Participants

Carol Angel
Carol Angel is a long-time Denver fan, a political junkie, a retired federal and interstate water lawyer (ask her about the 1922 Colorado River Compact if you have a spare hour), and a dabbler in various art forms. She is on the board of ReCreative Denver, a non-profit arts and crafts thrift store, and is the director of Creation Station for crafting at events like the Unicorn Festival and CatFest.

Ari
Lazy artist, gamer and lover of spooky things. Enemy of ham.

BMW the Author
14er Climber / Rocket Scientist / Published Novelist / Movie Connoisseur / Stock Photographer. Benjamin M. Weilert is an award-winning multi-genre writer from Colorado who writes whatever stories pop into his head. He is on a mission to write something in every single genre…eventually. He currently lives in Colorado Springs with his supporting wife and children. You can find him online on social media as “BMW the Author.”
https://author.benjamin-m-weilert.com/

John Barnes
John Barnes is a professional writer with an academic background in cultural history, theatre, semiotics, and rhetoric, and a business background in data science, statistics, and marketing. LLMs recently destroyed his longtime data science job and numerous HR people have decided he is much too old for business or academia, so it’s back to freelancing, whatever that means nowadays. He thinks he’s almost got it figured out. He is working on a novel, DORYPHOROS, a monograph, PERFORMING ANIMALS, an article, INTERSECTING BAD: KITSCH, CAMP, CORN, AND CHEESE, and other stuff.

Rose Beetem
Rose Beetem is the last fan standing who has attended all the MileHiCons. A founding member of the Denver Area Science Fiction Association (DASFA) and a generalist fan with an addiction to con organizing, she’s been on the MHC con com most years since she was 16, chairs the tiny 100% participatory Karval Kon and dabbles with COSine. She enjoys urban fantasy, most of the Star Wars and MCU canon, and thinks Strange New Worlds, Lower Decks and The Orville are all good Treks. Sort-of retired, she is passionate about curries and tai chi.

Jane M. H. Bigelow
Jane M. H. Bigelow has published poetry, short stories and short nonfiction on such topics as gardening in Ancient Egypt. Recently, she self-published a mixed-genre novel entitled “A Most Inconvenient Corpse”, and is working on a sequel, “A Most Intriguing Voyage”. She has also published a fantasy novel, Kossinli’s Talisman, and its sequel, Viceroy’s Knot. Several of her short stories appear in the Darkover anthologies, including Citadels of Darkover. History and mythology, travel and gardening, all influence her fiction. Jane lives in Denver, CO with her husband, Robert, and two spoiled cats, Shiraz and Thunderpurr.

Matt Bille
Matt Bille is a freelance science writer, novelist, naturalist, blogger, and historian from Colorado Springs. In aerospace consulting, he focused on microsatellites and launch vehicles, writing papers, articles, and studies. His book The First Space Race covered the first satellite programs. He’s published three books on zoology and cryptozoology, horror and fantasy novels, and several short stories. His last two papers were on space archaeology. His thriller Apex Predator, featuring the armored fish Dunkleosteus, is coming from Blackstone. He holds a master’s in Space Systems Management. He’s a former Air Force ICBM officer and Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
https://www.mattbilleauthor.com/

David Boop
David Boop is an author, editor, screenwriter and award-winning essayist. His novels include She Murdered Me with Science (sci-fi/noir), The Drowned Horse Chronicle Vol 1 (weird western), and Rippers: The Soul Changers (dark fantasy RPG tie-in). David edited the bestselling weird western anthology trilogy beginning with Straight Outta Tombstone, and recently released the first in a series of space western anthologies. In short fiction, he’s worked with characters such as Predator, The Green Hornet, Kolchak, the Black Bat, and Veronica Mars. He’s authored or co-authored several Lovecraftian stories in recent years. Find out more at Davidboop.com, Facebook.com/dboop.updates, Twitter @david_boop, or www.longshot-productions.net.

Catie Bowden
USAF Veteran, cybersecurity nerd, minor board game collector, video game enthusiast. Mom to a fluffy pair of Shih-Tzus.

Kevin Bowersox
Comedy writer that has to pay the bills messing with computers and software.
I am working on a new site. I will provide the URL if it is finished in time.

Jonathan Brazee
Jonathan is a retired Marine colonel and a fulltime hybrid writer of mostly military scifi, but also fantasy, YA, historical fiction, and general scifi. He lives in the Springs with his wife Kiwi and twin six-year-olds Dani and Dari. He is a USA Today best-seller and a two-time Nebula and two-time Dragon Award finalist. When he not writing, he’s usually attending cons or in the gym. He’s a competitive powerlifter with multiple state records and a national runner up. He’s held national positions for the VFW and is currently the CFO for the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association.
jonathanbrazee.com

Matthew B Candelaria
I’m a writer by trade, a tabletop gamer by choice, and a gardener by upbringing. The world is full of wonder: I want to experience what’s there and add some too. In 2003, I won the Golden Quill from the Writers of the Future. In 2004, I published my first collection of science fiction essays. In 2006, I received my PhD in science fiction and modernist fiction. In 2007, I became a full-time writer of (mostly) anonymous internet content. Since 2019, I’ve returned to writing science fiction and fantasy, self-publishing numerous novels.
https://www.writermc.com/

Cheryl Carpinello
A retired H.S. English teacher with Jeffco, I now write Arthurian Legend, Ancient World Tales, and Grandma/Grandpa Tales for beginners, struggling, and reluctant readers & others. The focus of my Arthurian Legend is Honor, Loyalty, Friendship, and Courage. I worked with the Colorado Girl Scouts for 4 years bringing my all-day Medieval World workshops full of activities and writing elements in several areas. I’ve presented my Medieval Illuminated Poetry workshops in schools in Jeffco, Ft. Collins, Aurora, and Denver public schools for several years. I’ve presented an Editing Class for the Colorado Teen Lit Conference since 2019.
https://cherylcarpinello.com

Rob Chansky
I’ve been writing 30 years. My first novel, a Chinese magic urban fantasy with fox spirits, is on Amazon as Hundred Ghost Soup. I’ve worked programming wargames for the military, now program satellites. I also paint and sculpt. My current work is The Manchegan Candidate, a future-based SF trilogy with a human castaway stranded with a robot programmed to think he’s Don Quixote.

Peri Charlifu
Peri is a Colorado artist who has been selling his art at conventions for over 42 years. He is proficient in pottery, sculpture, drawing and painting.
aegeangoods.com

The Cheryl
Cheryl Sundseth has been a science fiction fan for longer than is polite to report. She has been involved with the MileHiCon staff for several decades and has been a Denver Area Science Fiction Association member for much of that time. Over the years, she and Bruce Miller have run art shows for MileHiCon, Origins, and WorldCon in locations from Pennsylvania to California. In addition, she is a docent at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, and an avid collector of LEGO, stuffed animals, and hugs.

Craig W. Chrissinger
Craig W. Chrissinger writes annually for Locus Magazine, works advance film screenings, and heads up Bubonicon. Nothing is quite the same as before Covid, and, yes, we suffered it October 2023. Craig has been in fandom since 1976, and was Fan Guest at ArmadilloCon 40. Many moons ago, he wrote for Starlog, Fangoria and Comics Scene. He lives in Albuquerque with the amazing Jessica and two cats, Gizmo and Kaylee. He works at a used bookstore, reads books, magazines and comics, and watches TV and movies. He would like to write more, organize his collections, and really de-clutter the house.
www.bubonicon.com

Jessica Coyle
Jessica Coyle is one of the organizers of Bubonicon in Albuquerque, NM. When not working at her day job as the Instructional Coordinator at Coronado Historic Site, she hangs out with her boyfriend Craig and cats Gizmo and Kaylee watching terrible movies and crocheting.

Marie DesJardin
Marie DesJardin writes science fiction, fantasy, and alternative history, ranging from short stories to novels and screenplays. Credits include Analog Science Fiction and Fact, Compelling Science Fiction, and Flash Fiction Online. She’s a current SFWA member, Story Quest award winner, and a finalist in the AnLab Readers’ Choice Awards. Favorite things include world travel, rehabilitating traumatized cats, and standing up for our democratic rights. Marie lives in Denver, Colorado, where she enjoys swimming, biking, and hiking in the mountains when they’re not on fire.
amazon.com/author/mariedesjardin

F. P. Dorchak
F. P. Dorchak has a B.S. in physics/astronomy and retired after 37 years as a USAF officer/DoD contractor. He worked in missile warning, satellite operations, and technical writing. Frank’s been writing since he was six. His anthology Do The Dead Dream won a 2017 Best Books Award for short stories, and A Philosophy of Stars was a 2024 Best Book Awards Finalist in Science Fiction. Frank’s been learning classical violin since 2020 and performs with the New Horizons Band in Colorado Springs. He can occasionally be reached in séances and at www.fpdorchak.com, but don’t believe everything he tells you.
https://fpdorchak.com/

Doug
Doug Sundseth has been reading F&SF (and a host of other genres) for more than 50 years. He and Cheryl have more bookcases than they can easily count. Judging by the piles and boxes of books not on the shelves, this is not enough. This does not count the thousands of books on electronic media. In addition to reading, Doug also enjoys landscape photography, complex games, and travel. And, of course, painting miniatures. Nearly fifty years of miniatures painting makes some people experts. But one of the advantages of having to fight for competence is an understanding of how to help people fighting for competence. Plus, teaching is fun.

Tycho Dwelis
I’m Tycho, an author, self-publishing consultant, artist, and professor at an art college where I teach animation and concept art. I’m neurodivergent and passionate about storytelling in all its forms—writing, art, and worldbuilding. My work explores themes of coming of age, magic, identity, relationships, and changing the world. I hold an MA in Publishing and am an EFA Certified Editor.
https://www.tychodorian.com/

Glen Engel-Cox
Glen Engel-Cox has published a novel, Darwin’s Daughter; a non-fiction compilation, First Impressions; and short fiction in The Daily Tomorrow, Phano, Triangulation, LatineLit, Utopia, Nature, and elsewhere. He publishes a daily newsletter about authors and literary events as part of his Patreon account: join for free at patreon.com/gengelcox.
engel-cox.org

Jill Engel-Cox
Dr. Jill Engel-Cox is a clean energy engineer and environmental scientist. Her first job was climbing smokestacks in Los Angeles, followed by leadership roles at national energy research laboratories. She has led international planning for renewable energy and energy integration in Asia, North America, and the Middle East. She currently teaches industrial processes and environmental communications courses at Johns Hopkins University and global energy courses for University of Colorado Denver. While not a fiction writer, she has written dozens of scientific papers, has been a long-time reader of science fiction, and enjoys discussing science and fiction with her writer friends.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jillengelcox/

J.T. Evans
J.T. Evans writes fantasy and urban fantasy novels. He’ll dabble with sci-fi and horror in short form as well. He is the former president of the Colorado Springs Fiction Writers Group and Pikes Peak Writers. When not writing, he secures computers at the Day Job, and plays way too many tabletop games. Despite having his right arm amputated and reattached after a nasty car crash, he types faster than the average bear. He is the author of the Modern Mythology and Flashing Blades series and is hastily working on more right now.
https://jtevans.net/

Candy Cane Fantastic
Candy Fantastic is a cosmic storyteller cleverly disguised as a Colorado local. When not mapping fractured realms or writing about fallen gods, she’s sketching beings that skitter out of nebulae and nightmares alike. As co-host of The Cloaked Tatters, she explores trauma, transformation, and the creative alchemy that bridges darkness and wonder. She believes every tale is a portal—and she keeps building new ones.
www.candyfantastic.com

Arlen Feldman
As well as writing fiction, Arlen Feldman is a software engineer, entrepreneur, costumer, maker, and computer book author—useful if that shelf is just that little bit too high. He has sold a few dozen short stories, and won the 2024 Baen Fantasy and Adventure Award. He also chairs COSine.

Danyda Feldman
Arlen’s long suffering sister, and daughter of the Dance-Dance revolution.

John Fiala
John Fiala is a father and general geek, mostly specializing in fanfiction, tabletop games, and anime.

Tim Fotinos
Tim is a otherworld fan who dabbles in photography, painting, and a bit of writing. Trained in engineering and project management at CU Boulder, he served in the USAF until retiring to Colorado. Springs in 1993. Sold books, tended bar, and now provides pub trivia once a week. Hoping we can get to the Star Trek future and skip the WW3 thing, AI takeover, or mutant zombie arugula monsters.

Richard Friesen
Richard Friesen is a master storyteller whose works include an epic fantasy series, the Dreaming King Saga where the one who has the prophetic dream is king. His Wetware Wizards fight an AI world takeover. And a humorous superhero, Narcolepsy, whose power is falling asleep and taking you into his dreams with him. Another fantasy has a young sorcerer opposing a thousand-year-old oppressive king. There’s a space opera series, The Clark Family Legend, about two star-pilots who change human space with daring and brains. Come join the adventure!
https://richardfriesen.net

David Gibbons
David Gibbons is a life-long science fiction fan and reader of science fiction. Being COVID retired, David has been spending a lot time clubbing. Postcard club, stamp club and toy train club. Life is good!

JD Goff
JD Goff, a fantasy and sci-fi author, grew up in the Rocky Mountains. An autodidact, he is aphantasic. His inability to see mental images contributes to the rich prose and imagery of his writing style. The son of a Physicist, he binds magic to ironclad laws, and writes characters with unflinching logic. His first book, The Rune that Binds, was written while unemployed. After initial interest from DAW, he opted for self-publishing to maintain artistic control of his work. Goff writes stories the way children play, with their whole imagination, and he invites you to read them that way too.
https://www.sommerstone.com

M.S. Harris
Markus Harris is a writer, editor, and historical warfare consultant for fellow authors. His C.V. includes multimedia, independent film production as fight arranger, special make-up effects designer, and armorer. He has been a playwright, screenwriter, technical director and special effects show coordinator for numerous national commercial projects and themed events. As a professional actor, fight choreographer, and theatrical stunt performer since 1987, he occasionally dons armor as a theatrical jouster at tiltyards and arenas throughout the country.
markusharris.com

Michael Haynes
Michael Haynes (he/him/his) is an avid short fiction reader and writer with nearly 100 published stories, most in the speculative fiction genres. His 2025 short story collection, THREE THINGS CAMERON COULDN’T TELL YOU: STORIES OF (MIS)COMMUNICATION, includes more than two dozen of his stories. Michael lives in Colorado and has more hobbies than he really has time for, enjoying travel, going to concerts, photography, cooking, geocaching, hiking, board games, and so on. Learn more at his website michaelhaynes.info or say hello on Bluesky @michaelhaynes.bsky.social.
michaelhaynes.info

Jim Henderson
Jim Henderson is a Colorado writer of fun, varied, and sound science fiction adventures. He is the author of the 10-book Mantis Saga, the story of the crew of the scout ship Mantis, as well as Viper: Boat-571, a military sci-fi adventure, and Inspector Giskard, crime drama set in near-future Colorado. Fun, adventure, aliens, space combat, robots, humor, intrigue, and excitement abound. Jim is a veteran, cybersecurity professional, and an aficionado of science fiction books, movies, TV, and games. When not working or mentally exploring the universe, he enjoys hiking, kayaking, gaming, and his 8 grandchildren.
http://mantissaga.space

Howard V. Hendrix
Howard V. Hendrix is the author of six novels as well as many short stories, essays, and poems. His articles appear regularly in Analog. His most recent work includes the shorter-fiction collection The Girls With Kaleidoscope Eyes, the poetry collection Living Fossils are the Happiest Kind, and the nonfiction book Living Fossils, Lost Worlds, Last Humans: The Science and Fiction of Population and Extinction. He also did a Tedx — “Saving Private Mind.”

Bill Hodgson
Bill Hodgson is an artist/writer in Oklahoma. He started writing and illustrating for national publications in grade school. He has done art for novels (especially romance), magazines, board games, CCG’s, calendars, posters for diverse clients, and several hundred shows, including sf cons, ren faires, arts festivals, museum and group shows, and galleries.
Wjhodgson.com

Jim Humble
Jim has drawn and sculpted since childhood. He started out doing wildlife drawings and sculptures. He shares that his characters are based on reality mixed with a healthy dose of imagination influenced by monster movies, Conan, Tolkien, Lovecraft, the great Frank Frazetta, and three years in Europe. He now focuses on sci-fi fantasy art shows and private commissions. He has won numerous awards for sculpting and painting both nationally and internationally.  Jim constantly strives to adapt new and unexpected techniques and media into his art to create one-of-a-kind art. He paints traditionally with oils and acrylics, digitally, and makes sculpture and cast reproductions. His work includes fierce dragons, twisted gargoyles, fuzzy kittens and Lovecraftian horrors … sometimes all at once!

Thea Hutcheson
Thea Hutcheson’s story in Realms of Fantasy’s 100th issue prompted Lois Tilton of Locus to say her work “is sensual, fertile, with seed quickening on every page. Well done…” She has appeared in such publications as Hot Blood XI, Fatal Attractions; Baen’s Universe Issue 4, Vol. 1; High Noon on Proxima B; Crooked Little Christmas; and several of the critically acclaimed Fiction River anthologies. She lives in a comfortable community with stuffed bookshelves, a large lanai and two rescue cats, in a largish city in Colorado. When she’s not working diligently as a factotum, she writes. Find more of her work at www.theahutcheson.com
www.theahutcheson.com

Gregory R. Hyde
Gregory Hyde has received twelve acknowledgments from Writers of the Future, including two finalist and two semi-finalist recognitions. His fiction has appeared in publications such as Midnight Graffiti, The High Fantastic (Ocean View Books), Edward Bryant’s Sphere of Influence (Mad Cow Press), and Christmas Magic (Tor Books), a collaboration with Wil McCarthy. His latest publication will be in the Magazine of Literary Fantasy early next year. After careers as a mental health professional and a telecommunications engineer, he now works as a paraeducator—a role he considers ironic given his personal struggles with Attention Deficit Disorder, dyslexia, and Developmental Language Disorder.

Kevin Ikenberry
Kevin Ikenberry is a life-long space geek and retired Army officer. He’s an international bestselling author of more than twenty-five novels including Colorado Book Award finalist Sleeper Protocol and the bestselling series The Buzzer War. Kevin is also a renowned writing instructor which is pretty cool because he never imagined being either one of those – he still wants to be an astronaut. Kevin is an Active Member of the International Association of Science Fiction and Fantasy Authors, International Thriller Writers, and SIGMA – the science fiction think tank. A former space operations officer, Kevin continues to work with space.
www.kevinikenberry.com

RK Jack
RK Jack is a retired government agent with over thirty years of experience in federal law enforcement and the military. He has served on SRT and VIPR teams and held uniformed and undercover positions, including twenty years as a Federal Air Marshal (FAM). He deployed for Operation Desert Storm as an enlisted soldier and later became a lieutenant in the US Army National Guard. Now, he is busily writing horror books that portray the military and police not as stoic, unfeeling superheroes but as real people with real feelings and fears. Plus other horror, dark fantasy, sci-fi, and self-help books.
https://rkjackauthor.com/

Erik Johnson
Retired engineer. Had projects on secret sites and got exposed to a lot of strange stuff.

Lena M. Johnson
Lena M. Johnson is a science fiction author from Colorado who is obsessed with dinosaurs and cats. She has been published in various anthologies where she writes about badass women in futuristic worlds.
lenamjohnson.com

Stace Johnson
Stace Johnson is a writer and musician from Colorado. He has published more than 120 short pieces spanning non-fiction, fiction, and poetry, most recently in Animal Magica Volume 3, A Bit of Luck, Animal Magica Volume 2, and Modern Magic. His poetry has appeared in Star*Line, Tales of the Talisman, and on the Apex Publications website, and he recently republished the first book of poetry from Victorian poet Gerard Manley Hopkins as his masters capstone project. He can often be found performing geeky original parody songs and folk rock covers in his signature steampunk hat. Learn more at https://linktr.ee/lytspeed.
https://linktr.ee/lytspeed

K
I do not exist… Anonymity is my name. Silence my native tongue. I am no longer part of the System. I am above the System. Over it. Beyond it. I am ‘them.’ I am ‘they.’ I am the …

A.L. Kessler
A.L. Kessler is best known for her Here Witchy Witchy Series. She resides in Colorado Springs with her family and many animals and is a self-proclaimed coffee addict. When she’s not writing she can be found reading or cross stitching.
www.amylkessler.com

Dr Kim Klimek
Dr Kim Klimek was so fond of dragons and castles that she became a professor of medieval and women’s history, where she gets to regale students and strangers alike with stories of peoples from England to India, Africa to Peru. An academic writer (whose most recent published work was the undergraduate textbook Global Medieval Contexts), she also dabbles in SFF poetry and short fiction.

Sam Knight
As well as having worked for at least three publishing companies, Sam Knight started his own publishing company, Knight Writing Press. He has edited numerous short stories, novels, and anthologies, and is the author of six children’s books, five short story collections, four novels, and over 80 stories, including three co-authored with Kevin J. Anderson. Though he has written in many cool worlds, such as Planet of the Apes, Wayward Pines, and Jeff Sturgeon’s Last Cities of Earth, among his family, Sam will probably always be known for Chunky Monkey Pupu.
knightwritingpress.com

Dr. Rachael Kuintzle
Dr. Rachael Kuintzle is a speculative fiction writer, labor organizer, and University of Colorado, Boulder lecturer. While completing her biochemistry PhD at Caltech, she served as editor-in-chief and a contributing author of Caltech’s first sci-fi anthology, Inner Space and Outer Thoughts. Learn about her upcoming novels at www.rachaelkuintzle.com.
www.rachaelkuintzle.com

John Be Lane
John Be Lane’s recent novel, The Future Lies – a post-dystopian romantic thriller, is an Independent Press Award Techno-Thriller Distinguished Favorite, CYGNUS Awards Finalist for Science Fiction, and a Colorado Book Award Science Fiction Finalist. His previous book, The Beatin’ Path – a lyrical guide to lucid evolution received a Living Now Evergreen Award as ‘one of the world-changing books published since the year 2000.’ He lives in Colorado, and can always be found at JohnBe.com.
JohnBe.com

Shannon Lawrence
A fan of all things fantastical and frightening, Shannon Lawrence writes primarily horror and fantasy. Her short stories can be found in over sixty anthologies and magazines in addition to her four collections. Her nonfiction title, The Business of Short Stories, and urban fantasy novel, Myth Stalker: Wendigo Nights, are available now. You can also find her as a columnist for Rocky Mountain Reader. When she’s not writing, she’s hiking through the wilds of Colorado and photographing her magnificent surroundings, where, coincidentally, there’s always a place to hide a body or birth a monster. Find her at www.thewarriormuse.com.
http://thewarriormuse.com

Ajax Lickiss
Ajax Lickiss is someone of many interests including drawing, sewing, cooking/baking, playing video games, writing, and staring deeply into fire.

Jean-Luc Lickiss
Jean-Luc is an artist, writer, and cosplayer. He is best known for his comedy cosplay TikToks. Though calling him well known is probably a stretch.

Rebecca Lickiss
Rebecca Lickiss – While she still hasn’t gotten a life, Rebecca feels that she’s way too busy for that sort of thing. Suffering from novelitis, she has no choice but to write novels. Now that her feral children are all adults and not taking up the rest of her time, she also creates crochet critters and wire bonsai. Along with working the day job, which can’t be called a career, as the job itself has changed over the years.

Wil McCarthy
Aerospace engineer/startup founder Wil McCarthy, formerly of WIRED and the SyFy channel, has won the Prometheus award once and the AnLab award twice. He’s been nominated for the Nebula, Locus, Seiun, Sturgeon and Philip K. Dick awards, and Discover Magazine rated his world of “P2/Sorrow” one of the 10 best fictional planets of all time. He has appeared in Analog and Asimov’s, and his bestselling novels include New York Times Notable BLOOM, Amazon.com “Best of Y2K” THE COLLAPSIUM, and most recently, BEGGAR’S SKY (In the RICH MAN’S SKY series). He has also written for TV and video games, and published copious nonfiction. McCarthy holds 31 issued U.S. patents.
www.wilmccarthy.com

Megan McQuown
I’m a long time reader, Star Wars fanatic who loves teaching and playing French horn.

Reed Mingault
Reed Mingault is the daughter of a Marine and hasn’t spent more than a few years in one place in her life. Her formative years, when not moving cross country and across oceans, were spent on horseback and handling birds of prey, and she’ll happily tell you more than you wanted to know about either. She draws, paints, dabbles in illuminated calligraphy, and is fascinated by pre-industrial handicrafts. Reed lives with her geneticist husband, precocious daughter, and a small menagerie of furred, scaled, and exoskeleton-ed critters.
https://reedmingault.com/

Chris Miskimon
Christopher Miskimon (Chris) is a retired Army Space Operations Officer and Field Artillery Officer. He is a freelance writer currently specializing in military history along with current and near-term military affairs. He is a lifelong science fiction and fantasy fan who can discuss the works of Jerry Pournelle or the geography of the Forgotten Realms. Don’t be afraid to come up and talk to him, he’s not as cranky as he looks!
N/A

Lee Moody
Lee Moody has been stumping people with trivia at conventions for years now, usually in cahoots with husband and fellow trivia aficionado Peri Charlifu. Come try your luck Friday at 8 pm!

Andrew D.H. Moore
Andrew D.H. Moore graduated from Indiana University with degrees in Philosophy and Classical Literature. He received his MA from CU Boulder in Archaeology after working on projects in Turkey, Greece, Jordan, and Crete. After moving to Colorado, he taught literature at RMCAD and brewed beer professionally. He now writes gaslamp fantasy and space opera. His first book, Children of Solo, debuted in April 2025.
adhmoore.com

MtBotany
In five years MtBotany has made more than 16,000 edits to the various Wiki project making him a Veteran Editor III.[Citation Needed] He is one of the top 10,000 (barely) most active of the 15,000,000 editors who have contributed to the English language Wikipedia. Some contributions include 80 entirely new articles, rewriting well known articles such as Peach, Blue Spruce, and Aquilegia coerulea (Colorado Columbine), and uploading more than 1,000 images to Wikimedia Commons. He also vigorously denies being obsessed with plants due to being some sort of plant spirit badly imitating a human.

Charles Orndorff
The two of us have lived in Colorado Springs our entire lives. We have been making costumes and props for over 20 years. We have learned many different skills over time and are very glad to share our knowledge. We have a wide range of skills including sewing, fabrication, 3d design, and much more. We were instructors at the Pikes Peak Library District where we taught resin casting, silicon molding, and foam construction. For our current side hustle, we create and sell custom products like T-shirts, photo products, laser engraved items, and various other keepsakes.
4acustomkeepsake.com

Tauni Orndorff
The two of us have lived in Colorado Springs our entire lives. We have been making costumes and props for over 20 years. We have learned many different skills over time and are very glad to share our knowledge. We have a wide range of skills including sewing, fabrication, 3d design, and much more. We were instructors at the Pikes Peak Library District where we taught resin casting, silicon molding, and foam construction. For our current side hustle, we create and sell custom products like T-shirts, photo products, laser engraved items, and various other keepsakes.
4acustomkeepsake.com

Robin D. Owens
Multi-Award Winning novelist Robin D. Owens writes: futuristic/fantasy stories with telepathic animal companions; Western paranormal ghost books; a series featuring average American women summoned to an alternate dimension to fight hideous evil; and a few paranormal/fae books set in Denver. She moved from a traditionally published author to indy and has attended cons for mumbledy-mumble years (decades).

Tiffany Passmore
Tiffany is a Preschool teaching novelist with a love of cats and music. Representation in fantasy has been her siren song for many, many years. With each novel she pulls back the curtain and shows humanity who we truly are

Laurey (L.F.) Patten
L.F. (Laurey) Patten often characterizes her multitude of interests as “A.D.D of the right brain.” Degreed in history and anthropology, her checkered career has included work as an archaeologist on medieval/castle sites in England, tour guide at the Smithsonian, history teacher, herbalist, actress, singer, and pottery/jewelry instructor. (She also plays spoons and sings at Irish music sessions!) She has been writing/editing books, articles and short stories for the past 45 years. Her current novel, the heroic fantasy The Talent Sinistral, launched at World Fantasy Con in 2014, was written in loving tribute to fellow right-brainers everywhere.
Dathana.com

Ian Patterson
Ian Patterson is many things. Importantly here, he’s the award-winning author of The Narrator Cycle. He’s also an engineer, competitive cyclist, foodie, coffee lover, cat dad, human father, and reader of books. Preferably, thick books that deal with strange things and big ideas. He’s dreamed of being an author for decades, but finally began the journey with the birth of his first daughter. This is an objectively terrible time to start work that requires quiet concentration, and he knows it, but he loves the chaos nonetheless. He lives in Colorado with his family.
https://ipatterson.substack.com/

Qwordy
Stephanie Gillis is known across the internet as Q from the YouTube channel Qwordy. The author of the SPFBOX finalist The Humane Society for Creatures & Cryptids, she’s also a voracious reader, addictive crafter, and musical theater aficionado. She hosts regular livestreams to help others get their work done and be the chaos goblins we all are deep down inside.
http://authorqwordy.com/

Dr. Rob S. Rice
Rob S. Rice has long had a fascination with the histories of war, technology, and always the sea. His interests in human activity afloat extend to all historical periods. He has delivered papers before the American Philological Association in addition to a presentation at Annapolis and has taught successfully subjects from Mythology to Roman History in the course of his teaching career. He earned his doctorate in Ancient History from the University of Pennsylvania in 1994 and teaches Military Studies at the American Military University. His articles on the U.S. Navy appear in the respected Reader’s Guide to Military History. He wrote sections of Fighting Techniques of the Ancient World, Fighting Techniques of the Early Modern Era, The Encyclopedia of Warfare and other non-fiction. He has three other books of historical fantasy out from The Esterhazy Press, The Chronicles of Loquacious, Centaur, of Rhodes; Archival: Most Secret; Darkness in the Mirror and Acts of Heroes. His story ‘Mr. Long’s School for Girls’ appeared in Different Dragons II and ‘Across the Bloodstained Sea’ in Extinct?, both from the Wolfsinger Press. His works of Historical Fantasy are available from the Esterhazy Press, visit his website at http://www.robricebooks.com
http://www.robricebooks.com

Vennessa Robertson
Vennessa Robertson is an author and ex-educator and is active in the writing and historic reenactment communities. When she is not writing or homeschooling she is managing the family’s ever-growing large and small animal sanctuary ranch. She is the author of the Victorian Paranormal Arcane Adventuress series and the StarHawks futuristic military scifi series.

Steve Ruskin
Steve Ruskin writes thrillers with a hint of magic, and science fiction with a streak of rebellion. He is also an award-winning historian. He has been a university professor, a mountain bike guide, and a number of things in between. He can be found at www.steveruskin.com.
steveruskin.com

Peter Sartucci
Peter Sartucci is a local Colorado writer of epic fantasy and science fiction, a commenter on modern society and economy, fond of chocolate and good food and good wine and good friends. He lives with his wife Elizabeth in suburban Denver and shares care for their cerebral palsy daughter Rachel, one cat, and eleven ungrateful fruit trees.

Ronnie Seagren
Ronnie Seagren is active in the Northern Colorado Writers’ Workshop. Her novel, Seventh Daughter, is available from Wolfsinger Press and she is working on the sequel. When she isn’t writing, Ronnie is out photographing flowers and leading moonrise hikes at Roxborough State Park. Current grandchild count is nine!

David Shadoin
Shady is a whirly bird pilot by day and writer/Scotch aficianado by night. An avid golfer, sports fan and owner of two Huskies with his amazing and beautiful wife, H.Y. Gregor, Shady spends lots of his time when he isn’t working trying to spend all the energy of the puppies before they destroy the house.
davidshadoin.com

S.L. Stacy
S.L. Stacy writes urban fantasy and science fiction, with a good heaping of romance. Her most recent novel, Alien Gothic, is a YA sci-fi mystery about a telekinetic teen who solves supernatural crimes in her small town. She also has a PhD in Environmental Health and loves writing heroines with a passion for STEM. She resides in Colorado with her family.
slstacy.com

John E. Stith
John E. Stith is the author of ten novels, including REDSHIFT RENDEZVOUS, a Nebula Award nominee, and MANHATTAN TRANSFER, in development for TV. Several of his works with Ace Books and Tor Books have been bought by the Science Fiction Book Club, optioned for film, and translated into numerous languages. His TINY TIME MACHINE: THE COMPLETE TRILOGY was just published by Amazing Stories, and DISAVOWED, a new SF novel, was published in December, 2024.
http://www.neverend.com

Chuck Stout
Chuck’s lifelong passion for aerospace started with building models and reading science fiction. Those, plus interests in astronomy, medical engineering, and other sciences, led to satisfying careers as a rehabilitation engineer for Craig Hospital, aerospace engineer for AMSAT, aviation author and editor for Jeppesen and Boeing, museum exhibit developer for the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, and Curator of the Wings Over the Rockies Air and Space Museum. More recently, he’s begun writing a book on the history of aerospace in Colorado and celebrated 53 years as an active pilot. (And he still builds models and reads science fiction.)

Lauren C. Teffeau
Lauren C. Teffeau is a speculative fiction writer whose work focuses on environmental issues, examines the role of technology in our lives, and centers women’s voices through fantastical adventures and immersive worlds. Her novella A Hunger with No Name came out last fall from University of Tampa Press. Named a definitive work of climate fiction by Grist, her novel Implanted (2018, Angry Robot) was a finalist for the 2019 Compton Crook award for best first SF/F/H novel. She’s had over twenty short stories appear in speculative fiction magazines and anthologies. Look for a new novella from her this spring. http://www.laurencteffeau.com
https://www.laurencteffeau.com

Steve Wahl
I am a reader. I am naked without a book. I have 14 floor-to-ceiling bookcases and over two thousand books on my Kindle. Reading Science Fiction helped focus my life in public school. I am happily retired! Yay! My interests are widely scattered: My degrees are in archaeology and geology, so it makes almost no sense that I worked 43 years as computer programmer of Linux/Unix systems software and hold half a dozen patents. I took 5 years of metalsmithing and jewelry design night school and recently rebuilt my studio in the garage. I’ve been a con-goer for approximately 50 years and simply love COSine.

Beverly J. Warner
Beverly J. Warner is a lifelong devotee of fantasy and science fiction, folklore and pop culture, and all forms of storytelling. As a masquerade director, cosplay judge, panelist, and organizer she’s crafted welcoming spaces in fandom like writers’ meetups, costume contests, and flower crown workshops. When not volunteering or managing various small businesses, she enjoys Formula 1 Racing with her husband, K-Pop with her 5th grader, and snuggles with her two retired racing greyhounds.

Robert G. Williscroft
Dr. Robert G. Williscroft is a retired submarine officer, deep-sea & saturation diver, scientist, author, and lifelong adventurer. He spent 22 months underwater, a year in the equatorial Pacific, 3 years in the Arctic ice pack, and a year at the Geographic South Pole. He holds degrees in Marine Physics and Meteorology and a doctorate for developing a system to protect SCUBA divers in contaminated water. He is a prolific author of non-fiction, submarine technothrillers, and hard science fiction. He lives in Centennial, Colorado, with his wife and her cat.
http://robertwilliscroft.com

Anna Woof
Anna Wood is an artist, costumer, and chronic declutterer. And clutterer. And declutterer. She is also really good at demolition.