How do you build a fantastic world that fe els real? \;Award-winning author and publisher Milton J. Davis discuss es the fundamentals of world-building with three amazing authors\, Jessica Cage\, Gerald L. Coleman\, and Dedren Snead and moderator Clinton R. Fluk er\, Ph.D. From fantasy\, contemporary\, and future fiction\, they'll expl ore what makes a fantastic world capture the imagination of readers and li steners.
\nRegistration is requ ested. \;
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Lead panelist Milton J. Davis is an acclaimed\, award-winning Black speculative fiction author and the founder of MVmedia\ , LLC\, an independent publishing company based in Fayetteville\, Georgia. His work spans genres such as Afrofuturism\, sword-and-soul\, science fic tion\, and fantasy. Davis has penned over 30 novels and short story collec tions and edited/coedited 14 anthologies. His story &ldquo\;The Swarm&rdqu o\; was nominated for the 2017 British Science Fiction Association Award f or Short Fiction\, and &ldquo\;Carnival&rdquo\; received a nomination for the same award in 2020. In 2022\, Davis was honored with the East Coast Bl ack Age of Comics Convention Pioneer Lifetime Achievement Award\, recogniz ing his significant contributions to Black speculative fiction. In 2024\, he received the ConCarolinas Polaris Award and the DeepSouth Con Phoenix A ward for his contributions to Southern fandom.
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Moderator Clinton R. Fluk er\, Ph.D.\, serves as the senior director of Culture\, Community \, and Partner Engagement for the Michael C. Carlos Museum\, Emory Univers ity Libraries\, and the Center for Digital Scholarship. In this capacity\, he is responsible for developing initiatives that connect the university& rsquo\;s collecting institutions to the cultural and civic ecosystems of A tlanta. As a curator\, Fluker&rsquo\;s recent exhibitions include Come Rui n or Rapture and A Haunting Between Us\, both of which featured the work o f contemporary artist La Vaughn Belle. His scholarly work complements his curatorial practice\, as seen in his role as the co-editor of The Black Sp eculative Arts Movement (2019)\, a collection that contributes to the glob al scholarly discourse on Afrofuturism and the visual arts.
\nFluker is also a visual artist and filmmaker. His most recent artwork is feature d in the 2026 solo exhibition\, His Dope Materials: Tools for a Restless M ind at Gallery 72 in Atlanta\, GA. His 2024 short documentary\, "Zorahead: The Life and Times of Valerie Boyd\," earned a nomination at the 2024 Bro nzelens Film Festival. Dr. Fluker holds a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy f rom Morehouse College and a Ph.D. in American Studies from Emory Universit y.
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Pane list Jessica Cage is an international award-winning and U SA Today best-selling author. Born and raised in Chicago\, IL\, writing ha s always been a passion for her. She dabbles in artistic creations of all sorts\, but at the end of the day\, it&rsquo\;s the pen that her hand itch es to hold. Jessica had never considered following her dream to be a write r because she was told far too often\, "There is no money in writing." So\ , she chose the path most often traveled. During pregnancy\, she asked her self an important question. How would she be able to inspire her unborn so n to follow his dreams and reach for the stars\, if she never had the guts to do it herself? Jessica decided to take a risk and unleash the plethora of characters and their crazy\, adventurous worlds that had previously ex isted only in her mind into the realm of readers. She did this with hopes of inspiring not only her son but herself. Inviting the world to tag along on her journey to become the writer she has always wanted to be. She hope s to continue writing and bringing her signature Caged Fantasies to reader s everywhere.
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Panelist Gerald L. Coleman is a philosophe r\, theologian\, poet\, and Science Fiction and Fantasy author. He did his undergraduate work in philosophy\, English\, and religious studies\, foll owed by a master's degree in Theology. He is the author of the Epic Fantas y novel series\, The Three Gifts\, which currently includes When Night Falls (Book One)\, A Plague of Shadows (Book Two)\, and the upcoming When Chaos Reigns (Book Three). His speculative fiction has appeared in numerous anthologies\, including The Cyberfunk Anthol ogy: The City\, the Roaring Lion Anthology\; \;Rococoa\, the Urban Fantasy Anthologies: Terminus 1\, 2\, and 3\, the 2019 Jord anCon Anthology: You Want Stories?\, Dark Universe: Bright Empire\, Cyberf unk!\, Spacefunk!\, the JordanCon 2022 Anthology: Neither Endings Nor Beginnings\, and Whether Change: The Revolution Will Be Weir d.
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Panelist Dedren Snead \;is a Ford Foundation G lobal Fellow and Futurist in Residence for humanity\, bridging art\, techn ology\, and culture to design liberation at scale. As founder of SUBSUME\, the world&rsquo\;s first Afrofuturist Technology Studio\, he partners wit h Fortune 500 companies\, HBCUs\, and civic institutions to create equitab le futures where innovation serves human flourishing\, storytelling\, and community sovereignty.
\nPresented by Adult Services. \;
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