News from Norwescon 47

May 2024

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Tracy Drain
Isis Asare
Paizo
Election Results
Charities
Little Free Library
Convention Planning

Norwescon 47 Welcomes Guests of Honor!

Science Guest of Honor Tracy Drain

Tracy Drain is a systems engineer with a career steeped in deep space exploration. In her 20+ years in the aerospace field, she helped develop and/or operate robotic spacecraft including the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, the Kepler mission (an exoplanet hunter), the Juno mission (orbiting Jupiter), and the Psyche mission (on its way to an asteroid). Drain recently served as the lead flight systems engineer for the Europa Clipper mission, slated to launch in October 2024. She has now taken on the role of "Launch to Mars" mission manager for Clipper, and will lead the operations team through the first four months of checkouts and the Mars flyby gravity assist (a key milestone in the spacecraft's 5.5-year journey to the Jovian system).

A life-long learner, Drain loves encouraging people to nurture their curiosity and explore the wonders that surround us. She serves on the planning committee for the National Academy of Science's Science and Entertainment Exchange and on the advisory board of Arizona State University's Interplanetary Initiative. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, mentoring, watching sci-fi, documentaries and K-dramas, and studying languages.

Special Guest of Honor Isis Asare

Isis Asare is the CEO/founder of Sistah Scifi. Sistah Scifi is the first Black-owned bookstore focused on science fiction and fantasy in the United States, as validated by the American Booksellers Association. Located in cyberspace, Sistah Scifi is a national brand with over 40K points of contact. In February 2023, the first three Sistah Scifi book vending machines were launched in California and Washington.

Interested in checking out one of her vending machines?

There is one in the Northwest African American Museum in Seattle. Visit their website to learn more about them. And the Northwest African American Museum participates in the First Thursdays program (admission to this and other participating museums is free the first Thursday of every month). Plan a visit and show them some love. Museums are cool!!

Spotlight Publisher Paizo

Washington-based Paizo.inc is the publisher of the award-winning Pathfinder roleplaying game, Pathfinder adventure card game, Pathfinder Tales novels, and Starfinder science-fantasy roleplaying game, as well as numerous board games and accessories. In the 15+ years since its founding, Paizo has received more than 100 major awards and has become one of the most influential companies in the hobby games industry.

Norwescon 47 Elections results

Norwescon is pleased to announce the winners of the Norwescon 47 elections! The convention committee elects the chair and vice chair for the upcoming year. They also select two members of the committee to serve on the guest of honor selection committee. This committee helps select future guests of honor.

CHAIR Rob Stewart
VICE-CHAIR Shawna Batty
GUEST OF HONOR SELECTION COMMITTEE
John (JD) Demboski
Scot Oliver

And thank you to all candidates and to all who participated in the voting.

A Shout-Out to the Norwescon Community!

Norwescon members raised $990.00 for this year’s charity recipient, Young Black & Brilliant Book Club. Using the transformative power of books, YB&B fosters literacy and life skills for our local youth. We want to thank all of our members who donated items as well as everyone who visited the art show and made a purchase to support YB&B.

A Big Thank You to all Norwescon Booklovers!

The Norwescon Little Free Library was a huge success; thank you to everyone who donated! We estimate that 12,000 books found new homes this year. It's never too early to plan for next time. Contact if you're local and need a pick-up, or always feel free to bring donations to the table during the convention!

Convention Planning Starts Soon - Send Us Your Ideas!

Do you have an idea for a panel? Let us know now as planning begins for Norwescon 47 this summer. We want to make sure our program is as engaging to our members as possible, and will gladly consider your suggestions as we work with our pros and panelists to craft our programming each year. Please send us your ideas via our Panel Suggestion Page.

Norwescon is also looking for panelists! If you are interested, let us know in detail who you are, your area of expertise and why you would be a great fit for us. Programming can't do what it does without our fabulous panelists. Please fill out our panelist application form to be considered for this coming year.

Norwescon 47 will be April 17--20, 2025 at the DoubleTree by Hilton Seattle Airport in SeaTac, Washington. Join us for a weekend of sci-fi and fantasy fun!

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