Animators-to-Authors' CAM BAITY & BENNY ZELKOWICZ To Appear On Wondercon "LAYERS UPON LAYERS" Panel

ANIMATORS-TO-AUTHORS' CAM BAITY & BENNY ZELKOWICZ

ON WONDERCON PANEL "LAYERS UPON LAYERS" ON SATURDAY, APRIL 19TH AT ANAHEIM CONVENTION CENTER

First Time Author's "The First Book of Ore: The Foundry's Edge" From Disney Hyperion Receiving Rave Reviews

"A richly imagined fantasy" - Publisher's Weekly

Los Angeles, CA; April 2, 2014 – Author animators Cam Baity and Benny Zelkowicz, whose The First Book of Ore: The Foundry's Edge, the first in a three-book series from Disney Hyperion to be published April 15th, will appear on the "Layers Upon Layers" panel at the annual WonderCon convention in Anaheim, CA on April 19th.

Cam and Benny join Peter Straub ("Mrs. God"), Django Wexler ("The Forbidden Library"), Christopher Long ("Hero Worship"), Marlene Perez ("Dark Descent") and moderator LeAnna Herrera (of Mysterious Galaxy) in a discussion of the art and science of creating.  The authors will discuss building a story and a world readers connect to, and the use of unreliable narrators, metafiction, and other tools of the trade.  The panel will be in Room 213, 11:30-12:30, April 19 at the Anaheim Convention Center.

From SpongeBob and The Simpsons to Robot Chicken and Moral Orel to The Foundry's Edge, the first in a three-book series from Disney Hyperion Publishing, animators Cam Baity and Benny Zelkowicz are on a (writing) roll, with initial industry reviews every author dreams of:

"An edgy, fast-moving, Seuss-ian political allegory for a new generation," -  Kirkus

"A richly imagined fantasy" - Publisher's Weekly

"The imaginative world, whirlwind adventure, tense emotional stakes, and some well-placed laughs put this first in a planned series in the same stack as Harry Potter and Percy Jackson." — Booklist

"As professional animators, we were terrified when we sat down to write our first book," say Baity and Zelkowicz.  "We thought that our years of obsessing over poses and counting frames would have ill prepared us for the blank page.  But as we slowly evolved into first-time authors, we found that the contrary was true: our animation careers had given us exactly the right foundation ... (in fact) animation taught us a sort of patience that is foreign to most sensible people. "

Cam Baity & Benny Zelkowicz

Cam Baity & Benny Zelkowicz are writers, animators, and filmmakers who began collaborating after meeting at California Institute of the Arts. A Texas native, Cam has made several short films, and his work has been screened at numerous festivals around the globe, including the BBC British Short Film Festival. In addition, he worked on the motion picture Team America: World Police as well as the award-winning television series SpongeBob SquarePants. Canadian-born Benny studied science before turning his attention to animation, and his celebrated short The ErlKing was an official selection at both Sundance and the New York Film Festival. He has directed the BBC/CBC animated series Lunar Jim, and in the U.S. his work has been seen on television in The Simpsons. Both have contributed to Adult Swim's Robot Chicken and Moral Orel and reside in Los Angeles. Learn more about them at http://camandbenny.com/

About WonderCon

WonderCon Anaheim returns in 2014 for another big weekend of comics and the popular arts at the beautiful Anaheim Convention Center on April 18, 19, and 20 (Easter weekend). With over 56,000 attendees in 2013 (and only our second year in Anaheim), WonderCon Anaheim continues to be one of the top comics and pop culture events in the country. 2014 marks the event’s 28th continuous year.