Sci-Fi on the Rock

  • ✨APRIL 24-26, 2026 ✨
  • Sheraton Hotel Newfoundland, St. John's
  • APRIL 24-26, 2026
  • Sheraton Hotel Newfoundland, St. John's

WELCOME

TO OUR 2025

ambassador guests

What is an Ambassaor Guest?
We are fortunate to have many groups, organizations and professionals, who are experts in their respective fields, come out to share their knowledge and experiences with our attendees. We appreciate these Ambassadors for creating fun, engaging and informative panels and invite you not to miss out!
Steve Westenra
Terra Arcana & The Bardic Hearth
How to Make Sci-Fi Props Out of Junk
Masters of Cosplay NL

Steve Westenra

Author and academic

AMABASSADOR PANEL 

Monsters, Marvels, and the Mechanisms of Horror
 
Saturday April 25
11:00-11:50 am
X-Mansion room
 
Description:
Join “Dr. Monster” (Steve Westenra), an academic expert on monsters, the monstrous, and horror, to explore the mechanisms of horror that undergird your favourite scary movies, games, and books.
 
(Please note: this panel is rated 18A)

BIOGRAPHY

Steve Hugh Westenra is an academic writing fantasy and horror under a (slightly) spooky pen name. His academic work includes a chapter on fungal horror and fungal monsters for an upcoming Bloomsbury anthology edited by Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock, the entry on monsters for the Global Handbook of Trans Cinema, a piece on queerness in 2010s zombie video games for the Palgrave Handbook of the Zombie, and an article on disability in the Resident Evil franchise.
He’s taught The History of Satan; Religions and its Monsters; and Magic, Witchcraft, and Religion at Concordia University. His queer horror comedy, The Erstwhile Tyler Kyle and his epic fantasy, The Wings of Ashtaroth, have both been finalists in the Indie Ink Awards. He’s published in New Edge Sword and Sorcery, with whom he has an upcoming novella called The Barbarian at Dreams End (pitched as a trans He-Man with lots of bugs). He has a forthcoming novella, Breadcrumbs on a Forest Floor, about a trans man from rural Newfoundland who’s taken by the fairies only to return years later on the grave of the changeling who replaced him. He’s passionate about Late Antiquity, Silent Hill, and spiders. He also reviews for FanFiAddict and Before We Go Blog and is a SFINCS and SPFBO judge.
 
✨The Erstwhile Tyler Kyle Pitch: A cryptid-hunting YouTube darling follows a video of his presumed-dead mom to an isolated island in the Canadian wilderness that was once a gay conversion camp and may house the monsters he swears aren’t real.
 
✨The Wings of Ashtaroth Pitch: When a desperate mother bargains with a demon to avenge her son, she mistakenly curses the family she swore to protect. A Song of Ice and Fire x the Classical Mediterranean and Ancient Carthage.
 

Trudy Morgan-Cole & Emma Cole

Co-Creators of Terra Arcana

Chase Noseworthy

Creator of The Bardic Hearth

AMABASSADOR PANEL 

Two Ways to Create an Audio-Drama: by the creators of The Bardic Hearth and Terra Arcana
 
Sunday April 26
11-11:50 am
Tardis Room
 
Two Ways to Create an Audio Drama: Audio drama podcasts are a popular and growing medium. In this workshop, the creators of two locally-produced fantasy audio dramas will share their experiences of writing, recording, producing and distributing their shows.
 
 
Trudy Morgan Cole
Trudy Morgan Cole
Emma Cole
Emma Cole
Chase Noseworthy
Chase Noseworthy
The Bardic Hearth, which has just started its second season, is a high fantasy audio drama created by popular YouTube musician Chase Noseworthy. Chase has millions of streams on his D&D/fantasy inspired songs with more than 100,000 monthly listeners on Spotify, and his podcast has featured the voice talents of Ginny Di (TTRPG content creator), Imari Williams (Critical Role, Demon Slayer), Vico Ortiz (Our Flag Means Death, Fionna and Cake), Nick Marini (Critical Role, Dropout), and many more. The Bardic Hearth is one of the fastest growing independent audio dramas today, has maintained 5 stars on Spotify since its inception, and was nominated for the 2025 Crit Awards. The show follows Wren, a mysterious tavern keeper in the middle of a cursed forest who struck a deal with the Goddess of Death to grant him immortality in exchange for his memories. Each episode a new adventurer stumbles across his doorstep seeking to have a wish granted, so he sits them down by the fire and asks for their story.
 
 
Terra Arcana, which just debuted its first episode in March 2026, is a new comedy/fantasy audio drama created by St. John’s writers Trudy Morgan-Cole and Emma Cole. Trudy is an award-winning novelist and host of the interview podcast Shelf Esteem; Emma is an award-winning writer of short fiction as well as a theatre producer and costumer. The cast of Terra Arcana features a wide array of established and emerging local actors, including Julianne Meaney, Katie Billard, Jean Graham, Melissa Ralph, David Hallett, Noah Sheppard, Chase Noseworthy, and many more. The show is set in St. John’s and features the adventures of two librarians in a secret magical library on Water Street, solving paranormal problems including fairies running amok in Bannerman Park, city statues coming to life, and a demanding mermaid in Quidi Vidi Gut.
 
These two shows provide an interesting contrast in how to make audio drama. The Bardic Hearth is recorded and produced here in St. John’s; the recording is done entirely remotely with actors from around the world. Terra Arcana is recorded in person in a St. John’s recording studio using local talent. In this workshop, Chase, Trudy, and Emma will talk about the process of creating both audio dramas, the advantages and disadvantages of remote versus in-person recording, and the inspiration for both projects. We’ll offer tips for those interested in creating their own audio dramas and answer questions from the audience about our projects and our process.
 

The Bardic Hearth on Instagram

Terra Arcana on Instagram

Terra Arcana website: https://terraarcanapod.wordpress.com/

Terra Arcana on Facebook

Biographies

Chase Noseworthy

Chase Noseworthy is a musician, writer, voice actor, and showrunner based in St. John’s, NL. Most well known for his D&D and fantasy inspired music, he is the songwriter behind hits in the TTRPG community such as “Three Kobolds in a Trenchcoat” and “Blacksmith, Blacksmith,” which have amassed millions of streams and are played at renaissance fairs across the globe. He has collaborated with popular musicians and composers such as Colm McGuinness, Rachel Hardy, and Annapantsu.

Chase currently works as the writer, director, voice actor, composer, songwriter, sound designer, producer, and composer (he wears a lot of hats) for The Bardic Hearth – an award-nominated high fantasy audio drama about a mysterious, immortal tavern keeper who has lost his memories. The show has featured the voice talents of figures like Ginny Di (D&D YouTuber), Vico Ortiz (Our Flag Means Death, Fionna and Cake), Karim Kronfli (The Magnus Archives), Imari Williams (Critical Role, Demon Hunter), and many more household names. The show has maintained a 5 star rating since its inception and is one of the fastest growing independent audio dramas today.

Emma Cole

Emma Cole is a writer, producer, and costume designer from St. John’s NL. Her writing has been published by the CBC, Riddle Fence, toothcut journal, estuary, and Paragon; most recently she has co-written, directed, and co-produced Terra Arcana, the audio-drama podcast. Emma works professionally in the theatre industry as an assistant producer (Artistic Fraud) and managing producer (Capacity Theatre), and as a freelance costume designer. She makes and sells clothing under the name Charlatan Designs, which is enjoyed by cosplayers, LARPers, and anyone who admires whimsical and vintage/fantasy-inspired clothing.

Trudy Morgan-Cole

Trudy Morgan-Cole is a novelist from St. John’s whose award-winning historical fiction includes By the Rivers of Brooklyn, Most Anything You Please, and the Cupids trilogy. She also writes plays and short fiction, and since 2017 she has hosted the interview podcast Shelf Esteem, where she talks about books with other readers and writers.

Trudy’s writing is rooted firmly in real-world history, but her personal life is quite nerdy. Her favourite fantasy writers are Guy Gavriel Kay, Robin Hobb, and Shannon Chakraborty; she has never missed an episode of any Star Trek series; she owns 22 versions of her favourite board game, Ticket to Ride. She likes playing D&D, but only if Emma is the DM. Since 2020 their family has been playing a D&D campaign in which Trudy’s character is named Garamond and her husband is Helvetica the Bold: font names make great character names.

Creating an audio drama about magical librarians solving paranormal problems in downtown St. John’s seemed like Trudy’s next obvious career move. Terra Arcana gives her an opportunity to co-write and co-star with her daughter Emma and a stellar crew of actor friends, as well as working with her son Chris, who does editing, sound design, and original music for the show. It might be the most fun project she’s ever done.

Add Your Heading Text Here

How to Make Sci-Fi Props Out of Junk

with kyle rees & family

AMABASSADOR PANEL 

EXCELSIOR GAMING – All Weekend – Drop by to join in!

 
 
Have you watched ‘Alien’, ‘Star Wars’ or ‘The Expanse’ and recognized some random junk on the wall of a hallway as something in your own kitchen? Do you see old equipment at the dump and have visions of warp drives and communications consoles? Kyle Rees does. In 2022, Kyle turned his basement into The Soggy Mynock, an in-universe Star Wars cantina filled with blinking lights, control panels, and animatronic monsters. And he did most of it using discarded equipment and household junk.
 
Kyle (and his two kids) will be on-site all weekend doing live builds, displaying completed props and animatronics, and proudly showing off his collection of Important Garbage, which includes a screen-used ‘algae tank’ from Blade Runner 2049. Participants are welcome to sit and try a build of their own (free junk provided) or bring in their own props or costumes for ‘upgrades’, no experience required!

Masters of NL Cosplay

 

AMABASSADOR PANEL 

📣Attention, all cosplayers: The next Ambassador Guest panel is an All-Star assembly of the province’s top cosplay talent. Sheldon Mercer, Erica Bussey, Hamilton Cornish, Kayla Burry, Nicole Maddox, Nicholas Fogwill, and our 2026 Cosplay Guest Jesse Randell will be on hand to answer any questions you have about getting into cosplay, working with specific materials, techniques and more!
This is a can’t-miss opportunity to learn from seasoned cosplayers, don’t miss out!
 
 
Masters of NL Cosplay
 
🔹 The Art of Cosplay: Unlocking Your Potential
 
📆Saturday April 25
4:00-4:50 PM
X-Mansion room
SCI-FI ON THE ROCK 18
 
Q and A panel to discuss how to improve your skills and craft with Newfoundland’s top talent cosplayers.
 
ABOUT THE HOSTS
 
 
Dark Dimension Cosplay
 
Sheldon Mercer has always been what the community would call a ‘well rounded artisan’. His skills have been displayed in painting, sculpting, leather work, foam craft and other mediums. His creative interests have been inspired by gaming, fantasy, horror and his own spin of creative madness. He has a unique in his building that is not only cost effective but almost movie quality
 
 
 
Fujin14 Cosplay – Erica Bussey
 
​Erica has been a cosplayer, avid community member and co-opperator of Newfoundland Cosplayers since 2009. A firm believer that anyone can do anything, she’s been helping others build and grow with her skills ranging from foam construction, design and execution. Focusing on large scale builds of Giant Robots, Villains and Fantasy creatures she likes pushing the boundaries of what’s possible.
 
 
 
FoamWerx Cosplay – Hamilton Cornish
 
Hamilton is a costume builder and designer known for his impressive large-scale creations. With a background in graphic design and printing, he brings a unique artistic perspective to his work.
 
Over the past 14 years, Hamilton has built costumes and props for local theatre productions and the regional film industry. He has won 5 George Street Marti- Gras. He has been a special guest at numerous Science Fiction Conventions across Newfoundland and Nova Scotia, where he showcased his work and led panels on costume design and construction. He has also conducted demonstrations for local m school prop departments, sharing his expertise with emerging creators
 
 
Kay Tea Cosplay – Kayla Burry
 
Kayla and her husband Tyler have been cosplaying together since 2016. Kayla focuses on the sewing and fabric parts of their costumes while Tyler has found his strength lies in the fabrication. This has created a unique partnership where costumes can combine both sewing and fabrication in equal measure. They have created many couples’ and individual costumes throughout the last ten years. Inspiration for cosplays have come from movies, anime and video games. Some of the most notable costumes made by them have been Ganondorf from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Winner of Journeyman Competition at Sci-Fi on the Rock 2024), Kefka from Final Fantasy VI, and Yzma and Kronk from The Emperor’s New Groove.
 
 
Mad Maddox Cosplay and Creations – Nicole Maddox
 
Nicole has been cosplaying for over a decade, focusing mainly on textile and sewing based cosplays with a dash of other mediums thrown in. She enjoys designing and blending anime, comic, and movie characters into original Steampunk Victorian influenced creations, or designing original concept cosplays.
 
 
Nick Fogwill
 
​Nick is a St. John’s–based cosplay hobbyist known for his foam armour builds, thermoplastic work, template design, and prop painting. Inspired by series such as Berserk, Dark Souls, Gundam, and Warhammer 40,000, he enjoys bringing gritty, heavily armoured characters to life through meticulous craftsmanship.
 
 
 
ScrappyMasquerade – Jesse Randell
 
Jesse has been making props and costumes since he was a small child. He has always been inspired by his favourite characters and makeup in movies. He believes you don’t have to break the bank to create something amazing.
 
Jesse started cosplaying at conventions when he was 13 years old and has been in love with it ever since. He eventually started trying SFX/character makeup after high-school and it’s become his favourite part of cosplaying. He also makes a Halloween/haunt setup and walks the local Christmas parade in Pasadena every year. Dressing up and seeing people act like they’re meeting the real character is one of his favourite feelings in the world.