12:30 - 1:30
Panel: Tools of the Trade
The Art of Crafting
With attention to detail, careful and precise movements, and unlimited creativity, discuss the finer points of Crafting. What research goes into accurately portraying the craftmanship? Where do the ideas come from?
Moderator: Jay Taylor
Panelists: Vasiliy Mahanenko, Jonathan Brooks, Kit Falbo, Marc Alan Edelheit, Charles Dean
Vasiliy Mahanenko
Vasiliy Mahanenko is a fantasy and sci fi author and one of the original founding fathers of the new genre of LitRPG - the MMO-based fantasy and sci fi. His debut novel The Way of the Shaman series took Russian literature by storm in 2012.
Vasiliy dipped into his college-days insider knowledge as a hardcore gamer in order to create a believable world of the virtual-reality MMO game. His bestselling series combines fiction and video games, telling the story of Shaman and his friends stuck in the ruthless reality of Barliona. He used his more than ten years' experience as an ERP implementation project manager to approach his writing in a well-organized manner, working to a strict schedule, a set of deadlines and even a budget. At the moment, the series boasts six novels with the seventh one in the works - this time the author expands on stories of Shaman's companions and those who helped and supported him in his trials and tribulations.
Jonathan Brooks
Jonathan has worked in retail for most of his life but has been an avid reader of fantasy books since around age 12. In addition, he has been playing videogames since he got an Atari 2600 when he was 5 years old. Consequently, he fell in love with the LitRPG, GameLit, and Dungeon Core genres when he first learned about them. Currently, he has 33 books published and more on the way!
Kit Falbo
Kit Falbo, Born in 1980. Top 10 litRPG author according to some, fabulous friend according to others. 2021 SPSFC contender.
Marc Alan Edelheit
Marc is an avid reader and accomplished author that spends his days – and nights – dreaming and writing about all things fantasy and sci-fi. In 2015 Marc decided to make his dream a reality and self-published his first fantasy novel; the rest is history!
Marc has a Bachelor's Degree in Science and obtained a Masters in Education as a Reading and Writing Specialist along with a Masters in Administration. After several years of moonlighting as a writer, Marc applied his experience as a business leader in the healthcare industry to his writing career to become a fulltime author in 2018.
Marc has traveled the world, from Asia to Europe, even at one point crossing the border at Checkpoint Charlie in Berlin toward the end of the Cold War. He is the ultimate history fan and incorporates much of that passion into his work to bring greater realism to his books.
Marc devours several books a week, ranging from history to science fiction and fantasy. He currently resides in New Hope, Pennsylvania, just miles from where Washington crossed the Delaware.
Charles Dean
Charles Dean has an English Degree and an MBA. He's worked in multiple service and sales level jobs. He spent most of his childhood playing every story-based RPG and reading every fantasy book he could get his hands on. When he finally ran out, as the price of books and games was rather costly, he tried writing his own. The first LitRPG he produced was a simple Diablo 2 fanfic, involving the president becoming a Paladin in an epic quest to save the world from a treacherous demon's nefarious plot. Unfortunately, this book was part of a creative writing assignment for a school project and the teacher deemed it 'too violent.' It would be over a decade later until he finally had free time to begin his next attempt at a LitRPG with his original series The Bathrobe Knight.