Is our Con Nooga Artist for 2011.  Published world wide, Reb’s art career has been evolving for over twodecades.
Comics- enjoying a three year tenure at Marvel Comics; workrelated titles include The Inhumans, The Savage Sword of Conan, Spiderman to Excalibur.  Also working two years at the late Chaos Comics;Cryptic Writings of Megadeth, Evil Ernie, cover artist on theUndertaker comic book series (click link for a more comprehensivebreakdown of comic book credits).
  - http://www.comicbookdb.com/creator.php?ID=6270
 Reb has produced cover images for power-trade zines such as WizardMagazine, The Artist Work-Shop and Comics Source Monthly.   An award winning graphic designer, Reb also enjoys a professionalcareer in advertising -design and illustration- and is a noted digitalpre-press technician and a photo-realistic, digital manipulationexpert.  Today, you can find Reb in The Dungeon (his basement studio)where heworks on his creator-owned comic book projects, as well as others, andwhere he continues to refine, lend his talents to variousartistic fields.

Current Comic Book Projects include:
BANE OF THE WEREWOLF - http://www.baneofthewerewolf.com/
Bela Lugosi's TALES FROM THE GRAVE - http://monsterverse.com/
THE GRIMOIRE OF FRANKENSTEIN
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Ever since he was old enough to draw crayon masterpieces on his Mama’s walls, cartoonist Chris Goins has had a passion for art — and stretching the imagination.
And, boy, is his imagination stretched, thanks to his warped sense of humor and penchant for the weird and abnormal.
In fact, around his house, the motto is “where weird is normal.” But that’s just fine with his family — his wife of 15 years, Tammie, his 9-year-old daughter, Maddie and his 7-year-old son, Connor. They fully embrace the weirdness!
Chris’ creativity is fueled by the influence of many genres, including sci-fi, horror, fantasy, and gaming, as well as many artists, including the legendary Frank Frazetta, Jack “The King” Kirby, Frank Miller, Bruce Timm and more.
Under the guise of Project Bluebook Studios, this Cleveland, Tn., native’s work has graced everything from t-shirts and signs, to a comic he collaborated on with friends and fellow artists called “Bourbon & Coffee,” and even a children’s coloring book.

He is also the artist and graphic designer for Con Nooga favorite, Dicehead Games. Currentlly, he’s working on a special project and children’s book with his wife.
As this year’s featured artist at Con Nooga, Chris is the man behind the 2010 logo. This is the first time he has ever presented his artwork at a convention.
Although he looks big, scary and menacing (and potentially mentally disturbed), he’s really just a gentle giant that would do anything for his family and friends — especially if it involves artwork!

Check out Chris’ mad skills on facebook, and coming soon to projectbluebookstudios.com. It will definitely stretch your imagination!

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Award-winning artist and illustrator Mark Helwig has a style all his own—quirky, creative, occasionally odd, and often humorous. His focus on craftsmanship, storytelling, and images that cause the viewer to “double take” are traits that set him apart in today’s industry. He is equally at home with a wide range of styles ranging from cartoons to photorealism and he works in everything from ink to oils. His illustrations can be found gracing the products of many clients including gaming companies, book and comic book publishers, conventions, and advertising for local businesses. He is a frequent artist guest and panelist at shows and conventions across the southeast, and his work is highly sought by discerning private collectors.

Mark holds a Bachelor’s Degree from Kennesaw State University, and he is a member of the Association of Science Fiction and Fantasy Artists.

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Dan Jolley began his writing career in the early nineties. His limited series Obergeist was voted Best Horror Comic of 2001 by WIZARD Magazine, and his DC Comics project JSA: The Unholy Three received an Eisner Award nomination for Best Limited Series of 2003. May 2007 saw the debut of his first original novel series, a young-adult science fiction espionage story called Alex Unlimited, published by a joint venture of TOKYOPOP and HarperCollins.

More recently Dan has done extensive manga work for TOKYOPOP, based both on Erin Hunter's YA novel series Warriors, and on the MMORPG World of Warcraft. Dan wrote the teen novelization of the motion picture Iron Man and the junior novelization of Transformers II. Dan worked for two and a half years on the design team of Icarus Studios' post-apocalyptic MMORPG, Fallen Earth, and currently writes dialogue for video games from Activision and Ubisoft.

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It is based widely on her own life experiences and interactions with other people. The humour contained within it draws from a decidedly eccentric and slightly exaggerated view of the creator's surroundings, sometimes leading to surrealistic moments and other slightly absurd events transpiring throughout the course of any given strip of the comic. Breeden also produces another webcomic, Geebas on Parade, which centers around a live action role playing game.The comic seems to abandon a continual story in lieu of offering up a series of seemingly random experiences conveyed into the comic style format based on what happens to Breeden in reality. It is updated daily except under special circumstances. Typically, weekday comics are multi-panel comedic pieces, Saturday comics are single-panel comedic pieces, and Sunday "comics" are non-comedic artwork, usually in ink or watercolor.
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An award-winning author of speculative fiction works noted for their dark tones, Christina Barber loves to create dark fantasy worlds for readers. Christina Barber’s works have won acclaim for capturing the reader’s imagination, taking them into other worlds where anything can happen.   
With a focus on the paranormal and dark forces of evil, Christina’s books give the readers a taste of what happens when real life collides head on with characters from dark, demonic worlds.  

Encouraged by her fourth grade teacher, Christina has always been captivated by the craft of writing. She now writes full-time. Christina's had several books published and her short stories appear in magazines and anthologies across the writing spectrum.    
While Christina spent most of her life growing up in the suburbs of New Jersey, she currently resides in Georgia, with her husband and daughter. She happily shares her home with three dogs, and two cats.   Christina has also agreed to help spearhead Con Nooga's Literary Track! 

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Aberrant Dreams, Speculative Fiction is an online publication of speculative fiction operated under the HD-IMAGE umbrella.  Aberrant Dreams was founded in 2004 by Lonny Harper and Joe Dickerson and has featured fiction by some of the industry’s best known authors and served to help launch many newcomers.  Aberrant Dreams will also be our host for Fandom Jeopardy!  We appreciate all that Aberrant Dreams does and have accomplished. 

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Michael Bielaczyc has been making art his whole life, in various media and subjects.

He has been selling and showing work since 1995, when he self published a comic book written and illustrated by himself. Going back to college at 23, he decided that art was going to be his main focus in life.
In 2001, he started his own art company, Aradani Studios, which is owned by both him and his brother. Together they have shown and worked in shows across America selling both their artwork and costuming. Michael has worked for such popular roleplaying franchises such as Dragonlance and Castlemourn, but his real passion is in his personal work. He works in mediums from oil paint to latex prosthetics, video to graphite. You can see much of his new work at www.aradani.com .

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I have been drawing and whatnot since as long as I can remember.  Any spot in my school notebooks that didn't have notes were filled with sketches. I drew mostly from the D&D adventures that my brother ran, as well as the fantasy books I was reading. I did a few pieces based on Terry Brooks' Shannara series, but focusing on being a nerd, I didn't have much time for art in high school.

When I got to college I dual majored in Computer Science and Art History. I minored in Studio Art, and took as many art classes as my schedule allowed. I seemed to be pursuing a career in art or art education, but decided to try graduate school in Computer Science.  I graduated in 2004 with a Master's in CS, but again switched paths and returned to my art interests. Mike, my brother, and I co-own Aradani Studios, a costuming and art company that we founded in 2002. We travel mostly in the Southeast United States, to various conventions and Renaissance Festivals, selling our art, and our ears.

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Ed was born near St. Louis, Missouri, in 1970.  He attended Northwest High School - then located in House Springs, Missouri - and took one course in creative writing.  Even at this early date, he had in mind an idea for a sci-fi western.  It wasn't until several years later, in August of 1998, that he put pen to paper to began writing West World.  That afternoon he wrote the opening two paragraphs of the story - about a planet named Endia - and then went to a party with some friends.  That was the day he met the woman who would be his wife.  Ironically, her name is Indhira, which in it's Spanish pronounciation sounds very much like the name of the planet that he had created for the story.

Ed finished West World in June of 2002, and went straight into writing Return to West World.  He had also been looking for a publisher for West World.  In 2006, PublishAmerica agreed to make his story available to anyone who would like to read it.  It is now available for your reading pleasure through PublishAmerica at www.publishamerica.com. 

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An abstract artist that concentrates on not being like the person next to me. His art is his passion, and these images explode out of his mind and land on the material in front of him. Richard loves what he does and hopes that it offers some enjoyment to others. ACEO's seem to be his main focus right now, ACEO if you do not know stands for Art Cards Editions and Originals. Most of Richard's stuff is original, except for some prints he has in the works and he just released  Addicted To Abstract Series One Trading Cards which includes a complete set of Twenty Cards and a Random Original Card in each set!!

Attending the former Memphis State University for three years, he studied writing under the likes of Margaret Skinner, Brett Singer, Tom Russell, and Rick Lyons. During these formative years, D. A. continued to excel at drunken stupidity, but conquering the world proved a bit more challenging than he had anticipated. He graduated from the renamed The University of Memphis in 1995.
In 1997, he returned to Memphis for graduate school and studied under Reginald Martin, Randall Kenan, and John Bensko.  While in the writing program, several of his peers and even a couple of not-mentioned instructors informed him that he lacked the talent to pursue writing professionally.  Thus inspired, he earned his Master of Arts in Writing in 1999 and entered into a long period of writer’s block.
After earning the degree, he took a position teaching composition, speech, and business communications for a small college in East Tennessee.  For several years, he served as an Assistant Professor of English, which is a fancy way of saying that he worked too many hours a week for slave wages.  Frustrated by the poor pay and the necessity of working weekend jobs to survive, he began to refocus his efforts on writing.  Despite an overwhelming sense of certainty that writing was his true calling, D. A. struggled to rediscover his narrative voice.
Then, sometime in 2002, while watching The Two Towers, an epiphany came to him, and he realized that what had originally inspired him to write was fantasy action-adventure.  For several months, he pondered the idea of developing such a story and thus inspired, in 2003, began work on The Brotherhood of Dwarves.  The novel was released in 2005 and has been widely embraced by fans as a fast-paced, powerful tale of friendship and betrayal.  In spring 2008, the sequel, Red Sky at Dawn, was released and has been acclaimed as a rich, well-crafted adventure that keeps readers riveted until the end.  Presently, he has begun work on the third installment of the five book series.D. A. Adams is also the father of two sons, who reside in Florida with their mother.  Although proud of his successes as a novelist, he maintains that his boys are his greatest accomplishment in this world.  Any parent reading this can probably concur.

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Michael was born and raised in the Philadelphia area.   A graduate of Delaware County Community College (A.A.S. Electronics) and Widener University (B.S. Technical and Industrial Administration), Michael served in the Pa. Air National Guard as a weapons crew chief for 22 years participating in several Middle East tours before retiring.

Michael enjoys science fiction and old-time horror films.  When not working as a controls technician at a nearby power plant, he enjoys writing his screenplays and novels, while listening to various types of music.   Michaels works include: Night Creeps – October 2009 Fractured Time –  Twisted Fate – Dark Horizon –The Eye of Icarus – (March, 2008) Book one in Space Frontiers - Dangerous Liaisons – (February, 2009) Book two in Space Frontiers - The Devil’s Playground – Coming in 2010 (Book three in Space Frontiers) - Galaxy of the Damned – Book four of the Space Frontiers Series. In progress.

For more info visit:  www.fracturedtime.com

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Shane signed with PMA Literary and Film Management, Inc in August 2004. By November of that same year, PMA had acquired a deal with Starscape Books / Tor for The Adventures of Chance Fortune series. Chance Fortune and The Outlaws was released in July 2006.
Shane lives with his wife Lesley in Chattanooga, Tennessee and continues to work on the next books in The Adventures of Chance Fortune series, along with several other novels.THE ADVENTURES OF CHANCE FORTUNE The first volume, CHANCE FORTUNE AND THE OUTLAWS, is an official selection of Renaissance Learning's ACCELERATED READER PROGRAM, the New York Public Library’s BOOKS FOR THE TEEN AGE, and the Texas LONE STAR READING LIST.

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 Growing up during the early ‘80s video boom, I spent countless hours consuming every giant monster amuck, slash-a-rama, zombie a go-go, grind house exploitation gem and drive-in blood bath I could rent.
When not affixed to the boob-tube, my nose could be found buried in the writings of Bloch, Ray Bradbury, Gary Brandner, James Herbert, Shaun Hutson, Jack Ketchum, Stephen King, Harry Adam Knight, Dean Koontz, Joe R. Lansdale, Richard Laymon, Richard Matheson, John Russo, Guy N. Smith and Thomas Tessier, among many others. (I confess that I have a weakness for those grotesque, totally outrageous and insane animal/insect amuck books that were so abundant from the mid ‘70s to the mid ‘80s, especially those really nasty ones imported from Britain.)
Later, I scored a job at an actual “Mom & Pop” video emporium (remember those?- back before Blockbuster, back when Beta was all the rage!) and I added to my regular video consumption the delights of all the blacksploitation, gang, biker, women in prison, kung fu, revenge, cheerleader and foreign bloodfests I had only ever read about but had never seen.
In the mid ‘90s, a chance conversation with legendary actress Brinke Stevens led to my first published magazine article. Soon after, I sold my first short story. I haven’t stopped since.
Over the years I have worked for various print and electronic publications. Since 1998 I have been a regular writer for The Phantom of the Movies’ VideoScope Magazine. (I pride myself on watching movies that would cause stomach distress in most other reviewers.) I’ve also been a staff writer for Blood Moon Rising since 2002.  2005 saw the publication of my first short story collection, A Place of Dreams and Nightmares (Dream Passage Publication Group).
I currently live in Alabama with my incredibly patient and understanding wife Frances. Not only is she my constant source of inspiration and support, without her hard work this site would never have been a reality.

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James Ward, born 1961, grew up in Rossville, GA.  He was drawing and doodling from an early age.  Upon graduation from Rossville High School in 1980, Mr. Ward attended the Atlanta College of Art.  Mr. Ward also studied art at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.  In 1993, Mr. Ward received an Associate degree in Applied Sciences, Advertising Art from Chattanooga State Technical Community College. Mr. Ward has won awards for his fantasy and native American-style artwork, including Second Prize for Professional Artist at Chattacon 33.  Mr. Ward incorporates recycled and found objects into his work, including cigar boxes, computer discs, and feathers.Mr. Ward is a recent member of the Northwest Georgia Art Guild.  He enjoys sharing his artworks and experience with others.

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Sean Taylor writes prose, graphic novels and comic books.   
He's the writer of Gene Simmons Dominatrix by Simmons Comics Group published by IDW Publishing and has also written for Gene Simmons House of Horrors, also published by IDW. He's also currently writing the upcoming The Tantalizing Ti-Girl for Mini-Komix, and the upcoming miniseries Jesse James in the Mayan Underworld and Last Chance School for Girls for Arcana Comics.   He's the former managing editor of Campfire (formerly Elfin) graphic novels, where he oversaw the publication of graphic novels based on classic literature, world literature and historical biographies, as well as original works. For Elfin, he has written the  graphic novel adaptation of H.G. Wells' The Invisible Man and contributed to an upcoming Halloween-themed collection of stories.   In addition to all that, he's also been a staff writer, managing editor and editorial vice president for iHero Entertainment's Writer’s Digest Grand Prize Zine Award-winning Cyber Age Adventures magazine ("The very first zine award, as a matter of fact," he adds with great pride). He served as book editor and writer for the two iHero trade paperback collections A Private Little Corner of the Universe and Playing Solitaire.  
He's also the former editor-in-chief of Shooting Star Comics, where he edited the critically acclaimed Children of the Grave comics series and edited and contributed to the fan favorite Shooting Star Comics Anthology, and was creator and author of the Fishnet Angel: Jane Doe comic book miniseries.   As if he weren't already overworked and exhausted, he's also written and edited for the role-playing game industry as well, having contributed to the DCU Role Playing Game published by West End Games (Gotham City Sourcebook, Titans Sourcebook, and Green Lantern Sourcebook) and having edited the Cyber Age Adventures Role Playing Game.   He's the former editor for the Baptist Men Edition of On Mission magazine and the former associate editor of On Mission magazine, and during his tenure on the magazine's staff, it won an EPA Higher Goals award (a religious publishing version of a Folio, basically).
He has won several awards for his periodical work, and has contributed articles and book and music reviews to such national periodical publications as Inside the Lines, Home Life, Church Administration, CCM, CBA Marketplace (formerly Bookstore Journal), and others.

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Bobby Nash is a writer of novels, comic books, short stories, and graphic novels.
Novels by Bobby include Evil Ways and Fantastix. Bobby’s short story and anthology work includes Lance Star: Sky Ranger Vol. 1 & Vol. 2 [Airship 27 Prod./Cornerstone Books], Startling Stories Magazine [Wild Cat Books], Sentinels Widescreen Special Edition [White Rocket Books], Full Throttle Space Tales Vol. 2: Space Sirens [Flying Pen Press], Sentinels: Alternate Visions [White Rocket Books], Domino Lady: Sex As A Weapon [Moonstone Books], Shadow One: Shades Of Gray [BEN Books], Real Magicalism [Daemon Press], and A Fistful of Legends [Express Westerns]. Upcoming 2010 titles include The Green Hornet Chronicles [Moonstone Books], Secret Agent X [Airship 27 Prod./Cornerstone Books], Ravenwood: Stepson of Mystery [Airship 27 Prod./Cornerstone Books], Tales From The Zero Hour: Weird Tales [Blinding Force productions], Mortis Tree, and Lance Star: Sky Ranger novel "Cold Snap."
Comic books and graphic novels by Bobby include Life In The Faster Lane, Fuzzy Bunnies From Hell [FYI Comics], Bubba The Redneck Werewolf [Brass Ball Comics], Demonslayer [Avatar Press], Threshold [Avatar Press], Doc Dresden: The Immortal [Odyssey Comics], Jungle Fantasy [Avatar Press], The Garden [Planetary Stories], and Fantastix [FYI Comics].
Upcoming 2010 titles include Yin Yang [Arcana Comics], Operation: Silver Moon [Post Mortem Comics], and Life In The Faster Lane [BEN Books]. For more information on Bobby Nash please visit him at www.bobbynash.com and http://bobby-nash-news.blogspot.com.   Bobby lives in Bethlehem, Georgia.