2015 Confluence History

Dates: July 24-26, 2015
Venue: DoubleTree by Hilton Pittsburgh – Cranberry in Mars, PA (formerly the Four Points)

Guest of Honor: Joan Slonczewski

Joan’s classic  A Door into Ocean was cited by Isaac Asimov for its theme of pacifist revolution. The book  depicts an ocean world run by genetic engineers called Sharers who repel an interstellar invasion using methods similar to Tahrir Square. Daughter of Elysium continues the Sharers’ story, in a saga encompassing several planets and a population that live for a thousand years. The Children Star continues the “Elysium cycle” with a mystery planet, settled by impoverished children from an overcrowded world. The new planet Prokaryon has intelligent natives–but where? In Brain Plague, intelligent microbes invade human brains and establish microbial cities. The brain-dwelling microbes convince artists to paint scandalous art (scandalous to a microbe).

Besides writing books, Joan teaches microbiology at Kenyon College, authoring with John Foster the textbook Microbiology: An Evolving Science. She contributes to the nation’s economy by employing students to conduct research on bacteria in extreme acid or base, like the stomach or pancreas respectively. For arts and humanities majors she teaches the notorious course Biology in Science Fiction.

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Featured Musician: Brooke Abbey

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Special Guest: Roberta Rogow

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Entertainment: Super Smash Opera

“The grandeur of opera meets the thrill of the fight in this live performance! Nintendo’s legendary cast of characters sing their way through a fighting tournament that determines the hero of the next game franchise in this comic cabaret of opera’s best-known songs, performed by a troupe of classically-trained game lovers.  Featuring characters from the Super Smash Brothers games and a variety of costumes and puppets, this performance promises a fun time and a few surprises.”

Super Smash Opera made its world premiere at MAGfest this January in DC. Pittsburgh members Bonnie Bogovich, Jim Newsome, Liz Rishel, Marjorie Rishel, Sean Lenhart, William Strom, Jordan Speranzo, Marylou Lenhart and Matt Kucic can’t wait to showcase this wacky parody production on their home turf!

Members of the cast and crew will also be speaking as panelists in several different sessions between 11 am and 11 pm.

For more information check out their website at www.supersmashopera.com

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Parsec Ink’s Triangulation anthology: Lost Voices
Editor: Jamie Lackey

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Parsec short story contest winning story: “An Occurrence at Owlskirk” by Paul Dixon
Notes: Mark Peters took over Pete Grubbs’ position as Confluence’s sound technician.

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Program Participants:

Award-winning author Danielle Ackley-McPhail has worked both sides of the publishing industry for longer than she cares to admit. Currently, she is a project editor and promotions manager for Dark Quest Books. She and her husband, Mike McPhail, have recently started their own press, eSpec Books. Her published works include five urban fantasy novels, Yesterday’s Dreams, Tomorrow’s Memories, Today’s Promise, The Halfling’s Court: and The Redcaps’ Queen: A Bad-Ass Faerie Tale, and a young adult Steampunk novel, Baba Ali and the Clockwork Djinn, written with Day Al-Mohamed. She is also the author of A Legacy of Stars, The Literary Handyman, and is the senior editor of the Bad-Ass Faeries anthologies, Dragon’s Lure, and In an Iron Cage. Her work is included in numerous other anthologies and collections. She lives in New Jersey with husband, Mike McPhail, mother-in-law Teresa, and two extremely spoiled cats. To learn more about her work, visit www.especbooks.com or www.sidhenadaire.com.

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Ken Altabef: An active SFWA member, Ken’s short fiction has appeared numerous times in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, as well as Interzone, Abyss & Apex, Buzzymag, Stupefying Stories, Ominous Realities and others. His first short story collection “Fortune’s Fantasy” was released last year. He was an editor on the mixed-genre short story anthology “Drastic Measures” and its sequel “Wash the Spider Out”. ALAANA’S WAY is his 5-part series of epic fantasy novels with an arctic setting. Visit his website at: www.KenAltabef.com.

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Beverly Bambury gives creators more time to create. She does social media management and planning, as well as publicity campaigns for writers, comic creators, and local small businesses. Her specialties are SF&F, horror, urban fantasy, paranormal romance, and crime. Ask her how to increase the reach of your project. Learn more at beverlybambury.com.

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James Bambury’s obtuse and dour short fiction has appeared in Daily Science Fiction, Tesseracts 18: “Wrestling with Gods”, AE SciFi and other places. His comparatively light-hearted webcomic “SpaceBox” appears every Wednesday at www.spaceboxcomic.com. He lives and writes in Brampton, Ontario.

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Native Pittsburgher Bonnie Bogovich has worn many hats from multimedia designer, composer, theater tech, puppetry and vocal performance. Bonnie works by day as the Lead Sound Designer and Music Composer at Schell Games, working on a variety of video game and interactive projects for clients such as Sea World, Bossa Nova Robotics, PBS/Fred Rogers, Yale, BEST Foundation, and Amplify Education. Other game audio work includes “Cybercadets” (Cylab), “The Mayan Adventure “(ArcVertel), and “HIVESWAP: the Homestuck Adventure Game”. Bonnie co-wrote and co-produced both “Evenings in Quarantine: The Zombie Opera” and “Super Smash Opera” with collaborator Elizabeth Rishel, has performed with Undercroft Opera, Pittsburgh Savoyards, Parallax Players, is an active member of Parsec, Pittsburgh Savoyards, Game Audio Network Guild, Interactive Audio Special Interest Group, has judged for the Independent Games Festival, Indiecade, GLFA, and is a convention/conference addict).

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Defrocked-biochemist-turned-science-writer Ken Chiacchia’s first pro SF sale was “A Technical Fix,” Cicada, 2002. Subsequent short stories include “Tribute,” Oceans of the Mind; “And Yet It Moves,” Paradox; “The Rescue Contact,” Cicada; “Victim,” From the Trenches; and “The Humanoid Element,” Cicada. He ’s also contributed several stories to the Triangulation series. Ken’s poem “Casualty” garnered a 2007 Rhysling Poetry Award nomination.

Ken works a day job as the senior science writer at the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center. His work as a nonfiction science journalist has won a number of awards, including the Carnegie Science Center Journalism Award and several Golden Quill Awards from the Press Club of Western Pennsylvania. The unskilled labor for his wife’s 26-acre farm in Harmony, Pa., Ken also is a sidekick of the dogs who find lost people and (literally) chases after brushfires with the Harmony Volunteer Fire Company.

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Dr. Eric Leif Davin is the author of Pioneers of Wonder: Conversations with the Founders of Science Fiction (Prometheus Books, 1999) and Partners in Wonder: Women and the Birth of Science Fiction, 1926-1960 ( Lexington Books, 2006), as well as the Introduction to The Universe Wreckers: The Collected Edmond Hamilton, Vol. 3 (Haffner Press, 2011). His short stories have appeared in such anthologies as Jerry Pournelle’s Far Frontiers (Baen Books), The Fantastic Civil War (Baen Books), and Mike Resnick’s Galaxy’s Edge (May, 2014 and March, 2015). His story, “Icarus at Noon,” appeared in The Year’s Best Military SF and Space Opera (Baen Books), June, 2015. He is also a two-time winner in the Parsec short story contest, including First Place the first year of the contest. Damnation Books published his debut novel, The Desperate and the Dead, in 2014. The sequel, The Scarlet Queen, will appear in the Fall of 2015.

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John DeChancie has been writing in the field for a long time, starting in 1983 with his first published novel, STARRIGGER. He’s also best known for his series of fantasy titles beginning with CASTLE PERILOUS, running to nine books. The latest is THE PIRATES OF PERILOUS, just out. His short stories number in the dozens, as do his nonfiction pieces. He lives in Los Angeles, still writing and soaking up rays at Venice Beach.

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Susan Dexter: Once–long ago–I scrounged old diaries to write my first novels. Once, I was a mid-list Del Rey author., Now, I am an Indie Author/Publisher. I have both backlist and previously unpublished works available on the Kindle and Nook platforms, and physical books for sale through Createspace and Wildside Press. Last year, I helped Farm & Dairy celebrate their 100 Year Anniversary by writing an article on what F & D meant to me in exactly 100 words. Want more? Visit my website CalandraEsdragon.com, and follow my blog there, Take Up the Quest.

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Anita Dolman is a professional writer and editor living in Ottawa, Canada. Her poetry and fiction have appeared throughout the United States and Canada, including in the speculative fiction anthology Triangulation: Lost Voices. Her story “Handcrafting,” published in On Spec: The Canadian Magazine of the Fantastic, was a finalist for the 2015 Alberta Magazine Awards. Dolman’s second chapbook of poetry, Where No One Can See You, was published by AngelHousePress in 2014. Her e-novella “Happy Enough” is available from Morning Rain Publishing.

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Timons Esaias is a satirist, poet and writer of short fiction, living in Pittsburgh. His works have appeared in sixteen languages. He has been a finalist for the British Science Fiction Award, and won the 2005 Asimov’s Readers Award for poetry. His work appeared this last year in Asimov’s and Analog. He teaches in Seton Hill’s Writing Popular Fiction MFA Program.

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Connor Fallon is a game designer at Schell Games with extensive experience working on puzzle and narrative-heavy games. Currently working on The World of Lexica and Elsinore, he was previously the design lead on Enemy Mind, Socrates Jones: Pro Philosopher, and the official TVtropes Alternate Reality Game.

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Nathan W. Fullerton has worked in digital media since both he and VHS tapes were young, his work has been exhibited at Prix Ars Electronica, The Texas Frightmare Weekend, and The Israel Museum, among others. While Nathan’s work is primarily in “industrials” and as a digital media trainer, he shoots, edits, and produces short films whenever possible. Nathan prides himself on being able to create great media on a shoestring budget and takes every opportunity to share and demonstrate what can be done with modern, inexpensive, often homebuilt tools. At the tender age of 42, Nathan shot his first feature film – “Scream Park” (available on iTunes!) – which was shot on inexpensive Panasonic GH2 cameras and a selection of very vintage prime lenses scrounged from eBay. Nearly every review of the film has given special attention to the cinematography and noted how this micro budget, Kick-Starter funded film has the look of a big-budget feature.

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Sarah Goslee wants to know everything and then write about it. Science was an obvious career choice, being the best way to learn things that nobody else knows. Writing science fiction was only a short step behind: figuring out fictional things is nearly as satisfying as figuring out real ones. If vampirism were a viable career choice, Sarah would eagerly trade her soul for more time to learn things.

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Chet Gottfried: A freelancer in book production for forty years, I live with my wife, Sue, and our three ex-feral cats, in State College, Pennsylvania. I’m an active member of SFWA, with stories in Jim Baen’s Universe, Aboriginal SF, and Isaac Asimov’s SF, along with a large variety of stories in small press and online publications. In 1984, Space & Time published my novel The Steel Eye to start its book line. Thirty years later, and ReAnimus Press has published my new fantasy novel, The Gilded Basilisk. In May 2014, ReAnimus also published my YA fantasy novel, Einar and the Cursed City, which won first place in the Editors & Preditors 2015 readers poll for YA books. June 2015 should see a sequel to Einar . . . My website lookoutnow.com features over a thousand pages that cover nature photography, cartoons, and games, as well as travelogues from trips to the UK Lake District, Iceland, and the U.S. Southwest. My public FB page is https://www.facebook.com/gildedbasilisk.

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By day, J. L. Gribble is a professional medical editor. By night, she does freelance fiction editing in all genres, along with reading, playing video games, and occasionally even writing. Her debut novel, STEEL VICTORY, was her thesis novel for Seton Hill University’s Writing Popular Fiction graduate program in Greensburg, Pennsylvania. Previously, she was one of the co-editors for FAR WORLDS, a speculative fiction anthology. She lives in Ellicott City, Maryland, with her husband and three vocal Siamese cats. Find her online (www.jlgribble.com), on Facebook (www.facebook.com/jlgribblewriter), and on Twitter and Instagram (@hannaedits). She is currently working on more tales set in the world of Limani.

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Elektra Hammond emulates her multi-sided idol Buckaroo Banzai by going in several directions at once. She’s been involved in publishing since the 1990s—now she writes, concocts anthologies, reviews movies for buzzymag.com & edits science fiction for various and sundry. When not freelancing or appearing at science fiction conventions, she travels the world judging cat shows. Her latest story “Salamander BItes,” can be found in Temporally Out of Order edited by Joshua Palmentier and Patricia Bray. Elektra lives in Delaware with her husband, Mike, and the well over a dozen cats of BlueBlaze cattery. She can be found on Facebook (Elektra Hammond), Twitter (elektraUM), LiveJournal (elektra_h), and building up her website at http://www.untilmidnight.com.

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David G. Hartwell is a Senior Editor of Tor/Forge Books. He is the proprietor of Dragon Press, publisher and bookseller, which publishes The New York Review of Science Fiction, criticism by Samuel R. Delany and others; and the President of David G. Hartwell, Inc., a consulting editorial firm. He is the author of Age of Wonders and the editor of many anthologies, including The Dark Descent: Masterpieces of Fantasy and Enchantment, The World Treasury of Science Fiction, Northern Stars, The Ascent of Wonder (co-edited with Kathryn Cramer), Year’s Best SF (1-18), and a number of Christmas anthologies, among others. He has won the Eaton Award, the World Fantasy Award, the Science Fiction Chronicle poll, and has been nominated for the Hugo 41 times, winning three.

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Lee C. Hillman is a contributing editor and author in the Bad-Ass Faeries series (Dark Quest Books), as well as the anthology, TV Gods (Fortress Publishing). She is also a singer-songwriter, an avid fanfiction author, an actor, and a conference planner. She is also a member of the Society for Creative Anachronism. For the past seven years, she has been writing and playing in the journal-based role-playing game, HP Alternity, on Dreamwidth.org, which is nearing its conclusion. She looks forward to getting back major amounts of time which can be used for other projects, like the CD she has been promising herself to produce, or more likely endlessly playing BushWhacker2.

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Edwin Huang is a media and business consultant. He is a published gaming author for the Wraith line of role-playing books writing for the 20th Anniversary Edition, Shadow Players Guide, and the final book Ends of Empire. When he isn’t writing about ghosts, Edwin works on various independent productions around Pittsburgh. He was the Director of Photography for Evenings in Quarantine: The Zombie Opera, the First A.C. for the slasher film, Scream Park. And most currently starring in and filming for the Web Series: Beginnings based on the post apocalyptic novels of Jacqueline Druga.

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Alan Irvine is a professional storyteller based in Pittsburgh. He performs at schools, libraries, museums, and festivals throughout the region.He particularly loves ghost stories – his Irish Ghost Stories at the Pittsburgh Irish Festival are standing room only every year. His Pittsburgh Walking Tours are highlighted in Lonely Planet’s USA guide book. He has several CDs of incredible stories (probably on him right this minute if you want to buy one!) His recording of the Irish epic “The Cattle Raid of Cooley” recently won the Storytelling World Gold award for Best Story for Adults. He wrote and directed The Compleat Guide to Murder and Mayhem by Will Shakespear and The Murder of Gonzago for Brawling Bard Theater. Both plays have been performed at the Pittsburgh Fringe Festival. Alan is currently working on a middle-grade fantasy novel. Oh yes, he also teaches Sociology at Robert Morris University.

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Larry Ivkovich is a former IT professional and the author of several published science fiction, fantasy and horror short stories and novellas. He has been a finalist in the L. Ron Hubbard’s Writers of the Future contest and was the 2010 recipient of the CZP/Rannu Fund Award for fiction. His debut urban fantasy novel, The Sixth Precept, was published in 2011 by IFWG Publishing, and his fantasy novel, Blood of the Daxas, was published by Assent Publishing in 2014. He is a member of two local writing/critique groups—the Pittsburgh Worldrights and WorD, and lives in Coraopolis, PA with his wife, Martha, and cats, Trixie and Milo.

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Alan Katerinsky has been a fan all his life, but started attending conventions in 1972. He is the son of First Fandom’s Rickey Slavin, and is full of old-timey anecdotes, among other things. Al has had several short stories and poems published, as well as a book chapter in A Handbook of Research in ICT Policy. With Herb Kauderer, he co-hosts the Internet podcast Orthopedic Horseshoes. Formerly a National Science Foundation Scholar at SUNY Buffalo, and later a Security Research Analyst at the FTC, Al currently teaches Computer Security and Information Assurance at Hilbert College.

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Herb Kauderer is a retired Teamster who grew up to be an Associate Professor of English at Hilbert College in Hamburg, NY, and holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Goddard College. Along the way he wrote a super low-budget indie film that somehow opened opposite ‘Iron Man 3’ at the local arts cinema. He has sold about 25 short stories, 1000 poems, 9 poetry collections, and a lot of other stuff, much of it related to SF/F/H. He has not missed a Confluence in over twenty years.

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William H. Keith, the Confluence 2014 Guest of Honor, has published over 100 novels, mostly military SF and geopolitical thrillers, and has appeared on the New York Times bestseller list several times–unusual for the mil-SF ghetto. During his career, he’s written thrillers with Stephen Coonts, a spy novel with a real DoD spy, and an SF comedy with B-5’s Peter Jurassik. He is perhaps best known for his extremely alien aliens, though recent works have focused more on the technological singularity, mega-engineering, and the remote future. He lives in the woods of western Pennsylvania with his editor wife and numerous non-human sophonts.

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Brian Koscienski developed his love of writing from countless hours of reading comic books, losing himself in the different worlds and adventures within the colorful pages. He had minor successes early in his career by getting a few short stories published in independent ’zines, but found more success in partnering with Chris Pisano. As a writing team, they have had stories, articles, graphic novels, and poetry published, as well as two novels, The Shattered Visage Lies by Post Mortem Press and The Devil’s Grasp by Sunbury Press.

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Jamie Lackey lives in Pittsburgh with her husband and their cat. She has over 100 short fiction credits, and has appeared in Daily Science Fiction, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, and the Stoker Award-winning After Death…. Her fiction has appeared on the Best Horror of the Year Honorable Mention and Tangent Online Recommended Reading Lists, and she’s a member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. She is the editor of Triangulation: Lost Voices, and her short story collection, One Revolution, is available on Amazon.com. In addition to writing, she spends her time reading, playing tabletop RPGs, baking, and hiking.

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Geoffrey A. Landis is a writer and a scientist. He has won the Hugo and Nebula awards for best science fiction, and was recently named the recipient of the 2014 Robert A. Heinlein Award “bestowed for outstanding published works in science fiction and technical writings that inspire the human exploration of space.” He is also the author of the novel Mars Crossing and the story collection Impact Parameter (and Other Quantum Realities). Outside of science fiction, Dr. Landis is a scientist at the NASA John Glenn Research Center, where he works on advanced technology for future space missions. He is a member of the science team for the Mars Exploration Rovers, and a fellow of the NASA Institute of Advanced Concepts. More can be found on his website, http://www.geoffreylandis.com.

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Mary Soon Lee was born and raised in London, but now lives in Pittsburgh. “Crowned,” the first book in her epic fantasy in verse, has just been published by Dark Renaissance Books. The opening poem, “Interregnum,” won the 2014 Rhysling Award for best long poem and may be read at http://www.thesignofthedragon.com.

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Sean Lenhart is a co-writer, director, and actor for the SUPER SMASH OPERA. He has contributed to VStheUNIVERSE with several articles as well as appearing in the online musical CODE MONKEY, A JONATHAN COULTON MUSICAL. Sean, a graduate of Point Park University’s Conservatory Of Performing Arts, is an actor, singer, audiobook narrator, drummer, bad cook, GunPla builder, typically bearded, time traveling, ginger, evil mastermind… with cats… named Captain Malcolm Tiberius Fitzbattleaxe Reynolds and The Dread Pirate Ophelia.

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Barton Paul Levenson has a degree in physics. Happily married to poet Elizabeth Penrose, he confuses everybody by being both a born-again Christian and a liberal Democrat. His work has appeared in Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Fantasy Magazine, ChiZine, Cricket, Cicada, the New York Review of Science Fiction, and many small press markets. His novel The Celibate Succubus is available from Barking Rain Press, and can also be purchased through amazon.com or BN.com. Barton was banned from entering the Confluence Short Story Contest again after winning first prize two years in a row.

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Timothy Liebe is the husband of and Site Administrator for popular YA fantasy novelist Tamora Pierce, as well as her co-author on Marvel Comics’ White Tiger miniseries. As an actor, he appeared in original audio productions for NPR and the Pacifica Network; in audio dramatizations of Robert Heinlein’s The Star Beast, Shannon Hale’s Enna Burning, Geraldine McCaughrean’s myth retellings of Odysseus, Theseus, and Hercules, and in Tamora Pierce’s Circle of Magic series, The Will of the Empress, and “original audio novel” Melting Stones; as well as in cult classic movies Shock! Shock! Shock! and Attack of the Killer Tomatoes. As an independent video/filmmaker, he has helped directed and produce numerous independent projects. He is still helping to co-write The Tortall Companion Guide.

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Brea Ludwigson, a recovering technical writer/editor and intermittent poet, is an unabashed fan of the Oxford comma and inveterate critic of the greengrocers’ apostrophe. Her main contribution to the science fiction world is keeping Bill Keith’s office and website running more-or-less smoothly.

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Gail Z. Martin writes for Orbit Books and Solaris Books. Her work includes The Ascendant Kingdoms Saga — Ice Forged, Reign of Ash and the brand-new War of Shadows; The Chronicles of The Necromancer series, The Fallen Kings Cycle series, plus urban fantasy series Deadly Curiosities, and the new steampunk series Iron and Blood: A Jake Desmet Adventure which is set in an alternative history Pittsburgh, plus two ebook series of monthly short stories.

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Jared Mason began working at Schell Games in 2007 creating story driven games for the Nintendo DS. Soon, he was working on virtual worlds for Disney including Disney Fairies Online and Pirates of the Caribbean Online. Jared also lead the design on The Mummy Online before moving to Mechatars, a game that bridged the gap between physical toys and an online play space. Currently, Jared is the Narrative Lead at Schell Games for Lexica, a game that encourages the love of reading in students by creating a world where book characters come to life.

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Not to be confused with the comics writer Heidi MacDonald, because it happens all the damned time and is annoying even though there is great respect for the other Heidi, THIS Heidi McDonald, Mc not Mac, is the video game one. Heidi McDonald is a game designer and writer at Schell Games in Pittsburgh, PA. Winner of the Women in Gaming Rising Star Award in 2013, McDonald is the co-chair of the Romance and Sexuality in Games Special Interest Group (SIG) for the International Game Developers’ Association and has lectured internationally and been academically published with her independent research work on the topic of romance in single-player roleplaying video games. She likes pina coladas and getting caught in the rain, and is an unrepentant fangirl of BioWare’s Dragon Age series.

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Author and graphic artist Mike McPhail is member of the Military Writers Society of America; he is dedicated to helping his fellow service members (and those deserving civilians) in their efforts to become authors, as well as supporting related organization in their efforts to help those “who have given their all for us.” He is best known as the editor and illustrator of the award-winning Defending The Future series of military science fiction anthologies. www.defendingthefuture.com In 2015 he added the title of small-press publisher, as the co-owner of eSpec Books LLC (www.especbooks.com).

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Award-winning author Christie Meierz writes space opera and science fiction romance set in an empathic civilization on the edge of a dystopic Earth empire. Her published works include her PRISM award-winning debut novel, The Marann, and her most recent book, The Fall, which was released in March 2015. Christie now lives in Pittsburgh with her mathematician husband and an assortment of stuffies. When she’s not writing, she writes about writing on her blog, Meierz Musings, and Facebook, where she welcomes comments and friend requests. Find out more at christiemeierz.com.

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Tom Mitchell is the Fredkin Professor of Computer Science and Machine Learning at Carnegie Mellon University, and is the founding Director of the Machine Learning Department there. Some of his research involves getting computers to learn by mining the internet over years. He also uses machine learning techniques to study the way the human brain represents the meaning of words.

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James K. Moran’s fiction and poetry have appeared in various Canadian, American and British publications, including Glitterwolf: Halloween, Icarus, On Spec: The Canadian Magazine of the Fantastic, Postscripts to Darkness 3, The Fourth Science Fiction Megapack and The Rolling Darkness Revue. A longtime Daily Xtra contributor, Moran’s articles have also appeared via CBC Radio and Rue Morgue. He blogs at jameskmoran.blogspot.ca. Moran lives in Ottawa, Canada. Town & Train, published by Lethe Press in November 2014, is his debut horror novel.

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Charles Oberndorf is the author of three science fiction novels and five shorter works. A recent story, “Another Life,” was chosen for Best SF #15, edited by David Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer. He is currently at work on two thematic sequels to that story as well as stories set in the Hundred Worlds milieu of “Oracle” and “Writers of the Future.” Charlie is also working on a biographical novel about Abe Osheroff, a carpenter who fought in the Spanish Civil War, built a community center in Mississippi during Freedom Summer and housing for a farm cooperative in a contra-infested region of Nicaragua in 1985. Charlie lives with his wife. He teaches English at University School in Cleveland, Ohio. He is the recipient of an Ohio Arts Council Grant and of a major fellowship from the Community Partnership for Arts and Culture. A video put out by CPAC featuring Charlie can be found here: http://www.vimeo.com/21115821.

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Joshua Palmatier is a fantasy author with a PhD in mathematics. His most recent novel is SHATTERING THE LEY, the start of a new series. He has previously published the Throne of Amenkor series and the Well of Sorrows series, along with numerous short stories. In addition, he co-edits SF&F themed anthologies with Patricia Bray and is the founder of the small press Zombies Need Brains LLC. Find more about him at www.joshuapalmatier.com and about the small press at www.zombiesneedbrains.com.

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Tamora Pierce has published 28 novels and a short story collection in many languages, in addition to co-writing White Tiger: a Hero’s Compulsion for Marvel Comics together with her husband, Timothy Liebe, and an episode of Legends of Red Sonja together with Gail Simone, Nancy Collins, and others for Dynamite Comics. Last year she received the Margaret A. Edwards Award for Lifetime Achievement. She and Tim live in Syracuse, NY, with a population of rescued cats, indoors and out, and two very suspicious parakeets. These days she is working on The Gift of Power and The Exile’s Gift, the tale of a gawky wizard’s coming-of-age set in her Tortall universe. For more information, visit www.tamorapierce.com.

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KT Pinto writes alternate history with vampyres, suburban fantasy with mutants, YA fiction with mutants, and erotica with everything. She writes short stories in almost every genre, and blogs about movies, books, vaping juices, adult toys, conventions, and food. For more information, go to ktpinto.com.

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Christopher J. Pisano was discouraged from reading H. P. Lovecraft by his 10th grade English teacher. Being naturally disobedient, Chris has been a fan of Lovecraft and all Gothic written things ever since. As a writer, he had a few successes with poetry before teaming up with Brian Koscienski and forming Fortress Publishing Inc. The newest Fortress release, TV Gods, an anthology that pulls mythological entities into our favorite TV shows, was released in May 2014. The Devil’s Grasp, a fantasy novel by Christopher J Pisano and Brian Koscienski, is slated to be published in September by Sunbury Press.

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Liz Rishel is a founding member of SUPER SMASH OPERA, and enjoys singing repertoire for coloratura soprano, holds a Bachelors of Science of Music Education, and has an undying passion for modern, accessible opera. Her favorite roles include “The Queen of the Night” (The Magic Flute), “Yum-Yum” (The Mikado), “Mabel” (The Pirates of Penzance), and “Frasquita” (Carmen). She has participated in several student and independent film projects as actor and crew, often as a costumer, and has designed costumes for Opera Theater of Pittsburgh, and Resonance Works. Liz also sews and designs Neo-Victorian clothing and costumes. She is a vocal instructor at Johnstonbaugh’s Music Center in Gibsonia, PA. Liz and her writing partner, Bonnie Bogovich, are most notably known for their 2010 collaboration in their original opera, “Evenings in Quarantine: The Zombie Opera,” which the duo wrote, composed, produced, and performed out of love of the art.

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Marjorie Rishel is attending Confluence as one of the writers and puppet-makers for Super Smash Opera. In some lonely circles on the internet, she is known as Lepus-Marj, the founder of Lepus Studios, and the author of the popular(?) webcomics Draconis Wicked (a fantasy graphic novel) and Urban Underbrush (a humor comic). Marjorie enjoys Nintendo games, alternative comics, animation, Photoshop, and toy making. By day, she often teaches art and tech at unsuspecting schools. You can find her work at www.lepusstudios.com.

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Wanted by the government, I survive as a writer of fortune. If you have a problem, if no one else can help, & if you can find me, maybe you can hire… James Daniel Ross! CUE THEME! Uh… Cue theme? Hallo?
Ok, we ran out of money for themes. Still, if you like Military Sci Fi, you can read The Radiation Angels: The Chimerium Gambit or The Key to Damocles. If fantasy is more your speed, there is The Legacy of Fox Crow: I Know Not (sequel coming soon!), The Last Dragoon (audiobook available!), or The Whispers of Dragons: Salient Dreams (sequel coming soon! audiobook available!), as well as many, many short stories sold in various anthologies available on Amazon and at fine retailers. If you don’t see something you like to read, let the Author Know! He will get to it ASAP.

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Joan Slonczewski researches bacteria in extreme environments and writes award-winning SF about biology, including the Mitochondrial Singularity–the concept that we are becoming the “mitochondria” of our own machines. In The Highest Frontier (Tor Books, 2011; Campbell Award) a Kennedy daughter goes to college at an orbital space habitat protected from alien invasion by Homeworld Security. Slonczewski’s earlier Campbell-award winning classic, A Door into Ocean (Tor Books, 1986) creates a world covered entirely by ocean, inhabited by an all-female race of humans who use genetic engineering to defend their unique ecosystem. Brain Plague (Tor Books, 2000; Arc Manor, 2009) shows intelligent alien microbes that enhance human brain power–at a price. The genesis of these unique addictive microbes is depicted in The Children Star (Tor Books, 1998; Arc Manor, 2009). Slonczewski teaches biology at Kenyon College, including the notorious course “Biology in Science Fiction.”

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Bud Sparhawk has published one mass market paperback novel: VIXEN (Cosmos, ISBN 978-08439-5945-1, 2008) and two print collections: SAM BOONE: FRONT TO BACK (Foxacre Press, 2001) and DANCING WITH DRAGONS (Wildside Press, 2008). He has three e-Novels available through Amazon and other channels. His novel DISTANT SEAS is available from Amazon and other booksellers as trade paperback and eBook. Bud has been a three-time novella finalist for the Nebula award. His work has appeared in two Year’s Best anthologies: YEAR’S BEST SF #11 (David Hartwell, editor) and The Years Best Science Fiction, Fourteenth Annual Collection (Garner Dozois, editor). Bud’s stories appear frequently in Analog Fact/Fiction, Asimov’s, as well as in four Defending the Future and other anthologies, publications and audio books. A complete complete bibliography can be found at: http://budsparhawk.com. He resides in Annapolis and writes a weekly blog on the pain of writing at budsparhawk.blogspot.com.

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Andrew Swann is the pen name of Steven Swiniarski. He’s married and lives in the Greater Cleveland area where he has lived all of his adult life. He has a background in mechanical engineering and— besides writing— works as a Database Manager for one of the largest private child services agencies in the Cleveland area. He has published over 20 novels since 1993. Currently he is working on the Dragon* series for DAW books; Dragon•Princess (May 2014), Dragon•Thief (April 2015) and Dragon•Wizard (due May 2016).

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Thomas Sweterlitsch is the author of the novel Tomorrow and Tomorrow, and the forthcoming novel Libra, both from Putnam Books. He lives in Pittsburgh with his wife and daughter.

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John Alfred Taylor: 82 year-old Professor Emeritus. Latest publications: “The Steeple People” in Bloodlite III and “Chromotophores” in Asimov’s. Just sold two horror shorts to Demonic Visions.

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Mary Turzillo: My Nebula-winner, “Mars Is no Place for Children,” and my Analog novel An Old-Fashioned Martian Girl are recommended reading on the International Space Station. I have been a finalist on the British SFA, Pushcart, Stoker, Dwarf Stars and Rhysling ballots. My forthcoming book, Sweet Poison, a collaboration with Marge Simon, just came out from Dark Renaissance. My poetry collection Lovers & Killers won the 2013 Elgin Award for Best Collection. I’m working on a novel called A Mars Cat and his Boy. I live in Berea, Ohio, with my scientist-writer husband, Geoffrey A. Landis.

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Denise Verrico is a New Jersey native who grew up in Western Pennsylvania. She’s the author of the Immortyl Revolution urban fantasy series published by Crazy Duck Press. Denise is a roller coaster fanatic and currently resides in Ohio with her husband, son, and flock of spoiled parrots.

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Albert Wendland writes science fiction and teaches at Seton Hill University in the Master of Fine Arts in Writing Popular Fiction, which promotes genre fiction exclusively (SF, fantasy, horror, mystery, romance, YA). His SF novel, The Man Who Loved Alien Landscapes, was published by Dog Star Books, and he’s currently working on a prequel. He’s published a study of science fiction, several articles on SF, and a chapter in the writing anthology Many Genres, One Craft. He’s interested in astronomy, geology, film, graphic novels, landscape photography, and “the sublime.”

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Cheryle Williams, freelancer from Bethel Park Pa, Desert Breeze author of YA fiction Stairway to Heaven (angel paranormal) and Strangers in the Province of Joy (YA contemporary), will be on the Fantasy Languages Panel. Come visit her table in the dealer’s room. She also moderates the Desert Breeze Publishing Group on Goodreads and is a member of Three Rivers Romance Writers and Pennwriters.

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K. Ceres Wright is the author of the cyberpunk book, Cog. Her short stories, articles, and poetry have appeared in Hazard Yet Forward; Genesis: An Anthology of Black Science Fiction; Many Genres, One Craft; 2008 Rhysling Anthology; Diner Stories: Off the Menu; and Far Worlds. Contact her on Twitter: @KCeresWright.

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Jeff Young is a bookseller first and a writer second – although he wouldn’t mind a reversal of fortune.

He received a Writers of the Future award for “Written in Light,” which appears in the 26th L.Ron Hubbard’s Writers of the Future Anthology. He’s been published in: Realms, Neuronet, Trail of Indiscretion, Cemetery Moon, The Realm Beyond, eSteampunk, and Carbon14. Jeff has contributed to the anthologies By Any Means, Best Laid Plans, In an Iron Cage: The Magic of Steampunk, Fantastic Futures 13, Clockwork Chaos, and the upcoming anthology The Society for the Preservation of C.J. Henderson. He is the editor for the Drunken Comic Book Monkey line for Fortress Publishing as well as the anthology TV Gods. He has led the Watch the Skies SF&F Discussion Group of Camp Hill and Harrisburg for fourteen years.

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Program topics 2015

General

Welcome to Confluence

Confluence for Introverts

The Role of the Doctor’s Companion

Disability in SF and Fantasy

Demonstration of historical sword fighting

Poetry workshop

Vogon Poetry

NOT Vogon Poetry: the GOOD stuff

Late night ghost story

What it takes to make an indie film

How do evil societies function?

Once more, with laughter: writing musical parody

Audioscapes for created worlds

Writing narrative for video games

Tour the Art Show!

Geek parenting

SF

Henry Kuttner and C L Moore

Theodore Sturgeon

Big ideas: Philosophical SF

How can SF stay ahead of reality?

Not just Anglos: How would a multicultural solar system be different?

Terraforming (presentation by Geoff Landis)

Water, Water Everywhere: Ocean Planets and Ice Planets in Science Fiction

Disasters, Crises, and Progress

Libraries in the Future

Out of Our Minds: Altered States of Consciousness in SF, Fantasy, and Horro

Fantasy

Magic for the 21st century

Remembering Terry Pratchett

Deep Places: What’s the attraction of caves, dungeons, and holes in the ground?

Building a Fantasy Culture from the Ground Up

Why don’t societies change in epic fantasy?

The Fairy Tale Reborn

A River Runs Through It: Geography and Fantasy Worlds

Arthurian influences in modern fantasy

Fantasy Linguistics

Gender in Fantasy: is there any structure left?

Does fantasy fiction need to acknowledge physics?

Horror

Manly Wade Wellman

Appalachian Horror

Women in Horror

Thinking during the Apocalypse (how do people and societies handle disaster?)

Weird Pittsburgh

HP Lovecraft at 125

How to Scare Your Reader

Where have all the ghost stories gone?

Science

Antarctica (presentation by GoH Joan Slonczewski)

The Internet of Things – what if your house turns against you?

Supercomputing in the Life Sciences (presentation by Ken Chiacchia)

Evolution and viruses

What comes after humanity?

The Year in Science

Robotics

Practical Space Colonization

Sightseeing in the Solar System

Mars: What Happened to the Canals?

Writing

Seven things an SF/fantasy novel always includes

Work-life balance for freelance writers and editors

Agents: To Have, or Have Not?

Anthologies for World Domination

How to write a great review

Creating conflict

“It came from the slushpile” – editors talk about cover letters and writing samples: what works and what doesn’t

Writing what you don’t know: the art of research, and of not saying too much

The Art of the Short Story

The Manuscript in the Doorstep: successful relationships between writers and editors