MarsCon 2025 - Virginia Beach: Full Schedule

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10:00am EST

Create an Intersteller Legend

Saturday January 18, 2025 10:00am - 10:15am EST

What can be created when an artist, an author (or two or three), a musician, a scientist and a costumer get together? Hopefully, an Intersteller Legend that can lead a Galatic Empire! Taking ideas from the audience, the professionals will build a character with a rough sketch portrait (with a signature look), a reasonably fleshed out backstory and a theme song. Come see what our experts can concoct.

Moderator

Robert Hampson

Author, Scientist

Dr. Robert E. Hampson is a neuroscientist, professor, and author who spends his time exploring the frontiers of memory research and the far reaches of the imagination. With a Ph.D. in Physiology & Pharmacology, he studies how brains encode memories and develops futuristic technologies... Read More →

Speakers

Jake Clark

Artist Guest of Honor

Jake Clark makes badass art for badass stories. Full of grit and storytelling, his work is geared to instantly capture attention. Using 3-d modeling software combined with digital painting, his fully custom creations play with perspective and scale in a way few other covers in the... Read More →

Christopher Ruocchio

Author Co- Guest of Honor

Christopher Ruocchio is the internationally award-winning author of the Sun Eater, a series blending elements of both science fiction and fantasy, as well as more than twenty works of short fiction. Born and raised in Raleigh, North Carolina, Christopher received a degree in English... Read More →

Rhiannon's Lark

Musician Guest of Honor

Have you ever wanted to hear a Disney princess singing about the things you love…board games, ninjas, and krakens? Rhiannon’s Lark is happy to make your wish come true. Alyssa Yeager is an accolade-winning musician including the Pegasus award for “Best Performer” and Guest... Read More →

Max Thompson

Cos Player

Hello there and welcome to my channel! My name is Bash, The Prop Slayer! My channel is dedicated to bringing game and movie replica weapons and armor to life. My main sources of inspiration are Final Fantasy, Star Wars, and The Lord of The Rings. I was introduced to cosplay and prop... Read More →

Saturday January 18, 2025 10:00am - 10:15am EST
Main Programming Room

Events & Demos

11:00am EST

First Contact

Saturday January 18, 2025 11:00am - 12:00pm EST

Main Programming Room

A discussion on the pros and cons of humans making contact first, and then of the aliens making contact first. Which should we hope for? Which should we expect?

Speakers

Jim Beall

Author, Scientist

Jim Beall (BS-Math, MBA, PE) has been a nuclear engineer for over 50 years, beginning as a nuclear engineering officer in the US Navy. Civilian experience includes design, construction, inspection, enforcement, and assessment with a nuclear utility, an architect engineering firm... Read More →

Mark Wandrey

International bestselling author of military sci-fi, space opera, and zombie apocalypse, Mark Wandrey is also the only 4 time DragonCon Dragon Award finalist!Living the full time RV lifestyle as a modern day nomad, Mark Wandrey has been writing science fiction since he was in grade... Read More →

Scott Sykes

Author

S.M. Sykes never saw himself as a writer, facing struggles with English classes in school. Even his wife, who doubles as his editor, can attest to occasional challenges with organizing his thoughts. However, despite these obstacles, he discovered a passion for storytelling that he... Read More →

Adam Oyebanji

Featured Science Fiction Guest

I was born in Coatbridge, in the West of Scotland, more years ago than I care to remember. Though, now I come to think about it, who actually remembers being born? I moved east to Edinburgh, by way of Birmingham, London, Lagos, Nigeria, Chicago, Pittsburgh and New York: a necessary... Read More →

Saturday January 18, 2025 11:00am - 12:00pm EST
Main Programming Room

Science, Social & Political Sciences

12:00pm EST

Guest of Honor - Jake Clark

Saturday January 18, 2025 12:00pm - 1:00pm EST

Main Programming Room

Stop by and hear our Artist Guests of Honor discuss his current and upcoming projects and how the creative process works for him. There will be time for questions from the audience.

Speakers

Jake Clark

Artist Guest of Honor

Teresa Bhaile

Guest Liaison and Programming Director, Mars Con Inc (Virginia)

Saturday January 18, 2025 12:00pm - 1:00pm EST
Main Programming Room

Events & Demos, Guests of Honor

1:00pm EST

Guest of Honor - Christopher Ruocchio

Saturday January 18, 2025 1:00pm - 2:00pm EST

Main Programming Room

Stop by and hear one of our Author Guests of Honor discuss his current and upcoming projects and how the writing process works for him. There will be time for questions from the audience.

Speakers

Teresa Bhaile

Guest Liaison and Programming Director, Mars Con Inc (Virginia)

Christopher Ruocchio

Author Co- Guest of Honor

Saturday January 18, 2025 1:00pm - 2:00pm EST
Main Programming Room

Events & Demos, Guests of Honor

2:00pm EST

Baen Roadshow

Saturday January 18, 2025 2:00pm - 4:00pm EST

Main Programming Room

Review the past year and look forward to the upcoming one. Authors connected with Baen Books will discuss how things have gone and what to look forward to.

Speakers

Jim Beall

Author, Scientist

Phillip Pournelle

Author, Gamer

Commander Pournelle retired from the Navy after 26 years of service as a surface warfare officer, operations analyst, and joint operations planner. He served on cruisers, destroyers, amphibious ships, and an experimental high-speed vessel. He served on the Navy staff conducting modeling... Read More →

Chris Kennedy Publishing

Dealer, Chris Kennedy Publishing

Welcome to Chris Kennedy Publishing, where the focus is on fun, message-free science fiction and fantasy!

Michael Morton

Author, USSF

Michael Morton is a retired USAF space operations officer and wishes the Space Force happened earlier. Still, he gets to work for them as a civilian, so life isn't all bad. He writes award-winning military sci-fi and fantasy and lives in Colorado Springs with his family. When he's... Read More →

Kacey Ezell

Featured Space Opera Guest

Kacey Ezell writes emotionally charged adventure fantasy and science fiction. She is a two-time Dragon Award Finalist for Best Alternate History and won the 2018 Year's Best Military and Adventure Science Fiction Readers' Choice Award. She has written multiple bestselling novels published... Read More →

Adam Oyebanji

Featured Science Fiction Guest

H.P Holo / Edie Skye

Author

H.P. Holo grew up in a family where it was dangerous to say, "I'm bored." She's also an incorrigible smart aleck. So when her parents told her to fix her boredom by reading a dictionary, she did. And then, just to be extra sassy, she began writing novels that required them to keep... Read More →

Sean Korsgaard

Author, Publisher, Fandom

Sean CW Korsgaard is a U.S. Army veteran, award-winning freelance journalist, author, editor and publicist who has worked with Analog Science Fiction & Fact, Baen Books, and Writers of the Future, and recently became the editor of Anvil and Battleborn magazines. His first anthology... Read More →

Melissa Olthoff

Author

Melissa Olthoff is a science fiction and fantasy author who delights in sneaking in romance wherever she can. She is a lifelong geek as well as a veteran of the United States Air Force, both of which are incredibly useful when writing. Her degrees in meteorology and accounting are... Read More →

Scott Huggins

Author

Having been born in California and raised in Kansas, Scott Huggins grew up as confused as one might expect. He began writing seriously in college in between student exchanges spent in post-Soviet Russia and Germany, and was one of the last Writers of the Future in 1999. The future... Read More →

Jacob Holo

Author

Jacob Holo has been a recreational geek since childhood, when he discovered Star Wars and Star Trek, and a professional geek since college, when he graduated from Youngstown State University with a degree in Electrical and Controls Engineering. He started writing when his parents... Read More →

Christopher Ruocchio

Author Co- Guest of Honor

Jason Cordova

Author

Bestselling author Jason Cordova has had his novels published in multiple languages around the world. He was both a John W. Campbell Award and Dragon Award finalist (though not in the same year). Author of the Black Tide Rising novel Mountain of Fire, and co-author of Monster Hunter... Read More →

Saturday January 18, 2025 2:00pm - 4:00pm EST
Main Programming Room

Literature, What to Read

4:00pm EST

Masquerade & Charity Auction

Saturday January 18, 2025 4:00pm - 8:00pm EST

Main Programming Room

Speakers

Michael Jon Khandelwal

Mars Con Toast Master

Michael Khandelwal is the Executive Director of The Muse Writers Center, a nationally recognized literary center in Norfolk, Virginia. An award-winning writer and teacher, he writes poetry, fiction, editorials, profiles, and feature articles, which have appeared in Rattle, Coas... Read More →

Mikey Mason

Featured Musical Guest

Mikey Mason spent more than a decade as a full-time standup comedian. He headlined on all four coasts, performed multiple times each on NBC, at the legendary House of Blues, and the Hard Rock Casino. He even headlined the Atlantis Resort and Casino in the Bahamas. But it wasn’t... Read More →

Jake Clark

Artist Guest of Honor

Lindsay Reinoehl Bartleson

Featured Costuming Guest

Lindsay Bartleson of Geek Diva Cosplay has been cosplaying for just under a decade. In that time she has received multiple awards at conventions in both workmanship and stage presentation and quickly reached the Master level. She has presented many cosplay panels and has also acted... Read More →