Meet the MarsCon 2027 Guests of Honor
Author Guest of Honor – Robert J. Sawyer
Robert J. Sawyer has won the Hugo, Nebula, and John W. Campbell Memorial Awards, all for best novel of the year (for Hominids, The Terminal Experiment, and Mindscan, respectively), as well as the Robert A. Heinlein Award, the Hal Clement Award, the E.E. “Doc” Smith Memorial Award (“the Skylark”), and a record-setting sixteen Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Awards (“Auroras”), plus the top SF awards in China, Japan, France, and Spain. The ABC TV series FlashForward was based on his novel of the same name and he was one of the scriptwriters for that series; he also wrote the two-part finale for the popular fan-film series Star Trek Continues. Rob’s latest novel — his twenty-sixth — is The Downloaded 2: Ghosts in the Machine. A member of the Order of Canada (the highest honor bestowed by the Canadian government), one of the initial inductees into the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame, a judge for Writers of the Future contest, a multiple TEDx speaker, and a guest of honor at the 2023 World Science Fiction Convention (the Worldcon), Rob lives near Toronto. Website: https://sfwriter.com.
Gaming Guest of Honor: Steve Jackson, creator of “Munchkin”
Steve Jackson, founder and editor-in-chief of Steve Jackson Games, is a longtime SF fan, and gets away to cons when he can. He writes filksongs (adequately) and sings (very badly). He is a confirmed net addict. His other hobbies include gardening, dinosaurs, Lego, trains, and Lego trains. In his copious free time, he reads, eats and sleeps.
Since starting his own company in 1980, he has created a number of hits, starting with Car Wars . . . followed shortly by Illuminati, and later by GURPS, the “Generic Universal Roleplaying System.” In 1983, he was elected to the Adventure Gaming Hall of Fame – the youngest person ever so honored. He has personally won 11 Origins Awards, not counting the others the company has received. Woo hoo.
He now spends a good deal of his time helping to manage Steve Jackson Games Incorporated, which at the moment employs about 20 people. But he continues to write, as well. His current hits are Munchkin, a very silly card game about killing monsters and taking their stuff, and Zombie Dice, in which you eat brains and try not to get shotgunned. His current projects include various new games, a variety of Munchkin follow-ups, and the continuing quest to get his games translated into digital
Media Guest of Honor: Jake Pauwels from “Roll for Sandwich”
Jacob “Jake” Pauwels has been many things: videographer, designer, touring musician, writer, dungeon master, husband, stay-at-home father, and now, the most unexpected thus far— TikTok sensation. Pauwels’ “Roll for Sandwich” video series blends the drama and suspense of high-stake TTRPG rolls with the fun of trying new foods. He has amassed a following of upwards of 2.4 million and has created something truly unique that has helped bring the excitement of TTRPGs to a brand-new audience.
Toastmaster: Michael Jon Khandelwal
Michael Khandelwal is the Executive Director of The Muse Writers Center, a nationally recognized literary center in Norfolk, Virginia. An award-winning writer and teacher, he writes poetry, fiction, editorials, profiles, and feature articles, which have appeared in Rattle, Coastal Virginia Magazine, Alt Daily, and elsewhere. Michael teaches poetry and fiction workshops for The Muse, and is the current Chairperson of the Norfolk Electoral Board and a member of the Norfolk Commission on the Arts and Humanities. A graduate of the University of Southern California (BA & MPW), he is a past web content management specialist for The American Council on Education and the past President of the 2008 Electoral College of Virginia.