February 10, 2004
News for PortConMaine 2004:
PortConMaine announces guests
PortConMaine announces the following guests to attend the convention's third year celebration: Joe Digiorgi, Nami, Daniel Kevin Harrison, Jessica McLaughlin, Jared A. Sorensen, Craig Enslin, Nate Frisoli, Jason Amerkanian, Jason Libby, Allison Carmichael, and Ian M. Clark.
Joe Digiorgi is an Anime dub producer, director, and some-time voice actor. The owner of Headline Studios, he directed: Boogiepop Phantom, KO Beast, Assemble Insert, Comic Party, Weather Report Girl, and Muryou. He produced the dubs of: Record of Lodoss War, Gokudo, Madara, His and Her Circumstances, and Gokudo among others. A four-time Grammy nominee for Sony records, Joe has a long list of credits in the music recording industry as well, including: Deep Purple's Machinehead, Richie Blackmore's Rainbow, and Tom Chapin.
Nami: She draws, she is a published artist, and she is half of Seraphic. Seraphic being an online comic set in the future, featuring 3 girls who are trying to help save humanity. And for those of you who attended PortConMaine 2003 -- this is the woman who drew tons of free sketches down in the artists' alley for whomever stopped by. She hopes to see you either in her panel, at the cosplay or in artist alley. Also Nami would like to add "zombies are cool, so are space pirates. ::nods::"
Daniel Kevin Harrison: Daniel Kevin Harrison will be returning for his third consecutive year at PortCon in 2004. A voice actor living in Maine, his credits include the title character in Gokudo, Seishinjia in Madara, Don the mechanic in KO Beast, and Hiro in Gravitation. Last year, at PortCon 2003, Harrison showed up with a surprise guest; Joe Digiorgi, director of Boogiepop Phantom (among others) and owner of Headline Sound, one of the busiest anime dubbing studios on the East Coast, who held an impromptu voice audition during the guest panel. Harrison has promised more surprises for PortCon 2004 and hopes to see everyone return from 2003.
Most recent news! Daniel just finished recording the first 8 episodes of Muryou in New York!
Jessica McLaughlin: AKA: A Girl Named Goo: Fanfic author who made the transition to original "anime" series in 2001, she is the creator of Spirit Keepers, the story of teenagers who combine with Spirits to fight evil Spirits. Goo will be offering tips on making the transition from fanfiction to original series, how to get published in a variety of mediums, and how to gain publicity for online-published works, as well as answering any questions about herself and her series. http://www.puddleofgoo.com/
Jared A. Sorensen is a role-playing game designer currently living in southern New Hampshire. He is the author of numerous self-published works, including the critically-acclaimed InSpectres and octaNe (winner of a 2003 Out of the Box Award). Jared is attending the con to run some of his games and shed some light into the world of game design and self-publishing. His RPG company "Memento Mori Theatricks" can be found online at www.memento-mori.com.
Craig Enslin is a talented artist who shares his time between advanced graphics/web development and sci-fi/fantasy illustration. Over the past 15 years, he has worked in comics and the gaming industry. His specialty, however, is to provide custom illustrations for individual clients. To date, over 2000 commissions have been completed for a satisfied clientele. He can usually be found scribbling behind his "Please Disturb the Artist" sign. http://www.enslin.com/fantasy/
Nate Frisoli: The main artist, webmaster, and blue-collar sex machine behind the online comic strip Children at Play. A college based comic that has less to do with college and more to do with monkeys, evil foliage bent on world domination, and nazi-zombies and the philosophical ramifications of their possible existence. This will be his first ever convention of any sort, and he is a little afraid of the thousands upon thousands of rabid fangirls who will undoubtedly be awaiting his arrival, and be possessing for him, the gift that keeps on giving, pie.
Jason Amerkanian was born in New Jersey and grew up in rural Limington, Maine. At a young age he met his best friend Jason Libby when he was introduced to scouting. You could catch him with a scout handbook in one hand and a Marvel Superhero's guide book in the other. He became very involved with all kinds of gaming; everything from live action role playing in Salem, MA to staying up all night trying to find and defeat that merciless, marvel villain. Jason spent six years between the Army National Guard and Army Reserves traveling from Arkansas to North Dakota to Maine. In the year 2002 he fulfilled a dream and married his loving wife Deborah.
They currently reside in Portland, Maine. He has been working for Advantage Payroll for two years and just recently started a business venture with Jason Libby. Together they are bringing to life the gaming world they knew as kids and giving local artists the ability to display their talent.
Jason Libby was born in Portland, ME and grew up in Limington, ME. As a child Jason loved to read comic books and later learned about the joys of RPGs. He taught his best friend, Jason Amerkanian, how to play Marvel Superheroes, a game which became an all weekend gig. Jason was also heavily involved with Boy Scouts and loved the water, spending weeks on end in the summer swimming at his grandparent's camp on big Sebago. Jason also began to LARP (Mind's Eye) at USM in '94, when it was fresh and new. He later joined the Navy, placing him in Great Lakes, Philadelphia (with Jason Amerkanian) and Texas. Illness brought Jason back to Maine, but he continued his Navy career. After many trials and tribulations with his illness, Jason beat it, left the Navy and began to go to USM as an English Major. Jason is married to his beloved wife and currently plays Mr. Mom for work. He is also the founder of Fuzion Forum, a yahoo group dedicated to promoting the Fuzion game system.
Jason has written one RPG Gamer's Guide to the Guardian Universe: UN Specials. He has also co-written Guardian Universe Core Fuzion RPG and Guardian Universe Black Ops.
Dilly Green Bean Games was created by Jason Amerkanian and Jason Libby. The name taken from the dilly green bean pickles they used to eat during our all weekend game sessions. If you want to know more, come see them at the convention
Allison Carmichael: A College student from Rhode Island, she has been studying anime and manga as an artform for about 7 years. She has developed numerous stories from the sanctity of her suburban bedroom but her official first comic was a short story she did on a lark called The Story From Hell. It gathered quite a fanbase on the popular art web site: DeviantART where she's known by the handle Manga Punk Sai. Web link: http://mangapunksai.deviantart.com/.
Guest news: Allison was recently made an administrator of the anime gallery at the site her comic is hosted at; DeviantART!! Congratulations, Allison!
Ian M. Clark is a fantasy novelist originally from Maine, now living in New Hampshire. Ian's Elder Earth Saga is comprised of two books, Prophecy of Shadows (released in 2001) and Plains of the Past (released in 2003). Ian balances his geek side with his secret identity as a mild-mannered sports reporter for New Hampshire's largest daily newspaper, The Union Leader, where he covers the New England Patriots among other things. Ian and his wife Amy have one son, Kaiden, who was born in July of 2003. They own a dog and two cats and live in central New Hampshire. As a special offer at PortConMaine, anyone buying one or both of Ian's books will receive a free mini comic that ties into the Elder Earth books. The black and white mini comic was written by Ian and drawn by Dave Morello of unredcomicbooks. The mini takes place a few days before Prophecy of Shadows and stars one of the popular characters from that book. Visit his website at: www.ianmclark.com.
More guests to follow! Check out the website at www.portconmaine.com for more information.
