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NiftyGuest for Penguicon 2.0 in 2004 and 3.0 in 2005
Bio:
He's two guests in one! Howard is both the creator of the WebComic "Schlock Mercenary", and a former Product Manager for Novell, where he was responsible for Novell's collaboration product line. He's also spent time with a rock band and a comedy troupe.
Howard spent over a decade working for Novell, during which time he did tech support, on-site consulting, technical marketing, and four years of product management. His last efforts at Novell included the successful to push to get GroupWise on Linux, and to embrace OpenSource development for iFolder.
He's been cartooning for five years now, and has been doing it full-time since September 2004, giving up his GroupWise fanbase (and Novell paycheck) to pay attention to the tens of thousands of Schlock Mercenary readers world-wide.
Considering that he's a ScienceFiction fan, a computer gamer, a writer and an artist, and a Linux guy, Howard fits right in at Penguicon. We just have to stop him from intimidating the other guests.
Howard also owns a Beetle, which he loves. The car, not the insect. And he previously owns more computers than he does now, but he shot them.
Notes:
Howard drew the Program Book front cover and back inset art for the Penguicon 2004 ProgramBook and his associate JeanElmore colored them. Howard also drew cartoons for the inside of the 2004 ProgramBook. He drew the GoHs illustration on the front cover of the 2005 ProgramBook. Howard partnered with SteveJackson Games to bring the Convention Chaos Marble Machine (see ChaosToy) back to Penguicon in 2005.
HowardTayler's schedule for PenguiCon 2.0 in 2004:
Fri 11:00 pm *Petoskey* Online Graphic Fiction *PeteAbrams, HowardTayler, RobBalder* What are the particular challenges and rewards of producing online graphic fiction? Our panelists tell you not only why what they do is fun and cool… they tell you who their daily favorites are.
Sat noon *Kensington* Microsoft Versus Linux Debate *JohnRingo, KarlKuhlmann, EricRaymond, HowardTayler* This will not necessarily be the same old debate! We’ve got two bright, articulate people who want to make a strong case for why Microsoft is a good thing. We’ve matched them up against two bright, articulate people who really, really disagree. Come see the clash of the titans.
Sat 2:00 pm *Ballroom A/B* Autograph Session