ≡ Photos ≡ ≡ PR 1 (pdf) ≡ ≡ PR 2 (pdf) ≡ ≡ Programming ≡ ≡ Programming Schedule ≡ ≡ Programming Ideas ≡ ≡ Propatorium III ≡ ≡ Registration ≡ ≡ Room Parties ≡ ≡ Volunteer ≡ ≡ Twitter Tweets ≡

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