Life, the Universe, & Everything: The Marion K. "Doc" Smith Symposium on Science Fiction and Fantasy (usually referred to, in shorthand, as the Life, the Universe, & Everything Symposium; or by the associated acronym LTUE), is an academic conference held annually since 1983 in Provo, Utah. It is the longest-running science fiction and fantasy convention in Utah, and is one of the largest and longest-running academic science fiction conferences in the United States and the world at large. An annual proceedings volume, Deep Thoughts (named after the computer Deep Thought from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy), publishes the academic papers and main addresses given at the event. The symposium was named, jokingly, after the Douglas Adams novel Life, the Universe and Everything.

History The roots of the Life, the Universe, & Everything (LTUE) and other science fiction efforts at Brigham Young University (BYU) began with a one-day symposium on science fiction held on January 20, 1976. Four years later, Orson Scott Card gave a speech in 1980 at the university about morality in writing, which showed some of the students and faculty that a serious, academic forum for discussion of science fiction writing was a possibility at BYU, but there weren't enough students interested in trying to make things work at that time.

This changed in February 1982 when Ben Bova was invited to speak at a university forum event. The English Department assigned Marion Smith, the professor whose name is now part of the title of the symposium, to take care of Bova while he wasn't speaking. He and a handful of his writing students (including M. Shayne Bell) got together and held a discussion with Bova. This inspired those students to try to create something like that the following year, when they invited Card back to be the first guest of honor. The first official symposium was held in 1983.

From 1982 through 2011, the symposium was held at BYU. In 2012, it was held at Utah Valley University, and in 2013, it moved to the Provo Marriott Hotel and Conference Center in downtown Provo.

The Leading Edge science fiction and fantasy magazine was started by these same students, all members of a 1980 creative writing class at BYU.

Guests This is a list of Guests of Honor (in bold) and notable Special Guests.

Year # Dates Guests References 1983 1 February 7–12 Orson Scott Card 1984 2 February 16-18 James C. Christensen 1985 3 February 6–9 Elizabeth Boyer, C. J. Cherryh, Frederik Pohl 1986 4 February 5–8 Orson Scott Card, Alan Dean Foster, Madeleine L'EngleL'Engle was invited as a guest to the symposium, but came later in the spring. 1987 5 February 4–7 Orson Scott Card, Stephen R. Donaldson, Jack Williamson, Julius Schwartz 1988 6 February 3–6 Algis Budrys, Tim Powers, Ray Bradbury,Bradbury was invited as a guest to the symposium, but came later in the spring. Michael R. Collings, Michael Whelan 1989 7 February 1–4 Karen Anderson, Poul Anderson, David Brin, Octavia Butler 1990 8 February 7–10 Hal Clement, Robin McKinley, Mike Resnick, Tracy Hickman 1991 9 February 6–9 Forrest J Ackerman, Connie Willis 1992 10 February 5–8 Jane Yolen 1993 11 February 10–13 Kevin J. Anderson, Orson Scott Card, Barbara Hambly, Chris Heimerdinger, Rebecca Moesta 1994 12 February 16–19 Robert L. Forward, Katherine Kurtz, Roger ZelaznyThis was the last major public appearance of Zelazny before he died in 1995. 1995 13 February 1–4 Lois McMaster Bujold, Patricia McKillip, Richard Garfield, Sam Longoria, Néné Thomas 1996 14 January 31 -February 3 Tracy Hickman, Dave Wolverton, Patricia Wrede, M. Shayne Bell, Michael R. Collings, Steve Jackson, Michaelene Pendleton, W. R. Thompson, Kristine Kathryn Rusch,Kristine Kathryn Rusch and Dean Wesley Smith put on the Kris & Dean Show, a writing workshop, as a fundraiser for the symposium on January 5–6. They did not attend the symposium itself. Dean Wesley Smith, 1997 15February 27 -March 1 Orson Scott Card, Judith Moffett 1998 16 March 12–14 Elizabeth Moon, Sherwood Smith, Dave Wolverton 1999 17 Kevin J. Anderson, Marty Brenneis, Michael Liebman, Rebecca Moesta 2000 18 March 23–25 David Howard, L. E. Modesitt, Jr., Margaret Weis, M. K. Wren 2001 19 Jeanne Cavelos, Tracy Hickman, Sam Longoria, Harry Turtledove 2002 20 February 21–23 Marty Brenneis, Michael R. Collings, Larry Niven, Christian Ready 2003 21 February 13–15 Esther Friesner, Patricia Wrede, Orson Scott Card 2004 22 February 19–21 Matthew Candelaria, Michael R. Collings, Jim Conley, Robert J Defendi, Brian C. Hailes, Sam Longoria, Norman R. Peercy, William J. Widder 2005 23 February 17–19 Michael R. Collings, David Howard, L. E. Modesitt, Jr., Jerry Pournelle 2006 24 February 16–18 Kevin J. Anderson, Michael R. Collings, Rebecca Moesta, Theresa Mather, Norman Peercy 2007 25 February 15–17 Julie E. Czerneda, Gloria Skurzynski, Howard Tayler, Stacy Whitman 2008 26 Orson Scott Card, Gail Carson Levine, Kevin Wasden 2009 27 Laura Hickman, Tracy Hickman 2010 28 February 11–13 Marty Brenneis, Nathan Hale, Brandon Sanderson 2011 29 February 17–19 James Dashner, Steven Keele 2012 30 Mary Robinette Kowal, James A. Owen, Brandon Sanderson, Howard Tayler, Dan Wells 2013 31 February 14–16 Megan Whalen Turner (literary), David Farland, Tracy and Laura Hickman, James A. Owen, Eric James Stone, Brad R. Torgersen, L. E. Modesitt, Jr. 2014 32 February 13–15 Orson Scott Card (literary), Michael R. Collings, Michaelbrent Collings, David Farland, Brian C. Hailes, L. E. Modesitt Jr., James A. Owen, Brandon Sanderson, Anne Sowards 2015 33 February 12–14 Toni Weisskopf (editor), Steven L. Peck, Eric G. Swedin, Michaelbrent Collings, Maxwell Alexander Drake, James Ganiere, Tracy Hickman, L.E. Modesitt, Jr., James A. Owen, Dan Wells 2016 34 February 11–13 Kevin J. Anderson (literary), Shannon Hale (literary), Rebecca Moesta, Brandon Sanderson, Howard Tayler, Dan Wells, Stacy Whitman, Michelle Witte 2017 35 February 16–18 Beth Meacham (editor), Dan Wells (literary), Alan Bahr, Susan Chang, Michaelbrent Collings, M. Todd Gallowglas, David Powers King, Lisa Mangum, Dennis Packard, Charlie Pulsipher 2018 36 February 15–17 Todd McCaffrey (literary), Jo Walton (literary, fandom), Alan Bahr, Susan Chang, Myke Cole, Larry Correia, Jessica Douglas, David Farland201937February 14–16Kelly Barnhill (literary), Brett Helquist (artist), Brian C. Hailes, Charlie N. Holmberg, Matthew J. Kirby, Dr. Nik Rao, Brennan Smith, Eric D. Snider, Stacy L. Whitman202038February 13–15Bobby Cody (actor), Howard Lyon (artist), Brad R. Torgersen (literary), Kevin J. Anderson, Larry Correia, Devon Dorrity, Natasha Ence, Diana Pavlac Glyer, Megan Lloyd, Logan Long202139February 11–13Kaitlund Zupanic (artist), Melinda M. Snodgrass (screenplays), Alaya Dawn Johnson (literary), Michaelbrent Collings, Tom Durham, Ravyn Evermore, Jessica Day George, Kristy S. Gilbert, Troy Lambert, Julie Wright202240February 17–19Jody Lynn Nye (writing), Megan Lloyd (theater & media arts), Brian C. Hailes (artist) 202341February 16–18Phil Foglio, Nina Kiriki Hoffman, Jess Smart Smiley, Brandon Mull (toastmaster), Blake Casselman, Jessica Day George, Michael F. Haspil, Aaron Johnston, M. A. Nichols, Lehua Parker, and Talysa Sainz.202442February 15–17Aaron Johnston, Rebecca Moesta, Kaela Rivera, Michael F. Haspil (toastmaster), Kevin J. Anderson, Wulf Moon, Robert Hatch.202543February 13–15Paul Durham, Jennifer A. Nielsen, Isaac Stewart, Cameron Hopkin (toastmaster), C. David Belt, Rose Card-Faux, Adam Heesch, Benjamin K. Hewett, David Howard, Jennifer Hulet, Mari Murdock, Peter Orullian, Craig Nybo and Lehua Parker.202644February 12–14Ron Clements, Matt Dinniman, Charlie N. Holmberg, Emily Goodwin (toastmaster), Suzy Bills, Esther Candari, Orson Scott Card, Robert J Defendi, Max Florschutz, M. Todd Gallowglas, and Clint Johnson.

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