Shapers of Worlds Volume III: The Authors

GRIFFIN BARBER spent his youth in four different countries, learning three languages and burning all his bridges. Finally settled in Northern California and retired from a day job as a police officer in a major metropolitan department, he lives the good life with his lovely wife, crazy-smart daughter, tiny Bengal, and needy dog. 1636: Mission to the Mughals, co-authored with Eric Flint, was his first novel. 1637: The Peacock Throne is now available. He’s also collaborated with Kacey Ezell on a novel set in their Last Stop Station Universe, titled Second Chance Angel. He’s also collaborated with Chuck Gannon, penning Man-Eater and Infiltration, novellas set in the Murphy’s Lawless annex of the Caine Riordan Universe. He has a number of short stories set in different universes coming out in 2022.

GERALD BRANDT is an International Bestselling Author of Science Fiction and Fantasy. He is a member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. His current novel is Threader God,Book Three of the Quantum Empirica, published by DAW Books. His first novel, The Courier, in the San Angeles series was listed by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation as one of the ten Canadian science fiction books you need to read and was a finalist for the prestigious  Aurora Award. Both The Courier and its sequel, The Operative, appeared on the Locus Bestsellers List. You can find Gerald online at www.geraldbrandt.com, on Facebook as Gerald Brandt—Author, and on Twitter @geraldbrandt.

CHRISTIAN/MILES CAMERON is s full-time writer of speculative and historical fiction living in Toronto, Canada with his partner, Sarah, daughter, Beatrice, and a surprising number of cats. He is an avid swordperson and loves travel and wilderness camping and, above all, writing.

SEBASTIEN DE CASTELL had just finished a degree in Archaeology when he started work on his first dig. Four hours later he realized how much he actually hated archaeology and left to pursue a very focused career as a musician, ombudsman, interaction designer, fight choreographer, teacher, project manager, actor, and product strategist. Sebastien’s acclaimed swashbuckling fantasy series, The Greatcoats, was shortlisted for the 2014 Goodreads Choice Award for Best Fantasy, the Gemmell Morningstar Award for Best Debut, the Prix Imaginales for Best Foreign Work, and the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. His YA fantasy series, Spellslinger, was nominated for the Carnegie Medal and is published in more than a dozen languages. Sebastien lives in Vancouver, Canada with his lovely wife and two belligerent cats.

KRISTI CHARISH is the author of Kincaid Strange, an urban fantasy about a voodoo practitioner living in Seattle with the ghost of a grunge rocker, and The Adventures of Owl, an “Indiana Jane”-style adventure about ex-archaeology grad student turned international antiquities thief who reluctantly navigates the hidden supernatural world. Kristi writes what she loves: adventure-heavy stories featuring strong, savvy female protagonists, pop culture, and the occasional RPG fantasy game thrown in the mix. Kristi is also a scientist. She has a BSc and MSc from Simon Fraser University in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry and a PhD in Zoology from the University of British Columbia. She specializes in genetics, cell biology, and molecular biology, and gratuitously uses her expertise throughout her fiction. You can find Kristi on her laptop writing videogames and making science comprehensible.

CORY DOCTOROW (craphound.com) is a science fiction author, activist and journalist. He is the author of many books, most recently Radicalized and Walkaway, science fiction for adults; How to Destroy Surveillance Capitalism, nonfiction about monopoly and conspiracy; In Real Life, a graphic novel; and the picture book Poesy the Monster Slayer. His latest book is Attack Surface, a standalone adult sequel to Little Brother; his next nonfiction book is Chokepoint Capitalism, with Rebecca Giblin, about monopoly, monopsony, and fairness in the creative-arts labour market (Beacon Press, 2022). In 2020, he was inducted into the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame.

K. EASON lives with her husband and a trio of disreputable cats in Southern California, where she teaches first-year college students about zombies and food (not at the same time!). Her short fiction has appeared in Cabinet-des-Fées, Postcards from Hell: The First Thirteen, Jabberwocky 4, Crossed Genres, Kaleidotrope, and Ink: Queer Sci Fi Anthology. She has written the On the Bones of Gods trilogy, The Thorne Chronicles, and The Weep series, the second book of which, Nightwatch Over Windscar, is forthcoming from DAW Books in November 2022. When she’s not writing or commenting on essays, she’s probably playing D&D.

DAVID EBENBACH is the author of nine books of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry, including his recent novel, How to Mars, a book that’s been called, “A poignant examination of what it means to be human” (Kirkus Reviews). His books have won such awards as the Juniper Prize and the Drue Heinz Literature Prize, among others. Ebenbach lives with his family in Washington, DC, where he teaches and supports other teachers’ development at Georgetown University. You can find out more at www.davidebenbach.com.

MARK EVERGLADE has spent his life studying social conflict as a sociologist. He runs the website www.markeverglade.com where he reviews cyberpunk media and interviews the legends. He also helps run Cyberpunk Day each year to bring hopeful, yet dystopian, fiction to a new generation. His newest book, Song of Kitaba, revolves around themes of human freedom in an age of increased cyber surveillance.

FRANK J. FLEMING is a novelist and a script creator for The Daily Wire. He has also written satire books, wrote approximately 666 articles for The Babylon Bee, and wrote columns for The New York Post, USA Today, and The Washington Times. Frank is a Carnegie Mellon University graduate and used to be a really good electrical and software engineer back when he was inclined to have a more useful occupation than writing. He lives in Austin with his wife and four kids and is a really cool dude.

JOSEPH HURTGEN holds a doctorate in English Literature from Ball State University, where he specialized in American Literature and Science Fiction. Hurtgen’s most recent novel is tae kwon Go. He teaches writing and literature at Western Kentucky University and lives in Campbellsville, KY, with his wife, Rebecca, and children, Frances and Ira.

VIOLETTE MALAN is the author of the Dhulyn and Parno sword-and-sorcery series and The Mirror Lands series of primary world fantasies. As VM Escalada, she’s the author of the Faraman Prophecy, including Halls of Law and Gift of Griffins. She’s on Facebook and she’s on Twitter (@Violette Malan). Violette lives in Spain with her husband, Paul, and Luna the Cat, and she strongly urges you to remember that no one expects the Spanish Inquisition.

ANNA MOCIKAT is the award-winning, internationally published author of Behind Blue Eyes, the Tales of the Shadow City series, and the MUC series. Before becoming a novelist, she graduated from film school and worked as a screenwriter and game writer for over a decade. She lives in Greenville, South Carolina.

Born in 1947, JAMES MORROW  has been writing fiction ever since. As a seven-year-old living in the Philadelphia suburbs, he dictated “The Story of the Dog Family” to his mother, who dutifully typed it up and bound the pages with yarn. Upon reaching adulthood, Jim channelled his storytelling urge toward the production of theologically inflected satiric fiction, including the critically acclaimed Godhead Trilogy. He has twice won the World Fantasy Award (for Only Begotten Daughter and Towing Jehovah), and twice the Nebula Award (for “The Deluge” and City of Truth). In recent years Jim has composed historical fiction informed by a fantastika sensibility, including The Last Witchfinder and Galápagos Regained, the French translation of which received the Grand Prix de l’Imaginaire

JESS E. OWEN is a professional author and artist. With her BFA in technical theatre, she worked for nearly a decade as a stage manager before leaving the industry to focus on writing. She has served as president of her local writing organization, and speaks frequently in classes and workshops. Jess published her own young adult fantasy series featuring gryfon characters, the Summer King Chronicles, and also writes contemporary YA under the name Jessica Kara. All her books, whether modern or high fantasy, are “noblebright” at their core, written with a spirit of hope, belief in the power of kindness, and the faith that good will overcome. “Together As One” is set in the world of the Summer King Chronicles, in an earlier Age. Find her online at www.jessowen.com.

ROBERT G. PENNER is the author of Strange Labour, one of Publishers Weekly‘s Best Science Fiction Books of 2020. He’s also the editor of the online science fiction zine Big Echo, and has published more than thirty short stories in a wide range of speculative and literary journals under the pseudonym of William Squirrell. After seven years in western Pennsylvania, he has recently returned to Winnipeg.

CAT RAMBO’s 250+ fiction publications include stories in Asimov’sClarkesworld Magazine, and The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. In 2020 they won the Nebula Award for fantasy novelette Carpe Glitter. They are a former two-term President of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA). Their most recent works are the space opera You Sexy Thing (Tor Macmillan) and an anthology, The Reinvented Heart (Arc Manor, March, 2022),  co-edited with Jennifer Brozek. For more about Cat, as well as links to fiction and their popular online school, The Rambo Academy for Wayward Writers, see their website.

K.M. RICE (Kellie) is a national award-winning screenwriter and author. Her first novel, Darkling, is a young adult dark fantasy that now has a companion novel titled The Watcher. Over the years, her love of storytelling has led to producing and geeking out in various web shows and short films. When not writing or filming, she can be found hiking in the woods, baking, gardening, and enjoying the company of the many animals on her family ranch in the Santa Cruz Mountains of California. Her latest publications are the novels in her historical fantasy series Afterworld, which launched with Book 1, Ophelia.

EDWARD WILLETT is the Aurora Award-winning author of more than sixty books of science fiction, fantasy, and non-fiction for readers of all ages, including twelve novels for DAW Books, the latest of which is The Tangled Stars, a humorous far-future space-opera heist novel featuring a talking genetically modified AI-uplifted cat who becomes a starship captain. Ed owns and operates Shadowpaw Press, which publishes new work by established and emerging authors and new editions of notable, previously published work. A past president of SF Canada, he is currently vice-president of SaskBooks, the professional association of publishers in Saskatchewan. He has a university-age daughter, Alice, and lives in Regina, Saskatchewan, with his wife, Margaret Anne Hodges, P.Eng., and their black Siberian cat, Shadowpaw.

WALTER JON WILLIAMS is an award-winning author who has been listed on the best-seller lists of the New York Times and the Times of London. He is the author of forty volumes of fiction. His first novel to attract serious public attention was Hardwired (1986), described by Roger Zelazny as “a tough, sleek juggernaut of a story, punctuated by strobe-light movements, coursing to the wail of jets and the twang of steel guitars.” In 2001 he won a Nebula Award for his novelette, “Daddy’s World,” and won again in 2005 for “The Green Leopard Plague.” His latest work is Lord Quillifer, the latest installment in his popular Quillifer fantasy series. Walter has also written for comics, the screen, and for television, and has worked in the gaming field. He was a writer for the alternate reality game Last Call Poker, and has scripted the mega-hit Spore.

F. PAUL WILSON is the award-winning, New York Times-bestselling author of eighty books and numerous short stories spanning medical thrillers, SF, horror, adventure, and virtually everything between.  More than nine million copies of his books are in print in the US and his work has been translated into 24 languages. He also has written for the stage, screen, comics, and interactive media. Best known for The Keep and his notorious urban mercenary, Repairman Jack, he currently resides at the Jersey Shore. Find him online at www.repairmanjack.com.

JANE YOLEN is a Grand Master for SFWA, World Fantasy, and the Science Fiction Poetry Association, plus the winner of two Nebulas and several World Fantasy Awards; has six honourary doctorates; and was the first woman to give the St. Andrews University Andrew Lang lecture. She is the author of well over 400 books and has published much more than a thousand poems so far. She has been called the “Hans Christian Andersen of America,” but more appropriate would be the “Hans Jewish Andersen of America.” She has also been called the “Aesop of the 20th century,” but careful readers will note we are on the cusp of the 22nd-23rd centuries. And as she is a folklorist, she needs to point out that calling her legendary is actually a back-handed insult as she is (for now) alive, still writing, and very real.