Guests of Honor

Coming to Las Vegas

September 20 - 23, 2012

-•- Guests of Honor -•-

~ We are proud to present our Guests of Honor for Killercon 4 - 2012 ~

William F. Nolan - With more than 83 books and some 750 magazine and newspaper pieces to his credit, as well as having had his work selected for over 325 anthologies and textbooks, William Francis Nolan is a one-man word factory. He is famous as the creator and co-author (with George Clayton Johnson) of LOGAN’S RUN – a best-selling SF classic that has become a part of our popular culture as a hit MGM film.

Nolan has written two sequel novels, LOGAN’S WORLD and LOGAN’S SEARCH, and is into a third novel, LOGAN’S JOURNEY. He also wrote the pilot show for the Logan TV series. He plans a fourth Logan novel, to be written with Jason V Brock.

Although he is the author of 13 novels, it is in his role as a short fiction writer for over 50 years that Nolan has helped craft modern horror.

Joe R. Lansdale has called him “one of the greats of the horror-suspense field.” Stephen King has acknowledged Nolan as “an expert in the art and science of scaring the hell out of people,” and Ray Bradbury has spoken of Nolan’s ability “to create an atmosphere of ultimate terror.”

Nolan has also written extensively for TV and films. He is the screenplay co-writer of Burnt Offerings – and has scripted such classics as The Turn of the Screw and Trilogy of Terror.

Mignon Fogarty is a former science writer who produces an educational podcast Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing, which promotes the proper use of the English language and was named one of the best podcasts of 2007 by iTunes. She is also the founder of the Quick and Dirty Tips network.

Mignon Fogarty appeared on the March 26, 2007 episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show as a grammar expert. She was on the show to answer a viewer question about the use of possessive apostrophes. The viewer thought a previous show should have been titled "Oprah's and Gayle's Big Adventure," but Fogarty confirmed that "Oprah and Gayle's Big Adventure" was a correct use of compound possession. She went on to discuss several other common grammar errors, including "Affect vs. Effect" and "Who vs. Whom."

In September 2007, Fogarty and Holt/Holtzbrinck agreed to produce books coordinated with the podcasts. The first audiobook to come from the Holt agreement,Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips to Clean Up Your Writing,was named one of the top five audiobooks of 2007 by iTunes.

In July 2008, Holt released Fogarty's first paperback book,Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing. In August 2008, the book was named number nine on the New York Times Best Seller List. In March 2009, the audiobook version was nominated for a 2009 Audie Award, and in July 2009, "O, The Oprah Magazine" listed the audiobook as one of its "must-hear audiobooks. "

Her second book,The Grammar Devotional, was published by Holt in October 2009.

In July of 2011, Henry Holt published Grammar Girl Presents the Ultimate Writing Guide for Students, and St. Martin's Griffin published Grammar Girl's 101 Words Every High School Graduate Needs to Know and Grammar Girl's 101 Misused Words You'll Never Confuse Again, which was a "Washington Post" bestseller the week of July 31, 2011

In August 2009, Spark, a radio program on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation announced that Fogarty would be joining their team for a special series.

On July 7, 2011, Fogarty was interviewed by Neal Conan for the NPR program Talk of the Nation. In the 17-minute segment, Fogarty discussed a number of examples from her 2011 book,Grammar Girl's 101 Misused Words You'll Never Confuse Again (New York: St. Martin's Griffin, 2011), and answered listeners' questions.

Here's a link to that interview: http://www.npr.org/2011/07/07/137657833/affect-or-effect-grammar-girl-is-here-to-help

“Who’s the scariest guy in America? Probably Jack Ketchum.” -Stephen King

Jack Ketchum - A one-time actor, teacher, literary agent, lumber salesman, and soda jerk, Ketchum credits his childhood love of Elvis Presley, dinosaurs, and horror for getting him through his formative years.

Jack Ketchum’s first novel, Off Season, prompted the Village Voice to publicly scold its publisher in print for publishing violent pornography. He personally disagrees but is perfectly happy to let you decide for yourself. His short story The Box won a 1994 Bram Stoker Award from the HWA, his story Gone won again in 2000 -- and in 2003 he won Stokers for both best collection for Peaceable Kingdom and best long fiction for Closing Time. He has written twelve novels, arguably thirteen, five of which have been filmed -- The Girl Next Door, Red, The Lost, Offspring and The Woman, written with Lucky McKee. His stories are collected in The Exit at Toledo Blade Boulevard, Peaceable Kingdom, Closing Time and Other Stories, and Sleep Disorder, with Edward Lee. His horror-western novella The Crossings was cited by Stephen King in his speech at the 2003 National Book Awards. Most recently, he was Grand Master for the 2011 World Horror Convention in Austin Texas AND a Guest of Honor at the 2011 Killercon. We are very happy to be able to bring him back for you.

Kelley Armstrong is married with three children; the family lives in rural Ontario. After graduating with a degree in psychology from The University of Western Ontario, Armstrong then switched to studying computer programming at Fanshawe College so she would have time to write.

Her first novel Bitten was sold in 1999, and it was released in 2001. Following her first success she has written a total of nine novels and a number of novellas in the world of the Women of the Otherworld series, and her first crime novel, Exit Strategy, was released July 2007.

Her novel No Humans Involved was a New York Times bestseller in the hardback fiction category on May 20, 2007. Also, her YA novel The Awakening was a #1 New York Times bestseller in the Children's Chapter books category on May 17, 2009.

Armstrong's Women of the Otherworld series is part of a recently popular contemporary fantasy subgenre of the fantasy genre that superimposes supernatural characters upon a backdrop of contemporary North American life, with strong romantic elements. Within that subgenre, she is notable for including many types of supernatural characters, including witches, sorcerers, werewolves, necromancers, ghosts,shamans, demons and vampires, rather than limiting herself primarily to a single type of supernatural creature. Most of her works have a mystery genre plot, with leading characters investigating some novel situation or unsolved question.

F. Paul Wilson was born and raised in New Jersey where he misspent his youth playing with matches, poring over Uncle Scrooge and E.C. comics, reading Lovecraft, Matheson, Bradbury, and Heinlein, listening to Chuck Berry and Alan Freed on the radio, and watching Soupy Sales and Shock Theatre with Zacherley.

He is the author of more than forty books: science fiction (HEALER, WHEELS WITHIN WHEELS, AN ENEMY OF THE STATE, DYDEETOWN WORLD, THE TERY, SIMS), horror thrillers (THE KEEP, THE TOMB, THE TOUCH, REBORN, REPRISAL, NIGHTWORLD, BLACK WIND, SIBS, MIDNIGHT MASS), contemporary thrillers (THE SELECT, IMPLANT, DEEP AS THE MARROW), novels that defy categorization (THE FIFTH HARMONIC, VIRGIN) and a number of collaborations. In 1998 he resurrected his popular antihero, Repairman Jack, and has chronicled his adventures in LEGACIES, CONSPIRACIES, ALL THE RAGE, HOSTS, THE HAUNTED AIR, GATEWAYS, CRISSCROSS, INFERNAL, HARBINGERS, BLOODLINE, BY THE SWORD, GROUND ZERO, and FATAL ERROR.

He has peeked into Jack's teenage life in the young adult novels, JACK: SECRET HISTORIES, JACK: SECRET CIRCLES and JACK: SECRET VENGEANCE.

Most of his short stories are collected in SOFT & OTHERS (1989), THE BARRENS & OTHERS (1998), and Aftershock & Others. Plus, a collection of Repairman Jack short stories in QUICK FIXES. He has edited two anthologies: FREAK SHOW (1992) and DIAGNOSIS: TERMINAL (1996). He has written for stage, screen, and interactive media as well.

THE KEEP, THE TOMB, HARBINGERS, and BY THE SWORD all appeared on the New York Times Bestsellers List. WHEELS WITHIN WHEELS won the first Prometheus Award in 1979; SIMS won another, THE TOMB received the Porgie Award from The West Coast Review of Books. His novelette "Aftershock" won the 1999 Bram Stoker Award for short fiction. DYDEETOWN WORLD was on the young adult recommended reading lists of the American Library Association and the New York Public Library, among others. He was awarded the prestigious Inkpot Award from the San Diego ComiCon and the Pioneer Award from the RT Booklovers Convention. He is listed in the 50th anniversary edition of Who's Who in America.

His novel THE KEEP was made into a visually striking but otherwise incomprehensible movie (screenplay and direction by Michael Mann) by Paramount in 1983. THE TOMB is in development as “Repairman Jack” by Beacon Films and (we hope) will not suffer a similar fate. His original teleplay "Glim-Glim" aired on Monsters in 1989. An adaptation of his short story "Menage a Trois" was part of the pilot for The Hunger series that debuted on Showtime in July 1997. "Pelts" was adapted by Dario Argento for Masters of Horror.

Don D'Auria has worked in publishing for twenty-five years, most recently as executive editor at Leisure Books, where for fifteen years he directed their horror line. Born and raised in suburban New Jersey, he was the quintessential horror kid, growing up on a steady diet of TV’s Chiller Theater on Friday nights, Creature Features on Saturday nights, and horror novels and Famous Monsters magazine the rest of the time. After earning a master’s degree in English from Columbia University, he dove into publishing, where he’s been lucky enough to work in the genre he’s always loved. He is the recipient of an International Horror Guild Award for his contributions to the genre.

Don joined Samhain Publishing in January of 2011 and is very excited to be working for such an innovative company. He looks forward to bringing the best in horror fiction to his fellow fans.