BayCon Blog
BayCon 2019 Welcomes Gary Villarreal as Artist Guest of Honor
BayCon is excited to announce Artist Guest of Honor Gary Villarreal. Gary Villarreal graduated from Texas A&M University with a bachelors degree in Visualization. He is currently a full-time Concept Artist at MethodEXP and a generalist when it comes to his professional work; designing environment, vehicles, weapons and characters. However, Gary is well known for his character designs and his style rendering, often adding volume to his characters. Over the years, Gary has grown an interest in storytelling, which has given him the ability to further immerse his viewers in the fantasy worlds that his characters live in. His illustrations have been featured in the pages of 3Dtotal Sketching from the imagination: Dark Arts and Graphite Magazine.
According to Hugo-winning and former BayCon Artist Guest of Honor John Picacio, “[Gary] is going to melt peoples faces….” (we’re pretty sure in a good way).
Find Gary on Instagram @villarte, and on Art Station at https://www.artstation.com/garyvillarreal.
BayCon 2018 Fan Guest of Honor
Announcing Christopher J Garcia as BayCon 2018 Fan Guest of Honor!
BayCon 2018 is extremely pleased to announce that two time Hugo Award winner Christopher J Garcia has accepted our invitation to be Fan Guest of Honor. Chris has been active in SF Bay Area fandom for many years and is a former Guest and staff member of multiple BayCons.
Christopher J Garcia is a writer, fanzine editor, curator, filmmaker, and historian from Boulder Creek, California. He won the Hugo for Best Fanzine in 2011 for co–editing The Drink Tank and in 2015 for Journey Planet. He’s made short films, produced documentaries, programmed film festivals, and edits the film journal Klaus at Gunpoint as well as Journey Planet. He makes a living as a Curator at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA.
If you don’t know already, one of his most notable Hugo nominations was for Best Dramatic Presentation Short Form. The work he was nominated for? His first Hugo Award acceptance speech.
Charity Casino & Karaoke Party!
Charity Casino & Karaoke Party!
Friday, May 26th 8:00pm in Convene Room
After Meet the Guests stay for BayCon’s Charity Casino & Karaoke Party! Benefiting this year’s honored charity, Variety, the Children’s Charity of Northern California.
Rather than focusing on a single area of need, Variety supports many children through their multiple programs, including the sick, disadvantaged, or those who live with disabilities or other special needs. (www.VarietyNC.org)
Test your luck on a hand of poker, or sit down for a round of blackjack and strategize for that big win. At they end of the night two lucky players will win amazing prize packages, including Gift Certificates and VIP Seats to the BayCon Variety Show Saturday night. First Place Prize is A Dystopian Survival Package, with a gift certificate to Otterbox and 6 Paintball Tickets to PaintballTickets.com, good at Paintball Fields all over North America. Total package valued at over $350.00! Second Place Package is A Utopian Dice Throwing Party with a $75 credit to DriveThruRPG and Gift Certificates to Chipotle and the Habit Burger Grill. Total package valued at over $175.00!
Casino Chips will be available for purchase throughout the party. A $10 donation for $50 in chips and $20 for $125 in chips. All proceeds benefit Variety.
Don’t forget to stop by the Fishing Game! For a $1 donation, drop a line over the black wall and take your chances on catching one of many awesome prizes. Every player is a winner!!
You can also take a turn on the microphone in-between hands! KJ Skwirl will be dialing up all the biggest hits from the past and present. No cost for Karaoke, but donations to Variety will gladly be accepted!
Support an amazing organization, play, win and sing! It’s going to be an amazing opening night. You won’t want to miss this unforgettable event!
(All attendees under the age of 18 must be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian during this event)
Greetings Earthers, Martians, and Belters!
Our theme this year is Dystopia/Utopia. What better way to convey that theme then with James S. A. Corey’s masterpiece novel series, The Expanse? We’re honored to host both halves of Corey, Daniel Abraham as Writer Guest of Honor, and Ty Franck as Toastmaster. They have released six of the nine projected novels thus far (as well as ancillary short stories and novellas). Their debut novel Leviathan Wakes received both Hugo and Locus nominations, and became an instant New York Times bestseller. The series as a whole was recently nominated for the 2017 Hugo Awards as Best Series. The book series spawned a hit TV show on the SyFy network titled The Expanse, which is currently in its second season. Last December they released the sixth novel of the series, Babylon’s Ashes. This year gives our members a unique opportunity to meet and converse with the masterminds behind BOTH a hit Dystopian science fiction novel series as well as a hit current TV show. Please take the opportunity to purchase your membership this weekend. We’ve got an outstanding line up of guests and events planned for you this year; we hope you’ll join us.