Guests of Honor

Author Guest of Honor

Cory Doctorow (craphound.com) is a science fiction author, activist, and journalist. His latest book is THE LOST CAUSE, a solarpunk science fiction novel of hope amidst the climate emergency.

His most recent nonfiction book is THE INTERNET CON: HOW TO SEIZE THE MEANS OF COMPUTATION, a Big Tech disassembly manual. Last April, he published RED TEAM BLUES, a technothriller about finance crime. He is the author of the international young adult LITTLE BROTHER series. He is also the author of CHOKEPOINT CAPITALISM (with Rebecca Giblin), about creative labor markets and monopoly; HOW TO DESTROY SURVEILLANCE CAPITALISM, nonfiction about conspiracies and monopolies; and of RADICALIZED and WALKAWAY, science fiction for adults, a YA graphic novel called IN REAL LIFE; and other young adult novels like PIRATE CINEMA. His first picture book was POESY THE MONSTER SLAYER (Aug 2020). His next novel is THE BEZZLE (February 2024).

He maintains a daily blog at Pluralistic.net. He works for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, is a MIT Media Lab Research Affiliate, is a Visiting Professor of Computer Science at Open University, a Visiting Professor of Practice at the University of North Carolina’s School of Library and Information Science and co-founded the UK Open Rights Group. Born in Toronto, Canada, he now lives in Los Angeles. In 2020, he was inducted into the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame. In 2022, he earned the Sir Arthur Clarke Imagination in Service to Society Awardee for lifetime achievement. York University (Canada) made him an Honourary Doctor of Laws; and the Open University (UK) made him an Honourary Doctor of Computer Science.

Artist Guest of Honor

Sarah’s early love of science fiction and fantasy art came even before she could read, from looking at the covers of science fiction magazines. She has been attending science fiction conventions since the late seventies. The artwork she most enjoys creating are those connected with the fantastic and she is gratified at the response of con-goers to her award-winning paintings of Magnus & Loki, the cat and dragon companions, which have been the most fun of all her fantastic creations.

After a twenty year career as a medical illustrator, she feels herself truly lucky to be able to be a full time fantasy artist. “It’s a complete reversal,” she says, “from painting what other people want to creating my own work the way I want.”

Sarah is a graduate of Florida Atlantic University, with a degree in Art History and Fine Arts.

Sarah works in a photo-real style in oils and acrylics.  She has exhibited and won national awards at the Seattle Erotic Art Festival and her erotic paintings are published in Volumes 2 and 3 of The World’s Greatest Erotic Art of Today. Growing up in a darkroom contributes to her love of photography.

She has also sold short stories to Ellen Datlow anthologies and Asimov’s Magazine.

Sarah and her husband and cats and terrariums and carnivorous plants live in Mesa, Arizona.

Filk Guests of Honor

Heather Dale and Ben Deschamps are 21st century troubadours, filkers, unabashed SFF fans, and professional musicians who’ve toured all over the world sharing their original music. Their music explores world legends, Fae tales, space exploration and King Arthur’s Camelot. Often compared to Loreena McKennitt and Sarah McLachlan, Heather’s rich vocals are paired with more than a dozen folk instruments. Check out her TEDx Talk about the importance of “finding your tribe” at HeatherDale.com/video. Heather & Ben have won 6 Pegasus awards, and released 18 studio albums, 5 live albums, 3 songbooks, and the full-length musical film “Queens of Avalon”. Their latest recording project is called “Incantations”, a trio of ambient albums that pair wordless vocals with Medieval melodies. They’re delighted to be part of this year’s TusCon, meeting new folks and catching up with far-flung friends!

Toastmaster

Emmy Award-winning television host and producer Geoff Notkin starred in three seasons of the cult television adventure series Meteorite Men for Science Channel and two seasons of the educational series STEM Journals for Cox Media. He has also appeared in shows for Discovery, NASA EDGE, TLC, PBS, A&E, National Geographic Channel, History Channel, Travel Channel, and the BBC. He is a science writer, meteorite specialist, photographer, world traveler, and CEO of Aerolite Meteorites Inc, a leader in meteorite research and recovery.

Poet Laureate
Linda D. Addison, five-time recipient of HWA Bram Stoker Award®, including The Place of Broken Things written with Alessandro Manzetti, & How To Recognize A Demon Has Become Your Friend, recipient of HWA Lifetime Achievement Award, HWA Mentor of the Year and SFPA Grand Master of Fantastic Poetry. 

https://lindaaddisonwriter.com/