Spokanein 2015

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More information about our bid will be posted here as it becomes available.

Find us at the following upcoming conventions:

More events will be added to this list in the future.

Spokane in 2015 Bid Committee

John Ammon -- John Ammon is the webmaster of Spocon, and is involved in publications for groups in the eastern Washington area.

David-Glenn Anderson -- David-Glenn Anderson lives in Utah. His first Worldcon was 1997; Renovation is the 4th time he has been on staff. The 1999 NASFiC was his first time as a talking head for Reading for the Future. He has helped Seattle with three bids. He was bid chair for the first Salt Lake City World Horror Con. He is currently on the Utah 2014 Westercon bid committee.

Patricia Briggs -- Patricia Briggs had her first novel, Masques, published in 1993. Iron Kissed, the third book in the Mercy Thompson urban fantasy series, reached the top of the New York Times bestseller list in 2008. Originally from Montana, Patty now lives in the Spokane area. She's not much for having a bio; apparently she wants to talk to everyone individually.

Carolyn Cherryh -- C.J. Cherryh was Author Guest of Honor at Westercon 52 in Spokane, and she liked the place so much that she moved there from Oklahoma. She is a popular and prolific author of science fiction and fantasy, and has won the Hugo, Campbell, and Locus awards for her work. Before writing, she was a teacher of Latin, classical Greek, and history. Carolyn's interests include filking and skating, and she is good at recommending restaurants.

Bobbie DuFault, Convention Co-Chair -- Bobbie DuFault has been active in fandom since 1981, starting by attending and doing live video for the local Seattle area conventions, then moving upward and outward over the years. In her 30 years of conrunning, she has worked on over 150 conventions! Bobbie has been the Chair of Rustycon multiple years; C-Cubed, the Pacific Northwest conrunning convention, several times; CascadiaCon, the 2005 NASFiC; and has chaired several bids, and has worked on horror, anthropomorphic, and anime conventions. She is currently the Program Division Head for Chicon 7, and Chair of Westercon 65 in Seattle. Bobbie is also an artist and a non-fiction writer. She was Fan GoH at Baycon in 2011. Other fannish endeavors include maintaining the website www.readingforfuture.com.

Jane Fancher -- Jane is an author and artist living in Spokane. Her first professional work involved working with Richard and Wendy Pini editing Elfquest graphic novels and companion books. Since then, she has written nine novels, as well as doing graphic novel interpretations of C.J. Cherryh's Gate of Ivrel series. Her interests include quantum physics, history, horses, gardening, figure skating, and cats.

Bruce Farr, Chair Adviser -- Bruce has been in fandom for more than thirty years, serving as chair of NASFiC in 1987, Smofcon in 1988, World Fantasy Convention in 1991 and 2001, and Westercon 45 in 1992. He is currently facilities division head for Chicon 7, and has been division head or senior committee on several Worldcons, working in treasury, operations, registration, hotel liaison, programming, art show, and other areas. His is originally from Montreal but has lived in Phoenix for decades.

kT Fitzsimmons -- Catherine "kT" Fitzsimmons encountered fandom in Texas in the early 1980s, and has been working on conventions since that time. She has been active in Chicago fandom since she returned to her hometown in the late '80s. She was program division head for Chicon 5, deputy events division head for Chicon 2000, and deputy hospitality division head for Chicon 7. She is on the board of directors of Phandemonium, the parent corporation of Capricon, and has performed may roles at Windycon and Capricon.

Jerry Gieseke, Registrar -- Jerry Gieseke has played key roles in most SWOC initiatives during the past decade, including CascadiaCon, ConComCon, Seattle in 2011, and Westercon 65, as well as Rustycon and Norwescon. He sometimes has no title but often takes on technical, administrative, and sitting-at-table tasks that nobody else wants to do. He is listed as Program Database Guru for Chicon 7.

Char Mac Kay -- Char Mac Kay was born in a tiny backwater town in the four corners region of the US, and started participating in fannish activities before she even knew that there was such a thing as fandom. She has run gaming clubs, conventions, and parties. She is currently an active filker, belly dancer, middle eastern percussionist, and mom. She is a veteran conrunner, having held nearly every position, including Con Chair, Hotel Liaison, and Guest Liaison, multiple times. Char and her husband Randy are Guest Liaisons for Westercon 65 in Seattle.

Randy Mac Kay -- Randy Mac Kay started attending conventions around 1978, and has been involved in running local, regional and international conventions for over 20 years. Randy has worked with and bid for the Arnold Air Society's regional (ARCON) and national (NATCON) conventions, worked for may years with ConDuit in Salt Lake City, helped plan and run The Camarilla's International Camarilla Conclave, and was one of the founders of SpoCon, in Spokane, WA. Randy's convention leadership experience includes Assistant Security Chief, Security Chief, Programming Chair, Pro Liaison, Comptroller, Bid Chair, and Guest Liaison. Randy and his wife Char are the Guest Liaisons for Westercon 65 Seattle.

Tim Martin -- Tim has been active in various aspects of Conventions since the mid 1980s, was the Geek behind SpokLAN.net, and is currently the organizer of INFilk.

Michael Nelson -- Michael Nelson has been active in Washington (DC) and Baltimore fandom for more than two decades, He was chair of Disclave in 1997, and Capclave in 2002. He has worked on many Worldcons, often in publications, twice as Hugo Administrator, and he was on the executive of Bucconeer, the 1998 Worldcon in Baltimore.

Carole Parker -- Carole has worked behind the scenes at conventions. She has helped with masquerade green rooms, from den mom to running the masquerade green rooms at the Nippon 2007 Worldcon, as well as being an advisor to the Nippon 2007 masquerade director (who had no experience with Western masquerades). Carole has also worked on local convention programming staff as a program track manager, as well as being the website manager for two years.

Pat Porter -- Pat Porter was chair of the Seattle in 2002 Worldcon bid. He is currently Administration division head for Westercon 65, ConClusion, in 2012.

Gerald Power -- Gerald is an aerospace engineer who has served in various volunteer roles at Rustycon and Norwescon. He looks forward to helping and learning from the bid team for Spokane in 2015 as a way of getting more involved in organized fandom.

Rhiannon Power -- Rhiannon has been in fandom her entire life. She works as a barista at Teavana, and has experience with parties and hospitality. She is green room staff for Chicon 7. She will be of legal drinking age long before the 2015 Worldcon.

Sharon Reynolds, Site Liaison -- Who is Sharon Reynolds? Well, a climber of mountains, a figure skater who took a national gold medal in adult figure skating---an event which involves sparklies, creativity, and, yes, the ability to actually land one's jumps on ice. She got into sf during high school, gafiated under the demands of a career as a superb nurse practitioner... but you can't keep a good fan down. She re-found sf, she found costuming, she reads the good stuff, she makes sparkly outfits, and she loves cats and critters: in short---she's found a home on the convention scene, and she's a great friend and a lively resource on panels. ---CJ Cherryh

Susan Robinson, Bid Treasurer -- Susan Robinson was treasurer and vice-chair of CascadiaCon, and has been treasurer of SWOC. She has worked at Worldcons in treasury. She has two young children, which has limited her ability to travel, though she is highly respected for her clear and professional financial reports.

Marah Searle-Kovacevic, Bid Vice-Chair -- Marah Searle-Kovacevic has been active in Toronto fandom for twenty years, working on 11 different local conventions. She has been working on Worldcons since the mid-1990s. She was a co-Division Head for CascadiaCon, the Seattle NASFiC. She co-chaired ConComCon 16 (a Pacific Northwest conrunners convention) in Vancouver. She was Vice-Chair of SFContario 1 & 2 in Toronto, and will chair SFContario 4 in 2013. She is currently Chair of ConComCon 19 in Spokane; Chairman's Staff for the 2012 Westercon in Seattle; and Deputy Division Head of Hospitality and a member of the BoD for Chicon 7. She has thrown dozens of parties on four continents for different Worldcon bids. Marah is an expert in classic Star Trek trivia.

Chris Snell -- Chris Snell is the chair of Spocon, Spokane's (relatively) new science fiction convention. Chris is a gamer and anime fan.

Danielle Stephens -- Danielle Stephens was chair of VCON, the Vancouver science fiction convention, for two years. She is also a recent past director of SWOC. She is a webcomic artist.

Bill Thomasson -- Bill Thomasson is a science/medical writer with a PhD in biochemistry, and broad interests in all aspects of science and likely futures. He has been reading SF since the first appearance of Rocket Ship Galileo, but didn't discover cons until 1980. When not working or reading SF, Bill serves as volunteer Treasurer for Chicago's annual Disability Pride Parade (he has been legally blind since 2000), and tries to maintain the on-the-ground political activity in which he first became involved at age 67.

Tom Veal, Chair Adviser -- Tom Veal has been active in fandom in Chicago, Orlando, and Seattle since the 1980s. He was chair of Windycon X in 1983, Chicon 2000 (the 58th World Science Fiction Convention), the International Space Development Conference in 2010, and has served in various roles on Windycon over the years. He was co-chair of the successful Orlando in 1992 Worldcon bid, and worked on Magicon and on Oasis a couple of times. He also volunteered with the Seattle in 1981 Worldcon bid.

Alex von Thorn, Bid Chair -- Alex von Thorn was the founder of SFContario, and the Chair of SFContario 1 and SFContario 2, which was also Canvention 31, Canada's national science fiction convention in 2011. He won the Aurora award for fan writing in Canada in 2002, and has worked on twelve different conventions in the Toronto area. He has worked on twelve Worldcons and is involved in Chicago-area conventions as program director for Duckon 21 and webmaster for Chicon 7. He has been active in Northwest fandom as program director of CascadiaCon, a past board member of SWOC, and co-chair of ConComCon 17 in Vancouver in 2009. He likes to travel.

Tracy Williams -- Tracy Williams attended her first convention in Kansas City a few years ago. She has been to Spokane for gatherings of C.J. Cherryh fans

Mike Willmoth, Hotel Negotiation -- Mike's first con was LepreCon 13 in Phoenix, in 1987. He has been Hotel Liaison for many Phoenix conventions since 2002, and was Chair for World Horror Con 2004, World Fantasy Con 2004, and Westercon 62. He has attended Worldcon annually since 1988, and has volunteered as Programming shift supervisor, Science Program Liaison, Science Team Leader, and ASFA/Worldcon Liaison. He was the Programming & Events Division Head for ReConstruction (NASFiC 2010). Mike is Chairman of the Board of LepreCon Inc., past President and current Central Region Director of ASFA, and board member of the World Horror Society, and of World Fantasy.

Sally Woehrle, Convention Co-Chair -- Sally Woehrle has worked at Norwescons for the past 14 years in such positions as Publicity, Security, Green Room, Personnel, and Fan Tables, and is currently Head of Registration. Sally was the Vice-Chair for Westercon 46, Chair of Westercon 50, ran the Green Room for Westercon 56, and is Head of Registration for Westercon 65. She has been department head for Handicapped Access for ConJose, Noreascon Four, LACon IV and Renovation. She was division head for Facilities at the NASFiC CascadiaCon. She helped found Anglicon, a British media convention, and ConComCon, the Northwest conrunners conference.

Drew Wolfe -- Drew has played many roles at Norwescon and Rustycon, including webmaster, operations/security, IT staff, set-up/teardown, etc.

Kate Mulligan Wolfe -- Kate has worked on Rustycon, Norwescon, and CascadiaCon, and is a past director of SWOC.

Chris Zach -- Chris Zach is an East Coast fan who likes to help throw parties at conventions!

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