< Back Michael R. Underwood Literary Author The Ree Reyes books Geekomancy (2012) Celebromancy (2013) Attack the Geek (2014) Hexomancy (2015) Genrenauts The Shootout Solution (2015) The Absconded Ambassador (2016) The Cupid Reconciliation (2016) The Substitute Sleuth (2016) The Failed Fellowship (2016) Genrenauts: The Complete Season One (2016) The Wasteland War (2021) Shield & Crocus (2014) The Younger Gods (2014) Born to the Blade (2018) – written with Malka Older, Cassandra Khaw, and Marie Brennan Annihilation Aria (2020) TTRPGs The Only Logical Solution is Hijinx (2022) Candela Obscura (2023 - consulting designer & additional writing) Daggerheart (2025 - additional designer) Other Socials

< Back Batya "The Toon" Music Filk Batya "the Toon" Wittenberg is, in no particular order: a successfully transplanted New Yorker, a practicing Orthodox Jew, a happily married woman since 1999, a certified master of Pun Fu, an enthusiastic cook and foodie, a founding member of filk group Lady Mondegreen, a fanfic writer, a habitual online and tabletop roleplayer, and in no particular order. Other Socials

< Back Angela Yuriko Smith Literary Author Angela Yuriko Smith is a two-time Bram Stoker Award–winning author, former president of the Horror Writers Association, and publisher of Space and Time. As a publishing consultant and coach, she helps writers build sustainable creative careers rooted in art, not arson. She writes Authortunities on Substack. Other Socials

< Back Sarah Pinsker Literary Editor Sarah Pinsker is the Hugo, Nebula, Sturgeon, Philip K Dick, Locus, and Eugie Award winning author of A Song For A New Day, Sooner or Later Everything Falls Into the Sea, and, most recently, the novella Haunt Sweet Home, published by Tordotcom in 2024. She is also a singer/songwriter with four albums on various independent labels, including 2021's Something to Hold. She was born in New York and has lived all over the US and Canada, but currently lives with her wife and two dogs in Baltimore in a hundred-year-old house surrounded by sentient vines. Other Socials

< Back Art Sierra Literary Author Art Sierra (1987), Santiago, Chile. BA in Philosophy. Writes hard-SF. Publications include short stories and a novelette in Spanish, and in English a short story in Sci Phi Journal, March 2022 edition, and a short story to appear in EscapePod by mid May. Other Socials

< Back Dr. Gandalf Operations Tech Eric J Fleischer, MD, known in fandom as Dr Gandalf Mundanely, I am a retired ophthalmologist. In Fandom I have been:Attending Science Fiction Conventions since 1978. A Baltimore Science Fiction Society member since about 1997. A Life member of BSFS since 2004. An At Large member of the BSFS Board of Directors for 15 years. I’ve been doing Tech at Balticon and other conventions including several Worldcons since 1984. My main tech interest is video, mostly for the main tent. I have been running main tent video at Balticon for over 20 years. I’ve been the Art Show Auctioneer at Balticon since 1994. I have also been the charity auctioneer for Balticon since 1999. One of my personal projects at Balticon since 2008 is the Promo Loop. This is a slide show displaying descriptions of events happening during the con. I create the graphics for most of the slides, organize them and keep the shows running and updated throughout the con. Other Socials

< List of Vendors French, John L. Dealer's Room John’s first story “Past Sins” was published in Hardboiled Magazine and was cited as one of the best Hardboiled stories of 1993. More crime fiction followed, appearing in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, the Fading Shadows magazines and in collections by Barnes and Noble. Association with writers like James Chambers and the late, great C.J. Henderson led him to try horror fiction and to a still growing fascination with zombies and other undead things. His first horror story “The Right Solution” appeared in Marietta Publishing’s Lin Carter’s Anton Zarnak. Other horror stories followed in anthologies such as THE DEAD WALK and DARK FURIES, both published by Die Monster Die books. It was in Dark Furies that his character Bianca Jones made her literary debut in “21 Doors,” a story based on an old Baltimore legend and a creepy game his daughter used to play with her friends. John is an author of science fiction, pulp, horror, fantasy, and, of course, crime fiction.

< Back Akua Lezli Hope Literary Author Akua Lezli Hope, a Grand Master of Fantastic Poetry (SFPA), is a creator & wisdom seeker who creates poems, patterns, stories, music, sculpture, adornments & peace. In print since 1974 with more than 500 poems published in numerous literary magazines & anthologies, she's a third generation New Yorker, whose honors include the NEA, two NYFAs, SFPA & Rhysling awards, NYSCA grants, Pushcart Prize & Best of the Net nominations, 2024 IGNYTE award, among others. She has twice won Rattle’s Poets Respond. Her first collection, EMBOUCHURE, Poems on Jazz and Other Musics, won the Writer’s Digest book award. A Cave Canem fellow, she created the Speculative Sundays Poetry Reading Series, now in its 6th year. Her speculative poetry chapbook, Otherwheres, won the 2021 Elgin Award. Her micro-chapbook, Stratospherics, is in the Quarantine Public Library. She edited the first BIPOC speculative poetry anthology, NOMBONO (2021) & the historic, largest Eye to the Telescope issue #42 on The Sea. Other Socials

< Back Vantura Gaming Gamer An adventurer on his way to the next journey! With the power to travel between worlds, I travel and make friends of all shapes and sizes! I tend to find myself taking impromptu journies, so please bear with me if things get a little strange. I love gaming, and I love making friends. I hope to make lots of friends here and have fun chatting with you all! Other Socials

< Back Honorable Mention "Snow Bear" Hand drawn animation. (This film will not be shown in the Film Festival.) https://youtu.be/xOXolSQcEb4 Previous Next

< Back Concerts and Filk Balticon is home to one of the East Coast’s strongest tracks of filk and fannish music, featuring a variety of concerts, panels, and workshops, plus open circles all three nights. Filk is the musical folk tradition of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Fan community, consisting primarily of songs that tell or retell stories. The stories vary widely from retelling fairy tales, pirate and seafaring adventures, invention and technology, dragons, mermaids, selkies, NASA, spaceships, alternate universes, historical disasters, wherever or whenever your imagination can take you. Join in at the Classic Filk Singalong (lyrics provided), or come to the theme circles and open filks to listen or perform! Balticon 60’s music track is topped by our Special Guests, the Baltimore Gamer Symphony Orchestra (BGSO). We’re still building the schedule, but we anticipate the BGSO will have a concert in our Main Tent along with a few smaller ensemble and choral performances throughout the con. Concerts In our always-eclectic program of nerdy musicians you might hear anything from harp and acoustic guitar to rock and nerdcore rap. This year’s lineup will be announced early in 2025, but past performers have included: Baltimore Gamer Symphony Orchestra (BGSO) Bob and Sue Esty Maugorn the Stray Sarah Pinsker Madison “Metricula” Roberts Roberta Rogow Devo Spice Theme Circles Theme circles are similar to open filk circles but with a specific topic. In addition to our perennial Classic Filk Sing-Along (with projected lyrics) and Memorial Circle we usually have 2 or 3 other Theme Circles across the weekend. Past topics have included: Drinks Real and Imagined Historical Songs Lullabies Songs of Strong Women Songs of Stan Rogers and Gordon Lightfoot Dance For those who like to get up and move, there will be a Renaissance Dance (with live music) and Hula Hooping, both led by Patches. All ages are welcome! Don’t worry if you don’t know the dances - we’ll help you learn! Attendees are taught the basics of folk dancing during Balticon 58. Filk Lounge Just down the hall from our main music space, you’ll find our Filk Lounge, where you can hang out between programs, chat with performers, grab a quick snack, or rehearse a song. We also use the lounge for some intimate, targeted programming that doesn't require our larger main space. For more information contact filk@balticon.org

< Back Yoshi Gaming Game Master Hello fellow nerds, I am Yoshi! I am the Director of RPG and Tabletop Programming for Balticon 59 and looking forward to seeing you all! This will be my 7th Balticon on staff, and my first year on the BSFS Board of Directors. As for my credentials, I have been an avid player of RPG and Tabletop games of a variety of stripes and systems for the past 23 years. I have played and/or run games of D&D 3.5, 4e, 5e, Pathfinder 1e and 2e, Iron Kingdoms, Starfinder, Traveler, Star Wars, Fallout, Warhammer, Warmachine, Firestorm, and Infinity. In more recent years, I have been streaming behind a virtual avatar (VTuber) with a variety content track including RPGs, Strategy, and Shooter games. Professionally, I have spent the last 9 years with CommVault Systems working as a Senior T2 Support Engineer for the CommVault family of Enterprise Backup, Restore, and Indexing Solutions. I specialize in the Support and Implementation of Cloud Storage Solution Integration with our software. Other Socials