Okay, I should have posted this sooner (since people are already preregistering even though the website hasn’t been updated yet but will soon), but this year’s Mo*Con lineup has been set. You should probably know in advance, this year I turn fifty. By strange coincidence, Mo*Con begins the day after that event. I’m *positive* no shenanigans will ensue. Here’s the brief run down:

Mo*Con: Origins
Day: May 1-3, 2020
Location: Café Creative (546 E. 17th Street, Indianapolis, IN)

Guests of Honor: Nisi Shawl
-Chesya Burke
-Linda Addison
-Wrath James White
-Brian Keene

Editor Guest: Scott Andrews (Beneath Ceaseless Skies)

Publisher Guest of Honor: Jason Sizemore

Special Guests:
-K. Tempest Bradford
-Jeff Strand
-Lynne Hanson

FEATURED LOCAL ARTISTS
-Deonna Craig
-Rae Parker

BTW, the kickoff event (on my birthday): Mini Open Bite Night: Reads

More info (eventually though the preregistering link still works)

BIOS:

Nisi Shawl, winner of the 2019 Kate Wilhelm Solstice Award, wrote the 2016 Nebula Award finalist Everfair (Tor) and the 2008 Tiptree Award-winning collection Filter House (Aqueduct). Their stories also comprise the contents of PM Press’s 2019 Talk like a Man and Dark Moon’s 2018 Primer to Nisi Shawl, and they have edited and co-edited numerous anthologies such as New Suns: Original Speculative Fiction by People of Color. In 2005 they co-wrote Writing the Other: A Practical Approach. Shawl helped found the Carl Brandon Society, and serves on the board of the Clarion West Writers Workshop. They live in Seattle and take frequent walks with their cat.

Chesya Burke is a doctoral candidate in the Department of English at the University of Florida. Having written and published over a hundred fiction pieces and articles within the genres of science fiction, fantasy, comics and horror, her academic research focuses primarily on the intersections of race, gender and genre. In addition, she wrote several articles for the African American National Biography published by Harvard and Oxford University Press and she is currently working on her standalone comic. Burke’s story collection, Let’s Play White, is being taught in universities around the world. Chesya’s novel, The Strange Crimes of Little Africa has garnered critical acclaim by writers such as Tananarive Due and Kiese Laymon.

Linda D. Addison, award-winning author of four collections, including How To Recognize A Demon Has Become Your Friend, the first African-American recipient of the HWA Bram Stoker Award®, received the 2016 HWA Mentor of the Year Award and the 2018 HWA Lifetime Achievement Award. Check out her latest poetry in: The Place of Broken Things, written with Alessandro Manzetti (Crystal Lake Publishing, 2019). She’s excited about the 2020 release of a film (inspired by my poem of same name) “Mourning Meal”, by producer and director Jamal Hodge. She has published over 350 poems, stories and articles and is a member of CITH, HWA, SFWA and SFPA.

WRATH JAMES WHITE is a former World Class Heavyweight Kickboxer, a professional Kickboxing and Mixed Martial Arts trainer, distance runner, performance artist, and former street brawler, who is now known for creating some of the most disturbing works of fiction in print. He’s the author of such extreme horror classics as THE RESURRECTIONIST (now a major motion picture titled “Come Back To Me”) SUCCULENT PREY, and it’s sequel PREY DRIVE, YACCUB’S CURSE, 400 DAYS OF OPPRESSION, SACRIFICE, VORACIOUS, TO THE DEATH, THE REAPER, SKINZZ, EVERYONE DIES FAMOUS IN A SMALL TOWN, THE Book OF A THOUSAND SINS, HIS PAIN, POPULATION ZERO and many others. He is the co-author of TERATOLOGIST co-written with the king of extreme horror, Edward Lee, SOMETHING TERRIBLE co-written with his son Sultan Z. White, ORGY OF SOULS co-written with Maurice Broaddus, HERO and THE KILLINGS both co-written with J.F. Gonzalez, POISONING EROS co-written with Monica J. O’Rourke, MASTER OF PAIN co-written with Kristopher Rufty, and BOY’S NIGHT co-written with Matt Shaw among others.

BRIAN KEENE writes novels, comic books, stories, journalism, and other words for money. He is the author of over fifty books, mostly in the horror, crime, and fantasy genres. His 2003 novel, The Rising, is credited (along with Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead comic and Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later film) with inspiring pop culture’s recurrent interest in zombies. He oversees Maelstrom, a small press publishing imprint specializing in collectible limited editions, via Thunderstorm Books. He has written for such Marvel and DC properties as Thor, Doom Patrol, Justice League, Harley Quinn, Devil-Slayer, Superman, and Masters of the Universe, as well as his own critically acclaimed creator-owned comic series The Last Zombie. Keene has also written for media properties such as Doctor Who, The X-Files, Hellboy, and Aliens. Keene also hosts the popular podcasts The Horror Show with Brian Keene and Defenders Dialogue, both of which air weekly on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, YouTube, and elsewhere.

Scott H. Andrews lives in Virginia with his wife, two cats, thirteen guitars, a dozen overflowing bookcases, and hundreds of beer bottles from all over the world. Scott is a graduate of the Odyssey Writing Workshop; his literary short fiction has won a $1000 prize from the /Briar Cliff Review/, and his genre short fiction has appeared in /Space & Time/, /Crossed Genres/, and Ann VanderMeer’s /Weird Tales/.Besides teaching college chemistry, he is Editor-in-Chief and Publisher of the seven-time Hugo Award finalist online fantasy magazine /Beneath Ceaseless Skies/ .

Raised in the Appalachian hills of southeast Kentucky, Jason Sizemore is a three-time Hugo Award-nominated editor, writer, and publisher who operates the genre press Apex Publications. He is the author of a collection of dark science fiction and horror shorts titled Irredeemable and the tell-all creative nonfiction For Exposure: The Life and Times of a Small Press Publisher. He currently lives in Lexington, KY. For more information visit www.jason-sizemore.com or you can find him on Twitter @apexjason.

K. Tempest Bradford is a science fiction and fantasy writer, writing instructor, media critic, reviewer, and podcaster. Her short fiction has appeared in multiple anthologies and magazines including Strange Horizons, PodCastle, Sunspot Jungle, In the Shadow of the Towers, and many more. She’s the host of ORIGINality, a podcast about the roots of creative genius, and contributes to several more. Her media criticism and reviews can be found on NPR, io9, and in books about Time Lords. When not writing, she teaches classes on writing inclusive fiction through LitReactor and Writing the Other.com. Visit her website at ktempestbradford.com.

Jeff Strand is the four-time Bram Stoker Award-nominated author of over forty books, including PRESSURE, DWELLER, MY PRETTIES, and WOLF HUNT. Cemetery Dance said “No author working today comes close to Jeff Strand’s perfect mixture of comedy and terror,” but though most of his work falls into the “horror/comedy” category, he’s also written not-so-funny horror, comedy novels for kids, a romantic comedy, a smut comedy, and various other departures from the sub-genre for which he’s best known. He emceed the Bram Stoker Awards ceremony a record ten times (previous record: two times) and several of his books have been optioned for film. He lives in Atlanta, Georgia. He’s on social media that old people use (Facebook and Twitter) but not the new-fangled ones. You can visit his Gleefully Macabre website at www.JeffStrand.com.

Lynne Hansen is a horror artist who specializes in book covers. She has 19 years of book marketing and promotion experience, including serving for six years as senior editor for a small press publishing company. Lynne’s clients include Cemetery Dance Publications, Thunderstorm Books, and Bloodshot Books, as well as folks like New York Times bestselling authors Christopher Golden, Rick Hautala, and Thomas E. Sniegoski. For samples of her work for them and other fantastic authors like Jeff Strand, James A. Moore, Owl Goingback, Amber Benson, Peter Atkins, Lisa Morton, and many more, browse her portfolio at LynneHansenArt.com.

Deonna Craig is an Indianapolis based visual artist and the owner of DC’s heARTbeat. She graduated from Cathedral High School and DePauw University with a Bachelor of Arts in Communication and Sociology. As an entrepreneur, Deonna is able to pursue her passions of community building, teaching, public speaking, and of course visual art. She has received great recognition for her work in the cultural community. She also serves as a mentor, a dance instructor, and is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated. DC’s heARTbeat provides original artwork, live painting experiences, painting classes, and art therapy. Her unique work has been featured in various galleries and trade shows over the past 10 years. To learn more about Deonna Craig be sure to connect with her: IG: deonna_heartbeat, Facebook: Deonna Craig, Website: deonnacraigart.com

Rae Parker is a traditional artist with a background as a graphic designer, art instructor, tattoo and digital artist from Newark, New Jersey. Rae also graduated from the Illinois Institute of Art, Chicago receiving their Bachelor of Fine Arts in Visual Communications. Rae’s work has been shown at The Indiana Landmarks, The Murphy Arts Building, a iMOCA chapter, The Madame Walker Theater, Clowe’s Memorial Hall, IMA (now known as Newfields), The Indianapolis Central Library, The Arts Garden and Garfield Park Art Center. Art exhibits such as Flava Fresh and Meet the Artists has been the hosts of such exposure for Rae’s career. Their work has been published in the Indy Star, Indianapolis Recorder and Nuvo newspaper. Currently, Rae can be seen, creating live in a new stage production, titled “Village Voices : Notes from the Griot.” Rae has worked with non profit organizations: Classical Music Indy, Indiana Math and Science Academies, Arts for Lawrence as well as Theater at the Fort. Rae Parker Art & Design www.raeparkerart.bigcartel.com Instagram: @raeparkerart