Dragon Con welcomes guests from around the globe – with new people announced all the time! Take a look at the inventive minds, luminaries, and celebrities you’ll be spending the weekend with.
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For a list of guests, performers, and attending professionals ordered by confirmation date:
Lynn Abbey has been writing science fiction and fantasy stories since the 1980s. She was a guest-of-honor at the first Dragon Con.
Independent comic book creator. Creator/writer of Hamilton vs. Burr: A Werewolf Tale. Published comic writer for Image and Z2 Comics. Trading card artist for Marvel Comics and Upper Deck Trading Cards. Cover artist and inker for White Rocket Books. US Air Force combat veteran.
Richard Lee Byers has written numerous fantasy and horror novels as well as short fiction, material for tabletop and computer games, and graphic novels. The Plague Knight, an animated sword-and-sorcery feature he wrote, is currently in production.
Jack Campbell (John G. Hemry), retired U.S. Navy officer, writes the Doomed Earth series, New York Times bestselling Lost Fleet, Genesis Fleet, Lost Stars, and Pillars of Reality. His latest books are Squad Kill, Destiny's Way, Rendezvous with Corsair, and the new Isekai/portal fantasy Champion of the Goddess of Cats.
Bill Fawcett is a writer, editor, anthologist, and game designer. Fawcett has also written historical non-fiction books. He founded Mayfair Games and designs board and computer games. Bill Fawcett & Associates has packaged over 400 science fiction novels. His newest fiction is the Blood and Armor Mil SF novels.
Chandra Free is the creator of The God Machine YA novel series and co-founder of Machina Corpse imprint. She has illustrated on John Carpenter's Tales For A Halloween Night, Fraggle Rock, and Four Seasons of Fear. She has also worked on TTRPG books Carbon Grey and Planet of the Apes.
Multiple Nebula Award winner Esther Friesner has published over 40 novels, more than 200 short stories, plus poetry and nonfiction. She has edited 11 anthologies including the Chicks in Chainmail series for Baen Books. Her YA credits include the Princesses of Myth series for Random House.
A.J. Hartley is the bestselling author of 28 novels in various genres. Recent work includes Hideki Smith, Burning Shakespeare, Cold Bath Street, Steeplejack, and—with Tom DeLonge of Blink-182—Sekret Machines and Time Rider. He is Professor Shakespeare at UNC Charlotte, and hosts a J-rock YouTube channel. More: www.ajhartley.net
John G. Hartness is an author, publisher, and editor from Charlotte, NC. He is the author of multiple series, including the award winning Quincy Harker, Demon Hunter series. He is also the publisher of Falstaff Books and founder of the SAGA Genre Fiction Writers' Conference.
Actress, ghost tour guide, and author, Leanna's Strangely Beautiful saga won numerous awards and her nonfiction, A Haunted History of Invisible Women was a Bram Stoker Award finalist. America's Most Gothic was an instant USA Today bestseller. She has been featured on Mysteries at the Museum and Beyond the Unknown.
Les is a physicist, author, Chief Technologist at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (retired) where he led multiple robotic space flight missions, and CEO of Infinite Frontiers Consulting. His books include Crisis at Proxima (Baen), Pluto (Tor), and Monster Hunter International – The Alien Files (forthcoming / Baen).
Astronomer Bill Keel is the author of The Sky at Einstein's Feet and The Road to Galaxy Formation. He hosts overnight live astronomy sessions and has spoken on cosmology, extrasolar planets, citizen discovery in astronomy, science in the Firefly and Avatar universes, spy satellites, and astronomical tourism.
Gail Z. Martin writes urban fantasy, epic fantasy, steampunk, and more. Urban fantasy series include Deadly Curiosities and Night Vigil. Epic fantasy series include Darkhurst, Chronicles of the Necromancer, The Fallen Kings Cycle, The Ascendant Kingdoms Saga, and Assassins of Landria. As Morgan Brice, she writes urban fantasy MM paranormal romance.
Mark Meer is known for his work on Bioware's Mass Effect trilogy, voicing Commander Shepard, Blasto, the Vorcha, and Niftu Cal. Other voice credits include the Baldur's Gate and Dragon Age series, Hinterland Studio's The Long Dark, ChaosForge's Jupiter Hell, Beamdog's MythForce, and Starro the Conquerer in WB Games' Gotham Knights.
Bobby Nash is an award winning author and artist. He writes novels, comic books, graphic novels, short stories, audio scripts, screenplays, and more. Nash is a member of the International Association of Media Tie-in Writers, International Thriller Writers, Southeastern Writers Association, and Atlanta Writers Club.
Jody Lynn Nye lists her main career activity as "spoiling cats". When not engaged in this worthy occupation, she writes fantasy and science fiction. She has published over 50 books and 200+ stories. Nye teaches writing seminars and is coordinating judge for the Writers of the Future Contest.
Van Allen Plexico is a grand master of pulp literature. He is best known for the Sentinels illustrated superhero novels and comics, 1960s crime novels, and military SF such as Alpha/Omega. His White Rocket Entertainment podcasts cover James Bond, Babylon 5, The Avengers, and more.
Cartoonist/animator Robert Pope currently draws the Peanuts gang for Simon and Schuster. He has drawn Scooby-Doo, Looney Tunes, Batman, Powerpuff Girls, and more for DC, IDW, as well as animating for CN classics Space Ghost Coast to Coast, ATHF, ANIMANIACS, The Brak Show, and others!
Naomi Romero is a character designer for animation and illustrator for children's literature. They have worked for DreamWorks, Nickelodeon, Nick Jr, Sesame Workshop, Illumination Studios, Hasbro, Spin Master, and more. Romero is the current artist for the new baby dragon plush for Dragon Con.
Anne Sowards is an executive editor at Penguin Random House, where she primarily acquires and edits fantasy and speculative fiction for the Ace and Berkley imprints. The talented authors she works with include New York Times bestsellers Patricia Briggs, Jim Butcher, Kim Harrison, Louis Sachar, and K. X. Song.
TJ Sterling is a former Marvel and DC creator that has worked in several spaces within the comic industry, as well as the indie space with his fan favorite comic company RAE Comics. Sterling is also a teacher at the Joe Kubert School of Comic and Cartoon art.
Jean Marie Ward writes fiction, nonfiction, and everything in between. Her credits include a multi-award nominated novel, numerous short stories, and two popular art books. The former editor of CrescentBlues.com, she is the author interviewer for BookBale.com and a frequent contributor to the online convention ConTinual. Learn more at JeanMarieWard.com.
Thom Zahler is a comic creator who created the Cupid's Arrows and Warning Label webtoons, and Love and Capes and Time and Vine. His latest is The Ghost Whiskerers for Storm King, about cats that see ghosts, He also works for My Little Pony and is drawing Rocketship's Angry Birds.
The following previously confirmed guests are unfortunately not able to attend this year’s Dragon Con.
