Balticon’s Dealers Room is like a pop-up mini mall of geeky goodness. You’ll find an assortment of vendors with all sorts of fannish delights, including books, games and gaming accessories, collectibles, clothing, jewelry, and more! Just outside the Dealers Room, you’ll find Artists Alley, where you can meet the artists behind the tables, browse a selection of fine art and handcrafted goods, and even commission custom art! Dealers Room & Artist Alley Balticon’s Dealers Room is like a pop-up mini mall of geeky goodness. You’ll find an assortment of vendors with all sorts of fannish delights, including books, games and gaming accessories, collectibles, clothing, jewelry, and more! Dealers Room Hours: Just outside the Dealers Room, you’ll find Artists Alley, where you can meet the artists behind the tables, browse a selection of fine art and handcrafted goods, and even commission custom art! Day Open Closed Friday, May 23, 2025 2 a.m. 7 p.m. Saturday, May24, 2025 10 a.m. 7 p.m. Sunday, May 25, 2025 10 a.m. 7 p.m. Monday, May 26, 2025 10 a.m. 2 p.m. Dealers & Artists Wanted Applications Open! Looking for Artists Check out our list of confirmed Artists closer to the con. Read more if you're interested in joining Artist Alley. Artist Alley Applications Dealers Wanted Check out our list of confirmed vendors closer to the con! Read more to learn about becoming a Dealer! Dealer's Room Applications

< Back Joshua Bilmes Literary Agent Joshua Bilmes is the President of JABberwocky Literary Agency, which he founded in 1994. His clients include NY Times bestselling authors Brandon Sanderson, Charlaine Harris, Peter V. Brett, Jack Campbell, Elizabeth Moon and Simon R. Green, multiple Compton Crook Award winners, Hugo Award winner Suzanne Palmer, and many other top names in sf and fantasy. His first convention as a pro was Balticon in 1989, and at the 2017 Balticon he started reading The Kingdom of Liars by Nick Martell. Reviewers have gone on to call Nick "the future of epic fantasy." He discovered Patrick Fitzgerald at Balticon in 2022, and Patrick's debut novel will be publishing just in time for next year's convention. Joshua watches lots of movies and lots of tennis when he isn't reading manuscripts, and hopes to discover another new client this year. Other Socials https://awfulagent.com/

Hey There Have you ever wondered what goes into making a convention happen? Balticon is a 100% volunteer-run convention, which means everyone from the gofers to the Con Chair! Nobody's getting paid around here, except in smiles and satisfaction (and also some free t-shirts). But it's also a great place to make new friends and build an amazing community together. What's in it for me? Our volunteers are pretty great, and we think you'll fit right in, too. We'd probably help without the bribes, but we'll bribe you anyway! (Minimum hours apply) Cool nickname: Berzerker! Lots of new friends! Free Balticon Berzerker T-shirt! Free membership to next year's con! Early, reserved seating for special events! Access to our Berzerker Lair! Free meals! Free crash space! (Bring your own sleeping bag) And more! Okay, but what will I do? Everyone is welcome! We'll accomodate any and all abilities. No experience necessary - we'll train you! We'll schedule around your needs and any events you want to attend. We may need to assign you to jobs where we are short-handed (but we promise not to leave you in a job you hate). So what do our volunteers actually do? Basically everything: In Person (Pre-Con) Help with publicity, social media, proofread/edit publications like BSFAN, write and run registration, handle logistics, and more Help us load in or out Staff our registration, information, special assistance, volunteer, sales, etc. desks. Design, install, and run our tech (lights, video, sound) Staff our con suite, green room, gaming room, video and anime rooms, and others. Help at the art show, masquerade, or charity auction. Ensure programming happens with planning or helping out in the program sessions. Run our operations and provide con security (the hotel does the heavy lift on security). More than we can list!: If we have an activity listed on the website menu, we probably need help. Virtual/Hybrid Lots of Pre-Con planning, training, social media, etc. Help with programming Technical support for streaming and Discord. Expect training pre-con. Can we count on you to help? If all of this sounds like a great deal, we'd love to have you join us! Drop us an email at volunteers@balticon.org with an idea of what you might like to do or what kind of skills you've got to offer, and we can start the conversation! Download our Volunteer Waiver and Release Form (PDF) Download Volunteer Hours Record Form (PDF)

< Back Morgan Hazelwood Literary Author Morgan Hazelwood (she/her) writes from her lair in Northern Virginia. She’s been sharing “Writing Tips & Writerly Musings” with writing tips from the pros and her own writerly musings since 2015, first as a blogger, and now as a vlogger and podcaster. An actively querying fantasy author, her short story, “Just a Hike In The Woods” was published by the Dark Recesses webzine in January 2022. When not writing, you can find her devouring book series on her Kindle, learning to scroll saw, or feeding her webcomic addiction. A volunteer for her local science fiction and fantasy convention: Balticon, she is also a voice actor for Anansi Storytelling — a fairytale audio drama podcast. If you've got an amazing 45 minute presentation on something truly geeky, we wanna hear from you! Other Socials https://morganhazelwood.com/

< Back Sarah Pinsker Literary Author Sarah Pinsker is the Hugo, Nebula, Sturgeon, Philip K Dick, Locus, and Eugie Award winning author of A Song For A New Day, Sooner or Later Everything Falls Into the Sea, and, most recently, the novella Haunt Sweet Home, published by Tordotcom in 2024. She is also a singer/songwriter with four albums on various independent labels, including 2021's Something to Hold. She was born in New York and has lived all over the US and Canada, but currently lives with her wife and two dogs in Baltimore in a hundred-year-old house surrounded by sentient vines. Other Socials

< Back LGBTQ+ Social An informal tea party for LGBTQ+ Fans of all ages and allies. Tea and cakes will be served. An informal tea party for LGBTQ+ Fans of all ages and allies. Tea and cakes will be served.

Whether you love science with your fiction or costumes with your books, at Balticon we do too! Join 1500+ fans of all backgrounds to celebrate Science Fiction and Fantasy with 300+ hours of diverse programming: meet authors, publishers, editors, cosplay experts, Twitch live-streamers, renowned scientists and tech innovators. Sing along with our filkers, see our stunning Art Show and Masquerade, laugh and cry at our Film Festival. We’ve got something for everyone About Us Whether you love science with your fiction or costumes with your books, we do too! While our central theme is writing, literature, and authors, our dynamic program has something everyone can appreciate. Join over fifteen hundred fans of all backgrounds as we gather to celebrate Science Fiction and Fantasy with more than 300 hours of diverse programming, from award-winning authors and publishers to twitch live-streamers, from cosplay experts to renowned scientists and tech innovators. Sing along with our filkers, soak in our stunning Art Show and Masquerade, laugh and cry at our Film Festival. We’ve got something for everyone.Balticon exists to celebrate the creation and appreciation of science fiction and fantasy in all its expressions, by bringing together fans of all backgrounds in a warm, welcoming environment. History of Balticon Profoundly uncool since 1967 The first Balticon was a two-day party in a suite on the top floor of The Emerson Hotel in 1967. In addition to several parties, there was an “SF-oriented program”. Membership cost $1 for both days, and reports from the con runners indicate that it was far from profitable. The convention wandered through the 70s, 80s, and 90s, both on the calendar and in our venues, eventually settling on Easter Weekend (and also raising the membership rate a bit). Some of the best stories come out of this era – if you get a chance to ask a long-time attendee, they’ve got some good ones to tell! Starter questions include, “Do you know how many boxes of Jell-O it takes to seal a man into a bathtub?” and “What actually was on the 11th floor?” We had the opportunity to shift to Memorial Day weekend in 2001 (a weekend that included just about as many Space Odyssey references as you can imagine), transforming us into a four-day convention and letting us once again expand our programming. In 2016, we celebrated Balticon 50, with Guest of Honor George R. R. Martin (who, memorably, bought a few bushels of Maryland blue crabs for the con suite), as well as eighteen Alumni Guests - previous Guests of Honor who came back to join us again – including R. A. MacAvoy, Harry Turtledove, Larry Niven, Steve Barns, Jody Lynn Nye, Sharon Lee, and Steve Miller. Balticon 54 was a major triumph. Scheduled for May 2020, our ConCom made the choice to pivot to an all-virtual convention in only two months. We were among the first groups to produce a full virtual convention, over Zoom, Discord, and Second Life, and we were able to share all that we learned to help other conventions move online that year. Balticon Today We returned in-person in 2022 for Balticon 56, but we kept our virtual side, because it turns out it’s actually pretty awesome in a lot of ways we hadn’t anticipated. Not only can you attend Balticon from literally anywhere that has an internet connection, but the hybrid model makes it easier to attend from within the hotel. Whether you’re feeling all people-d out or you need to rest due to health, you can retreat to your hotel room without missing a thing. It also turns out that building a convention back when Science Fiction was only for misfits and outcasts means we’ve got a pretty cool community that was accidentally neurodivergent-friendly. A lot of our members are either late-diagnosed or undiagnosed, which means we know what it’s like to be a little bit different. Balticon truly is a place where anyone can come and be themselves. We’re more than just a place to buy geeky merch (although we’ve got that, too). We’re a place you can call home. STAY IN THE KNOW Enter your email here Sign Up Thanks for submitting!

< Back Mary G. Thompson Literary Author Mary G. Thompson is the author of the sci-fi novella One Level Down (Tachyon, 2025). She is also the author of The Word, Flicker and Mist, and other novels for children and young adults. Her contemporary thriller Amy Chelsea Stacie Dee (Penguin, 2016) was a winner of the 2017 Westchester Fiction Award and a finalist for the 2018-2019 Missouri Gateway award. Her short fiction has appeared in Dark Matter Magazine, Apex Magazine, and others. Mary is originally from Eugene, Oregon, where she attended the University of Oregon School of Law. She practiced law for seven years, including five years in the US Navy JAGC, and now works as a law librarian. She holds an MFA in Writing for Children from The New School and completed the UCLA School of Theater, Film & Television's Professional Program in Screenwriting. She lives in Washington, DC. Other Socials

< Back Board Gaming We will have a wide selection of board games to play and over two dozen scheduled games to join. You can also bring your own games and sit down at a table. Our staff will be familiar with most of the available games. In addition to our scheduled game demos, we can usually teach or demo almost any of our games if you’d like. We're still working on our game schedule! If you've got specific games you want to play, or you want to volunteer in the Gaming Room, send us an email at gaming@balticon.org ! 4 Tables 50+ Scheduled Games & Demos 150+ Games in our Library Previous Next

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< Back Tyaz Cosplay Costuming Cosplay Tyaz Cosplay has been sewing since she was 10 and cosplaying for 10 years. Although sewing is her original focus, she has also expanded into EVA foam and thermal plastics to broaden her skills. Her goal is to learn a new technique with each new costume. Other Socials