Check back here often to see the ever-expanding list of professional guests who will be participating in this year’s DemiCon.

Author Pip Ballantine, New Zealand born fantasy writer and podcaster, is the author of the Books of the Order and the Shifted World series. She is also the co-author with her husband Tee Morris of the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences novels. Her awards include an Airship, a Parsec, the Steampunk Chronicle Reader’s Choice, and a Sir Julius Vogel. She currently resides in Manassas, Virginia, with her husband, daughter, and a furry clowder of cats.

Author Rachel Aukes is the international bestselling author of 100 Days in Deadland, which was named one of the best books of 2013 by Suspense Magazine and one of the best zombie books by the Huffington Post. She also writes science fiction romance under the pen name Berinn Rae, including Stealing Fate, a USA Today recommended read. Rachel lives near Des Moines with her husband and an incredibly spoiled sixty-pound lap dog. When not writing, she can be found flying old airplanes and trying (not so successfully) to prepare for the zombie apocalypse. Learn more at www.RachelAukes.com.

Author and podcaster P.C. Haring made his debut on 1/1/10 with Cybrosis. This cyberpunk adventure met with a strongly favorable response that propelled it to number four on the Podiobooks.com top ten list when it was re-launched there that October. His audio fiction can also be heard in Scott Sigler’s The Crypt: Book 1 — The Crew, and in Philippa Ballantine’s Chronicles of the Order anthology, and in Tee Morris and Pip Ballantine's Tales from the Archives anthology where his podcast of "The Seven" won the 2012 Parsec Award for "Best Short Story." P.C. is proud to debut Cybrosis in print at DemiCon25. When not writing and podcasting, P.C. puts his Degree in Accounting and his MBA to good use as a corporate accountant in the Chicagoland area. You can find out more at www.pcharing.net.

Author and gamer Daniel J. Heck has self-published two young adult fantasy/magic-realist novellas, Aaron Harrison's Mystical Quill and The Cowardly Thief, as well as three game-review compilations under the title of The Indispensable Gaming Guide, all available through amazon.com and createspace.com. He's currently working on a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure style e-book called The Seal of Thomerion, which he anticipates completing this year. Daniel earned Bachelor's degrees in Computer Science and Technical Communications from Iowa State University, and his interests and hobbies include competitive Scrabble, Lego sculpture design and community theatre. This is Daniel's first DemiCon, but he welcomes questions and comments, as he's excited to learn, to be here and to meet everyone!

Ghost detective and author Ross Griswold is part of Mindbender Investigations, a local Iowa ghost-hunting group.  He is a columnist and publishes his journals about his ghost investigations.  He also authors the Immortal Staff-Master books.

Artist Dawn Obrecht is a local fantasy artist, born in South Korea and raised in Iowa. She has been published in four books and several small magazines.  She also received the "Best Amateur Group" award for DemiCon 19.  After a four-year hiatus, Dawn has begun arting again, making the transition from watercolor to art marker/mixed media. When she's not arting, she can be found working her day job, chasing four girls around (ages 4 to 15) with her husband, or making beaded jewelry.

Artist and writer Jan Sherrell Gephardt began working in the medium of paper sculpture after a 20-year career as an illustrator and graphic designer. She has had several recent one-person shows and been juried into regional and national art exhibitions.  She has been part of SF fandom since the early 1980s. She’s a past officer of the international artists’ organization, the Association of Science Fiction and Fantasy Artists, Inc (ASFA).  She’s been an exhibiting artist for three decades and helped write the ASFA Art Show Guidelines, and was the Art Show Director for ConQuesT in Kansas City, MO, for three years.  She is currently the Communications Officer of KaCSFFS, the Kansas City Science Fiction and Fantasy Society, Inc.

Author Lettie Prell  is a professional science fiction writer. Her story, "The Performance Artist," published in the Book of Apex: Volume 4, explores the edge where humans and their technology are increasingly merging. Other stories have appeared in Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine, Paranormal Underground, and elsewhere. Her first novel is Dragon Ring and she has another in the works. She is also a poet and her haiku were featured in the Iowa Drama Workshop production of Kali Ma!

Author, musician, and artist Adam Stemple has been a member of the rock-and-reel band Cats Laughing, as well as lead singer and guitarist for twelve years for Boiled in Lead.  He is currently with the Irish band Tim Malloys.  Author of a number of published short stories, he is also co-author (with Jane Yolen) of the Rock 'n Roll Fairy Tale series beginning with Pay the Piper.  A Piece of Flesh was chosen as one of ten short stories included in Year's Best SF and Fantasy for Teens.  Stemple's first solo novel is Singer of Souls.  Stemple has written a series of historical whodunnits set in Feudal Japan, featuring the sleuthing duo of Ken'ichi and his samurai master Shichiro, some of which have been published in the historical fiction magazine Paradox.

Author Adam J. Whitlatch wrote the post-apocalyptic novel The Weller, as well as the forthcoming novelization to the animated science fiction film War of the Worlds: Goliath.  Adam works as an associate editor with KHP Publishers, Inc., managing the science fiction imprint.  He also teaches writing and publication classes for the Villages Folk School in Van Buren County, Iowa.  He lives in southeast Iowa with his wife, Jessica, and their three sons.

Author and publisher Lars Pearson is one of the foremost experts on Doctor Who in North America.  As founder and editor-in-chief of Mad Norwegian Press, a publishing company that specializes in Sci-Fi reference guides and novels, Lars has worked with such notable authors as Harlan Ellison, Diana Galaldon, Tanya Huff and Catherynne Valente.  He co-writes (along with Lance Parkin) Ahistory, a seminal guidebook that places every Doctor Who story in chronological order, and answers such vitally important questions as when dogs will evolve thumbs.  Lars oversees the About Time series, which contextualizes every Doctor Who story by the real-world politics and pop culture of the time (Volume 3 was longlisted for a BSFA award in 2009).  Despite the obvious impediment of having a Y chromosome, Lars also edits Mad Norwegian's range of essay books pertaining to women and fandom, including Chicks Dig Time Lords (2011 Hugo Award Winner, Best Related Work), Chicks Unravel Time (2013 Hugo nominee) and Chicks Dig Comics (2013 Hugo nominee).

Artist and gamer Andy “Cosmo-Joe” Watkins has been described as "mesmerizing" by The New York Times.  With a tarp, a few cans of spray paint, and blank canvases, he became not only an artist, but an event.  He’s toured across the country, but remains humbled and inspired by the people of Wisconsin and has become an integral part of the Madison experience, spending most summer Saturdays painting before large crowds on State Street.  He also uses oils and acrylics in a number of his studio paintings.  Andy founded Cosmo-Joe Entertainment, a company dedicated to the promotion of artists and the arts, and he purchased the Art Affair gallery in historic downtown Menasha, WI.  He founded Cosmo Joe Games for board and video games, and founded Game Master Works to produce game tables and designer dice for table-top RPGs.  He holds the copyright to over 5,000 works of art, several video and board games, several designs for dice, and dozens of songs.

Past Guests of Honor Who Are Able to Join Us for DemiCon 25

DemiCon 5 Author Guest of Honor Glen Cook, known for his stellar The Black Company military fantasy series and so much more, told DemiCon this:  I was born and am still under foot.  Hit the ground in NYC in 1944, lived there, Indiana, and California growing up.  Served in the Navy, attended U of Missouri, worked for General Motors and retired therefrom.  Began writing with intent to commit publication late 1960s and have since produced 51 published books (#51, Working God's Mischief, will come out between now and the convention), some short fiction, some articles and some essays.  I have three sons, an Army officer, an architect, and a symphony musician, plus numerous grandchildren, all but one of whom seem determined to be female.  And I have an amazing wife who has been with me for almost 45 years.  These days I am, extremely slowly, working on expanding the Black Company chronicles by two novels and a story collection.  I have become a victim of Ambition Deficit Disorder, which is what has put the slow in slowly.

DemiCon 16 Artist Guest of Honor Mike Cole has displayed his artwork at science fiction conventions across the country since 1984. He's a graphic artist at a T-shirt company in St. Louis, Missouri, and is currently working on a number of projects for this year, including his 8th collection of cartoons, a number of comics for Little Guy Production LLC, and a line of ever expanding pin-up prints. He's also done a number of designs for Off-World Press featuring his sick and twisted brand of humor. To explore Mike's art, please visit www.digitaloriginals.net.

DemiCon 24 Artist Guest of Honor Scott Ross (a.k.a. Kurogawa) was born in Chicago, Illinois. He graduated from Drake University with a BFA in Graphic Arts, served in the U.S. Army as an illustrator at the Army Intelligence School and in Psychological Operations on Okinawa. Returning to Drake, he earned a MFA in Sculpture. He is a freelance graphic designer, sculptor, banjo player, and costumer, and has won numerous awards as a Master Costumer at various SF conventions, including Best Master and Best Workmanship at LonestarCon 2. He lives in Des Moines, Iowa.

DemiCon 22 Fan Guests of Honor John and Denise Garner are well known as artists as well as fans. They have been attending sci-fi and fantasy conventions for over 25 years, and have been fans their entire lives. Their award-winning artwork has been displayed in innumerable convention art shows, books, magazines, and on many fans' walls. John and Denise have also been known to host Karaoke parties at DemiCon into the wee hours, so stop by the party and rock the room with them.  

Unfortunately, DemiCon 14 Artist GOH Lubov, DemiCon 13 Artist GOH Alan M. Clark and DemiCon 22 Artist GOH Sarah Clemens are not able to personally join us this year, but will be sending their wonderful artwork in their stead.  So, don't forget to visit the Art Show when you attend DemiCon 25 and look for the work of our past Guests of Honor.