Vylar Kaftan, Con Chair

Vylar Kaftan writes speculative fiction of all genres, including science fiction, fantasy, horror, and slipstream. She was nominated for a 2010 Nebula Award for her short story “I’m Alive, I Love You, I’ll See You in Reno.” Her stories have appeared in Lightspeed, Strange Horizons, ChiZine, and Clarkesworld. Her work has been reprinted in Horror: The Best of the Year, honorably mentioned in The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror, and shortlisted for the WSFA Small Press Award.

A graduate of Clarion West, she’s volunteered for that group as well as the Little Owls mentoring program for young writers. She’s a member of SFWA, Codex, Broad Universe, and the Carl Brandon Society.

She lives with her husband Shannon in northern California. Her hobbies include modern-day temple dancing and preparing for a major earthquake. Her favorite color is all of them. She prefers the term “differently sane.”

Corie Ralston, Vice–Con Chair

Corie Ralston is a scientist by profession, but sometimes she wonders what on earth possessed her to go to graduate school. If she had a normal job, she would have more time for writing, planning conventions, karate, and urban farming. Her short fiction has been published in Strange Horizons, Clarkesworld, and Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet, and she is currently working on a novel. Find out more about her at: www.sff.net/people/cyralston/ or on Facebook.

Laurel Amberdine

Laurel Amberdine was raised by cats in the suburbs of Chicago. She’s good at naps, begging for food, and turning ordinary objects into toys.  Having escaped the terrible weather of Chicago, she is now delighted to call San Francisco home. For many years she read a novel every day, until she got married and realized that her new husband didn’t enjoy being completely ignored in favor of fictional people. She’s working on writing science fiction and young adult novels herself now, and hopes you get to read them soon.

Alan Bostick, Safety

Alan Bostick is a second-generation fan who worked on the con committee for IguanaCon II. A physicist by training, he has also made a living as a writer, editor, and poker player. His cooking skills include baking bread (with his own wild-caught sourdough culture) and making chocolate truffles.

Keyan Bowes, Writers Workshop and Dealers Room

Keyan Bowes, who reached Clarion after 25 years of wishing, is the author of several short stories and poems published in various web magazines. Her two ambitions are publishing a novel and saving a eucalyptus cloud forest. She has green eyes and one ear with a point. Non-human ancestor? It’s unknowable.

Michele Cox, Programming

Michele Cox found fandom in her teens and never left. Since then she has earned an MA in Church History and Theology, become a poet, and taught herself technical writing and business analysis by observation and practice. Among her favorite SFF authors are Madeleine L’Engle, Lois McMaster Bujold, and M. K. Wren. She passes for normal among Bay Area SF fans.

Eva Folsom, Volunteer Coordinator

Eva Folsom is a former technical writer who is training to become a certified Waldorf teacher. She attributes her combination of geekiness and earth-mother sensibility to her Northern California upbringing, though she hails from Nevada these days. She has been a devoted sff reader since Vonda McIntyre’s Dreamsnake changed her life in the fourth grade. She is the author of a bunch of short story manuscripts that are slowly and painfully approaching “interesting to other people.” Of course, her spouse and parents find them already fascinating and brilliant.

Sonja Haas, Treasurer

Sonja Haas is neither writer, nor editor, but a reader–always seeking the story within the story that is not being overtly told. Mostly, though, she thinks about politics and social structures.  When she has time, she posts. Her musings can be found under housepet on LJ.

Lynn Alden Kendall, Access and Webmistress

Lynn Alden Kendall grew up in small-town Pennsylvania, reading everything she could get her hands on, from Reader’s Digest Condensed Books to “When It Changed” by Joanna Russ. She earned her MA in English/Creative Writing at Temple University. Her work has appeared in American Writing and 80! Memories and Reflections on Ursula K. Le Guin. Under various pen names, she has published four nonfiction books. At her house, the cat-to-lap ratio is greater than 1 and the book-to-human ratio hovers around 5000:1.

Zed Lopez, Logistics, Writers Workshop, and Dealers Room

Zed Lopez believes that Johansen’s entire account of R’lyeh rising was a hallucination brought on by being directly over it while Cthulhu stirred.

Debbie Notkin, Hotel Liaison and Senior Adviser

Debbie Notkin has served on so many con committees that she can no longer keep track of them. She is one of the moving spirits behind the Tiptree Award. She is a writer whose titles include Women En Large and Familiar Men, and a noted anthology editor of books about WisCon and the Tiptree Awards.  Her most recent title (with Karen Joy Fowler) is the just released 80! Memories and Reflections on Ursula K. Le Guin. She is also a body-image activist and a former editor at Tor Books.

Steven Schwartz, Programming and Honored Guest Liaison

Steven Schwartz is a formal poet, letterpress printer, computer geek, soccer player, and SF/F fan and writer.  His favorite SF book is determined by a formula which the margin of this webpage is too small to contain, and changes frequently.  His letterpress work can be found at http://www.etsy.com/shop/chetwoodpress, his SF/F at Circlet Press, his life (with cats, partner, and kids) in Oakland, and his soccer at an undisclosed location. He is frequently mistaken for Jerry Garcia, Peter Jackson, or a Russian mobster.

Wendy Shaffer, Hospitality

Wendy Shaffer began her literary career as the subject of her babysitter’s Ph.D. thesis in child psychology. (She has  never dared read the dissertation.) These days she works as a technical writer. Wendy’s poetry has appeared in Strange Horizons and short fiction has appeared in Paradox and Realms of Fantasy. Her current ambitions are to run a half marathon and watch every episode of Doctor Who in existence. (Not concurrently, alas.)

Aaron I. Spielman, Publicity

Aaron I. Spielman is a professional artist, professional computer geek, a motorcyclist and an extrovert. He is *not* a mad scientist, a rogue alien or a scary monster, and any suggestions to contrary will be met with a paroxysm of denials. He is no longer frequently mistaken for Jerry Garcia, but is sometimes mistaken for FOGcon’s head of programming. He’s been an active genre fan for most of his life and has been attending and helping to run genre conventions for almost thirty years. He lives with his wife, his brother, his cat, and his motorcycles in Daly City, CA.

Daniel Starr, Hospitality

Daniel Starr first read Lord of the Rings and Dune when he was seven.  He’s been a fan ever since, although in later years his tastes have broadened to include history, economics, mathematics, and chocolate.

Guy W. Thomas, Publications

Guy W. Thomas has been a genre fan since he was 10 and discovered those books with a rocket ship on the spine.  Some of his favorite authors are Pat Murphy, Nalo Hopkinson, and Kim Stanley Robinson. North America Con 1979 in Kentucky was his first actual convention. He’s helped run many since. Guy has chaired or co-chaired several Potlatch cons. He spends most of his time reading, writing, playing poker and advocating for people with disabilities.