Our event room has been host to varied groups offering games and experiences all weekend long. Ret-Con continues to try and offer a space to try something new and different. Have you enjoyed Ret-Con's game room? Is there anything you want to see or do in 2027?

Ret-Con strives to bring meetups and events for our attendees. Between our themed mixer, consuite gatherings, and our first year introducing a writing workshop "Ret-Writes Together" we ask you share your favorite non-panel experience from Ret-Con, or suggestions for future years!

Hey, so I wrote a speech for @retconnc.bsky.social and thought I'd share it on my Patreon for folks who might need it. It's angry and fiery and doesn't hold back. Because in this moment, we all need to escape together. (Also: my tiara is pictured) www.patreon.com/posts/writin...

This is Space Wizard Science Fantasy's fifth year of publishing #queer SFF books! Releases are now several years out, so we're closed to cold submissions, but we have a campaign running currently to bring Lesbians in Space to audiobook with Mary Robinette Kowal! www.backerkit.com/c/projects/s...

From spicy romance themes, to wrestling , to mortuary science, our panels had a little bit of everything this year. What was your favorite panel, and what would you like to learn about next year?

Thank you to everyone who came out to play! We couldn’t have Ret-Con without you, so we want to hear from YOU! Tell us your experience at 2026 Ret-Con. We want the bad, the good, the ugly, and the weird! docs.google.com/forms/d/1_lm...

Our latest Tales from the Tape Deck update has been posted. It features an interview with @lootthebody.bsky.social We talk about the 80s and gaming. Link below. The next featured contributor interview will be with DJ Br8 aka HANKERIN FERINALE from @runehammergames.bsky.social

Tonight our friendly neighborhood retiring Con Chair Avery has been invited to join Mysticon to chat about conventions and other fun stuff. Be sure to tune in at 8pm EST! www.twitch.tv/mysticon_tv

From panels, to game demos, to author signings, we had a ton of fun at Re-con 2026! How about you? Share your photos and stories with us, and keep an eye out for our post event survey, coming soon! Thanks again to everyone who made this an incredible weekend!

Ret-Con would like to thank all of our lovely attendees, guests, dealers, exhibitors, and volunteers for another amazing year! We hope you made some new friends, learned some nerdy facts, and maybe even found a new obsession. Until next year, stay weird!

At 7pm all this will be auctioned for Charity to raise money for @equalitync.bsky.social - be sure not to miss it!

Come meet and greet our Guest of Honor Natania Barron!

Omg!! I got a tiara as a gift!! Y’all! Thank you so much @d0m0d.bsky.social and the @retconnc.bsky.social crew. I feel so fancy. 🥹

Ret-Con mixer is underway! Come join us for some specialty drinks and make some friends! To be followed by our Goblin Market at 8:30!

Ret-Con is officially kicking off and excited to have Natania Barron as our 2026 Guest of Honor! @natania.bsky.social

It’s Ret-con and Bandcamp Friday! On the first Friday of every month, Bandcamp waives their profits and gives them directly to musicians. Check out 3 of our musical acts this weekend, and pick up some of their music! pnltybxnc.bandcamp.com chuckparker.bandcamp.com hawthornandholly.bandcamp.com

They await. Be not afraid.

Wayland Smith is a native Texan who has moved around a lot, presently living in Northern Virginia. His rather unlikely list of jobs includes private investigator, comic book shop owner, ring crew for a circus (then he ran away from the circus and joined home), deputy sheriff, writer, and stagehand.

Hear from the Spaceman and our Convention Chair Avery himself about Ret-Con this weekend! Thank you Halfling and Spaceman! @andhalfling.bsky.social

Our next guest is the one and only Tally Johnson! Tally is the author of 6 books. He is also an award-winning storyteller and folklorist. He was the guest of honor at Ret-Con 2025. @tallyjohnson.bsky.social

Our next guest: Wanda Harward is a member of The Charlotte Geeks, assisting Joey Starnes and Carol Cowles with The Geekery Market, and other shenanigans as required. Her geeky interests include painting minis, filk music, renaissance faires, and gaming (online and tabletop).

Our next guest is Katherine Setzer. Katherine is a registered Funeral Service Trainee in the final stages of obtaining licensure in North Carolina. Knowledge is power, and she would like to share information with you in hopes of helping you better engage with this potentially challenging topic.

Our next guest: Hannah 'Spoon' Wilson is a freelance illustrator and artist whose work has been exhibited at galleries and shows across the country. They have a wide breadth of experience including cover and inset illustrations, museum design, apparel design, fine art, and scientific illustration.

T.G. Joye is a man of many faces. Born a little girl who yearned to be an adventurer, he mostly found adventures in books. Now a grown man, (yes, some girls grow up to be men later,) his adventures mostly consist of exploring cities along the United States Eastern Seaboard and attending various cons

Tracy Holt is a podcaster and actor living in Durham NC. She was a player for the Burn Everything Gaming real-play ttrp podcast, and has been a regular at local and regional cons for several years with both Diversity Issues Podcast and The Color of Fandom.

Our next guest is O. Hai Mark, award winning short film presenter, online content creator, host, all around nerd. @ohaimark.bsky.social

Our next guest: Sarah Joy Adams writes about sexy fae, urban berserkers, and unexpected cryptids. Her latest book is Summer's Regent, book four in the Eisteddfod Chronicles. She has several house goblins of various sizes. @sjadams.bsky.social

Our next guests rock: Pnltybx is a Raleigh, NC based four-piece rock band with a penchant ambition. Though heavily inspired by Pop Punk, Emo, and Visual Kei, our primary creative mission statement is “anything goes.”

Our next guest: Mur Lafferty is an award winning author, podcaster, and editor. She lives in Durham, NC, and likes to talk about computer games.Our next guest: Mur Lafferty is an award winning author, podcaster, and editor. She lives in Durham, NC, and likes to talk about computer games.

Meri Elena is NC speculative fiction author and kitchen witch. She has published several short stories and two novels, Nightfall and Blood Magick, which begin her YA urban fantasy series. She lives in a little house full of books and cats with a yard full of plants. @meri-elena.bsky.social

Pre-registration ends in one week on February 27! Secure your ticket now to save $10 on admission for the weekend! www.ret-con.org/pre-reg

That news! My boys, right there. Manners and werewolves indeed. And plenty of Edith, Poppy, Silas, Viola, and the rest. ♦️❤️♣️✨

Our next guest: Kevin A Davis is a fantasy author with over twenty published novels, including the award-winning DRC Files, a paranormal procedural series where the Atlanta-based team hunts cryptids. @kevinadavis.bsky.social

Joey Starnes first claimed her inner geek in 2007 after visiting her first DragonCon. In 2008, she moved to Charlotte, NC and started the Charlotte Geeks, home of the Guardians of the Geekery podcast, the Geekery Market, Two Woke Bonnets podcast and the Merry Mayhem. @giddygeeker.bsky.social

Next up is Jett Dixon! Jett has been attending, assisting, & paneling at conventions for over a decade. Apple of Your Eye Cosplay is Jett’s Facebook page for all things cosplay, showing off her thrift- and scrounge-style of work.

Our next guest is Jason T. Graves! Jason is a scribbler of words, a publisher and editor of other people's words, a doodler of drawings, a former teacher, and a science guy. He was once punched—lightly—by Muhammad Ali.

Whoops! Apologies to anyone that tried to purchase a badge this weekend, the issue with our website has now been resolved. Pre registration remains open until Friday! www.ret-con.org/pre-reg

And that reminds us of our next guest: Roger Carden is the producer and host of Applied Game Mastery. Applied Game Mastery is a YouTube-based project focusing on evaluating and teaching the tips, tools, and techniques for running a legendary role-playing game. @andhalfling.bsky.social

Next up in guest announcements: Janet Carden aka The Halfling, is the host of the podcast The Halfling and The Spaceman. The podcast features conversations with creators about their creative journeys. @andhalfling.bsky.social

Next up in guest announcements: Jason Roach is an American Writing Awards award-winning finalist in LGBT+ Fiction & Thriller Fiction for his book The House on Dead Man’s Curve – inspired by his personal paranormal experiences.

Our next guest: James Fulbright was introduced to AD&D by a friend in 1979. It wasn't long before his "gaming friends" convinced him to start attending conventions like StellarCon; which led to helping out with those cons.

Our next guests: Hawthorn & Holly are a Pop Punk band that plays songs about Harry Potter, The Hunger Games and other geeky things. Started in 2007, these wizards hail from Charlotte, North Carolina.

Next up for guests: Gary Mitchel is the Co-Director, with Joe Crowe, of the American Sci-Fi Classics Track at Dragon Con. Together, they plot panels on various geeky topics, from 80s vampires, to cats in space, to the best fictional bands. Gary is director of Good to Be A Geek Media.

Pre-registration ends in one week on February 27! Secure your ticket now to save $10 on admission for the weekend! www.ret-con.org/pre-reg

Our next guest: Born in England, Fraser Sherman became a Floridian, then moved to Durham NC to marry his dream woman. They’re still together, with two dogs and two cats added to the household. Fraser has written fifty-plus speculative fiction short stories, two novels and several nonfiction books.

Our next guest announcement: Emily Leverett is an author, editor, and medievalist. She has written two fantasy series: the Eisteddfod Chronicles, a contemporary fairy fantasy with Sarah Joy Adams; and the medieval paranormal romance, The Wolf and the Nun.

Next up for guest announcements: Elijah J. Mears (he/him) is a fat, gay, neurodivergent, Jewish writer of science-fiction and fantasy from the southeastern United States. Growing up, great speculative fiction was Elijah’s way of escaping from a world where he didn’t always fit in. @elijah.mea.rs

Our next guest is Eli Rainwater! Eli’s love for reading started at an early age. She discovered the fantasy genre and fell hard for it when her brother let her sit in on his D&D sessions and lent her his collections of David Eddings and Dragonlance books while he was away at college.

Next up for guests: E.J. Isaacs! He is a new author, with his first book published by Space Wizard Science Fantasy in Oct. 2025. He will also be joined by his wife as a vendor for their shop Moments in Tea!

Our next guest is Dondero! He is a certified Jack of All Trades, he started out as a filmmaker and special effects editor building both digital and practical effects. He have won many awards for both Filmmaking and Editing. When covid hit he switched gears and became an affiliated Twitch streamer.