A Fan-Operated Science Fiction and Fantasy Literary and Filk Convention in the Dallas/Fort Worth Area

February 23-25, 2024 * Doubletree by Hilton Hotel Dallas Near the Galleria, 4099 Valley View Lane, Dallas

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Guests of Honor


Via Bella Music Guests of Honor (Bandcamp) (HearNow) (Patreon) (Facebook) (Twitter) (Instagram) Via Bella (aka Erin and Rand Bellavia) are a nerd rock band from Buffalo, NY. Their songs address many fandoms, including Agent/Peggy/Captain Carter, A Wrinkle in Time, Mr. Rogers, the October Daye books, Sesame Street, and the Princess Bride. Their debut album The Way of Beauty was released in 2018. In January 2023, Erin was the Toastmistress at GAFilk. She has been nominated for 7 Pegasus Awards, including a 2021 nomination with Merav Hoffman and Seanan McGuire for the Via Bella song “Dear Seanan.” In 2022, she took on the role of co-conchair for FilKONtario. Rand’s other band Ookla the Mok were the Music Guest of Honor at FenCon in 2014. Rand co-wrote the theme song to Disney’s Fillmore, and (True Story) his voice is the first thing you hear on Gym Class Heroes’ Billboard top five hit “Cupid’s Chokehold.” Rand released a solo album (The Tips of My Fingers) in 2021 and a Bandcamp exclusive EP in 2022. He has twice had the most requested song of the year on Dr. Demento, won the Logan Award for Best Original Comedy song in 2014, and has been nominated for 23 Pegasus Awards, winning 4. Rand plays guitar. They both sing. Erin’s been known to wear a costume or two. Come see what all the fuss is about. (Psst! Wanna share this bio on social media? Go here.)
Scott Zrubek Fen Guest of Honor Scott has been active in convention running since 1997. His first job was to assist in running security for LoneStarCon2 in San Antonio. His second was running security for the World Fantasy Convention (WFC) in Corpus Christi in 2000. Starting in 2004, he has been in charge of ArmadilloCon’s Art Show. In various years, he has run (or helped to run) the Art Show for WorldCon in 2013, WFC in 2006, 2017, 2021, and 2022. He is currently scheduled to run the Art Show for NASFiC 2023 in Winnipeg, and WFC 2024 in Niagara Falls. As is often the case with folks who run art shows, Scott tends to acquire works of art at shows he runs, and others he attends. The collection spills off the walls of his home and into piles waiting to rotate onto the walls. He has a number of pieces that were used as cover art for Roger Zelazny’s books and magazine appearances. The art includes works by Ron Walotsky, Wendy Pini, Richard Hescox, and others. As a continuation of his interest in Roger Zelazny, He runs the website Zelazny & Amber, a major on-line resource for the works of Roger Zelazny. He also edited the book "Manna from Heaven", a collection of the harder-to-find short stories by Roger, of which a second edition of which was recently published. His two dogs, both Blue Heelers, are named after Zelazny characters: Random and Oberon. Scott's craftwork can occasionally be found in convention art shows. He works in stained glass, chainmaille wood, and leather. Check back next month, it will probably have changed. Outside of fandom, he is currently working on the data infrastructure for the soon-to-be-launched space station that will orbit the moon. He also studies Shindo Muso Ryu and studies and teaches Tomiki-Ryu Aikido. (Psst! Wanna share this bio on social media? Go here.)
Lisa Snellings Artist Guest of Honor Lisa grew up in South Carolina, where her favorite pastimes were reading science fiction and horror books and making art with any medium available. Her unique artistic perspective was further informed by her first job at a hospital, specifically in its basement morgue. A fascination for county fairs and her family’s deep involvement in religion added to the mix, resulting in beautiful, whimsical, and sometimes macabre sculptures. These found captive audiences at speculative fiction conventions, drawing the attention of authors she had grown up reading. Her kinetic carnival collection, “Dark Caravan,” premiered at the 59th World Science Fiction Convention in 2001 and eventually made its way to the American Visionary Art Museum in 2010. Lisa has enjoyed collaborating with the likes of Neil Gaiman, Harlan Ellison, Larry Niven and Peter S. Beagle. Her “Poppets,” two-inch-tall figurines that mimic “silly humans,” are collected around the world. Her highly acclaimed novel “Night Birds” written with Alan M. Clark, was published in 2022. “No Other Season” a collaboration with Jan Thie, is a collection of writings inspired by her art and was published in June of this year. Currently, Lisa is writing “The Poppet’s Guide to the Tarot” and “The Little Red House.” After nearly two decades in the Southern California desert, Lisa lives in Eugene, Oregon with her spouse, Pete Clark, and two ever-present cats. (Psst! Wanna share this bio on social media? Go here.)
Dr. Jancy McPhee Science Guest of Honor (SciArt Exchange) Dr. Jancy McPhee is a neuroscientist and the Founder and Executive Director of SciArt Exchange. She currently works as the Multidisciplinary Program Scientist in the NASA Human Research Program's Chief Scientist's Office. She is The SciArt Exchange's mission to engage people around the intersection of science and art. She became a neuroscientist to examine the science behind these human capabilities. Formally, Dr. McPhee has a B.A. in Neurobiology and Behavior from Cornell University and a Ph.D. in Biophysics from Brandeis University. She was a cellular and molecular neuroscience researcher in academia for 17 years before joining the National Space Biomedical Research Association and later the Universities Space Research Association to manage various aspects of NASA’s domestic and international space life sciences research programs. Since 2010, she has been implementing motivating and novel ways to enhance space education and science and technology innovation and to promote global collaboration in human space exploration. She created the international Humans in Space Art Program and has been working to establish SciArt Exchange. Learn more about Dr. McPhee on her episode of the Talk Nerdy with Cara Santa Maria Podcast episode. (Psst! Wanna share this bio on social media? Go here.)
Maurice Broaddus Toastmaster (MauriceBroaddus.com) (Patreon) An accidental teacher, an accidental librarian, and a purposeful community organizer (resident Afrofuturist at the Kheprw Institute), his work has appeared in such places as Magazine of F&SF, Lightspeed Magazine, Black Panther: Tales from Wakanda, Weird Tales, and Uncanny Magazine, with some of his stories having been collected in The Voices of Martyrs. His novels include the science fiction novel, Sweep of Stars, the steamfunk novel, Pimp My Airship and Buffalo Soldier; and the middle grade detective novel series, Unfadeable and The Usual Suspects. He’s an editor at Apex Magazine. His gaming work includes writing for the Marvel Super-Heroes, Leverage, and Firefly role-playing games as well as working as a consultant on Watch Dogs 2. Learn more at MaruceBroaddus.com (Psst! Wanna share this bio on social media? Go here.)
Keith Landsdale Special Guest Keith writes comics, film scripts, novels, and short stories. Keith has made films such as The Pale Door, The Projectionist (in production), and Christmas With The Dead, adapted for the screen, a stage musical, and even a pod cast. Keith has written multiple comics such as Hoot Goes There, a short X-Files series for IDW comics, Mud for Creepy Comics, Prisoner Of Violence (an extension of the Prisoner 489 universe), along with comic adaptations of Crawling Sky for Antarctica Comics, Vampirella for Diamond comics, Dog, Cat, and Baby for Dark Horse and Avatar comics, as well as adaptations for God of the Razor, the Dump, The Fat Man, a short comic called The Hanging (in production), and others. Among his writing credits are, the novella Big Lizard with Joe R Lansdale, as well as the short story, Hoppity White Rabbit Done Broke Down, appearing in the recent collection: The Drive-In: Multiplex. Others of mention, soon to be released are Elijah’s Elixer, It Goes With Everything (inspired by Ozymandias), Two Sides Of The Same Dream (pirate/Lovecraft). He was also a co-editor for Son Of Retro Pulp Tales, published by Subterranean Press and is editing multiple other collections. Keith also co-wrote the children's story The Companion when he was twelve with his younger sister which was picked up by the tv show Creepshow and co-authored the children’s book In Waders From Mars. (Psst! Wanna share this bio on social media? Go here.)

Program Participants

If you are interested in being a participant this year, please read our program participant guidelines before contacting us. We hope it will answer most of your questions. Thanks.