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.”

Guy W. Thomas, Vice Chair

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.

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 and Honored Guest Liaison

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 fascinated by modern hermeneutic discussion of nearly every passing thing. She is an avid reader who is 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 on G+.

Amanda Halperin, Registration

Amanda Halperin is a writer, historian, and equestrienne who thinks of most things in terms of horse metaphors, at one point or another. Among her favorite books are Peter Beagle’s The Last Unicorn, Susanna Clarke’s Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, and Susan Palwick’s The Fate of Mice. She earned a BA in Medieval History and an MA in Public History.

Jasmine Hammer, Consuite

Jasmine Hammer grew up in northern Wisconsin and has lived in both New York City and San Francisco. When not writing fantasy, she works in video and writes about beer and books.

Alyc Helms, Consuite

Alyc Helms is a writer, editor, and anthropological pontificator. Her spotlight project is a pulp adventure fantasy, The Adventures of Mr. Mystic and the Dragons of Heaven. 

Lynn Alden Kendall, Copywriting 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 a novel, a collection of short stories, and 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.

John Kusters, Access and Logistics

John Kusters has been involved in fandom from childhood, having fallen in rapture with Heinlein juveniles and classic Star Trek. As a teenager, he persuaded his parents to allow him to gopher for Bay Area conventions. Since then he has served in a variety of roles, from Convention Operations, to gaming chair, to eventually starting up and being chair for Conjecture, a small lit-con in San Diego. He has been secretly developing his own literary talents and hopes to eventually earn a seat on a panel after getting his own writing published.

Debbie Notkin, Senior Adviser

Debbie Notkin has served on so many con committees that she can no longer keep track of them. She was thrilled to be a guest of honor (with Andrea Hairston) at WisCon 36 in 2012. For the convention, Aqueduct Press published a book of Andrea’s and her writing, called Impolitic! She is one of the moving spirits behind the Tiptree Award. Publications include Women En Large and Familiar Men (with Laurie Toby Edison, and the second also with Richard F. Dutcher), and 80! Memories and Reflections on Ursula K. Le Guin (with Karen Joy Fowler). She is a body-image activist and a former editor at Tor Books, and is currently working with Occupy Oakland Foreclosure Defense Group, trying to keep people in their homes.

Steven Schwartz, Programming

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.

Cindy Scott, Publicity

Cindy Scott has devoted years to SF/F fandom. However, she draws the line at being ingested. A different Cynthia Scott was devoured in Aliens.

Wendy Shaffer, PR and Writing Contest

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, Hotel Liaison

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.