Category: Author Guest (Page 3 of 7)

Robert E. Hampson

March 14, 2025 / ravenchair

Dr. Robert E. Hampson is a neuroscientist, professor, and science fiction author who spends his days decoding how memories work and his nights trying to remember where he left his keys. With a PhD in Physiology & Pharmacology, he’s been on a lifelong quest to figure out what’s going on inside our heads—though he’s still baffled by how people can willingly watch bad sci-fi with terrible science. When he’s not mentoring students or conducting cutting-edge research on brain-computer interfaces, he’s crafting hard science fiction that’s as accurate as it is fun.

In 2015, Dr. Hampson turned his love for science fiction into a writing career, proving that yes, scientists can do more than just stare at lab equipment. His stories, which often involve futuristic medical tech and military adventures, have earned him praise for being “hard science fiction with a vengeance”—but he swears he’s really a nice guy.

As a professor at Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Dr. Hampson teaches science communication, ensuring young scientists know how to explain their research to the public without sounding like they’re from another planet. With over thirty short stories, several novels, and countless lost pens, he continues to explore the exciting—and sometimes baffling—worlds of both science and fiction.

Randall Hayes, PhD

March 14, 2025 / ravenchair

Randall Hayes, “your friendly neighborhood neuroscientist,” studied stroke patients and built computer models of sea slugs’ neural networks before getting involved with teaching and science communication for the public. His first podcast, VSI: Variation Selection Inheritance, was funded by the National Science Foundation through the Beacon Center for the Study of Evolution in Action. He’s written probably three books’ worth of blog posts over the past decade, and for four years he was a science columnist for The Intergalactic Medicine Show. More recently he’s been publishing articles in Utopia Science Fiction, ParABnormal Magazine, and Trollbreath Magazine, among others. Even more recently he’s been publishing fiction with Lackington’s Speculative Fiction, The Storyletter, and Illustrated Worlds. Updates and fresh fiction are available at his free newsletter Doctor Eclectic, randallhayes.substack.com.

Morgan Hazelwood

March 12, 2025 / ravenchair

Morgan Hazelwood writes from her lair in Northern Virginia and collects rejection letters. Her short story “Just a Hike In The Woods” was published by the Dark Recesses webzine in January 2022. She’s shared “Writing Tips & Writerly Musings” since 2015, first as a blogger, and then as a vlogger and podcaster. These days, she mostly does productivity sprints every Sunday on her YouTube and Twitch channels, eats snacks, and binge reads paranormal gay romances.

Sean Heare

March 11, 2025 / ravenchair

Long-time Virginia convention icon and full-time purveyor of chaos, Sean Heare is back at RavenCon with his trivia game Alien Peril and his award-winning wandering room party. Armed with a rolling cooler of Lou Ann’s infamous Jell-O shots and other mysteries best left undisclosed, Sean brings the perfect mix of humor, intellect, and an uncanny ability to make deadpan sarcasm look effortless.

By day, Sean swaps his party hat for a serious one: he’s got a Juris Doctor from American University and graduate chops in Counterintelligence, Cybersecurity, and Emerging Technology. As the Information Director for National Security Counselors—a nonprofit dedicated to prying open the vaults of secrecy—Sean’s technical advice helps their attorneys keep the national security world on edge.

Formerly a casual conspiracy theory aficionado, Sean now dedicates himself to combating misinformation, one implausible rabbit hole at a time. Want to chat about the eschaton, singularities, or whether we’re all just NPCs in someone’s simulation? Sean’s your guy.

If Sean has a new book it will be out in December 2025.

Harry “Jack” Heckel

March 11, 2025 / ravenchair

Harry Heckel started writing role-playing games as a freelancer in the ’90s and never looked back. Today, he co-authors two series of novels as Jack Heckel and co-authors Warhammer 40k books as Lee Lightner. He can usually be found at RavenCon carrying a stuffed dragon named Magdela. He’s also Vice-President of the Virginia Writers Club. You can find him at HarryHeckel.com.

JC Kang

March 8, 2025 / ravenchair

RVA Katana started innocently with the acquisition of a Song Dynasty replica sword for JC Kang’s Epic Fantasy Bookstagram photo shoot, and exploded into a brick-and-mortar sword shop with nearly 400,000 social media followers.

David Keener

March 8, 2025 / ravenchair

David Keener is an author, editor, and public speaker who lives in Northern Virginia with his wife and two, oops, three, inordinately large dogs. He writes SF, fantasy, and mystery but loves mashing up his favorite genres in new and unexpected ways, as seen in books like Jonelle Crosse and Road Trip. He is the editor of two anthologies, Fantastic Defenders and Fantastic Detectives. He is a founding member of the Hourlings Podcast Project, covering writing-related topics. David also frequently speaks at conventions, where he often conducts writing workshops.

Pamela K. Kinney

March 8, 2025 / ravenchair

Pamela K. Kinney gave up ignoring the voices in her head and has since written horror, fantasy, science fiction, a children’s picture book, poetry, and paranormal nonfiction. Her horror short story, “Bottled Spirits,” was runner-up for the 2013 WSFA Small Press Award. Her poem, “Dementia,” (HWA Poetry Showcase, Vol. VII) received a mention in Best Horror of the Year, Vol. 13. Her children’s faerie picture book, Christmas Magic, took second place in the “Children’s-Holidays” category of the BookFest Awards, Spring 2024. In 2024, she had a story and a poem in The Haunted Zone, a charity horror anthology; a story published in the horror anthology, Vinyl Cuts; a story in Halloweenthology: Witches’ Brew; and a poem in the Terror at Miskatonic Falls anthology. Also, her YA dark fantasy novel, (first in the Moon Ridge, Virginia trilogy) Demon Memories, was released October 15, 2024. She is currently working on a new nonfiction book for Schiffer Publishing about ghosts/cryptids/UFOs around the Appalachian Trail, as well as the second book in her Moon Ridge, Virginia trilogy.

Pamela and her husband live with one crazy black cat (who thinks she should take precedence over her mistress’s writing most days). Along with writing, Pamela has acted on stage and film and investigates the paranormal for episodes of Paranormal World Seekers for AVA Productions. She is a member of Horror Writers Association, Virginia Writers Club, and James River Writers. Learn more about her at PamelaKKinney.com.

Sean CW Korsgaard

March 7, 2025 / ravenchair

Sean CW Korsgaard is a U.S. Army veteran, award-winning freelance journalist, author, editor, and publicist who has worked with Analog Science Fiction & Fact, Baen Books, and Writers of the Future, and recently became the editor of Anvil and Battleborn magazines. His first anthology, Worlds Long Lost, was released in December 2022, as was his debut short story, “Black Box.” He lives in Richmond, VA with his wife and child, along with, depending on who you ask, either far too many or far too few books.

Debbie Manber Kupfer

March 5, 2025 / ravenchair

Debbie Manber Kupfer grew up in the London, but somehow ended up in St. Louis, MO, where she lives with her family—including two very opinionated felines. She works as a writer, editor, and puzzle constructor and is the author of the young adult fantasy series, P.A.W.S. and a number of children’s picture books. Her puzzles have appeared in Tribune newspapers, Penny Press, and Dell magazines. She believes that with enough tea and dark chocolate you can achieve anything!