MarsCon 2025 - Virginia Beach: Full Schedule

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10:00am EST

CKP: The Year Ahead

Saturday January 18, 2025 10:00am - 11:00am EST

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

Speakers

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 →

H.Y. Gregor

Author

H.Y. Gregor was born in Portland, Oregon, but will always call the mountains of Colorado home. She holds a bachelor’s degree in political science but put it down often enough to narrowly avoid law school. Now she spends her free time weaving fantasy tales and battling plot gremlins... 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 →

Chris Kennedy Publishing

Dealer, Chris Kennedy Publishing

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

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 →

Saturday January 18, 2025 10:00am - 11:00am EST
Salon L

Literature, What to Read

11:00am EST

Dos and Don't of Submitting to Indie Publishers

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

Salon L

Come meet with senior staff from Cannon Publishing to learn how to submit your manuscript to this and other independent publishing houses. The rules are different than trying to submit to mainstream houses. Manuscript submissions may be collected at this time. Speak with the panelists for more information.

Speakers

Chris Kennedy Publishing

Dealer, Chris Kennedy Publishing

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

John Holmes

Publisher

J.F. Holmes is a retired Army Senior Noncommissioned Officer, having served for 22 years in both the Regular Army and Army National Guard. During that time, he served as everything from an artillery section leader to a member of a Division level planning staff, with tours in Cuba... Read More →

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 →

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

Workshops

12:00pm EST

Are We the Baddies?

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

Salon L

This panel includes discussions on the experience of creating opposition decks in games, of playing “the baddies” (e.g. the Axis powers in Axis & Allies, the anti-suffragists in Votes for Women, etc.), and what is involved in making and playing a game that is fun for all players.

Speakers

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 →

Stephen Glenn

Gamer, TAGS

I've been designing board and cardgames for over twenty years. My first cardgame, Balloon Cup, was nominated for the Spiel des Jahres in 2003. Since then I've published over a dozen games. I'm one of the founders of the local TAGS gaming club and I was also the founder of Protospiel... Read More →

Stephen Buonocore

Gaming Guest of Honor

Stephen Buonocore is a hobby game entrepreneur, game media personality, game industry veteran, as well as a former financial services industry IT professional.Buonocore is the retired founder, owner and President of Stronghold Games, formed in 2009 to publish quality hobby board and... Read More →

Tory Brown

Featured Game Designer

Tory Brown is the designer of Votes for Women, which launched on the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution. Tory is a longtime activist and works as a political communications strategist for progressive causes. Inspired to create Votes for Women by games like... Read More →

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

Gaming, Board Games

1:00pm EST

Creating Characters with Personality

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

Salon L

This workshop will focus on using personality types and archetypes in developing relatable characters as both protagonists and antagonists.

Speakers

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 →

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 →

J.F. Posthumus

Author

Wife and a mother of five, J.F. Posthumus is an IT Tech with over a decade of experience. When she isn’t arguing with computers and their inherent gremlins, or being mom to the four younger monsters (the eldest was a police officer, lost to us all in June of 2023), she’s crafting... Read More →

Alyssa Hazel

Featured Horror Guest

Alyssa Hazel is a Weird Fiction and Horror writer who enjoys exploring the weird, horrible and wonderful through her work. Her pieces have found homes in Bluestem, the Red Coyote, and the Dark River Review. While her specialty is anthologies (she has four) she’s rather proud of... Read More →

Daniel Kemp

Author

Finishing at Ole Miss in 1998, Dan spent the next decade in infantry assignments in South Korea and the 101st Airborne. That lasted as long as his knees and his back held out. A master's in military history (Norwich University '12) and a somewhat turbulent personal life after the... Read More →

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

Workshops

2:00pm EST

Editing: The Whys and the Hows

Saturday January 18, 2025 2:00pm - 3:00pm EST

Salon L

Revising and editing are important parts of the writing process, as well as onerous and sometimes downright boring. Join authors, editors, and publishers as they talk about why it is important not to forego these steps and how one might be able make the whole process just a little bit easier, or at least more fun. 'Cause friends and drinks always make things better!

Speakers

Ben Yalow

Fandom

I've attended about 900 cons, and worked on about a third of them, with jobs ranging from gofer to Chair of both regionals and the Worldcon. I've also edited 4 books for NESFA Press.

Jim & John Gaines

Authors

Jim and John Gaines write sci fi together as J.M.R.Gaines. Their novels Life Sentence and Spy Station form part of the Forlani Saga series, along with Earth Regained (in progress). They have also publish space-themed short stories and poetry in a variety of journals. Jim is a retired... Read More →

Shari Robb

Shari Robb is a patient and loving wife. She loves Jesus, and is a trained technical writer and counselor. Now that the kids are grown, she has started an additional career as a freelance editor. She has worked as a copy editor for a couple political campaigns, multiple non-fiction... Read More →

Sam Robb

Author

Sam Robb is a Pittsburgh native, a former US Navy officer, and a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University. Over the course of his life, he has acquired a wife, three daughters, several quadrupeds, and a penchant for walking down back alleys and taking pictures of graffiti. When he's... Read More →

Saturday January 18, 2025 2:00pm - 3:00pm EST
Salon L

Literature, Writing Techniques

3:00pm EST

RPGs as Collaborative Storytelling

Saturday January 18, 2025 3:00pm - 4:00pm EST

Salon L

Role-playing games, especially table top RPGs, are often more about the story that involves all the players. The players take part in building the story from the DMs outline. Join authors and DMs as they discuss how to have a great outline and how to (as a player) run with that outline and participate in creating a great story together.

Speakers

Jim & John Gaines

Authors

Nicole Glover

Author

Nicole Glover is the author of the historical fantasy series, Murder and Magic, which begins with The Conductors. When she's not writing, she's working as a UX researcher where her knowledge about murder and other mysteries is surprisingly useful.

Vivian Valentine

Author, Dealer

The author of The Amelia Temple Series, Vivian Moira Valentine is a rad trans lady who loves monsters. When she was a child, she found the Crestwood House Monster Series at her local library and it's all been downhill from there. Now everything she likes is horrible. When not writing... Read More →

David Hensley

Author

David is an East Coast Hepaw born and raised in southwest Colorado. The town of Dolores, to be specific. He's been a lot of places and done a lot of things since then, including cowboying in the Utah desert and twenty years as an aviation structural mechanic for the United States... Read More →

Saturday January 18, 2025 3:00pm - 4:00pm EST
Salon L

Gaming, RPGs

4:00pm EST

Space Colonization: How and When?

Saturday January 18, 2025 4:00pm - 5:00pm EST

Salon L

In order to build galactic empires, we first need to get out into space. Then, with the very large distances between planets, there is always the problem of getting from one place to another in a timely manner. How will that happen? How close are we to being able to travel even to the Moon or Mars in a few hours or days instead of weeks or months?

Speakers

Jim Beall

Author, Scientist

Wes Rist

Int'l Human Rights Lawyer

D. Wes Rist is an international human rights lawyer with a specialization in preventing genocide and mass atrocities. He has worked with non-profit and non-governmental organizations around the world, conducted trainings for international lawyers and atrocity prevention experts, and... Read More →

Ben Davis

Scientist, ECPI University

Ben Davis has a Ph.D. in Nuclear Physics and an M.S. in Nuclear Astrophysics from the University of Notre Dame. He taught at the college level for several years on a number of technical subjects ranging from computer programming and math to, of course, astronomy and physics. In the... Read More →

Charles Blue

Featured Science Guest

Charles Blue (aka Blue the Science Dude) has more than 35 years of science communications experience. Charles has worked as the director of media services at the American Institute of Physics. He also served as the Writer/Editor for the National Science Foundation’s Directorate... Read More →

Saturday January 18, 2025 4:00pm - 5:00pm EST
Salon L

Science, Physical & Space Sciences

5:00pm EST

DMing for Beginners

Saturday January 18, 2025 5:00pm - 6:00pm EST

Salon L

So you wanna be a Dungeon Master but haven't the foggiest idea how to start or what to do? Come to this workshop to get tips and tricks to help you get started in the DM business. Taught by Joel Lyons.

Saturday January 18, 2025 5:00pm - 6:00pm EST
Salon L

Workshops

6:00pm EST

Generative Writing Session B

Saturday January 18, 2025 6:00pm - 7:00pm EST

Salon L

Join our Author Co-Guest of Honor as she facilitates a workshop for authors and aspiring authors to spend time writing. Use the expertise of others to help you polish your draft, edit and revise, or to begin an outline. Whatever you need, they will help you with.

Possible topic for this workshop: using Tarot as a writing tool.

Speakers

Steve Vickers

Author

SC Vickers writes SF, fantasy, and historical fiction but has a thing for werewolves and trolls. He lives in Colorado Springs and has an MFA in Creative Writing/Genre Fiction from Western Colorado University. Troll Hunt, a novella in the Troll Lands universe, is his first published... Read More →

J.F. Posthumus

Author

John Holmes

Publisher

Cassandra Clarke

Author Co- Guest of Honor

Cassandra Rose Clarke’s novels have been finalists for the Philip K. Dick Award, the Romantic Times Reviewer’s Choice Award, and YALSA’s Best Fiction for Young Adults. Her poetry has placed second in the Rhysling Awards, been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, and appeared in... Read More →

Saturday January 18, 2025 6:00pm - 7:00pm EST
Salon L

Workshops

7:00pm EST

Are All Empires Evil? Governance in Space

Saturday January 18, 2025 7:00pm - 8:00pm EST

Salon L

How might empires that cover more than one planet be governed? How would order be maintained? Do empires have to be evil in order to hold together? Join our panelists as they discuss how multi-planet or multi-system federations or empires might be governed, from galactic senates to loose confederations.

Speakers

Dennis Myers

Author

Born and raised in central Minnesota, Dennis M. Myers developed a serious reading habit early in life due to the influence of his grandmother. In late high school he read one particularly "awful" book and, with all that teenage hubris, decided that he could do better. After spending... 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 →

Kacey Ezell

Featured Space Opera Guest

Wes Rist

Int'l Human Rights Lawyer

Saturday January 18, 2025 7:00pm - 8:00pm EST
Salon L

Science, Social & Political Sciences

8:00pm EST

Your Weird Civilization is Infringing Upon My Utopia

Saturday January 18, 2025 8:00pm - 9:00pm EST

Salon L

We discuss the idea of a utopian society and explore the question of the perfect utopian society (STNG v Ferengi) for everyone. Is it even possible?

Speakers

Wes Rist

Int'l Human Rights Lawyer

Adam Oyebanji

Featured Science Fiction Guest

Rowan Worth

Author

Rowan Worth's first book, Past Imperfect, introduced a family of shapeshifters trying to stop an enemy intent on destroying their small pack. Her next release is The Lost Prince, the first book in a science fiction series about an asteroid miner who finds an abandoned battleship deep... Read More →

Tory Brown

Featured Game Designer

Saturday January 18, 2025 8:00pm - 9:00pm EST
Salon L

Science, Social & Political Sciences

9:00pm EST

Whose Con Is It Anyway? - Improv Panel

Saturday January 18, 2025 9:00pm - 10:00pm EST

Salon L

In the style of "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" this ... panel ... is meant to make you laugh at all the crazy stuff that ends up happening at conventions.

Speakers

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 →

Gray Rinehart

Literary Guest

Gray Rinehart is a writer, an editor, a singer/songwriter, and a retired Air Force officer. He is the only person to have commanded a USAF satellite tracking station, written speeches for Presidential appointees, devised a poetic form, and had music on The Dr. Demento Show. He is... Read More →

Saturday January 18, 2025 9:00pm - 10:00pm EST
Salon L

Events & Demos

10:00pm EST

MarsCon Trivia Night

Saturday January 18, 2025 10:00pm - 11:00pm EST

Salon L

Get your team together for MarsCon’s version of a pub quiz! Questions range from all sorts of trivia. Play for laughs and bragging rights.

Saturday January 18, 2025 10:00pm - 11:00pm EST
Salon L

Events & Demos

11:00pm EST

The Reads You Need to Hide

Saturday January 18, 2025 11:00pm - Sunday January 19, 2025 12:00am EST

Salon L

Authors talk Spicy Books, why they like to write them, and why we like to read them. This panel encourages audience participation.

Speakers

Emily Jane Buehler

Author

Emily Jane Buehler writes cozy fantasy romances where everyday people (and fairies) have adventures and fall in love. Her stories are lighthearted with action and adventure, love and magic, and protagonists who learn to believe in themselves and find their courage. And yes, they are... Read More →

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 →

Melissa Olthoff

Author

David Shadoin

Author

David "Shady" Shadoin is a trouble-making, corn-fed Nebraska boy the United States Air Force managed to turn into a somewhat decent pilot of whirly birds. An avid reader from a young age, he has always found inspiration listening to rock music while reading Fantasy and Sci Fi novels... Read More →

Saturday January 18, 2025 11:00pm - Sunday January 19, 2025 12:00am EST
Salon L

Literature, NSFW

12:00am EST

Smash or Pass: Space Opera Characters

Sunday January 19, 2025 12:00am - 2:00am EST

Salon L

What are your favorite space operas? Which characters from this subgenre would you smash in a hot second, and which ones would you pass on? And most importantly, why? Join our panelists for this NSFW panel. Not recommended for children 14 and under without parent attendance.

Speakers

H.Y. Gregor

Author

J.E. Pittman

Author, Dealer

J.E. Pittman dabbles in many speculative worlds. He blurs the borders between genre and crafts salient lies to tell a measure of truth. His work has been described as: capriciously chimeric, dreamlike, and a vivid enigma with indelible images stamped on your brain. He’s currently... Read More →

David Shadoin

Author

Kacey Ezell

Featured Space Opera Guest

Sunday January 19, 2025 12:00am - 2:00am EST
Salon L

Literature, NSFW