ConGregate 12: Full Schedule

************ THE SCHEDULE IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE, UP TO, AND EVEN DURING, THE CON ************

When using the Sched app, go the bottom of the app and select "My Account." Scroll down to the bottom of the page and hit "Refresh All Data." You should do this MULTIPLE times each day.

con-gregate.com

arrow_back View All Dates

9:00am EDT

Tea 101: Presented by Moments in Tea

Sunday July 19, 2026 9:00am - 10:00am EDT

Piedmont Salons 1-2 (panels)

Join Moments in Tea as they walk you through the basics of Tea - the different types, tools and ways of making it.

Speakers

EJ Isaacs

Literary Guest

EJ Isaacs is at heart, a geek. As a child I grew up with classics in science fiction from Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clark and Robert Heinlein. A late comer to role playing, he enjoyed creating backgrounds to the characters he was playing. For a three-year period, he was involved with... Read More →

Exhibitors

Moments in Tea

Sunday July 19, 2026 9:00am - 10:00am EDT
Piedmont Salons 1-2 (panels)

Fandom

Tech Needs sound system

10:30am EDT

Frail Flesh: A Look at Body Horror

Sunday July 19, 2026 10:30am - 11:30am EDT

Piedmont Salons 1-2 (panels)

From Misery’s intimate, bone-deep dread to Saw’s calculated, mechanized brutality, the depiction of dismemberment and amputation taps an archetypal fear of bodily loss and magnifies anxieties about vulnerability, autonomy, and identity. Join our panelists as they look at a variety of approaches—from film (how camera work, editing, and sound turn physical injury into prolonged emotional experience) to writing (how authors explain the visceral fear of bodily loss). They will examine genre uses in order to comment on power, punishment, illness, and aging, discuss why some viewers recoil while others are drawn to the raw immediacy of these moments, and ask about writer or filmmaker's responsibilities in depicting extreme bodily harm.

Moderator: Gary Mitchel

Speakers

Christine Parker

Film Guest, SickChickFlicks

Christine Parker began her film career in Sanford, North Carolina in 2004 where she wrote and produced her first short film “Second Death” that led to her forming Adrenalin Productions and later Sick Chick Flicks which have produced dozens of short films as well as five feature... Read More →

Alexandra Higgins

Performance Guest

Alexandra Higgins (aka the Platypus Princess) is a self-taught singer/songwriter whose folk-indie sound evokes the spirit of Joan Baez (direct quote heard randomly and unprompted at every performance!). Her voice, often described as angelic, carries melodies that mix ethereal beauty... Read More →

Angela Giddings

Film Guest

A.M. Giddings is a writer, scientist, cellist, independent filmmaker and aspiring swamp hag from North Carolina. She has a PhD in Microbiology and has authored multiple scientific articles in virology, cell line design, and gene therapy. She enjoys writing stories that live within... 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 →

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 →

Sunday July 19, 2026 10:30am - 11:30am EDT
Piedmont Salons 1-2 (panels)

Literary

Tech Needs sound system

12:00pm EDT

"Weird" Science: Unexpected Ways to Put Science in Science Fiction

Sunday July 19, 2026 12:00pm - 1:00pm EDT

Piedmont Salons 1-2 (panels)

In science fiction, we like to see FTL spaceships, strange alien species, resurrected extinct species, instantaneous communication, and similar things. But a lot of everyday items are afterthoughts in sci-fi. How will technology affect clothes? Food? Ordinary medical care? And what about the "soft" sciences, like industrial safety, environmental science, anthropology, or political science? How will those change the landscape of the future?

Moderator: Robert Hampson

Speakers

Angela Giddings

Film Guest

Dave Dobson

Literary Guest

A native of Ames, Iowa, Dave loves writing, reading, boardgames, computer games, improv comedy, pizza, barbarian movies, and the cheaper end of the Taco Bell menu. Also, his wife and kids.Dave has written ten novels including fantasy, sci-fi, mysteries, and thrillers. In addition... Read More →

EJ Isaacs

Literary Guest

Dr. Robert Hampson

Literary Guest

Professor, Neuroscientist, and Unofficial Penguin WhispererWhen not advancing the frontiers of neuroscience or constructing elaborate multiversal portals in his office, Dr. Rob can be found lecturing to an elite audience of penguins in lab coats. An advocate of hands-on learning... Read More →

Sunday July 19, 2026 12:00pm - 1:00pm EDT
Piedmont Salons 1-2 (panels)

Science

Tech Needs sound system

9:00am EDT

10:30am EDT

12:00pm EDT

Get help with the event