Spotlight on: Author Jen Guberman & The Neon Palm

What Else You Should Know About Them:

What kind of geeky goodness will you be bringing with you to the next Geekery Market?

Books, pet dragons, holographic dragon eyes, nerdy jewelry, and more! I'll have a little something for everyone. My Books: You can dive into a dystopian future where criminals are sorted into towns, a cyberpunk city where you can customize hallucinogenics, or a fantasy kingdom with a magical school and dragon-like creatures. Pet Dragons: I hand-make clay dragons (about the size of my palm) and each one is entirely unique. They also are all named and come with their own little birth certificates! I've previously made a bookish dragon, Halloween dragon, and a sword-wielding dragon, just to name a few. Because they tend to have fragile pieces on them, it's something you can only get at my events because I don't ship them as of right now, so you don't want to miss out! Holographic Dragon Eyes: Using clay and glass, I create dragon eyes with a holographic effect. The scales around the eyeballs come in a variety of colors, and I offer them as keychains, necklaces, and palm stones. I'm also considering offering them as magnets this year! Nerdy Jewelry: I have a wide array of jewelry (especially earrings)! I have mermaid scale earrings, Beetlejuice earrings, horror movie earrings, food earrings (like ramen and charcuterie boards), cat earrings, etc.

What's an item you are bringing that you are really excited about?

While I love crafting, my books are my biggest passion! So, naturally, I'm most excited about sharing my books with the amazing guests at the Geekery Market! I'm in the middle of my sixth novel right now as well as a short story for a fantasy & sci-fi anthology. Ideally, one (or both) of those works will be available by then!

What was the first item you ever made? How did you learn to make it?

Books: I published my first book, Eos, right before I turned 20. I followed the advice of one of my college professors and decided to take the indie route, which meant formatting my book and designing the cover myself. My first edition looked really rough, but over the years, I've learned a TON about being an indie author and I've really upped my game when it comes to creating a polished book that'll look pretty on your shelf and take you on exciting adventures from the very first page. Crafts: The first piece of jewelry I ever made was a really ugly pair of clay earrings. I saw a bunch of people on TikTok playing with polymer clay during the pandemic and I decided to give it a shot. I just kind of mushed a bunch of colors together and formed them into sloppy shapes because I didn't even have any clay cutters at the time. I slowly started watching more and more videos and playing with techniques myself until I figured out some methods that worked best for me. I'm definitely still learning as I go, and every year my pieces get better!

What else would you like everyone to know about your wares?

I have found that some suppliers aren't fully honest about whether earring supplies are truly hypoallergenic, so I offer acrylic hooks as an alternative for people with metal allergies.* These are essentially semi-flexible plastic hooks! I have some metal sensitivities myself, so when I come across a pair of earrings that irritate my ears, I sub out the metal hooks for the plastic ones and have found them to be a good alternative. Ears not pierced? No worries! I also offer clip-on replacements.* If you see a pair of earrings you like but your ears aren't pierced, just let me know and I can replace the hooks with the clip-on piece instead, it usually just takes me a minute or two and I can do it on the spot. *This only applies to earrings with the fishhook style. I cannot replace studs with anything. I'd say about 75% or more of my earrings are fishhook style though!

If you could travel anywhere in space or time, real or imagined, where would you want to go?

The Isle of Berk! I finally got around to watching How to Train Your Dragon this year and I think the idea of living with a bunch of goofy and loveable dragons in a viking village sounds like so much fun!