Guests: {triggers:cat_name_1}

James C. Burns

The 2010 release of CALL OF Duty: Black Ops smashed records and introduced the world to James C Burns in the role of Sgt. Frank Woods, the gritty central character of the story.   An instant fan favorite, Burns received  2010 VGA “CHARACTER OF THE YEAR”  award and a world wide fan base 40 million strong.

When Activision released the sequel (Call Of Duty: Black Ops 2) it again featured James C Burns  as Sgt. Frank Woods.   The title went on to become the single highest grossing release of any entertainment product ever, and James went on to win the 2012 Call Of Duty Character of the Year Award.  The massive success and visibility of the role has garnered James an invitation to travel with the USO and visit military personnel in Europe and Afghanistan, the highest of honors.

AS an ever increasingly familiar face, fans now recognize James in dozens of film and TV roles.  His film resume shows a broad spectrum of projects, ranging from Michael Bays’ TRANSFORMERS to Werner Herzogs’ MY SON MY SON; WHAT HAVE YE DONE?.  James also stars in  to the 2012 zombie thriller DEAD SEASON which was the top downloaded summer title on NETFLIX in 2012. 

Among others, James’ recent TV appearances include BURN NOTICE, COLD CASE, MAKE IT OR BREAK IT, CRIMINAL MINDS, and GENERAL HOSPITAL where he recurs as the mysterious “VAUGHAN.

Currently James Is busy shooting CERTAIN JUSTICE (with Cung LI and Vinnie Jones),  and has signed on for DAWN PATROL ( Scott Eastwood, Dir. By Dan Petrie Jr.) to begin shooting in June of 2013.

FAll of 2013 should see the release of the highly acclaimed COLDWATER which took  the 2013 SXSW film festival by storm and BLACKJACKS, an SYFY action thriller.

Additionally, James is at work on  pre-production for ORBs,  looking for an October start date this  will be his directorial debut.  James is also celebrating the release of his comic book “REDACTED”.

Nicki Clyne

Born and raised in Vancouver, British Columbia, Nicki Clyne enjoyed a typical
childhood filled with school, sports, road trips, impromptu dance performances
and a dream of one day becoming a professional actress. But despite her desire
to grace the TV sets of millions, she never considered it a realistic goal and filed
the idea next to other potential career paths: teacher, psychologist, veterinarian,
fly girl, or architect. It wasn’t until she got the lead role of “Annie” in her high
school play that she considered pursuing acting more seriously. Until then, acting
classes were just another after-school activity, shuffled in with soccer practice,
ice hockey games, band rehearsal, student council and various other clubs and
sports. So after a couple more school plays and graduating with honors, she
got an agent and pursued her lifelong dream of becoming an actor. Since then,
Nicki has performed guest starring roles in several television shows, lead roles in
films and, most notably, the role of Crewman Specialist Cally on Sci Fi’s hit show
Battlestar Galactica. She can also be seen in the lead role of Vh1’s 80’s comedy
spoof Totally Awesome, with Chris Kattan, Tracy Morgan and Dominique Swain.
Nicki continues to involve herself in film and television projects, most recently
voicing the character of Soledad in the illustrated film, Godkiller. Alongside her
acting career, Nicki continued to pursue higher education by going to university
part time and constructing a greater vision of what she wanted to see in the
world, eventually realizing that in order to change the world, you must first
change yourself. She now devotes much of her time to projects that seek to
enliven awareness and ethics, as well as continuing her own personal journey of
growth and learning.

Zev Shlasinger

Zev Shlasinger started Z-Man Games in 1999 in order to bring back his favorite CCG, Shadowfist. With the successful revival of that CCG, Z-Man Games went on to produce their B-Movie card game series, starting with Grave Robbers from Outer Space.

In 2004, Z-Man dipped into board games and several years later made a name for itself with excellent licensed and original board and card games (and some RPGs too!). The banner year for Z-Man was 2008, which saw the release of Pandemic and Agricola.

In 2011, Zev sold the company, but still maintains a role as developer, procurer (of games), and convention rep. There are lots of exciting original and licensed games coming out from Z-Man and Zev means to be a big part of it.

Matt M McElroy

Matt M McElroy is the Director of Marketing for DriveThruRPG.com, DriveThruComics.com, and other related sites. Here, he works with companies like White Wolf Publishing, Wizards of the Coast, Fantasy Flight Games, and many more to deliver RPGs, comics, games, and genre fiction to fans around the world. A long-time horror, dark fantasy, and dark science fiction fan, he is also the owner of Flames Rising Press which publishes the type of fiction and games he loves. Haunted: 11 Tales of Ghostly Horror, an award winning anthology, is Flames Rising's most popular book in its current catalog.

Matt also occasionally dabbles in freelance writing and editing in the role-playing game industry. Currently, he is working on supplements for Vampire: the Masquerade and Hunter: the Vigil.

Marble Hornets

Marble Hornets is a horror series on YouTube created by Troy Wagner and Joseph DeLage in the summer of 2009. The series follows the narrator, Jay, as he goes through old footage of a cancelled film project by his old college friend, Alex. As he goes through more tapes, he discovers that Alex was being stalked by a paranormal entity and decides to continue to try and unravel the mystery behind the tapes.

The series has overcome a near complete lack of budget through the use of a first person narrative that helps create an atmosphere that portrays a sense of fear from both the seen and unseen. This limited perspective along with the cryptic responses from the ever-present "totheark" has helped provoke discussion on many message boards across the internet and helped to boost what started as a pastime into a channel boasting almost 290,000 total subscribers and over 59 million total upload views with minimal self-promotion. With this overwhelming show of support from its fans, the series now has its first two seasons available on DVD as well as t-shirts. The series was also an official honoree at the 15th annual Webby Awards in 2011.

Troy acts as co-creator, director, and editor of Marble Hornets, as well as playing Jay, the "narrator" of the series. He has also been working for multiple production companies on various commercial and narrative film projects in the Birmingham, AL area since 2005. In December of 2011, Troy graduated from the University of Alabama with a Bachelor's Degree in Media Production and a minor in Theatre.

Joseph, in stark contrast with Troy, had absolutely no experience in film prior to his involvement in Marble Hornets. Despite his work as co-creator, writer, and actor in the series, Joseph still spends much of his time focusing his creative efforts on music. Having grown up in a musical household, he began playing trumpet 15 years ago and is currently working on his Bachelor’s Degree in Music Performance at the University of Alabama.

After meeting Troy through a mutual friend in late 2008, Tim Sutton eventually became more involved in Troy’s various film projects. Having become a fan favorite, Tim has become more and more involved in the writing process of Marble Hornets in addition to his acting. He is currently finishing his Bachelor’s Degree in Media Production with a minor in Mathematics from the University of Alabama.

In addition to their work on Marble Hornets, the three were recently signed as writers for the horror game Slender: The Arrival, the much-anticipated follow-up of the indie hit, Slender: The Eight Pages. The game was developed by Blue Isle Studios in association with Parsec Productions and was released on March 26th.

Michael Curtis

Michael Curtis has been playing role-playing games since 1980 and a freelance writer and game designer since 2008. He has written or contributed to more than two dozen roleplaying games, supplements, and articles. Best known for Goodman Games’ The Dungeon Alphabet (for which he was awarded the 2011 Three Castles Award for Game Design) and Stonehell Dungeon, he’s also worked on the Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG, Goblinoid Games’ Realms of Crawling Chaos, and Secret Fire Games’ forthcoming Fragments I: The Way of Tree, Fire & Flame. Author of the DCC RPG adventures The Crawling Corruption, Emirikol Was Framed! and The Sea Queen Escapes!, Michael’s work has appeared in the pages of Gygax Magazine and he is a regular contributor to Fight On! magazine. He’s also had a cameo appearance in the web-comic Marvin the Mage. He writes the popular old school gaming blog, “The Society of Torch, Pole and Rope” (poleandrope.blogspot.com) when not working on RPG projects. Michael’s upcoming projects include contributions to Chapter 13 Press’ Tales from the Fallen Empire, the Dungeon Crawl Classics adventures Frozen in Time, In the Court of Chaos, and The Croaking Fane, a soon-to-be-release RPG from Goblinoid Games entitled MAJUS, and his own indie RPG, Shiverwhen.

Elaine Cunningham

New York Times bestselling author Elaine Cunningham lives in a fantasy world.  Several of them, in fact:  In addition to her extensive travels through the Forgotten Realms, she has written in the Star Wars extended universe, Pathfinder Tales, EverQuest, Ravenloft, Spelljammer, and made minor incursions into a few others.  Her Tales of Sevrin novellas are set in a world of her own creation, as are the stories in her short fiction collection Just Keep Weaving.  Elaine has also written urban fantasy;  Shadows in the Starlight, the second book in her Changeling Detective series, was included on the 2008 Kirkus list of 10 Best Sci-Fi Books.  Her publications include over 20 novels, about three dozen short stories, and a graphic novel.  For more information about her books, please visit her author website, www.elainecunningham.com.

Oscar Rios

Oscar Rios is an author of horror fiction and role playing scenarios for the Call of Cthulhu RPG. Since 2002 he has written countless Call of Cthulhu scenarios for nearly every historical era possible.  He’s authored five monographs for Chaosium, including Ripples from Carcosa and The Ravenar Saga.  His scenarios appear in various Chaosium monograph collections, including every Halloween themed one produced to date.  His work has appeared in The Unspeakable Oath, Worlds of Cthulhu and Independent Roleplayer’s Magazine. Oscar works for Miskatonic River Press, as a staff writer and editor.  His scenarios appear in several MRP books, including More Adventures in Arkham County, New Tales of the Miskatonic Valley, Lux in Tenebras and Tales of the Sleepless City.  He is also the author of The Legacy of Arrius Lurco, a campaign for Cthulhu Invictus published by Miskatonic River Press.  Oscar has several scenarios included in the upcoming expanded re-release of the classic Chaosium campaign, Horror on the Orient Express.  Most recently he has launched a new Chaosium Licensee called Golden Goblin Press, to produce material for the Call of Cthulhu RPG line.
            He has branched out into the realm of Lovecraftian fiction, with short stories in Cthulhu’s Dark Cults, Horror for the Holidays, and the upcoming collections Undead and Unbound and Cthulhu’s Dark Cults II.  He further branched out into the world of Fantasy RPG’s, writing A Faceless Enemy for Chapter 13 Press, as part of Tales From the Fallen Empire: Post-Apocalyptic Sword and Sorcery Setting for the Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG (coming soon).  At his core Oscar remains an avid gamer, running and playing Call of Cthulhu whenever possible.

Andre Kruppa

Andre runs a theatrical style game with a presentation designed to create an immersive role-playing experience. Characters are provided with a full bio and description to give players a solid role to play. Lights, sound, music, handouts, and some props are used to help set the scene and the mood. Players should expect a long session and some fun role-playing opportunities.
Three convention-style Call of Cthulhu scenarios, by Andre, have been published by Chaosium as monographs. These scenarios, The Vault, Rise of the Dead, and Rise of the Dead: Part 2 - The Raid, include detailed characters, handouts, and staging advice.
Andre recently launched Game Soapbox Productions, a studio and publishing company dedicated to the passion and power of storytelling. In the works are campaigns set in the dark 50s and a shadowy post Lovecraftian 30s, core rules for gritty role-playing, audio books, soundscapes, e-books, and immersive RPG tabletop production elements.
www.gamesoapbox.com

Cam Banks

Cam Banks is Brand Manager for Atlas Games. He was born in the antipodean paradise of New Zealand, a nation whose geography doubles for such fictional landscapes as Mythic Greece and Middle Earth. Despite his uneventful education in history, philosophy, and psychology at NZ's Waikato University he learned his true passion was in playing games and making things up. Forsaking his homeland, he emigrated to the USA to marry his soul mate and pursue such diverse careers as retail manager, cafe manager, client engagement manager, and library annex manager. He spent the last decade working for Margaret Weis Productions and helped create, develop, and manage over fifty roleplaying games and sourcebooks, including award-winning RPGs based on Marvel Comics and Leverage. Now living in Saint Paul with his wife and two sons, Cam is thrilled to add "brands" to things he can manage.

Lauren Landa

Born and raised in Los Angeles, California, Lauren first began acting at the age of 11 in the stage production ofAnnie, and continued with shows including; Rogers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella, Bye Bye Birdie, Comic Potential. Lauren has also been Assistant Director for stage productions such as: Stephen Sondheim’s Merrily We Roll Along, Batboy the Musical, as well as the Greek comedy,Lysistrata.

But within that world behind the Mic: As a Voice over Actress, she is most known for roles such as Litchi Faye Ling in the popular fighting games “BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger” as well as the sequels “BlazBlue: Continuum Shift”, and “Continuum Shift Extend”, Kyoko Sakura in “Madoka Magica”, Yan Leixia in “Soul Calibur V”, Little Queen in “Tales of Graces”, Boiboi in “REDLINE”, and most recently, she welcomes a new addition; Kasumi in “Dead or Alive 5”! As well as recently announcing her upcoming role as Squigly in Skullgirls.

She has had several roles in anime and video games such as: Leeza, (Blazing Souls Accelate), Arf and Chrono Harlaown (Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha/ A’s), Kirche Van Zerbst, (Familiar Of Zero) Aegil, Cotton, Sasha (Rondo of Swords), Lila (Summon Night Twin Age), Rina (Luminous Arc 2), Yoko (Sakichi Satô’s Tokyo Zombie) Sy-Fy channel’s anime addition (Monster) and more!

Be sure to keep an eye out for future announcements that, for right now, remain under wraps! Exciting news coming later this year!

Michael J Sullivan

Matt Triano

Matt Triano is the dynamic artist on Dyanmite Publishings new "Sherlock Holmes: The Liverpool Demon" series, as well as being the penciler and inker  and cover artist on numerous works for "Robyn Hood" and "Grimm's Myths and Legends," as well as "The Story of Mankind" for The History Channel.  In short, Matt has written and drawn comics for collections and anthologies by publishers such as Moonstone, DC, Dynamite and Atomic Press. He is also known for his storyboard work, motion comic work, and artwork for various ad agency projects developing custom comics for high profile clients. His art can currently be seen in works for Robin Hood Charities in New York, Moonstone (Captain Action), Zenescope (Grimm's Myths and Legends), The Discovery Channel and Marvel Trading cards (Marvel Characters), as well as a Batman story for the "DC Halloween Special."

Dennis Calero

Dennis Calero is the award winning and internationally recognized artist of X-Men: Noir and Legion of Superheroes. He has also leant his talents to CCG Properties such as Magic and Legend of the Five Rings, as well as Dungeons & Dragons. His work includes X-Men Noir : Mark of Cain, X-Factor, 28 Days Later: The Aftermath, Cowboys and Aliens, Dark Tower, Fallen Angel, Hawkgirl, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Supergirl and the Legion of Superheroes, Magic The Gathering, Countdown to Final Crisis, Wolverine: First Class and JSA Classified. During his tenure on X-Factor the title was nominated for the Harvey Award for Best New Series (2006). Calero has also provided illustrations sporadically for role-playing games, beginning in 1996 for White Wolf. He has done interior artwork for Dungeons & Dragons books for the Forgotten Realms setting, such as Silver Marches,Faiths and Pantheons, and Races of Faer. Calero also co-founded Atomic Paintbrush, one of the first computer-coloring companies working in the comic-book field. Currently you can see his work on the interiors of "Alex Ross's MASK," and the History Channel's "The Story of Mankind," as well as covers for "Lone Ranger," and "Witchblade."

Rodney Ramos

Rodney Ramos has been a professional penciler / inker in the comic book industry for over 15 years. He started his career as an assistant to Mark Texeira . He then when on to Marvel Comics working in production doing art corrections as one of John Romita’s Raiders . He started penciling on such titles as Thundercats, Marvel Presents, What If , Conan and Toxic Avenger . He also started inking on a wide variety of books such as Gen-X, Ironman , Gambit, Punisher War Journal, Spider-man and  Peter Parker the Amazing Spider-man. He when on to Valiant to work with Jim shooter to pencil  Legend of Zelda and inking titles Armorines, Bloodshot , X-O Man Of War .While he was over in  England he starting working for Marvel Comics UK  on Black Axe, Super Soldiers, Death,s Head . He has worked at Marvel .Marvel Comics U.K, DC Comics, Valiant, Acclaim comics, Malibu and Continuity Comics with Neal Adams. His inks have graced many titles such as Spider-man, X-men, Iron-man, Peter Parker, Batman, Wonder Woman and the critically acclaimed Transmetropolitan with Warren Ellis and Darick Robertson. Recently he has worked for DC  Comics on 52, Countdown, Green Lantern, Batman, JSA, Magog, Vertigo,s Bang Tango and many more titles.

Michael Golden

Renee Witterstaetter

Tahmoh Penikett

Tahmoh is delighted to have starred as Lieutenant Karl “Helo” Agathon on the  Emmy Nominated Sci Fi series Battlestar Galactica  for which he has received the prestigious Peabody Award. Prior to Battlestar Galactica, Tahmoh joined the cast of the critically acclaimed Canadian series The Cold Squad for their final season.  His performance on that series earned him a LEO award nomination. Tahmoh’s next major public production was Joss Whedon’s sci-fi series Dollhouse, which was just cancelled after 2 seasons.

Tahmoh has also be seen in a Guest Starring capacity in a variety of other series including a recurring Guest Star on Whistler (The N), Smallville (FOX)  and  The L Word (Showtime ).  Tahmoh stars in the short film, Trapped Ashes, directed by renowned director Monte Hellman, which debuted at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival. Tahmoh had two films which came out in 2007, Trick 'r Treat (Warner Bros) and The Green Chain (Movie Central) and debuted at the Vancouver Film Festival. Most recently Tahmoh Penikett played the lead role of Matt Ellman on Syfy's four-hour TV adaptation of Riverworld.

Tahmoh was born in the city of Whitehorse in the Yukon, Canada and his background, which includes strong ties to the Upper Tanana tribe and their traditions, led him to his love of storytelling.  Tahmoh has a very strong connection and devotion to his family with whom he spends time with whenever possible.

In his spare time enjoys a variety of athletic pursuits including being a competitive kick boxer.

Neil Grayston

Born and raised in suburban Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, Neil Grayston caught the acting bug while participating in his high school drama club’s performance of Hamlet, where he played the titular Danish Prince. Following graduation, Neil had a number of guest star and leading roles in Canadian television, including the critically acclaimed CBC young adult series Edgemont.

Neil’s credits include: a series regular role as ‘Alec,’ the mouth-breather, on FOX’s critically acclaimed dramedy Wonderfalls and his Leo Award nominated performance for his portrayal of ‘Martin,’ the stoic sous-chef in CTV’s dramedy Godiva’s. Selected guest star roles include: The CW’s Smallville and Supernatural, as well as CBS’ The Dead Zone.

American audiences best know Neil Grayston for his leading role as ‘Douglas Fargo’ for five seasons on the hit series, Eureka. Eureka is the second highest rated show on the SyFy Channel and was nominated by TV Guide for the "Fan Favorite Award." Neil’s character, ‘Douglas Fargo’ appeared in a crossover arc on SyFy’s #1 show, Warehouse 13.

With very little time between series, Neil has had the pleasure of being able to work on a number of independent films and movies for television. Most recently, Neil can be seen in the leading role ‘Steve Palmer’ in SyFy’s soon-to-be-released movie for television End of the World.

Neil currently resides in Los Angeles.

Micheal Trucco

Edward Michael Trucco is an American actor known for his role as Samuel T. Anders on the re-imagined ‘Battlestar Galactica’ and as Justin Patrick on the USA Network television series ‘Fairly Legal.’

Born and raised the son of a police officer in San Mateo, California, Michael graduated with a BA in Theatre Arts and worked in the San Francisco Bay Area for a couple of years until the desire to reach for bigger parts drove him to Los Angeles.  He appeared in six plays over the next 2 years, but it was his appearance in “A Few Good Men" that got Michael noticed by a talent manager and thus began his upward climb in film and television.

Trucco became active in television in the late 1990s with appearances in episodes of ‘Touched by an Angel,’ ‘Silk Stalkings,’ ‘Beverly Hills, 90210,’ ‘Dr. Quinn: Medicine Woman,’ and ‘Pensacola: Wings of Gold’ with James Brolin among others. He continued appearing in shows of similar genres like ‘CSI,’’ Heartbeart,’ ‘Strong Medicine,’ ‘CSI: Miami,’ and others into the 2000s. He played Cooper Lee in six episodes of ‘One Tree Hill’ from 2005 to 2006.

In 2002, Trucco starred in ‘Wishmaster 4: The Prophecy Fulfilled.’ In 2005, he joined the drama ‘Battlestar Galactica’ in the role of Samuel T. Anders, and in 2007 played Jessica Biel’s boyfriend on the Sony/Revolution feature Next starring Nicolas Cage. In 2008, he guest-starred on NBC's ‘Law & Order: Special Victims’ and ‘The Big Bang Theory.’ In 2010, he guest-starred on ABC's series ‘Castle,’ as Detective Tom Demming, and in the same year Trucco was cast as a series regular in the USA Network series ‘Fairly Legal’.

Trucco went on to guest star in a season 6 episode of ‘How I Met Your Mother’ in 2011, and got a recurring role in the show's eighth season. He is now starring in this season's ‘Revenge’ as Kenny's brother.

Trucco is also the lead guitarist of the band Simpleworld.

Marina Sirtis

Marina Sirtis is recognized worldwide as the sexy and cerebral Starfleet Commander “Deanna Troi” of the STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION series and STAR TREK feature films.  Over time, Marina skillfully transformed the popular character from reserved beauty to delicious diva by inserting her own trademark wit and comedic timing.

Marina was born in London, England to Greek parents who did not want her to become an actress.  After high school, she secretly applied to the prestigious Guild Hall School of Music and Drama.  After graduating, Marina earned her acting chops performing on British television and stage.  In 1986, Marina moved to Los Angeles hoping to make her mark in American film and television.

After six months, Marina was ready to call it quits and head back to the UK. Legendary STAR TREK creator GENE RODDENBERRY would change her mind. He was casting for STAR TREK:  THE NEXT GENERATION.  After what she thought was a terrible audition, and just moments before boarding a plane for London, Marina got the call that would launch her career.

Producers wanted her for the role of “Deanna Troi.”

Marina’s dramatic and comedic range has created opportunities on stage, television and feature films beyond the STAR TREK franchise as well.  Her feature films include the Academy Award-winning Best Picture CRASH for which she received a SAG Award (Ensemble). On the small screen, she starred as “Queen Wealhteow” in the SCI-FI Channel’s movie GRENDEL as well as numerous guest starring appearances on shows like WITHOUT A TRACE, GIRLFRIENDS, THREAT MATRIX, THE CLOSER and ENTERPRISE.  Most recently, Marina wrapped a guest-starring role in the UK’s HOBIE CITY.

Aaron Douglas

Aaron Douglas is best known for his portrayal of Chief Galen Tyrol on Syfy’s Battlestar Galactica.  Before joining the Battlestar cast Aaron had roles on many films and TV shows including: X-Men 2, iRobot, Stargate SG-1, Andromeda, The Exorcism of Emily Rose, Outer Limits and many many more.  Since Battlestar Galactica we have found Aaron in his own show “The Bridge” and as the evil Bill Marsh on “Hellcats”.  2011 has found Aaron on the screen guest staring in an episode of “Eureka”, an episode of CBS’ “Flashpoint” as well as a couple of Syfy creature features “Ghost Storm” and “Killer Mountain” where Aaron is teamed for the first time, since Battlestar, with his good friend and former cast mate Paul Campbell.  In 2012 Aaron can be found on NBC’s The Firm.

Aaron does a lot of work for charities and the majority of his efforts go to the Canadian Cancer Foundation and Canuck Place Children’s Hospice.

Brandon Sanderson

Brandon Sanderson was born in December 1975 in Lincoln, Nebraska. As a child Brandon enjoyed reading, but he lost interest in the types of titles often suggested for him, and by junior high he never cracked a book if he could help it. This all changed in eighth grade when an astute teacher, Mrs. Reader, gave Brandon Dragonsbane by Barbara Hambly. Brandon thoroughly enjoyed this book, and went in search of anything similar. He discovered such authors as Robert Jordan, Melanie Rawn, David Eddings, Anne McCaffrey, and Orson Scott Card. Brandon continued to be an avid reader through junior high and high school. He liked epic fantasy so much that he even tried his hand at writing some. His first attempts, he says, were dreadful.
 

In 1994 Brandon enrolled at Brigham Young University as a biochemistry major. From 1995 to 1997 he took time away from his studies to serve as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Brandon often says that it was during this time in Seoul, Korea that he realized that he didn’t miss chemistry one bit, but he did miss writing. Upon his return to BYU, Brandon became an English major, much to the dismay of his mother, who had always hoped he would become a doctor.
 

Brandon began writing in earnest, taking a job as the night desk clerk at a hotel because they allowed him to write while at work. During this era he went to school full time during the day, worked nights to pay for his schooling, and wrote as much as he could. He says it made for a rather dismal social life, but he finished seven novels during his undergraduate years. Brandon submitted many manuscripts for publication . . . and accumulated quite a pile of rejection letters. In spite of this he continued to be a dedicated writer.
 

Volunteering for The Leading Edge, BYU’s science fiction/fantasy magazine, was a wonderful experience for Brandon. He read many submissions, formed some lifelong friendships, and served as Editor in Chief during his senior year.
 

Brandon learned much about the business side of being a writer by taking a class from David Farland, author of the popular Runelords series. One piece of advice Dave gave Brandon was to attend conventions, such as Worldcon and World Fantasy, in order to connect with industry professionals. Brandon and a small group of friends who were also aspiring writers began to do so. He eventually met both his current agent and one of his editors at conventions.
 

It was in 2003, while Brandon was in the middle of a graduate program at BYU, that he got a call from editor Moshe Feder at Tor, who wanted to buy one of Brandon’s books. Brandon had submitted the manuscript a year and a half earlier, and had almost given up on hearing anything, so he was surprised and delighted to receive the offer. In May 2005 Brandon held his first published novel, Elantris, in his hands. Over the next few years, Tor also published Brandon’s Mistborn trilogy, its followup The Alloy of Law, Warbreaker, and The Way of Kings, the first in a projected ten-volume series called The Stormlight Archive. Other projects continue to be in the works.
 

In 2004 after graduating with his Master’s degree in creative writing from Brigham Young University, Brandon was asked to teach the class he had taken as an undergraduate student from Dave Farland. In spite of his busy schedule, Brandon continues to teach this one section of creative writing focused on science fiction and fantasy because he enjoys helping aspiring writers. It also gets him out of the house, he says. Additionally, along with Howard Tayler, Mary Robinette Kowal, and Dan Wells, he hosts the doubly Hugo-nominated writing advice podcast Writing Excuses, which has twice won a Parsec Award.
 

In July 2006 Brandon married Emily Bushman. Emily and Brandon ran in many of the same circles at BYU during their student days, since Emily majored in English as well. They never met, however, until a mutual friend set them up on a date in 2005. Emily had spent seven years as a teacher, but chose to quit with the birth of their first child in October 2007. Emily now works from home part time as Brandon’s business manager.
 

Brandon’s repertoire expanded into the children’s market when Scholastic published Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians, a middle-grade novel, in October 2007. Nancy Pearl gave this book a very favorable review on National Public Radio, which pleased Sanderson fans. Three more volumes of the series have been released so far. Brandon also moved into the young adult market in 2013, when The Rithmatist was released by Tor and Steelheart will come out from Delacorte.
 

Brandon’s focus has always been novels, but he has published some short fiction as well. Novelettes “Defending Elysium” and “Firstborn” were released in 2008, and in 2011 Brandon’s novella Infinity Blade: Awakening was an ebook bestseller for Epic Games accompanying their acclaimed Infinity Blade iOS video game series. Subterranean Press released the novella Legion in 2012, and Tachyon Press released The Emperor’s Soul that year as well.
 

In December 2007 Brandon was chosen by Harriet McDougal Rigney to complete Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series after his untimely passing. 2009’s The Gathering Storm and 2010’s Towers of Midnight were followed by the final volume in the series, A Memory of Light, in January 2013.
 

The only author to make the short list for the David Gemmell Legend Award six times in four years, Brandon won that award in 2011 for The Way of Kings and was on the short list again in 2012 for The Alloy of Law. He has also won the Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice award for Best Epic Fantasy twice and has been nominated three other years. He was twice nominated for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. He has hit the New York Times Hardcover Fiction Best-Seller List six times, with both Wheel of Time books hitting the #1 spot. Towers of Midnight was on the list for a Wheel of Time record eighteen straight weeks. Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians was optioned for film by DreamWorks Animation, Mistborn was optioned by Paloppa Pictures, Legion was optioned by Lionsgate, and Steelheart was optioned by FilmEngine. A Mistborn video game, Mistborn: Birthright, will be released by Little Orbit in 2014 for multiple platforms, and the tabletop RPG Mistborn Adventure Game was released by Crafty Games in 2012. Brandon’s books have been published in over 20 languages, and he has won Spain’s UPC Science Fiction Award.

Tim Buckley - CtrlAltDel

By day, an aloof, billionaire, philanthropist, gamer playboy.  However, when night falls and the city's villainous element come out to play, he dons cape and cowl and valiantly... sits in his office drawing cartoons. For the internet.

For the last ten years he has been the author and artist of Ctrl+Alt+Del, a comic strip about video games and the gamers that play them, as well as an animated series by the same name. ConnectiCon was the very first convention he ever attended as a creator, and he is excited to be returning yet again for 2013!

Phil Kahn

A longtime professional neckbeard, Phil Kahn has spent a few years writing for various webcomic, webcomic criticism, and webcomic enthusiast sites, and is now trying to take his accumulated knowledge and put it all to use on Guilded Age. While building a daytime career as an IT guy and galaxy saver, he also spends a great deal of time practicing silly voices/faces in front of a mirror for the inevitable day where the only thing that can save the whole of humanity from certain doom is his impression of Henchman #24. He was also totally that gnome lock who just won’t DIE ALREADY.

Michael (Mookie) Terracciano

Michael "Mookie" Terracciano is the author and artist of the fantasy webcomic, "Dominic Deegan: Oracle for Hire."  Since its humble beginnings over ten years ago it has received acclaim for its addictive storylines, memorable characters, painful puns, awful alliteration and (gasp!) reliable update schedule.  Want to know what's so interesting about a grumpy seer, a deformed sorceress, a talking cat, and their adventures with demon knights, bumbling thieves, planar-spanning threats and lower back problems?  See for yourself at www.dominic-deegan.com!

Margaret Killjoy

Margaret Killjoy is a nomadic author, editor, anarchist, and activist. He is the founder and current editor of SteamPunk Magazine as well as the author of A Steampunk’s Guide to the Apocalypse, the choose-your-own-adventure book What Lies Beneath the Clock Tower, and Mythmakers & Lawbreakers: Anarchist Writers on Fiction. He publishes with the zine-publishing group Strangers In A Tangled Wilderness as well as the collectively-run genre fiction publisher Combustion Books. He speaks and writes about the social significance of fiction and the rich political history of steampunk as both a genre and an emerging culture.

Garth Graham

“Hey you sass that hoopy Garth Graham? Now there’s a frood who really knows where his towel is,” would be the words on the lips of internet trawlers the world ‘round if we didn’t happen to live in the unfashionable western spiral arm of the galaxy. Instead, they just say how professional he is as he lurks in modest internet fame, churning out captivating comics since 2004 in an artistic style that mystically abducts the essences of both western comics and eastern manga; blending them together through patent pending methods into an addictive drug that tantalizes the optic nerves in ways science has yet to be able to explain.

His latest artistic creation is Finder’s Keepers (http://www.finderskeepers.gcgstudios.com), the dark urban fantasy of a young lady who accidentally claims the soul of a man who is not entirely human, thus entangling herself in a mystery that spans the breadth of human imagination. A mystery whose solution will most likely get her killed, but is the only thing that can return her to a normal life and break the bond between herself and her otherworldly companion. It is kind of like what you’d get if Scott Campbell of Danger Girl drew Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere.

Garth has become well known for his steampunk art, though his heart will always belong to cyberpunk.

Doug Walker (That Guy With The Glasses)

Doug Walker, from ThatGuyWithTheGlasses.com is best known for his character The Nostalgia Critic, who reviews bad movies and TV shows from childhood. He also plays the roles of That Guy With The Glasses, who answers the weirdest questions fans can come up with, Chester A. Bum, the hyper active bum who loves every movie ever made, and Dominic, a bartender who has talked with the video game world's biggest stars. He's also noted for having a long standing "rivalry" with The Angry Video Game Nerd.  His online shows averages one to two hundred thousand viewers a week. His fans include Roger Ebert, Paul Dini, and the creators of Animaniacs. He's appeared on PBS, Entrepreneur Magazine, New York Times, has worked with the stars of Mystery Science Theater 3000, and was awarded Entrepreneur of the Year at the 4th Annual Mashable Awards in 2010.  Often his convention appearances end up turning into comedic videos featured on his site, so don't miss your chance to possibly be featured in one.

Atomic Robo

Brian Clevinger writes and Scott Wegener draws. Mostly they do those at Atomic Robo. It's the story of Nikola Tesla's robot fighting all kinds of crazy sci-fi stuff like mobile pyramids, clockwork zombies, Stephen Hawking (metaphorically), the planet Mars (kinda), Nazi war mechs, a brain in a jar, Edison, and a time traveling dinosaur who might not be either of those things.

Jim Cummings

Tell the kid he’s got it,” said the legendary Mel Blanc with a smile, after listening to a young man’s first demo tape of cartoon character voices.  The year was 1984, “the kid,” was Jim Cummings.  Since then, the kid has gone on to give life and voice to some of America’s most beloved animal Characters, even a few of the late Mel Blanc’s, and he was even nominated for an Emmy Award for his work as the lovable Tigger on Disney Channel’s “My Friends Tigger and Pooh,” in which he also voices everyone’s favorite bear, Winnie the Pooh.

Born and raised in Youngstown Ohio, Cummings spent Saturday mornings riveted to the TV screen as he mimicked the characters in his favorite cartoons, all the while dreaming that one day he would voice them himself.  At age 19, he moved to New Orleans, where he performed as a drummer, a singer, a deck hand on riverboats, and even designed and created Mardi Gras floats, all the while absorbing the rich characters and accents that would someday find expression in animation.

Years later, Cummings relocated to Southern California and managed a video store as he pursued his childhood dream.  He gave his first demo to a customer who was also a movie producer, and the rest, as they say, is history.  In 1984, Cummings landed his first role as Lionel the lion, in Disney Channel’s “Dumbo Circus.”  During his illustrious career, he has worked extensively for the Walt Disney Studios voicing classic characters such as Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, King Louis, Kaa the Snake, Pete (formerly peg legged Pete), and more.  His many other credits include Darkwing Duck, Bonkers, Fat Cat, and Monterey Jack on “Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers,” Don Kamage on “Tailspin,” and too many others to mention here.

Cummings has done scores of voices for Warner Bros, as well, including Taz the Tazmanian Devil himself, Steven Spielberg’s “Animaniacs,” ”Tiny Toon Adventures,” “Batman,” ”Pinky and the Brain,” ”Tazmania,” “Duck Dodgers,” and more.  Other credits include “King of the Hill,” “Bump in the Night,” “Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius,” “The Replacments,” “The Addams Family,” “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” “Star Wars Clone Wars,” “The Simpsons,” “Barnyard,” and “Catdog.”

Not Limited to the small screen, Cummings has acted in several blockbuster feature films for Dreamworks including “Shrek,” “Antz,” “Kung Fu Panda’s Furious 5,” “Hook,” “The Bee Movie,” “Balto,” and more.  His credits read like a top-list of animated and live-action films.  Credits include “Who framed Roger Rabbit,” “The Little Mermaid,” ‘Aladdin,” “Tarzan,” “Pocahontas,” “The Lion King,” “Babe: Pig in the City,” “The Hunchback of Notre Dame,” “Brother Bear 2,” “The Princess and The Frog ” to name a few.

Cummings’ uncanny ability to sing in character and voice match for stars who are, in his words, “great actors, just not great singers,” has led to many platinum and gold records for soundtracks like “Anastasia,” “The Lion King,” “Fox and the Hound,” “Pocahontas,” “Hercules,” and more.  He was also AC, the lead singer of the famed California Raisins.

As of late, Jim was nominated for an Annie Award for his performance in “Gnomeo and Juliet,” where he plays the amorous garden flamingo, Featherstone. He can also be heard in the recently released animated Disney Classic, “Winnie the Pooh” in which he plays both Winnie the Pooh and Tigger, too! And, he will be playing an evil African Warlord, Budzo, in the upcoming feature film, “Zambezia,” which is being released later this year.

Cummings’ work in voice over includes hundreds of television and radio commercials, movie trailers, promos, and videogames.  “Pretty much anything involving microphones, music, noise in general, and padded walls,“ jokes the affable actor, and “remember, only you can prevent forest fires,” so says Smokey the Bear, aka Jim Cummings.  No matter how busy Cummings, schedule may be, it all stops when Famous Fone Friends of Make a Wish Foundation call on behalf of a very ill child and distraught family in need of a phone call from their favorite cartoon character.  “Just bringing a respite, however brief, and perhaps a smile and giggle or two, means so much to the child and their family.  I consider it a true blessing to be able to do that.”

Cummings is a proud father of four and resides somewhere in California with his beautiful two younger daughters Grace and Lulu Rose…and their critters.

Jon St. John

Jon St. John is an American voice actor who has provided the character voices for more than 120 video games and countless commercial projects.

Best known as the voice of DUKE NUKEM, Jon is also heard on games such as: World of Warcraft, Half-Life: Opposing Force, Sonic Adventure, Conduit 2, Heroes of Newerth, Call of Cthulhu, The Die Hard Trilogy, Rochard, Gears of War, and Guild Wars 2.

Jon has also provided character voices for theme parks such as Legoland California, and Dollywood in Tennessee.

A regular honored guest at cons from coast to coast, Jon says he’s thrilled to have a job that he loves, and having fans worldwide doesn’t suck, either.

Shawn Handyside of http://www.halolz.com/

Bio Coming Soon...

http://www.halolz.com/

CJ Henderson