Panel Participants Biographies
(click on each name to see their picture)
Updated 07/30/2008

Anthony Alongi (Special Guest of Honor)
Anthony is a fantastically good-looking, talented writer who doesn't deserve his fantastically good-looking wife, the gifted writer MaryJanice Davidson. He spends far too much time playing card games and doesn't appreciate said gifted wife, though he does make a mean bacon dinner and did manage to stumble through Carleton College and Harvard University. He directs Minnesota's Dislocated Worker program, which helps laid-off workers get their next great job. His interests include annoying his beautiful wife, chasing his children around the house, and writing his wife's bio.

Jenny Aronson
Jenny Aronson is a suspiciously mundane-looking teenager who's only real claim to fame is being the youngest person in almost any Filk circle. Her hobbies include reading, writing, drawing and obviously, singing. She spends much of the time wandering around in a sleep-deprived state singing nonsense to popular and obscure tunes. She wishes to state that most of her lyrics are not (completely) her fault.

Kevin Birnbaum
Kevin Birnbaum has been involved in a variety of media disciplines for over 30 years. Originally trained as a graphic and layout artist, Kevin worked for various publishing markets doing layout, typesetting and illustrations in New York, Florida and California. He won multi-media awards from various art shows as well as freelance illustrations for Lucasfilm, "Star Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry and "Ironsides" and "CHiPS" Producer Cy Chermak. He wrote, directed and co-produced an independent film called "Justice be Damned" in 1993 which recently acquired distribution by York Entertainment. In December 2005, he wrote, directed and produced another featured called "Vegas Date" which is currently seeking distribution. He moved to the White Mountains of Arizona in 1998 to open a bed and breakfast, and then came upon the idea of launching a local TV News show, and called it "The White Mountain News" which was honored to be the "Business of the Year" for the Pinetop-Lakeside Chamber of Commerce in 2002. He is currently producing and directing his own science fiction feature called "Starwatch" to be shot in Show Low, AZ this September.

Rob Bovill
Rob was born in Portland, Maine and graduated from the University of Maine, in 2003, with a BS in Physics. He then came to the UofA for graduate work in Physics. He left grad school after two years to work the Phoenix Mission. He's been with the mission for almost 3 years now, working as a Test Engineer. The testing involves verifying the hardware and software of each instrument, as well as learning how the instruments work together.

Tabitha Bradley
Tabitha Bradley is an Arizona author who has been writing science fiction and Pagan non-fiction for more than ten years. Her work has appeared in Llewellyn Worldwide's "Witches Calendar" and she is the author of the popular, award-winning Dirandan Chronicles series from Renaissance E-Books. She is also a professional Tarot Reader, Pagan teacher and practicing Witch. She has been a participant at past Arizona-based science-fiction conventions, where she has spoken on Pagan as well as science fiction and fantasy topics. Visit Tabitha's art gallery, book and article listings at her website, Diranda Studios at http://www.diranda.com/

Summer Brooks
Summer Brooks is an avid reader and writer of fantasy and science fiction, with a deep passion for good SF television and movies in general. She is an Executive Producer with FarPoint Media, and co-host on "Slice of SciFi", "The Babylon Podcast", "Kick-Ass Mystic Ninjas" and "Cover to Cover". In addition to being addicted to several SF TV franchises, Summer is hard at work writing articles and novels, and she desires to write and produce a TV series or mini-series that leaves a mark on people.

Steven Brust (Filk Guest of Honor)
Steven Brust is a drummer, guitarist, banjo player and poker player, who supports his habits by writing. He has authored 19 books at last count including a Firefly novel that is free for download from his webpage: http://dreamcafe.com

Shane Bryner
Chairman of the Shadow board of Across Plus
Loves, Cats, Magic, Egypt, and Anime
Industry Rep for AniZona
I am always here even when I am not

Rev. Dr. Bonnie Ann Burgard
Rev. Dr. Bonnie Ann Burgard -(Ross) is an ordained New Thought Minister with a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Metaphysical Theology. She was ordained at Community Church of New Thought, Mesa, AZ. www.ccntMesa.org. Her background is also in engineering, CAD/CAM, microcomputer systems, & in education. She presently is Vice Pres., Moon Society of Phoenix. She is a published author in "Telicom", the journal of the International Society of Philosophical Enquiry, www.thethousand.com, as well as other various publications of American Mensa. She is the gifted children coordinator for the Phoenix area Mensa, and assists in their Scholarship program. www.phoenix.us.mensa.org. Her book "Silent Analogy" published by Infinity is at www.bbotw.com. It is a collection of Metaphysical essays, meditations & principles.
Bonnie Ann's interests include writing, publishing, art, metaphysics, philosophy, engineering, ham radio communications, geology, astronomy, biology, physics, or Science in general, futurism, robotics, space exploration and conservation of the planet.

Captain Cola
After an " accidental" drinking of cola and toxic waste, a hero is born with the power to create near unpoppable bubbles, superspeed and with a supersonic belch he fights crime and talks about tolerance and bullies. His secret identity is a night stalker... oops - stocker and teaches drama at the school where his sidekicks Soda Pop and Fizz attend. He tried out for Who Wants to be a Superhero... alas, no - but there is always next year&

Lainey Carlile
Lainey grew up in Phoenix. She enjoys spending time with her family, reading, and dancing. Since there are fewer activities for children at conventions, she likes to have fun things for them to do, and the parents get a little playtime, too.

Sarah Clemens
Sarah Clemens didn't realize until later in life that growing up with a ballet company and at a television studio was in any way unusual. Her mother was the company pianist for the Memphis Civic Ballet and her father was a cameraman and press photographer for WHBQ in Memphis, Tennessee. While in grade school she occasionally helped host the kiddie show on Saturday with Happy Hal, showing early leanings toward art by sketching with Hal between cartoons. Backstage at the ballet, she helped make costumes, listened to her mother play lovely music and took lots of classes until she realized that she had lousy turnout and decided to concentrate on art. Her early love of science fiction and fantasy art came even before she could read, from looking at the covers of Fantasy and Science Fiction magazine, with its incredible artwork by Ed Emshwiller. The artwork Sarah Clemens most enjoys doing is fantasy and science fiction, and she has been going to conventions since the late seventies. She is gratified at the response of con-goers to her award-winning paintings of Magnus & Loki, which have been the most fun of all. She is a photo-real artist exhibiting her mainstream work in galleries in Boca Raton, Scottsdale and Beverly Hills. She is also a medical illustrator and has worked for prominent attorneys for 17 years and her work has helped to win multimillion dollar cases. Growing up in a darkroom contributes to her love of photography and she still does photowork occasionally. She has published short stories with Asimov's magazine and Ellen Datlow anthologies. In her checkered past, she also wrote movie reviews for USA Today's phone-in line and bogus horoscopes for a 900 number that will remain nameless. She is a passionate skeptic and has written and produced planetarium shows disproving the claim that UFOs exist. http://www.clemensart.com/fantasy.htm | www.magnusandloki.com

Patrick Connors
Patrick Connors was born in a log hospital in Pittsburgh. Things have gotten stranger since then, including forays into con-running, acting, music, and comics. His latest work can be found online at monkeyservants.com. Patrick's had a couple of filk songs recorded and written many more, briefly self-published a comic in the mid-90's and is starting the web comic "Monkey Servants" just minutes from now. Oracle database wrangler since 1990. To pay for all of this, he's been an Oracle database wrangler since 1990. His one professional publication to date is part of a long-obsolete Oracle book. He'll read almost anything as long as it doesn't disturb the cat.

Hunter Cook

Paul Cook
Paul Cook is the author of eight science fiction novels, the latest is THE KARMA KOMMANDOS. He is a Lecturer at ASU teaching Arizona State's first science fiction class, ENG 369. And he is a classical music critic, writing for The American Record Guide.

Kevin Dahl
Kevin Dahl has been an avid reader of science fiction ever since he got in trouble for reading it in Mr. McCarthy's 6th Grade study hall. He earned his ethnobotany degree from Prescott College, where he now serves as an adjunct professor out of their Tucson campus. Formerly executive director of Tucson Audubon Society and Native Seeds/SEARCH, his career has been in conservation and protecting Native American agricultural traditions. His published works are nonfiction: Wild Foods of the Sonoran Desert (ASDM) and Native Harvest: Authentic Southwestern Gardening (Western National Parks Association).

Tom Dahoney
Mr. Thomas Dahoney has been an active participant in Medieval recreation for the past three years. He has earned the status of Marshal (referee) for both youth and adult hard suit (armored w/ heavy weapons) combat. He himself has been a hard suit fighter as well as operating a siege weapon on the "battle field." He and his sons have built two Roman onagers along with helping to build a ballista. Within the Society for Creative Anachronism, he belongs to the households of the Barbarian Freehold Alliance and Scimitar Talon Free Company. Tom is currently developing his own military order within "the game." He is actively involved with his sons and has given classes on youth combat. Mr. Dahoney is registered with and has been actively involved in the Boy Scouts of America for 15 years. This Eagle Scout has served the organization in many capacities, including that of Scout Master. He currently participates in Scouting with both of his sons.

MaryJanice Davidson (Author Guest of Honor)
MaryJanice is our Guest of Honor for this convention. She was an Air Force brat raised all over the country (the highlights include Guam, Mississippi, and North Dakota), with a father who fought fires and a mom who broke the world record for target shooting - pretty cool stuff! Born in a small town in the Midwest, grew up with a dream, Miss Congeniality in high school (hard to believe, isn't it?), blah-blah. Got married, had kids. Fell in love with a guy who lived half a country away, so ended up in Boston for a bit, and finally settled in Minnesota, land of ten thousand mosquitoes. (That's a joke. There's actually way, way, way more than ten thousand.) Started writing when she was thirteen, sold her first book when she was 29. Made the best-seller list when she was thirty-four. Learned how to make gravy without lumps. It was a wonderful decade. She's been a secretary, a model, a waitress, an editor, an office manager, and a medical test subject. So has her characters...

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.

Chris Dickenson
Chris Dickenson is a psychic with nearly 20 years of experience as a tarot reader. She has raised her daughter in the Craft and has a private practice as a card reader psychic and spiritual consultant. She is a filk vocalist and has been a filk GoH performing as one of The Duras Sisters. More recently, she has performed as a Harmony Heifer, and has three CDs in print: "Rubenesque," "Masquerading As Human" and "Harmony Heifers." Chris is retired from her real world occupation, which suits her just fine.

Brian Duncan
aka Captain Cola

Jenny Duncan
Jenny works as a pharmacy tech for a local pharmacy she has 3 children and has been going to cons since she was little. She moved from being Robert Peacock's daughter to a member of the Duncan clan. She enjoys many aspects of sci fi books, films, art and TV.

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.

Mary Erickson
Rev. Mary Branum Erickson, DD has practiced in the field of regression therapy for 22 years. Her book, Reincarnation Redefined, Pre-Existence from a Regression Therapist Viewpoint is available for download at www.reincarnationredefined.com where you can contact her or find out more about regression therapy, reincarnation & other questions of pre-existence.

Sherri Gahr
The esteemed chairwoman of AniZona '09, Sherri originally organized one of the local anime clubs: the ASU West Otaku Club. Her involvement in the anime community has only grown through the years. After putting on a few gaming and fashion events of her own, she decided to help out with the larger conventions. Her sparkling personality led her to where she is today!

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

David Hedgecock (Artist Guest of Honor)
David Hedgecock was an eyewitness to the first landing of the Space Shuttle, has swam -bare skinned- with a school of newborn squid, has hiked down and up the Grand Canyon in a single day and declared his U.S. citizenship at the Mexican border on more than one occasion. How he finds time to make comics, only Kirby knows. Somewhere amongst all the excitement, David found time to obtain a Studio Art degree from the University of California at San Diego. He currently flits away his days drawing the DISNEY/SLG GARGOYLE comic and is a General Partner of Ape Entertainment.

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.

Mark Horning
Mark Horning is best known for his "Folk Style" music and songs about space. He works as a physicist at the Air Force Research Lab in Mesa AZ when he is not at ASU working on his Ph.D. He is most often accompanied at conventions by his wife, Jennifer, and their three children. http://www.eskimo.com/~mhorning

John Kelly
Mr. John Kelly has been actively involved with Medieval recreation for over thirty years. Through the years he has researched, practically applied, and taught many aspects of the Middle Ages. A recreationists' war veteran of over ten years, Mr. Kelly has a wide and varied knowledge of weaponry and the usage. Having competed in and taught fencing in the early 1980's gave him a sound base for shinai, European sword, sword and shield, and mass weapons fighting styles. His knowledge of weapons is not only that of usage, but construction as well. He apprenticed with one of the most sought after bladesmiths in the 1980s. He learned from and worked with the creator of Jaeger Knives. As Headmaster for Scimitar Talon s School for the Knightly Arts, and Commander of Scimitar Talon's Free Company, Mr. Kelly strives to incorporate the skill sets necessary for a well-rounded fighter, along with the ethics of true chivalric behavior. Those skill sets include, but are not exclusive to, armor and weapon making and garment construction. Along with historical recreation, he is also a seasoned role player. He has gamed since the early days of Dungeons and Dragons (before Advanced D & D). He was on the development and beta testing team for the RPG "Immortals."

Shelly Kelly
Mrs. Kelly has been involved with Medieval recreation for twenty-four years. Beginning as a theatre student in the early '80s, the idea of accurate, yet usable historical items became of great interest. Due to the nature of theatre, weapon use, care, and safety was a subject of concern to this technical theatre major. Considered a jack-of-all-trades, this self-taught researcher has knowledge of the history and practical application in a wide variety of everyday activities and amusements of the Medieval person. This knowledge and skill has been used for fundraisers, parties, and weddings. One of her favorite accomplishments was teaching the Middle Ages unit, with an emphasis on chivalry and feudalism, to seven classes of sixth grade students. She also served as technical director, consultant, and teaching assistant to one of The Valley's high school's theatre department for seven years.

VJ Kelly

Jerome Lamberth
Jerome Lamberth has done a lot with his relatively short life to date and comes to CopperCon with an eclectic skill set. He's been a camera man and technical director for a local Southern California TV studio, a comicbook store clerk, a self-taught web designer and a 3d graphic artist. His current occupation is with Wells Fargo Bank and has spent most of his career with them as a mortgage loan processor/customer service representive. As a 3d graphic artist, Jerome has a fairly extensive art gallery online. When not at work, spending time with his family, or running games he can be found with a copy of Poser 4 or Daz Studio pulled up in front of him rendering his latest image. Jerome is also an avid gamer and has been running or playing in roleplaying games 18+ years. From Marvel Super Heroes to Dungeons and Dragons, Jerome has either read it, played it, or ran a game session with it. http://prophetx.deviantart.com | http://www.giovanni-wod.net/shadowphoenix

Rebekah Lamberth
Rebekah Lamberth, wife and mother, is a long time avid gamer and role player. She has been active as a part of the staff for Shadow of the Phoenix for the past 4 years which is part of the international organization One World by Night. She currently is part a coordinator team in the organization. One World by Night, or OWBN, is a Vampire: The Masquerade mind's eye theatre live action role playing community with chronicles all across the US and has chronicles in South America and Canada as well. Rebekah is an amatuer writer and hopes to one day have some works published.

Brian Lapham

Charles Lesher
Charles Lesher was born in Kansas, raised in Colorado, graduated high school in Southern California, and then moved to Phoenix where he joined the Army. He spent the next four years in Maryland, Germany, and Texas. Upon returning to civilian life, Chuck earned a BS in Engineering Mechanics-Aerospace from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a MS in Materials Science from Arizona State University. After graduation, Chuck worked at Space Data/Orbital Sciences Corporation designing, building, and launching rockets and high altitude weather balloons. Later, he served as Quality Assurance Manager for Hybrid Design Associates in Tempe, a small manufacturing company that specializes in harsh-environment electronic assemblies. Chuck is married to a wonderful woman, has three grown kids, and three grandchildren with another on the way. He writes Speculative Fiction under his full name, Charles Lee Lesher and his debut novel, Evolution's Child, was selected as 2007's Best of the Moon Fiction by the Lunar Library. Check out his website at: http://charleslesher.com

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

Don Markstein
Don has been a professional writer for almost 40 years. He's currently writing comic book scripts, with an emphasis on 12-year-olds. He's the co-founder of Apatoons Editor of Toonopedia.com.

Alice Massoglia
Alice has been active in club and convention fandom since the mid'70s, having worked on numerous conventions around the southwest since 1977. Alice (then Alice Williams) was Fan GoH at CopperCon 5. She added bookselling to her schedule about 5 years later, helping her husband Marty at dealers' tables and with their bookstore and mailorder book business. Her four children all grew up as part of Los Angeles and Phoenix fandom, and her youngest, Ben, is still very much an active member of those groups. She has also helped promote the interest among fans and others in Regency Dance, both as a hostess for her local (Los Angeles area) events and by teaching the dances at conventions here in Arizona. Besides reading, her other interests include handicraft work (crocheting and knitting for her grandchildren being the current projects), cooking and listening to radio dramas. http://home.pacbell.net/ambooks

Sue Martin
Sue Martin has been a member of local fandom for more than ten years. For over 15 years, she freelanced science fiction and fantasy book reviews to the Los Angeles Times Book review section (She worked at the newspaper for 18 years, her last five years as the Film Dept. desk assistant. While in that department she freelanced many articles on science fiction and fantasy on TV and in film. She even got an exclusive in-person interview with George Lucas on the 10th anniversary of "Star Wars!"). She has been an avid and voracious reader all of her life and holds opinions on many things. She is working right this very second on finishing up her first romance novel, discovering in the process--it ain't as simple as it looks! Of course, she hopes to start her very own collection of rejection slips very soon. Martin currently reviews books for ConNotations.

Marty Massoglia
http://home.pacbell.net/ambooks

Dave Merrill

John Jos. Miller
John Jos. Miller is the author of approximately ten novels and numerous short stories. He is one of the original contributors to the long-running Wild Card series and has also written two different role playing worldbooks for the series, the most recent of which was published in July 2008 by Green Ronin Press. Upcoming work includes a companion volume for the Green Ronin RPG, ACES AND JOKERS, which provides biographical information on nearly 350 Wild Card characters, a new story in the next Wild Card volume entitled "Mortality's Strong Hand," (due out in December) and a graphic adaptation of George R. R. Martin's novella "In the House of the Worm" for Avatar Press (due out whenever the artist finishes the art). He is currently working on BLACK TRAIN COMING, a novel about vampires in the West Virginia coalfields of the 1920s. He lives in Albuquerque with his wife Gail, their three dogs (Hamish, Khyber, and Skippy the Halloween Chihuahua), eight cats (Edmond Blackcatter, Mrs. Miggins, Pie Shoppe, Phantom Deux, Kleopatra, Alexander the Great, and Archie and Nero) and too many books to mention by name.

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.

Deb Nickelson
Deb Nickelson is a member of the United Federation of Phoenix and past member of fan clubs in NJ and MN. She has organized Men in Tights, Filk sings and Galactic Gourmet at Minicon in Minneapolis. Last year, she participated in World Con in Yokohama Japan. Deb Nickelson DVM is a veterinarian and marketing manager with Veterinary Products Laboratories, an animal health company. She serves on the advisory board of Association for Women Veterinarians Foundation.

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

Rick Novy
Rick Novy is a desert rat who has lived in the valley for nine years. He is an engineer in a local semiconductor company. His twentieth short story is scheduled to be released in the September issue of "Tales of the Talisman." He has garnered six honorable mentions in the Writers of the Future Contest and was the winner of the D.G.K. Goldberg Award from AnotheRealm for best horror story of 2007. He is a graduate of Orson Scott Card's Literary Boot Camp. His work has appeared in venues such as Darker Matter and Intergalactic Medicine Show.

Chris Paige
Christina Paige is a procrastinator who hates writing bio-blurbs. An INFP whose enthusiasms occasionally propel her into behaving like an Extravert, she enlisted in the Army at the age of 29 because a friend had thrown Starship Troopers at her head and, after reading Plato and T. S. Eliot, she wanted to be a Guardian. She sometimes earns money as a teacher. Her hobbies include filking, writing reviews for ConNotations, editing manuscripts, serving as a political intern, watching Eureka with her husband, playing Canasta on the computer, Frog Juice with her son, and Space Pirate Amazon Ninja Cats with her daughter.

B.Jean Palmer

Anna Paradox
Anna Paradox leads a double life, as all good paradoxes should. She writes and edits, and was most recently published in Space Pirates, edited by David Lee Summers. She is also a life coach, dedicated to bringing the best success tools to fans. After all, we wouldn't want to be the last tribe to discover fire. Her free newsletter, Creating Space, is available through her website at annaparadox.com/newsletter

Craig Porter
Craig retired from the Air Force as a MSgt from Air Training Command as a Master Instructor. He has worked since retirement as a Company Technical Instructor for a Automatic Test Company (ATE), an Test Engineer for a different ATE Company, a Consultant on Test Programming and Documentation. And has also worked as a Quality Assurance Inspector in Industry. Since retiring a second time, Craig has been active in the Private sector as a Member of several different "Space" Societies and is currently the President of the Phoenix Chapter of the Moon Society.

Wyllow Ravenscroft
Wyllow Ravenscroft is a singer, songwriter, and musician who performs traditional folk music on voice, guitar and pennywhistle. Her original songs merge Celtic, Medieval, and Renaissance themes, often dealing with the myths and legends of the Celts. Her mundane life is as a library specialist at Arizona State University. She is a big fan of J.R.R. Tolkien's works.

Darren Reale
Darren Reale received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Chapman University, and then received a Master's in Music Education degree from Arizona State University. He currently is the music director for the Laveen Elementary School district where he instructs general music, choir, and band. He is a published poet and recording artist of folk music, specializing in the history of novelty-filk music and its performance. He also is a 10-year veteran in the Navy Reserves, working for the Seabees (Construction Battalion). He specializes there in warfare tactics, and has received the Seabee Combat Warfare pin, and is the past Seabee Combat Warfare instructor for Phoenix Navy Reserve Center. Since 1983, he has been a participant and leader of various groups in the Society for Creative Anachronism doing armored combat performing bardic music.

Solomon Rosson

Walter Sanville
Wally was an aircraft mechanic for 20 years working on Apache helicopters which started a lifelong interest in all things related to space. He's visited the Mohave Spaceport and dreams of a job there. He's always wanted to go to space to build things in order to solve problems down here. He had a brief brush with fandom at a Star Trek convention in 1977 but didn't get really involved with local fandom until the '80s. He Chaired CopperCon25 in 2005 and can usually be located at a con party, a DarkOnes party or any party...

Scott Smith

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

Steve Strozewski
Steve Strozewski is a 24 year old graduate of Arizona State University. A non-native Arizonan, he originally hails from the south side of Chicago, Illinois. When he's not acquiring new pieces for his various weaponry collections, Steve can be found watching a wide variety of anime (especially cyberpunk and mecha) and/or gaming. An old school anime fan, his first encounter with anime occurred in 1987 and he's been hooked ever since.

Paige Sullivan
Paige Sullivan is a Wiccan High Priestess and a professional divinator. She has been reading since she was 16. She began with Tarot, and branched out to Palmistry and Tea Leaves. She currently reads at A Peace of the Universe as a psychic artist. You can see her bio for the store on http://www.apeaceoftheuniverse.com She will be helping us to understand the ancient art of tea leaf reading as well as teaching us how to do it ourselves. She can be contacted at leilagenie@yahoo.com for professional readings or events.

Dawn Taylor
Dawn has been a gifted psychic, tarot card reader, spiritual counselor and Wiccan Priestess for nearly thirty years. She teaches Wicca 101 classes, Magical Ethics and does private psychic consultations which include connecting clients with loved ones who have passed on, past life readings, and general spiritual counseling. She has raised 5 daughters and taught countless teen Wicca classes. She has been the spiritual adviser for the Seattle Knights for eight years.

Larry Warner
Once termed the "James Taylor of Filk Music," Larry Warner has written and performed filk music both locally and nationally since 1983. Having appeared on numerous recordings produced by Off Centaur/Firebird, DAG, Thor Records, and Wail Songs, Larry has two solo projects of his own: "Through My Eyes" (virtually out-of-print), and "On Deck 11," the latter being a tribute to his favorite subject, the Star TrekUniverse. Lately, Larry is enjoying spending time with his wife Theresa and 6 year-old son, Grayson. He started out in Fandom as a Fanzine artist doing work on some of the early Trekzines. Even today he sometime does hands-on workshops on Sketchboard Art at Conventions.Using his extensive Filk experience, he also sometimes does Harmony and Song writing workshops. He remains an avid Fan of Star Trek in all of its incarnation though Classic Original Trek remains his favorite. In his Mundane career he is a Museum Curator

Greg Weisman (Media Guest of Honor)
Greg Weisman (BA Stanford, MPW U.S.C.) has been a storyteller all his life. His first professional work was as an Associate Editor and Freelance Writer for DC Comics, where he worked on the Captain Atom title, among others. Greg worked at Walt Disney Television Animation from 1989 through 1996. He rose through the ranks to become Director of Series Development for the division, working on such diverse properties as Darkwing Duck, Gummi Bears, TaleSpin, Bonkers, Raw Toonage, Duck Tales the Movie, Aladdin the Series and The Mighty Ducks, among others. In 1991, Greg and his team created and developed a new series for Disney: GARGOYLES. Greg left his position as an executive to become the Supervising Producer and Supervising Story Editor of the first 66 episodes of that series. In 1996, Greg left Disney for DreamWorks Television Animation, where he also developed numerous projects. In October of '98, Greg left DreamWorks to become a full-time Freelance Writer, Story Editor, Producer and Voice Director. He has written scripts for Men In Black, Disney's Hercules, Big Guy & Rusty the Boy Robot, Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, The Mummy, Kim Possible, The Batman, Alien Racers, Ben Ten, Bionicle: Mask of Light, Bratz: Genie Magic II, Thundercats, Santo and Legion of Super Heroes among others. He has written and story edited for Roughnecks: The Starship Troopers Chronicles, and he produced, wrote and story edited on both Max Steel and W.I.T.C.H. He has also voice directed the original DVD Movie, Atlantis: Milo's Return and the English dub of the Japanese anime video series 3x3 Eyes. Greg is currently writing the new Gargoyles and Gargoyles: Bad Guys comic books for SLG Publishing, while producing, writing and story editing and voice acting for Sony's new series, The Spectacular Spider-Man. Greg is blessed to have a wonderful wife, two great kids, a cat and two dogs.

Chris Welborn
Chris has worked in microelectronics and historical aircraft restoration. He belongs to his local amateur rocket association. He shares his love of rockets by teaching beginning classes in rockets for kids at the Pima Air and Space Museum as well as cons, schools, and summer camps.

Michelle M. Welch
Michelle M. Welch is an Arizona native who grew up trying to choose between her two loves: music and writing. After a brief stint in music school, she somehow ended up as a reference librarian, and after a flurry of query letters and rejections, she somehow ended up writing a fantasy trilogy. She is currently working on various other writing projects and trying to learn too many new instruments. http://www.sff.net/people/mmwelch

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/

Cynthia White
My name is Cynthia Elise White and I have been watching sci-fi for about 7 or 8 years. The first series I ever really liked was Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda, and it remains one of my favorites til this day. I am currently watching The Middleman, Doctor Who, Torchwood, Eureka and Stargate:Atlantis. My favorite scifi book of all time is Dark Waters Embrace, with Ender's Game as a close second.

Lee Whiteside
Lee Whiteside has been keeping track of science fiction and fantasy TV for the last 15 years or so, both in print and online with the SFTV.org website. He's also been involved with Arizona fandom for almost as long, having chaired two CopperCons, a LepreCon, and the 2006 Nebula Awards weekend. In real life, he's a network engineer.

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.