Author Guest of Honor:Â Sarah Clemens
Sarah has been attending science fiction conventions since the late seventies. The artwork she most enjoys creating are those connected with the fantastic and she is gratified at the response of con-goers to her award-winning paintings of Magnus & Loki, the cat and dragon companions, which have been the most fun of all her fantastic creations. Sarah works in a photo-real style, mostly in oils.
She has exhibited and won national awards at the Seattle Erotic Art Festival and her erotic paintings are published in Volumes 2 and 3 of The World's Greatest Erotic Art of Today. In her checkered past, she also wrote movie reviews for USA Today's phone-in line and wrote planetarium shows for her local science museum.
Her day job, before taking on full-time fantasy art, was 20 years of medical illustration for prominent attorneys, and her exhibits have helped win multi-million dollar cases.
Sarah and her husband and cats and terrariums and carnivorous plants live in Mesa, Arizona.
Gaming Guest of Honor:Â Dane Jessen
Hello my name is Dane Jessen. My first introduction to the board game world was Catan. I remember after playing it for the first time. I wanted to get my own copy, so I went on this small website called Amazon. I was a farm kid in the late 1990's so being able to order something online was a big thing. When I was looking for Catan I came across Starfarers of Catan. I had to have it. Sadly being a farm kid it didn't get played too much.
That is until I went to college at Wayne State and joined the SYFY club. There I learned there were so many more games out there.
After college a friend and I went to a local gaming club meet up in Sioux City. After walking in with a tote full of board games, I was asked if I would like to join Envoy and show off new board games at conventions and in game stores. I jumped at the chance. For the next few years my family and I would go to conventions in Sioux City, Wayne and Omaha showing other people how to play the games we loved. My wife ended up also joining Envoy.
How busy our life ever got, the conventions were always something we looked forward to as a getaway. We could catch up with old friends, meet new friends over a game, and also learn a new game ourselves.
Then as it did for everyone else all that came to a stop. No conventions to hang out with people. No hanging out at all.
As the world keeps going we are looking forward to hanging out with people again and playing some games.
Gaming Guest of Honor:Â Christy Jessen
Hello my name is Christy Jessen. My first real introduction to board games was in college. Through friend connections I joined a club called the SYFY club at Wayne State College.
Through this group I met my husband Dane Jessen and most of my friends I have today. This group of friends showed me the joy of playing board games can be. Each year the SYFY club would put on a con called Willy Con which I spent the con playing board games.
After college Dane and I moved to Sioux City Iowa and Dane came across a company called Envoy, which is a company to show off new board games at conventions and game stores. After following Dane around to conventions and game stores while he showed off games I decided to join the company and started showing board games I enjoyed at conventions and game stores.
Dane and I have two boys Jesse and Jeremiah. Our boys have the same passion for board games as Dane and I. Even though life can get crazy with work and the kid’s activities, our family always looks forward to convention weekends as a family get away.