Schedule

No programming has been determined for the next BizarroCon, but here’s a sample of the schedule from 2019.

THURSDAY

4:00pm: REGISTRATION OPENS (Location: Ad House)

8:00-9:00pm: OPENING CEREMONIES (Location: Ad House)

9:00-10:00pm: THIRSTY THURSDAY LIVE & BIZARRO PICKLE CONTEST (Ross E. Lockhart and Lisa LeStrange) — Beer enthusiast and editor extraordinaire Ross E. Lockhart will review a craft beer and suggest possible book pairings. Lisa LeStrange will be hosting the 3rd annual Pickle Party! You are encouraged to share your favorite pickled items (homemade or store bought). A prize will be awarded for “The Best Pickle in the Universe.” (Location: Ad House)

 

FRIDAY

8:00-11:00am: WRITER’S WORKSHOP: LANGUAGE OF THE IMAGINATION (Instructor: Mary SanGiovanni) — PRE-REGISTRATION REQUIRED. WORKSHOP FULL. (Location: The Barley Room)

8:00-11:00am: WRITER’S WORKSHOP: HIGH CONCEPT BIZARRO (Instructor: Cameron Pierce) — PRE-REGISTRATION REQUIRED. WORKSHOP FULL. (Location: The Mt Hood Room)

10:00-10:30am: READING BLOCK ONE — Ross E. Lockhart and Kirsten Alene (Location: The Ad House)

10:30-11:00pm: READING BLOCK TWO — Bradley Sands and Querus Abuttu (Location: The Ad House)

11:30-2:30pm: WRITER’S WORKSHOP: SPARE WORLDS (Instructor: Brian Allen Carr) PRE-REGISTRATION REQUIRED. WORKSHOP FULL. (Location: The Barley Room)

11:30-2:30pm: WRITER’S WORKSHOP: WRITING INSIDE YOUR CHARACTER’S SKIN (Instructor: John Skipp) — PRE-REGISTRATION REQUIRED. WORKSHOP FULL. (Location: The Mt. Hood Room)

11:00-11:30pm: READING BLOCK THREE — S.G.Murphy and Eric Hendrixson (Location: The Ad House)

11:30-12:00pm: READING BLOCK FOUR — Vince Kramer and Dustin Reade (Location: The Ad House)

12:00-12:30pm: READING BLOCK FIVE — Kevin L. Donihe and Jeff Burk (Location: The Ad House)

12:30-1:00pm: READING BLOCK SIX — Robert Devereaux and Christine Morgan (Location: The Ad House)

1:00-1:30pm: READING BLOCK SEVEN — John Wayne Comunale and Garvan Giltinan (Location: The Ad House)

1:30-2:00pm: READING BLOCK EIGHT — Danger Slater and Jon Bassoff (Location: The Ad House)

2:00-3:00pm: WORKSHOP INSTRUCTOR READING HOUR — Cameron Pierce, Mary SanGiovanni, John Skipp, Brian Allen Carr (Location: The Ad House)

3:00-5:00pm: BIZARRO WRITER’S ASSOCIATION MEETING — Annual meeting for the BWA. Due to space limitation, this year’s meeting will be limited to BWA members only. (Location: The Barley Room)

3:00-3:30pm: READING BLOCK NINE — Austin James Hatch and WD Frank (Location: The Ad House)

3:30-4:00pm: READING BLOCK TEN — Jason Rizos and Chandler Morrison (Location: The Ad House)

4:00-4:30pm: READING BLOCK ELEVEN — Christopher Granczynski and Amy Vaughn (Location: The Ad House)

4:30-5:00pm READING BLOCK TWELVE — Ian Muller and Christopher Lesko

5:00-7:00pm: DINNER BREAK

7:00pm-3:00am: ERASERHEAD PRESS PARTY — Come celebrate with Eraserhead Press! Featuring Bizarro Beer and performances by Cody Goodfellow, Carlton Mellick III, Jennifer Robin, David W. Barbee, Garrett Cook, Andrew Wayne Adams, G. Arthur Brown and The Slow Poisoner. (Location: The Ad House)

SATURDAY

9:00-10:00 am: BIZARRO BRUNCH — Enjoy an excellent gourmet brunch with your BizarroCon pals. (Location: The Ballroom)

10:00am-12:30 pm: ARTIST SHOWCASE (Andrew Goldfarb, Jim Agpalza, Liv Rainey Smith, and Peter Dale) — Get to know some of the artists working in the bizarro genre as they show off their work and demonstrate their techniques. (Location: The Ad House)

11:00am: BIZARRO BOOK NOOK OPENS — Your one stop for bizarro books (Location: The Ballroom)

11:30-12:15pm: PRO TIP: WRITE BETTER BOOKS! (Mod—Ross E. Lockhart, Grady Hendrix, Brian Allen Carr, Mary SanGiovanni, John Skipp, Cameron Pierce) — Our workshop instructors and Author Guest of Honor will share advice on how to take your writing to the next level. (Location: The Ballroom)

12:30-1:15pm: SUCK YOUR READER IN (Mod—Jason Rizos, Brian Keene, John Skipp, Carlton Mellick III, Laura Lee Bahr, Danger Slater) — Tips and tricks on how to hook your reader on the first page and keep them addicted until the very end, even when writing the strangest of bizarro fiction storylines. (Location: The Ballroom)

12:30-1:30pm: THE CLASH MEDIA READING HOUR — Maxwell Bauman, Sam Richard, Charles Austin Muir, and Autumn Christian. (Location: The Ad House)

1:30-2:15pm: BIZARRO THEORY (Mod—Andrew James Stone, Hugo Camacho, Brian Allen Carr. Jon Bassoff, Anya Martin, Ross E. Lockhart) — What shared set of conventions, underlying structure of values, and expectations of bizarro fiction readers define the genre? And how do they relate to the emotional effect bizarro fiction has on its audience? (Location: The Ballroom)

1:30-2:00pm: READING BLOCK THIRTEEN — Michael Allen Rose and Karl Fischer (Location: The Ad House)

2:00-2:30pm: READING BLOCK FOURTEEN — Nathan Carson and Katy Michelle Quinn (Location: The Ad House)

2:30-3:15pm: ADVANCED SELF-PROMOTION (Mod—Brian Asman, Grady Hendrix, Brian Keene, Jeff Burk, Gina Ranalli, Gabino Iglesias) — We all rely on some form of self-promotion, but for most of us, the skill does not come easily. Our panelists will provide tools and advice for mastering the art of authentic, confident self-promotion. (Location: The Ballroom)

2:30-3:00pm: READING BLOCK FIFTEEN — Laura Lee Bahr and Hugo Camacho. (Location: The Ad House)

3:00-3:30pm: READING BLOCK SIXTEEN — Caleb Wilson and Leigham Shardlow. (Location: The Ad House)

3:30-4:15pm: BRING YOUR READER THERE (Mod—Nathan Carson, Mary SanGiovanni, Cody Goodfellow, Robert Devereaux, Christine Morgan, Kirsten Alene, Rios de la Luz) — Don’t you love the feeling of losing yourself in the world of a book you’re reading? Wouldn’t you like to be able to do that for your reader? Our panelists discuss specific techniques for making your reader feel they are a part of your story. (Location: The Ballroom)

3:30-4:30 pm: THE NEW BIZARRO AUTHOR SERIES READING BLOCK — Meet the writers in this year’s New Bizarro Author Series: Brian Asman, Roland Blackburn, Benjamin DeVos, Renee S. DeCamillis, Sarah Karasek, and Kevin Sweeney. Hosted by Rose O’Keefe (Location: The Ad House)

4:30pm: BIZARRO BOOK NOOK CLOSES

5:30 – 6:30 pm: PAPERBACKS FROM HELL, LIVE! (Grady Hendrix) — In the early Seventies, three books changed horror forever: ROSEMARY’S BABY, THE EXORCIST, and THE OTHER. The first horror novels to hit bestseller lists since 1940, they opened the floodgates for an avalanche of horror paperbacks to pour onto supermarket shelves throughout the Seventies and Eighties until SILENCE OF THE LAMBS slit the genre’s throat in the early Nineties. Award-winning writer Grady Hendrix delivers a mind-melting oral history of this now forgotten world of Nazi leprechauns, skeleton doctors, killer crabs, killer jellyfish, killer babies, pretty much killer everything. Prepare yourself for a tour of this long-lost universe of terror that lurked behind the lurid, foil-embossed, die-cut covers of…the Paperbacks from Hell!!!! (Location: The Ballroom)

6:30-7:30 pm: WONDERLAND BOOK AWARDS DINNER — The Eleventh Annual Wonderland Book Award for Best Novel and Best Collection of 2017. Celebrate as the winners are announced and enjoy a fajita buffet. (Location: The Ballroom)

7:30-10:30 pm: THE ULTIMATE BIZARRO SHOWDOWN — After the awards dinner, bizarro authors compete to see who is indeed the weirdest of the weird. Each author must give the most unique and entertaining three minute reading performance of their lives or risk being yanked off stage by the drunk and annoyed audience members. Winners will be given snazzy prizes. Hosted by Michael Allen Rose and Sauda Namir. (Location: The Ballroom)

11:00pm-3:00am: WONDERLAND BOOK AWARDS AFTER-PARTY—(Location: The Ad House)

SUNDAY

9:00-10:00 am: BREAKFAST BUFFET — Enjoy a delectable gourmet brunch with your BizarroCon pals. (Location: The Barley Room)

11:00-11:45am: EXPANDING THE BIZARRO AUDIENCE (Mod—Rose O’Keefe, Cameron Pierce, Hugo Camacho, Eric Hendrixson, Michael Allen Rose, John Skipp) — When you stop growing you start dying. In order to grow the bizarro fiction genre we need to constantly attract new readers. Join our panelists in a brainstorm session on how to expand the bizarro fiction audience. (Location: The Barley Room)

12:00-12:45pm: FORMING BONDS ON THE FRINGE (Mod—Jeff Burk, Sauda Namir, Maxwell Bauman, Katy Michelle Quinn, Danger Slater, Garrett Cook) — Finding community is one of the most useful and personally rewarding aspects of being a creative individual. Our panelists will discuss ways to find allies in your chosen field as well as adjacent genres and mediums. (Location: The Barley Room)

1:00-4:00pm: BIZARRO FILM SCREENING — Watch some short films by your friendly bizarro filmmakers including the feature length film produced by Brian Keene, I’m Dreaming of a White Doomsday. Hosted by John Skipp. (Location: The Barley Room)

4:00-5:00pm: CLOSING CEREMONIES (Location: The Barley Room)

5:30-6:30pm: THE KEVIN L. DONIHE HIDE AND SEEK CHALLENGE — Five-time winner of the Tennessee State Hide-and-Go-Seek Championship, Kevin L. Donihe, gives a master class on perfecting the skills and strategies behind the rigorous sport of adult hide and seek.  (Location: The Ad House)