Happy New Year, Boskone fans! We’re excited to present our annual Mini Interview blog series to help you get to know your favorite Boskone guests better. To kick things off, let’s hear from Boskone 54’s featured filkers, The Fabulous Lorraine & Lojo Russo, and Special Guest, Maryelizabeth Yturralde.

Lojo Russo

Lojo Russo has been orbiting the ‘Con biospheres since her first days in the awesomely, classic-jam-rock quintet known as, ‘Cats Laughing’. Three of the original members of ‘Cats Laughing’ – Emma Bull, Steven KZ Brust and Adam Stemple – are best known for their wonderfully crafted SF/F novels. Somewhere along this timeline she also fell in with the Fabulous Lorraine and has remained both friend and confidant as well as one part of the peculiarly remarkable twosome, Mogg. (aka; Moggenahf, Mogguffaw, the “other” Flashgirl)

From those humble beginnings Lojo Russo has continued to provide soulful, fanciful and farcical music to her enduring fan. Her novelty album, Sweet Tooth, contains the Con-inspired hits, ‘Orbital Groove’ and ‘Blame It On the Jello’. She enjoys long walks on the beach, the smell of Hi-Karate and the way bandaid packets spark when you open them. Find her online at her website, Facebook and Twitter.

How would you describe your work to people who might be unfamiliar with you?

Been making music most of my life and the music has changed with me over the years. Childish and idyllic, young and questioning, mature and introspective. Seems the older I get the more the music moves and shapes and growls. I’ve got a pocketful of novelty and SF/F based as well

What are you working on now? What excites or challenges you about this project?

Working on a new album; Fresh Oil, Loose Gravel. (Country themed – if it wasn’t already painfully obvious.) The writing process is not always as easy as I’d like but when I finally get the chance to work in the studio and start building and shaping the sound – woof!

What are you looking forward to at Boskone?

Attending a new ‘con – this will be my inaugural flight! My family has roots in MA and I was out there once about 15 years ago. I am acquainted with a number of East Coast writers and fans so this aught to be a hoot!

The Fabulous Lorraine

The Fabulous Lorraine worked for author Neil Gaiman for 20 years until he moved east and she decided hey, why not go to collage, having missed that one in her youth. She is currently ALMOST a senior at University and plans on a Master’s as well. Once obtained, she will decide on a costume, and a super hero name, and go out into the Helping Profession and help everyone who crosses her path.

What event or experience stands out as one of those ‘defining moments’ that shaped who you are today?

I’d have to go with the moment Neil Gaiman said “Could you come over and put my books on the shelves of my new library.” I stayed for the next 20 years, doing all the things that needed doing. He taught me about work, about love, about compassion, about learning, about perseverance, about wonder and joy. He showed me how the world worked, and showed me his vision how how things might be. And when the time to change came around, he helped me on the path and said: go and be all that I know you can be.

Who is your all-time favorite fictional character? What is it about this character that you love?

“I think I’ll go with the witches, the three wyrd sisters, in Macbeth. Mostly because they had awesome dialog, which excited me as far back as I can remember. Their opening lines were featured in some sort of anthology called (something like) “”Seriously Weird Stories about Witches, Ghosts, Goblins and Ghouls for your Child”” which was my favorite book back then. Dancing around in the dark around a fire, chanting some sort of magic spell, tossing all manner of spooky ingredients into a pot sounded to me like a fine way to spend an evening.

When I got a little older and read the play, and started seeing it on stage, it seemed to me that they were all about the idea that nothing is ever what it seems, and perspective is everything. And in life, weird shit happens and one needs to roll with it. Because you never know what happens next, and that is very exciting.”

What are you looking forward to at Boskone?

The peoples!! I want to meet everyone. And talk to everyone. And give them as many hugs as seems appropriate.

Maryelizabeth Yturralde

Maryelizabeth Yturralde last attended Boskone in 1984, and spent the next decade working in chain bookstores. Maryelizabeth co-founded independent genre bookstore Mysterious Galaxy in Southern California in 1993; she is a regular contributor to programming at literary conventions all over the country, including Comic-Con International San Diego and New York Comic Con; and she is a regular writer of non-fiction, including critical and biographical essays, and reviews for Mysterious Galaxy, as well as Publishers Weekly.

She is passionate about connecting readers and stories. Find her online at her website, Facebook and Twitter.

Who is your all-time favorite fictional character? What is it about this character that you love?

Darkwing Duck. He is the terror that flaps in the night. Also, he wears a purple cape, and loves wordplay.

If you could recommend a book to your teenage-self, what book would you recommend? Why did you pick that book?

Ursula K. LeGuin’s THE LEFT HAND OF DARKNESS, which I didn’t read until my 20s. I think I would’ve been a better friend and citizen of the world with an earlier, more nuanced understanding of gender.

What are you looking forward to at Boskone?

I am looking forward to talking books, books, and more books!