ODYSSEY
CON IV - PANELIST BIOGRAPHIES
(The
listing of panel times is as of the date of printing. Please refer to program chart or posted
updates for any possible changes. Code
explanation. Example: ‘T-1 6:00PM Fri.’
stands for ‘Program Track Number One 6:00PM Friday.’
Lorece (Lory) Aitken has been the Boss Lady of Pegasus Games
in Madison for over 20 years, because she has refused to decide what she wants
to be when she grows up (if ever). Lory
is running Gaming Programming.
The Barista Liberation Army: is the ‘nom de guerre’
of Odyssey Con’s resident acting company and will perform The Moo-trix:
Re-milked at the opening cerimonies.
The Barista Liberations Army’s watchwords are: ‘caffeine is the price of
eternal vigilance!’ The Baristas
formerly went under the name of The Not Ready for the Concourse Players,
and then when the convention was at The Concourse Hotel, it became (of course) The
Ready for the Concourse Players.
Last year, turning to butchering (I mean performing) of classical
theater it became The Radisson Shakespeare Company. Due to threats of lawsuit by the hotel chain
for defamation of character, it took on its current revolutionary title. Remember: Life, liberty, and pursuit of
double lattes! T1-7:30PM Fri.
Tracy Benton has been a science fiction fan,
apa-hack, conrunner, and fanzine editor since 1984, and a trouble maker longer
than that. T2-1:30PM Sat., T3-4:30PM
Sat.
F.J. Bergmann has an MFA from the School of the Americas, where she always got extra credit. She rides horses and needs a real job. Websites include madpoetry.org and her own site, fibitz.com. She aims toward Surrealism. Her poetry has been published and won stuff. Her hairstyle is deceptive. One of her pseudopodia can reach all the way from the bedroom to the refrigerator. T2-4:30PM Fri.
Ken Burnside is a technical writer and part time game
designer living in Madison, Wisconsin.
His game designs have been published by Columbia Games and Task
Force Games, and his current game design is Ad Astra Games. T3-3:00PM Sat.
Richard Chwedyk’s novella, "Bronte's Egg," won the
Nebula Award last year, was nominated for a Hugo and was the 2nd ru8nner up for
the Sturgeon Award. You can read it in its "definitive" version in
the Nebula Awards Showcase 2004, edited by Vonda N. McIntyre and
published by Roc Books. His short fiction has appeared in Amazing
Stories, Space and Time, F&SF and in the Twilight Tales anthology
Cthulhu and the Coeds, or Kids and Squids.
His poetry has most recently appeared in Strange Horizons, Snow
Monkey and in the chapbook anthology Tales From the Red Lion. Find out more than you could ever possibly
need to know at http://www.sfwa.org/members/chwedyk/. T3-10:30AM Sat., T1-1:30PM Sat., T3-3:00PM
Sat., T2-Noon Sun., T1-1:30PM Sun.
Mike Clark will be doing a presentation on bio diesel cars, focusing on his own bio-car. ConSuite 2-Noon Sat.
Dr. Lisa Freitag will be
representing DreamHaven Books in the Dealer's Room this year along with her
husband Greg Ketter. In real life, she
is known as Dr. Freitag, and gives kids shots for a living. Her son, William, who got his kindergarten
check-up (three shots) last year, is still appalled by this. T3-6:00PM Sat.
Joe Haldeman: (See
biography in this program book.)
T1-Noon Sat., T1-1:30PM Sat., T1-3:00PM Sat., T1-7:30PM Sat., T4-10:30AM
Sun., T4-Noon Sun., T1-1:30PM Sun., T4-3:00PM Sun. (Book signing Sat 4:30PM)
Tom
Havighurst is
really a hunchback named Bruno. He
often flashes back to his days when he was Dr. Tongue’s lackey, and can be
heard to mumble “rip and tear, Bruno, rip and tear!” in his sleep. Tom is the Convention Treasurer and the
Editor of this Program book.
Eric M. Heideman runs a public library in
Minneapolis. He has published critical writings on SF in the Minneapolis Star
Tribune & What do I Read Next?, & fiction in Writers of
the Future, Volume III, Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, & Year's
Best Mystery & Suspense Stories, 1988. Since 1986 he has edited the
small-press SF magazine, Tales of the Unanticipated for the Minnesota
Science Fiction Society; beginning with #24 in July 2003 it will be published
by Eric's new small press, TOTU Ink. He currently chairs the Twin Cities cons
Diversicon and Arcana, and is the founder of Krushenko's, a social space for SF
discussion that circulates through several Twin Cities cons. T4-9:00PM Fri., T4-4:30PM Sat., T4-6:00PM
Sat., T4-9:00PM Sat., T2-Noon Sun. and
host of Krushenkos.
Don
Helley:
Yer' Uncle Don was born on Mars about 6000 years ago, but his family emigrated
when he was only 120, to a fanish retreat in old Baghdad. He is a part time
filmmaker and culinary critic for the Beijing Gazette. In short, a big
lumpy-headed gafiated goofball, so watch out for this one! T1-7:30PM Fri., T4-4:30PM Sat.,
T2-10:30PM Sat., T3-1:30PM Sun. Uncle
Don is the Minister of Silly Walks for Odyssey Con.
Ivan Garczynski wrote the "Evacuation of Jatee," a roleplaying adventure that was published in West End Games' STAR WARS Supernova. In it he created the character Dr. Soron Hegerty, who has since been included in the Force Heretic trilogy of New Jedi Order novels. Mr. Garczynski is also a leading authority on STAR WARS astro-cartography. He discusses this and other topics for the extremely anal-retentive via BeenLtoth@aol.com. T2-Noon Sat.
Mike Jenkins earned his B.A. (in Philosophy) from Dartmouth College and his M.S. (in Educational Psychology) from UW-Madison; he currently works as a Curriculum Specialist. His interests include computers, video games, and pestering veterinarians interested in cars and video production. T4-1:30PM Sat.
Christopher Jones is a freelance illustrator and comic book
artist living in Robbinsdale, Minnesota. He has worked on Justice League
Adventures and other JLA titles for DC Comics, and is the artist on Dr.
Blink with John Kovalic. T2-3:00PM
Fri., T2-1:30PM Sat., T3-10:30PM Sat., T3-Noon Sun.
Melissa Kaercher is an editor, artist, film critic, and web minion for
Cthulhu-Coffee.com. She failed her
sanity check long ago, but she, thankfully, is not the gibbering type. She can be placated with good Scotch." T3-9:00PM Fri., T1-10:30AM Sat.,
T2-1:30PM Sat., T3-10:30PM Sat., T4-10:30AM Sun., T3-Noon Sun.
T1-4:30PM Fri., T3-9:00PM Fri., T4-10:30AM Sat., T4-Noon Sat., T2-10:30AM Sun., T1-1:30PM Sun.
Eric Larson: (See biography in this program book.) T1-10:30AM Sat., T2-Noon Sat., T2-1:30PM Sat., T1-4:30PM Sat., T1-7:30PM Sat., T2-1:30PM Sun., T3-3:00PM Sun.
Dale Mattheis served in the Submarine Service,
practiced medicine and psychiatry, raised kids, and established a wholesale
baking company before sitting down to write in 1994. The Alarai Chronicles,
a six volume series, resulted and the first volume, Exile to the Stars,
has just been published. His ambition is to live full-time in a great story and
maybe find a part in it. T1-4:30PM Fri.,
T4-Noon Sat., T1-3:00PM Sat., T2-10:30AM Sun., T3-Noon Sun., T3-1:30PM Sun.
Amalor Myrnnyx: Since the creation of RPG Sheets in 1998, Amalor has received numerous accolayes and awards for providing the gaming community a much needed and highly popular resource. Amalor has been a member of the Madison gaming scene for over 20 years. T2-10:30AM Sat., T2-1:30PM Sun.
DJ Bulut Nesim is back again to play his own mix of world and dance music for the fan dance. A native of Cyprus, Bulut will also do a presentation on Middle Eastern music and culure. T4-3:00PM Sat. DJ for Fan Dance 9:00PM Fri.
Ruth Nichols, (alias, Fluff) reader and poet. Lives
happily in Madison, Wisconsin, with Jimmy the Gnome, Mia the daughter, Alex the
Big Cheese, Hobbes the cat, and a brilliant toad called Froggy. Member of Turbo
Charged Party Animal APA since 1996.
T2-10:30AM Sat.
Bhim Nimgade is widely regarded as being
human. Height and weight (somewhat)
proportionate. Appreciates long moonlight
walks, as long as you go ahead already and let me stay asleep. Would enjoy being a cosmonaut, except for the
exposure to hard radiation in space and the training where they spin you around
till you throw up all over the place. At
present his computer is under a malign influence that prevents his printer and
his zip drive from working. Does not
raise earthworms as pets, but has plenty in compost pile in garden. Bhim Nimgade helps runs ops and the
writers’ workshop programming, and is an ‘all around nice guy.’™
Pat Pagel: My
mother was in show business and as a result every Sunday we would go to the
movies and watch double features or even see three movies that day. I still see
two or more movies each time I go to the theater. I probably see over 100
movies a year, some of them more than once like Return of the King. I
have over 1100 movies on video and DVD including an extensive collection of
serials that were popular in the '40s and '50s, and I'm addicted to Angel and
Buffy. T3-4:30PM
Fri., T2-4:30PM Sat., T3-10:30PM Sat.
Ray Norton has been a SF fan from the
age of about 6. It all started with "The Day The Earth Stood
Still". This was shown on TV, CBS Saturday Night At The Movies around 1957/58.
When I saw Gort, he reached out of the television set, grabbed me by my shirt
collar and for the next 45 years has never let go. In travels from the far- east to Europe, I
have followed Science Fiction in all forms and many languages. It has gone so far as to make me start 2
different conventions, place SI FI NUT on my car plates, start a web site and
generally make me read and watch everything in the SF world. With a few
like-minded people we are starting the Association for the Preservation of Science
Fiction Arts and Museum, Inc. This will collect and show science fiction in all
media. T-4 6:00PM Fri.
Gregory Rihn has been a lifelong lover of science fiction
and an active fan and gamer for over twenty-five years. He has been a zine
writer and editor, convention organizer, and a panelist at more than fifty
conventions nationwide. T1-4:30PM
Fri., T3-Noon Sat., T2-4:30PM Sat., T4-6:00PM Sat., T4-10:30AM Sun., T2-1:30PM
Sun.
Richard S. Russell is a long-time Madison fan who has helped
put on every one of the soon-to-be 28 WisCons and has also attended most of the
Worldcons since Big MAC in 1976. He feels equally at home among literary,
media, and gaming subfandoms. He tries to see every science fiction and fantasy
movie that hits town and largely succeeds.
T1-1:30PM, T3-3:00PM Fri., T2-4:30PM Fri., T3-10:30PM Fri.,
T4-9:00AM Sat., T3-10:30AM Sat., T3-Noon Sat., T3-9:00PM Sat., T2-Noon Sun.,
James P. Roberts is the author of ten books ranging from science fiction
and fantasy to poetry, literary non-fiction and baseball history. His most recent book is a poetry collection, Spirit
Fire, published by Hawk & Whippoorwill Press in February 2003. T4-1:30PM Sun.
T3-10:30AM
Sat., T3-1:30PM Sun. Georgie is official
in-house artist for Odyssey Con
Dr. Ann-Marie 'Kittka' Schmid is a veterinarian and a certified auto
mechanic. She has worked in local television productions as well as for Sony
Studios. She enjoys stunt and precision driving as a hobby and is building a
working replica of the car from Knight Rider.
T4-1:30PM Sat., T3-6:00PM Sat.
Luke Collis Sienkowski (The Great LukeSki) "the great Luke Ski" is a writer/performer of parody music about sci-fi, fandom, and pop-culture. He holds the #1 spot on The Dr. Demento Show’s Funny 25 of 2002 Countdown with his Spider-Man tribute song, "Peter Parker", from his latest CD “Uber Geek”. Be sure to catch his live show! T3-4:30PM Fri., T1-9:00PM Fri., T2-Noon Sat., T1-9:00PM Sat., T3-10:30PM Sat., T2-1:30PM Sun. He will be also selling copies of his CDs and artwork at scheduled times at the registration desk.
Jay Simon: birds fly across snow
flock into tales and epics
he is J. Simon
T2-4:30PM
Fri., T4-Noon Sat., T3-3:00PM Sun.
Jerome
Van Epps: Mostly harmless. T1-7:30PM Fri., T3-Noon Sat., T2-1:30PM
Sat., T4-3:00PM Sat., T3-3:00PM Sun.
Jerome is Convention Chair (still).
Joan D. Vinge: Joan D. Vinge, called “one of the most impressive practitioners in the genre” by Science Fiction Chronicle, has been a science fiction bestseller for more than 20 years. Her compelling characters and sweeping visions of humanity have won her multiple Hugo awards. She is the author of the Snow Queen cycle, Catspaw and most recently Tangled Up In Blue. She lives in Madison, Wisconsin. T2-3:00PM Fri.
John F. Wardale has been attending SF CONs since 1993 and
teaching panels since 1995. He is a
computer professional, was as an organizer for E.L.V.I.S. (The Emergency Link
to Vital Internet Services) [1994-1999] John has done these 2 panels for
General and/or Children’s Programming at several CONs over the years (and, Yes,
this IS a standing offer to repeat them as desired). Renaissance/Fancy/Exotic hair braids,
tailored the needs of the audience, similar to the stuff done at the RenFest,
and Balloon Animal Sculpting - (dogs, cats, elephants giraffes, parrots,
bunnies, turtles, ninja turtles, dragons, The Starship Enterprise, etc. Besides that above, and computers, John can
also speak on photography, Libertarianism, Beer, Wine, and especially Scotch
Whiskey. T3-10:30AM Sat.,
T4-Noon Sat., ConSuite 2-1:30PM Sat., ConSuite 2-3:00PM Sat., T3-4:30PM Sat.,
T4-10:30AM Sun., T2-1:30PM Sun., T1-3:00PM Sun.
David
Weber: (See biography in this
program book.) T1-3:00PM Fri.,
T1-4:30PM Fri., T1-Noon Sat., T3-3:00PM Sat., T1-7:30PM Sat., T1-Noon Sun.,
T2-3:00PM Sun. (Book signing Sat 4:30PM)
Paul
Wiesner came to Madison in 1992 and graduated from the UW in 1996. A former
volunteer for Precedence games(Babylon 5 ccg) and Score
Entertainment(Buffy ccg), Paul is taking a more active role in fandom. He has a
Yahoo group for gamers, geeks, and dorks. Please visit the website http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MadisonDorks/ and
check it out." T3-4:30PM Fri.,
T2-4:30PM Sat., T3-10:30PM Sat., T3-3:00PM Sun.