Do you know what today is?! We are only 1 MONTH away from Boskone 57! To celebrate, we are interviewing Reiko Murakami, Nicholas Kaufmann, and Dr. Stephen P. Kelner Jr. who will tell you some of their favorite thing about attending Boskone each year!

Reiko Murakami

Reiko Murakami is a U.S. based concept artist and illustrator specializing in surreal fantasy art. With her expressive gesture drawings she focuses on capturing moments filled with unspeakable emotions. In 2013 she started a series called Resonance, a project that depicts complex emotional reactions through metaphorical representation of a figure. Her work has been exhibited at Nucleus Portland, Helikon Gallery, Krabjab Studio, Light Grey Art Lab and published in Spectrum, Infected by Art, ArtOrder Invitational: The Journal, Exposé, 2D Artist, and many others.

Visit Reiko on their Facebook, Twitter, and website!

What is it about Boskone that makes this the convention you choose to attend each year?

Or if this is your first Boskone, what attracted you most to Boskone this year?

I love attending Boskone because it provides a great opportunity to connect with authors, editors and fellow artists. Originally the appeal was mainly because I am local, but after participating in a few panels I found it’s a joy to communicate with the opposite end of the creative community of SFF. Also at Boskone, I get to meet many of the industry’s legendary illustrators. It’s inspiring to be there.

Artists: Fans love looking at the portfolio of artwork and asking artists about some of their most well known images. Which of your images, that receives less attention from fans, do you hold dear? What is it about the creation of that piece that makes it so special for you?

I’ve been making many small round pieces lately. My absolute favorite is the piece called “Flight”. It is a simple drawing of a dead bee on a white wall. This piece didn’t get much reaction on my social media, probably because of the unusual content, but I feel extremely passionate about this piece. This piece was based on the photo I took on one summer day, after finding there was a bee on a wall stuck and dead. The imagery reminded me how fragile our lives are. I projected myself as a struggling artist on the bee, which someone has stomped on it and got killed, but its final posture fixed it as if it’s frozen in the moment of flight.

What will you be working on in 2020? Any new releases or dates that fans should be looking forward to hearing about?

I’ve been working with DC Black Label for cover art of Joe Hill’s Basketful of Heads. Some have been published this year, but more to come in 2020! I’m also on some exciting NDA projects…a couple of video games and book covers!

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Nicholas Kaufmann

Nicholas Kaufmann is the Bram Stoker Award-nominated, Shirley Jackson Award-nominated, Thriller Award-nominated, and Dragon Award-nominated author of nine books, including CHASING THE DRAGON, DYING IS MY BUSINESS, IN THE SHADOW OF THE AXE, and the bestselling horror novel 100 FATHOMS BELOW with Steven L. Kent. In addition to his own work, he has written for such properties as ZOMBIES VS. ROBOTS, THE ROCKETEER, and WARHAMMER 40K. He and his wife live in Brooklyn, NY.

Visit Nicholas on their Facebook, Twitter, and website!

What is it about Boskone that makes this the convention you choose to attend each year?

Or if this is your first Boskone, what attracted you most to Boskone this year?

This will be my second time as a program participant at Boskone. I had such a great time last year that Boskone instantly went on my list of must-attend conventions. The people, the programming, the hotel, it all adds up to a wonderful experience!

Authors: Fans often ask authors to talk about their favorite main characters, but what about the side characters? Who is one of your favorite sidekicks or secondary/tertiary characters who have had a lesser role in your work?

Renshu “Philip” Chen in my novel DYING IS MY BUSINESS and its sequel DIE AND STAY DEAD! He’s a member of the Five-Pointed Star, the magic-powered group that protects New York City from supernatural threats, and a vampire with superhuman strength, biting (ahem) sarcasm, and a “give no f*cks* attitude, which made him very fun to write. He quickly became one of my favorite side characters, and there were big plans in store for him if the series had continued.

What was your first book event or literary convention? Tell us about it! Perhaps you even have a photo to share?

My very first book event was in the year 2000: a reading and signing for an anthology I was in called BELL, BOOK & BEYOND, which was all stories about witches and witchcraft, and which contained my first published story “La Bete est Morte.” The event was at a Barnes and Noble in New Jersey. I can’t quite remember in which city, though. All I remember is how nervous I was and how terrible I was at reading aloud. I’ve gotten much better at it since then!

If you could bring any object or device into the real world from fiction or film, and it would work perfectly, what would you choose? Why would you choose that item?

The TARDIS from Doctor Who. I would love to have a time machine/space ship that could go anywhere I choose. Of course, it couldn’t be the same TARDIS from the show because I would want it to actually work properly!

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Dr. Stephen P. Kelner Jr.

Dr. Stephen P. Kelner Jr. (“Steve”) is a motivational psychologist, a writer, and an assessor and developer of leaders, in no particular order. He is Managing Director and Co-Founder of Ascent Leadership Networks, which develops executive leaders in unique and measurable ways in extraordinary locations (like Skywalker Ranch!). He is published in nonfiction (numerous articles on leadership, capability, and motivation plus the book Motivate Your Writing!) and short fiction, and has a proposal for a book called Motivating Leadership based on his 30 years assessing and developing business and nonprofit leaders. He is married to his favorite editor, award-winning and bestselling mystery and urban fantasy writer Toni L. P. Kelner/Leigh Perry. They are parents to two highly artistic children (animation and music) and live on the North Shore.

Visit Stephen on their Facebook.

What is it about Boskone that makes this the convention you choose to attend each year?

Or if this is your first Boskone, what attracted you most to Boskone this year?

Boskone brings together the best of SF to my mind: diverse and fascinating people talking about interesting things intelligently and provocatively – but without hostility. It uses its long history in places like the art show, but stays on top of the latest developments in speculative fiction. It’s also a chance for me to share things I know with people who can benefit from them.

What topics are you most looking forward to talking about at Boskone?

Honestly, anything you are willing to let me talk about! As a motivational psychologist, I’m always up to discuss what makes people (or aliens) do what they do, and how to tap into that, whether for creative purposes or character creation. As an expert on organizational leadership, I’m interested in looking at the nature of leadership in SF, in real life, and speculatively. I’ve proposed talking about what the latest research says about gender (it’s a continuum, not a switch), race (biologically, it doesn’t exist), and IQ (it’s flawed at best) in contrast with how it has been used in SF, and I’m geared up for a battle on any of that. And given that I have a book proposal in play for motivating leadership (motivation of leaders and used by leaders), I am of course vitally interested in discussing that!

Bonus: Up for a challenge? Give us a haiku or limerick about Boskone!

Fictional empire
Now an SF festival
Helmuth speaks for us!

If you could be a fly on the wall during any scene or event in literature of film, which scene would it be and why? 

Too many choices…but perhaps on the Castle of Glass watching the climactic battle between Nodonn and Aiken Drum at the end of _The Nonborn King_, by Julian May.

Looking back, what was the first piece of work (whether it be from literature, cinema, art, music, video game, toy, or whatever it may be) that first made you love science-fiction and fantasy?

Truth be told, I think the Apollo program did more than anything else. I watched the Apollo 11 moon landing when I was six, and from then on was obsessed with anything related to space travel. I built multiple models of the Apollo spacecraft, then discovered Major Matt Mason (who appears to be getting a movie soon!) toys. The first book of SF I ever read was a Tom Swift, Jr. book, because it had a rocket on the cover. It was terrible SF, but I didn’t know that, and I was fascinated by the concepts. But when it came to the book that hooked me for got, it was _Have Space Suit, Will Travel_, by Robert A. Heinlein. After reading the last line and closing that book, I knew I had to find more…and so I did.

What was your first book event or literary convention? Tell us about it! Perhaps you even have a photo to share?

I think my first event was ChattaCon – IX or X, not sure which – which is still going, in Chattanooga, Tennessee, in the mid-1980s. It was great fun, and introduced me to many aspects of fandom I had never seen before. (I could have bought Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1, too, but knowing it was a one-off joke, I didn’t bother.) I got to see editors on panels as well as a number of writers I knew, and many I didn’t!

If you could bring any object or device into the real world from fiction or film, and it would work perfectly, what would you choose? Why would you choose that item?

The Lens of Arisia, from The Lensman Saga of E. E. “Doc” Smith. Because it guaranteed clear communication through telepathy as well as guaranteeing the integrity of the wearer, and we have little enough of either these days…

Register for Boskone 57 today!