ArmadilloCon

Guests

Guest of Honor: Paolo Bacigalupi

Paolo Bacigalupi’s writing has appeared in High Country News, Salon.com, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, and Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine. His short fiction been anthologized in various “Year’s Best” collections of short science fiction and fantasy, nominated for two Nebula Awards and four Hugo Awards, and won the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award for best sf short story of the year. His debut novel, The Windup Girl, was named by TIME Magazine as one of the ten best novels of 2009, and also won the Hugo, Nebula, Locus, Compton Crook, and John W. Campbell Memorial Awards. His short story collection Pump Six and Other Stories was a 2008 Locus Award winner for Best Collection and also named a Best Book of the Year by Publishers Weekly. His debut young adult novel, Ship Breaker, is a National Book Award Finalist. He currently lives in Western Colorado with his wife and son, where he is working on a new novel.

Artist Guest: Vincent Villafranca

Vincent Villafranca was born in Monterey, California. As a child, he developed an extremely vivid imagination through reading, television and the large amount of visual information that came his way via his older siblings. Vincent’s fascination with the world of creativity really came into being when he was introduced to the craft of metal-casting. He had always been an obsessive “maker-of-things” and the medium of bronze seemed to be an effective way to preserve images. Vincent first exhibited his bronzes at ArmadilloCon in 2004 and has since exhibited his work at IlluXCon, WorldCon, World Fantasy and numerous Texas conventions. In 2008, 2009 and 2010 Vincent was presented with the Chesley Award for Best 3-D. In 2011, one of Vincent's sculptures was accepted by the Norman Rockwell Museum for inclusion in their exhibit entitled "Robot Nation."

Editor Guest: Lou Anders

A 2011/2010/2009/2008/2007 Hugo Award nominee, 2010 Locus Award Nominee, a 2010 Shirley Jackson Award nominee, 2008 Philip K. Dick Award nominee, 2011/2010/2009/2007 Chesley Award nominee/nominee/winner/nominee, and 2006 World Fantasy Award nominee, Lou Anders is the editorial director at Pyr Books, as well as the anthologies Swords & Dark Magic (Eos, 2010, with Jonathan Strahan), Masked (Gallery Books, 2010), Fast Forward 2 (Pyr, October 2008), Sideways in Crime (Solaris, June 2008), Fast Forward 1(Pyr, February 2007), FutureShocks (Roc, January 2006), Projections: Science Fiction in Literature & Film (MonkeyBrain, December 2004), Live Without a Net (Roc, 2003), and Outside the Box (Wildside Press, 2001). He is the author of The Making of Star Trek: First Contact (Titan Books, 1996), and has published over 500 articles in such magazines as The Believer, Publishers Weekly, Dreamwatch, DeathRay, free inquiry, Star Trek Monthly, Star Wars Monthly, Babylon 5 Magazine, Sci Fi Universe, Doctor Who Magazine, and Manga Max. His articles and stories have been translated into Danish, Greek, German, Italian and French. Visit him online at www .louanders .com, on Facebook as “Lou Anders” and on Twitter at @LouAnders.

Fan Guest: Fred Duarte, Jr.

Fred Duarte, Jr. has been active in Texas Fandom since the mid-80s. He’s chaired or co-chaired two World Fantasy Conventions, a WesterCon, and four ArmadilloCons. He’s written for fanzines including The Texas SF Inquirer and Pirate Jenny, and he also edited The FACT Sheet, a monthly Central Texas clubzine. Outside of fandom, Fred’s interests include baseball, movies, and his son Matthew, now a college sophomore.

Toastmaster: Mark Finn

Mark Finn is an award-winning author, playwright, actor, and essayist with over twenty five years' experience in the field of comics and popular culture. His most recent book, Blood & Thunder: The Life and Art of Robert E. Howard, was nominated for a Locus Readers' award and a World Fantasy award. He has written articles, essays, short stories, and reviews for such publishers as Dark Horse Comics, Boom! Comics, Wildside Press, Monkeybrain Books, RevolutionSF.com, The University of Texas Press, the Robert E. Howard Foundation, Ape Entertainment, Wind-Mill Productions, and others. He currently owns and lives above a vintage movie theater in a small North Texas town, where he eagerly displays his various collectibles in the lobby for the edification of his regular customers.

Special Guests Emma Bull & Will Shetterly

Emma Bull's first novel, War for the Oaks, is often mentioned as one of the books that founded the category of Urban Fantasy. She then went on to write space opera (Falcon), post-Apocalyptic near-future science fantasy (Bone Dance), a Bordertown novel (Finder), a historical fantasy (Freedom and Necessity, with Steven Brust), and a secret history fantasy (Territory, which is also the only book she's written that's getting a sequel, Claim.) For godsake, woman, pick one! But no, she's currently "executive producer" (think "editor") and staff writer for Shadow Unit (www.shadowunit.org), the best contemporary SF television show that isn't on television. She lives in Tucson, Arizona, with her husband, Will Shetterly, and two large cats.

Will Shetterly lives in Tucson, Arizona, with his wife, Emma Bull and their cats, Toby the Terror of the West and Barncat, aka Barnaby, Barnabas, and Stopthat. He writes novels, short stories, comic books, and screen plays.

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