CHESSIECON 2014

ConChair Jo Hogan (FKA Pooh) is very excited to be part of making Chessiecon happen (and quite surprised to find out everyone knew she was chair before she did!). Her skills include herding cats, making things happen on time, and solving problems in unique ways (ask her how she once saved her company hundreds of man hours with a stapler). In her mundane life...well, she doesn't really have what anyone would call a mundane life. conchair@chessiecon.org

Game room coordinator Trevor Schadt was born in Silver Spring, MD, but found his home in Pittsburgh, PA. He started playing board games as soon as he could read the rules, GM'ed his first D&D campaign at the tender age of 6, and has a personal game collection of over 300 board, card and role-playing games. He was thrilled to be part of the burgeoning game room community during the final few Darkover conventions, and even more excited to be at the helm of the game room for the first ChessieCon and on into the future. He can be reached at gaming@chessiecon.org with any questions.

Vendor coordinator Devra Langsam came into fandom via a love of Tolkien and fantasy. Star Trek hit her hard, and she was part of the "Save Star Trek Campaign", following this with the publication of SPOCKANALIA, the first ST fiction fanzine. She helped organize and run the five NYC Star Trek conventions. Then she joined the SCA. Many years and many fanzines, later, she switched to bookselling as Poison Pen Press. She has run dealers' rooms for Lunacon for twenty years, and has also run dealers' rooms for Philcon and two Costume Cons.

Art Show Director /amqueue has been hovering around the edges of convention art shows since she went to her first convention, a fan-run Star Trek convention in 1978, where she learned the heartache of insufficient cash. Her hovering resumed the convention where she had her first full-time-job paycheck in her pocket, and hasn't ceased. Her experience in organizing and coordinating large projects goes back to her Girl Scout years, creating and running events for hundreds of scouts over various weekends. "At least the art won't be running around with hatchets," she muttered as the butterfly net wielded by the conchair settled about her feet. In her daily life, she's delighted to have adults for children, and is was plotting all the things she'll do with her copious free time. By the way, the slash is both historical and silent. (footnote: Pronounced 'am-cue')

Music Track Coordinator: Joshua Kronengold is a fan and filker who has been involved with fandom since 1991, attended Darkovers since around 2001, and run the Darkover Bardic Circle since he unwisely showed up in 2011 and complained about its absence. He's also been webmaster for a large number of Contatas (NEFilk New Jersey), vice-chaired the 2011 one and is chairing the 2014 one. "I look forward to mixing the best of filk, such as Tom Smith, with other musical traditions such as Darkover's own frequent performers to give Chessiecon a unique feel, with a dynamic program that both treats our members to great performances and gives them a chance to show off their own musical talents." music@chessiecon.org

Mythic (FKA Esoteric) Track Coordinator Charles Butler, is the old coordinator of the Esoteric Track for DarkoverCon and the continuing coordinator for Chessiecon. For more than 10 years he has helped create a track of instruction helping people to understand the "real world" religions behind many of the mystical descriptions that often appear in science fiction and fantasy. From Mystic Christianity to Buddhism, from Jewish Sabbath services to a yearly Falling Stars service for the departed. Professionally, he is a registered interfaith minister with Ecumenicon Fellowship, with a background in Christianity, Wicca, and African Diaspora traditions such as Voudoun, Santeria, and Umbanda. He reads Tarot cards, shells (conchas), and consults astrologers. He is a Biblical scholar as well as a researcher. He writes rituals and creates music. Contact mythic@chessiecon.org with any questions.

Head of ConOps Alexsandr Poryshkin (one of the many pseudonyms of the lizard) has been running the DarkoverCon con suite since time out of mind. Nobody, including himself, really remembers how long. He is also a founding member of the TSFS. volunteer@chessiecon.org