Schedule - Program Participant Bios - Arisia 2024

Artist, Craftsperson, Maker, Crafter – What’s in a Name?

Non-Binary Mixer & Safe Space

Making Space for Making

Vivian Abraham—Vivian Abraham (any pronouns are fine) is a game designer, professional editor, attorney, and community organizer.

The Johto National Park Bug-Catching Contest

Marc Abrahams—Editor of the magazine Annals of Improbable Research, founder of the Ig Nobel Prize ceremony, columnist for New Scientist magazine

Robin Abrahams

Wendee Abramo—Wendee's childhood crushes were Davey Jones, Aquaman, and Dracula and that right fact right there tells you exactly how she turned out. By day, she works in higher ed administration. On her own time, she's a dancer, lover of all things spoopy, and enjoys singing, albeit rather badly. Current creative projects include her dance troupe Ki-Ra Luna (facebook.com/KiRaLunaDance) and the Channel 37's Midnight Movie Show podcast for earth-2.net. She lives in Brighton, MA with her husband, a seemingly immortal cat, and a horde of physical media that you will pry from their cold dead hands.

Sing-along: Muppet Songs

Memory and Erasure in Fictional Societies

Alastor—Alastor (Mar Hammitt-McDonald) is a primary-care physician with an academic background in medieval studies and rare books and special collections librarianship. They also write speculative fiction (yet to be published) and enjoy hiking, bicycling, paddling a kayak or dragonboat, acting, and of course reading. They enjoy life on the Oregon Coast with their spouse, 11-year-old son, and eight feline household gods.

allyourcrookedheart—Jess (they/she) is a parent, educator, artist, and writer living in Massachusetts with their wife and child. They enjoy pop culture video essays, dabbling in languages, writing poetry and personal narratives, digital art, pyrography, and seeking out fun and interesting creative projects to contribute to. Their art has been a part of a number of zines, social media campaigns, and has been featured in several local galleries. Their latest fannish activity has been being a proud part of the Red Dwarf Tumblr resurgence, binging Our Flag Means Death, and participating in Good Omens zines.

E. C. Ambrose—E. C. Ambrose writes knowledge-inspired adventure fiction, including DRAKEMASTER (Guardbridge, April 2022) about a clockwork doomsday device based on Su Song's astronomical clock of 1090 CE and the Dark Apostle series about medieval surgery. As E. Chris Ambrose, she writes the Bone Guard archaeological thrillers and the new Rogue Adventure clean thrillers. Her latest adventures are Skystrike: Wings of Justice, an interactive superhero novel from Choice of Games, and young adult science fiction novel, A WRECK OF DRAGONS. ("How to Train your Dragon" meets "Pacific Rim")

She is a graduate of, and sometime instructor for, the Odyssey Speculative Fiction Workshop, and lives in the blustery Granite State where she thinks of plot twists from the bench of her floor loom. Find her on Facebook or visit her website to learn about all of her work.

Anatomy of a Scene

It Belongs in a Museum: The Final Adventure of Indiana Jones

Sunday Morning Readings - YA

Joseph Andelman—My name is Joseph Andelman, a Meetup Organizer from the Boston Area. I have a fairly broad experience with various fandoms, having followed a wide variety of Sci-fi, fantasy and fiction pieces over the years. However, my main claim to fame is as an organizer in the local Japanese Anime and Manga Meetup group. In addition to arranging movie nights and Anime Con Groups, I have also run a Manga Club out of Comicazi, a local comic shop in Davis Square, since 2013. This has allowed me to review, discuss and discover all sorts of manga titles from mainstream to specialist. I hope that my experiences can help introduce others to properties that they might otherwise overlook.

Hallucinating Shakespeare

Bekah Maren Anderson—

Bekah Maren Anderson (she/her) is a pastor, gamer, occasional fantasy writer, and all around nerd. By day, she works to make the church queer and accessible; by night, she plays a lot of DND. She is queer, disabled, and polyamorous, and enjoys talking about all of it. She cohosts Palsys with Palsies, a podcast about disability, queerness, and pop/nerd culture. She shares her life with a plethora of friends, partners, other family, and a tiny gray cat named Jasmine. She blogs irregularly at bekahmaren.blogspot.com.

Mental Illness: Separating Fact from Fiction

What We Learn From Gaming

Disability and Family

Cancel Culture in Sci-Fi and Fantasy Spaces

Michael Anderson

Ryka Aoki

Ryka Aoki & Paul Sabourin Meet & Greet

Ryka Aoki Reading

Athena School of Arms—

Athena School of Arms is a Boston-based Modern School of Historical Fencing and Martial Arts. We have two primary programs: the Longsword tradition of Johannes Lichtenauer, and a rotating schedule of Rapier, Broadsword, Sabre, Smallsword, Dagger, Sword & Buckler, and Grappling arts. Training includes free play, drills, test cutting, and physical fitness; together, these elements help students to understand and recreate combat on the battlefield, the list, and in personal defense. https://youtu.be/G_St2MOehgo

Fighting with Swords!—Duels!

Fighting with Swords!—Mixed Weapons Shenanigans!

Zareh Artinian—Zareh Artinian, Jr. is an experienced editor, writer, educator, and producer in a variety of media. His works include writing the book for the award-winning original musical The Glassblower’s Daughter, or Shattered! An American Fairy Tale (music and lyrics by Kelvyn Koning), an original fairy tale inspired by elements of classical European fairy tales but set in a fictional, early North American colony. He also wrote the book for Beneath the Skin (music and lyrics by Melissa Carubia), a musical that focuses on de-stigmatizing mental health issues faced by young adults. He’s also written an original translation and adaptation of The Canterbury Tales as a piece of children’s theatre. He has published over a dozen short science fiction and fantasy stories for middle school readers covering themes that are relevant to a contemporary audience. He's also written non-fiction articles and a book for middle-schoolers, and a novel for young adults. Zareh has taught various writing and media courses at Emerson College, Sacred Heart University, and Eastern Nazarene College. He holds a B.S. from St. Joseph’s College and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Emerson College and is a member of the Dramatist Guild and SCBWI. Zareh's day job is as a senior digital producer for a major K-12 educational publishing company.

Director’s Tour of the Art Show

Julia Austein—Artist, Educator, Artshow Co-Director, generally overcommitted human and always happy to talk to folks about art and making!

Art Show Open House for Fans with Disabilities

Designing Things That Don't Exist

Ask a Maker

Charles (Spot) Backman

Classic Playground Games

E. J. Barnes—E. J. Barnes is a cartoonist, and writer, illustrator, and editor of comics, many of them on historical topics including history of science. She is a longtime member of the Boston Comics Roundtable. She works in a variety of media, including ink wash, colored pencil, scratchboard, and watercolor. She self-publishes as Drowned Town Press.

How to Script and Draw a "Fold-In"

Comics and the Women Who Love Them

Standing on the Shoulders of Idiots: Remembering Jaffee, Treasuring Aragonés

Reuben Baron—Reuben Baron is a member of GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics and the neurodiverse theatre troupe EPIC Players. Their writing can be read on Looper, Paste Magazine, and Anime News Network among other sites. Their webcomic "Con Job: Revenge of the SamurAlchemist" is available to read on Tapas. This is Reuben's second year as co-head of the media programming track at Arisia following many years as a panelist.

Movie Year in Review

Advanced Topics In Polyamory

Neurodivergent Meetup

Trowa Barton—Santiago Rivas is celebrating over four and a half decades as a sci-fi enthusiast. It was his time at MIT that he became an avid film, theater, poly, and gamer geek. He has been involved with Click here to show mail address for seventeen years and the Heinlein Society Naughty Nurses for over ten years, writing, directing, and starring in skits for the annual Blood Drive. In his copious spare time, he's blogging, updating tropes pages, becoming part of Section 31, spending time with redheads, and raising an advanced prototype.

NerdPop Sing-Along

Polyamory Meetup

Writing Realistic Young Adult Fiction

Steve Berman—Winner of the Lambda Literary Award, Steve Berman is one of the most prolific editors in the field of queer speculative fiction and horror. His newest anthology, Brute: Stories of Dark Desire, Masculinity, & Rough Trade, was released in September. He is also an author with over a hundred short works published and the young adult novel Vintage, a finalist for the Andre Norton Award. He resides in Western Massachusetts.

Marley Bessette

Shadow Hunters

Bey—A lover of karaoke, a patron of community theater, and an event planner extrordinaire, Bey identifies as Bisexual, Polyamorous, and Queer. She is married to gaming book author, Jonathan Woodward and is the mother of Roo.

The Arisia Munch (18+)

Maddie Billok

Um, Actually!

The Witch Is Dead

Elizabeth Birdsall—Elizabeth Porter Birdsall is a queer asexual woman who lives in Boston with her wife, a very round cat, a lot of books, and a lot of tea. In her day job, she's a French to English translator; in her free time, she likes hanging out in nature and flitting distractably between hobbies. She has published some short fiction and read, watched, and crafted a lot of various things.

Sing-along: Yiddish Songs

Songs of Drink

Logan Biscornet—I am Logan Jacob Maxwell Tyler Brodie Biscornet. I love travel, professional wrestling, animation in all forms, the paranormal, generally weird stuff and of course parties! I have been involved in convention orginizing since 2012 and love to be in a room full of nerds! If you like what I do come say hi because we should probably be friends!

Moniquill Blackgoose—Monique Poirier is an enrolled member of the Seaconke Wampanoag Tribe and a lineal descendant of Ousamequin Massasoit. She is an avid costumer, and an active member of the steampunk community. Her work in steampunk has been featured at Beyond Victoriana, Silver Goggles, and in the books Anatomy of Steampunk: The Fashion of Victorian Futurism, Steampunk III: Steampunk Revolution, Speculative Imperialisms: Monstrosity and Masquerade in Postracial Times, and Steaming Into a Victorian Future: A Steampunk Anthology. She has blogged, essayed, and discussed extensively across many platforms the depictions of NDN and NDN-coded characters in sci-fi and fantasy, and would like to help other authors better understand how to produce respectful and well-thought-out indigenous characters and what the common pitfalls are in doing so. Her novel, To Shape A Dragon’s Breath was released May 9, 2023 from Del Rey Press.

Memory and Erasure in Fictional Societies

Steampunk, Evolved

James Bredt—James F. Bredt, Ph.D. is a veteran inventor, scintist, and entepreneur. He worked on some of the earliest 3D printers in the 1990's and developed the first commercial full-color 3D printer at Z Corporation (a company he cofounded) in the early 2000's. Later he developed large-format 3D printers. For over two decades he appeared, in full-body makeup, as a human spotlight in the Ig Nobel Awards Ceremony. He has taught freshman chemistry, materials science, and moldmaking at MIT. Presently he is semi-retired and teaches metal casting and figure drawing at Artisans Asylum in Allston.

Come Sing with Windborne!

Robin Brenner—

Robin Brenner is Teen Librarian at the Public Library of Brookline in Massachusetts, and has been working with and advocating for teens in libraries for almost 25 years. When not presenting programs and providing reading guidance, she is an active member of YALSA and the Graphic Novels and Comics Round Table (GNCRT). She is currently serving as the President of the GNCRT. She has served on awards committees including the Michael L. Printz Award, Margaret A. Edwards Award, the Boston Globe Horn Book Award, and the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards. She is the editor-in-chief of the graphic novel review website No Flying No Tights.

Comics and the Women Who Love Them

Beyond Classics Illustrated – Comic Book Adaptations of Prose Works

The State of the American Public Library

Lauren Breunig

Steven D. Brewer—Steven D. Brewer teaches scientific writing and scientific instrument creation at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. His series "Better Angels" and "Revin's Heart" are being published by Water Dragon Publishing. As an author, Brewer identifies diverse obsessions that underlie his writing: deep interests in natural history, life science, and environmentalism; an abiding passion for languages; a fascination with Japanese culture; and a mania for information technology and the Internet. Brewer lives in Amherst, Massachusetts with his extended family.

Gender & Sexual Identity Representation in Media

Laurence Raphael Brothers—Laurence Raphael Brothers is a writer and a technologist. He has published over 50 short stories in such magazines as Nature, PodCastle, and The New Haven Review.

His noir urban fantasy novella series published by Mirror World starting with The Demons of Wall Street has just added a new volume, The Demons of Montmartre. His new standalone fantasy novel The World's Shattered Shell was recently published by Water Dragon.

Pronouns: he/him.

Director’s Tour of the Art Show

Nick Brown

Art Show Open House for Fans with Disabilities

Marc Brunco—Marc is a longtime Arisia attendee and has previously served as Access Division head. An avid science fiction fan and cosplayer, he's been attending conventions regularly since 2011 and has hosted panels across the country.

Ribbon Trading Meetup

Boston Whovians Doctor Who Meet Up

Gender & Sexual Identity Representation in Media

Cosplay and Dis/ability

Krista Brynn—Krista has been an Arisia attendee since the dawn of the millenium, with a a bit of a gap in the 20-teens. She's an SFF & TTRPG geek, and enough of a science nerd that she's been teaching physics and astronomy for over a couple decades now. In the ancient past her cultivated obsessions with Mesopotamian mythology led to developing a bunch of pre-Wikipedia online resources on that topic, her current special interest projects have included trans history.

Misha Bushyager

Lumberjills (LARP)

Nightingales: Casablanca

Isaac C.—Wow! He sure is on a panel. We're not entirely sure how this happened, and we are definitely looking into it in case a mistake was made. In the meantime, feel free to ask this guy some questions and hear what he has to say. Maybe you can help figure out how he got here.

Connecting with Your Kids Through Media

NerdPop Sing-Along

As Seen and Heard On The Interwebs

Sing-along: Musicals and Show Tunes

Mel C—Mel Carubia (they/she) is an actor, teacher, writer and composer based in the Boston area. They wrote the music and lyrics for the award-winning T: An MBTA Musical, a lampoon of our nation's first public transit system (playing through 2023 at the Rockwell), and Beneath the Skin, a musical breaking down the stigma of mental illness. Summer 2023 brought the critcally acclaimed world premiere of Born To Do This: The Joan of Arc Rock Opera, for which they wrote the music and lyrics. Recent performance credits include Stepsister Gabrielle (Cinderella), Bea Bottom (Something Rotten), Fun Home (Joan), Rock of Ages (Regina), Evita (Eva Perón u/s, performance) and Ragtime (Emma Goldman) with The Company Theatre. They sing and play keytar in synth-rock band Minusworld, whose EP, Dancing In the Ashes, is available on all major music platforms. They have a degree in Physics from Boston College, a masters in Composition from The Longy School of Music, and over a decade of experience working as a professional improviser with both ImprovBoston and Urban Improv. They love telling stories through RPGs, writing novels about queer teens, and can't get enough hot sauce, ever.

Speed Songwriting

Sing-along: Disney Songs

Mildred Cady—Mildred is a gamer, geek, actor, costumer, crafter, nerd, fan, and a writer. She's always been interested in how people spent their time in long ago and far away cultures, leading to the development of various panels on historical gaming & lifestyles. She's also participated in panels revolving around gaming and genre fiction, as well as navigating fandom/geekdom in a way that's true and kind to oneself without ignoring the past.

Sewing Circle

Rob Cameron—Rob Cameron is a teacher, linguist, and writer. Among other publications, he has poetry, stories, and essays in Star*Line, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Tor.com, Foreign Policy Magazine. One of his stories is curricula material for the Carterhaugh School of Folklore. He's been a guest lecturer at NYC on solarpunk science fiction. His debut middle grade novel Daydreamer is forthcoming from Labyrinth Road, Summer '24.

Rob is a lead organizer for the Brooklyn Speculative Fiction Writers, a former guest host and curator for the New York Review of Science Fiction Reading Series, and executive producer of Kaleidocast.nyc.

Kim Carter—is a writer and YouTuber creating audio dramas, a Zumba instructor, and a married mother of one from New Hampshire. She's been attending Arisia for over 10 years, and 2023 was her first time attending as a panelist! Her fondness for the golden era of radio combined with coming age during the early days of fanfiction.net and LiveJournal combined in perfect harmony when she discovered her true passion: writing and creating audio dramas. Kim is a skilled, concise script writer with a knack for effortless dialog and comforting, engaging content.

Friday Night Coloring

Heather Caunt-Nulton—Heather Caunt-Nulton is a professional henna artist (HennaByHeather.com / ArtisticAdornment.com) and avocational musician (The Dandy Highwaymen, The Dirge Carolers, Nathaniel Johnstone Band). She loves entreprenuership and helping others improve their online presence through web design and SEO. She enjoys planning awesome stuff like travel and artist conventions, and even potentially boring stuff like finances/retirement, when such things can be gamified.

How Do You Price Your Art?

Sing-along: Muppet Songs

Chad Childers—

Chad is an internationally recognized cybersecurity evangelist who builds security into automotive modules, connectivity, fleet, autonomous & electric vehicles, cloud & IoT solutions. Survivors of the Big Bang (SOB²) in NOLA, Stilyagi Air Corps in MI, ConFusion and DetCon1 ConCom, founded the Stilyagi book discussion group, con calendar, webgod, AASFA and SFOHA boards, letterhack, printer's devil and accomplice of Big Hearted Howard DeVore. Gafiated with children, FIJAGH.

Connecting with Your Kids Through Media

The "Return" of Pandemics (Which Never Actually Left)

Bob Chipman—Film Critic, Video Producer, Writer, Independent Filmmaker

MovieBobCentral
Freelance Writing Staff - Theorist Inc

Movie Year in Review

AI Created and Assisted Art – Threat or Menace?

Arthur Chu—Arisia Guest of Honor 2020, essayist and commentator on pop culture who went viral on Jeopardy! back in 2014

Green Dragon Circus Acrobats

Green Dragon Circus—Green Dragon Circus offers classes, special events, and performances in aerial and circus arts in the Boston area. Explore our classes and workshops or contact us to find the right lesson or event option for you! https://greendragoncircus.com/

Sara Codair—Sara Codair is a queer, neurodivergent author of fantasy and science fiction stories, including The Evanstar Chronicles and Earth Reclaimed. They partially owe their success to their faithful feline writing partner, Goose the Meowditor-In-Chief, who likes to “edit” their work by deleting entire pages. Find them online @shatteredsmooth and saracodair.com.

Memory and Erasure in Fictional Societies

Fortune Tellers, Prophets, and Mediums

Embracing the Alien: Writing Believable ETs

LJ Cohen—

LJ Cohen is a novelist, poet, fiber artist, potter, and relentless optimist. After almost twenty-five years as a physical therapist, LJ now uses her anatomical knowledge and clinical skills to injure characters in her science fiction and fantasy novels. Her most recent book, A STAR IN THE VOID, (book 5 of the SF/Space Opera series Halcyone Space) represents her eighth novel and was published summer of 2018. DERELICT, the 1st book in the series, was named a Library Journal self-e select title and book of the year in 2014. LJ is active in SFWA (Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America) and Broad Universe and lives on a homestead farm in Central Massachusetts.

Broad Universe Rapid Fire Reading

Writing for the Senses

Fiber Arts Circle

The "Return" of Pandemics (Which Never Actually Left)

Monday Morning Readings

Jayjay Colley—Having been cosplaying for ten years, Nerdcred Cosplay has finally started to accept that hey! They might know what they're doing! Beyond being a self taught sewers, they have a deep knowledge of Xmen comics lore, and love to ramble on about historical inspired clothing.

Care and Feeding of Costumes

Sing-along: Musicals and Show Tunes

Cosplay and Dis/ability

Nathan Comstock—Nathan Comstock (he/they) is an audio drama producer, playwright and filk artist who also works professionally in the board game space. They have cocreated the sci-fi sitcom "Solutions to Problems" and the YA fantasy podcast "Electromancy."

Speed Songwriting

Sing-along: Disney Songs

Menswear Costuming Challenges

Patterner Cosplay—Alder is a theatrical costume technician from New York City, specializing in hand embroidery, historical costuming, and cosplay, with a master’s degree from the Fashion Institute of Technology. They have won major awards for their cosplays including most recently at the 2023 New York Comic Con Central Crown Championships of Cosplay. Find Alder on Instagram @patternermage

Carrying All the Things

Donald Crankshaw—Donald Crankshaw has a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from MIT, which was more useful for writing fantasy than he had expected, though less helpful for writing science fiction than he had hoped. He has previously published stories in Nature Futures, Intergalactic Medicine Show, and Black Gate. He and his wife, Kristin Janz, edit and publish the online magazine Mysterion.

Techies of Arisia Meetup

Morgan Crooks—Morgan lives in Ipswich, MA - a town full of bridges, breweries, and that particular type of New England history that makes for excellent Lovecraft stories. He has published many dark fiction stories in anthologies and online and occasionally reviews books and movies on his blog: ancientlogic.blogspot.com.

Get Rec'd! Books for Aspiring Writers

M. Dalto—M. Dalto is a bestselling Young Adult and New Adult author of adventurous romantic fantasy stories. Two Thousand Years, her debut novel from The Parliament House, was one of Wattpad’s 2016 Watty Award winners for excellence in digital storytelling. She has since released its three sequel novels and four companion novellas, as well as numerous other contributions to various published anthologies. She was recruited to participate in Wattpad Paid/Original Stories program for serialized authors in March 2019, was later invited into the Wattpad Stars program, and since October 2021 has been welcomed as an exclusive Wattpad Creator. She continues to spend her time both as a freelance editor and as a mentor, as well as WriteHive’s Indie Professional-In-Residence, where she hopes to engage, assist, and inspire new writers through their literary journey. Working as a full-time real estate paralegal, she has her evenings and weekends to pursue her own writing agenda as well as co-own independent publishing house Sword & Silk Books. When she’s not typing furiously at her computer, she enjoys reading fantasy novels, playing video games, listening to BTS and ATEEZ, and drinking coffee. She currently lives in Massachusetts with her husband, their daughter, and their corgi Nyx and hamster Oreo.

Speculative Fiction Writers Cafe

Gillian Daniels—Since attending the 2011 Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Workshop, Gillian Daniels' poetry and short fiction have appeared in Nightmare Magazine, Strange Horizons, and Beneath Ceaseless Skies, among more than thirty other publications. She was born in Des Moines, Iowa, grew up in Greater Cleveland, Ohio, and she now writes, works, and haunts the streets in the Boston area of Massachusetts. She also makes comics and zines, searches out little-known horror and indie movies, and definitely wants to see pictures of your cat.

Saturday Night Readings

Randee Dawn—Randee Dawn is the author of the Amazon bestselling funny, fantastical pop culture novel "Tune in Tomorrow," which was a finalist in the 2023 Next Generation Indie Awards. Her latest story, "The Fifth Horseman," appears in the new antholgy "The Four ???? of the Apocalypse." An entertainment journalist who writes for The Los Angeles Times, Variety, Today.com and many other publications, Randee lives in Brooklyn with her spouse and a fluffy, sleepy Westie. More at: RandeeDawn.com

Movie Year in Review

Is ___ a Sandwich?

SuperWhoLock 2.0: Our Good Omens in the Shadows Mean Death

Monday Morning Readings

JR Dawson—Dawson (she/they) is a writer and educator with shorter works in places such as F&SF, The Year’s Best Science Fiction and Fantasy 2018, and Lightspeed. Having earned a BFA from The Theatre School at DePaul and an MFA in Creative Writing from Stonecoast, Dawson has worked as a teaching artist with assorted nonprofits that bring the power of the performing arts to children in the Midwest. She has just moved to Minneapolis with her loving spouse and three adorable dogs. The First Bright Thing is her first novel.

Saturday Afternoon Readings (18+)

DDA—DDA, as he is known, answered an email about something called a ConCom and has been volunteering for cons ever since. A lifelong fan of science fiction, he knows how Arisia got its name but has still not finished Stranger in a Strange Land. When not volunteering at cons, he does UI/UX design, fights homonym abuse and creates stylish appetizer trays.

Tanya "cypheroftyr" DePass

What Happens When a Pirate Interviews a Villain

Tanya DePass & Eugenio Vargas Meet & Greet

Abigail Devino

As Seen and Heard On The Interwebs

Artist Meet and Greet

Writing Realistic Young Adult Fiction

DJ Dirge—I am a goth and industrial DJ however I also work with the spinner, burner, and partner dance communities. This means you could hear anything from Goth, Industrial, Electro, Glitch, Trip-hop, Electro-swing, Synthwave, New Wave, Retro, basically anything I learn that my audience likes. Normally it will be Goth centric but I do a couple theme streams as well.

DJ Dirge - Saturday Night Dance

DJ Dirge Sunday Night Dance

Michael Dlott

The Old Took's Legacy (The One Ring 2nd edition)

Gary Dryfoos

Justin du Coeur—Mark "Justin" Waks is a multidimensional butterfly, flitting from SCA to programming to LARP to comics to board games. He is understandably phobic about pins.

Renaissance Ball

Shirley Dulcey

Obstacle Course Create & Conquer

Dennis Duquette

Moving Methods

Learn and Play Magic the Gathering

Julia Bond Ellingboe

Bidi Bidi Bom Bom (LARP)

Who Do You Think You Are? (LARP)

The Sleepover (LARP)

Sara Ellis

Get Rec'd! Books for Aspiring Writers

Lyndsay Ely—Lyndsay Ely (pronounced “eel-y”, as in those eels are looking very eel-y today) is the author of GUNSLINGER GIRL (her debut novel) and DEADLOCK REBELS: An Overwatch Novel, as well as a contributor in the upcoming OVERWATCH: HEROES ASCENDANT. Additionally, some of her short stories can be found on Storia.io.

Lyndsay spent her teenage years wanting to be a comic book artist but as it turned out, she couldn’t draw very well, so she began writing instead. She is a geek, a foodie, former publishing minion, and has never met an antique shop or flea market she didn’t like. Boston is the place she currently calls home, though she wouldn’t mind giving Paris a try someday.

Saturday Afternoon Readings (18+)

Writing Realistic Young Adult Fiction

Matt Ender

Rousing Chorus Songs

Open Singing - Sun 5:30 PM

Songs of Drink

Griffin Ess—I have am a professional commission illustrator with a psych background used for assessment creation, qualitative research, and counter malice tactics. I consult for some start ups. I've produced some audio podcasts using DnD and gneral media to deliver psychologically healthy information to listeners. I've written a couple of novels I haven't managed to find publishing for. I've done some stage work in improve and live story telling, won a few Moth competitions. I play in multiple D&D live stream games for Records of the Realms & Sparabel (and have DMed for a number of short run campagins, some live streamed). I'm a little all over the place but if it's about the creative process and/or a psychological perspective can hep.... or you just need someone to babble about media in general.... I'm a good option.

Mental Illness: Separating Fact from Fiction

”Figure Writing” with a Live Writing Prompt

Dr GameMaster or: How I learned to stop Controling and Trust the PCs

etana—A glittery disabled transmasculine femme non-binary fat queerio, etana digs fat liberation and dogs. They are a counselor, training their own service dog, always trying new crochet tricks, and happy to be of service. Life is messy, they try to make peace with also being messy. Catch them on social media or your local dog park.

etana is an eboard member-at-large of the Arisia, Inc, is a member of the IRMC, and heads up the Access division for Arisia 2024.

Speculative Fiction Writers Cafe

Jon Evans—

Jon is an author, journalist, engineer, and archivist. His most recent novel, Exadelic, was published by Tor in 2023. His journalism has appeared in The Guardian, Wired, Quartz, The Globe & Mail, The Walrus, and (weekly, for a decade) TechCrunch; he has traveled to more than 100 countries and reported from Iraq, Haiti, Colombia, and the Congo. Jon has also been CTO of technical consultancy HappyFunCorp, technical architect of Bookshop.org, and founding director of the GitHub Archive Program, preserving the world’s open-source software in a permafrost vault beneath an Arctic mountain for 1,000 years. He now works at the AI/forecasting company Metaculus.

Memory and Erasure in Fictional Societies

AI Created and Assisted Art – Threat or Menace?

Not Quite Utopia

Combining Fantasy and Science Fiction

Greg R. Fishbone—Greg R. Fishbone is an author of speculative fiction for young readers and Assistant Regional Advisor Emeritus for the New England regions of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. He is the founder of Cryptoversal Books, Literary Editor for Vagobond Magazine, head of the Publishing Division at PageDAO, and has done pioneering experiments with next-generation literary formats at the intersection of authorship and technology.

Best and Worst Fictional Battles, Skirmishes, and Fisticuffs

Siobhan Flanagan—I've published a short story under the name Sioban Krzywicki.
I'm an historian by degree and taught a college level class on History through Science Fiction as an undergrad at UMASS, Amherst.
I've worked in many different roles in IT for decades.
I've been an SFF and comic collector and fan since I was 5, amassing a collection of over 3,000 books and over 40,000 comics.
I am a trans, bi/pan/poly woman
I listen to a vast variety of music and have studied it's history, participating in some of its subcultures and as a singer.
I read widely in the various sciences and study the history of science as well.
I helped run Readercon for 7 years, as conchair for 3. I also did sound, logistics, signage and treasury and was on the board.
I've moderated and been on panels at Readercon, Arisia, Worldcon, and Wiscon

Forest—Forest Handford is an author from Upton, MA. While not at work, she's bringing her family on wacky adventures. Her website is EastCoastGames.com where she publishes videos and writings about various topics. She recently finished her memoir A Trans Feminist's Past and before that wrote a Sci-Fi trans romance called Flipping.

Connecting with Your Kids Through Media

All About Poi

Jenne Foronjy—Jenne is a mom to an amazing roller derby kid, wife to her own Poison Ivy, and parent to three sweet kitties. She is a pop culture geek and music devotee. Additionally she is a death enthusiast studying to become a funeral director/death doula and a weather nerd, espcially tornadoes. Lastly, she is a proud member of the Our Flag Means Death crew!

Rebecca Fraimow—Rebecca Fraimow is an author and archivist living in Boston, writing primarily science fiction and fantasy with short fiction publications in various places. Rebecca's debut novella, The Iron Children, came out in April 2023; Lady Eve’s Last Con, Rebecca's first novel, is forthcoming June 2024.

Sing-along: Yiddish Songs

Friday Evening Readings

FreeScholar—

Micky Metts - is a worker/owner with Agaric Technology Collective, an international web development cooperative based in Boston, Portland, Portugal and Hamburg.
I am known as FreeScholar, a Hacktivist - Organizer – Public Speaker – Connector – Advisor and Sentinel Visionary.  I work at the intersection of  many cooperative and tech networks, with an intention to bring communities together.
In 1995, I built one of the largest role-playing web communities online. Currently, I host a video chat platform at CommunityBridge.com is my latest jam. I am a former Punk Rock and Metal Bassist.
A welder by trade and a fast car driver by love.

Crime, Punishment, and Justice in SFF

David Friedman—David is a practicing attorney and published legal reference book author who helps people grow their companies. Separately, he has over a decade of experience teaching and practicing as a visual and performing artist. David proudly encourages others to argue, play with toys, doodle, and throws things for fun and profit.

Artist, Craftsperson, Maker, Crafter – What’s in a Name?

AI Created and Assisted Art – Threat or Menace?

The Good, the Bad and the Cringe: Science in Social Media

Lena G.—Lena is thrilled to be returning as a Panelist at Arisia! Though she no longer lives in the New England area, she loves coming back to Boston for Arisia.

Neurodivergent Meetup

Jaime Garmendia—Jaime Garmendia is a career public servant and project manager. When he is not building transportation infrastructure, he dabbles in tabletop game design and comic books. Jaime is a past Chair of Arisia and remains active in incident response and code of conduct management. He also manages day job conferences such as TransportationCamp New England and Modernizing Rail.

Pamela Gay—As an astronomer, technologist, and creative focused on using new media to engage people in learning and doing science, Gay splits her time between communicating science and developing technology to advance science. Join her as we map our Solar System in unprecedented detail through citizen science projects at CosmoQuest.org, and learn astronomy through media productions like Astronomy Cast. Gay was inducted into the podcasting Hall of Fame in 2018 and the received the American Humanist Association's Asimov Science Award in 2019.

Representations of Mental Illness in SFF

The Good, the Bad and the Cringe: Science in Social Media

Paul Geromini—Spectacularly ordinary scifi fan.

SuperWhoLock 2.0: Our Good Omens in the Shadows Mean Death

Greer Gilman—

Greer Gilman’s mythic fantasies are Cloud & Ashes: Three Winter's Tales and Moonwise. Her Ben Jonson mysteries, set in 1600s London, are Cry Murder! In a Small Voice and Exit, Pursued by a Bear. She has written on the languages of the fantastic, on archetypes of girls in fantasy, and on Sylvia Townsend Warner. Her works have won the Otherwise (Tiptree), World Fantasy, Shirley Jackson, and Crawford awards, and have been cited in the OED. She likes to say she does everything James Joyce ever did, only backward and in high heels.

https://www.uncannymagazine.com/article/the-matter-of-cloud-an-intervie…

Acting and Performing in Other Worlds

Memory and Erasure in Fictional Societies

Fortune Tellers, Prophets, and Mediums

Monday Morning Readings

Julia Gilstein—Julia Gilstein (she/her) is a queer editor, writer, activist, aerialist, cosplayer, and punk, with a passion for busting myths about history, advocating for diverse representation, dragons, and fancy tea. She’s the lead organizer of New England Aces and a member of the Boston Speculative Fiction writing (B-Spec) and Boston Sci-Fi/Fantasy meetup groups, and leads DEI efforts at the Massachusetts Medical Society.

Gender & Sexual Identity Representation in Media

Asexuality-Umbrella Meetup

Tanya Gold—Tanya Gold (they/them) is a book editor, French to English translator, educator, and literary omnivore.

They have been in publishing for over 20 years, and have worked on all kinds of cool books. These days, they run their own business, working with authors and publishers on SFF, horror, literary fiction, memoir, retellings, interactive stories, and graphic novels.

They also teach online courses for editors and writers, and at Emerson's MFA in Popular Fiction.

It has been suggested that they read too much for their own good. This might be true. www.TanyaGold.com

Non-Binary Mixer & Safe Space

Lore Graham—Lore Graham is a reader, writer, and creator who lives in greater Boston with zir chosen family. Ze enjoys cooking, baking, throwing parties, and spending time with zir cat.

Not Just Rocks, Robots, and Aliens

Circlet Press Reading (18+)

Sacchi Green—Connie Wilkins (with her far busier alter ego Sacchi Green) has published scores of short stories, two collections, and one novel, besides editing 15 anthologies. Most have contained some speculatuve fiction, but only three are entirely specfic. Some have LGBTQ+ themes, usually lesbian, and nine have been Lambda Literary Finalists, with two of them Lambda Winners. She finds living in the mis-named Pioneer Valley inspirational.

Saturday Night Readings

Dean Grodzins

Adria Gunn

CY_BORG: Download Terror

Gunny—A lifelong gamer, with a score of interests ranging from wargaming, TTRPGs and especially LARPs, NERF is one of her obsessions along with LARP gaming, so running the NERFWar at Arisia has come along quite naturally.
Transgender and out as of two summers ago. The woman who is Gunny is now called Maeve.

Andrea Hairston

Saturday Morning Readings

Katie Hallahan—Writer of fantasy, dabbler in nail art, lover of vampire TV shows and pumpkin spice everything, Katie is a content strategist by day, graduate of Futurescapes ‘23, and a co-founder, writer, and game designer at Phoenix Online Studios.

Friday Evening Readings

The Good, the Bad and the Cringe: Science in Social Media

Phillip Hallam-Baker—Maker, builds daleks, TARDISes and cryptographic infrastructures.

Mysteries From Abroad (Clockwork Dominion)

Keegan Hannon

Nightly Duties (Maid RPG)

Mysteries From Abroad (Clockwork Dominion)

Pixie Punishment (Little Wizards)

A Needle's Eyesight (Dread)

Nightly Duties (Maid RPG)

Mysteries From Abroad (Clockwork Dominion)

Kit Harding—Kit Harding is a writer and maker who has belonged to New England her whole life! Her work has appeared in Soul Jar: 31 Fantastical Tales by Disabled Authors; Cossmass Infinities; and the Zombies Need Brains anthology Derelict. She also cohosts the WNXS News podcast for MTGNexus. You can find her online at writerkit.dreamwidth.org

Representations of Mental Illness in SFF

Artist, Craftsperson, Maker, Crafter – What’s in a Name?

Cancel Culture in Sci-Fi and Fantasy Spaces

Shana Jean Hausman—

Shana is a bookseller at All She Wrote books as well as a writer and an executive function coach. They enjoy writing and reading about queer, Jewish, neurodivergent people having fantasy and science fiction adventures. When not writing, they’re probably reading, knitting, playing with their cat, Mira, and/or making inadvisable puns. If you want them to start talking and never stop, ask them for their opinions on anything superhero related.

Not Just Rocks, Robots, and Aliens

Toe Beans and Whiskers

Jeff Hecht—Jeff Hecht makes his living writing about science and technology for New Scientist, Sky & Telescope, Optics & Photonics News and other magazines. He also writes short science fiction, with over three dozen stories published in Nature Futures, Daily Science Fiction, Little Blue Marble, Analog, Interzone and other magazines and anthologies. His most recent book is Lasers, Death Rays, and the Long Strange Race to Make the Ultimate Weapon. He lives in the Boston area with his wife Lois.

Hilary Hertzoff—For nearly four decades Hilary has assisted on and off with various con committees, and participated in both rl and online fan communities. Her current projects include volunteering with Archive of Our Own and assisting with Yuletide, a multifandom fanfic exchange, when she's not working as a tech services/YA librarian. She's also owned by a bunny (pictures provided on request). Cherry Bun would tell you that this is the most important thing to know about Hilary, but Cherry is biased.

Waterdeep: Mini-Heist (D&D 5e)

Peter Heyneman

Andy Hicks—Andy Hicks is a lot of things to a lot of people, I suppose, like anyone else. Professionally, he's a TV producer for a PBS station in Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley, formerly of WGBH and WBCN as well. Semi-professionally, he's a writer with several essays featured in the Outside In... series, a musician, YouTuber, song parodist, Doctor Who obsessive, actor, director, sound designer, and - I guess this is where you'd put "parent and spouse", right? Unprofessionally, he leaves donut crumbs all over the break room and has even threatened to host the 2024 Arisia Masquerade if you're not careful, so watch it buddy.

Cancel Culture in Sci-Fi and Fantasy Spaces

Masquerade

Naomi Hinchen—Naomi Hinchen lives in Cambridge. In her day job she is a game developer, but at various other times she has been known to be a writer, singer, ukulele player, and podcaster. She is about to release her first album of original songs! Her music can be found at naomihinchen.bandcamp.com.

Songwriting Roundtable

Sing-along: Muppet Songs

Speed Songwriting

Traditional Ballad Bingo

James Hinsey

Masquerade

James Mendez hodes

Winterhorn (LARP)

Melissa Honig—Melissa Honig is the lead organizer for the Watch City Steampunk Festival in Waltham, MA. She enjoys steampunk, costuming, weird crafts, and playing with the stuff she finds while trying to clean up the craft room so she doesn't have to finish cleaning up.

Steampunk Meetup

Steampunk, Evolved

Bob Hranek—6 years of USAF computer programming started my professional career, followed by 32 years as an intelligence analyst, systems engineer, and program analyst. I’m a vocal Space Exploitation Advocate, read hard-SF whenever I have time, give blood six times a year (220 pints & counting!), run & drink (at the same time!) with Hash House Harrier groups, and judge at County, Regional, & International Science Fairs every year since 1999. At a Convention, you’re likely to see me on Science panels or hanging out in my Space-kilt. I’m also an avid Wargamer (decades long member of the Eastern Pa Gaming Society, www.EPGS.org) and became an official US Army “Mad Scientist” when they published 2 versions of my entry in their “Mad Scientist Science Fiction Writing Contest 2019.”

Naomi Ibasitas—I am an actor, stage manager, and director within the Boston fringe theatre community. Most recently I have directed with Post Meridian Radio Players for their Halloween show this year, Tomes of Terror: Spirits of Suspense. This summer I have also performed in the Asian Americans Playwrights Collective Annual Playfest, presented at the Starlight Square in Cambridge. Additionally, I have performed in the various Mrs. Hawking plays performed at Arisia in the past years. Off the stage, I also work as a character performer with Spark a Dream Princess parties as various characters, namely Moana, Raya, Mulan, and Mirabel!

This year you'll also be able to find me at the post-screening panels of Mrs. Hawking, and in the spin off, Gentlemen Never Tell! Don't forget to also check out Gender-Swapped Star Trek this year where I'll be playing as Lieutenant Sulu!

Sing-along: Disney Songs

Kristin Janz—Since 2018, Kristin has co-edited and published the online speculative fiction magazine Mysterion (MysterionOnline.com). Mysterion stories have been finalists for the WSFA Small Press and Realm Awards, and are about Christianity but not always Christian. Kristin is also an author whose short fiction has appeared in Escape Pod, Daily Science Fiction, On Spec, and other venues; and a graduate of the Clarion West Writers Workshop. Despite--or because of--having spent thirteen years as a medicinal chemist in pharmaceutical research, she prefers writing fantasy over science fiction. She and her husband live in the Boston suburbs with two cats named after famous scientists. Find out more about her own fiction at KristinJanz.com, or follow her on Twitter @KristinJanz for more frequent but less relevant updates and cocktail recipes.

Embracing the Alien: Writing Believable ETs

Academy for Adolescent Monsters (Bingo RPG)

Daniel Jensen

Micaiah Johnson—Micaiah Johnson is the Compton Crook Award-winning author of The Space Between Worlds. Her debut novel was an Editors’ Choice at The New York Times and was named one of best books of 2020 and one of the best science fiction books of the last decade by NPR. She was raised in California's Mojave Desert surrounded by trees named Joshua and women who told stories. She received her bachelor of arts in creative writing from the University of California, Riverside, and her master of fine arts in fiction from Rutgers-Camden. Alongside her writing life, she is an antiracist activist and doctoral candidate at Vanderbilt University.

Saturday Morning Readings

Crime, Punishment, and Justice in SFF

Cancel Culture in Sci-Fi and Fantasy Spaces

Care and Feeding of Costumes

Leslie Johnston

Kat Jones

Bidi Bidi Bom Bom (LARP)

Who Do You Think You Are? (LARP)

The Sleepover (LARP)

Melissa Kaplan

Saturday Feedback Session

Monday Feedback Session

Kirkette—Hannah Prum (Kirkette) is a cosplayer
and part-time human being based out of Salem Massachusetts.
She enjoys reading frankly ludicrous amounts of fanfiction and
falling asleep every night on silk sheets in a pile of dogs. She
thinks Batman Forever is the best Batman movie of all time and
she WILL fight you about it.

Making it Fit: Techniques for Body Neutral Cosplay

(Re)Design for Variant Cosplay

Cosplay and Dis/ability

Matthew Kressel—

Matthew Kressel is a writer and a software developer. He is a three time Nebula Award Finalist, a World Fantasy Award Finalist, and a Eugie Award Finalist. NPR Books called his first novel King of Shards, “Majestic, resonant reality-twisting madness.” His short fiction has appeared in Lightspeed, Clarkesworld, Analog Science Fiction & Fact, io9, Nightmare, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, The Year's Best Science Fiction and Fantasy, and The Best Science Fiction of the Year, as well as many other places. His work has been translated into French, Spanish, Russian, Chinese, Czech, Romanian, Polish, and Japanese. As a software developer, he created the Moksha submissions system, in use by many of the largest fiction publishers today. And he is the co-host of Fantastic Fiction at KGB reading series in New York with Ellen Datlow. You can find him talking about writing at outerdeep.substack.com, on Twitter at @mattkressel, and at his website www.matthewkressel.net.

Saturday Morning Readings

Arthi Kumaravel

Flamecraft

Adria Kyne—Avid reader of science fiction and fantasy. D&D player. Contestant in the original ABC 2014 season of The Quest. Guild leader at Le Duché de Bicolline. Spock in PMRP's annual gender-swapped Star Trek TOS performances. Cosplayer and maker of historical costumes. LARPer. Voice of Reason.

Hands-on (or Hands-off) Theremin Workshop

Marnen Laibow-Koser—Marnen is a composer and multi-instrumentalist, performing actively at concerts, theater productions, and folk dances in the Boston and New York areas. He has set texts ranging from Japanese haikus to the Mueller Report to music, and can also be found developing software, reading about the dark corners of linguistics, engaging in corpus analysis on the Voynich Manuscript, knitting fun lacy stuff, or doing weird kinky things with consenting partners. For more information, check out http://www.marnen.org!

Jason LeBlanc—Jason LeBlanc is the head organizer of the Boston Horror Society on Meetup and Facebook. Since 2015, the BHS has brought together New England fans of scary entertainment for movie screenings, haunted attractions, conventions, concerts, and much more. When not planning spooky events, Jason also writes the occasional spooky story. His fiction has appeared in the anthologies "Tales From the Public Domain," "Screams Heard 'Round the World," and "Totally Tubular Terrors."

It Belongs in a Museum: The Final Adventure of Indiana Jones

LB Lee—LB Lee are a multivarious cyborg who make mental health comics and write about reality melting. You should talk to them!

Disability and Family

Madeline Lee—Madeline has been a fan of alt-history and speculative fiction since 2017. Her favourite books and comics include the Calexit comic, Ecotopia, and Radio Free Vermont. She especially enjoys books which deal with dystopian North American scenarios, utopian novels, and dystopian novels.

Scott Lefton—Scott Lefton makes and sells artwork in media including metal, wood, glass, and Photoshop, is occasionally serious about photography, and works as a freelance mechanical designer and patent agent. He built the 2004 Hugo trophies and the half-scale model of the Hugo rocket that was shown on the ISS in 2015. He lives in a big old Victorian house in Melrose, MA with his wife Rachel.

Lindsey Leigh—

Lindsey Leigh is an illustrator and designer for graphic nonfiction children's books based in Boston, Massachusetts. Her debut book, "The Deep! Wild Life at the Ocean's Darkest Depths", a book about the weird and wonderful creatures of the deep sea, is out now from Penguin Workshop.

Her work is inspired by fantasy, folklore, and the natural world. Though her work ranges from the cozy and comforting to the unsettling and spooky, she aims to imbue even the scariest monster with a tender charm.

She also has an encyclopedic knowledge of weird animal facts and a passionate love for snails and slugs.

Making a Living in a Creative Field

Creating Comics: From Idea to Finished Product

Chris Lester—

Chris Lester (she/her) has been telling stories for about as long as she can remember, and credits a writing contest in elementary school for introducing her to her muse. Trained as a biologist at the University of California-Santa Cruz, she received her master's degree in 2004 and is now working as a microbiologist in Madison, Wisconsin.

When she isn't writing or doing research, Chris enjoys playing piano, pen-and-paper role-playing games, and being out in nature. She lives in Madison with her wife Melanie and an assortment of cats and dogs. She publishes science fiction and urban fantasy as Chris Lester and sapphic romance as L. C. Williams.

Mythology for Fictional Worlds

What Is Happening to Trans Rights?

Saturday Night Readings

Michelle C. Light—Autistic semi-Professional Storyteller, Roleplayer, Voice Over Actor, and Published Tabletop RPG Contributor/Author. A bundle of energy for any pannel/workshop.

I make content focused on gaming, writing/creating characters, with a minor focus on horror and fantasy themes.

Michelle Liguori

Gordon Linzner—Gordon Linzner is founder and former editor of Space and Time Magazine, and author of four published novels and scores of short stories in F&SF, Twilight Zone, Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine, and numerous other magazines and anthologies. He is a full member of the Horror Writers Association and a lifetime member of the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers Association.

Friday Evening Readings

Agatha Astrid Luz—Agatha Luz is an artist, movie podcaster, cosplayer.
She is co-host of CinemaSpection, a film analysis podcast and has guest hosted on other podcasts such as the critically acclaimed movie podcast The Projection Booth.
Agatha is also the artist Hagatha. In her art life she crochets, cross stitches, and creates digital and traditional paintings of film-related portraits and original characters.
Agatha lives in Salem, MA with her husband Tim and about 1,000,000 tourists.

Timothy Luz—From countless hours spent working in video stores to long nights at the theater surviving movie marathons, Tim Luz has spent his life surrounded by movies. A former film critic, frequent cosplayer, and occasional short filmmaker, he possesses a mind full of useless film trivia and a tendency to talk movies with anyone in earshot, qualities that led him to create CinemaSpection, a film discussion podcast he co-hosts with his lovely and very patient wife Agatha.

Professor Bug Man

Aaron Marks—Aaron has lived in Boston for well over a decade, but began to make his mark on the RPG scene in 2016 when he founded Cannibal Halfling Gaming with a friend and fellow Bostonian. Since then, Aaron has been active in the gaming community both local and abroad, running intro games for Board Game Empire and helping to snag Cannibal Halfling ENnie nominations in 2019 and 2023. In his not-spare time he works in energy storage research, helping to advance our power grid to the next level as we work for resiliency and fight climate change.

Comics and the Women Who Love Them

Marianna Martin PhD—A PhD in Cinema and Media Studies, Marianna’s lifelong fascination with the structures of genre storytelling led to a dissertation framing Genre theory in contexts like the Marvel Cinematic Universe. After an interlude working in Development in the US film and television industry, she left to pursue her own projects. She is currently at work completing the second lo-fi cyberpunk novel in her series, serving as VP on the executive board of Broad Universe, and appearing on con panels whenever the pandemic permits.

Mental Illness: Separating Fact from Fiction

Marzell—LMHC working in the field in many ways for 10 years, and all around nerd. A lover of learning, and challenging the status quo. Can usually be found near food, games, and animals.

POC Meetup

Lisa McCarty—Lisa is a lifelong Science Fiction/Fantasy fan and currently co-host of Narrated, a podcast about audiobooks, which is largely, but not entirely about SFF. The podcast includes reviews of SFF new releases and Hugo award nominees, as well as author interviews.

Kevin McLaughlin—Multiple USA Today bestselling author Kevin McLaughlin has written more than one hundred science fiction and fantasy novels, along with more short stories than he can easily count. Kevin can be found most days near Boston, working on the next novel. Swordsman and scientist, Kevin brings a host of varied experiences to his work, including backgrounds in the US military, medicine, and professional martial arts.

Amos Meeks—Amos is a scientist and an engineer who grew up in the SFF community. He received a B.S. in materials science from Olin College, and a PhD in applied physics from Harvard. His PhD research focused on shooting lasers at jello, and since graduating he has been co-founding a company called Irradiant, that is commercializing a process for nanoscale 3D printing of optical and photonic components (the process also including shooting laser at jello). Outside of work he spends time doing environmental advocacy at the local level as an elected Town Meeting member and as a member of Arlington' Clean Energy Future Committee.

megan

Michael Meissner—Professionally, I am a computer programmer and I work on enhancing the Gnu compiler collection.

I do digital photography and video as a hobby. I've been the official photographer/videographer for some of the small renaissance faires in the area.

My big hobby project is creating various steampunk shells around my modern cameras. I also tinker with programming micro-controllers (particularly Teensys).

Steampunk Meetup

Director’s Tour of the Art Show

Zach Melisi

Descriptive Tour of the Art Show

Tactile Tour of the Art Show

Art Show Open House for Fans with Disabilities

James Melo

Shadowdark: The Tomb of Ostrabaris (Shadowdark RPG)

Dale Meyer-Curley—Dale has been a member of the Arisia community since the early 2000s. Her fannish interests span many genres including comics, fantasy novels, sci-fi shows, crafting, and board games. Dale credits her mother as her main geeky influence, introducing her to Star Trek and Doctor Who early in life. She is continuing that tradition by raising two children with her spouse Erik, and the entire family participates in Arisia. Along with sharing her love of all things geeky, Dale wants all that attend Arisia to consider how their fandom can become a place of diversity, equity, inclusivity, and belonging.

Connecting with Your Kids Through Media

Danny Miller—
Danny Miller is a local attorney, budding law librarian, and all-around SF/F fan since high school who's been coming to Arisia for more than a decade. He's had several pieces printed in a now-defunct Boston newspaper, some even relating to SF/F, and most even paying; he's also a terrific cribbage player. He once turned the tap dance into his crusade, and enjoys (gently) introducing the uninitiated to the many worlds of assorted geekery. (Or, at least enjoys inviting them to a pub trivia event.)

Standing on the Shoulders of Idiots: Remembering Jaffee, Treasuring Aragonés

Is ___ a Sandwich?

Laws, Lawyers, and Trials

Mark Millman—Mark Millman is a long-time student of historical movement disciplines, including personal combat, military drill, and dance; an experienced fight choreographer and stunt co-ordinator for film, theater, and educational institutions; and an enthusiast of the historical clothing styles requisite for those activities.

Best and Worst Fictional Battles, Skirmishes, and Fisticuffs

Menswear Costuming Challenges

Troy Minkowsky—Troy Minkowsky is an artist who resides in the Boston area. He is one half of the comic writing duo "The Minks" with his daughter Lavinia who is currently working on "Worm-Man" with artist Mark Borok.

Besides comicbook writing Mr. Minkowsky a photographer and filmmaker. His latest short "The Forbidden Book of Sharks" can be viewed on Youtube and he is currently working on his next short "The Werewolf Bride"

James Mobius—James Mobius is a multi-instrumentalist musician, multi-media artist, he has degrees in music and electronics, so he fixes up houses for a living. James is the creator of the adult sci fi romantic dramadey comic book series "Punk rock alien space girl adventures", is a former chocolatier, theatrical lighting tech, tattooist, & TV repairman. He used to live in Japan, he built his own genuinely larger on the inside Tardis, in which he draws his naughty comic books, and has two sometimes annoying but adorable cats. His favourite colour is purple and his religion is Kate Bush.

Corset Design and Adjustment

Christopher Moorhead

Anatomy of a Scene

Steampunk, Evolved

Anne-Marie Morin-Berard—I've been costuming/cosplaying for over 20 years. i am a international master level costumer in sci-fi and historical. Also judged, ran, built masquerades for multiple conventions.
Im specializing in historical with a twist recently but i have done everything from anime to gaming, to historical to original characters. Used all sorts of materials and lived through a lot of changes in the costuming community.
i've been LARPING for over 25 years. Own my own LARP. play in multiple type of LARP. helped organise and run multiple LARP.Also design LARP costumes and make them. wich is different to making competition piece of costumes.

Maker Crafting Social

Amy J. Murphy—

Amy J. Murphy is a two-time Dragon Award finalist for Best Military Science Fiction Novel for her Allies and Enemies series. She's been a featured guest on writing-centric podcasts, a DragonCon panelist, and a submissions screener for Apex Magazine. In her spare time, she's an RN. Learn more at www.amyjmurphy.com.

Anatomy of a Scene

Get Rec'd! Books for Aspiring Writers

Chris Murphy—By day an engineer and technology analyst at MIT, Chris Murphy has probably too many areas of interest, including science fiction, making (with a bent to electronics), mixology, dogs, photography, cosplay, cooking, to name just a few. He's lost track of the number of Arisias he's attended.

Techies of Arisia Meetup

Project Cosplay: Costumes

Ask a Maker

S. Nabbit

Make Your Own Wings

Throwing Things

Project Cosplay: Props

Gautam Nagaraj—Gautam is a rocket scientist who loves Disney, board games, sports, and generically doing the impossible. As a passionate young person, Gautam has spoken as part of the Rackham King Talks, for the TMA LA Speaker Series, as well as numerous engagements at the University of Michigan and the University of Pennsylvania. This is Gautam's second Arisia convention; he moderated the D23 Disney Panel last year!

Allison Neff—Allison has a background in town administration, education, museums, program/event coordination, and trivia hosting. She loves to talk, read, bake, and force affection on her cats who pretend to hate it but actually love it.
Allison has opinions about pretty much everything and will absolutely tell you about them....in detail......at length.

Daniel Neff—Historian and museum professional with 15 years of experience. I have a passion for weird/mecabre history, comicbooks, and Godzilla.

The "Return" of Pandemics (Which Never Actually Left)

Winona Nelson—Artist/writer Winona Nelson was born in 1983 and grew up in Duluth, Minnesota. She has drawn all her life and began painting digitally as a teenager. She studied classical realism and art for the entertainment industry at the Safehouse Atelier in San Francisco.

Winona is a queer, Two Spirit Indigenous person, and her fine art often focuses on the stories and history of her tribe, the Ojibwe of Minnesota, and on gender and diversity.

She now freelances fulltime, working in illustration, concept art, comics, fine art, children's books, and worldbuilding/IP development. Clients include Marvel Studios, Naughty Dog, Wizards of the Coast, Simon and Schuster, Penguin Random House, and Scholastic Books. She also teaches concept art and illustration for SmArt School.

Winona illustrated "If You Lived During the Plimoth Thanksgiving" by Christopher Newell (named one of the School Library Journal's Best Books of 2021 and received starred reviews in the School Library Journal and Kirkus Reviews) and "If You Sailed on the Titanic" by Denise Patrick Lewis for Scholastic Books. Past publications include DC: Women of Action, Women of Wonder, Spectrum 17, Spectrum 18, Spectrum 19, Spectrum 20, Spectrum 23, Spectrum 24, Gorilla Artbook, Exotique 2, and Exotique 4.

Winona has participated in gallery exhibitions in Connecticut, Seattle, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and New York City.

She lives in Pennsylvania with artist beau Anthony Palumbo and their gentleman cats, Diego and Tod.

Winona Nelson: Art and Career

Winona Nelson Meet & Greet

Winona Nelson Tour of the Art Show

Kate Nepveu—

Kate Nepveu (pronounced "NEHV-you", the "p" is silent) is a reader, fan, and reviewer. She was born in South Korea, grew up in Massachusetts, and now lives in upstate New York. There, she practices law, is raising a family, and (in her copious free time) posts to Dreamwidth (kate-nepveu) and Tumblr (katenepveu). She founded Con or Bust, which helps fans of color/non-white fans attend SFF cons, and ran it for ten years before stepping down in 2019. For Tor.com, she reread The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, and Naomi Novik's Temeraire series. She's got an overdeveloped sense of responsibility. It's going to get her into trouble someday.

Gender & Sexual Identity Representation in Media

Nostalgia Ain’t What it Used to Be

Connecting with Your Kids Through Media

Laws, Lawyers, and Trials

Stirling Newberry

Dungeon! (D&D 5E)

Classic Traveller

Eric Nielsen

Maker Crafting Social

Nixon—Producer and Veteran LARPer. Professional Live Play and Online "DM"
35 years in D&D, 20 in LARPing, Guild Leader @Bicolline(CA-LARP)
AA Sport, and Game/Martial Arts enthusiast
Rare Jock-Nerd hybrid and Person with "Opinions"
Radical and visible-bi-type gay
Volunteer, Actor, and Professional NPC;
and I paint own minis.

Artist, Craftsperson, Maker, Crafter – What’s in a Name?

Peter Nulton—

Peter Nulton, Ph.D. is a Classical and Maritime archaeologist who teaches at the Rhode Island School of Design. He has conducted excavations and research in Greece, Italy, Turkey, and Egypt. His Fulbright scholarship resulted in the publication of The Sanctuary of Apollo Hypoakraios and Imperial Athens,cited in the guide to the Acropolis Museum. He also serves on the board of the Rhode Island Marine Archaeology Project, where he is a diver, instructor, and co-PI. Peter has a long history of debunking disinformation about archaeology.

Archaeology in Reality and Speculative Fiction

AI in the Classroom

The Good, the Bad and the Cringe: Science in Social Media

It Belongs in a Museum: The Final Adventure of Indiana Jones

Anne E.G. Nydam—Anne E.G. Nydam has been creating imaginary worlds since she could hold a crayon, bringing them to life in both art and writing. She makes relief block prints, and writes short stories, poems, and books celebrating curiosity and wonder. With an undergraduate degree in linguistics, a background teaching middle school art, and an enthusiastic interest in history, natural history, and art history, she can’t go far without encountering something fascinating. Her most recent book is "On the Virtues of Beasts of the Realms of Imagination," but check out her Kickstarter for something new in the works. See more at nydamprints.com.

Artist Meet and Greet

Blockprinting

Designing Things That Don't Exist

How Do You Price Your Art?

Daniel José Older

Anatomy of a Scene

Teasecraft Kinky Maker Meetup: Show & Tell (18+)

Kevin Osborn

Soldering 101

Ask a Maker

Ovinomancer

Snowmageddon! (Indie Homebrew)

Snowmageddon! (Indie Homebrew Minis Game)

Mark Painter—Mark Painter has worked as an engineer and has practiced law in the field of disability rights. He served in elected office for 17 years, culminating in a stint in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. After retiring from politics, he returned to his first love, writing fantasy and science fiction, and sometimes nonfiction. He also produces and hosts The History of the Twentieth Century podcast.

The "Return" of Pandemics (Which Never Actually Left)

Suzanne Palmer

DIE RPG: Con Quest (DIE RPG v1.1)

Social Co-Writing Space

Victor Parkinson

Carson Pavao—Carson is an actor, a writer, and a voracious consumer of audio drama. They love discussing the intricacies of the media they consume and exploring those intricacies through fanfiction. They live in Rhode Island with a lovely round cat, and they will show you photos of her at the slightest provocation.

Asexuality-Umbrella Meetup

Kris Pelletier—An engineer by trade, Kris spends her free time reading, baking, or convention running.

Chainmail Knitting Circle

Misty Pendragon—Misty Pendragon is the creator and show runner of the award winning podcast, Scream Sisters Podcast. The all female run horror podcast. She also writes and helps with Social Media management for Horrorscope Magazine. Also, she has been going to conventions for way too long, even attending the first Arisia

Toni L.P. Kelner , Leigh Perry—Leigh Perry/Toni L.P. Kelner is two authors in one. As Leigh, she writes the Family Skeleton mysteries, featuring adjunct English professor Georgia Thackery and her BFF Sid, an ambulatory bunch of bones who provides the skeleton part of the series. The Skeleton Stuffs a Stocking is the most recent, and she hopes a draft of the next will be finished by Arisia. As Toni, she’s written eleven mystery novels and co-edited seven urban fantasy anthologies with Charlaine Harris. Under both names, she writes a variety of short fiction. She’s won the Agatha Award and an RT BookClub Lifetime Achievement Award.

phi—Nicholas "phi" Shectman has a wide range of organizing experience in fandom and in mainstream art events. He's currently Treasurer of Arisia Inc and is excited to again show new work in the Arisia art show.

Artist, Craftsperson, Maker, Crafter – What’s in a Name?

Marisca Pichette—Marisca Pichette is a queer author based in Massachusetts, on Pocumtuck and Abenaki land. She writes speculative fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction, published in venues such as Strange Horizons, Clarkesworld, Vastarien, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Fantasy Magazine, Asimov's, Nightmare Magazine, Marvels & Tales, the SFRA Review, Flame Tree Press, Neon Hemlock, and many others. Marisca's speculative poetry collection, Rivers in Your Skin, Sirens in Your Hair, was published in April 2023 by Android Press.

Painting Pirate—Chris Cinneas is a miniature artist, streamer, TTRPG performer and professional pirate.

What Happens When a Pirate Interviews a Villain

Tanya DePass & Eugenio Vargas Meet & Greet

PMRP presents Star Trek: The Doomsday Machine

The Post-Meridian Radio Players—Founded in 2005 and based in the Boston area, The Post-Meridian Radio Players are a group of actors, writers, FoleyFX artists, composers, sound designers and other interested people dedicated to the preservation of radio drama, and the development of audio theater, as unique art forms. They offer live performances and studio productions of both classic tales from the Golden Age of Radio and original works by new and experienced writers, with a special emphasis on science-fiction, fantasy, and horror. For more information go to https://pmrp.org/

Steven Popkes—Steve Popkes, his wife, son, dog, and cat, breed turtles on two acres in Massachusetts. He has been publishing science fiction and fantasy since 1986. His many novels, novellas, and stories are available from his website, www.stevenpopkes.com.

When he's disguised as a normal person, he is an aerospace software engineer.

Beyond Classics Illustrated – Comic Book Adaptations of Prose Works

A Support Group for Poorly Written Characters (LARP)

JS Power

Jim Prego—Dr. James Prego is a naturopathic doctor from Long Island, NY. He is currently an adjunct professor of Biology at LIU Post, Molloy University, and Nassau Community College. He had a private medical practice for 9 years and is a past recipient of the NYANP’s Physician of the Year award.
Dr. Prego is a longtime fan of science fiction and enjoys discussing xenobiology, health in space, life extension, fusions of biology and technology, how natural ways of healing fit in a sci-fi/high-tech world, and many other topics both science-related and non-science related.
He spent 10 years as the New York Delegate to the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians and spent 6 years as a board member of the New York Association of Naturopathic Physicians. Dr. Prego has given talks, written articles, and been a guest on radio and television shows.
He also has interests in acting/shadowcasting, EMT volunteering, alternative lifestyles, LARPing, gaming, and more.

The Good, the Bad and the Cringe: Science in Social Media

The "Return" of Pandemics (Which Never Actually Left)

Antonia Pugliese—Antonia has a PhD in molecular microbiology, a wardrobe full of nerdy costumes and historical ballgowns, a kitchen full of fermentation experiments, and two of the cutest children in the world. Special interests include 19th century ballroom dancing, German vampire musicals, and party planning. She has attended Arisia since childhood, and is ready to start raising a new generation of fans.

SuperWhoLock 2.0: Our Good Omens in the Shadows Mean Death

Tori Queeno—Tori is a Boston-area writer, cosplayer, streamer, and foley artist. They are the president and founder of The Boston Whovians, New England's largest Doctor Who fan group and have been a panelist and cat herder at numerous conventions around New England. In 2018 they were the recipient of the Kurt Brown Fellowship for Diverse Voices from the Solstice MFA in Creative Writing program. They can be regularly seen performing as a live foley arist and voice actor with the Post Meridian Radio Players of Somerville. Recently, they've also been making appearances in the world of streamed TTRPG actual plays, performing on shows by Gehenna Gaming, Sword & Key, and ManaPotStudios (among others) on Twitch. In their spare time they do too many crafts and enjoy spending time with their dear partner, cat, and crested gecko. They hope to someday become a professional nerd.

Boston Whovians Doctor Who Meet Up

Disability and Family

Richard Ralston—Richard Ralston has been a fan of science fiction and anime since the late 60's. Rick has been staffing conventions the past 20 years on the local and regional level. Rick is also the organizer of the local anime group in Albany, NY. Rick brings a unique point of view to the fandom community.

SuperWhoLock 2.0: Our Good Omens in the Shadows Mean Death

Mental Illness: Separating Fact from Fiction

Anne Ratchat

Roxanne Reddington-Wilde—During the day, Roxanne Reddington-Wilde has been doing low-income public policy work at ABCD, Boston's anti-poverty agency, for the past 25+ years. She fell into the job after finishing her PhD in Celtic Studies while working at Harvard's Anthropology & Archaeology Museum. In the evening, she teaches Anthropology, Art History, Advocacy (and more) at Cambridge College, calling herself the Sesame Street Professor, brought to you by the letter A (and lately "G" for Geology & Geography). In the wee hours in between, she is writing her 2nd novel in an historical fantasy series set in early 16th C. Scotland... and Heaven, Hell, the Celtic Otherworld and a few other places her heroine stumbles into.

Open Singing - Fri 10:00 PM

Calais Reed—Calais has just recieved her Masters in Library and Information Science with a focus in Archives Management from Simmons University. She is a cast member of Manapot Studios's "Flights of Fandom" actual-play ttrpg streams, and an amateur fantasy writer. She spends her spare time rambling about Judaism and playing video games.

Shabbat Services

Open Singing - Sat 10:00 PM

Circlet Press Reading (18+)

Dead Dog Open Sing

Nobilis Reed—Nobilis Reed is the editor and producer of the Nobilis Erotica podcast, the best erotic science fiction and fantasy anthology podcast in the known universe. (That's because it's the only one.) He's also the author of the Monster Whisperer erotic science fiction novel series, available from Riverdale Avenue Books.

A. Joseph Ross—Joe Ross has been in fandom since the 1960s. In 1964, he founded the University of Massachusetts (Amherst) Science Fiction Society, then later became a member of MITSFS and NESFA, serving as Vice President of NESFA from 1970-72. He edited Volume I of the NESFA Hymnal in the late 1970s. He was Clerk of Arisia, Inc. from 1990-92 and President from 1992-94. He is a practicing attorney and figures that if he practices long enough, he may get good at it. At 78, he still hasn't quite retired, but he's thinking about it.

Open Singing - Sun 5:30 PM

Standing on the Shoulders of Idiots: Remembering Jaffee, Treasuring Aragonés

Will Rowan

Come Sing with Windborne!

Raymond K. Rugg—Having grown up guiding wilderness pack trips into the backcountry of Montana and Idaho, Raymond K. Rugg describes himself as "a Jewish cowboy from the Rez." He currently writes and teaches in a New England mill town near the heart of the Bridgewater Triangle.

Best and Worst Fictional Battles, Skirmishes, and Fisticuffs

Nomi S.—Naomi Sipple is a writer, crafter, and mother of twins (one of which is a self-proclaimed dragon). She resides in Maryland where she fills her crazy life with work, too many crafting projects, reading, and writing.

No Thank You, Evil!

Franken Stuffies

Start Your Clay Dragon Clutch

Young Fans' Creative Corner

How Do You Price Your Art?

Liora S—Liora is a self proclaimed dragon who spends her time hoarding her crafts but gladly shares her knowledge of crafting as well as her crafts in order to help make people happy.

Franken Stuffies

Start Your Clay Dragon Clutch

Young Fans' Creative Corner

Mark Sabalauskas—Mark Sabalauskas is the Indie-Groundbreaker nominated designer of Return to the Stars, an optimistic SciFi tabletop RPG that mashes up sci-fi exploration with fan culture. In 2023 Return to the Stars was covered in Polygon's article The Future of Tabletop Roleplay is Hope. Mark is a member of SFWA and they publish The Stellar Beacon zine, which features fiction, adventures and essays by noted SFF writers and game designers.

It Belongs in a Museum: The Final Adventure of Indiana Jones

Paul Sabourin—Paul Sabourin is one half of music duo Paul and Storm. He is also a co-founder of JoCo Cruise, an annual week-long music/comedy/creator-themed event cruise (sometimes referred to by attendees as "Nerd summer camp") that has been sailing since 2011. He's been a staff writer and co-written most of the music on the past three seasons of Mystery Science Theater 3000. Paul and Storm also are co-founders of the "w00tstock" live variety show, along with Adam Savage and Wil Wheaton.

Ryka Aoki & Paul Sabourin Meet & Greet

Eyal Sagi

Is ___ a Sandwich?

Liz "Khaaaaaan" Salazar—Liz Salazar is a benevolent space tyrant and a Boston area playwright, director, and actor (when she's not a communications professional by day). She dedicates far too much space in her head to things like Star Trek, gothic horror, history, and mountain gorillas.

Best and Worst Fictional Battles, Skirmishes, and Fisticuffs

Karen Sarao—Part-time amateur voice actor, podcaster, and writer of ridiculous fannish fictions. Full-time fanboy dork with a particular fondness for cartoons, blooper reels, and turtles of the ninja variety. The current Property Manager of the Post Meridian Radio Players and can be seen reprising her role as Captain Jane T. Kirk in the Post Meridian Radio Players' productions of Gender Swapped Star Trek.

Comics and the Women Who Love Them

Sharon Sbarsky—Sharon Sbarsky was Fan Guest of Honor at Arisia 2000, chaired Smofcon 15, Boskone 40, 49 & 59, ran the Masquerade at Arisias and Sasquan, ran the Hugo Ceremony at Renovation, was Events Division Head at Worldcon 76, co-chaired Costume-Con 37 in 2019 in Danvers, MA, and will chair Albacon 2024 in Clifton Park, NY. She creates web sites for fun and work.

Parents with Infants & Toddlers Meetup

Dori Schendell

Immortal Politics (LARP)

Cate Schneiderman—As a geriactric millennial, Cate has all the trappings of her generation: a defunct podcast, too many board games, and multiple recession stories. She is a knowledgeable fan of Shakespeare, Outlander, and libraries. She knows less but is still enthusiastic about superheroes, sewing, and her toddler.

Meredith Schwartz—Meredith Schwartz is a nonfiction periodicals editor. She has also committed fanfiction, screenwriting, and conrunning, published a handful of short stories, and edited an urban fantasy anthology. She has been a fan since she could hold the book. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and a spoiled floofy cat.

Cat Scully—Cat Scully writes and illustrates horror for all ages. She is the author-illustrator of young adult horror series JENNIFER STRANGE and the upcoming 1920s horror novel BELOW THE GRAND HOTEL (2026). She's also known for her illustrations and world maps, including her picture book THE MAYOR OF HALLOWEEN IS MISSING, written by Emily S. Sullivan. When she’s not writing and illustrating books, Cat works in video game development and worked on Romancelvania, which was released in March 2023.

Daniela Sharma—Animal scientist with interest in social behavior and the human-animal bond. Gamer and anime fan, now sharing those interests with my F1.

Sid—Sid is an android from the future sent back in time to serve food to two spoiled, lazy cats.

Songs of Protest and Resistance

Windborne Singers

Windborne Concert

Come Sing with Windborne!

Jamila Sisco—Jamila Sisco is an award-winning costumer with a specialization in anime, video game, and original costumes. She has worked on costumes for over 15 years, usually working on making the big and elaborate come to life. She is the former President of the Northern Lights chapter of the International Costumers' Guild.

Carrying All the Things

Care and Feeding of Costumes

Pete Sloan—

A long time SF fan.

I’m a maker, a tinker and all around creative soul. I specialize in cosplay prop building (mostly for myself).

In short, I specialize in creating “Artisanal Sawdust”.

Dry Brush Techniques for Cosplay Props

Erin Smith

On Frayed Threads (LARP)

Kris "Nchanter" Snyder—Nchanter stumbled sideways into fandom in their early 20’s for lack of anything else to keep them out of trouble. With a background in theater, the visual arts, and a love for SFF fostered by their father from a young age, it soon became obvious that this was where they, and their colorful curls, belonged. A tax accountant by day, Nchanter also helps make fandom go by volunteering for several conventions with a focus on addressing harassment and creating more inclusive spaces. Most recently they were the Head of Program and Diversity Advisor to the Chair for Chicon 8: The 80th Worldcon in 2022.

Advanced Topics In Polyamory

Representations of Mental Illness in SFF

Elijah Kinch Spector—Elijah Kinch Spector is a writer, dandy, and rootless cosmopolitan from the Bay Area who now lives in Brooklyn. His first novel, Kalyna the Soothsayer, was a British Fantasy Award finalist and received acclaim from NPR, Nerds of a Feather, Tor.com, Foreword, and Paste Magazine, among others. A sequel, Kalyna the Cutthroat, is expected in 2024.

Fortune Tellers, Prophets, and Mediums

Michael Sprague

Fast Track - Meet the Staff and Free Play

Fast Track Staff

Geeky Play Date - Saturday

Fast Track Early Dropoff - Saturday morning

Fast Track Pickup - Saturday lunchtime

Fast Track Early Dropoff - Saturday afternoon

Fast Track Pickup - Saturday dinnertime

Geeky Play Date - Sunday

Fast Track Early Dropoff - Sunday morning

Fast Track Pickup - Sunday lunchtime

Fast Track Early Dropoff - Sunday afternoon

Kids Volunteer with Fast Track - Sunday

Fast Track Pickup - Sunday dinnertime

Geeky Play Date - Monday

Kids Volunteer with Fast Track - Monday

Lisa J Steele— Lisa J. Steele is a criminal defense attorney and author based in Massachusetts. She represents clients accused of crimes ranging from minor traffic offenses to capital murder. She writes and teaches about forensics and eyewitness identification, and is a member of the Supreme Judicial Court’s Standing Committee on Eyewitness Identification.

Ms. Steele is the author of The Defense Counsel Playbook for Eyewitness Identification Cases (NACDL Press, 2020), numerous legal articles about criminal defense, a co-author of Evil Hat’s award-winning Bubblegumshoe; a Contributor to Evil Hat’s Worlds in Shadow; author of two Cumberland Games source books: Fief and Town (available from DriveThruRPG), and of GURPS: Cops and GURPS: Mysteries (both available from e23.sjgames.com). She was also a contributing author to White Wolf’s Dark Ages: Europe and Dark Ages: Spoils of War.

Crime, Punishment, and Justice in SFF

Laws, Lawyers, and Trials

Ninian Stein

Raven Stern—Raven (she/her) is happiest when reconstructing food from literature (of the 19th century or space variety), constructing fantastical garments (of the 19th century or space variety), frolicking in a ballroom (of the 19th century or space variety), and finding ways to combine all three. This year she was AH for Costuming & Cosplay programming, which continues her quick slide down a steep slope into con staffing (and regrets nothing!).

Menswear Costuming Challenges

Beyond Classics Illustrated – Comic Book Adaptations of Prose Works

Skyla Stormborn—

Skyla (she/her) is a seasoned presenter known for her diverse interests and contributions to various communities. As a queer polyamorous switch with a fondness for rope and a penchant for sparkle, she brings a unique blend of passion and experience to her presentations.

Her journey in mermaid cosplay, spanning several years, reflects her commitment to creative expression, evident in her extensive collection of mermaid tails. Since 2012, Skyla has been an active participant in the BDSM community, offering her insights at conventions nationwide. She began her involvement by volunteering for respected organizations such as the New England Dungeon Society, Dark Odyssey, and Bound in Boston.

In 2019, Skyla took on the role of co- founder and co-producer of Tethered Together, an annual convention held in March. This event, blending rope art with diverse programming in circus arts, relationships, dance, kink, and yoga, is a testament to her dedication to fostering inclusive spaces.

Away from conventions, Skyla is known for her love of literature, particularly as an avid Stephen King fan, and her interest in True Crime podcasts. She finds joy in dancing, has a passion for learning new things, and finds a simple pleasure in sipping on the largest iced coffee available.

Skyla's down-to-earth approach and genuine enthusiasm make her a relatable and engaging presenter, leaving a positive impact on audiences wherever she shares her insights.

Advanced Topics In Polyamory

Sarena Straus—

I write novels for the curious and adventurous, for people who are intrigued by a “what happens if,” scenario, and who like to explore the outcomes. My characters are ordinary people who find out that they are capable of extraordinary things and discover that one person can truly make a difference.

After receiving a BA in art history and political science from Barnard, I graduated from Fordham University School of Law. I then worked for five years at the Bronx District Attorney’s Office (BXDA), where I prosecuted sex crimes and child abuse cases. After leaving BXDA, I published a true-crime memoir, Bronx DA: True Stories from the Sex Crimes and Domestic Violence unit (Barricade, 2006). In 2010, my book sold as a TV Pilot to CBS/Paramount.

I’ve gone on to publish numerous legal articles and works of poetry, and I was an editor for a legal magazine. For a few years, I was also a talking head, commenting on current criminal cases in the media on tv and radio.

Today, I live in the Hudson Valley, NY with my husband, our two children (also budding writers), two naughty Labrador retriever ladies, and two barn cat boys. I’m now working on sequels to my debut novel ReInception and will keep you posted about them on my site.

When not writing or lawyering, I love to scuba dive, take photographs, and travel off the beaten path. I’ll swap diving or courtroom stories with you all day long or happily talk to you about books–writing them or reading them!

How to Win at Pitching

Broad Universe Rapid Fire Reading

Crime, Punishment, and Justice in SFF

Writing Realistic Young Adult Fiction

Story Pitch Challenge

Laws, Lawyers, and Trials

Ian Randal Strock—Ian Randal Strock (www.IanRandalStrock.com) is the editor and publisher of Fantastic Books (www.FantasticBooks.biz) and an author of science fiction and non-fiction. He has written three books on the presidency of the US (published by Random House and Carrel Books) and had stories in Analog, Nature, and several anthologies. He was previously an editor with Artemis, Asimov’s, Analog, The Daily Free Press, and Science Fiction Chronicle. He is also the Secretary of American Mensa.

Embracing the Alien: Writing Believable ETs

N. T. Swift—N. Trevol Swift is a sometimes-sassy fantasy author from New England. In her spare time, Miz Swift enjoys gaming, wearing funny hats, and dancing—frequently all at the same time. She also likes to spend time relaxing by getting creative, with drawing and storytelling among her favorite pastimes.

Fortune Tellers, Prophets, and Mediums

POC Meetup

AI Created and Assisted Art – Threat or Menace?

Massachusetts Historical Swordsmanship—

Massachusetts Historical Swordsmanship began at the Higgins Armory Museum in 2009 and moved to Worcester Fencing Club and Pioneer Valley Fencing Academy (Easthampton) after the Museum’s closing. MHS is a community of men and women exploring the art, science, and spirit of the sword and other weapons as they were used in both serious combat and friendly encounters. We study knightly longsword and dagger, the Renaissance rapier, and the classical stick, staff, and dueling sabre. The class is led by Dr. Ken Mondschein, who has the unique qualifications of holding both a PhD in history and a fencing master’s certification. Dr. Mondschein is an internationally known scholar in this field.

Honor and Blood: Nineteenth-Century Martial Arts Demo and Class

Open Fencing

Medieval and Renaissance Swordfighting Demo and Class

A. Szabla

Cecilia Tan—

Cecilia Tan is the author of many books and short stories, including the Magic University series, The Prince's Boy, Slow Surrender, and Daron's Guitar Chronicles. According to Susie Bright, she is "simply one of the most important writers, editors, and innovators in contemporary American erotic literature," for her pioneering combination of erotica and science fiction. The founder of Circlet Press in 1992, an indie publishing house that publishes works of erotic science fiction, Tan ran the press until 2020 while also racking up numerous awards and accolades as a fiction writer. Her ground-breaking short story collections Black Feathers (HarperCollins, 1998) and White Flames (Running Press, 2004), pushed the boundaries of erotic literature and broke barriers between genres and gender categories. Her short fiction has appeared everywhere from Ms. Magazine to Asimov's Science Fiction, from Strange Horizons to Nerve. As a novelist she has published romance, fantasy, and science fiction, including the Magic University series (listed by Autostraddle in their recommendations of “trans inclusive fantasy for adult fans of Harry Potter”) and her awards include the RT Reviewer’s Choice Award, an Independent Publisher (Ippy) award, honorable mention in the Rainbow Awards, and a Lifetime Achievement award from NLA: International. She holds a masters degree in writing and publishing from Emerson College. She was inducted in 2010 into the LGBT Writers and Editors Hall of Fame.

Circlet Press Reading (18+)

Writing With The Rainbow

Tashari—Sarah Morrison (she/her) is an award winning fantasy illustrator and portrait artist. Working primarily with oil paint she focuses on figurative works designed to inspire narrative, with attention towards faces and fabric. Escapism through fantasy has always been a central theme to her art, and she embraces whimsy and enigmatic details. Sarah's imagery is designed to inspire a sense of wonder, encouraging viewers to develop stories about what might be going on in each piece.

Sarah also occasionally works with printmaking techniques and textiles. See more of her work at sarahmorrisonillustration.com

Parents with Infants & Toddlers Meetup

Designing Things That Don't Exist

Making Space for Making

Ilene Tatroe—Arisia 2024 Co-Chair. Apparently I love to help run SFF cons. When I'm not doing that, I'm a software product manager, a spouse, and a Mom to a high school senior, one dog, one cat, and The Terror Twins (adopted as "kittens", but we know better.) PS: I miss GISH and Destiel is Canon.

Saturday Feedback Session

Improv Theater Games for Kids

Monday Feedback Session

Gail "RGB🌈🐻" Terman—Gail is one of this year's Assistant Convention Chairs, in addition to being the Chair of the Arisia Corporate IT Committee, and the Planorama Area Head. In her spare time, she works as a principal software engineer for a security company, writes Planorama, sings for a few different choirs, and is very involved with her temple.

Monday Feedback Session

W. A. Thomasson—

W. A. Thomasson (ant pronoun) obtained a PhD in biochemistry but, lacking the patience required for scientific research, switched into science/medical writing. W. A. is interested in all aspects of science and the future, including societal as well as technological aspects. Interests in science fiction and fantasy are also broad and date back to the 1940s, with participation in con panels dating from the 1990s and service on con Access teams from 2014. W. A. has now completed their first novel, a Sword and Sorcery work titled The Whip of Abadur, which is currently being shopped for publication. A short story in the same universe is a candidate for anthology inclusion.

Friday Evening Readings

Fans with Disabilities Meetup

The Science and Sociology of Terraforming

Embracing the Alien: Writing Believable ETs

Tikva—Tikva (aka Tikva (raycho)) is attending her bazillionth Arisia, and her umpteenth as a panelist. She is kind of like a very sweary golden retriever. She's a public health geek, disability activist, baseball addict, and member of a queer polyamorous family/household. She is fond of pie.

Fans with Disabilities Meetup

Disability and Family

The Broken Tower (Runequest:Adventures In Glorantha)

Staffan Tjernstrom

Pendragon: The Great Hunt (Pendragon 6E)

D. J. Toland—Dan Toland is a writer and podcaster. He lives in Boston with a woman of nearly limitless patience and a cat that kinda smells like a butt. He chronicles his ongoing quest for B-movie glory with Channel 37's Midnight Movie Show at Earth-2.net, where you can also hear him give voice to strongly-held opinions about inexpensively made British sci-fi, Reagan-era cartoons, and Bronze Age team-up comics.

Thomas Traina

Midnight Cosmic Encounter

Trell

Jennifer Trethewey—She/her/hers. Rocking my AuDHD. Collaborative & Proactive Solutions devotee. Select Board candidate. GISHer forever. Searching for kindness and extra spoons.

Kevin Turausky—I'm primarily a science fiction nerd but am gradually branching into fantasy. Star Trek is my favorite franchise, but am quite fond of Stargate, Star Wars, Babylon 5, or pretty much any show or film with cool spaceships. My professional background is much more down to earth: I used to be a park ranger and worked at sites across the US, teaching nature and history to the public, and now I work in utilities.

Eugenio Vargas—Eugenio Vargas is a TTRPG designer, writer, and professional GM, as well as a streamer and podcaster. He's been featured as both a GM and player in various Actuall Play shows, including The Last Refuge: A D&D Podcast, Into the Mother Lands, Idle Champions Presents: Hunger of the Far Realms, and Rivals of Waterdeep. As a writer and designer, Eugenio has design credits in books published by MCDM Productions (Flee, Mortals! and Where Evil Lives), Green Ronin (The Fifth Season Roleplaying Game), Wizards of the Coast (Fizban's Treasury of Dragons), and a few others coming soon. When he's not writing or GMing, Eugenio streams games on his Twitch channel as DMJazzyHands. In the beforetimes, Eugenio was also a musical theater actor and music director, performing in musical productions around the world.

The Skeletons (written by Jason Morningstar, run by Eugenio Vargas)

Tanya DePass & Eugenio Vargas Meet & Greet

K'NEX Konnect: Bridging Imagination Workshop & Contest

Jenna Vincenzino

Design Your Own Coat of Arms

Origami Star Constellations

Emmett Wald—Emmett Wald spent the first fifteen years of their life reading nonstop, which explains a lot, really. Since being cruelly betrayed by JKR, Emmett spends more time reading fanfiction (Marvel, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, and others) than original fiction these days. Emmett’s other main geekdoms are mathematics and computer science, and they teach high school geometry. Ask them about the current state of STEM pedagogy if you have an hour to spare! ;-P

Arisia First Night Social

Papercrafting

John C. Watson—A longtime fan of SF/F, John C. Watson was infected with the anime and manga bug in the early 1990s, and remains a virulent carrier of all three.

Sing-along: Yiddish Songs

Susan Weiner—Susan Weiner is a Biology professor, larp writer, songwriter, and general trouble maker. They also make ridiculously complicated meals and tweet about the Talmud.

werewulf/Mom—Greykell aka werewulf. Seen often backstage at the masquerade, or working the mornings in the Goat Check. I volunteer a lot for the little jobs.

Carrying All the Things

J.Z. Weston—J.Z. Weston (they/them) writes short stories and reviews novellas, with a soft spot for contemporary/urban fantasy. They are particularly fascinated by the ways that stories help us figure out how to be human. You can count on them to have too many projects on their knitting needles, too many stories in process at the same time, and more ideas than any one person could ever hope to implement. www.jzwestonauthor.com

Knitting and Crocheting Circle

Henry M. White—H.M. White teaches children to LARP in the woods at The Wayfinder Experience and is the creator of Whimsy's Throne and the World Seeds project, DIY scenario kits for roleplaying games of your choice. A writer and editor, they have an MFA in Writing for Children from Simmons.

Advanced Topics In Polyamory

Valerie White

Nightwing Whitehead—

Nightwing was born in 1958, the Barbie was born in 1959. So for a year Nightwing had nothing to do. She has been trying to make up for lost time ever since. She has dressed stars, politicians, and real people. Some of her favorite work is reinterpreting styles from other eras.

Nightwing's creations have been seen in plays at every level from Community to Equity, as well as several independent films.

Nightwing has her own business designing and creating what she calls costumes for life.

She is a professional full-time enigma who enjoys reading and howling at the moon.

Carrying All the Things

Making Makers Make

Designing Things That Don't Exist

Ask a Maker

Making Space for Making

Stephen R. Wilk—Despite repeated attempts to merge his body with that of a fly in his telepod, Steve has not succeeded, and remains pretty much the same So he takes refuge in being a Scientist and Engineer by day and a writer of Fiction and Nonfiction by night.. His recent books include Lost Wonderland, Sandbows and Blacklights, and the forthcoming Mystery Ship.

Beyond Classics Illustrated – Comic Book Adaptations of Prose Works

Standing on the Shoulders of Idiots: Remembering Jaffee, Treasuring Aragonés

Brittany N. Williams—Brittany N. Williams is the critically-acclaimed author of That Self-Same Metal and a classically-trained actress who studied Musical Theatre at Howard University and Shakespearean performance at the Royal Central School of Speech & Drama in London. Previously she's been a principal vocalist at Hong Kong Disneyland, a theatre professor at Coppin State University, and made appearances in Queen Sugar and Leverage: Redemption. Her short stories have been published in The Gambit Weekly, Fireside Magazine, and the Star Wars anthology From a Certain Point of View: The Empire Strikes Back.

Get Rec'd! Books for Aspiring Writers

Sunday Morning Readings - YA

Saturday Afternoon Readings (18+)

W.B.J. Williams—An InfoSec executive by day, I maintain a secret identity as an author. My publishing credits include: The Garden at the Roof of the World (2013) currently being shopped for a TV or Film deal, and The Reality, Mythology and Fantasies of Unicorns (2021) with Dragonwell Publishing. My short story "The InfoCoup" was published by Abyss and Apex in 2019 and featured in their The Best of Abyss & Apex: Volume Three. Johnny Talon and the Goddess of Love and War will be relased by The Wild Rose Press in February 2024. I am a frequent author panelist at ReaderCon, and Arisia. I’ve been a panelist at Boskone, and a panelist at the 80th World Science Fiction convention at Chicon 8 in 2022.

James Willis—James Willis is a writer, artist and adventurer who was born and raised in the Boston area, and I hate refering to myself in the third person. After reading Jules Vern's "20000 Leagues Under the Sea," at the age of eight, I decided to become a science fiction writer, and at the age of nine I decided I was going to draw comics too. This crucial decision has lead me to the Boston Comics Round Table, as well as science fiction, comic book and anime conventions around the world. I'm currently self publishing my series of short story comics "Small Change" as well as publishing illustrations inspired by classic literature, and dumb philosophy jokes.

Not Just Rocks, Robots, and Aliens

Standing on the Shoulders of Idiots: Remembering Jaffee, Treasuring Aragonés

Beyond Classics Illustrated – Comic Book Adaptations of Prose Works

Jonathan Woodward—Jonathan Woodward is the author or co-author of over a dozen roleplaying game books, including the original Hellboy RPG, Trinity, and GURPS Banestorm. He has been participating in Arisia's panels for over a quarter-century. He lives outside Boston with his wonderfully complicated family.

Rebecca Yanovskaya