Guest Bios

Fan GoH: Mr. Jason Schachat

Jason Schachat is the greatest fan man has ever known. He is a bundle of awesome, dipped in chocolate and rolled in fluff! Jason Schachat has been all over the place, done a little bit of everything and at least some of it is my fault.

I first met Jason at Cinequest in 2002. He had one of his brilliant films, Gold Course High Kick of Death, in the festival and it was brilliant. Comedy, action, drama, massive hilarity, GCHKoD had it all. Jason's films have been delicious. Utterly Meaningless was also in Cinequest. I happily joined in with him and a bunch of folks on two flicks: The Chick Magnet and The Last Woman on Earth, plus we co-starred in the legendary 48-hour film Not Just Any Body, which Jason also wrote. Jason, along with another crew, did the wonderful Aw Crap, A Musical, which won the National Film Challenge, a victory which was well-deserved!

But Jason's not just a film maker, he's a Zorlack. Zorlack's know everything, and Jason is among their ranks in so many areas. Film, comics, anime, SF, kickboxing, Jason knows it all...well, not too much about kickboxing, really. The man has this look, a 'you've got the right start, but your thinking is flawed' look which makes the recipient feel both graced with knowledge and in the presence of a Knowledge Greater Than Your Own! It's really fascinating. I've considered writing a book about it.

Jason's art is also fantastic. A helluva drawer that boy is. He's done covers for Claims Department, The Drink Tank, three different Baycon Fanzines, the 2008 Westercon newsletter and others. He's appeared in every Garciazine, and I may well beg him for more because he does amazing pieces. His cover of Poorly Conceived Awkward Silence, featuring two squirrels, one in a corset and one dressed as a Klingon, is a personal fave and earned him a place on my Hugo ballot for Best Fan Artist.

And there's more. The boy's a writer. He's a fantastic writer of prose, non-fiction and scripts. He's won awards for his scripts, and he's been in Hugo-nominated fanzines and has had votes in the FAAN Awards!

And all of that is to say that Jason Schachat is awesome, and there's no better Fan GoH for Bittercon!

Writer Guest of Honor: Tobe Announced.

You have to say that our Writer GoH has burst on the scene and is one of those people who is a game-changer. From their first piece, you knew they'd be the future of the genre and/or genres. Their writing is...wow...just without words. It's amazing. I could go on and on, but it would be best to just move forward.

The second work from our fine GoH was eagerly awaited and was a noble follow-up. Most had opinions about the work, I know I certainly did, and there's no doubt that it's a book that'll be read from time to time by various people and referenced by others.

I believe it was me who once referred to our Writer GoH as 'significant and totally unexpected' and that their work was 'fresh'. Others have used many other adjectives to describe them, including 'good', 'great' and 'thought-provoking'. Reviews for their works have featured many other words of praise and clarification.

The Bittercon committee is proud to have Tobe Announced as our Writer Guest of Honor with us this year and we're sure that you'll appreciate them just as much as we do.