Skip to Main Content

Pop Madness

Popular Culture Celebration at the San Antonio Public Library

Virtual 2021

Pop Madness Virtual Edition 2021

Guest Authors

Henry Thomas

                                                                   

          Kate DiCamillo                              Martha Wells

All Things Flora & Ulysses with Kate DiCamillo: Talk with author about her award winning book Flora & Ulysses and its upcoming movie.

Fan Fiction 101 with the Organization for Transformative Works

Martha Wells: Conversation and Q&A with the author.

Fandom During the Pandemic

A Year in San Antonio Esports

Henry Thomasauthor and actor 

WINNERS:

ADULT ENTRIES:

TEEN ENTRIES:

Missed something? Take a look at these videos!

Tom Kinsey's Animal Friends

Pop Art - Bubble Art: with Artist Ana Sandoval

Artist/Author Alley: Tribute to past guests

Cosplay Tutorial: How to Crochet Finger-less Gloves

Costume Cavalcade Video

Virtual Escape Room: A Universe of Enemies- A Doctor Who Escape Room

Cosplay Makeup with Ardor Beauty

Pop Art Printmaking with Ana Sandoval

Virtual Escape Room: 1313 Trapezoid Way- A Mystery Escape Room

San Antonio Parks and Recreation Fantasy Academy will reveal exciting fantasy pop culture activities.

*Wand and Staff

*Polyjuice Potion

*Garden Gnomes

*Veritaserum

Bestselling author Roxanne Longstreet Conrad, better known by her pen name Rachel Caine, who wrote the YA series The Morganville Vampires, and The Great Library, in addition to thriller and sci-fi titles for adults, died on November 1 following a battle with soft tissue sarcoma. She was 58.

Conrad was born Roxanne Longstreet on April 27, 1962 in White Sands, N.M. and grew up in West Texas. She first began writing fiction when she was a teenager and recalled those days in an interview for the Unbound Worlds website. “I remember two things: one was getting super frustrated with a TV show… and wanting the story to come out differently,” she said. “The other thing that happened was a teacher assigned us a classroom exercise, to write a story around a sentence prompt. ‘The clock struck twelve and everything changed.’ ” Conrad remembered crafting a tale of two gunfighter characters in an old Western town who ended up drawing wands in a wizard’s duel instead of pistols. From those experiences, she knew she had discovered a true passion.

Though Conrad continued to create stories at a steady clip, she did not believe her writing could turn into a career. She earned a B.A. in accounting from Texas Tech University in 1985, with a minor in music, and segued into the corporate world. In addition to accounting, Conrad worked in web and graphic design, corporate communications, and was a professional musician. She continued writing all the while and in 1990 published her first novel for adults, Stormriders, as Roxanne Longstreet. The following year, she met fantasy artist Cat Conrad when they both attended a convention known as Justice-Con in Dallas. The couple married, and in a moving post that Cat Conrad shared on social media, he noted that they were together for 29 years. In 2003 Conrad launched her urban fantasy Weather Wardens series for adults, the first major work under her pen name Rachel Caine. Her work blossomed at a brisk pace and she kicked off her 15-volume Morganville Vampires series in 2006. It wasn’t until 2010 that Caine left her day job and officially became a full-time writer. By 2015 Caine saw the publication of her Great Library series, which imagines an alternate world where the Great Library of Alexandria has survived and becomes a great power. And in 2017 the bestselling thriller series for adults, Stillhouse Lake, was released. In addition to her multiple series, Caine wrote stand-alone titles and anthologies, too, producing more than 60 published works in total.