MileHiCon 47: Full Schedule

WELCOME!
Keep in mind that times, venues and even entire panels will be subject to change. Any schedule changes made after we go to print will appear here, so bookmark it!

4:00pm MDT

Five Fantasy Worlds You Wouldn't Want to Visit

The Shire might be nice (but does Bag End have flush toilets?), but lots of fantasy worlds would be no fun to be in. Our panelists count down the five fantasy worlds they’d least like to visit … let alone set up house in.

Moderators

Jason Henry Evans

Editor-in-Chief, Man-Gazine

I am a writer, an educator, and a Bon Vivant.I have always wanted to be a writer, I just didn't know it until recently. For 14 years I was an educator, teaching social studies in both public & private schools. I have taught every grade from 6th to 12th. I have bachelors degrees in... Read More →

Participants

Betsy Dornbusch

author

Betsy Dornbusch writes epic fantasy. Her short fiction has appeared in over a dozen magazines and anthologies, and she's the author of three novellas and five novels. Her first fantasy novel came out in 2012 and her latest trilogy, BOOKS OF THE SEVEN EYES, wraps up with ENEMY in 2017... Read More →

Carrie Vaughn

Carrie Vaughn is the bestselling author of a series of novels about a werewolf named Kitty who hosts a talk radio advice show. The most recent and final in the series, Kitty Saves the World, came out August 2015. Low Midnight, a novel in the Kitty universe focused on Cormac Bennett... Read More →

Courtney Schafer

Courtney Schafer is a writer of adventure fantasy who has embraced the "hybrid author" model of publishing. After traditionally publishing the first two novels of her Shattered Sigil trilogy (The Whitefire Crossing and The Tainted City) with Night Shade Books, she ran a very successful... Read More →

Ross Watson

Ross Watson is an award-winning game designer with more than 50 credited titles, including work as Lead Developer for the Warhammer 40K Roleplay line and on the Accursed setting for Savage Worlds, design work on Star Wars: Edge of the Empire, Shadowrun 5th Edition, and more. He is... Read More →

Friday October 23, 2015 4:00pm - 4:50pm MDT
Mesa Verde A Ground Floor

Programming, Fantasy

4:00pm MDT

Urban Fantasy/Rural Fantasy: Discussion & Readings

A brief discussion on the impact setting has on fantasy—urban and otherwise— followed by some short readings.

Moderators

Dana Bell

Dana Bell enjoys writing regional tales and has lived many places including Boston, MA., Idaho and Oregon. Currently residing in Colorado, many of her stories are set there and star the various cats she’s been owned by. Her works include her novels Winter Awakening and God’s Gift... Read More →

Participants

Angela Roquet

Angela Roquet is an urban fantasy author and a great big weirdo. She collects Danger Girl comic books, owls, skulls, random craft supplies, and all things Joss Whedon. She's a fan of renewable energy, marriage equality, and religious tolerance. As long as whatever you're doing isn't... Read More →

Sam Knight

Author/Publisher, Knight Writing Press

Sam Knight is publisher of Knight Writing Press and author of six children’s books, five short story collections, three novels, and over 75 short stories, including three co-authored with Kevin J. Anderson. A Colorado native, Sam spent ten years in California’s wine country before... Read More →

W. J. Cherf

Writer of Historical Science Fiction and author of the award-winning time travel series The Manuscripts of the Richards' Trust in five volumes.

Friday October 23, 2015 4:00pm - 4:50pm MDT
Mesa Verde C Ground Floor

Programming, Fantasy

6:00pm MDT

Fantasy Primer: Alexander to Zelazny

If someone is just getting into reading fantasy fiction, what books do you recommend and why?

Moderators

Kal Spriggs

Author

Kal is a professional author of science fiction and fantasy. He has already begun publishing three science fiction series: The Shadow Space Chronicles, the Rising Wolf Series, and the Renegades. The Shadow Space Chronicles is military science fiction and space opera and follows a... Read More →

Participants

Gail Barton

Gail Barton is a long-time artist and SF/fantasy fan who has both chaired MileHiCon and been director of the Denver Area Science Fiction Association, the latter several times. Her diverse interests include Roman history, hiking, Tolkien, traveling, horses, cats, gardening, and Fortean... Read More →

Jeanne C. Stein / SJ Harper

Jeanne C. Stein is the bestselling author of the urban fantasy series, The Anna Strong Vampire Chronicles and, most recently, the Fallen Siren Series, written as S.J. Harper. She has many short story credits to her name including Love Story in the NYT bestselling anthology, Dead But... Read More →

L.F. (Laurey) Patten

Author/Editor, Stone Dagger Publications

L. F. Patten has often characterized her multitude of interests as A.D.D of the Right Brain. Degreed in Medieval History and archaeology, her checkered career has included teaching, work at a planetarium, a rock shop and an off- (off-off- off-) Broadway theater. A certified herbalist... Read More →

Van Aaron Hughes

Van Aaron Hughes is the author of "The Long View," in the March-April 2013 issue of F&SF, "The Body Pirate" in a forthcoming issue of F&SF, and "The Dualist," which was a winner in the Writers of the Future Contest and published in Writers of the Future Vol. 27. His fiction has... Read More →

Friday October 23, 2015 6:00pm - 6:50pm MDT
Mesa Verde A Ground Floor

Programming, Fantasy

2:00pm MDT

You Always Remember Your First

What SF/F/H is the earliest you recall? Perhaps it’s Dr. Seuss, or The Twilight Zone, Maybe not the fairytales you were read––or maybe so––but the first you picked up on your own, the first that made an impression, that warped you forever. Our panelists share memories!

Moderators

John E. Stith

Author of MANHATTAN TRANSFER (Hugo Honorable Mention), REDSHIFT RENDEZVOUS (Nebula Nominee), "Naught for Hire," etc

Participants

Carrie Vaughn

Evelyn Lederman

Author, Self

Evelyn Lederman is a retired insurance executive who looked forward to spending as much time reading as she always wanted. Then the voices started....she writes about parallel dimensions and people with telepathic powers. She is an Amazon Best Selling Author.

J Alan Erwine

J Alan Erwine is a science fiction writer, editor, and game designer. He is the managing editor at Nomadic Delirium Press, and the co-creator of the Ephemeris Science Fiction Role Playing Game. J has sold more than 40 short stories to a variety of markets, and has published three... Read More →

Patrick Swenson

Patrick is a writer, publisher, editor, and teacher. His first novel is entitled THE ULTRA THIN MAN, from Tor books, August 2014. He runs the Rainforest Writers Village retreat every spring at Lake Quinault, Washington. Patrick, a high school teacher for 30 years, lives in Bonney... Read More →

Saturday October 24, 2015 2:00pm - 2:50pm MDT
Main Events - Grand Mesa Ballroom ABC Second Floor

Programming, Books, Discussion, Fantasy, Science Fiction

8:00pm MDT

Violence in Fantasy

A huge percentage of fantasy novels revolve around wars and battles, torture or at least torment. Is it necessary? How much is too much or is there a limit?

Moderators

Kal Spriggs

Author

Participants

Angela Roquet

Blair MacGregor

Writer, Speaker, Teacher

Blair MacGregor writes fantasy novels—adventurous, epic, and dark. Her short stories have appeared in Cicada and Writers of the Future. She’s a graduate of Viable Paradise, chair of SFWA's Self-Publishing Committee, and works with StoryBundle as an author and curator. Blair holds... Read More →

J.L. Forrest

J.L. Forrest writes science fiction and fantasy nomadically, scribbling upon the pages of innumerable Moleskines in the wet techno-jungles of the Pacific Northwest, the rarified forests of the Rocky Mountains, the primeval landscapes of Sweden, the battered remnants of Italian ruins... Read More →

Marc MacYoung

No Nonsense Self-Defense

Marc MacYoung—author of "Beyond the Picket Fence" and the "Writing Violence" series of e-booklets—spends most of his time in the realm of non-fiction. With over 25 published titles he's a leading expert in a rather unpleasant and dangerous topic. When he discovered he was considered... Read More →

Saturday October 24, 2015 8:00pm - 8:50pm MDT
Mesa Verde B Ground Floor

Programming, Fantasy

10:00pm MDT

Chinese Ghost Lore

A presentation on Chinese Ghost lore.

Participants

M.H. Boroson

M. H. Boroson's historical fantasy novel THE GIRL WITH GHOST EYES will be published in November by Skyhorse Books and Talos Press. THE GIRL WITH GHOST EYES won first prize in the writing contests of both the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers and the Crested Butte Writers. Drawing on... Read More →

Saturday October 24, 2015 10:00pm - 10:50pm MDT
Centennial 12th Floor

Programming, Fantasy

10:00am MDT

Step Write Up! Circuses & Carnivals in SF/F/H

From Something Wicked This Way Comes to The Night Circus, The Last Unicorn and Carnivale… what are some of the attributes of circuses and carnivals that make them such fertile ground for SF/F/H stories and movies?

Moderators

Rob S. Rice

Ambassador from the Past

Rob S. Rice has long had a fascination with the histories of war, technology, and always the sea. He has delivered papers before the American Philological Association, lectured at Annapolis and has taught subjects from Mythology to Roman History. Before all THAT, he won the 1st... Read More →

Participants

Connie Willis

Connie Willis’ latest published book is The Best of Connie Willis. Her next novel, Crosstalk, a romantic comedy about telepathy,will be out in 2016. She is the author of Blackout/All Clear, Doomsday Book, To Say Nothing of the Dog, Bellwether, Passage, Remake, Fire Watch, Impossible... Read More →

Paul Lell

The One in Charge, Kalijor Press

Paul Lell was born and grew up in the Denver area, where he was encouraged by friends and family to imagine worlds without limits. He wrote stories and game mastered RPGs for his friends, which led to the development of whole worlds and their inhabitants. After trying a few different... Read More →

Sarena Ulibarri

Sarena Ulibarri attended the Clarion Fantasy and Science Fiction Writers' Workshop at UCSD, the Gunn Center for the Study of Science Fiction Novel Workshop at KU, and earned an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Colorado at Boulder. Her fiction has appeared in Lightspeed... Read More →

Vivian Caethe

Author

When not fighting crime, Ms. Caethe also writes and edits. The author of multiple short stories and novellas, her work has appeared in various magazines and anthologies. She lives with her husband in Colorado. Check her latest novel out on Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/VivianCaethe... Read More →

Sunday October 25, 2015 10:00am - 10:50am MDT
Mesa Verde B Ground Floor

Programming, Fantasy, Horror, Science Fiction, Writing

2:00pm MDT

Nasty, Brutish & Short: Historical Inspirations for Game of Thrones

We’ll dig deeper than the War of the Roses for other parallels: like two separate, Red Wedding-like massacres in Scottish history. Using history, panelists may even go out on a limb and make some predictions about where the show and the last two books are going to go. (Beware--here there will almost certainly be spoilers!)

Moderators

L.F. (Laurey) Patten

Author/Editor, Stone Dagger Publications

Participants

Charles Eugene Anderson

Charles Eugene Anderson is a former coach, athletic director, and teacher. Now he's a writer, podcaster, and publisher. His latest flash fiction appears in the 'Objects in the Rear View Mirror' anthology. His latest series, 'Auxiliary Hero Corps' has been described as superhero noir... Read More →

Jason Henry Evans

Editor-in-Chief, Man-Gazine

Nikki Ebright

Sunday October 25, 2015 2:00pm - 2:50pm MDT
Mesa Verde B Ground Floor

Programming, Fantasy

2:00pm MDT

Two Takes on Fantasy: Readings by Hilari Bell & Carrie Vaughn

Participants

Carrie Vaughn

Hilari Bell

Hilari Bell writes SF & fantasy for kids and teens, and with 21 books published she thinks it should be getting easier, but never does. Could that have something to do with her? Surely not.

Sunday October 25, 2015 2:00pm - 2:50pm MDT
Wind River A Ground Floor

Programming, Fantasy, Readings

4:00pm MDT

Urban Fantasy / Contemporary Fantasy

Are these synonyms or distinct sub-genres? What distinguishes one from the other? And does urban fantasy have to be in a city?

Moderators

M.H. Boroson

Participants

Carrie Vaughn

Chaz Kemp

Art Monkey Supreme, Chaz Kemp Illustration

Bram Stoker Award finalist Chaz Kemp embraces an Art Nouveau style that incorporates vibrancy and color into fantasy and steampunk art in a way that is rarely seen. As an illustrator, the influence of Alphonse Mucha is evident in his award-winning work that combines the artistic energy... Read More →

Hilari Bell

Hilari Bell writes SF & fantasy for kids and teens, and with 21 books published she thinks it should be getting easier, but never does. Could that have something to do with her? Surely not.

J. A. Campbell

Authors Row

When Julie (J.A.) Campbell is not writing she’s often out riding horses, or working sheep with her dogs. She lives in Colorado with her three cats, Kira and Bran, her border collies, her Traveler-in training, Triska, and her Irish Sailor. She is the author of many Vampire and Ghost-Hunting... Read More →

Sunday October 25, 2015 4:00pm - 4:50pm MDT
Mesa Verde B Ground Floor

Programming, Fantasy