March 23, 2011
News for Geek.Kon 2011:
Geek.Kon announces first round of guests
Madison, WI -- Geek.Kon is pleased to announce the first round of guests for Geek.Kon 2011 to be voice actors Jerry Jewell, and Sonny Strait, author Elaine Cunningham, linguist David Salo and game designers Matt Forbeck, Aaron Pavao, and Monica Valentinelli.
Jerry Jewell
Jerry will be making his first appearance at Geek.Kon as well as his first trip to Wisconsin.
He can be heard as; Kyo Sohma (Fruits Basket), Jimmy Kudo (Case Closed), Taira (Beck:Mongolian Chop Squad), Barry the Chopper (Full Metal Alchemist, Full Metal Achemist: Brotherhood), Happiness Bunny (Shin-Chan), Russia (Hetalia), Rin Tsuchimi (Shuffle), Lau (Black Butler), Zellman Clock (Black Blood Brothers), Dio (Casshern Sins), Tony Frost (Blue Gender), Suzaku (Yu Yu Hakusho), Jin (Yu Yu Hakusho), and Akito Hayama (Kodocha).
His voice can also be heard in Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball GT, Black Cat, Ouran High School Host Club, One Piece, Tsubasa, Trinity Blood, Soul Eater and many others.
Sonny Strait
Most recognized as the voice of Krillin on the wildly popular, animated TV show Dragonball Z and as an illustrator for, arguably, the most famous, independently published comic book series Elfquest. Sonny Strait has over 20 years of experience in the arts.
As a voice actor, Sonny is considered to be one of the most recognized voice actors in the business. Besides Dragonball Z's Krillin he has worked on many popular animated characters including Maes Hughes from Full Metal Alchemist, Usopp from One Piece and Cartoon Network's laid back, robot host Toonami Tom. He has also worked as a writer and director on several TV series including Dragonball Z, Case Closed and Lupin the Third.
As a comic book artist he has 17 published works to date including his débuted self-published series Mr. Average featured in The Comics Journal and Elfquest which was published by both WARP Graphics and DC Comics. Sonny is considered one of the top Elfquest artists from its over 30 year history.
In 2007 Sonny wrote and illustrated a graphic novel about a reluctant punk rock, faerie princess named Goat. The book, called We Shadows, was published by Tokyopop and was nominated by The American Library Association for Best Graphic Novel in 2008. The book received glowing reviews in many trade magazines including Publishers Weekly, Newtype, Play and Anime Insider.
Currently Sonny is reprising his roles in both the new Dragonball Z and Full Metal Alchemist series and plays the title role in the Xbox game S'plosion Man. Sonny also began illustrating Marvel Comic's sketch cards recently for Rittenhouse.
Elaine Cunningham
Elaine Cunningham is a New York Times bestselling fantasy author whose publishing credits include twenty novels, over two dozen short stories, two short story collections, three novellas, and a graphic novel. Best known for her tie-in fiction, she has focused primarily on the Forgotten Realms but has also written novels and short fiction in the Star Wars extended universe, EverQuest, Spelljammer, Ravenloft, and Pathfinder (Paizo Publishing). A pair of Changeling Detective novels provided a digression in urban fantasy, and a paranormal mystery novella entitled "Beyond Dreams" was included in the anthology Beyond Magic. (Tor, 2008) Elaine is currently working on a series of fantasy "e-riginals" in a world of her own creation. Her next conventionally published release will be The Serpent's Daughter, a Forgotten Realms novel coming in 2012. A former teacher, she frequently leads writing workshops and critique groups.
David Salo
David Salo is the author of A Gateway to Sindarin, a description of J.R.R. Tolkien's Grey-elven language, and is a longtime student of all of Tolkien's invented languages. He is the moderator of the Elfling mailing list on yahoogroups for the discussion of Tolkien's languages and linguistic writings, and was the linguistic advisor for the Lord of the Rings films. He is currently doing language-related work on The Hobbit.
Matt Forbeck
Matt Forbeck has been a full-time creator of award-winning games and fiction since 1989. He has designed collectible card games, roleplaying games, miniatures games, board games, and toys, and has written novels, short fiction, comic books, motion comics, nonfiction, magazine articles, and computer game scripts and stories for companies including Angry Robot, ArenaNet, Del Rey, Adams Media, Simon & Schuster, Atari, Tor.com, Wired.com, Boom! Studios, Ubisoft, Wizards of the Coast, Games Workshop, WizKids, Mattel, IDW, Image Comics, and Playmates Toys. His latest novels -- the critically acclaimed science fiction thriller Amortals and urban fantasy Vegas Knights -- are on sale now. For more about him and his work, visit Forbeck.com.
Aaron Pavao
Aaron Pavao started his career in geekery as a child playing D&D with the babysitter, and sold his first game (Live Role-Playing Chess) as a teen. Since then, he has been involved in many aspects of gaming. He has run campaign-style LARPs, designed board, card, and role-playing games, run a game company, and yes, bought games just to read them. His most recent work includes a card game and expansions licensed to Atlas Games and freelance work in over a dozen titles for Catalyst Game Labs.
Monica Valentinelli
Monica Valentinelli is a professional author and game designer. Described as a "force of nature" by her peers, Monica is best known for her work in the horror, dark fantasy and science fiction genres and has been published through Abstract Nova Press, Eden Studios, White Wolf Publishing, Apex Magazine and others. Recent publications include: SCENES OF THE EMBRACE from White Wolf Publishing and "The Saint, the Pickpocket and the Manticore" from Pill Hill Press for their DAILY BITES OF FLESH anthology. She is also a developer of the HACK/SLASH card game based on the horror comic by Tim Seeley.
Geek.Kon 2011 will be held Sept. 9th-11th at the Madison Marriott West in the Madison suburb of Middleton, WI.
Following its founding principles, Geek.Kon is dedicated to bringing together all aspects Geekdom under one roof from anime to sci-fi to gaming and more for the benefit of all. In line with this ideology one can expect to find programming, events, and guests to suit a variety of "Geeky" tastes. It is through these means that Geek.Kon strives to give each attendee a great time while also expanding their horizons as to what Geekdom has to offer.
Online preregistration for Geek.Kon 2011 is now open.
Registration rates are as follows:
full weekend preregistration: $20 before March 31
full weekend preregistration: $25 after March 31
full weekend at door: $30
Friday at door: $15
Saturday at door: $20
Sunday at door: $15
children age 5 and under: Free with paying adult
children age 6 - 12: $15 with paying adult
To preregister or find more information on guests, events, and other convention aspects visit http://www.geekkon.net
