Letter from the Chair

Letter from the Chair Another twenty-five years! That is what our guiding motto has been for this year. Last year we celebrated a quarter century here at BYU and we’re eager to make it half a century. To prove the point, we’ve got an amazing lineup of guests of honor this year. The whole committee would like to thank everyone who has helped make this possible: The guests of honor for donating time from their busy schedules, the dean of the College of Humanities for his continued support of the symposium and our goals of proving speculative fiction a viable literary form, the Christa McAuliffe Space Education Center, I-Sci-Fi for their promotion of the symposium, Kevin Wasden for the use of his art, and everyone else who has con- tributed to the symposium, but we unfortunately do not have space to name personally. I hope that you have a great time at the symposium. We’ve worked really hard to make it fun as well as academically stimulating. We ask that you remember that this is BYU and that certain standards are expected to be kept, and we thank you in advance for keeping them. Enjoy! Ross K. Wolfe Symposium Committee Chair It’s only one year away! Life, the Universe, & Everything 28 DragonComet Short Story Contest and Odyssey Poetry Contest Deadline: postmarked by January 5, 009 Complete rules and information: lute.org Annual Art Show All media types accepted, framed and mounted preferred. Bring your work with you on Thursday, the first day of the symposium. Come join in the fun! Be part of the committee! Ask one of the current members how to get involved. (Meetings on Saturdays in the JKB.) ltue.org or &BTUltue.byu.edu BYU campus /PSUI &BTU /PSUI$BNQVT%SJWF 8FTU$BNQVT%SJWF Parking MoA )FSJUBH F% JKB HFAC SJW &BTU$BNQVT%SJWF F Library Wilkinson Center Parking /PSUI J W Ever wonder about the Contents different badge colors? Ettiquette with the Pros 4 Yellow Committee Member Guests of Honor Hot Pink Volunteer Orson Scott Card 5 Red Guest of Honor Gail Carson Levine 6 Dark Blue Special Guest Kevin Wasden 7 Light Blue Participating Guest Special Guests 8 Orange Panelist Participating Guests 9 Purple Chair Emeritus Educator’s Conference 13 Green Attendee Academic Paper Abstracts 15 Peach Educator’s Conference Listing of Events Book Signings 8 Acknowledgments back cover Wilkinson Center third floor The food court and the bookstore are located on the second floor. Etiquette with the Pros One question any symposium-goer inevitably asks is, “How do I talk to authors and artists?” Getting to know them takes a few common sense rules of etiquette that will make the experience enjoyable for both of you. First, remember that the authors and artists are only human. Just because they write fantastic books or draw fabulous pictures doesn’t mean they are ready to be on stage at any moment. An author or artist may have just had a lousy night or be suffering from something the symposium committee fed them at lunch. Don’t take it personally if they don’t want to talk to you right then. Also, don’t try to dazzle them with your latest story idea or pet project. Most authors are paid to edit material; don’t expect them to do it for free. And don’t make the mistake that one convention attendee made when he tried to discuss the wage differences between British and American actors with a main guest. We promise you, brilliant as they may be, authors and artists don’t know everything. When you want to meet the authors or artists, wait for a good moment when they aren’t busy. If they are talking with someone else, wait patiently for them to finish, then introduce yourself. Try to say something nice before you fire away with criticism. Remember, they may be as shy of meeting you as you are of meeting them. Most importantly, don’t monopolize! Share with others these mar- velous people you’ve just met. Rather than saying everything at once, try talking to them on several occasions. (Even your mother would rather hear from you for three minutes once a week than for three hours once a year.) Just remember to be courteous. Respect their privacy and respect their time. They have come to the symposium to meet people, though, so don’t be afraid to approach them. That is why they came! 4 Orson Scott Card Orson Scott Card is the author of the novelsEnder’s Game, Ender’s Shadow, and Speaker for the Dead, which are widely read by adults and younger readers, and are increasingly used in schools. Besides these and other science fiction novels, Scott Photo Credit: Bob writes contemporary fantasy (Magic Street, Enchant Henderson, Hender- son Photography, Inc. ment, Lost Boys), biblical novels (Stone Tables, Rachel and Leah), the American frontier fantasy series The Tales of Alvin Maker (beginning with Seventh Son), poetry (An Open Book), and many plays and scripts. He is the recipient of four Hugo awards, two Nebula awards, two Hamilton-Brackett Memorial awards, the Mythopoeic Scoiety award, the World Fantasy award, two Association for Mormon Letters awards, the Margaret A. Edwards award, and many others. Scott was born in Washington and grew up in California, Arizona, and Utah. He served a mission for the LDS Church in Brazil in the early 970s. He holds a ba in theater from Brigham Young University and an ma in English from the University of Utah. Besides his writing, he teaches occasional classes and workshops and directs plays. He recently began a long-term position as a professor of writing and literature at Southern Virginia University. Scott currently lives in Greensboro, North Carolina, with his wife, Kristine Allen Card, and their youngest child, Zina Margaret. His Web site is www.hatrack.com. 5 Gail Carson Levine Gail Carson Levine is the author of fifteen books for children. Her first published book, Ella Enchanted, won a Newbery honor in 998 and was adapted into a motion picture in 004. Her work has been published globally and has appeared several times on The New York Times children’s bestseller lists. Fairest is a retell- ing of Snow White that considers beauty and self-esteem. Her latest book, Fairy Haven and the Quest for the Wand, takes place in Never Land in a mini-world that Gail had created in Fairy Dust and the Quest for the Egg. Gail’s next release, in May, will be Ever, a fantasy for older kids that is set in an imagined ancient Mesopotamia. Writing Magic, one of Gail’s two non-fantasy books and written for children who like to write, offers dozens of writing exercises, many of them fantasy-related. Gail grew up in New York City. In elementary school she was president of the Scribble Scrabble Club, and in high school her poems were published in an anthology of student poetry. But she didn’t want to be a writer. She wanted to act or to be a painter like her big sister. Her interest in the theater led to her first writing experience as an adult. Her husband, David, wrote the music and lyrics and she wrote the script for a children’s musical, Spacenapped, that was pro- duced by a neighborhood theater in Brooklyn. Today, Gail and David and their Airedale Baxter live in a 218-year- old farmhouse in New York’s Hudson Valley. 6 Kevin Wasden Kevin Wasden is an illustrator, fine artist, sculptor, costume designer, aspiring writer, art director, husband, father, dog-owner, and lousy dieter. He began illustrating professionally in 995 and has created artwork for clients such as Tor Books, Jim Baen, Orson Scott Card, Avon Camelot, Old Lyric Theater, Utah State University, and numer- ous game companies and periodicals. He also is the vice president of creative services at Alinco Costumes, where he designs mascots and costumes for sports teams, companies, and other organizations. He studied illustration at Utah State University and has studied figure drawing and painting from the exceptional figure artist, Andy Reiss, in New York City. He recently began his own Webcomic, entitled Tech nosaurs: Unearthed, which can be found at www.splintered-mind.com. 7 Special Guests Robert J. Defendi Robert J. Defendi has worked on many projects. He was one of the writers for Sav- age Seas for the game Exalted. He has done a good bit of work for Spycraft, Shadow force Archer, Rolemaster, and the Stargate SG1 role playing game. He wrote the current incarnation of Spacemaster. Robert is also a winner of Writers of the Future and has been published in their anthology. He has stories in When Darkness Comes, as well as Spacemaster. He is currently working on a novel for Black Library. Brandon Sanderson Brandon Sanderson writes fantasy novels for Tor Books, teaches creative writing at BYU, and loves talking about himself in the third person. He was a finalist for the Campbell Award, and his first book,Elantris, was chosen by Barnes & Noble editors as the best fantasy or sf book of 005. The first volume in his series of kid’s books about a cult of evil librarians who secretly rule the world was released in October 007. Brandon has been chosen to write the final novel in Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series. His Web site is www.brandonsanderson.com. Howard Tayler Howard Tayler is a full-time cartoonist. His comic strip, Schlock Mercenary, has appeared online every day since June 12, 000, and schlockmercenary.com now serves up over six million pages a month to over 80,000 unique IPs.

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