Category: Program

Presented by Kay Gray and Crysta K Coburn

Have you ever wondered what lurks in the Great Lakes and beyond? What Eldritch horrors could make themselves known at any time?

Join the hosts of Haunted Mitten to hear all about the weird world of lake monsters!

Kay Gray has been studying the paranormal and supernatural for close to 25 years. She is co-host of the popular podcast Haunted Mitten, co-author of the book Ypsilanti Ghosts and Legends, as well as several short stories in the Steampunk genre, and an occasional dramaturge for the Neighborhood Theatre Group. When she is not writing or reading, she can be found lost in nature with her dog and husband. Find her online @kgraywrites on almost all platforms.

Crysta K. Coburn has been writing award-winning stories for most of her life. Her first short story was published at the age of sixteen after winning runner-up in a local writing contest. She earned her bachelor’s degree in creative writing from Western Michigan University in 2005. She is a journalist, fiction writer, poet, playwright, editor, podcaster, and occasional lyricist. She co-wrote the book “Ypsilanti Ghosts and Legends” with Kay Gray and served as editor for “The Queen of Clocks and Other Steampunk Tales,” “Cogs, Crowns, and Carriages,” and “Gears, Ghouls, and Gauges” (the latter two with Phoebe Darqueling). She co-hosts the popular podcast Haunted Mitten. Find her online at crystakcoburn.com.

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Presented by Scott Cummings

The 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago was big. Abnormally big. “The unconquerable American desire to do things on a bigger scale than anybody else, which often results in our ‘biting off more than we can chew,’ has again run away with us,” wrote Scribner’s Magazine about this colossal enterprise in Jackson Park. “There are many illustrations of this gnawing hunger at the World’s Fair.” This travelogue and magic lantern show will serve up a feast of stupendous attractions on the fairgrounds, from a tenebrous treehouse, to a chthonian crystalline cave, to a maddeningly mountainous machine on the Midway. Also on the menu are eldritch electrical enigmas, a gargantuan gourd, an ominous oven, and the biggest gun, the biggest golden effigy, and the biggest spyglass in the biggest building in the world.

Scott Cummings is an independent researcher who publishes worldsfairchicago1893.com, an educational website devoted to the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. When not exploring the White City, he has served on the Board of Directors of the International Wizard of Oz Club and as editor-in-chief of its journal. He writes articles and presents talks on a wide range of topics, including renewable energy, obscure theater shows, author L. Frank Baum, and the history of the Chicago fairgrounds. He presented a talk on “13 Places to Hide a Body at the 1893 World’s Fair” for the 2024 Chicago Steampunk Exposition.

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Presented by Kelsey Josephson

At the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, a plethora of groundbreaking inventions were unveiled, showcasing the ingenuity and innovation of the era. Notable inventions from the fair included the first successful hand-powered dishwasher, the Ferris Wheel, Cracker Jack popcorn, and the first moving pictures, all of which left a lasting impact on society. Come explore these fascinating innovations and their enduring legacy!

Kelsey Josephson is a sci-fi fantasy author and member of SFWA and ALLi from the Midwest. She has a deep love for Universal Monster movies, all things related to Nikola Tesla, and iced coffee.

Her work includes Strange Happenings, a gaslamp fantasy series set in an alternate timeline, and Forsaken Beauty and the Etherbeast, a steampunk fairy tale retelling. You can find more about her work by visiting www.kelseyjosephson.com

See the Current 2025 Program

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Presented by David D. Levine

Many writers are naturals with characters or worldbuilding, but struggle with plot; others have no difficulty plotting but find their characters flat. Hugo-winning science fiction writer David D. Levine shows you his process for developing characters, plot, and world simultaneously and cohesively.

David D. Levine is the author of space-opera caper novel The Kuiper Belt Job. His previous works include Andre Norton Nebula Award winning novel Arabella of Mars, sequels Arabella and the Battle of Venus and Arabella the Traitor of Mars, and over sixty SF and fantasy stories. His story “Tk’Tk’Tk” won the Hugo, and he has been shortlisted for awards including the Hugo, Nebula, Campbell, and Sturgeon. Stories have appeared in Asimov’s, Analog, Clarkesworld, F&SF, Tor.com, numerous Year’s Best anthologies, and his award-winning collection Space Magic.

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Presented by M. Leigh Hood

Ancient Greek philosophers drank the blood of youths, English kings took powdered skull, and there’s a reason the world has fewer mummies than it used to. Take a dark tour through Europe’s hidden history of medical cannibalism, corpse medicine, and the restoratively macabre – for your health, of course.

M. Leigh Hood is a rare beast of the Cincinnati wilds, most often found walking her monstrous hound, Shuck, or working hard to exacerbate her carpal tunnel syndrome at the computer. Her work appears in Fairy Tales Punk’d Volume II, Cincinnati Magazine, and the in-development MonThology project.

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Presented by Fiona Finnigan

Emotion, chaos, madness- the world strange world of the mind, and the psyche. Shifting, changing, impossible to define or describe rationally and logically. What else to do but make Art about it?

In this lecture, we will discuss the late 19th and early 20th art movements of Expressionism, Dada, and Surrealism.

Fiona Finnigan received her Master in History of Visual and Material Culture ( thats the history of stuff!) from Southern Illinois University. She is an adjunct professor of art at Lincoln Land Community College in Springfield, Illinois. In her free time, she enjoys working on her steampunk gear and doing every kind of needlework known to mankind.

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Presented by M. Leigh Hood

Dive to the darkest depths of the ocean, fall back through time, and lose yourself in the void of space as we explore concepts, objects, creatures, and events to fascinate and terrify. It’s all real science and it’s all really horrible (or horribly cool, depending on your point of view).

*Bring your own smelling salts.

M. Leigh Hood is a rare beast of the Cincinnati wilds, most often found walking her monstrous hound, Shuck, or working hard to exacerbate her carpal tunnel syndrome at the computer. Her work appears in Fairy Tales Punk’d Volume II, Cincinnati Magazine, and the in-development MonThology project.

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PRESENTED BY: Leanna Renee Hieber

Why does this particular work by Bram Stoker have such lasting appeal? Gothic novelist and a seasoned stage actress (having played both Mina and Lucy in professional productions), Leanna Renee Hieber leads a spirited discussion of everyone’s favorite versions of this classic tale and why its popularity remains unmatched.

Leanna Renee Hieber is an actress, playwright, ghost tour guide and the award-winning, bestselling author of over fourteen Gothic, Gaslamp Fantasy, Supernatural Suspense and Non-Fiction books for adults and teens with publishers such as Tor, Sourcebooks and Kensington Books. A Haunted History of Invisible Women: True Stories of America’s Ghosts, co-authored with Andrea Janes, is a 2022 Bram Stoker Award finalist for “Superior Achievement in Non-Fiction”. The book explores the intersection of women’s history and ghost stories.

Her Strangely Beautiful saga, beginning with The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker, hit Barnes & Noble and Borders Bestseller lists and garnered numerous regional genre awards. Tor Books notes Strangely Beautiful as a “foundational text of Gaslamp Fantasy” and new, revised editions are now available via Tor. Darker Still hit American Bookseller’s Association’s “Indie Next List”, was a Scholastic Book Club “Highly Recommended” title and a Daphne du Maurier award finalist.

The Spectral City was a # 1 bestseller across several genres and digital platforms. A 4-time Prism Award winner for excellence in the genre of Fantasy Romance, Leanna’s short stories have been featured in notable anthologies and her books have been selected for national book club editions as well as translated into many languages. She lectures on Gothic fiction and ghostly themes for prominent institutions such as New York University, Miami University and at conventions, libraries and conferences around the country.

A proud member of Actors Equity and SAG-AFTRA, Mystery Writers of America, SFWA, Historical Novel Society, International Thriller Writers and The Dramatists Guild, she lives in New York where she is a licensed NYC tour guide working with Boroughs of the Dead and has been featured on television in Mysteries at the Museum and Beyond the Unknown, discussing Victorian Spiritualism. She tours a one-woman show as 19th century designer Clara Driscoll and is represented by Sara Megibow and Chelsea Hensley of the KT Literary Agency.

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PRESENTED BY: Leanna Renee Hieber

Come on, you know you want to run away from the haunted house, in the rain, in your nightgown. Let’s talk about it. Since 1764, the Gothic Novel has been a genre critics love to hate, despite its consistent popularity through the centuries. Award-winning Gothic, Gaslamp Fantasy novelist Leanna Renee Hieber (Tor Books, Sourcebooks, Kensington Books) leads an irreverent, entertaining brief history of the Gothic Novel and discusses its social, psychological and artistic impact and importance into the modern age.

Leanna Renee Hieber is an actress, playwright, ghost tour guide and the award-winning, bestselling author of over fourteen Gothic, Gaslamp Fantasy, Supernatural Suspense and Non-Fiction books for adults and teens with publishers such as Tor, Sourcebooks and Kensington Books. A Haunted History of Invisible Women: True Stories of America’s Ghosts, co-authored with Andrea Janes, is a 2022 Bram Stoker Award finalist for “Superior Achievement in Non-Fiction”. The book explores the intersection of women’s history and ghost stories.

Her Strangely Beautiful saga, beginning with The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker, hit Barnes & Noble and Borders Bestseller lists and garnered numerous regional genre awards. Tor Books notes Strangely Beautiful as a “foundational text of Gaslamp Fantasy” and new, revised editions are now available via Tor. Darker Still hit American Bookseller’s Association’s “Indie Next List”, was a Scholastic Book Club “Highly Recommended” title and a Daphne du Maurier award finalist.

The Spectral City was a # 1 bestseller across several genres and digital platforms. A 4-time Prism Award winner for excellence in the genre of Fantasy Romance, Leanna’s short stories have been featured in notable anthologies and her books have been selected for national book club editions as well as translated into many languages. She lectures on Gothic fiction and ghostly themes for prominent institutions such as New York University, Miami University and at conventions, libraries and conferences around the country.

A proud member of Actors Equity and SAG-AFTRA, Mystery Writers of America, SFWA, Historical Novel Society, International Thriller Writers and The Dramatists Guild, she lives in New York where she is a licensed NYC tour guide working with Boroughs of the Dead and has been featured on television in Mysteries at the Museum and Beyond the Unknown, discussing Victorian Spiritualism. She tours a one-woman show as 19th century designer Clara Driscoll and is represented by Sara Megibow and Chelsea Hensley of the KT Literary Agency.

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