WHO

When I was a kid, I always had some big project slated for the summer. A two-story treehouse, a boy-detective agency, a Super 8 movie production. There were three of us then, too. And we made magic. I'm fifty now. My friends are different. Hairier. But the magic is mostly the same.

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 ALEX DAWSON (Owner). I teach Creative Writing at Rutgers University, and I'm the curator/host of Rutgers University's "Inside the Writers House," a weekly series of candid conversations with acclaimed authors from all over the world. I  helm "WINTER IS HERE," an annual fantasy fiction and adventure retreat/workshop (Scotland, Ireland, Iceland) with authors Lev Grossman, Dave Rudden, and Michael Swanwick. Until 2012, I was the owner of The Raconteur, a now-defunct bookshop and performance venue hailed by The New York Times, The Guardian, The Huffington Post, and The Star Ledger. I'm the founder of "Raconteur Ventures: Events for the Adventurous," a company dedicated to reviving and animating communities through unusual, cultural programming, and the host of "Raconteurs & Roustabouts," a vaudevillian variety show that puts authors on stage alongside musicians and sideshow performers. My sci-fi/horror live show/podcast, Parker Highland Always Wins! has been called "Buffy by way of Buckaroo Banzai;" and my forthcoming novel, Welcome to White Hart, has been described as "Charlotte's Web meets Winter's Bone." 

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JULIAN LANCE (Owner). Julian is my right hand man on the WINTER IS HERE workshops. He's my Samwise, my Sancho, my Dean Moriarty. We've hiked the sea cliffs of Moher, biked the island of Inis Mor, journeyed to the Center of Snæfellsjökull, and climbed Arthur's Seat, an extinct volcano just outside Edinburgh, on New Year's Eve. He's a nationally ranked archer (I kid you not), a surfer, a skateboarder, a brilliant writer - he's currently working on a story collection called The Murdered Thirty - and, most relevantly, a rat rod mechanic. He’s in charge of the nuts and bolts of The Rac-On-Tour, everything under the carriage and under the hood. He'll also be the main bookseller on site. He's a good dude, and you'll be glad to know him.

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DAN DIANA (collaborator). Dan was a Special FX Artist/Prop Fabricator in Hollywood for seven years, working on mostly Marvel movies, like Guardians of the Galaxy & The Avengers. He built the battered Iron Man Helmet in Endgame. We've collaborated on a ton of stuff, including a stage adaptation of Nosferatu, a backyard haunt callled Catch the Devil, and a socially distant Halloween walking tour called The Legend of Highland Marsh. This Halloween, we'll be collaborating on an immersive two week theatrical event at East Jersey Old Town called The Wolf of Washington Forge. Dan studied prosthetic make-up with Tom Savini at The Douglas Education Center in Pennsylvania, and now teaches special effects make-up in Manhattan. 

 

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STAFF:

 

NIKKI MACHETE (Book Monger): Writer, artist, equestrian.

WOLFHOUND (Book Monger): Writer.