Author Guest of Honor:Â Robert Reed
Robert Reed was born in Omaha, Nebraska on October 9, 1956. He attended Benson High there, and then Nebraska Wesleyan University in Lincoln, Nebraska, where he received a B.S. in Biology in 1987. Bob worked as a lab technician at NWU from 1979 to 1980, and at Mapes Industries in Lincoln from 1978 to 1987. Since 1987, he has been prolific enough to make his living as a full-time science fiction writer.
Bob has had eleven novels published, starting with The Leeshore in 1987 and most recently with The Memory of Sky in 2014. Since winning the first annual L. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future contest in 1986 (under the pen name Robert Touzalin) and being a finalist for the John W. Campbell Award for best new writer in 1987, he has had over 180 shorter works published in a variety of magazines and anthologies. Eleven of those stories were published in his critically-acclaimed first collection, The Dragons of Springplace, in 1999. Twelve more stories appear in his second collection, The Cuckoo's Boys [2005]. In addition to his success in the U.S., Author Guest of Honor
Reed has also been published in the U.K., Russia, Japan, Spain and in France, where a second (French-language) collection of nine of his shorter works, Chrysalide, was released in 2002. Bob has had stories appear in at least one of the annual "Year's Best" anthologies in every year since 1992. Bob has received nominations for both the Nebula Award (nominated and voted upon by genre authors) and the Hugo Award (nominated and voted upon by fans), as well as numerous other literary awards (see Awards). In 2007, he won his first Hugo Award for the 2006 novella "A Billion Eves".
Reed continues to live in Lincoln, Nebraska, with his wife, Leslie, and daughter, Jessie. Local residents who may not know him for his award-nominated work as a genre writer may instead recognize him as an ardent long-distance runner -- he can frequently be seen jogging through the parks and hiking trails of Lincoln, and has taken part in many of the area's running races for the past several years.
Artist Guest of Honor:Â Edward Howard
Edward Howard is an artist/illustrator based in Los Angeles. He was graduated from The American Academy of Art in Chicago with a BFA in Fine Art. He also studied briefly in Florence, Italy at the Florence Academy of Art.
Since his debut showing in May of 2012 at the Spectrum Fantastic Art Live!, his work has been published in Spectrum 18-21. He has been selected to participate in the Main Show of IlluXCon 5, 6, & 7 and was an Illie finalist at IlluXCon 5. Four of his works were selected as finalists in the Art Renewal Center: International 2012/2013 ARC Salon.
He has been featured in a number of publications including ImagineFX.
His works can be found in private collections across the United States.
Exhibitions and Publication
2011
Spectrum 18: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art
2012
Spectrum 19: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art Spectrum Fantastic Art Live! – Exhibition, Kansas City Missouri
IlluXCon 2012 – Exhibition, Main show artist
Illie finalist - IlluXCon 5
2013
Spectrum 20: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art
Art Renewal Center: International Salon 2012/2013
Spectrum Fantastic Art Live! - Exhibition, Kansas City Missouri
IlluXCon 6 – Exhibition, Main show artist
2014
Spectrum 21: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art
Art Renewal Center: International Salon 2013/2014
Spectrum Fantastic Art Live! - Exhibition, Kansas City Missouri
IlluXCon 7 – Exhibition, Main show artist
Toastmistress Guest of Honor:Â Sabrina Sumsion
Sabrina Sumsion is a former literary publicist, craft-aholic and all around reading diva. She plays MMORPG's with her children, and loves teaching authors how to avoid publishing traps and scams as well as how to market themselves and their works. She presents to a variety of audiences on marketing, branding, publicity, publishing, autism, crafting and more. She is the author of "Saving the Hero", "Aliens Are Real" and "Produce, Publish, and Publicize".
Website: www.sabrinasumsion.com