I'm pleased to announce that PhauxCon will have a very special guest for 2009.



Leslie Esdaile "LA" Banks has penned over 35 novels and 12 novellas in a wide range of genres and is the recipient of the 2008 Essence Magazine Storyteller of the Year Award, as well as the 2008 Best 50 Women in Business Award for the State of Pennsylvania.

Recently she was featured as a speaker on the HBO Special on Vampire Literature and Legends as a prelude to the True Blood premier. She is perhaps best known for her Vampire Huntress series, now in its thirteenth installment...

The Vampire Huntress Legend: After the fall of the dark angel, after man and woman were deceived and ousted from Paradise, the legions of evil beset humanity with all manner of strife and hardship to sway their choice. Earth became The Gray Zone of choice, where free will could manifest for good or evil, and a soul could be compromised in this fragile environment that cast shadows of darkness amid the light.

The angels on High wept as they watched the fate of humankind struggle against demonic forces, mere flesh and bones and the hope of earthbound spirits crushed by plagues, pestilence, famines, disasters, violence… no mercy. The cry for help that went up to Heaven from the peoples of the earth was heard.

From the twelve scattered tribes, twelve Guardian Councils were mission-anointed and made up of honorable, courageous men and women of all positive faiths and all races, working as a united front, quietly moving behind the scenes, each battling evil in their own corner of the globe. The balance could not be easily tipped; their fight was vigilant. But just as the forces of evil had human helpers to reinforce the negative spheres of soul-killing influence, the forces of good had The Guardians… those that held the line no matter what challenges befell them. They would not allow The Light to be extinguished.

And from those twelve armies came The Covenant—one from each Guardian Council, twelve members in all, the bravest of the brave, the wisest of the wise, the keepers of the faith and the knowledge between worlds.

Only The Covenant could foretell the coming of The Neteru, although they would never know whether this super-being mortal would come as male or female. All they could do was to prepare a special Neteru Guardian Team as they searched for the prophesied infant. Such an assignment is the highest honor bestowed upon a Guardian Council, whose mighty task was to ensure that the once every thousand year visitation of a Balance Swaying Force of Light, a Neteru, would be secreted away from evil until old enough to fight… but first, before they could protect this mortal, they would have to find the baby—before evil could destroy it.

A native of Philadelphia, Banks is a graduate of The University of Pennsylvania Wharton undergraduate program, and alumnae of Temple University’s Master of Fine Arts in filmmaking program. Ms. Banks began her career in corporate marketing for several Fortune 100 firms and worked as an executive for over a decade at Xerox, Hewlett Packard, and Digital Equipment Corporation. She then subsequently evolved her veteran marketing experience into a solid entrepreneurial career as a marketing consultant within the economic development and community-based organization environment.

In 1992, Banks added another facet to her career, entering the publishing industry. She writes under the pseudonyms; L.A. Banks, Leslie Esdaile, Leslie E. Banks, Leslie Banks, and Leslie Esdaile Banks. She has won several business as well as literary awards, and writes in genres as diverse as romance, women’s fiction, crime suspense, and paranormal. She has contributed to magazines, newspaper columns, and has written commercial fiction for a variety of major publishers: St. Martin’s Press (NYC), Simon and Schuster (NYC), Kensington Publishing (NYC), BET/Arabesque (NYC), Genesis Press (MS), Parker Publishing, Harper, and Tor. Her non-fiction work includes the riveting and motivational story of Bank's life journey in her contribution to the Chicken Soup for the African American Soul anthology.

I'm thrilled to have her join us next year, and I'm sure we will all benefit from her pearls of wisdom.

See you in 2009!
Xio

...

The dates are set for next year's event: 2nd - 4th, October, 2009.

Woot!

...

I had a wonderful time!

wow. i can't believe PhauxCon 6.0 is upon us already.

bobajob and i will be at the hotel tomorrow around 3pm. we'll then head down to our conference room. we'll make sure it's easy to find.

here is the schedule, as it stands. if you offered to do a panel, then i have put you in the schedule. but don't panic, these are free-form, open discussions. do as little or as much 'presentation' as you like. it's a small group this year, so it'll be a lot of interaction.

------------

SCHEDULE
(subject to change)

----

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 3rd

3 p.m. to 5 p.m.: Registration

6 p.m.: Dinner at El Vez $

9:00 p.m.: Screening 'Shadowpuppets' - featuring James Marsters, Jolene Blalock and Tony Todd

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 4TH

9:00 a.m.
Set-up and Registration
Silent Auction Opens*
Author Tables available (first come first serve)

10:00 a.m. - Welcome Address

10:15 a.m. - Slighty Better Than Stick Figures: The Art of Comics

11:00 a.m. - From Trekkie to Spuffy: A Fandom Timeline

11:30 a.m. - Whoa! That's cool!: ComiCon 2008 in a Capsule

12:00-1:15 p.m. Lunch Break at Reading Terminal Market $

1:30 p.m. - A Season to Remember: Giving New Life to Shows via Comics

2:15 p.m. - The Nth Degree: The World of Doctor Who and Torchwood

3:00 p.m. - Where No Show Has Gone Before: The New Crop of Genre Shows Hitting the Air [Trueblood, Pushing Daisies, Fringe, Sarah Connor Chronicles, etc]

4:00 p.m. - Where Do We Go From Here?: What do we want to see in film, TV and novels from our favourite sources?

5:00 p.m.
Author signings: TBA
Auction closes, winners announced

7:30pm - Dinner at The Melting Pot $

10:00 p.m. Children of the Night: Paranormal Erotica in the 21st century

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 5TH

10 a.m.: Writer's Breakfast Roundtable $

(items marked with $ are not included in the admission price)

Wooot Wooot!!
OK - 10 short days to go and plans are now falling into place. Xionin and I seem to have covered all organisational aspects (fingers crossed) so it all looks good for a nice small get together of official fan-fiction nerds (that's us lot!)
I am sure there is still lots to do but i know Xionin has everything in hand and marked off on her famous internal to do list (if it were me i would have huge lists but she stores it all in her brain!!)

I still have to write my panel but currently working 12 hours a day at work (reminder that work is just a means to an end.. writing is the real path forward...)... so it may be a rapid attack of powerpoint this coming weekend!!

I fly out on the 1st and have the 2nd as a relax day then its all hands to the pump to ensure that we all have an excellent time.

I am hoping that Xionin gets a chance to really chill out and enjoy this years event, she puts so much work into organising Phauxcon and last year was a major feat of work for her, i think she had to invest in teflon coated feet so she could run around so much!!! I know for a fact that getting Jim and Shannon to the event last year took some logistical magic on a shoestring budget but she pulled it off.

So, to my fellow attendees... whenever she starts to wander off to check on the coffee supplies, etc.. take her hand and keep her busy. Then nod at me and i will do the running around ;-)

I really look forward to seeing you all again and i know we will all have a great time at Phauxcon!

and one final note... Buy a T shirt - they are cool!! honestly they are!

Hi all,

So far, this is the list of registered people for this year's event:

scarlettgirl
mydeira
sadbhyl
timeofchange
bobajob
xionin

If you thought you registred, but your name isn't on the list, then the registration did not come through.
For those of you who are planning to register, i have extended the Early Bird registration through the end of this week.
I have to have a final head count (plus maybe a few extras for the door) by the 23rd.

---------------------------------------------

I have been trying to put together the schedule for the panels, but I just don't have enough information from you guys to build it out.
If you have stated that you will be conducting a panel this year, I need the following:

Subject
Length of time
Equipment needed (Screen, Project, Laptop, DVD player, etc)
We are in the small meeting room this year, so we won't need a PA.

This year we said we'd concentrate on Comics and their influence on the shows and films we love. I'd also like to talk about the shows and films that have found new life in comics. So here are some subjects that were brought up in dicussions about panels:

Angel season 6 and Buffy Season 8: How did the comics do in breathing new life into these cancelled shows?

Marvel and DC Comics: From print to small screen to silver screen

Anime: Its' influence on Hollywood action, fanstasy and scifi

MMORPGs: The joys of virtual life and online gaming

New Shows: Trueblood, Fringe, Sarah Connor Chronicles, etc

The world of Doctor Who and Torchwood

Comicon 2008

and many more that I can't remember. lol

PLEASE respond to this if you plan to host a discussion. I"d love to have the schedule up and done by the weekend.

Thanks, and looking forward to seeing you all in two weeks!

~Xio

as Robbie the Robot runs around arms flapping madly Will calmly switches off his power supply. Unknown to him Dr Smith is hatching another cunning plan........

OK all... I am not sure whether I am Robbie the Robot or Will Robinson today - or maybe one of them is Xionin but.......... it is....... only.........

21 days till Phauxcon 6.0!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you are reading this and thinking "well i guess i should register sometime..." DO IT NOW!!

Xionin and I have a video meeting on Wednesday to count up the attendees and commence the final planning steps so we can secure all the hotel facilities, etc... etc....

Basically we need names on the register - booked and paid for to secure everything... its the same old story every year and each year it is a close call... so.. get booking cos we don't want to see our annual session of all things wonderful fade away!!

Oh and btw.... YES I AM NAGGING YOU ALL.... but hey you all cool people and without you at Phauxcon we would have no fun!

Firstly I hope that all my US friends manage to have a relaxing weekend and I hope you get to put your feet up on the holiday monday - I know i did last monday.. in between gardening and DIY!!

Secondly I am going to keep nagging you about early registration for Phauxcon!! Its only one month to go and we need a fixed number of names with advance registration by the 15th to ensure we go ahead with the event!!

SO... you have a major challenge on Tuesday this week - register!!

and i will see you all there...

and make sure you let Xionin know if you plan to lead a panel!

So its a long holiday weekend in the UK this weekend and next weekend the US takes a break for labour (or is it labor) day... and phauxcon is drawing closer and closer!!

We really need early registrations this year so the moment you get chance sign on up.. the more registered early the easier it will be for Xionin and I to secure a meeting room that meets our needs...

As for me.. well all booked and paid for so Xionin has to put up with me whatever happens LOL!! but seriously - register, spread the word, put notices in whatever journals you have, scale K2 and shout loudly..

this is looking like it will be a good meeting amongst great friends and potential new friends expressing all the things we enjoy about writing.

1 month, 2 weeks and 4 days until PhauxCon 6.0

To be perfectly honest with you, I wasn't sure we'd be able to have one this year. The way the economy has gone, things are tight all over. bobajob and I have gone back and forth over the practicality of having an event that so few people attend.

But in the end, it's about a close-knit group of fans enjoying one another's company and feeling free to completely ''geek out'' for a weekend.

I, for one, think it's worth it. But we need your help.

Come out to PhauxCon this year.
Tell your friends.
Bring your knowledge, your experiences, your collection of comic books, collectibles, and whatever else you want to share with the group.

PhauxCon has never been about celebrity guests, it's been about the fans.

If you're looking for photo ops and autographs, there are lots of big cons out there for you.
If you're looking for a fun, relaxing weekend with lots of in-depth discussion of your favourite shows, books and characters, then PhauxCon is for you.

We encourage writers, artists, illusrators to come and participate. You never know what collaborative projects may come out of such a gathering.

Registration is now open. Hope to see you in October!
~Xio

PhauxCon 2008

Is it too early to make hotel reservations for Phauxcon? Do we have a discount with the hotel, and if so, what information is necessary for the discount to be applied.


Thanks!

also: the publisher's staff has changed the title of the book. The new title is Buffy and Angel Conquer the Internet..... Do you want me to talk about that for a couple of minutes?

if you expressed an interest in holding a panel this year, please respond to this post with the subject and the length of time you would need.

(Cross-posted to the Yahoo group)

Thanks!
Xio

Ok all time is rushing past and Xionin and I are holding a one to one video conference on Tuesday to get the ball rolling again on planning Phauxcon!!!!
No doubt we will spend the first 10 minutes pulling faces at each other on-line to see who can do the scariest Dr Who villian look or the best Vampire impersonation.. but then it is down to business...

SO!!!!!!!! ..... we need some further input from our friends on the things you might like to enjoy at phauxcon!

Yes we are still looking for a good guest speaker.. but this is a slow process.
Yes we would love panel volunteers from you all on any subject you like.. and as we are all adults then dont be embarassed about what you want to talk about.
We are thinking of skipping the auction this year but will discuss more on Tuesday and...

Yes we would welcome any of you to showcase your own work.. I myself have been writing copiously... well a few lines per day during boring business meetings.. but i may have a few peices to showcase that i would love to share with everyone for feedback... its not fan faction as such but its me writing again = which is always a good sign for us mad writers..

I am also hoping that Xionin may have a few things to share as well!

So... contact us this week if need info, have ideas, need to find accomodation.... ANYTHING!

Cheers
Rob!

Hey fellow readers!!

Have you all completed the Poll over at the Yahoo Group page??

If not then get on over there asap!!

Rob

There's a new poll up in the Yahoo group.
Please take a moment to participate, when you can.

Thanks!

Calling all fans and friends!!
Planning is building for Phauxcon 6.0 and we need feedback on everything discussed to date.

The more input we get the better it will be so send xionin and I comments, questions, etc,,, etc... or post comments in here.

Remember that this event is built around the attendees so help us to help you!

how many people would be interested in having kick-off activities on the thursday night? that would be the 2nd. just curious.

also, did we like having the writer's brunch on sunday? is this something we want to repeat?

~xio

hi all,

i've begun the process of rebuilding the website for 2008. i've completed two versions of the logo - one with "phoebe", our spokes-fanatic, and the other with a phaux-kaboom graphic. both are now LJ icons, so feel free to grab them and use them.

i'll be adding more graphics to the site and to the merchandise. i'm also accepting submissions for merch designs, if you have something you'd like to share.

as always, feedback is essential. =)

thanks,
xio

wow, look at us...getting all organised! lol

Happy New Year, PhauxFolks!

planning is underway for phauxcon 2008 and we need help with quite a few areas. a few new things will be added this year, expanding on some themes we've touched upon in years past, but have never really spent any time on. among them being: gaming, RPG, comics and costuming.

i know we have several very talented people in our pool, so don't be shy about stepping forward. you'll get as much support as we can muster.

so, here are the new areas i'm looking at for 6.0:

Comics
RPG
Videogames
Fan Art
Costuming

in addition to these, we'll return to our core interests:

SciFi and fantasy TV, film
SciFi and fantasy books and authors
fan fiction
fandom
transitioning to pro fiction (including self-promotion and marketing, e-publishing, self-publishing, etc.)
erotica (bringing back the late night session)

open to other suggestions as well.

group leaders for each area need to be assigned by 31 March 2007
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i've sent out letters of inquiry to a few authors, next on the list will be comic book artists. my goal is to have one featured author and one featured comic book artist as our guest in october. as always, those of you who are attending authors, artists and/or creators are welcome to set up shop at the event. you have 9 months to prepare, so put your best foot forward. =)

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the return of the anthology...

yes, i will be bringing it back and incorporating it into the printed program. unfortunately, we'll have to stick to original fiction from now on. so if you have a piece you'd like to submit - even if it is a teaser for your full-length novel - please do. deadline for submissions is 4 August 2008

i'll also be offering advertising on the website over the spring and summer, if you're looking to promote your work or event.

-----------

that's it for now. as you can see, bobajob and i want to hit the ground running this year, so look for lots of activity on the boards. we'll be askingn for lots of input.

looking forward to seeing you all in october!

~xio