Letter from the Chair You’re here! I’m so glad that you’re here! I’m glad because that means you get to share in something that I love. I love LTUE and I adore the creative com- munity that has reinforced it for years. These people (and you are one of them) are totally the best. • You might be a veteran here. You know the drill. You’ve got this down. I hope that, as a veteran, you can find a moment in your busy schedule during these three days to do me a favor and take one of the newbies under your wing. LTUE has been about students from the start. Showing them the way into our creative science fiction/fantasy community is what LTUE is all about. • You might be returning for the second or third year. You learned a lot last year. You’ve done your time. You’ve practiced your craft. And now you’re hoping to learn even more. For you, my friend, I recommend choosing your slate of panels and presentations carefully. Go deeper not wider, and when you find a veteran who does the same things you do, don’t be afraid to ask them more questions. Many of us are introverts here, but we’re here because we love this community, and you are definitely a part of it. • You might be here for the first time. You’re not sure what to expect, but something has drawn you to us and you think it might be a really good thing. Welcome! I hope you find yourself at home. There’s a lot to do here. It’s going to be a very full couple of days. Don’t forget to eat. And, if you can, find a new friend to eat with. “So, what are you working on right now?” is a perfect conversation opener here. Take good notes, but realize that not everything you learn here is going to apply to you and your creative process. It’s all worth a try though—or even two tries. • If you need help, find a committee member. (You’ll know them by the massively useful towel they each will be carry- ing.) They will be happy to assist you. That brings me to one more very important thing—an often unrecognized portion of our tightly knit community, the LTUE committee. If you see one of those towels in the halls, please give its bearer a big thank you. Some of them might not even mind a hug. Particularly I want to thank Angela Hartley, who poured hours into pulling our schedule together. This paltry rec- ognition is not even a glimmer of the praises you deserve. Thank you Alicia McIntire for putting your heart and soul into bringing the CYOW track up a notch . or five. Thank you Nick Mills for nurturing the TMA track so that LTUE can be a better resource for film and theater students as well as writers and artists. Thank you Adam McLain for picking up the slack wherever you saw it was needed. Thank you Camilla Coronado for being so dang reliable. Thank you Lehua Parker for bringing so much professionalism into our programming through the PD track and through your efforts in developing our behind-the-scenes processes. As for the rest of you . crap, I don’t have enough room. Marny, can I have an extra page? This has been a message from Sara Potter, our Co-Director this year . I don’t think she finished it. Sorry. 1 100 North 100 Utah Valley Convention Center Third Floor 200 West N Provo Marriott Hotel and Conference Center 2 Wonder about the different badge colors? Contents Purple Committee Member Letter from the Chair 1 Hot Pink Volunteer Etiquette with the Pros 4 Dark Blue Guests of Honor Guests of Honor: Beth Meacham and Dan Wells 5 Light Blue Special Guests and Panelists Toastmaster/Special Guests 6 Gold Vendors, Pitches Participant Bios 8 Art Show and Artists Alley 8 Green Chair Emeritus Pitch Sessions 8 White Attendee What’s a Kaffeeklatsch? 16 Gray Single-day Attendee Listing of Events and Participants 16 New! Editors Booth and Writing Group Meetup 17 Grid Schedule 20 Book Signing 31 Acknowledgments 38 Be Aware Artists Alley Please review our Child Policy and Harassment Policy, The Artists Alley is a section of tables in the halls at LTUE located on our website at http://ltue.net/policies/ designed for artists to show off and sell their art. Come talk to artists and see them as they do their work! Art- ists participating in the alley will be working on their art Dealers Room Hours while at the tables. Different artists will be present at different times, so be sure to check out the Artists Alley Aspen Room throughout LTUE! Thursday: 10 am to 6 pm Friday: 9 am to 6 pm Saturday: 9 am to 6 pm Bardic Circle Join your fellow bards each evening for memorable music. Art Show Hours Bardic Circle (also known as Filking) has been a tradition Elm Room since before hobbits walked Middle Earth. Folk songs and poems have been set to music, changing lyrics at times Thursday: 11 am to 7 pm to creatively fit science fiction and fantasy themes—thus, Friday: 9 am to 7 pm “filking.” Bring your guitar, lute, or simply your voice and Saturday: 9 am to 4 pm make musical magic with us. Participants may perform their own tunes or bring copies of music for fellow filkers to join in a jolly sing-along. Gaming Room Soldier Creek Room (in UV Convention Center) LTUE After Dark Thursday: 10 am to 6 pm Friday: 9 am to 6 pm After Dark is a series of workshops from the masters tack- Saturday: 9 am to 6 pm ling horror and romance in science fiction and fantasy. Eighteen years old and older only, please. 3 Etiquette with the Pros One question any symposium-goer inevitably asks is, When you want to meet the authors or artists, wait for “How do I talk to authors and artists?” Getting to know a good moment when they aren’t busy. If they are talking them takes a few common sense rules of etiquette that with someone else, wait patiently for them to finish, then will make the experience enjoyable for both of you. introduce yourself. Try to say something nice before you First, remember that the authors and artists are only fire away with criticism. Remember, they may be as shy human. Just because they write fantastic books or draw of meeting you as you are of meeting them. fabulous pictures doesn’t mean they are ready to be on Most importantly, don’t monopolize! Share with o thers stage at any moment. An author or artist may have just these marvelous people you’ve just met. Rather than say- had a lousy night or be suffering from something the sym- ing everything at once, try talking to them on several posium committee fed them at lunch. Don’t take it per- occasions. (Even your mother would rather hear from sonally if they don’t want to talk to you right then. you for three minutes once a week than for three hours Also, don’t try to dazzle them with your latest story once a year.) idea or pet project. Many are paid to critique material; Just remember to be courteous. Respect their privacy don’t expect them to do it for free. and respect their time. They have come to the symposium And don’t make the mistake that one convention to meet people, though, so don’t be afraid to approach attendee made when he tried to discuss the wage differ- them. That is why they came! ences between British and American actors with a main guest. We promise you, brilliant as they may be, authors and artists don’t know everything. Symposium Committee Cochair Sara Potter A/V Coordinator Nicole Theurer Cochair Ryan Noorda Guest Coordinators Camilla Coronado, Michelle Stoll Committee Chair Russ McKell Pitch Coordinator Adam McLain Secretary Nicole Theurer Registration Coordinator Julia Despain Historian Erin Kearsley Special Guest Liaison Ryan Noorda Schedule Coordinator Angela Hartley UVU Liaison Ethan Sproat Academics Marny K. Parkin Venue Liaisons Ryan Noorda, Dave Doering Books Amy White Vendor Liaison DG Fletcher Create Your Own World Alicia McIntire Volunteer Coordinators Diana Parkin, Sam McClendon Gaming Todd Greener Webmasters Logan Kearsley, Niki Thornock Graphic Arts Mary Conger Legal Counsel Steve Setzer Professional Development and Publishing Michelle Lehua Staff A my Beatty, James Crofts, Steve Diamond, Lindsay Parker Greener, Emma Gubler, Kiernen Hartley, Tristen Theater and Media Arts Nick Mills Hartley, Ben Hatcher, Kate Hatcher, Travis Kearsley, Theater and Media Arts Assistant Brandon Ho Talei Lawson, Alphy Madsen, Clorinda Madsen, Advertising Coordinator Adam McLain Spencer Merrell, Dylan Parker, Jessica Parker, Mary Art Show/Artist Alley Logan Kearsley Peterson, Kevin J Rice, Cherie Top Anyone can join our staff. Students are especially needed, from both UVU and BYU. If you are interested in helping make the next symposium bigger and better, come to our first staff meeting for LTUE 36 Marchon 4, 2017. Watch our Facebook page for more details. 4 Guests of Honor As he grew older, he turned to other genres—not because he’d outgrown the fantasy section, but because he’d read the whole thing and needed something new. He read sci- ence fiction. He read historical fiction. He read historical Beth Meacham nonfiction and true crime. In high school, he discov- Beth Meacham has written one novel with her husband, ered “classic literature” and the likes of Charles Dickens, Tappan King, Nightshade (1976), in addition to a number Joseph Conrad, Jane Austen, and Mark Twain.