< Back Michelle Seiber Appel Science Scientist Michelle Appel has been engaged in the examination and use of higher education data for over 28 years, working in Institutional Research (IR), for the last 23 years, at the University of Maryland College Park where she currently is Assistant Vice President and Chief Data Officer. Her current interests include the ethical use of data in machine learning and AI. She led the group who authored the Association for Institutional Research's Statement of Ethical Principles and has served as president of, and received distinguished service awards from, her national, state, and regional professional associations. In addition to her work in IR, she has provided business leadership to software development and implementation teams. is a Certified Scrum Master. Other Socials

< Back Christiane Knight Literary Author Christiane Knight [she/they] is an artist, musician, writer, and author of the contemporary fantasy series Stories of the Eleriannan. Her most recent book is A Third Kind of Madness. A former club and FM radio DJ, Xiane’s love of dark subculture and music infuses their work. They write hopeful, magical stories often set in the Fae infused version of their already quirky hometown, Baltimore MD. She is a lifelong enthusiast of faerie, folktales, forests and fauna, especially combined in copious amounts with all-black clothing and some Joy Division or Bauhaus playing in the headphones. Other Socials

< Back Sabrina Vourvoulias Science Scientist Sabrina Vourvoulias is an award-winning Latina news editor and writer whose work has appeared at The Guardian US, PRI’s The World, NBC Philadelphia, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and Philadelphia Magazine, among other venues. She is the senior editor for commentary, ideas, and community engagement at the Opinion desk of the Philadelphia Inquirer. An American citizen from birth, she grew up in Guatemala during the armed internal conflict and moved to the United States when she was a teenager. Vourvoulias is the author of Ink, an immigration-centered dystopia named to Latinidad’s Best Books of 2012, and reissued by Rosarium Publishing in 2018. In 2020, she wrote the Smithsonian Latino Center’s middle-school nonfiction anthology, Nuestra América: 30 Inspiring Latinas/Latinos Who Have Shaped the United States. Her speculative short fiction has been published at Tor.com, Apex, Fantasy, Strange Horizons and Uncanny, among others. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband and daughter. Other Socials

< List of Vendors Dealers Wanted Dealer's Room Balticon’s Dealers Room is a curated selection of vendors catering to fandom. We offer space for everything from games and gaming paraphernalia to jewelry, booksellers, authors, and more. While Artist’s Alley focuses on artists and their creations, our Dealers Room is open to creators and resellers alike. We work hard to offer the members of Balticon a variety of selections so we’re careful to curate our vendor applications. This means we try not to have duplicate vendors. Please select the following button to be added to the email list: Balticon Dealers Room Registration We are only accepting vendors related to Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Horror literature and geek culture to ensure a good fit for our event (Companies not currently being accepted include but are not limited to: travel, home improvement, direct/home sales, etc.). Thank you for your understanding. Half Table (authors only) $100 6’ x 8’ space $190 10’ x 10’ space $330 To register for an Dealers Room table: Fill out the Dealers Room Application Form. After being accepted, you will receive an email with the Dealers Information Packet and a Square invoice. For more information, email dealers@balticon.org . Check out our list of confirmed vendors closer to the con! Read more to learn about becoming a Dealer!

< Back Gracie Gaming Gamer Hello! My name is Grace, and I’m a Pokémon Professor! I’m excited to join Balticon as both a guest and staff member, traveling all the way from Seattle, Washington. As a Pokémon Professor at Balticon 59, I’m your go-to expert for all things Pokémon and the Pokémon Trading Card Game. I’ve been doing this for quite a while, and I absolutely love being an ambassador for my favorite hobby. Teaching the next generation of trainers who aspire to be the very best always brings a big smile to my face! When I’m not collecting, trading, or studying Pokémon, I’m a quirky shark VTuber streaming video games and diving deep into all things tabletop! As a self-proclaimed Warhammer nerd (reading the books totally counts, right?), I’d love to hear from all of you about which loyalist legion is the best—and why it’s the Dark Angels. Other Socials

< Back The Faithful Sidekicks Music Guest of Honor © The Faithful Sidekicks 2025 The Faithful Sidekicks are the husband and wife Geek Rock duo of Eric and Jen Distad. They write and perform original songs about the things that interest them and have as much fun as possible in the process. Spanning a wide range of genres from alt rock to irish folk, there music is as eclectic as their subjects, which run from rock songs about board games to folk ballads about Star Trek. Their hope is that if they are having fun, you will have even more fun! Eric plays guitar, bouzouki, mandolin and handles most of the lead vocalsJen plays bass, concertina, mandolin, ukelele, extra percussion and adds backing vocals. Together they make acoustic geek comedy rock to leave a smile on your face. The Faithful Sidekicks' Website

< Back L. Marie Wood Literary Author L. Marie Wood is a psychological horror author, recipient of the Golden Stake Award, a MICO Award-winning screenwriter, a two-time Bram Stoker Award® Finalist, a Rhysling nominated poet, and accomplished essayist. Wood is the Vice President of the Horror Writers Association, founder of the Speculative Fiction Academy, an English/Creative Writing professor, and a horror scholar. Other Socials

< List of Vendors Magical Mysteries-Fairy Hair Sparkles Artist Alley Meet Karen, Faerie Grandmother As a life long fiber artist, Karen fell in love with the magical, Sparkling, silk Fairy Hair strands the minute she saw them in the long, luxurious hair of Dancing Hands, the Fairy Goddess Mother who brought Fhairy Hair to America. In 2013, Karen began incorporating Fairy Hair into her existing fiber business, eventually making Fairy Hair her full time passion. For the past 11 years, Karen has Sparkled thousands of people and trained others to do the same. She is the owner and creator of Magical Mysteries-Silk Sparkle Strands, the original Fairy hair business in Maryland. You may know her from various events, fairs, shows, conventions and festivals as Faerie Grandmother! Fairy Hair-Silk Sparkle Strands are delicate strands of Sparkling Thai Silk which are hand-tied to individual hairs. https://magical-mysteries.com/

< Back Jayrod P. Garrett Literary Author Jayrod P. Garrett works to build a world where all of us can feel we belong. They are a storytelling educator with a Masters of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from the University of Nevada, Reno. As a child, they came to Utah on a three-week vacation that became more than forty years. During that time, they transitioned from being a faithful member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints into a nonbinary, Black, atheist, U.S. Veteran with PTSD and ADHD. Currently they are a ghostwriter with Super Huemann Creative, an educator for RISE Virtual Academy where they teach Black students about Black history, a storyteller with the Nubian Storytellers of Utah Leadership, a Game Master running role playing games at Salt Lake City's Legendarium, and the Belonging Coordinator of Superstars Writing Seminars. They live in northern Utah with their spouse and three children. You can find more on their stories, poetry, and where they are teaching at jayrodpgarrett.com. Other Socials https://jayrodpgarrett.com/

< Back Larry Hodges Literary Author Larry Hodges is an active member of SFWA with over 220 short story sales, with 56 "pro" sales, including ones to Analog, Escape Pod (2), Daily Science Fiction (3), Dark Matter (2), and 19 to Galaxy’s Edge. He also has four novels. He's a graduate of the six-week 2006 Odyssey Writers Workshop, the two-week 2008 Taos Toolbox Writers Workshop, and a member of Codexwriters.com. In the world of non-fiction, he has 22 books and over 2300 published articles in over 200 different publications. He's also a professional table tennis coach (it's an Olympic Sport!), and claims to be the best science fiction writer in USA Table Tennis and the best table tennis player in SFWA! Visit him at larryhodges.com. Other Socials

< Back Lisa Ashton Costuming Costumer Lisa Ashton is a master division costumer for whom Balticon is home. From Isis in "Magic of the Ancients", Rainbows & Unicorns, alien brides, Bad Harem Day, Urban Legends, a Tequila Sunrise, Kali and various pirates, to the "Sweet Sixteens", as well as 2019's BIS "Mystic Legacy" (with Alanna Whitestar), her Balticon masquerade costumes have been many and varied. She also is a quilter and beader, and restores antique parasols, quilts and Victorian clothing. She is the Founder of Miss Lizzy's Traveling Historical Fashion Show, a 501 (3)(c) organization. In 2016 she was awarded the ICG "Lifetime Achievement Award" at Costume Con. Teaching beadwork, costuming and sewing techniques is another part of her Balticon experience. She loves coffee and is generally considered friendly at cons. Other Socials

< Back D.A. Xiaolin Spires Literary Author D. A. Xiaolin Spires steps into portals and reappears in sites such as Hawai’i, NY, various parts of Asia and elsewhere, with her keyboard appendage attached. Besides Eye to the Telescope, her work appears in publications such as Clarkesworld, Analog, Nature, Terraform, Fireside, Star*Line, Liquid Imagination, and anthologies such as Make Shift, Ride the Star Wind, Sharp and Sugar Tooth, Deep Signal, and Battling in All Her Finery. Select stories can be read in German, Spanish, Vietnamese, Estonian, French and Japanese translation--and have been selected for The Year’s Top Robot and AI Stories Year's, The Year’s Top Tales of Space and Time, Year's Best Hardcore Horror, and The Year's Best Issue for Andromeda Spaceways Magazine. Her poetry has been nominated for the Dwarf Star, Rhysling, Best of the Net and Pushcart Awards. Other Socials http://daxiaolinspires.wordpress.com