Fandom Fest Debuts New Literary and Gaming Tracks

Please pass the following information along, anywhere and everywhere you can, on personal blogs, professional blogs, zines, bulletin or message boards, FaceBook, email lists, Twitter links. This is going to be an AMAZING event, and we really want to get this opportunity out to the Literary and Gaming communities.

Thank you very, very much!
-Stephen




For Immediate Release
Thursday, June 23, 2011

Fandom Fest Brings Large New Literary Track to Louisville Amid
Major Expansion of Fright Night Film Fest






Marquee celebrities like Hollywood legends John Carpenter and Henry Winkler will command great attention at the Fandom Fest/Fright Night Film Fest weekend July 22-24, 2011, in Louisville, KY. Alongside the wide array of premium Hollywood and media personalities, an incredible opportunity beckons for writers, gamers, readers, artists, filmmakers, pop culture fans, costuming enthusiasts, and many more.

Fandom Fest represents a bold expansion of the popular Fright Night Film Fest, establishing several new tracks, genres, and a host of activities catering to pop culture, science fiction, steampunk, anime, costuming, and fantasy. The event builds upon Fright Night Film Fest’s strong horror legacy, growing from its inception in 2005 to become the third largest genre film festival in the United States.




Fandom Fest’s brand new Literary Track alone features over a hundred participating authors, covering over 55 expert panels, 20 workshops, and a large number of live readings, author signings, and book launches. From the current state of publishing, to intensive writing workshops, and workshops in topics like self-publishing and e-Book development, the panels and workshops of the Literary Track have something to offer attendees from all levels of experience. As a comprehensive learning, networking, and career development opportunity, Fandom Fest’s 2011 content is unprecedented in its region.

Major press authors such as Julie Kagawa (The Iron Faery Series), Molly Harper (Jane Jameson Series), Eric Wilson (Fireproof, Jerusalem’s Undead Trilogy), Shirley Damsgaard (The Ophelia and Abby Mysteries), Michael Williams (one of the first DragonLance novelists), and Maurice Broaddus (Knights of Breton Court) are just a few examples of the well-established, award-winning authors from all across the United States who are attending.



(Julie Kagawa, of the Iron Faery Series)


(Molly Harper, of the Jane Jameson Series)


(Shirley Damsgaard, of the Ophelia and Abby Mysteries)


(Eric Wilson, of Fireproof and the Jerusalem's Undead Trilogy)


(Michael Williams, of multiple DragonLance novels and the new Trajan's Arch)


(Maurice Broaddus, of the Knights of Breton Court)





Editors and publishers of many levels round out the impressive list of track participants., The Literary Track’s sponsor is Belle Books/Bell Bridge Books, who also happen to be sponsoring the prestigious Dragon*Con’s 2011 Writer’s Track. The main genres being featured at Fandom Fest are primarily fantasy, horror, and science fiction, but the Literary Track programming caters to writers of any genre, with panelists from spheres such as mystery, romance, and even erotica.

The new gaming track unveils an array of panels, tournaments, special guests, and much more, debuting yet another new section of the event. Tabletop role-playing games, video games, board games, and even Live Action Role Playing are scheduled throughout the weekend with a strong team of gaming hosts. Attendees include representatives of highly regarded game companies/publishers such as DriveThruRPG, Pinnacle Entertainment Group, SilverMeet Studios, Hex Games, Beautiful Brains, and Blackwyrm Publishing.

A multitude of vendors will fill the concourses of the Fern Valley Hotel and Convention Center at Fandom Fest. Gaming stores, publishers, authors, crafts, production companies, memorabilia dealers, actors, artists, and much, much more will be available for convention attendees to browse and buy one-of-a-kind items from.

Even the live music portion of the event advances with a concert from international rock act Bella Morte, whose frontman, Andy Deane, is also a horror author appearing on the Literary Track. Fast rising heavy metal/hard rock prospect ZeroKing is slated to open for Bella Morte.

From gatherings of cast members from popular franchises like Revenge of the Nerds, Enter the Dragon, Jem, and The Walking Dead (including Tony Moore, artist and co-creator),to icons such as Margot Kidder (Lois Lane in the Christopher Reeve Superman films), Kane Hodder (Jason Vorhees in several Friday the 13th installments), and Larry Drake (Dark Night of the Scarecrow, Dr. Giggles, and Darkman), the list of attending film and media guests contains something for everyone. For the thousands in attendance, there will be more than enough to choose from in regards to programming, events, activities, parties, and celebrities.

Best of all, standard weekend passes are just $45 dollars, which is much less than the cost of genre events which are a small fraction of the size of Fandom Fest/Fright Night Film Fest. In value, content, and affordability, Fandom Fest/Fright Night Film Fest is poised to become one of the top events of its kind in the United States.

For further information on the 2011 event, please visit www.fandomfest.com or www.frightnightfilmfest.com

Direct Links related to Literary and Gaming Tracks:

Literary Track Guests: http://www.fandomfest.com/literary-guests/

Literary Track Programming: http://www.fandomfest.com/literary-track/

Gaming Track Guests: http://www.fandomfest.com/gaming-guests/

Gaming Track Schedule and Programming: http://www.fandomfest.com/gaming/

It was a ScareFest Weekend, and a Con Trek adventure!

ScareFest turned out to be quite an adventure! I ended up jumping aboard the Con Trek crew for Saturday, as they had selected Lexington's ScareFest to be one of their season one episodes. Con Trek, of course, is a fantastic episodic reality show that visits various conventions across the USA. It is found on the Microsoft Xbox's Video Marketplace.

I was really impressed with Alan and Brittney, the two Con Trek hosts. Seeing them work throughout the day showed me that they have a great professionalism and work ethic as well as a good chemistry. We got to visit with a number of genre stars, such as Doug Bradley (Pinhead from the Hellraiser films, Kane Hodder (Friday the 13th, was Jason in 4 of the films), Danielle Harris (who was in both of the newer Rob Zombie Halloween movies), three of the main cast from the Travel Channel's Ghost Adventures, and more.

There were several thousand attendees, including alot of the filmmakers based in the immediate region. Feathered Italian Films (Jason Crowe and TJ Moreschi), Goatboy Films (Jerry Williams), Eric Butts, Pat Bowling, Cherokee Hall, Stacy Gillespie, George Bonilla and ZP International, and many more were on hand. Others included David Rudd of Infernal Dreams, Jason Sizemore of Apex Publications, Schaeffer Tolliver, Billy "Leprechaun" Blackwell (I wanted to know where he hides his pot of gold!) and alot of other excellent folks. Even my pals from Cineline/IMM, Sven Granlund and Matt Perry made it down.

The convention was very well laid out, with large aisles and plenty of room to move. The costume contest, VIP party, and other events turned out great as well. Lori Baker and Susan Rummel, two friends of mine on the ScareFest staff, looked very happy with the results.

Needless to say, lots of cool things happened over the weekend, unexpected and otherwise. Heard Con Trek's Alan Smith defending his Tennessee Titans with Kane Hodder in the rest room (and Alan didn't realize at the time that he was talking with Kane! lol).

We did about a 15 hour shoot on Saturday, so we were a bit tired at the end of it all, but I am looking forward to next year's ScareFest for sure.