DOUBLETREE BY HILTON HOTEL BLOOMINGTON - MINNEAPOLIS SOUTH • April 18-20, 2025
Min•i•con (mĭn′ē-kŏn′) n. A general-purpose science fiction convention of about 500 fans with a focus on diverse programming and positively noteworthy food and drink. It also features readings, signings, costuming, films, gaming, an art show, dealers, kids' programming, a teen lounge and teen programming, a science room, music, room parties, a medallion hunt, and other special events [MINI(ATURE)/MINNE(APOLIS) + CON(VENTION).]
We are at the DoubleTree Bloomington (just south of Minneapolis) at 7800 Normandale Blvd.
Bluesky - @minicon-mnstf.bsky.social
Facebook Group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/170210348912
Discord - https://discord.gg/jAPKe4k
Author GoH: Wesley Chu
Wesley Chu is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of thirteen novels, including The Art of Prophecy, Time Salvager, The Rise of Io, and The Walking Dead: Typhoon. He won the Astounding Award for Best New Writer, and his debut, The Lives of Tao, won the American Library Association's Alex Award, and was a finalist for the Goodreads Choice Awards for Best Science Fiction. He is the coauthor of the Eldest Curses series with Cassandra Clare. Robert Kirkman tapped Chu to write The Walking Dead: Typhoon, the first Walking Dead novel set in Asia.
Chu is an accomplished martial artist and a former member of the Screen Actors Guild. He has acted in film and television, and has worked as a model and stuntman, and recently returned from summiting Kilimanjaro. He currently resides in Los Angeles with his wife, Paula, and two boys, Hunter and River.
Music GoH: The Faithful Sidekicks: Eric and Jen Distad
The Faithful Sidekicks are an award-winning acoustic comedic filk pop duo who write and perform original catchy songs about SF/F, fandoms, gaming, and technology. Winners of the 2021 Best Performer Pegasus award, they've been delighting audiences at conventions, clubs, and coffeehouses around the US, Canada and even Germany since 2014. This husband and wife musical duo combines Eric's songwriting skills (he's a founding member of February Album Writing Month) with Jen's improv comedy skills to create songs about their nerdy passions with a ton of heart and a side of snark. Whether it's an indie-rock song about board games, an upbeat pop song about Han Solo, or a love song written in SQL Code, the Sidekicks have something fun for every kind of fan. The Faithful Sidekicks are based in Oregon City, OR (the end of the Oregon Trail) and have released five CDs including their latest, an album of parodies called Dark Side of the Meep.
Featured Astronomer: Michael Busch
Michael W. Busch received his BS in physics and astronomy at the University of Minnesota in 2005 and his PhD in planetary science at Caltech in 2010. He was a postdoc at UCLA and the National Radio Astronomy Observatory before starting as a research scientist at the SETI Institute in September 2013. He primarily studies near-Earth asteroids, using radio and radar techniques, with particular interests in the shapes, spin states, internal structures, and histories of individual objects - especially spacecraft mission targets and potential Earth impactors.
He also has side projects on martian dust storms and on SETI message design. The latter focuses on the currently-theoretical question of making a message readily intelligible to any alien astronomers who may see it.