DragonCon Dark Fantasy Track

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See also DragonCon for more information on the event as a whole.

The Dark Fantasy track is a programming track for Atlanta's Dragon*Con popular culture festival. The track runs during Dragon*Con (typically Labor Day weekend), and features panels spotlighting dark fantasy, horror fiction, vampires, darkwave/gothic rock, paranormal romance, and the darker side of popular culture in general.

Past literary guests have included L.A. Banks, Holly Black, Jim Butcher, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Jack Ketchum, Cherie Priest, Lilith Saintcrow, as well as many others. Also participating on various panels were comics talents such as Scott Allie, Ted Naifeh, Steve Niles, and Eric Powell. Speakers such as noted occultist Michelle Belanger, paranormal investigator Patrick Burns, occult expert Rosemary Ellen Guiley, and Ghost Hunters/TAPS investigators Brian Harnois and Steve Gonsalves have given a metaphysical/supernatural touch to the programming.

Although distinct from Dragon*Con's Live Performance programming, Dark Fantasy also features an array of speakers from the field of gothic and darkwave music. Past musicians have included members of Bella Morte, The Last Dance, The Crüxshadows, Ego Likeness, Voltaire, Abney Park, Paul Mercer (formerly of ethereal act The Changelings), and Atlanta-based death rock act Tears for the Dying.

The inaugural track in 2004 was titled Gothic Journeys, and was an outgrowth of noted fantasy author Storm Constantine's Grissecon. In 2005, the chairman of DragonCon asked Derek "Ruthven" Tatum if he would like to take over the track; Tatum agreed, but out of respect to Constantine's programming, strived to create a separate identity for the slightly new direction of the track (renaming the track Gothic Shadows in 2006 was part of this effort).

In 2008, it was decided that the name Gothic Shadows was too narrowly defined, as the topics discussed had spread beyond the Goth subculture and its related music scenes. The track was renamed Dark Fantasy in order to better encompass the horror and supernatural romance elements.