Guest Announcement: Josh Fialkov!

Harvey Award Nominee for Best New Talent and Best Writer Joshua Hale Fialkov has agreed to come and be our guest for SiliCon 2007! He is the creator of the hit indie anthology Western Tales of Terror, as well as the Critically Acclaimed Graphic Novel Elk's Run from Villard Books, and the underground sensation Punks: The Comic. His comic work has appeared in books for Boom Studios and IDW Publishing, with upcoming work from Harris Comics, Marvel Comics, and more. His latest work, Vampirella Quarterly was just released (go order it on Previews!) He was raised in Pittsburgh, and currently enjoys a writer’s life in Los Angeles. Josh is a great guy and was quick to agree to come and be our guest at SiliCon 2007. Being diabetic himself, he appreciates the charity we support, the Diabetes Society. It will be interesting to hear Josh's perspective on dealing with diabetes in the fast paced world of entertainment.
Phantom Power Comics and "I Read Comics" just posted their latest podcasts (including some announcements for SiliCon!), go check them out!

SiliCon 2007 Independent Film Festival!

Hi, this is WIL Keiper Editor of HorrorYearbook.com I'm proud to announce that we are teaming up with Silicon to bring you SiliCon's 3rd Annual Independent Film Festival, Friday night, October 5, 2007. Last year's festival was a real blast and we plan on making 2007 even better! We at SiliCon believe that the San Francisco Bay Area is filled with talented people and that there is yet to be discovered a new Hitchcock or Spielberg within our community of fans. We would like to encourage all independent filmmakers everywhere of all ages to submit their work for screening. We are accepting films in the following genres; Comic/Super-Hero, Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Horror, Animation, Promotion of Space Exploration, and Diabetes Education. Don't miss this chance to screen your film to a large audience and have a panel of industry professionals judge your work. Not only is entry FREE, but Prizes will be awarded to the winners! Our website will be updated to include more info as it becomes available. Feel free to ask us any questions!

Horror Yearbook is coming onboard to help bring more horror content to this years convention. We are very proud to be part of Silicon and are looking forward to adding the best horror lineup of guests and films that we can. Even though we are only in the early planning stages, we're very excited to be able to bring Horror Yearbook's unique style to this years convention, and plan to offer a great mix of the horror genre for even the most eclectic of horror fans. Please feel free to stop by our Message Board to offer suggestions and ideas anout what kind of horror content you would like to see, and keep an eye here for our many future announcements to come.

Thank you and see in San Jose!

New Guest, Lela Dowling!

Our guest list is growing by the minute! We have just confirmed Illustrator Lela Dowling!

SiliCon 2007 welcomes Lela Dowling! Showing that Sci-Fi and Fantasy art is not a boys only club, Lela Dowling has been a respected graphic illustrator for 25 years! Lela makes her living with a wide range of graphic endeavours from storyboarding to conceptual design. Everyone has seen her inventive work on the Yahoo Avatars. In addition to Lucas Arts & Eclipse Comics, several game companies have used her exceptional talents. Most famous for her exquisite renderings of Dragons, Unicorns, and other fantasy beasts, her delicate attention to fine detail combined with a forceful use of color and dynamic composition makes her completely unique style a natural fit into the fantasy genre. Make your way over to www.leladowling.com and take a look at the Master Dragon Rider's amazing art galleries!

Lots of News!

We just finished our weekend at Fur-Con. It was great hanging out with everyone and watching the Costume Parade. We gave out our new promo buttons and free SiliCon bookmarks to the fans. Our friends from the Bay Area Animation Society were there (the sponsors SiliCon's Animation Room). I had a great talk with Rob about pumping up our anime/cosplay programming. I think everyone will be happy with what we are cooking up :-) I mentioned in my earlier post about podcasting that Jenni from Phantom Power would be joining us in October to cover the con (read her announcement here) Well its our lucky day because LT from "I Read Comics" has now also decided to come out and visit SiliCon 2007! Always on the cutting edge of reporting the comic news, Lene has recently posted "uncovering" the secret to Silver Surfer's power! We couldn't ask for two better sites to report on the show this year! I have one last bit of news and that is "Plan 69" our resident live Rocky Horror cast has been invited to perform at Tales of Anime coming up in April 6-8. Being the hams they are they quickly agreed ;-) We'll see you at the show in April!

Horror Movies and Furries?

It seems like horror movies are coming out in full force. Last month brought "Black Christmas" and now "Primeval". There are still a lot of Horror/Thriller movies debuting soon; "Blood and Chocolate", "The Hitcher", and "The Messengers" are just a few of the films on the horizon. To keep up on all this action I suggest clicking your way over to Horror Yearbook. Molly & WIL operate this excellent site that focuses on the Horror genre. Horror Yearbook covers it all from movies & books to comics & conventions. Molly has a true love for horror as is apparent in her writing, it is really cool to find a professional with so much enthusiasm. WIL handles the tech duties, runs the forums, and sneaks in some time to write no holds barred reviews. If you're a horror buff like I am, give them a shot.
Fur-Con is also this weekend at the San Jose DoubleTree. SiliCon will be there promoting and enjoying the show! Stop by and get one of our new promo buttons!

Sac-Anime and News

OK, I'm fresh off my weekend in Sacramento visiting the Sac-Anime Con. I had a blast hanging out with everyone and promoting SiliCon (everyone seemed to like the new buttons!). The Valentines were there covering for Lionheart. Raven and Yuffie made improvements on their awesome Teen Titans costumes (Raven and Starfire) complete with full body make-up (I have one word - dedicated!). Fanime and JRock Connection had tables promoting along with Ray-TAF from JTAF. I saw the Consplayers Clan,taking pics as usual, RJ cosplayed his Pirate (which is great right down to the last detail) and P-Link was one of the judges for the Costume Contest. Where can you find an entire family so devoted to Cosplay? The Costume Contest was absolutely full with contestants and a standing room only audience! Even while we were in the pre-judging room everyone was trying to sneak in for a peak (thanks for getting my back Sai!) This being Frankie's last Sac-Con running the Cosplay events there was a little tear-jerking drama, but only because everyone will miss her. I'm sure she'll still be around :-) I didn't really stay for the bands, I was tired and we were going to grab food with EB and Papa-san Mike (who provided all the sound equipment for the costume contest!) If you haven't made the trek to this con, I suggest giving it a shot, the cosplay scene alone is worth the whole con. People really go the extra mile and everyone has so much enthusiasm! I look forward to the next event and having a good time with all my Sacramento friends :-D
I do have some updates for Silicon. The popular Comic Jam event will be returning this next year and we should have the entire collection from last year up when the new Silicon website goes on line sometime soon. Also the Phantom Power Comics Podcast is going to be doing a special SiliCon episode for their site. I look forward to Jenni's coverage of the 2007 con (and the cool Phantom Bunny magnets she dropped in the mail for me!)

Sac-Anime & New SiliCon Promo Buttons!

Sac-Anime is coming up this weekend, Jan. 13 & 14 at the Scottish Rite Center in Sacramento and we'll be up there hanging out and enjoying the show. This is a two day convention with guests like; voice actor Spike Spencer, writer Katie Blair, and manga artist Yoko Molotov. They have great events planned like Anime Bingo, Costume Contest, and a well stocked dealers room too! I like going to check out all the cool cosplayers. Catch up with us while we're there and get a yourself a free SiliCon promo button! I'm telling you they're super-super cool :-D

Master Podcasters!

I recently discovered podcasting and I'm already addicted. It is a great way to hear alternative viewpoints on a wide range of subjects. Lucky for us geeks, there is a wealth of fantastic podcasts that focus on Sci-Fi and comics. I wanted to give everyone a tip on a couple of really great podcasts that I found online. Jenni Moody's Phantom Power Comics Podcast and "I Read Comics" by Lene Taylor. Both of theses gals really dig into the comix and comics genre and find some fantastic hidden treasures.
Jenni was recently awarded the 2006 Women Comics Podcasters Grant for her excellent podcasts. Take a listen to her report on The Small Press Expo in Maryland. Her podcasts are sprinkled with great music and her insight to the underground comix scene is very positive. As if Jenni needed to be any cooler, she even digs Voltron! Jenni will be joining us to cover SiliCon 2007 for her site and we might even persuade her to do a panel on the ins and outs of podcasting. We're lucky to have Jenni come out and give us her take on this years SiliCon!
Lene writes for Lincoln Heights Literary Society along with keeping her own site up to date with new material. Her review of V for Vendetta brings up some fascinating observations about the classic Allan Moore Graphic Novel. Give it a listen. See everyone in October!

Fangoria and Myspace?

We just got back from the Fangoria Weekend of Horror here in San Jose. It was a real fun show. I hung out with a couple of the guests Ed Martinez and Nina Kempf. As we announced last week they both will be joining us at SiliCon too. Fangoria Magazine had a large booth set up promoting their new radio and TV projects. Ed and Nina were joined by other effects professionals there to do live make-up demonstrations on the fans. It was really cool to see everyone getting made up as zombies or victims. I was amazed by how quickly these pros could whip up these effects. We went to see the Primitive Screwheads production of Re-Animator which was a total blast. They had to pare down their production because, from what I hear, it can get quite messy. I still had fun watching the "clean" version. There were a ton of cool horror guests, but you had to pay extra to meet them and get autographs. I got to meet a lot of cool people and made some great contacts for next year. Don't be surprised if you see a big increase of horror and film guests at the next SiliCon :)
On a completely different note, proving that SiliCon is on the cutting edge of technology we have jumped into the elifesyle and set up a MySpace page! We'll be making updates and other announcements there as well as having a little fun. Feel free to add as to your friends list and stay up to date with all the new happenings. We'd love to hear about your con experiences and suggestions.

New Guests Announced!

SiliCon 2007 Welcomes Special Effects & Make Up Master, Ed Martinez. Ed has been a fixture of the Bay Area convention scene for years. Starting with an early interest in movies and special effects Ed plied his skills in numerous costume contests, haunted houses, and promotional events. Longing to make that last step into movies became a reality for Ed when he got a job leading the special effects department on "Dead Pit". Ed hasn't stopped since. Most people forget their roots once they make it into the spotlight, but not Mr. Martinez, if anything he goes to more conventions now than he ever did before. He teaches special effects and make up classes at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco and Academy of Cosmetic Arts in Los Gatos.
Ed will be joined by Nina Kempf hosting the popular Special Make-Up Effects "How To" panel. Nina is no stranger to effects and make up herself working on several film projects and even appearing in front of the camera as a zombie in the upcoming comedy/horror film "RetarDead" Always happy to share tips and insight with fellow costumers and special effects disciples. Ed and Nina's laid back and accessible demeanor make them perfect guests for SiliCon. If you ever had that burning question of how they did that great effect in a movie or if you want to know how you can make your costume idea a reality, stop by and give our resident effects gurus a try, I'll bet you get your answer.
Ed will also be making an appearance at the Fangoria Weekend of Horrors, Jan. 5-7 at the Double Tree Hotel in San Jose, the same venue as Silicon 07. Keep watching here for even more guest updates to come!

Fangoria Con Jan. 5-7 and more from Jim Mahfood!

Fangoria's Weekend of Horrors is happening Jan. 5-7 at the DoubleTree in San Jose (home of SiliCon 2007). They have a long list of horror guests and events lined up. If scary movies are your bag drop on by for a great convention.
Jim Mahfood has a new t-shirt out with Warp Asylum. Each month they'll print a limited run of sweatshop free shirts with exclusive designs from our favorite comic book and graffiti artists. All profit will always be split 3 ways, between the artist, the charity, and Warp. This month's t-shirt remembers DJ Dusk, a close friend of Food One's and a beloved member of the Los Angeles hip hop community. He touched everyone around him with his unique spirit, his music, his political activeness, and his unselfish efforts to better the community. Dusk was tragically struck down by a drunk driver last year. Gone but never forgotten, he will rest in power forever in our hearts and minds.