ArmadilloCon 18 Progress Report Our Guests The guests of honor for ArmadilloCon 18 are as follows: Guest of Honor: Jonathan Lethem Artist Guest: Bob Eggleton Editor Guest: Patrick Nielsen Hayden Fan Guests: Spike Parsons & Tom Becker Toastmaster: Mike Resnick In addition, we're expecting many of the ArmadilloCon regulars and a few first-timers. As of 9/30/96 our confirmed guests include Aaron Allston, David Lee Anderson, Bill Baldwin, Neal Barrett, Jr., Tom Becker, Gregory Bennett, Mitchell Bentley, K. B. Bogen, Gene Bostwick, Lillian Stewart Carl, Cat, Sherry Coldsmith, Scott A. Cupp, Stephen Dedman, Bradley Denton, George Alec Effinger, Bob Eggleton, John Gibbons, Steven Gould, Ellen Guon, Barbara Hambly, Teddy Harvia, K. W. Jeter, Michael Kandel, John Kessel, Katharine Eliska Kimbriel, Rick Klaw, Alexis Glynn Latner, Mark Leon, Jonathan Lethem, Thomas K. Martin, C. J. Mills, Laura J. Mixon, Elizabeth Moon, Patrick Nielsen Hayden, Teresa Nielsen Hayden, Spike Parsons, Teresa Patterson, Dan Perez, Lawrence Person, Mike Resnick, Carrie Richerson, Sherlock, Caroline Spector, William Browning Spencer, Sean Stewart, Mark L. Van Name, Susan Wade, Sage Walker, Don Webb, Martha Wells, K. D. Wentworth, J. Craig Wheeler, Wendy Wheeler, Mel. White, Misha Williams, Walter Jon Williams. Our Status The eighteenth ArmadilloCon is just around the corner, and we're all in a feverish state (some of us are rapidly losing our hair) trying to put the finishing touches together for the con. As you can imagine, we're pretty excited, and we're hoping to see you all there! The hospitality suite will open Thursday night, right after the welcoming dinner. Friday, we'll start registration between 12 and 2 (hey, things happen webmaster@fact.orgy in a con), the dealers room and art show at 3, and programming at 5. Saturday, the convention will be in full swing from 9am for the webmaster@fact.orgy birds all the way until the last programming item at 1. Sunday, we'll start around 10 and keep going until 4. We're making a few changes this year. In programming, we're retiring the dance and family feud. This will free up some space for panels, such as the ever popular MST3K panel, and some new ones with titles such as "Beyond the Zero-G Spot" (no I don't know what that's about, either) and "Ghost Stories, True and Imaginative". It will also allow us to reorganize the function space a bit, letting us move the art show to a better location and set up a lounge area for fans to mingle. As usual, we're looking for volunteers to help out during the con. If you'd like to volunteer, Gayle Hassell, our volunteer coordinator, promises a good time, but please don't write her e-mail (wwdc12d@prodigy.com) or number (512-244-1657) on any walls. Banquet Information The ArmadilloCon banquet will be held Saturday night. The menu this year will feature a pasta buffet, with various pasta dishes, salads, and dessert. Special menus will also be available for those of you who can't or won't eat pasta; just please let us know ahead of time, so we can make arrangements. The Art Show This year, we're expecting to have about forty panels by twenty-six different artists. Besides artist guest Bob Eggleton, our exhibitors include Sherlock, Mitchell Bentley, Cat Conrad, Dan Perez, Nancy Cagle, Patty Prevett, David Lee Anderson, and Mel. White. Special thanks to the Wolf Pack for putting together this year's art show. Also to Cat Conrad and Mitchell Bentley, who will be Tag Team Auctioneers for the Art Auction. The Dealers Room As usual, we're hoping to have a broad cross-section of dealers at our convention. So far, we have confirmed the following will come: AFNMFD (games, paperbacks, collectibles), Audiotext (books on tape), Edge Books (new & used books), Fo'Paws (t-shirts, buttons, art, puppets, books), Fantasy Gallery (prints), Hawk's Authors Pseudonyms (books), Realms of Fantasy (books, collectibles), Adventures in Crime and Space (new & used books), FACT (books, t-shirts), Curious Goods (collectibles, trading cards, books), and Future Visions (books, collectibles). Charity Auction This year's ArmadilloCon charity auction will benefit the Children's Hospital of Austin at Brackenridge. We will use all the proceeds to buy books for sick, needy children. So bid high, ya hear? Ursa Major will also be holding one of their traditional Brown Bag Auctions to benefit their Writer's Workshop. Hotel Information The current rates at the Red Lion Hotel are $75-95. The registration cutoff is 9/23. For reservations, call the hotel directly at (512) 323-5466. Need More Information? If you'd like to find out more about ArmadilloCon or FACT, call (before 10pm CST) or write us at ArmadilloCon 18 P.O. Box 9612 Austin, TX 78766-9612 (512) 331-8703 (512) 472-9944 (512) 472-4290 (fax).