< Back Mark L. Van Name Literary Author Mark L. Van Name is a writer, technologist, and spoken word performer. He has published five novels (One Jump Ahead, Slanted Jack, Overthrowing Heaven, Children No More, & No Going Back), as well as an omnibus collection of his first two books (Jump Gate Twist); edited or co-edited four anthologies (Intersections: The Sycamore Hill Anthology, Transhuman, The Wild Side, and Onward, Drake!), and written many short stories. Those stories have appeared in a wide variety of books and magazines. As a technologist, he is the CEO of a fact-based marketing and learning services firm, Principled Technologies, Inc. He has published over a thousand articles in the computer trade press, as well as a broad assortment of essays and reviews. As a spoken word artist, he has created and performed five shows—Science Magic Sex; Wake Up Horny, Wake Up Angry; Mr. Poor Choices; Mr. Poor Choices II: I Don’t Understand; and Mr. Poor Choices III: That Moment When. Other Socials

< Back John Appel Literary Author John Appel is a science fiction, fantasy, and RPG adventure writer. Now retired from the IT trenches, he lives with his wife and two adult children smack between downtown Baltimore and downtown Annapolis and makes daily trips to the word mines. His debut novel ASSASSIN’S ORBIT was published by Rebellion in July 2021 and was a finalist for the 2022 Compton Crook Award. John is a graduate of the Viable Paradise workshop and a founding member of the Maryland Space Opera Collective writing group (MD SPOC). Other Socials

< Back Compton Crook Selections The 2025 Compton Crook Award winner will be announced in the weeks leading up to Balticon 59. The Compton Crook Award is presented to the best of each year's English language first novel by an author in the field of science fiction, fantasy, or horror by the members of the Baltimore Science Fiction Society at our annual science fiction convention, Balticon, the Maryland Regional Science Fiction Convention. Awards have been presented since 1983. The award is also known as the Compton Crook/Stephen Tall Award. Visit the Compton Crook page on the BSFS website for more information.

< Back To Be Announced 2025 Compton Crook Winner The 2025 Compton Crook Award Finalists The Book of Love by Kelly Link Someone You Can Build a Nest In by John Wiswell The Stars Too Fondly by Emily Hamilton Sun of Blood and Ruin by Mariely Lares The Wings Upon Her Back by Samantha Mills The 2025 Compton Crook Award winner will be announced in the weeks leading up to Balticon 59. The Compton Crook Award is presented to the best of each year's English language first novel by an author in the field of science fiction, fantasy, or horror by the members of the Baltimore Science Fiction Society at our annual science fiction convention, Balticon, the Maryland Regional Science Fiction Convention. Awards have been presented since 1983. The award is also known as the Compton Crook/Stephen Tall Award. More Information about the Crompton Crook Award can be found on the BSFS's website... 2025 Book Selection

< Back Martin Berman-gorvine Literary Author After an eventful youth living in Israel and fathering 3 sons, I live with my wife and 2 of my now-grown sons in Potomac, Maryland. We also have two dogs and five cats, all rescues. Occasionally I flee to the wilds of Chincoteague, Virginia, there to rusticate in a tent among the wild ponies and the mosquitos. I have authored 6 science fiction novels, many with an alternate history theme: the Sidewise Award-winning The Severed Wing (as Martin Gidron) (Livingston Press, 2002); 36 (Livingston Press, 2012); Seven Against Mars (Wildside Press, 2013); Save the Dragons! (Wildside Press, 2013), which was a finalist for the Prometheus Award; Heroes of Earth (Wildside Press, 2015); and Monsters of Venus (Wildside Press, 2017). I'm also the author of the “Days of Ascension” horror novel series: All Souls Day (2016), Day of Vengeance (2017), Day of Atonement (2018), and Judgment Day (2020), all published by Silver Leaf Books. In my spare time, I'm a high school English teacher. Other Socials

< Back Sarah Avery Literary Author Sarah Avery's first book, Tales from Rugosa Coven, won the 2015 Mythopoeic Fantasy Award. Her short fiction has appeared in Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Nowa Fantastyka, Space and Time, Fantasy Scroll, and Black Gate, where she was also a regular contributor on series fantasy and teaching fantasy literature. With David Sklar, she coedited the Trafficking in Magic, Magicking in Traffic anthology. Thanks to a hundred-odd (and perhaps also just plain odd) Kickstarter backers, you can read her novella, The Imlen Brat. Grants from the Maryland State Arts Council and the Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County helped her to design and release much of her short fiction backlist in ebook form. An escaped academic, she lives in Maryland. Other Socials

< Back Emily Anne Lewis Filk/Music Musician Emily got hooked on filk as a member of Sassafrass. Having played Baldur in Sassafrass' production "Sundown" at Balticon 2012, Emily has come back to Balticon ever since then, now serving as the second in command for the Music track. Emily is an avid scifi/fantasy fan and songwriter/singer. Other Socials

< Back Chris Oakley Literary Book Seller Chris Oakley owned and operated Oakley’s Gently Used Books, a bricks & mortar used bookshop with a specialty in Sci Fi/Fantasy, for more than 20 years (1995-2016) in Charlottesville, VA and a bookseller at Madicon, MarsCon, MystiCon, RavenCon, Libertycon, DSC50, DSC60 and Omegacon. She has edited and published “undergound" newspapers as well as literary magazines. (Chris Oakley collection of alternative press, Special Collections, University of Delaware). As a GCIU Journeyman, she worked in small commercial print shops before opening her bookshop in 1995. She was the organizer and moderator for the VA Festival of the Book Sci Fi/ Fantasy programs with Katherine Kurtz, Hugh Howey, Stephen Hickman, Toni Weisskopf, Kim Harrison, Colleen Doran, David Coe, Jack Campbell (John Hemry) and others. She does volunteer work to raise money for her local Friends of the Library (Jefferson-Madison Regional) book sales. (Our team raised over $160,000 for the library system at our October 2024 sale.) Other Socials