Gordon Purcell

Gordon Purcell. If you've picked up a comic book in the last 20 years that was based upon any of the various incarnations of STAR TREK and you admired how the characters looked exactly like the actors who played them, it was likely pencilled by Gordon Purcell. His same photorealistic style can be seen in other similarly licensed books such as X-FILES, XENA, LOST IN SPACE and THE TERMINATOR, to name a few.

Gordon grew up reading both Marvel and DC comics and his love of drawing was sparked by watching old Spider-Man and Batman cartoons. Holding Bachelor's degrees from the University of Minnesota in both Studio Arts and Theatre, he credits the latter, with its emphasis on costume design and directing, for helping him more in his comics work.

It should come as no surprise that Gordon has also pencilled his fair share of super heroes for Marvel and DC in addition to his work for other publishers, and chooses projects based on the editor and other creators involved with them.

His latest work is on display in IDW Publishing's DOCTOR WHO/STAR TREK - THE NEXT GENERATION crossover mini-series Assimilation2, where Gordon's rendition of Matt Smith's character never looked so real!

As 2013 celebrates 50 Years of DOCTOR WHO (and with the keys to the TARDIS in Matt Smith's hands), it was inconceivable to consider anyone but Gordon Purcell as Brit Con's first ARTIST GUEST of HONOR.

Richard Klemensen

Richard Klemensen b. 1947. A love of sports from Dad and a love of reading and movies from Mom somehow hooked young Richard on horror and fantasy films by the mid 1950s. Hammer's DRACULA HAS RISEN FROM THE GRAVE at a September 1969 drive-in triple feature knocked him for a loop and his love of Hammer & British horror films began. Returning to college in 1972 after a stint in the Army, he published his first issue of LITTLE SHOPPE OF HORRORS, after being hooked on similar mags ("Gore Creatures/Midnight Marquee", "Photon" & "Cinefantastique").

For the last 40 years LSoH has covered all aspects of British Horror, with emphasis on the film studio that made Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing famous: HAMMER.

He credits marriage to his current wife, Nancy, in 2001 for stabilizing LSoH's publishing schedule to twice a year from a sometimes 3-4 year gap between issues. Recent issues have featured Vincent Price's DR. PHIBES films and interviews with Roman Polanski on FEARLESS VAMPIRE KILLERS and Daniel Radcliffe (of Harry Potter fame) on THE WOMAN IN BLACK, plus Tim Burton.

He was inducted into The MONSTER KID HALL OF FAME in 2006 by the Classic Horror Film Board which honoured him with their prestigious Rondo Award.

One wonders how someone with two grown sons and five grandchildren, who sells truck parts by day, still publishes a really cool magazine about (mostly British) horror films in his spare time, until he tells you his secret: He has "the mind of a teenager who still loves these films." As with many of our guests, it's not a job, it's a passion.

BritCon welcomes LITTLE SHOPPE OF HORRORS publisher Dick Klemensen as our SPECIAL GUEST!

Joan Marie Verba

Joan Marie Verba With a B.A. in physics from the U of MN, Joan was an associate instructor of astronomy while attending graduate school at Indiana University. She later wrote non-fiction (Voyager: Exploring the Outer Planets), became a member of the Science-Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, the Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators, and The International Association of Media Tie-In Writers. Joan also founded FTL Publications.

She obtained a license to write and publish novels based upon her favourite British television series: Gerry Anderson's THUNDERBIRDS. These include Countdown to Action (Best Books Award finalist), Action Alert, Deadly Danger (Scribe Award finalist), Situation: Critical (Scribe Award finalist), Extreme Hazard (2012 Scribe Award Winner), and Danger Zone.

If that isn't enough, Joan is a member of, and served on the board of directors for The Mythopoeic Society, which studies the writings of acclaimed British fantasists J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis and others. She also knows quite a bit about US/British/International fan alliances.

We at Brit Con couldn't think of anyone better qualified to be our first AUTHOR GUEST of HONOR.

Denny Lynch

Denny Lynch became a fan of SF media in the 1950s and discovered the grandness of British efforts in the genre in the 1960s.

As a film major in the early 1970s, he ran a series of Fantasy Films at the University of Iowa's Bijou Theater for 18 months. This led to attending his first convention by accident in 1973. After 18 years in film and broadcasting, he returned to college and retrained to be a high school teacher in computer animation, drafting, pre-engineering and applied physics. His 40+ year collection of books, film journals, stamps, soundtracks and sheet music threatens to change the stability of earth's rotation.

He's been "Transcriber Deluxe" for Little Shoppe of Horrors magazine for 30+ years and has seen 22,300+ movies since 1970.

Some fannish highlights of Denny's life:

* When Denny was in college, Buster Crabbe (of 1930s Tarzan and Buck Rogers fame) told him about shooting
  "Captain Gallant of the Foreign Legion" for Harry Saltzman (who later co-produced the James Bond films).
* Had dinner with Lindsey Wagner years before 'The Bionic Woman' series aired.
* Mark Hamill told him about filming 'Star Wars' in England and Tunisia, 9 months before it opened.
* Roy Dotrice (of 'Beauty & The Beast' fame) has been to his home in Cedar Rapids, IA.
* "Forry Ackerman saw stuff in my collection that he didn't have."

Dave Duca

Dave Duca A radio announcer from Oconto WI, Dave's interests range from astronomy, shortwave radio & rotary cam engines to bread pudding. Fascinated by taking apart "anything from a simple space shuttle to a complex door knob" to see how it works, he prefers anything autonomous. He finds that building Daleks with his good friend Mike Glielmi is a wonderful exercise in frugal budgets and recycling: "It's amazing what a person can make in a 'MacGyver' state of mind", adding that it "has enhanced everything so much more...attending conventions as a proper Dalek, has earned a greater interest in the younger set, than I ever could've imagined!"

Mike Glielmi

Mike Glielmi A mechanical designer of considerable experience, Mike fell in love with anything related to science-fiction and fantasy well before he attended school in Chicago, IL. Dr. Who has been the golden thread in that weave for a very long time. Having avidly attended many conventions, often in costume, Mike asked his very good friend & 'Whovian' kindred spirit Dave Duca a fateful question: "What better costume than a Dalek?" Little did he suspect that Daleks would be flying from his Holland Town WI home & from Dave's "Porchwood" residence at a dizzying pace! Dubbing themselves the "Cult of WISkaro", their goal is to build the most life-like, fully operational Daleks ever seen (with a few surprises along the way!) to promote the Dr. Who experience as the greatest science-fiction genre ever conceived!

Dave Duca and Mike Glielmi are Brit Con's DALEK GUESTS of HONOR.