BayCon 2024 is pleased to welcome our Guests of Honor for 2024.
Ryka Aoki – Author/Musician
Ryka Aoki is a poet, composer, teacher, and novelist. Her latest novel, Light From Uncommon Stars (Tor Books 2021) was an Alex, SCKA, and Otherwise Award winner, and was also a finalist for the Hugo, Locus, and Ignyte Awards.
Ryka is a two-time Lambda Literary Award finalist for her collections Seasonal Velocities, and Why Dust Shall Never Settle Upon This Soul, and her first novel, He Mele a Hilo, was callled one of the “10 Best Books Set in Hawaii” by Bookriot. She has been recognized by the California State Senate for “extraordinary commitment to the visibility and well-being of Transgender people,” and her work has appeared or been recognized in publications including Vogue, Elle, Bustle, Autostraddle, PopSugar, and Buzzfeed, as well as the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center. She was also honored to work with the American Association of Hiroshima Nagasaki A-Bomb Survivors, where two of her compositions were adopted as the organization’s “songs of peace.”
Elizabeth Leggett – Artist
Elizabeth Leggett is a two time fan artist Hugo winner. She is a gallery artist, and science fiction and fantasy novel cover designer. Her clients include Penguin Random House, KEEP Contemporary gallery in Santa Fe, NM, Brigids Gate Press, Bantam, Melinda Snodgrass, DreamForge Magazine, Uproar Books, Houghton, Mifflin and Harcourt, and more. Her work can be seen in Spectrum Volumes 22, 24, 26, and 27 and the premiere issue of Spectrum Art Quarterly. She can also be found in Infected By Art volumes 3-10 and was a participant judge for volume 11.
Lady Phoenix – Fan/Masquerade Director
Lady Phoenix (Raquel Santiago) has been an outspoken LGBTQQYIA and Disability Advocate for over thirty years, openly trans-identified, and disabled. She has multiple accolades from several Universities and international organizations for her work in Human Rights. She sat on the San Francisco Human Rights Equity Advisory Committee for three years and currently works as a private consultant for the Center for Applied Research to help mitigate disparities in healthcare as well as her continued advocacy and work with the LGBT Community and people with disabilities. She has her degree in psychology from San Francisco State University with a minor in counseling and is currently also attending both CCSF and UCSF for Drug and Alcohol studies in order to help clients across the spectrum.
Bonnie Gordon
No stranger to the world of science fiction and geek pop culture, Bonnie is an actress, singer, & voiceover actor who prides herself on being a “professional nerd.” Her VO credits include cartoons, video games and anime such as: Star Trek Prodigy on Nickelodeon/Paramount+ (Ship Computer and various other roles); Street Fighter V; Fire Emblem Echoes/Three Houses; Cartoon Network’s Mighty Magiswords; Muhyo and Roji’s Bureau of Supernatural Investigation; Battlestar Galactica Deadlock; MegaMan 11; Ikki Tousin; Code Vein; and many more!
She might also be recognized as Paladin Bonnie from the fantasy show “The Quest” on ABC (now on Amazon Prime)… Bonnie can be found taking the helm as Ensign Lark Sage on the Geek & Sundry Star Trek TTRPG show, “Shield of Tomorrow!,” as well as rolling dice and starring/guesting on many other TTRPG shows on Twitch channels such as HyperRPG, Queutimes, DnDBeyond: (Callisto 6; Clear Skies; Barony of Olives; Disco Does DnD, etc.)
Bonnie has traveled all over the world singing and guesting at comic cons with her nerdy parody band The Library Bards – taking top 40 hits and transforming them into nerdy, geektastic tunes about sci-fi and fantasy fandoms! She has now put together a solo musical act of both fan favorite Library Bards’ songs and new nerdtastic hits – some of these newer songs can also be found on her her solo album, Con Artist.
Bonnie is currently cast in a new live action sci-fi series set to shoot later this year, and can’t wait to tell you more about it, so ask her! Follow her @BonnieBellG & @LibraryBards on all social media (Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, etc.)