Diversicon 17 Guests
"When you eliminate the impossible . . .
what's left is Diversicon."

Kay Kenyon, who grew up in Duluth, Minnesota, is the author of numerous novels and short stories. Her work, which features strong female characters and strongly rendered beings of all kinds, often focuses on environmental and genetic doom, humanity's efforts to save itself, and the surprises and consequences that result. Her six stand-alone science fiction novels include Seeds of Time; Maximum Ice, a Phillip K. Dick Finalist; and Braided World, a John W. Campbell Award Finalist. The second book in a science fiction series with fantasy trappings, A World Too Near, just appeared in hardcover; the first book in the series, Bright of the Sky, listed by Publishers Weekly as one of the best books of 2007 and recently selected as a finalist for the 2008 Endeavour Award, just came out in paperback. Her short fiction has appeared in numerous print anthologies and online venues, most recently in The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction (ed. George Mann). She, her husband, and a large orange cat split their time between eastern Washington state and southern California.

Michael Levy teaches at the University of Wisconsin—Stout, including classes in children's literature, adolescent literature, Shakespeare, and science fiction and fantasy. His books include a study of children's fantasist Natalie Babbitt and Portrayal of South East Asian Immigrants in Recent American Children's Books. Since 1975, he has written hundreds of essays, reviews, and interviews for such markets as The Oxford Encyclopedia of Children's Literature; Publisher's Weekly; New York Review of Science Fiction; Extrapolation; Foundation: The International Journal of SF; The Cambridge Companion to Science Fiction; The Lion and the Unicorn; Young Adult Science Fiction; Science Fiction for Young Readers; Kaleidescope: The International Magazine of Literature, Fine Arts, and Disability; Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts; Science Fiction Studies; and Contemporary Science Fiction Writers; as well as “Year in Science Fiction” essays for Science Fiction and Fantasy Book Review Annual (1987–1991) and for What Should I Read Next? (1990–1998). He is married to Sandra Lindow.

Special Guest: Sandra Lindow

Sandra Lindow has published poetry in such markets as Asimov's SF, The Magazine of Speculative Poetry, and Tales of the Unanticipated and is the author of poetry collections, including The Heroic Housewife Papers (Pandora, 1990) in which a housewife with three preschool children fights sexist dragons with a Teflon-covered sword using skills learned in racquetball. Her sixth poetry collection, Touched by the Gods (Sam's Dot Publishing), debuted November 2008. She is currently writing a book on Ursula K. Le Guin. For 25 years, she taught reading, writing, and study skills at the Eau Claire Academy, a treatment center for emotionally disturbed adolescents. She is married to Michael Levy.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930): Immensely influential master storyteller. Author of The White Company, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, The Adventures of Brigadier Gerard, The Hound of the Baskervilles, Sir Nigel, The Lost World, The Poison Belt, and Tales of Terror and Mystery.

Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849): Editor, journalist, short story writer, poet, critic, science buff, and philosopher. Author of Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque, “The Tell-Tale Heart,” “The Fall of the House of Usher,” "The Murders in the Rue Morgue,” The Raven and Other Poems, “Annabelle Lee,” and Eureka.