Guests of Honor

Writer Guest of Honor: Stephen Baxter

Stephen BaxterStephen Baxter was born in Liverpool, England, in 1957 and now lives in Northumberland. Since 1987 he has published somewhere over forty books, mostly science fiction novels, and over a hundred short stories.
 
Mr. Baxter has degrees in mathematics, from Cambridge University, engineering, from Southampton University, and in business administration, from Henley Management College. He worked as a teacher of math and physics, and for several years in information technology. He is a Chartered Engineer and Fellow of the British Interplanetary Society.
 
Mr. Baxter applied to become a cosmonaut in 1991—aiming for the guest slot on Mir eventually taken by Helen Sharman—but fell at an early hurdle.
 
Stephen Baxter’s professionally published short story appeared in 1987, and his first novel in 1991. He has been a full-time author since 1995. Mr. Baxter is President of the British Science Fiction Association, and a Vice-President of the HG Wells Society.
 
His science fiction novels have been published in the U.K., the U.S., and in many other countries including Germany, Japan, France. The books have won several awards including the Philip K. Dick Award, the John W. Campbell Memorial Award, the British Science Fiction Association Award, the Kurd Lasswitz Award (Germany) and the Seiun Award (Japan) and have been nominated for several others, including the Arthur C. Clarke Award, the Hugo Award and Locus awards. Mr. Baxter has published over 100 sf short stories, several of which have won prizes.
 
His non-fiction includes the books Deep Future and Omegatropic.
 
Stephen Baxter’s website is www.stephen-baxter.com.

Artist Guest of Honor: John Picacio

John PicacioJohn Picacio is a 2011 Hugo Award finalist for Best Professional Artist and one of the most prolific American cover artists for science fiction, fantasy, and horror of the last ten years. His artwork is noted for its diversity and range, often combining traditional drawing and painting with digital finishes, as well as exploring methods such as hand-made assemblages. His body of work includes covers for books by Michael Moorcock, Harlan Ellison, Robert Silverberg, L.E. Modesitt, Jr., Dan Simmons, Joe R. Lansdale, Jeffrey Ford, Frederik Pohl, James Tiptree, Jr., and many more. He has produced cover artwork for franchises such as STAR TREK and the X-MEN.

Some of his most notable covers over the years include A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller, Jr. (HarperCollins/Eos); Gateway by Frederik Pohl (Ballantine/Del Rey); Elric: The Stealer of Souls by Michael Moorcock (Ballantine/Del Rey); the 2005 Chesley Award-winning artwork for Her Smoke Rose Up Forever by James Tiptree, Jr. (Tachyon); the 2009 Chesley Award-winning artwork for Fast Forward 2, edited by Lou Anders (Pyr); the Age of Misrule trilogy by Mark Chadbourn (Pyr); Muse of Fire by Dan Simmons (Subterranean Press); the Well-Built City trilogy by Jeffrey Ford (Golden Gryphon); and Ghosts of Columbia by L.E. Modesitt, Jr. (Tor).

His accolades include the World Fantasy Award, the Locus Award, four Chesley Awards, and two International Horror Guild Awards, all in the Artist category, as well as two Asimovs Poll Awards for Best Cover Art. He has seven Hugo Award nominations for Best Professional Artist and his work is often featured in the pages of Spectrum: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art.

Amongst his forthcoming published works will be the much-anticipated 2012 calendar for George R. R. Martins A Song of Ice and Fire (Random House/Bantam) as well as covers for Ian McDonalds YA novel debut Planesrunner (Pyr) and new limited editions of Dan Simmons classic The Hyperion Cantos (Subterranean Press). He and his wife Traci live in San Antonio, TX with daughter Samantha.

Science Guest of Honor: Bridget Landry

Bridget LandryBridget Landry was educated as a chemist and planetary scientist, trained as an engineer, and has worked in spacecraft operations for more than 20 years. She has worked on the Hubble Space Telescope, the joint US-French oceanographic Earth-orbiter Topex, the (wildly successful!) Mars Pathfinder project, and the Cassini mission to Saturn. Ms. Landry is currently a team member of the Dawn mission, which begins a year-long orbital mission at the asteroid Vesta in mid-2011, then departs to rendezvous with and orbit the asteroid Ceres in 2015. She also takes great interest in the advancement of women in technical fields, and the helps and bars to their progress, as well as in the problem of sparking and maintaining girls’ early interest in science and math. In her technical hat, she has been on science-related panels at WorldCons, local, and regional conventions.

With the other side of her brain, Ms. Landry is a Master Level costumer with a twisted sense of humor, (Google “Strauss Waltz Assault Team“), and a fondness for ST:TOS. She has been on panels and won Masquerade awards from the local to the WorldCon level.

Spotlight Publisher: DAW Books

DAW BooksFounded in 1971 by veteran paperback editor Donald A. Wollheim, along with his wife, Elsie B. Wollheim, DAW Books was the first publishing company ever devoted exclusively to science fiction and fantasy. Now more than 30 years and more than a thousand titles later, DAW has a well-deserved reputation for discovering and publishing the hottest talents in the industry. Many stars of the science fiction and fantasy field made their debuts in the pages of a DAW book, including Tad Williams, C. J. Cherryh, Mercedes Lackey, Melanie Rawn, C.S. Friedman, Jennifer Roberson, and Tanith Lee. Despite its high profile, DAW is still a small private company, owned exclusively by its publishers, Elizabeth R. Wollheim and Sheila E. Gilbert. Betsy and Sheila are strongly committed to discovering and nurturing new talent, and to keeping a personal “family” spirit at DAW—something they feel is all too rare in today’s world of international conglomerate publishing.

DAW Books will be represented by Sheila Gilbert and Betsy Wollheim.