ConGregate 12: Full Schedule

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1:00pm EDT

Costuming: Where to start

Friday July 17, 2026 1:00pm - 2:00pm EDT

High Point Room (Panels)

So you've seen Stormtroopers and Mandalorians, or uniforms from Star Trek and Star Gate, but where do you start if you want to build your first costume?

moderator: Cheralyn Lambeth

Speakers

John Dondero

Costuming Guest

He is a certified Jack of All Trades. He started out as a filmmaker and special effects editor, building both digital and practical effects, and has won many awards for both filmmaking and editing. When COVID hit, he switched gears and became an affiliated Twitch streamer and podcaster... Read More →

Dave Fretz

Costuming Guest

I’ve been a part of science fiction and fantasy fandom for more than 50 years and grew up reading Andre Norton, Allan Dean Foster, and Edgar Rice Burroughs books. I even named my younger son Jason after the lead character in the Ray Harryhausen film Jason and the Argonauts. I was... Read More →

Cheralyn Lambeth

Film Guest

Cheralyn (Cher) Lambeth is a professional costume, prop, and puppet builder whose work includes feature films (The Muppet Christmas Carol, The Patriot, Evan Almighty, The Hunger Games, Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret), television shows (Dinosaurs!, Homeland, Outcast, The ... Read More →

Friday July 17, 2026 1:00pm - 2:00pm EDT
High Point Room (Panels)

Costuming/Cosplay

2:30pm EDT

It's been 25 years Since WHAT Came Out?

Friday July 17, 2026 2:30pm - 3:30pm EDT

High Point Room (Panels)

2001 saw a wide release of films in the genre - from the good (Planet of the Apes) to the bad (Donnie Darko) to the unusual (The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra). Join our panelists as the discuss all things film from 2001.
(Knight's Tale!!)

Moderator: Gary Mitchel

Speakers

Alexandra Christian

Literary Guest

Alexandra Christian is an author of romance and horror (two great tastes that taste great together). She began her career in 2010 writing paranormal romance and has since branched out into contemporary, fantasy, and dark romance with occasional forays into horror. She lives in a creepy... Read More →

Bill Mulligan

Film Guest

A 25+ year veteran of high school science teaching, Bill Mulligan has parlayed his love of horror, science fiction, and fantasy films into podcasting, convention panels, indie filmmaking, and storytelling. With creative partners such as Christine Parker and Mark C. Lucas, he has worked... Read More →

Gary Mitchel

Online Media Guest

Gary Mitchel is a writer, reviewer, gamer, podcaster, and general geek living near Atlanta.Gary is the Co-Director, with Joe Crowe, of the American Sci-Fi Classics Track at Dragon Con. Together, they plot panels on various geeky topics, from 80s vampires, to cats in space, to the... Read More →

Sammie Cassell

Film Guest

Sammie Cassell is a North Carolina based filmmaker, actor, improv and sketch comedian, and all around busy guy. His film/tv credits include Halloween Kills, Eyes of Tammy Faye, Kill Giggles and upcoming appearances in Righteous Gemstones and Please Don’t Destroy. A life long comic book fan and collector along with being a lover of all things horror, wrestling and pop culture, he’s also known as Sammie the Comic Book Man. Sammie and his production partners, Dan Sellers, Jeff Cochran, and Chad Hunt with Wreak Havoc Productions also do the... Read More →

Friday July 17, 2026 2:30pm - 3:30pm EDT
High Point Room (Panels)

Film/TV

4:00pm EDT

Candy Bullets: Humor in Action, Horror, and Dark Fantasy

Friday July 17, 2026 4:00pm - 5:00pm EDT

High Point Room (Panels)

Candy Bullets feels like a funhouse mirror—playful on the surface but bending into darker, unexpected shapes. It pairs sugar-coated slapstick with threads of horror and dark fantasy, sweetening the joke before letting it take surprising, sometimes sharp turns so that lightness and danger bounce off each other. The characters are full of contrasts: a wry demon who quips like a late-night comic, a clownish avenger whose painted smile hides recent wounds, and an apparently innocent soul who treats looming trouble like recess. Our panelists discuss how to blend the "sweet" with the dark in their work.

Moderator: J. Matthew Saunders

Speakers

Richard Kadrey

Guest of Honor

Richard Kadrey is the New York Times bestselling author of the Sandman Slim supernatural noir series. Sandman Slim was included in Amazon’s “100 Science Fiction & Fantasy Books to Read in a Lifetime,” and is in development as a feature film.Some of Kadrey’s other books in... Read More →

Sherrilyn Kenyon

Special Guest

Defying all odds is what #1 New York Times and international bestselling author Sherrilyn Kenyon does best. Since her first book debuted while she was still in college, she has placed more than 80 novels on the New York Times list in all formats and genres, including manga and graphic novels, and has more than 70 million books in print worldwide.A pioneer in paranormal, fantasy, science fiction and romantasy, she has become one of the most popular and influential authors in the world (in adult, YA and... Read More →

Kevin A. Davis

Literary Guest

Kevin A Davis is a fantasy author with over twenty published novels, including the award-winning DRC Files, a paranormal procedural series where the Atlanta-based team hunts cryptids.He resides in north Florida and attends conventions throughout the year, including as staff as Director... Read More →

Alexandra Christian

Literary Guest

J. Matthew Saunders

Literary Guest

J. Matthew Saunders is the author of the Daughters of Shadow and Blood trilogy inspired by the Brides of Dracula, the Dreadful Penny occult detective series, and numerous fantasy and horror short stories. He is a member of HWA and SFWA.He was born in the small Appalachian town of Clayton, Georgia and grew up in Greenville, South Carolina. He received a B.A. in history from Vanderbilt University and a master’s... Read More →

Friday July 17, 2026 4:00pm - 5:00pm EDT
High Point Room (Panels)

Literary

5:30pm EDT

AI Inflection Point

Friday July 17, 2026 5:30pm - 6:30pm EDT

High Point Room (Panels)

AI inflection point: Are we at an "inflection point" in human history where AI will usher in rapid change (or has it already)? Will the AI bubble burst? Is there really a bubble? What might the future look like?

Moderator: Chris Oakley

Speakers

Joey Starnes

Fan Guest

Joey Starnes first claimed her inner geek in 2007 after visiting her first DragonCon. In 2008, she moved to Charlotte, NC and started the Charlotte Geeks, home of the Guardians of the Geekery podcast, the Geekery Market, Two Woke Bonnets podcast and the Merry Mayhem. Her main geekdoms... Read More →

William C. Tracy

Literary Guest

William C. Tracy (he/him) writes and publishes queer science fiction and fantasy through his indie press Space Wizard Science Fantasy. His largest work is the Dissolutionverse: a space opera with music-based magic including nine books and a TTRPG. He’s also published Fruits of ... Read More →

Dennis M. Myers

Literary Guest

Born and raised in central Minnesota, Dennis M. Myers developed a serious reading habit early in life due to the influence of his grandmother. In late high school he read one particularly "awful" book and, with all that teenage hubris, decided that he could do better.After spending... Read More →

Chris Oakley

Fan Guest

Chris Oakley owned and operated Oakley’s Gently Used Books, a bricks & mortar used bookshop with a specialty in Sci Fi/Fantasy, for more than 20 years (1995-2016) in Charlottesville, VA. She has been a bookseller at Madicon, MarsCon, MystiCon, RavenCon, Libertycon DSC50, DSC60 and... Read More →

Brandon Whitworth

Science Guest

Brandon Whitworth is a professional engineer with over 20 years of experience on a variety of projects with many interests inside and outside engineering. His professional career has spanned many projects, including the Space Shuttle program (where he was awarded a Silver Snoopy... Read More →

Friday July 17, 2026 5:30pm - 6:30pm EDT
High Point Room (Panels)

Science

7:00pm EDT

Room Closed

Friday July 17, 2026 7:00pm - 8:00pm EDT

High Point Room (Panels)

Friday July 17, 2026 7:00pm - 8:00pm EDT
High Point Room (Panels)

Room Closed

8:00pm EDT

Star Wars: After the Mando and Grogu

Friday July 17, 2026 8:00pm - 9:00pm EDT

High Point Room (Panels)

A cute little alien in a beskar armor and a silent but deadly bounty hunter have won the hearts of fans across the world. Join our panelists as they discuss this new Star Wars story and where we hope it takes us in the future.

Moderator: Dance Harden

Speakers

Dance Harden

Fan Guest

Dance Harden is a 3rd generation SFF fan with a background in the performing arts. Their kink performance group was the featured local guest for Lollapalooza 1996 in Newport, TN. Later, they studied history and media studies at UTK. After moving to Charlotte, NC in 2008, they entered... Read More →

Tom Hutchens

Costuming Guest

Founder of the Mando Mercs Costume Club, being a Mandalorian fan goes all the way back to 1983, a five-year-old sitting in the theater watching Boba Fett fall into the Sarlacc Pit in Star Wars: Return of the Jedi.

In 2007 Tom founded the Mando Mercs Costume Club (MMCC), becoming o

... Read More →

Bryan Young

Literary Guest

Bryan Young works in many different media. He's published thousands of essays and hundreds of short stories in publications like Marvel and Image Comics, Star Wars Insider, Huffington Post, SYFY, /Film, Script Magazine, Weird Tales, the Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. Library Literary Magaz... Read More →

J. Matthew Saunders

Literary Guest

Carol Cowles

Online Media Guest

Carol has long been a fixture of Geek Culture in Charlotte, NC. She has served for several years as the Programming Director for ConCarolinas and worked the Carolina and Arizona Renaissance Festivals for 15 years. She also podcasts – she is Carol the Cat on Guardians of the Geekery... Read More →

Friday July 17, 2026 8:00pm - 9:00pm EDT
High Point Room (Panels)

Film/TV

9:30pm EDT

Building Larger Than Life Costumes and Props: Challenges and Solutions

Friday July 17, 2026 9:30pm - 10:30pm EDT

High Point Room (Panels)

Whether you're building full-size Daleks, designing car add-ons, or crafting floor-length wings, creating a large costume or prop comes with its own unique challenges. Join our panelists as they share tips, techniques, and stories about how to bring a larger-than-life costume to life.

Moderator: Cheralyn Lambeth

Speakers

Tom Hutchens

Costuming Guest

John Dondero

Costuming Guest

Cheralyn Lambeth

Film Guest

Old Dominion Daleks

Costuming Guest

Rick and family took their love of theater and science fiction and formed Luna-C Productions in 1997. Rick is the director, one of the scriptwriters, and plays several roles in the Luna-C Productions comedy troupe in addition to producing, directing and acting in a number of their... Read More →

Friday July 17, 2026 9:30pm - 10:30pm EDT
High Point Room (Panels)

Costuming/Cosplay

1:00pm EDT

2:30pm EDT

4:00pm EDT

5:30pm EDT

7:00pm EDT

8:00pm EDT

9:30pm EDT

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