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Bubonicon 55 is out of this world, literally.

The convention鈥檚 focus is to recognize writers and their literature that take readers to another realm through their words. The three-day convention also recognizes art and film that visually venture into the worlds of science fiction, fantasy and light horror.

The event, which takes place Friday, Aug. 23, through Sunday, Aug. 25, will be held at Marriott sa国际传媒官网网页入口, 2101 Louisiana Blvd. NE. A portion of the convention proceeds benefit Eastern New Mexico鈥檚 University鈥檚 Williamson Library Collection, Roadrunner Food Bank, World Central Kitchen and the American Red Cross.

Another dimension: Bubonicon 55 celebrates science fiction and fantasy in literature, art, film

The event will showcase more than 50 authors and artists.

鈥淚t鈥檚 really a celebration of science fiction and fantasy mostly in literature,鈥� said Craig Chrissinger, Bubonicon chair. 鈥淏ut of course, we do touch base on movies and TV shows and comic books, but our main focus is more traditionally literary oriented.鈥�

Panel discussions on various topics, readings by several authors, and a science fiction and fantasy art show will be part of Bubonicon 55.

鈥淪ome of the artists do light shows of their art or even do demos sometimes,鈥� Chrissinger said. 鈥淎nd then we do have the art show with artwork hung both from out-of-state and in town (artists). We have a dealer鈥檚 room with 33 vendors. We have gaming. There鈥檚 a little bit of everything. But it is more of a traditional, old-fashioned, science fiction convention.鈥�

Co-guests of honor TJ Klune and Mur Lafferty, guest artist Dale Ray Deforest, and toastmaster duo Ursula Vernon and Kevin Sonney will hold panels during the event.

鈥淭J Klune is living in the Pacific Northwest right now,鈥� Chrissinger said. 鈥淗e鈥檚 been writing for a while. He鈥檚 really gotten hot in probably about the last six years. A lot of his fantasy involves queer characters or at least one queer character. He did a book called 鈥楾he House in the Cerulean Sea,鈥� which was really good and 鈥業n the Lives of Puppets.鈥� We鈥檙e excited to have him. I think we鈥檙e one of the first conventions he鈥檚 really done, and I think it鈥檒l be really cool to have him and bring a different voice to science fiction and fantasy.鈥�

Lafferty, who lives in North Carolina, has been doing science fiction for some time. She started in the technology field and became a podcaster.

鈥淪he still does a podcast,鈥� Chrissinger said. 鈥淪he actually has won an award for her podcast, 鈥業 Should Be Writing.鈥� A lot of her science fiction involves a mystery in a science fiction world, that was true of (her books) 鈥楽ix Wakes鈥� and 鈥楽tation Eternity.鈥� She also did the novelization of 鈥楽olo: A Star Wars Story.鈥� 鈥�

This year鈥檚 toastmaster duo are Ursula Vernon and her husband Kevin Sonney. Vernon began her career as an artist and later started illustrating children鈥檚 books. She authors her adult oriented material under the pseudonym T. Kingfisher.

鈥淪he鈥檚 been doing a lot of Southern gothic horror,鈥� Chrissinger said of Vernon. 鈥淪he (recently attended) the Glasgow, Scotland, Worldcon, and she just won another Hugo Award there for a novella. It鈥檚 a fantasy. It鈥檚 a novella called 鈥楾hornhedge.鈥� 鈥�

Sonney works within the technology field, does podcasting and raises chickens.

鈥淭hey always have interesting stuff to talk about,鈥� Chrissinger said of Vernon and Sonney. 鈥淭hey鈥檝e been here before. Ursula, in fact, we had her as an artist guest. Then we liked them so much that we said, 鈥楲et鈥檚 have them back as toastmaster.鈥� 鈥�

Deforest is an Indigenous artist who was raised in the Farmington area. He created the cover for American fiction writer Rebecca Roanhorse鈥檚 鈥淩ace to the Sun.鈥� Roanhorse has been a guest at Bubonicon in the past.

鈥淗e鈥檚 done some comic books and he鈥檚 done a lot of graphic art, poster art, usually with some kind of Indigenous twist,鈥� Chrissinger said of Deforest. 鈥淗e鈥檚 done a Native American Wonder Woman, I think is really wonderful. He鈥檚 done stormtroopers. He鈥檚 actually done some characters from 鈥楻eservation Dogs,鈥� the FX (television) series. It鈥檚 a different voice.鈥�

Science speaker Darren Raspa will also give a presentation.

鈥淒arren Raspa actually works at the Air Force Research Laboratory here in town,鈥� Chrissinger said. 鈥淎nd people have been asking if our science talk this year could be something about New Mexico鈥檚 involvement in nuclear development because of the popularity of the 鈥極ppenheimer鈥� film. And Darren Raspa is the historian and archives director (at the research laboratory), so he is putting together a talk and talking about New Mexico鈥檚 involvement (in that).鈥�

There are many other activities happening at the event including a costume contest, gaming and the Green Slime Awards. There also will be movie showings in the science fiction, fantasy and horror genres that will be shown through Sept. 1 at the Guild Cinema, 3405 Central Ave. NE.

Bubonicon is working with Empire Board Game Library and others to offer board games, card games, and other table game activities. A popular event that takes place at Bubonicon is the Duke City Settlers of Catan Championship. Catan players try to gain territory without confrontation and expand like pioneers.

鈥淕aming has been part of science fiction conventions for a long time,鈥� Chrissinger said. 鈥淭hey also do some board games and some tabletop games. Tabletop games are the ones where usually they鈥檙e using little figures and actually constructing whatever terrain they鈥檙e going through.鈥�

The Green Slime Awards is a playful version of the Golden Raspberry Awards that recognizes 鈥渨retchedness鈥� in film, books and more. This year鈥檚 contenders include 鈥淩ebel Moon,鈥� 鈥淪asquatch Sunset,鈥� 鈥淢adame Webb,鈥� 鈥淭he Garfield Movie,鈥� 鈥淎tlas,鈥� 鈥淭he Spiderwick Chronicles鈥� and Oreo Sour Patch Kids sandwich cookies.

鈥淎 lot of these films that get nominated, it will be like, 鈥榃ow, look at all these special effects. Isn鈥檛 it beautiful? It鈥檚 not looking too bad鈥� but the script is horrible,鈥� Chrissinger said. 鈥淪ometimes you have really good casting (but) it doesn鈥檛 matter. The greatest actor in the world can鈥檛 make a bad script better.鈥�