ArmadilloCon 2015 Guest of Honor Ken Liu, and others

ArmadilloCon 2015 committee member Joan, and artist guest Rocky Kelley

ArmadilloCon 2015 Writers' workshop teachers Steven Brust, Skyler White, Katherine Catmull and James Morrow, who is talking about how various editors and agents tried to make him cut out the book-within-a-book device from The Last Witchfinder. This was the 'when it is time for a write to change direction', a.k.a. career panel.

ArmadilloCon 2015 writers' workshop students Vidya, Roger, James (front) and others at the writing game. The students divided themselves into three groups. Each group rotated between writing two sentences fof the beginning, middle, and end of a story, and then passed it to another group. The results were quite humorous.

ArmadilloCon 2015 writers' workshop teachers: special guest James Morrow, Guest of Honor Ken Liu, and Marshall Maresca.

ArmadilloCon 2015 opening ceremonies. Left to right: artist guest Rocky Kelley, co-chairs Jennifer Juday and Charles Siros, toastmaster Stina Leicht, who is about to give a speech, special guest author James Morrow, and editor guest L. Timmel Duchamp.

ArmadilloCon 2015 opening ceremonies. Left to right: special guest author James Morrow, editor guest L. Timmel Duchamp, Guest of Honor author Ken Liu, and fan guest John DeNardo.

Author Amanda Downum, ArmadilloCon 2015 committee member Charlies Siros, and writers' workshop student Vidya at the Meet The Pros

ArmadilloCon 2015 editor guest L. Timmel Duchamp and author Christopher Brown at the Meet The Pros

ArmadilloCon 2015 editor guest L. Timmel Duchamp and authors Rebecca Schwarz and Patrice Sarath at the Meet The Pros

Space Squid fanzine 10th anniversary at the Consuite of ArmadilloCon 2015. D. Chang is leading a game of questions with multiple choice answers -- such as 'Hard science fiction novel plot that was based on a Wikipedia error'

ArmadilloCon 2015 Guest of Honor Ken Liu talks about difficulties and fascinating aspects of translating science fiction between English and Chinese languages. He started with the early 20th century Chinese 'heroic translators' of western SF, and then talked about what aspects of Chinese culture he had to 'betray' to translate Liu Cixin 'The Three-Body Problem' into English.

Speculative Fiction as a Mirror to Religion panel at ArmadilloCon 2015: Katherine Kimbriel, Shanna Swendson, Jayme Lynn Blaschke, special guest James Morrow, Ari Marmell, and Matt Cardin. James Morrow, whose novels examine religion from atheist perspective, said: 'While I'm deeply critical of the idea that universe has a supernatural stratum, without it I would not have a job. So I'm kind of parasitic in that way'.

Author Michelle Muenzler carries a box of cookies everywhere, and gives them out to anyone who wants to combat the midday break. Here, she and ArmadilloCon 37 Fan Guest John DeNardo are at the What You Should Have Read In 2014-2015 panel. Read more about the panelists' recommendations of notable science fiction and fantasy books that came out between the last ArmadilloCon and this one

'Stump The Panel: Make Up an SF/F Use for an Everyday Object' at ArmadilloCon. Left to right: Rie Sheridan Rose, James Stoddard, Josh Rountree, Jeannette Kathleen Cheney, and Julia K. Mandala.

Author Caroline Yoachim reads her poetry of neurons and entanglement at the ArmadilloCon 2015.

Teapunk Teas party and tea tasting at the ArmadilloCon 2015. The #1 tea was said to taste exactly like coffee.

Teapunk Teas demonstrate tea duelling. It's a game of chicken played with tea-soaked biscuits. The two opponents hold up their soggy biscuits as shown, and stare each other down.

Artists Rocky Kelley (ArmadilloCon 2015 artist guest, left), and John Picacio.

ArmadilloCon 2015 panel on the relevance of Hugo awards, a.k.a the Sad Puppies debacle. Left to right: Michelle Muenzler, Jacob Weisman, Lou Antonelli, Marguerite Reed, and Justin Landon. The panelists mostly agreed that no matter what one thinks about this year's Hugo slate, we should still vote for Hugos, because a worse outcome for the speculative fiction community would be to destroy the Hugo award by not voting.

ArmadilloCon 2015 toastmaster Stina Leicht and Sanford Allen

ArmadilloCon 2015 panel on the new feminist SF, right before the last panelist, Stina Leicht, arrived. Left to right: Caroline Yoachim, Nancy Jane Moore, Katherine Sanger, Amanda Downum.

ArmadilloCon 2015 special guest, James Morrow (left) is being interviewed by John Gibbons. James Morrow, who writes science fiction from an atheist perspective had interesting thoughts on many things, including, and especially his relationship with religion. He has more respect for genuine, strongly held theistic beliefs, than for the notion of spirituality. "The word 'spiritual' is a trigger for me," he admits. "As soon as I hear it, I know nothing interesting will follow."

Short Fiction You Should Have Read Last Year panel at ArmadilloCon 2015. Left to right: K. B. Rylander, Eugene Fischer, Rebecca Schwarz. The panelists discussed where to find the year's best stories, what it is about a short story that captures the reader, what stories have been controversial or trendsetting.

Author Carrie Clevenger at her signing at the ArmadilloCon 2015

Authors P. J. Hoover and Jayme Lynn Blaschke at their signing at the ArmadilloCon 2015