The following particpants have agreed to join us at CopperCon 30. As always, schedules may change and participants may drop off and be added so check back frequently for the latest news!
Len Berger
Len, known as the "Movieman", keeps the freebie tables full of movie posters, flyers and anything else we receive from the studios. He is performing the functions that the late Barry Bard started decades ago and has done his best to "walk" in Barry's shoes. He attends many movie screenings a year, the Phoenix Film Festival, the International Horror & Sci-Fi Film Festival and is a film editor for ConNotations reviewing one or two movies per issue. Len is a member of casfs.org, westernsfa.org and Leprecon, Inc.
Richard Bolinski
Liz Danforth
Emily Devenport aka Lee Hogan, aka Maggie Thomas
Emily Devenport had six novels published by ROC: Shade, Larissa, Scorpianne, EggHeads, The Kronos Condition, and GodHeads. Her short stories were published by ASIMOV'S SF MAGAZINE, the FULL SPECTRUM anthology, and ABORIGINAL SF, whose readers voted her a Boomerang Award for most popular story. As Maggy Thomas she wrote Broken Time, published by ROC in the U.S. and URANIA in Italy. Broken Time was nominated for the Philip K. Dick award. As Lee Hogan she wrote Belarus and Enemies, published by ROC in the U.S. and OPUS in Israel. She is currently writing again as Emily Devenport, working on a Fantasy proposal, and co-writing two Young Adult Fantasy proposals with her husband, artist/writer Ernest Hogan.
Craig Dyer
Craig came to Arizona from New York in the mid '70s. Through a twist of fate, he became involved in the Society for Creative Anachronism where he is known as Lord Craig of the White Cliffs. From the SCA it was a short trip to fannish activities. On Saturday evenings at conventions he can usually be found accompanied by several large, white, wooden ammunition chests, in which he keeps a generous supply of homemade vodka-based cordials. He combines the spirit of a vintner with the showmanship of a low-key P.T. Barnum, as he joyfully discusses the ingredients and watches the pleasure on the faces of his (new and long-held) fannish friends. Occasionally, he teaches the art of cordial making with classes held at his home. Fannishly, he has chaired CopperCon 19 (1999), HexaCon 10 (2000), HexaCon 12 (2002) as well as ConKopelli, the 2004 Westercon. Additionally he is the webmaster and keeper of the database and co-editor of ConNotations for CASFS, and a founding member of WesternSFA. In the real world he is a highly proficient computer tech for the Maricopa County Community College district, an ardent player/collector of collector card games, owned by numerous cats, dogs, ferrets, turtles, rabbits and birds, and hailed as a generally pleasant fellow.
Mark Greenawalt
Mark Greenawalt's first CopperCon was when he participated in number 22 back in 2002. The theme was Star Wars and he body painted a liquid latex version of Mara Jade. Since then he has painted a model with Lord of the Rings runes for Con23, a pair of dragons for Con24, and as Artist Guest of Honor for CopperCon 25, he painted the copper warrior woman for the program cover in addition to an all-night bodypainting marathon. And since this year's theme is Gargoyles, guess what you'll see... To see his on-line portfolio of hundreds of body art projects, visit www.futureclassx.com
Emily Hogan
See Emily Devenport
Ernest Hogan
Ernest Hogan's three novels, Smoking Mirror Blues, Cortez on Jupiter and High Aztech, have earned him a reputation as an international cult author, though the rumors of cannibalism and human sacrifice have been greatly exaggerated... His short fiction has appeared in ANALOG, AMAZING STORIES, SCIENCE FICTION AGE, SEMIOTEXT(E) SF, ANGEL BODY AND OTHER MAGIC FOR THE SOUL, WITPUNK, VOICES FOR THE CURE, and many other publications. A film version of his infamous story, "The Frankenstein Penis," is available as the special feature, "Phallocrat" on the DVD, "Hellchild" , and unauthorized translations keep showing up all over the planet. This century has had him working on a mainstream novel, Walter Quixote: Or, Love in the Time of Terrorism.
Jack Mangan
Jack Mangan is an author, podcaster, musician, father, software engineer, etc., born in New Jersey, but now residing in Arizona. His "Jack Mangan's Deadpan Podcast" features interviews, comedy skits, his original music, and a great deal of listener-provided content. Jack's "Spherical Tomi" was among the first wave of podcast novels, and was the number one title at Podibooks.com in January 2006. His podcasting journey began with the "Duel of the Fates" series, originally heard on the Dragon Page Wingin' It! Show. Jack is a frequent guest on the Dragon Page series of shows, and has also made appearances on the Kick-Ass Mystic Ninjas podcast. And oh yeah, he still considers himself an author, with "Spherical Tomi" available in print chapbook and e-book formats from Creative Guy Publishing. Jack's short story, "Sixteen Pieces at a Time" placed third in the SFReader.com 2005 short fiction contest. His writing has also appeared in the Amityville House of Pancakes Omnibus, vol. 1 anthology, Interzone, The Internet Review of Science Fiction, Neometropolis, Sonic Fiction 2, and many other small presses and zines. No room left in this bio to discuss his music. More info about Jack Mangan and his work at: www.jackmangan.com
Loretta McKibben
Loretta McKibben is an Information Specialist Coordinator for the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) telescopic camera on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. She does HiRISE education and public outreach, computer programming and analysis, and is the webmaster for HiRISE. She enjoys teaching kids about space exploration and astronomy and has organized large public outreach events for HiRISE and the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, served as a volunteer NASA-JPL Solar System Ambassador since the program began in 1997 and is a volunteer telescope operator at Flandrau Science Center. Loretta has wanted to visit Mars since she was five, so participating in an instrument team which will obtain images of the Red Planet's surface to less than a meter in resolution is a fantastic adventure and almost like going there! She studied astrophysics at the graduate level and is also working on several science fiction and fantasy novels.
Wayne Myers
Wayne Myers is co-founder of Tricuspa Figment Live Action Systems, a group of friends that put together games and activities for groups which usually reference pop culture favorites. The events are intended to be full of fun while being family friendly, so that everyone can be involved. Wayne has also served also in the many hats of local conventions, ranging from volunteer, staff, participant to game director and even co-conspirator of an upcoming convention. In 2009 he will see if it turns out! In the meantime he works with others and helps them design games that may eventually see publication.
Adam Niswander
Adam Niswander is the author of the Shaman Cycle novels (The Charm, The Serpent Slayers, The Hound Hunters, The War of the Whisperers, and The Nemesis of Night). He is also the author of The Repository, The Sand Dwellers, Golden Dreams: Book One in The Histories of Light and Dark, and of Blurring the Edges of Dream: The Short Fiction of Adam Niswander. Adam just signed the contract and The Hound Hunters will be officially published by Hippocampus Press. He is a former CASFS President and has served on the board. He resides in Phoenix with two feline companions, Fafhrd and The Gray Mouser. http://adam-niswander.com
B.Jean Palmer
Tina "Nyki" Robertson
Ken St. Andre
Ken has been coming to CopperCon since it started, and claims he was once a guest of honor here. 2008 is a big year for Ken with the publication of his novel GRIFFIN FEATHERS by Outlaw Press. (Yes, you can find it on Amazon.com.) Tunnels and Trolls was also re-issued this year in an expanded edition by Fiery Dragon Publications, Inc. He had a story published in the Troll Tunnels anthology by Peryton Press, and two stories in Troll's Blood and Old Delvers from Outlaw Press. And he really hates bios. http://www.trollhalla.com
David Lee Summers
David Lee Summers is author of the novel Vampires of the Scarlet Order and the "Old Star" science fiction trilogy. He's also the author of numerous science fiction, fantasy and horror short stories and poems that have appeared in such places as Realms of Fantasy and The Santa Clara Review. David also edits the science fiction and fantasy magazine, Tales of the Talisman, serves as a book editor for LBF Books, and a consulting editor for El Paso Community College's literary magazine, Chrysalis. In addition to his work with the written word, he is also an astronomer who has discovered variable stars and worked in the field of robotic telescopes
Gary Swaty
Gary Swaty has been attending Science Fiction Conventions since the early 1970s. The first convention he worked was IquanaCon II, the 1978 Phoenix WorldCon. He worked Info Desk, Security and did supply purchase runs during the Con. After that Gary confined himself to helping with Set-Up and Tear-Down at CopperCon and LepreCon until the 1990s. Sometime in the mid Nineties he was asked to be Filk Liaison to Phoenix Area Conventions for the Phoenix Filk Circle. He has been responsible for obtaining Filk GoHs and scheduling Filk Events at CopperCon and LepreCon since then. He handled Filk at Westercon 57, ConKopelli in Litchfield, Arizona in 2004. He has run Registration for HexaCon, World Horror and World Fantasy. He worked Ops at DarkCon 1 and was a General Henchman at Anizonas 1 and 2 and ran registration at Anizona 3. He was Chairman of HexaCon 16 in 2006 and Chairman of CopperCon 28 in September 2008. He was also Committee for Filk at FiestaCon/Westercon 62 scheduled in Tempe, Arizona in July of 2009.
John T. Wheeler
Professional Facepainter for the last 5 years. 2004 King of the Jams at the International Facepainting Convention. Been at many CopperCons and many Masquerades. Formerly did the video rooms for the cons from 1994-2004. Local Fan and Former President of the United Federation of Phoenix. And A Major League Doctor Who Fan, Panelist, and Webmaster. http://members.cox.net/wizardoffacepainting/ http://members.cox.net/tardisaz/
Randall Whitlock
Randall Whitlock has been an active SF/medieval/renaissance costumer since the early 80's, with a certain reputation for visual pun costumes, such as "Dances with Werewolves" and "The Dookus of Hazzard." Randall writes the "Costume Closet" column in Connotations, edits the Southwest Costumers Guild newsletter "Cactus Needles," and drafts the "Randwulf's" line of sewing patterns, seen at his "MoiRandall's" costume booth at renaissance faires across Arizona. Mundanely, Randall is a Geologist with an academic background in meteorites, currently digging up dirt on soil and groundwater contamination for real estate investors in Arizona. www.moirandalls.com | www.southwestcostumersguild.org
Dave Williams
Dr. David A. Williams is currently serving as a Faculty Research Associate in the School of Earth and Space Exploration at Arizona State University. He served as a Visiting Assistant Professor at ASU in 2001-2002, in which he cotaught Physical Geology and a graduate seminar in Planetary Volcanology. David is currently perfoming research in volcanology and planetary geology, with a focus on planetary mapping, geochemical, and remote sensing studies. He was involved with NASA's Magellan Mission to Venus and Galileo Mission to Jupiter, and he is currently serving as an Associate US Investigator on the European Space Agency's Mars Express mission. David is currently the Secretary-Treasurer of the Planetary Geology Division of the Geological Society of America, has served on several NASA committees including the 2007 Jovian System Observer Science Definition Team, and is currently a steering committee member of the NASA Outer Planets Advisory Group. In Fandom, David is the current president of the United Federation of Phoenix, the second longest continuously-running Star Trek and general science fiction fan club in the United States. A life-long Star Trek and Star Wars fan, he has participated in national Star Trek conventions and various charity events.
Veronica Zabala-Aliberto
Veronica Ann Zabala-Aliberto is currently a senior undergraduate student within the School of Earth and Space Exploration (SESE) at Arizona State University. She is the Educational Outreach Coordinator for the Arizona State University NASA Space Photography Laboratory and caters to educators, students and members of the general public providing educational outreach pertaining to human and robotic space exploration. She currently is analyzing data from the Mars Exploration Rover (MER) mission and that of the European Space Agency's (ESA)mission, Mars Express focusing her research on data retrieved from the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) in hopes of determining any Mars change detection of aeolian features on the surface of Mars. Zabala-Aliberto has presented at invited talks and gives lectures to schools and space related events. She enjoys hiking, camping, wants to learn SCUBA and aviation and loves Dirk Pitt. Zabala-Aliberto is very active in the space exploration sector and currently is affiliated with numerous organizations such as: The Mars Society of Phoenix (Chapter Founder, President and now, Educational Outreach Coordinator), The National Space Society of Phoenix (Chapter Founder and President), The Planetary Society (Global Volunteer, Arizona Regional Coordinator), Jet Propulsion Laboratory Solar System Ambassador (2004-present), and the Astronaut Hopefuls of Arizona (Chapter Founder and President). Zabala-Aliberto is a veteran to the Mars Desert Research Station serving on Crew 36 (Crew Geologist) and serving as Commander of the Family Living Analysis on Mars (F.L.A.M.E.) mission in June 2005 as well as commanding Crew 46 in March 2006. lroc.sese.asu.edu
