Generated: Tue Jan 4 11:53:00 2022
Vivian Abraham (any pronouns are fine) is a game designer, professional editor, attorney, and community organizer. They are the convention chair for Arisia 2022.
Wendee Abramo is a life long dabbler. In 2008 she discovered belly dance and finally found her favorite thing to geek out about. As half of Ki-Ra Luna, she's performed at Arisia as an ewok, an evil clown, a chicken, and a Ghostbuster. She can also be found dancing at local faires and festivals, teaching FatChanceBellyDance® Style dance, and ranting about cat cafes. She lives, and occasionally podcasts, in Brighton with her husband and their dog. Also, there is a cat. facebook.com/KiRaLunaDance
E. C. Ambrose wrote the Dark Apostle historical fantasy novels about medieval surgery, and forthcoming DRAKEMASTER, set in Mongol-era China. As Elaine Isaak, she wrote The Singer's Legacy series, and as E. Chris Ambrose, she writes the Bone Guard archaeological thrillers. In her research, she learned to hunt with a falcon, clear a building of intruders, pull traction, and steer a pirate ship. The author is a graduate of and instructor for the Odyssey Writing workshop. She also makes wearable art clothing.
Joseph Andelman—Boston-based social organizer and collaborator of events for Science Fiction, Fantasy and Anime fans. These have ranged from dinners and movie viewings to anime marathons and bar crawls. However, his longest running effort has been managing a local Manga Club since 2013 that is still going strong! Officially Digital since the year 2020!
Boston Armizare is a HEMA (Historical European Martial Arts) group researching and practicing Medieval and Renaissance fencing and combat according to the teachings of Fiore de'i Liberi and other Italian masters. Our students are dedicated to the rigorous study and effective practice of Armizare, "The Art of Bearing Arms”, an integrated system of longsword, dagger, grappling, spear and polaxe laid down by 14th century Italian sword master, mercenary and knight Fiore dei Liberi, in his manuscript "the Flower of Battle". We emphasize the martial efficacy and historical accuracy of our techniques and test our interpretations with speed and intent.
Athena School of Arms is a Boston-based Modern School of Historical Fencing and Martial Arts. We have two primary programs: the Longsword tradition of Johannes Lichtenauer, and a rotating schedule of Rapier, Broadsword, Sabre, Smallsword, Dagger, Sword & Buckler, and Grappling arts. Training includes free play, drills, test cutting, and physical fitness; together, these elements help students to understand and recreate combat on the battlefield, the list, and in personal defense. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=va1DqbaVetM
Julia Austein—Artist, teacher and Co-director of the Arisia Artshow. Also a long-time Arisia attendee.
Jacqui B.—I run the editing business Literary Sidekick. I'm a member of Editorial Freelancers Association and a graduate of Emerson College’s Writing, Literature, and Publishing program. My superpowers are storytelling and editing. My fandoms are many: Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, Star Trek, Star Wars, Kamala Khan/Ms. Marvel, Storm/X-Men, Graceling, The Parasol Protectorate, Moon Girl & Devil Dinosaur, Bitch Planet, and the list goes on.
Michael C. Bailey is a professional writer from Worcester, Massachusetts who kind of hates writing bios. After 15 years in journalism, Michael left to focus on his creative writing career. He is the author of two ongoing series, "Action Figures" and "The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot," and the urban fantasy trilogy "Well-Behaved Women." In his spare time Michael is a regular performer and stage combat director with the Connecticut Renaissance Faire.
Jess Barber lives in Cambridge, MA, where she spends her days (and sometimes nights) building open-source electronics. She is a graduate of the 2015 Clarion Writing Workshop, and her work has appeared in Lightspeed, Clarkesworld, and The Year’s Best Science Fiction, among others. You can find her online at www.jess-barber.com.
Ned Barnett makes comics about heroes, health and history. He’s usually found in Cambridge, MA. His comic work includes the full-length, self-published graphic novel, Dreamers of the Day, which was awarded one of Multiversity Comics Best Graphic Novels of 2019. His comics are in anthologies including COVID Chronicles, Embodied, Dead Beats, and Flash Forward. In the TTRPG space, he's a founding cast member of Going Critical, an RPG channel which centers marginalized creators.
Reuben Baron writes articles on pop culture for Comic Book Resources and is the author of the webcomic Con Job: Revenge of the SamurAlchemist (https://tapas.io/series/Con-Job). This is Reuben's eighth year on panels at Arisia; they are also a regular panelist at Anime Boston.
Bren Bataclan is a Boston-based artist. In 2021, Bren's book, Fe: A Traumatized Son's Graphic Memoir, was published by PAWA.
Logan Jacob Maxwell Tyler Brodie Biscornet—I have been involved with conventions since 2013 which feels like a lifetime ago. I helped run several brony conventions(Including BronyCon) and started a western animation convention called DrawnCon that ran for three years and inspired others to pick up the torch. My interests include professional wrestling, horror movies, and the paranormal. I am involved this year to give back and present interesting panels to help pass a few hours of this endless quarantine. Let's party in 22!
Aimee Bouchard is a bi, poly, kinky, geeky, hippie, crafty, girly sort of gal.
David E. Brahm, Ph.D., CFA, is a portfolio manager at Geode Capital Management in Boston. Dr. Brahm holds an S.B. in physics and math from MIT, and a Ph.D. in theoretical particle physics from U.C. Berkeley. Following six years of postdoctoral physics research at Caltech and Carnegie Mellon, he joined Fidelity Investments in 1996, and became one of the founders of Geode in 2001.
James Bredt was one of two technical founders of Z Corporation making 3D printers from 1995 through 2012. He is one of the developers of the first full-color commercial 3D printer. He holds over 20 issued patents in 3DP technology. He also occasionally teaches materials science at MIT, figure drawing at Artisan's Asylum, and is writing and drawing a graphic novel. For the past 25 years, he has appeared as a human spotlight at the Ig Nobel Awards Ceremony.
Kate Brick: edits books, makes costumes, herds chickens. Plays well with others. Mostly.
Rachel A. Brune (she/her) is the founder and editor at Crone Girls Press, a horror micropress dedicated to publishing the dark side of speculative fiction. She is a speculative fiction author and writing coach, and publishes a semi-regular blog on her website, Infamous Scribbler. Her werewolf secret agent series, The Rick Keller Project, is forthcoming from Falstaff Books in 2022.
Michael A. Burstein, winner of the Astounding Award for Best New Writer, has earned ten Hugo nominations and four Nebula nominations for his short fiction, collected in I Remember the Future. He lives with his wife Nomi and their twin daughters in the town of Brookline, Massachusetts, where he is an elected Town Meeting Member and Library Trustee. He develops science curriculum when not writing. He has two degrees in Physics and attended the Clarion Workshop. See http://www.mabfan.com.
Nomi S. Burstein is a technical writer, freelance editor, and fiction writer. Her debut novel, Flying Without a Net, was published in November 2016 under the name EM Ben Shaul. When she is not involved in professional word-nerditry, Nomi knits, sews, and performs amateur word-nerditry. She lives in Brookline, MA, with her husband, Michael A. Burstein, and their twin daughters.
Isaac C.—I am a teen working on building a wildlife pond, I've been to around 10 science fiction cons before, but this is my first Arisia - I'm excited to be here!
Writing, cooking. fandom, costuming, history, gaming, music, kink, polyamory, paganism... a little bit of this and that all combining into a quirky package. Mildred Cady's written works have been a part of the Metamor City and Nobilis Erotica podcasts, as well as occasional appearances on other geeky podcasts.
Kevin Cafferty (he/him) is a documentary filmmaker and podcaster. His punk rock documentary "It's a Bash!" was given four stars by The Providence Journal and aired on New England PBS affiliates. His podcast, "Gleaming the Tube", is about skateboarding and movies and he also podcasts about the 80s detective series "Moonlighting" for some reason. He has been nominated for four Emmy awards, can be followed on Twitter at @kevshindig, and was named "Person of the Year" by Time Magazine in 2006.
James L. Cambias's first novel, A Darkling Sea, was published in 2014, followed by Corsair in 2015, Arkad's World in 2019, and The Initiate in 2020. His most recent novel, The Godel Operation, came out in May 2021. His short stories have appeared in F&SF, Shimmer, Nature, and several anthologies. Mr. Cambias has also written for Steve Jackson Games, Hero Games, and other game companies, and is a partner in Zygote Games. He blogs at www.jamescambias.com.
Rob Cameron is most recently published in Star*Line. He has essays and short fiction in Foreign Policy Magazine, Tor.com, The New Modality, and Clockwork Phoenix Five. His debut middle grade novel is forthcoming from Labyrinth Road. Rob is also lead organizer for the Brooklyn Speculative Fiction Writers, a guest host and curator for the New York Review of Science Fiction Reading Series, and executive producer of Kaleidocast.nyc. You can find him at Rob-cameron.com.
Mel Carubia—(She/They) Actor, singer, composer, gamer in the Boston area. Musical works include award-winning T: An MBTA Musical, Beneath the Skin (about mental illness), and a show based on Monsterhearts characters. Performance credits include Ragtime, Fun Home and Evita with The Company Theatre, podcast jingles, Urban Improv and ImprovBoston. She enjoys rocking out on keytar with her band Minusworld and playing your boyfriend in RPGs. By day, she's Director of Education for The Company Theatre.
Jeffrey A Carver. Carver is the author of The Chaos Chronicles, including his recently published two-part novel, The Reefs of Time and Crucible of Time. He is also the author of the popular Star Rigger series, and the official Battlestar Galactica miniseries novelization. While his work lands somewhere between hard SF and space opera, his greatest love remains character, story, and a healthy sense of wonder. His Eternity’s End was a finalist for the Nebula Award.
Jeanne Cavelos is an award-winning editor, bestselling writer, and director of the Odyssey Writing Workshops Charitable Trust. Jeanne was a senior editor at Bantam Doubleday Dell, where she ran the SF/F and horror programs and won the World Fantasy Award. Jeanne has had seven books published by major publishers, two nominated for the Bram Stoker Award. She is director of Odyssey (www.odysseyworkshop.org), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to helping writers of F/SF/H improve their work.
Dr. Benjamin Chicka is Lecturer in Philosophy and Religious Studies at Curry College. His current research focuses on the relationship between religion and popular culture. He also produces scholarly work on astronomy, neuroscience, philosophy, and theology. He often speaks at PAX East and other conventions about the importance of diversity. His first book "Playing as Others: Theology and Ethical Responsibility in Video Games" was just published by Baylor University Press.
Chad Childers is an internationally recognized cybersecurity evangelist who builds security into automotive modules, connectivity, fleet, autonomous & electric vehicles, cloud & IoT solutions. Survivors of the Big Bang (SOB²) in NOLA, Stilyagi Air Corps in MI, ConFusion and DetCon1 ConCom, founded the Stilyagi book discussion group, con calendar, webgod, AASFA and SFOHA boards, letterhack, printer's devil and accomplice of Big Hearted Howard DeVore. Gafiated with children, FIJAGH.
Arthur Chu rose to fame as a viral "villain" of Jeopardy! in 2014, He became a trusted commentator on Asian-American issues and progressive politics within the geek community. He has been published in Salon, the Daily Beast and Slate and is frequently seen on Twitter under @arthur_affect.
Dr. Amy Chused is a hospitalist and the Medical Director of Clinical Informatics (CMIO) at Sibley Memorial Hospital, with additional interests in palliative care. In her free time, she raises the 5 children she shares with her partner (10, 10, 10, 7 and 6 as of this Arisia). In her other free time, of which there isn't much, she also reads SF & F and fanfic, plays boardgames and computer games, debates medical ethics, and waves vaguely at the Arisia Dealers Room.
LJ Cohen is a novelist, poet, potter, and relentless optimist. After almost twenty-five years as a physical therapist, LJ now uses her clinical skills to injure characters in her Science Fiction and Fantasy novels. A STAR IN THE VOID (Halcyone Space book 5), her 8th novel, was published in 2018. She splits her time between the Boston area and StarField Farm in Central Massachusetts. http://www.ljcohen.net
Hannah Prum (Kirkette Cosplay) (aka Kirkette Cosplay) is a cosplayer and part-time human being based out of Boston Massachusetts. She enjoys reading frankly ludicrous amounts of fanfiction and falling asleep every night in a pile of dogs. She thinks Batman Forever is the best Batman movie of all time and she WILL fight you about it.
Morgan Crooks grew up in the Finger Lakes Region of NY, a beautiful part of the country carved into being by ancient glaciers. He now lives in Ipswich, MA, and is obsessed with deep time, cosmic horror, and electric vehicles. His works have appeared in Electric Spec, Daily Science Fiction, and Theme of Absence. Find him online @raponikoff on Twitter and on ancientlogic.blogspot.com.
M. Dalto is a bestselling New Adult author of adventurous romantic fantasy stories. Her debut novel, Two Thousand Years, was a 2016 Watty Award winner and has since published three sequel novels and four companion novellas. She has since been invited into the Wattpad Stars program, recruited for the Wattpad Paid Stories program in 2019, and became an Exclusive Author in 2021. When she’s not writing fantasy worlds, she enjoys reading, playing video games, and drinking coffee.
Gillian Daniels lives, writes, and tells stories in Somerville, MA. After attending the 2011 Clarion Writing Workshop, she has published work in Apex Magazine, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Fireside Fiction, The Dark, Strange Horizons, Nightmare Magazine, and other venues. She blogs and sometimes posts drawings and cartoons at www.gilliandaniels.com.
Scott Marchand Davis is the founder and co-creator for Happy Monster Press, a licensed publisher of setting books and supplements for the Savage Worlds role playing game. A lifelong SFF fan and gamer, he was been writing and publishing games since 2017 and running them at Arisia since 2018, working with his partner Joy Marchand.
Randee Dawn is a Brooklyn-based author whose first novel, "Tune in Tomorrow," not only features a rather Arisia-like convention in its pages – but will be out in 2022 via Solaris. She co-edited the spec-fic Beatles anthology "Across the Universe," and her short stories have appeared in multiple anthologies, including "Horror for the Throne" and "Dim Shores." At her day job, she glams it up for Variety, The LA Times and Today.com. More: RandeeDawn.com / @RandeeDawn (Twitter/Instagram)
By day, Daniel P. Dern (www.dern.com) is still an independent technology & business writer. His science fiction stories have appeared in Analog, F&SF, and elsewhere. He's currently writing more YA Jewish urban fantasy stories, including "...And They Built A Crooked Sukkah" and "For Two Zuzim Plain," along with his Dern Grim Bedtime Tales, and more/other sf. He's also an occasional amateur magician, and still reads comic books.
Ira Domnitz—I am a patent, copyright, and trademark attorney in Houston, Texas. I speak nationally at conventions on the topics of Doctor Who, Convention Conduct Law, Cosplay, and Gaming Law. I also speak for the University of Texas CLE department on topics such as Copyright, Cosplay, Convention Law, and Gaming/Video gaming law. I conduct a biweekly national webinar with Prof. Justin Paul from UCLA on the topics of Creative Law, with a focus on music, comics, and other multimedia.
Tigira (Joan Ruland Donnelly)—Tigira is a Blue Star high priestess from North Andover, MA. She has participated with the Heathen Union of Boston, Boston Pagan Alliance, and various energy working groups through the years. She studied world religions at the University of Miami, with a focus on the social aspects of religions, rites of passage, and religious communities. Tigira has officiated the main ritual for Eastern Mass Pagan Pride in 2016, 2017, and 2018, and officiated a ritual for Arisia in the past.
Kevin Eldridge hosts The Flopcast, a ridiculous weekly podcast about comics, conventions, Saturday morning cartoons, 70s and 80s pop culture, and rubber chickens. He has performed at clubs, coffeehouses, and conventions throughout America, both as a podcaster and with his comedy band The Sponge Awareness Foundation, as heard on the Doctor Demento Show. Kevin has also hosted skeptic events promoting science and critical thinking, and is a published author of science fiction short stories.
Lyndsay Ely is the author of GUNSLINGER GIRL, a YA genre-bent dystopian Western, and DEADLOCK REBELS: An Overwatch novel. She spent her teenage years wanting to be a comic book artist but, as it turned out, she couldn’t draw very well, so she began writing instead. She is a geek, a foodie, and has never met an antique shop or flea market she didn’t like. Boston is the place she currently calls home, though she wouldn’t mind giving Paris a try someday.
Griffin Ess—Illustrator, Writer, & Creativity Coach. Griffin has made it his life's drive to create and facilitate art and entertainment that uplifts, informs, and includes. Check his goings on out at GriffinEss.com
etana is a counselor, assistive technology specialist, social justice worker and poet. They like glitter, universal design, horror media, baking, and fatshion. First fandom was Buffy (the film), first poetic love was Shel Silverstein, and Ms. Frizzle is still their favorite teacher/inspiration.
Wonder Wendy Farrell is an award winning costume designer with Wonder Wendy & Friends. She is a member of the Northern Lights Costumers Guild (NOEL). She is on the board of the Arizona Costume Institute at the Phoenix Art Museum. She is on the Her fabric hoard is both a source of inspiration and frustration. Her nerd family enjoys travelling to Cons for fun and adventures.
Adler Fehler is a cosplayer, reenactor, theatrical costumer, costume historian, historical costumer, and holds an MA in historic textile conservation. Their special interests are Spanish traditional costume, 19th century costume, and early female physicians, especially those who served in the military. They have won awards for their costumes at Arisia, Anime Boston, and New York Comic Con. Find them on Instagram @albinoshadowfire or at daughtersofaesclepius.blogspot.com
Mr. Ferguson is a teacher of math and swordsmanship. He has been playing in and running table-top roleplaying games since he was 8 years old. As an aspiring novelist, he is currently editing his first novel before seeking representation for publication.
Greg R. Fishbone is the founder of Mythoversal, a project to restore inclusion to and representation to retold mythology. He is the author of BECOMING HERCULES, a weekly mythic fantasy serial set in and around the city of Cadmeian Thebes. Greg's other published works include a contemporary fantasy from Blooming Tree Press and the critically acclaimed Galaxy Games series from Lee & Low Books and Spellbound River Press. For more information, visit his website at https://gfishbone.com.
Meg Frank (they/them) is a Hugo-nominated artist based in New York. In the before times they traveled a lot and spent a lot of time putting makeup on people at conventions. Currently they are keeping themselves busy with art school, two cats, and designing and publishing Mermaids Monthly magazine. They’re @peripateticmeg on Twitter.
Though she isn't local to New England anymore, Lena G. keeps coming back for Arisia as much as she can. She works in the field of Forensics and is an all around science nerd, bookworm, and gamer. She loves anything involving pirates, Harry Potter, Assassin's Creed, and Once Upon a Time, and cats.
Teel James Glenn has killed hundreds and been killed more times... for forty plus years as a stuntman, swordmaster, storyteller, bodyguard, actor and haunted house barker. He's stories in over a 100 magazines including Weird Tales, Mystery, Pulp Adventures, Spinetingler, Mad, Fantasy Tales, Cirsova, and Sherlock Holmes Mystery. His novel A Cowboy in Carpathia: won best novel for 2021 in the Pulp Factory Awards. He also won the 2012 Pulp Ark Award for Best Author. TheUrbanSwashbuckler.com
Andrea Hairston is author of Master of Poisons; Will Do Magic For Small Change, a New York Times Editor’s pick and finalist for the Mythopoeic, Lambda, and Otherwise Awards; Mindscape, Carl Brandon Award winner; Redwood and Wildfire, Otherwise and Carl Brandon Award winner and coming from Tor.com, Feb 1, 2022. She has published essays, plays, and short fiction and received grants from the NEA, Rockefeller and Ford Foundation. Andrea is a Professor of Theatre at Smith College.
Katie Hallahan is a Boston native and an award-winning game designer, co-owner & co-founder of Phoenix Online Studios. A lifelong gamer and writer who never met a tragic backstory she didn't want to expand upon, she's perhaps best known for being an incorrigible snarker and frequently playing "the sensible one." Also a TV junkie and reviewer of The Walking Dead and Fear the Walking Dead for 411mania.com. In her day job, Katie masquerades as a mild-mannered website editor and content strategist.
A member of the CERN team that developed the World Wide Web, Dr Phillip Hallam-Baker is a leading designer of cryptographic protocols. In his spare time he builds daleks, Tardises and is trying to finish a Han in Carbonite.
Forest Handford is an author from Fitchburg, MA. While not at work, she's bringing her family on wacky adventures. Her website is EastCoastGames.com where she publishes video and writings about various topics. Forest also founded EmpEmp.org, the site for empowering employees. She recently had her memoir, A Trans Feminist's Past, published by Transgender Publishing. Forest has also written sci-fi novels.
Lisa Hertel is an artist who works in clay and watercolors, but also uses alcohol inks, encaustics (painting with wax), and wire. In her spare time, she helps run science fiction conventions, including being the chair of Arisia 2014. Before becoming an artist, Lisa was a pharmacist for over 25 years. Visit her at her studio, The Cogitation Zone, in Haverhill, where she offers art classes for children and adults, or find her online.
Andy Hicks is a public television producer, musician, actor, director, sound designer, fan convention randomizer, and harmless eccentric. He produces Lehigh Valley Rising for PBS 39 in Pennsylvania, makes music as Redkang and The Pluto Tapes, makes silly Doctor Who videos as Sycorax Rock, and makes a mess frequently and with aplomb. Co-wrote 2010: Our Hideous Future, now spends too much time playing Tower Unite turning his condos into weird little museums and stuff. Married, with squidge.
Steven Hirsch has a doctorate in Physical Therapy and B.S. in Exercise & Health Sciences. He has been training with swords since 2006 and unarmed martial arts since 1998, first with the Higgins and now teaching at his own school, Athena School of Arms. Steven is also a professional strength coach focusing on performance for combat sports and martial artists; his business is Fight with All Your Strength.
Anastasia Holt—I have been sewing for 19 years, I have been competing and costuming for about 13 years. I have learned many techniques from the many mentors and friends I possess. I am constantly learning about different things like armor and beading. I am still honing my skills as a costumer and am always eager to teach others what I know. I have recently been getting more and more interested in historical costuming as well as more interested in original designs.
Melissa Honig is the lead organizer for the Watch City Steampunk Festival in Waltham, MA, and recently ran the 2021 Browncoat Ball. She enjoys steampunk, costuming, weird crafts, and playing with the stuff she finds while trying to clean up the craft room so she doesn't have to finish cleaning up.
Walter H. Hunt is a Massachusetts SF and historical fiction writer. He was author GOH in 2009. His novels in the "Dark Wing" Universe are available in the Baen e-book library; a Templar novel (A Song In Stone), two about mesmerism (Elements of Mind and Harmony In Light, both from Wordfire Press), and three novels with Eric Flint. His latest solo novel is City By the Bay. He is librarian for the Masonic Grand Lodge in Boston.
Kristin Janz was born in Vancouver, Canada, and has since moved across the continent three times, most recently to the Boston area in 1998. She is a Clarion West graduate whose fiction has appeared in Escape Pod, Daily Science Fiction, and On Spec; and a co-editor/publisher of online magazine Mysterion, which features stories that engage meaningfully with Christianity from a variety of perspectives. She and her husband live in Quincy with two cats named after famous scientists.
Emperor Emperor Joey-1 the First is a writer, cartoonist, beauty contest champion, organizer, A.N.T.I.F.A. super supersoldier, evil communist wizard and the officially ratified and Emperor of Anti-Imperialism
Marc Vun Kannon puts his degrees in Philosophy and Computer Science to good use writing stories about strange things that happen to ordinary people. His wife and three children think it’s harmless enough, and it keeps him out of trouble. As a philosopher, his main interest is in the characters, and as a Computer geek his technique is to ‘grow’ a story organically. His main rule when writing is to not do again what he’s already seen done before, resulting in books that are hard to describe.
James Kaplan is a huge fan of comics of many different genres. He is a senior editor for Eisner-nominated site Panel Patter. He also gets a lot of joy from sharing his favorite comics with his wife, kids, and friends. When not reading comics, James is a Boston area-based attorney.
Abigail Keenan is a big ol’ nerd and a connoisseur of all things geeky and or kinky or related to organization when your brain doesn't like that. They are the owner of Untamed Undies, a feminist and geeky company that provides undies, pasties and toys for folks across the gender spectrum. They write a blog about sex ed which can be found at www.untamedundies.com.
Rachel Kenley is the author of seven novels as well as several shorts and novellas. She started reading romances at fourteen and credits them with her lifelong fascination with relationships and how they influence our lives. She desperately needs her morning coffee, never misses the chance to watch The Wizard of Oz, and believes in the joy and importance of retail therapy. She is currently the President of writers organization Broad Universe and can be found online at www.rachelkenley.net.
William Kennedy costumes at the master level and has competed on the national and international stage. William also created professional haunted attraction sets and pros for a for charity haunted attraction. In the Professional world William is a Social Worker and provided clinical out reach work for at risk youth.
Jennifer Koerber—After 17 years at the Boston Public Library, I established my own business providing technology training and consulting services to libraries. In 2021, as a result of the global pandemic and seismic changes in the library world, I retired from library work to focus on my creative pursuits. I'm a collector of craft materials that I turn into functional awesome, including paper, beads, multi-media assemblage, embroidery thread, and fabric. View my work at https://www.worksfromthetreehouse.com/
Adria Kyne is a voracious reader of SF & F, LARPer (runs a guild at Bicolline, mostly NPCs local NE games, was a professor for the first run of Magischola), cosplayer (steampunk Black Widow won a Hall Award a few years back, she's still proud). Claim to G-list fame: Was on ABC's LARP-adjacent reality show "The Quest."
Marnen Laibow-Koser is a composer and multi-instrumentalist, performing actively at concerts, theater productions, and folk dances in the Boston and New York areas. He has set parts of the Mueller Report to music, and can also be found developing software, reading about the dark corners of linguistics, engaging in corpus analysis on the Voynich Manuscript, knitting fun lacy stuff, or doing weird kinky things with consenting partners. For more information, check out http://www.marnen.org!
Jason LeBlanc is the head organizer for the Boston Horror Society. Located on both Meetup and Facebook, the Boston Horror Society has helped bring together fellow horror devotees in New England with meetups for movie screenings, book festivals, concerts, and other social events. When not planning scary events, Jason writes the occasional scary story. His fiction has been published in anthologies by Hellcat Press and Retro Horror.
Scott Lefton makes and sells artwork in media including metal, wood, glass, and Photoshop, is occasionally serious about photography, and works as a freelance mechanical designer and patent agent. He lives in a big old Victorian house in Melrose, MA with his wife Rachel.
Megan Lewis is probably in the Art Show, where she has worked every job from door dragon to art show director. In the outside world she is a librarian and has way too many hobbies.
Brian Liberge is a part time game developer, full time queer, depressed IT Person and parent. Notable publications include Ace Adventure, B.E.A.R.D.! the card game and the Midgard Bestiary 4th edition.
Gordon Linzner is founder of Space and Time Magazine, author of three published novels and dozens of short stories in F&SF, Twilight Zone, Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine, and numerous other magazines and anthologies, including recently Humans Are the Problem, New Sherlock Holmes Stories Part XXIX: More Christmas Adventures (1889-1896), Flash in a Flash, and Spawn of War and Deathiness. He is a member of HWA and a lifetime member of SFWA.
LJ-Baptiste is an art educator and cartoonist from Boston. He has collaborated with media giants such as Google, Hasbro, and PBS to produce essential works of art. He is best known for his ongoing comic book series, COMIXSCAPE, which features the adventures of a bright-eyed, perpetually preteen boy and his raccoon sidekick. Whether it’s work in animation, graphic apparel designs, or COMIXSCAPE, LJ’s art can be described as distinctive, masterful, and captivating.
In his day job, Aaron Marks works in the energy sector, most recently in data analytics. In his free time, though, Aaron is an avid gamer, publishing advice, reviews, and opinions about tabletop roleplaying games as the writer-at-large for Cannibal Halfling Gaming. Aaron has been roleplaying for over 20 years, and dabbles in video games, board games, and LARP as well. Aaron's other hobbies include writing, bicycling, and auto and bicycle repair.
Milo Martinez is a semi-professional costumer living in Cambridge. His interests include leather working, costuming technology, craftwork (armor, casting, etc), and villainy. An avid maker since childhood, he uses mixed media and unconventional approaches to solve costuming challenges.
Rebecca Maxfield is a fantasy fan, theatre director, and coder living in Providence, RI. She's interested in how media/narrative form serves or affects the stories we tell (and especially in liveness in theatre), in the ways real-life history was more diverse than you think, and in stories about women crossdressing to do epic stuff (and possibly become involved with other women).
Michael Meissner—Professionally, I am a computer programmer and I work on enhancing the Gnu compiler collection. I do digital photography and video as a hobby. I've been the official photographer/videographer for some of the small renaissance faires in the area in the past. My big hobby project is creating various steampunk shells around my modern cameras. I also tinker with programming micro-controllers (particularly Teensys).
Erik Meyer-Curley—Erik (he/him) has been attending cons for going on four decades. The majority of those being volunteer run organizations. He has found a great sense of fulfillment by volunteering to help out the conventions where he finds community. He has also been involved in a number of non genre volunteer organizations (including soccer, fraternal, and religious) over the decades.
Danny Miller is a local attorney, budding librarian, and all-around SF/F fan since high school who has always seen Arisia as his home convention. He's had several pieces printed in a local Jewish paper (a"h), some even relating to SF/F, and most even paying; he's also a terrific cribbage player. He once turned the tap dance into his crusade, and enjoys (gently) introducing the uninitiated to the many worlds of assorted geekery. (Or, at least enjoys inviting them to a pub trivia event.)
Troy Minkowsky is a Boston based filmmaker and avid comicbook reader since 1993. His production company Rhinocrate has produced the short films "SuperLife", "The Garden 1910" "The Leaves" and "Boxed In". He is currently working on "The Forbidden Book of Sharks" and co-writes "Worm-Man" comics with his daughter under the handle "The Minks"
Sarah Morrison is a fantasy illustrator who loves oil paints and linoleum printmaking. In her "spare time" she sews ball gowns with hoop skirts. Find her work at SarahMorrisonIllustration.com
Fat and louder than necessary, MPA is a short, pink haired, elder millennial that hails from a fishing town north of Boston. Sassy, brassy, and rarely classy; sorted into Ravenclaw but drawn to Slytherin, this intersectional feminist can be found in a kitchen or screaming into the void about the reality of being fat in our world (or any number of things that irk her). When not dreaming of world domination and body liberation, she is the Financial Director for the Teseracte Players of Boston.
Reiko Murakami is a U.S. based concept artist and illustrator specializing in surreal fantasy and horror art. With her expressive gesture drawings she focuses on capturing moments filled with unspeakable emotions. Her illustrations have appeared on many projects such as Tor.com, Magic: the Gathering, and Basketful of Heads. Her work has been exhibited at Nucleus Portland, Helikon Gallery, WOW x WOW and published in art annuals Spectrum, Infected by Art, Exposé, and many others.
Amy J. Murphy is a bestselling author and member of SFWA. Two of her books in the Allies and Enemies Series have been Dragon Award Finalists for Best Military Science Fiction Novel. She's been a featured speaker on several podcasts on writing craft and marketing for indie authors as well as a veteran Arisia and DragonCon panelist. Learn more at www.amyjmurphy.com.
By day an engineer and technology analyst at MIT, Chris Murphy has probably too many areas of interest, including science fiction, making (with a bent to electronics), mixology, dogs, photography, cosplay, cooking, among others. He's lost track of the number of Arisias he's attended.
Allison Neff is a trivia/game host, and a former civics/history teacher and educational program coordinator. She has worked at several different public schools and museums, and loves sci-fi and fantasy. She unashamedly claims the title "nerd," despite only knowing comic book characters from the Marvel and DC movie universes and not the comics. She is opinionated about absolutely everything and is always willing to share those opinions, usually calmly, but don't get her started on Plymouth Rock.
Daniel Neff—I am a museum curator, historian, and genealogist. I specialize in colonial American history, weird history, the history of medicine, and the history of marginalization. When I'm not working I like X-men comics, table-top role playing games, and Pokemon Go.
Kate Nepveu (pronounced "NEHV-you", the "p" is silent) is a reader, fan, and reviewer. She was born in South Korea, grew up in Massachusetts, and now lives in upstate New York, where she practices law and is raising a family. She's got an overdeveloped sense of responsibility. It's going to get her into trouble someday.
David Nurenberg is a K12 and university educator, published author, game master, and a few other things, and has been doing all that stuff for a couple of decades now. His favorite animal is the wombat.
Anne E.G. Nydam is an essentially self-taught artist making mostly relief block prints, a primarily self-published author writing mostly juvenile mostly fantasy, and a former middle school teacher still making classroom guest visits and teaching printmaking classes. She has been creating fantasy worlds since she could hold a crayon, and continues to bring wide-ranging curiosity and imagination to the work of art, writing, and teaching. See more at nydamprints.com.
Claire O'Dell is a writer of fantasy and science fiction, with the occasional detour into alternate history. Her River of Souls epic fantasy series appeared from Tor Books starting in 2010. Her SF/Mystery series launched by Harper Voyager in 2018 with A Study in Honor, which won the Lambda Literary Award for Best Lesbian Mystery/Thriller. You can read more about her on her website www.claireodell.com.
AJ Odasso has been widely published in fandom and non-fandom contexts since 2005. Their début poetry collection, Lost Books, was a finalist for the 2010/2011 People's Book Prize. Their second collection, The Dishonesty of Dreams, followed in 2014. Their third collection, The Sting of It, was shortlisted for the 2017 Sexton Prize and was published in 2019 by Tolsun Books—and won Best LGBT Book at the 2019 New Mexico/Arizona Book Awards. They serve as Senior Poetry Editor at Strange Horizons.
Kevin Osborn—Maker, Inventor and lover of the creative!
Bethany S. Padron has fostered a love of dressing up with a degree in Costume Technology from UNCSA and is currently the Costume Studio Manager for Dartmouth College
Suzanne Palmer is an SF/F author who is a regular contributor to Asimov's and Clarkesworld. Her story "A Secret Life of Bots" won the 2018 Hugo for Best Novelette, and her novella "Waterlines" won the 2020 Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award. Her second novel in the Finder Chronicles series, "Driving the Deep", was published by DAW in 2020 and the sequel is forthcoming in May of 2021.
Carson Pavao is an actor, writer, and artist living in New England. In their free time, they enjoy listening to audio dramas and writing fanfiction. Other interests include mental health, cats, and online puzzle games. They do all their best thinking with a cup of coffee and a pencil in hand.
Jennifer Pelland is a science fiction author turned bellydancer. For more, visit www.jenniferpelland.com or www.tassellations.com
Israel Peskowitz (Izzy) is a professional community activist, a proficient photographer, a skilled plumber, and an amateur fan.
Monique "Moniquill" Poirier is a councilwoman of the Seaconke Wampanoag Tribe and a lineal descendant of Ousamequin Massasoit. She is an avid costumer, and active member of the steampunk community. She has blogged, essayed, and discussed extensively across many platforms the depictions of NDN and NDN-coded characters in sci-fi and fantasy, and would like to help other authors better understand how to produce respectful and well thought out indigenous characters and what the common pitfalls are in doing so.
Steve Popkes, his wife, son, dog and cat breed turtles and grow bananas on two acres in Massachusetts. He has been publishing science fiction and fantasy since 1986 and is a Nebula nominee He has multiple novels to his name, the most recent being Danse Mécanique. When he's disguised as a normal person, he is an aerospace software engineer. Updates a blogs can be found at his website, www.stevenpopkes.com.
Dr. Jim Prego is an adjunct professor of Biology at Long Island University, Molloy College, and Nassau Community College. He is a recipient of NYANP’s Physician of the Year award. He enjoys science fiction, biological topics, and many other topics both science and non-science related. He spent 10 years as the NY Delegate to the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians and 6 years as a board member of the NYANP. He is involved in acting/shadowcasting, EMS, alt-lifestyles, gaming, and more.
Tori Queeno, 29, is the founder and President of the Boston Whovians, a Boston-based Doctor Who fangroup. Tori is currently pursuing an MFA in creative nonfiction and was awarded the 2018 Kurt Brown Fellowship for Diverse Voices. They can be regularly seen performing with The Post Meridian Radio Players of Somerville as both an actor and foley artist. They spend the rest of their time trying to be a "real adult" and/or a professional nerd, with their cat, Persephone, and hedgehog, Sylvia Plath.
Richard Ralston has been a fan of science fiction and anime since the late 60's. Rick has been staffing conventions the past 20 years on the local and regional level. Rick is also the organizer of the local anime group in Albany, NY. Rick brings a unique point of view to the fandom community.
Suzanne Reynolds-Alpert writes horror, scifi, dark fantasy, and the occasional poem. Her short fiction had been published in the anthologies Wicked Women, The Final Summons, and Killing It Softly (Vol. 1). Her poetry has appeared in the HWA Poetry Showcase Vol. VI, the anthologies Beneath Strange Skies and Wicked Witches, The Wayfarer, and Eternal Haunted Summer. Suzanne is a freelance editor and writer, a technical services librarian, cat owner, and has degrees in Communication and Sociology.
Santiago Rivas is celebrating over 40 years as a sci-fi enthusiast. It was his time at MIT that he became an avid film, theater, poly, and gamer geek. He has been involved with Theatre@First for fifteen years and the Heinlein Society Naughty Nurses for over ten years, writing, directing, and starring in skits for the annual Blood Drive. In his copious spare time, he's blogging, updating tropes pages, becoming part of Section 31, spending time with redheads, and raising an advanced prototype.
A Joseph Ross has been in fandom since the 1960's. In 1964, he founded the University of Massachusetts (Amherst) Science Fiction Society, then later became a member of MITSFS and NESFA, serving as Vice President of NESFA from 1970-72. He edited Volume I of the NESFA Hymnal in the late 1970's. He was Clerk of Arisia, Incorporated from 1990-92 and President from 1992-94. He is a practicing attorney and an expert in landlord-tenant law.
Karen S.—Part-time amateur voice actor, podcaster, and writer of ridiculous fannish fictions. Full-time geek and fanboy dork with a particular fondness for cartoons, blooper reels, turtles of the ninja variety, and the Technical Director of the Post Meridian Radio Players. She can be seen reprising her role as Captain Jane T. Kirk in the Post Meridian Radio Players' production of Gender Swapped Star Trek.
Mark Sabalauskas is the publisher of The Stellar Beacon, a semipro 'zine interested in the intersection of SFF and indie gaming. The 'Beacon has featured the contributions of Jeanette Ng, Alex Jennings, Mimi Mondal, Sonya Taaffe among others. Mark is also the Indie-groundbreaker nominated designer of Return to the Stars, an optimistic SciFi tabletop RPG that mashes up sci-fi exploration with fan culture.
Eyal Sagi is a professor of Psychology at a liberal arts college. His research deals with how language and text color our perspective. Recently, this research has focused on the expression of moral values in political and legal texts. His other interests include how the structure of a story reflects its genre, and how language can be used to promote character development. He also has extensive background in computing and computer science from both the software and hardware perspectives.
Liz Salazar is a playwright, director, GM, chainmailler, a podcaster between podcasts, and overall opinion-haver. At Arisia, she is usually seen among the Post-Meridian Radio Players or otherwise getting in someone's way.
Carol Salemi is a master Costumer who has worked over 45 years in many aspects of costuming including designing, fabricating, teaching, judging and masquerade directing. Her more recent work can be seen on TLC's "My Big Fat American Gypsy Wedding". She's a medical massage therapist(over 35 years) and works for Sondra Celli Designs, has jobs in the Haunt Industry and likes making Steampunk items...check out her jewelry in the Art Show!
Sharon Sbarsky was Fan Guest of Honor at Arisia 2000, chaired Smofcon 15, Boskone 40 & 49, ran the Masquerade at Arisias and Sasquan, ran the Hugo Ceremony at Renovation, was Events Division Head at Worldcon 76, Operactions co-DH at CoNZealand and co-chaired Costume-Con 37 in 2019 in Danvers, MA. She will chair Boskone 59 in February 2022. She creates web sites for fun and work.
Micah Schneider is a long-time veteran of Arisia, both on programming and staff. Micah completed his Masters in history and public history from UMass Amherst, but somehow became a math teacher. In his free time, Micah enjoys running, highpointing, hiking, all kinds of gaming (especially cards games like Magic and Pokemon), and being polyamorous as often as possible. He lives in Western Massachusetts with his family of choice, their three children, and a small coterie of animal companions.
Kenneth ("Ken") Schneyer has been a finalist for both the Nebula Award and the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award. In 2020, Fairwood press released his second short-fiction collection, Anthems Outside Time and Other Strange Voices, and his story "Laws of Impermanence" appeared in Uncanny Magazine. His fiction also appears in Lightspeed, Strange Horizons, Analog, Clockwork Phoenix 3 & 4, Podcastle, etc. He lives and teaches college in Rhode Island. www.kenschneyer.com
Daniela Sharma—Life science nerd with expertise in animal sciences, loves learning new information about life on earth or off it. Avid proponent of science fiction and fantasy providing moral guidance and philosophical foundations for living.
David G David G. Shaw is, in no particular order: Aspie, Atheist, Blogger, Cook, Curmudgeon, Foodie, Geek, Musician, Parent, Partner, Reader, Scientist, Skeptic.
Nicholas "phi" Shectman is President of Arisia, Inc.
Jamila Sisco is an award-winning costumer with a specialization in anime, video game, and original costumes. She has worked on costumes for over 15 years, usually working on making the big and elaborate come to life. She is the former President of the Northern Lights chapter of the International Costumers' Guild. She is one of the presentation judges in the Arisia Masquerade for this year.
Charity Southworth—I am an art student turned astrophysicist! I am the owner/proprietor of The Science Boutique - I make science themed jewelry, accessories, clothing and more! I have degrees in Physics, Mathematics, and Astrophysics as well a Master's in Critical and Creative Thinking. I worked at a planetarium for over 8 years and.I love communicating science in a humorous, entertaining fashion - why should science seem dry and boring!?
Michael Sprague has been a fan since at least his first viewing of Star Wars. He's worked in a variety of roles at Arisia including Programming Division Head, Team Arisia Services Division Head, and even Con Chair. He is currently the Vice-President of Arisia Incorporated. He has a profound love of TV/movies (both good and bad) and the written word (same). He performs live radio theater with The Post-Meridian Radio Players, is a cast member of the Crime and Space podcast.
Lisa J Steele—Lisa Steele is an attorney, writer, and game designer. As a lawyer, she has been involved in litigation, teaching, and legislation about issues of science and the criminal law. As a game-designer, she is a co-author of the ENnie award winning Bubblegumshoe, and has written for Steve Jackson Games, White Wolf, and Evil Hat. She has been attending Arisia since its inception.
Raven Stern—Raven is always up for adventures, whether that's around a game board or in a rural palace in Europe. Whatever the adventure, she'll be dressed for the occasion! You can find her dancing with the Commonwealth Vintage Dancers throughout the Boston area, and see her photos on her blog at plaidpetticoats.blogspot.com. (She is also on TikTok @plaidpetticoats, but makes no promises.)
Ian Randal Strock (www.IanRandalStrock.com) is the editor and publisher of Fantastic Books (www.FantasticBooks.biz) and an author of science fiction and non-fiction. He has published three books on the presidency of the US (with Random House and Carrel Books) and had stories in Analog, Nature, and several anthologies. He was previously an editor with Artemis, Asimov’s, Analog, The Daily Free Press, and Science Fiction Chronicle. He is also the national Secretary of American Mensa.
Kathryn Sullivan writes young adult science fiction and fantasy, including fantasy novel THE CRYSTAL THRONE and short story collection AGENTS, ADEPTS & APPRENTICES. She has essays in the Hugo winning CHICKS DIG TIME LORDS and in CHILDREN OF TIME: COMPANIONS OF DOCTOR WHO and OUTSIDE IN. She is owned by a large cockatoo, who graciously allows her to write about other animals, as well as birdlike aliens.
Rob "Nixon" Swift—Has been writing and running LARPs and experimental games in New England for 25 years. Having bridged the rare intersection of 'jock' and 'gamer', 'Nixon' is a fairly well-known staple in Boston/New England gaming. Early PC-Gaming Hobbyist, Professional-D&D Dungeon Master, and Public Club-Play Organizer for DDAL. Nixon is a "Go-to" staff 'actor' for Boston regional Gaming Producers.
Massachusetts Historical Swordsmanship began at the Higgins Armory Museum in 2009 and moved to Worcester Fencing Club and Pioneer Valley Fencing Academy (Easthampton) after the Museum’s closing. MHS is a community of men and women exploring the art, science, and spirit of the sword and other weapons as they were used in both serious combat and friendly encounters. We study knightly longsword and dagger, the Renaissance rapier, and the classical stick, staff, and dueling sabre. The class is led by Dr. Ken Mondschein, who has the unique qualifications of holding both a PhD in history and a fencing master’s certification. Dr. Mondschein is an internationally known scholar in this field.
Award winning nonbinary comic artist from Boston, A. Szabla spends most of their time working on their webtoon BANQUET and the accompanying patreon page. Their work includes monsters, smooching, lgbt characters, and (most usually) all of the above!
Sonya Taaffe reads dead languages and tells living stories. Her short fiction and Rhysling Award-winning poetry have been collected most recently in the Lambda-nominated Forget the Sleepless Shores and previously in Singing Innocence and Experience, Postcards from the Province of Hyphens, A Mayse-Bikhl, and Ghost Signs. She lives with one of her husbands and both of her cats in Somerville, Massachusetts, where she writes about film for Patreon and remains proud of naming a Kuiper belt object.
Cecilia Tan is the multi-award winning author of The Prince's Boy, Telepaths Don't Need Safewords, and the Magic University series and the founder of Circlet Press. Her award shelf includes the RT Reviewers Choice Award, the Maggie Award for Excellence, and induction into the Saints & Sinners LGBT Writers Hall of Fame. Her upcoming urban fantasy series from Tor Books will be known as The Vanished Chronicles and should appear Real Soon.
Ilene Tatroe—(she/they) is -- in no particular order -- a parent to a teenager, a software product manager, and Division Head for Programming at Arisia '22. In her spare time (ha!), she is also Chair of her town's Special Education Parent Advisory Council (SEPAC). A GISHer, she loves doing wacky but good things, like creating wedding dresses out of plastic shopping bags and rewriting Beowulf in 10 tweets.
Kayleigh Tatroe—Is a high school student in Westford and a competitive dancer for Spotlight Dance Academy. She loves to dance, draw, read, and write. She wants to go to college for forensic science.
Gail Terman—(she/her) is a huge nerd who loves sports, coding, singing, and spending all of her vacation time helping to run conventions. For Arisia 22, she is running gaming, and is also on the Con Chair team.
Tikva (aka Tikva (raycho)) is attending her bazillionth Arisia, and her seventh? eighth? what even are numbers anyway? as a panelist. She is kind of like a very sweary golden retriever. She's a public health geek, disability activist, baseball addict, and member of a polyamorous family/household. She is fond of pie. You may recognize her via her trusty guide dog, who is small in size but large in swagger. Please do not pet either her or the dog without a whole lot of permission.
Dan Toland is a writer and podcaster responsible for getting his fingerprints all over programming this year as Assistant Division Head. He lives in Boston with a woman of nearly limitless patience (Reader, she married him), a dog who tries REALLY HARD you guys, and also there is a cat. Hear him give voice to strongly-held opinions about inexpensively made British sci-fi, Reagan-era cartoons, and Bronze Age team-up comics at Earth-2.net, and endure his Twitter nonsense @UrbanSpaceman61.
Thomas Traina is a former lawyer turned computer forensics consultant and legal technology specialist. Academically, he focuses on civil liberties, constitutional law, speculative bioethics, and comparative law and government in science fiction. Tom got into science fiction through Star Wars, then Star Trek TNG, and snowballed from there. He is also an avid roleplayer and theatre-style LARP writer. When he can afford it, he also enjoys wargames.
Pablo Vazquez considers themselves many things, including performer, poet, fan, sometimes scholar/always student, agitator, bard-magus, and whatever else they come up with. They're a cinephile, DC Comics enthusiast, voracious reader, and avid gamer (tabletop/video). They traverse various subcultural communities, from magical lodges and mystic circles, unsanctioned parties and kink events to Underground Rap and radical bookstores to, of course, Science-Fiction and Fantasy fandom.
Mark "Justin du Coeur" Waks is a rapidly moving particle. If one pins down his position enough (and doesn't worry about his velocity), one finds him focusing on programming, SCA, fandom, LARP, and Board Games.
Jess Waters is an artist, a queer, a witch, a leftist, and an incurable dungeon master. Her book on occultism and Surrealist painting is forthcoming from Revelore Press.
A longtime fan of SF/F, Mr. John C. Watson was infected with the anime and manga bug in the early 1990s, and remains a virulent carrier of all three. He has been a beta reader on the 2nd & 3rd editions of The Anime Encyclopedia, published four articles on nursing and nursing history, is an avid editor of Wikipedia, is a freelance proofreader for Baen Books, and enjoys making lists of fannishly-oriented resources (e.g., on con survival, detecting anime bootlegs, and anime/manga character archetypes).
Fae Weichsel is a filmmaker, role-player, union ENBY, proud bisexual and secret robot. They work in film and television in the camera department as a proud Local 600 camera person. Some projects he has worked on are; Pose, Tales of the city, Person of Interest, Jessica Jones, Amazing Spiderman 2,, Madam Secretary, Someone Great, & Irreplaceable You. He is also a writer and director of short films, music videos and commericals. They/them Pronouns
Alan Wexelblat (he/him) is a poly parent of two trans young adults, an amateur photographer, a long-time tabletop RPG and online+mobile gamer, a writer on intellectual property issues, and a rescue-dog owner. He has been at every Arisia since #2 and worked most of them. Ask him about helping with the convention!
Besides attending cons, being on panels, moderating panels, and working as staff, Michelle Wexelblat is a mother, wife, friend, extrovert, student if shamanism, self employed clinical social worker, instructor at the BUSSW, and dabbler. Magic powers include holding space, encouraging growth, and explaining complex things in simple ways. Many of these magic powers help in her profession of working with marginalized individuals and helping people heal from trauma.
Nightwing Whitehead was born in 1958. The Barbie doll was "born" in 1959; so for a year she had nothing to do. Since then, she's been making up for lost time by dressing anyone and anything that comes within her reach. She's worked for several theaters, dressed some stars, done some teaching, and has her own business designing and creating costumes for life.
Scott Wilhelm is a licensed biology, physics, math, and general science teacher with more than 10 years of experience, mostly with high-school-aged learners with learning disabilities and severe behavioral problems. He combines deeply analytical lessons with fun activities to meet high expectations with no tears for a very wide range of ages and abilities.
Stephen R. Wilk was confused for several days when the Hogwarts Sorting Hat announced that his selected House was Lannister, but he eventually overcame his bewilderment in time for Arisia. Although he works during the day as an Optical Scientist and Engineer, he only does it to provide cover for his real identity as a writer of fact and fiction. His most recent books are "Lost Wonderland" from UMass Press and "Sandbows and Blacklights" from Oxford University Press.
W. B. J. W. B.J. Williams, the author of THE GARDEN AT THE ROOF OF THE WORLD, THE REALITY, MYTHOLOGY, AND FANTASIES OF UNICORNS, and "The InfoCoup" holds advanced degrees in anthropology and archeology. He is an avid historian, mystic, poet, and author who manages an information security program at a prominent New England firm. He is noted for his bad puns, and willingness to argue from any perspective. He is endured by his beloved wife and two daughters, and lives in Sharon Massachusetts.
James Willis is a writer, comic book artist and adventurer, although he mostly focuses on the latter and not so much the former. He currently writes and draws the web comic: "Leo in the Dark World" and sometimes posts silly pictures to his instagram: james_willis42.
Jonathan Woodward is the author or co-author of over a dozen role-playing game books, including the Hellboy RPG, Trinity, and GURPS Banestorm. He has been an Arisia panelist for over 25 years. He lives near Boston with his wonderfully complicated family.
A child of the space race, Guillermo Zeballos has always been fascinated by fantastic vehicles and stories of space, real and fictional. He is active in designing and building spaceships out of paper and researching their designs. He is also a great fan of spaceship and futuristic art and illustration, as well as those of the more familiar hero ships of film and television. His professional background is in teaching, computer-human interaction, collaborative systems, and interface design.
Eric "in the Elevator" Zuckerman was not a real talk show host, but he did play one on TV. He was Arisia 2008 Fan Performer Guest of Honor and Lunacon 2011 Special Guest. Not only is he still associated with his former fan-participation video comedy project, "Eric in the Elevator", but he also traveled back in time to host the 1943 Hugo Awards ceremony. He lives in Berkeley, California with his wife of over a quarter-century (Beth); and their two cats (Patience and Fortitude).