Musical Artist Guest of Honor

Lojo Russo has been orbiting the Con biospheres since her first days in the awesomely classic jam-rock quintet known as 'Cats Laughing.'  The original members of 'Cats Laughing,' Emma Bull, Steven Brust and Adam Stemple, are best known for their wonderfully crafted SF/F novels.  The work of the fifth member, Bill Colsher, can be found behind the red curtain at finer adult bookstores under the author-pseudonym 'Anonymous.'  Russo retains the dubious distinction of being the only non-published author of that group.

Toastmaster Emeritus

Toastmaster Emeritus
Rusty Hevelin
It is with great sadness, that we have had to say good bye to our toastmaster emeritus Rusty Hevelin. Rusty passed away December 27, 2011. He was one of our founding fathers at DemiCon and loved by all.

Following is a few things that you may not have known about him.  We will continue to celebrate Rusty's life at DemiCon 24 with the Second Annual Rusty's Hevelin Ice Cream Social and DMSFS Memorial Wall.  

~ By Gay Haldeman

You may have seen Rusty Hevelin, around for years, the guy with white whiskers who looks like Santa Claus or Dumbledore or Gandalf, depending on your, um, frame of reference or religion. He looks like a nice guy who may be a bit eccentric. Usually he isn´t wearing shoes. Usually he is wearing a T-shirt. He´s always quick with a smile, a laugh or a hug.

You probably know that he´s been a dealer (or huckster in fan-speak) for many years. He´s a serious collector of pulp magazines and is the main organizer of PulpCon every year. He´s a very popular guy who´s been a Fan Guest-of-Honor at the World Science Fiction Convention (Denvention in 1981) and a number of other conventions. He´s been the perennial Toastmaster at this convention, from the beginning. Rusty has been a fanzine1 fan for years, too, publishing several of his own and contributing to several APAs2. He´s helped to run World Science Fiction Conventions and attended them all the way back to Denvention in 1941. He´s also on panels at conventions, telling folks how to enjoy their first convention, what forgotten books are still worth reading, how to take care of your book and magazine collection, or reminiscing about the old days. He´s a master panel moderator and auctioneer.

I think I´ll try to tell you a few things you may not know about him.

• He went to his first science fiction club meeting, over sixty years ago, under an assumed name.
• He´s a veteran of World War II, almost killed by a sniper in the South Pacific.
• He´s the world´s best organizer of stuff. Joe calls him the "Vampire Packer."
• He has four grown sons, John, Scott, Bruce and Will.
• He got rid of his couch to make room for books.
• He dated Coretta Scott before she married Martin Luther King, Jr.
• He knew Rod Serling of "The Twilight Zone" when they were students at Antioch in the ´50s.
• He´s traveled to all fifty states.
• He used to be a shy man.
• He´s never smoked and doesn´t like alcohol.
• Several books have been dedicated to him, including my husband´s THE COMING.
• Several SF and fantasy artists, including Don Maitz, have used him as a model.
• He was an actor for a short time in college, where he worked with John Lithgow´s father.
• He recruited the team that developed the first re-entry nose cone for a rocket, making space exploration possible.
• He´s older than he looks, but younger than most of us.
• He´s been "Tuckerized"3 in several books

Author Guest of Honor

Author Tee Morris
 

Tee Morris has been writing adventures in far-off lands and far-off worlds since elementary school. Inspired by numerous Choose Your Own Adventure titles and Terry Brooks’ Shannara series, he wrote not-so-short short stories of his own, unaware that working on a typewriter when sick-from-school and, later, on a computer (which was a lot quieter…that meant more time to write at night…) would pave a way for his writings.

His first published work was at James Madison University where he received his degree in Mass Communications and Theatre. In 1990, during his semester abroad in England, Tee covered London’s Poll Tax Riots for JMU’s newspaper, The Breeze. While an accomplishment, writing—whether it was journalism or fiction—was just a fun departure from his first love: Theatre.

“I always saw myself as an actor. Still do. I continue to enjoy the new and exciting experiences that my writing has introduced me to, but I do miss taking the stage. As a writer, I try to find excuses to bring in that theatre training. I learned a great deal as an actor, and those experiences give me an advantage to writing dialog, creating characters, and setting locations and moods. That’s what acting and writing are all about: telling a good story.”

It would be at the Maryland Renaissance Festival, while learning lines and sharpening up his improvisation skills, where Tee would pick up the pen and punch the keys of his first Mac. After writing two one-acts, Tee was invited to participate in their Writers’ Guild. At one of the largest festivals of its kind on the East Coast as his source of inspiration and research, the character of Rafe Rafton and his debut novel would take shape.

“In my previous seasons at Maryland, I had portrayed an awkward town deputy, an eccentric inventor, and a verbose actor. Now came the opportunity to play a brash, swaggering swashbuckler. Basically, a Tudor version of Han Solo. In creating this privateer, I also took a few notes from Errol Flynn in Captain Blood and Tommy Lee Jones in Nate and Hayes.

After my first season as Rafe, I knew an opportunity was presenting itself. I thought it would be for me as an actor or a stage combatant. I truly had no idea what adventure this character would take me on.” 

His first work, MOREVI: The Chronicles of Rafe & Askana, a Historical-Fantasy epic written with Lisa Lee began in the most unlikely of places — an online chat room for Fantasy role players who combined various gaming rules and characters to interact between one another. It was here that Tee Morris’ Rafe Rafton met Lisa Lee’s Askana Moldarin, and the two began work on an adventure that would become a top selling title for Dragon Moon Press, an EPPIE finalist for Best eBook Fantasy of 2003, the first book to be podcast in 2005, and a Parsec Award Finalist for Best Podcast Novel in 2006.

Podcasting MOREVI led to the founding of Podiobooks.com and collaborating with Evo Terra and Chuck Tomasi on Podcasting for Dummies. It also won acclaim and accolades for his first solo title, Billibub Baddings and The Case of the Singing Sword, the podcast winning a 2008 Parsec Award for Best Audio Drama. While writing Fantasy is his passion, his journalism chops were still called upon when commissioned to write articles for BenBella Books’s Farscape Forever: Sex, Drugs, and Killer Muppets and So Say We All: Collected Thoughts and Opinions of Battlestar Galactica. He was also tapped to write All a Twitter, a definitive guide to working with Twitter. With his diverse background in Science Fiction, writing, and Social Media,Tee has hosted presentations at venues across the country and around the world including The Library of Congress, BlogWorld, CREATE South, and Te Papa Tongawera. 

“I am an author. To me, this means that I do more than write what I love. I’ve been a columnist for a tech blog. I’ve been asked to write commentary for print and online publications. I’ve written several books on Social Media. It doesn’t matter what you are writing, so long as you are writing. With each short story, op-ed, or tweet, you sharpen your skills.

I also believe being an author means more than just being able to write more than what you love. It means being a marketer, a promoter, and a public speaker. You need to be versed in things other than just grammar. You need to understand networking with people, what image you portray when online or when at a convention, and know what new technology is out there and how you can make it work for you. That’s the difference between being a writer and being an author.”

Tee has now returned to writing fiction with The Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences series, written with his wife, Pip Ballantine. Their first title in the series, Phoenix Rising, won the 2011 Airship Award for Best in Steampunk Literature, while both Phoenix Rising and The Janus Affair were finalists in Goodreads Best in Science Fiction of 2011 and 2012. In 2013 Tee and Pip released Ministry Protocol, an original anthology of short stories set in the Ministry universe. Now in 2014, following a Parsec win for their companion podcast, Tales from the Archives, Tee and Pip celebrate the arrival of their third book, Dawn’s Early Light. When Tee is not creating something on his Macintosh, he enjoys a good run, a good swim, martial arts (which he will start up again, someday), and putting together new playlists to write by. His other hobbies include cigars and scotch, which he regards the same way as anime and graphic novels: “I don’t know everything about them, but I know what I like.” (And he likes Avo and Arturo Fuente for his smoke, Highland Park for his scotch!) He enjoys life in Virginia alongside Pip, his daughter, and three cats.

DemiCon Art Show Information

The DemiCon art show is open to all interested artists, both professional and amateur. The art show allows artists to share their work with our attendees. We promote Fantasy and Science Fiction art by helping artists to display and sell their work.

In the Art Show Main Display area we show original works of art, 3-dimensional art, and single copies of prints of original art. Unless an art piece is marked "NFS - Not For Sale", our convention attendees may bid on, or buy via quick sale, any pieces in this area. Attendees will also be able to vote for the show's best amateur artist, professional artist, amateur art piece, and professional piece of art. 

The Print Shop area will contain pieces for immediate sale. Pieces in the Print Shop are usually prints or reproductions of published artwork (book covers or magazine illustrations). 

The Artist Workspace is open to attending artists, who wish to work at the convention, perform demonstrations, and create works of art to auction for charity, share ideas with other artists and anything else that they wish to do. This will be located outside the Art Show itself. 

*IMPORTANT FOR REGISTRATION*
Artists will be able to fill out the necessary paper work online. We ask that all artists please print 2 copies of paper work, one for your records and one to send with your artwork.

Attendees will be able to and make quick sale purchases and to bid on pieces in the Display area and purchase print shop pieces during the normal art show hours.

HOW TO DO FORMS ONLINE

All Mail In and Walk In Artists must complete the following steps to submit art to DemiCon’s Artshow. If you use Internet Explorer this will not work. Contact the art show directly at artshow@demicon.org.

1. Click on the following link http://mycroft.dmsfs.org/
2. Create a user name and password
3. This is a slight wait as you are given permission. Click to log in with your user name and password. (There will be an email sent to you with your information for your files)
4. Click the "Artist: Enter your Artwork". 
5. Follow directions located on the left hand side of the screen. To print forms you will need Adobe Reader. A link will be available in the database on the left side when you print your forms to upload Adobe Reader.
6. Contact artshow@demicon.org with any problems or questions.

View Video with step by step process on how to Register for the Art Show.

Mail In Artist please send artwork to:

Demicon Art Show
% Jon Mohning
1320 17th Street
West Des Moines, IA 50265

All mail in art must be received by APRIL 15, 2013.

When you send in an early entry, please email Jon at artshow@demicon.org with your confirmation and tracking information, so he will know when to expect it. Additionally please put "Attn: Art Show" in the subject line of your email. This will help Jon find your email and address it faster. Once your package is received Jon will email you a confirmation that it has arrived. If you have any further questions please let Jon know! We look forward to seeing you and some great examples of your work at DemiCon 25!

TYPE OF ART ACCEPTED

• All art work should be science fiction, fantasy, gaming or fannish in nature; we reserve the right to refuse any artwork that does not meet our guidelines. Works may be original artwork or prints, but they must be entirely the work of the artist whose name appears on the pieces. Resales, hand-colored copies of commercially available art, and similar copyright violations, will not be accepted.
• Pieces must be ready to display. We will not assemble frames, mount jewelry, etc.
• While all possible care will be taken with your art, DemiCon cannot be held responsible for any damage incurred. 

MAIN DISPLAY AREA

• Any item available for auction sale or Not for Sale will be in the Main Display Area. Only one copy of a work will be accepted in this area. Any extra copies will be placed into the Print Shop.
• We do not require artists to reserve display panels in advance, although we would not object if an attending artist wished to give us a "heads up". We will display up to 25 pieces of your artwork.
  

PRINTSHOP

• Any item intended for non-auction sale will be placed in the Print Shop. You may wish to consider submitting an extra copy of each print shop item for inclusion in the display but note that these copies would then be subject to the normal Main Display hanging fees. You may submit as many items to Print Shop as you wish, but we suggest that you consider submitting no more than five copies of any one piece. 
  

UNSOLD MAIL-IN ARTWORK

• You must include sufficient funds for return postage. If you don't, your artwork will be shipped back C.O.D.
• If possible, include payment for both shipping and hanging fees in one check (we can figure it out). Your check should be placed in an envelope with the control and bid sheets and packed in the same box as the artwork.
• We will return your art to you in the same box received, so make sure it (the box) is sturdy and reusable. If your box is not sturdy enough the shipping company may require purchasing of a better box. If all your art is sold, we will not return your box, unless you request otherwise.
• Art will be returned via UPS. Requests to send art via another service (such as U.S. Mail) will be accepted, but may result in a delay in return shipment after the convention.
• To speed up your return of Artwork include a prepaid shipping label.
• When returning your art, if you want us to insure your work for more than $100, please include a note telling us the insurance amount needed, and include funds to cover it.
  

FEES and PAYMENTS

• To offset the costs of running the art show, we charge fees for the display and sale of your work. In order to offset the cost of starvation, we try hard to sell your work and to pay you as quickly as possible.
• Each piece entered into the Main Display area is charged a hanging fee of $0.50 if delivered in person, or $0.75 if mailed in. No hanging fee is charged for pieces submitted to the Print Shop.
• Commission fees are: Main Display area sales, 10%; Print Shop sales, 15%.
• Unless we receive specific instructions to the contrary, all payments will be made directly to the artist. If payment is to be rendered to another person, such as an agent, we must receive a release form signed by the artist.
• For artists attending the convention, payment will be available after noon, on Sunday. In order to receive full payment, all sold pieces must be picked up and paid for by the time the artist checks out. If you elect to accept partial payment, the balance will be sent to you when we pay the Mail-In artists.
• Payments to Mail-In artists will be sent no later than two weeks after the convention. 
  

MAIL-IN ART SUBMISSION DEADLINES

• As our computerized accounting system requires extra "up front" time to adequately process mail-in art, mailed art must arrive by APRIL 15, 2013. It is this system which allows us to provide prompt payment during and after the convention.
• If you cannot make the APRIL 15, 2013 deadline, you must email in advance to see what other arrangements can be made. Unless you have arranged for an extension, art arriving after APRIL 15, 2013 will be refused.
  

ARTWORK MAILING ADDRESS

Packages must be received by APRIL 15, 2013. As the post office refuses packages sent to PO boxes, be sure that you send your mail-in art to the following address:

• Demicon Art Show
  % Jon Mohning
  1320 17th Street
  West Des Moines, IA 50265