BRAD C. ANDERSON lives with his wife and puppy in Vancouver, Canada. He teaches undergraduate business courses at a local university and researches organizational wisdom in blithe defiance of the fact that most people do not think you can put those two words in the same sentence without irony. Previously, he worked in the biotech sector, where he made drugs for a living (legally!). His stories have appeared in a variety of publications. Ashme’s Song, his second novel, was published by Shadowpaw Press in 2024. His short story Naïve Gods” was longlisted for a 2017 Sunburst Award for Excellence in Canadian Literature of the Fantastic. It was published in the anthology Lazarus Risen, which itself was nominated for an Aurora Award. Learn more at www.bradanderson2000.com.
EDO VAN BELKOM, a former reporter on the sports and police beats for newspapers in and around Toronto, arrived on the horror scene in 1990. His first short story sale,e “Baseball Memories,” was selected for the prestigious Year’s Best Horror Stories, edited by Karl Edward Wagner. The story was also nominated for Canada’s prestigious Aurora Award and appeared side-by-side with work by authors such as Mordecai Richler and W. P. Kinsella in The Grand Slam Book of Canadian Baseball Writing. Edo hasn’t looked back since. Some 250 short stories have sold to a variety of top magazines and anthologies in the SF, fantasy, horror, and mystery genres, as well as Simon & Schuster’s Best American Erotica. He has twice won the Aurora Award, taken home the Bram Stoker Award once, and been a finalist on many other occasions in a variety of categories spanning his work as a novelist, anthologist and nonfiction author, and his YA novel Wolf Pack won Ontario’s prestigious Silver Birch Award. Recently, it was adapted into a TV series for Paramount+. Overseas, his work has been published in Germany, Spain, and Italy. Edo was also one of four on-air hosts for the launch of ScreamTV in 2000, hosting the segment “Post Mortem” during their late-night movie block. Born in Toronto in 1962, van Belkom received a B.A. in Creative Writing from York University and now resides in Brampton, Ontario, with his wife, Roberta.
J.G. GARDNER has a Ph.D. in Microbiology and is a scientist researching new ways to treat fungal infections. While having published many technical papers on genetics and biochemistry, he has always wanted to write novels about magic, wizards, and dragons. His high fantasy novels The Path from Regret and The Magic of Deceit were published by Apprentice House Press.
OLESYA SALNIKOVA GILMORE is the author of The Witch and the Tsar and The Haunting of Moscow House. Originally from Moscow, she was raised in the U.S. and graduated from Pepperdine University with a B.A. in English/political science and from Northwestern School of Law with a J.D. She practised litigation at a large law firm for several years before pursuing her dream of becoming an author. Now, she is happiest writing speculative historical fiction inspired by Eastern European history and folklore. Her work has appeared in LitHub, Reactor/Tor.com, CrimeReads, Writer’s Digest, Historical Novels Review, Bookish, and Washington Independent Review of Books, among others. She lives in a wooded, lakeside suburb of Chicago with her husband and daughter.
CHADWICK GINTHER is the Prix Aurora Award-winning author of The Thunder Road Trilogy, Graveyard Mind, and more than thirty short stories, some of which have been collected in Khyber: Sinister Tales of Sword and Sorcery and When the Sky Comes Looking for You: Short Trips Down the Thunder Road. He lives in Winnipeg, Canada, where he writes stories full of skeletons, giants, and dragons.
EVAN GRAHAM is an Ohio native who consistently refuses to seek help for his lifelong sci-fi addiction. Since there are not enough stories currently in existence to satisfy him, he had no choice but to start writing his own. Tantalus Depths, his debut novel, introduced his Calling Void series, an anthology of stories celebrating the wonder and terror of the Unknown.
Daughter of two Cuban political exiles, M.C.A. HOGARTH was born a foreigner in the American melting pot and has had a fascination for the gaps in cultures and the bridges that span them ever since. She has been many things—web database architect, product manager, technical writer, and massage therapist—but is currently a full-time parent, artist, writer, and anthropologist to aliens, both human and otherwise. Her fiction has variously been recommended for a Nebula, a finalist for the Spectrum, placed on the Tiptree long list, and chosen for two best-of anthologies; her art has appeared in RPGs and magazines and on book covers. M.C.A. Hogarth also served as Vice President of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) for three years. Her current focus is new business models for artists and independent marketing and distribution innovations. Her first crowdfunded fiction project kicked off in 2004 before the word was even coined. M.C.A. has experimented with everything from “choose-your-own-adventure” style serials online to Kickstarting creative projects and is looking forward to future experiments in using technology to bring art directly to the audience.
M.J. KUHN, author of the internationally bestselling Among Thieves and its sequel, Thick as Thieves, is a fantasy writer by night and a mild-mannered marketing employee by day. She lives in the metro Detroit area with her very spoiled cat, Thorin Oakenshield.
L. JAGI LAMPLIGHTER is the author of the YA fantasy series The Books of Unexpected Enlightenment, the third book of which was nominated for the YA Dragon Award in 2017, the fourth book of which won the first YA Ribbit Award, and the fifth book of which also won two small literary awards. She is also the author of the Prospero’s Children series: Prospero Lost, Prospero in Hell, and Prospero Regained. She has published numerous articles and short stories and has an anthology of her own works, In the Lamplight. She also edits and teaches The Art and Craft of Writing. When not writing, she switches to her secret identity as wife and stay-home mom in Centreville, VA, where she lives with her dashing husband, author John C. Wright, and their four darling children, Orville, Ping-Ping Eve, Roland Wilbur, and Justinian Oberon.
KEVIN MOORE is the imaginative storyteller behind Jack Kelly’s captivating world and extraordinary paranormal adventures. His debut novel, The Book of Souls, earned praise as an Amazon Editors’ pick for Best Science Fiction and Fantasy and introduced readers to Kelly’s mesmerizing abilities. Building on this success, Moore delved deeper into the supernatural realm with The Book of Demons, a thrilling blend of magic and suspense (Harry Potter meets The Exorcist.) The next chapter in the Jack Kelly saga, Pandora’s Box & The Lost Boys, promises a more intense spine-tingling drama in early 2025. Moore’s literary talents are not confined to the paranormal. Christmas Stories 7: Original Short Stories became an Amazon #1 bestseller, showcasing his ability to craft heartwarming tales. Christmas Stories Volume II is out now, promising more enchanted narratives. Also in 2025, prepare to be captivated by Waking Sleeping Beauty, a spiritual thriller.
ROBIN STEVENS PAYES is a time traveller who reasons that time and space are just inconvenient rules that other people decided the world must follow. She is the author of the YA Edge of Yesterday (EOY) time-travel adventure series and creator of EOY Media’s interactive “learning through story” platform, inviting readers and fans to dive deeper into the worlds introduced in each of the stories. Since doing strengthens learning, Payes leads MASTERY workshops to empower teens and adults to get curious, tap their imaginations, and strengthen their creative superpowers.
JAMES S. PEET is a modern-day Renaissance Man. He’s lived on four continents in six countries and visited countless more. He’s been a National Park Service Ranger, a police officer, a tow-truck driver, a college instructor, a private investigator, a fraud examiner/forensic accountant, an inventor, and an entrepreneur. He’s walked the Camino de Santiago, a walkabout he highly recommends. He lives on top of a small mountain in the foothills of Washington’s Cascade Mountains with his wife, dogs, barn cats, and whatever adult daughter returns to the nest. He’s attended ten colleges and universities and two law-enforcement academies and has three degrees (all in geography) and multiple certificates (he really likes learning). His Corps of Discovery and The Hayek Chronicles series are set in the multiverse. His other writing endeavours include several articles on modern sea piracy, economics, and the private investigation of fraud.
OMARI RICHARDS was born to Dominican immigrants in America and grew up in a household filled with laughter, music, fellowship, and tales of the homeland. From shape-shifting witches to monsters hatched from chicken eggs, these stories enriched and invigorated his imagination. This was strengthened once he found the written word in the adventures of Jim Hawkins, King Arthur, Ivanhoe, and Robin Hood, to name a few. Omari hopes to capture and enrich the imagination of his readers in a similar way with his new series, The Kimoni Legacy (which begins with his first novel, The Kimoni Legacy: Initiation), and his Tales of Nahwalla short stories. You can find Omari, a lifetime “blerd” and West African history/folklore buff, lost in a book, immersed in the nearest bookstore, or catching up on One Piece and My Hero Academia in his Northern Virginia home.
LAWRENCE M. SCHOEN holds a Ph.D. in cognitive psychology and psycholinguistics. He spent ten years as a college professor, doing research in the areas of human memory and language. This was followed by seventeen years as the director of research for a medical centre in Philadelphia that provided mental health and addiction services. He’s also the founder of the Klingon Language Institute and since 1992 has championed the exploration and use of this constructed tongue throughout the world. In addition, he works occasionally as a hypnotherapist specializing in authors’ issues. And, too, he is a chimeric cancer survivor. In 2007, he was a finalist for the Astounding Award for Best New Writer. He received a Hugo Award nomination for Best Short Story in 2010 and for Best Related Work in 2022, as well as Nebula Award nominations for Best Novella in 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2018, for Best Novelette in 2019, and for Best Novel in 2016. Some of his most popular writing deals with the ongoing humorous adventures of a space-faring stage hypnotist named the Amazing Conroy and his companion animal, Reggie, an alien buffalito that can eat anything and farts oxygen. His Barsk series represents his more serious work and uses anthropomorphic SF to explore ideas of prophecy, intolerance, political betrayal, speaking to the dead, predestination, and free will. It’s also earned him the Cóyotl Award for Best Novel of 2015 and again in 2018. Lawrence lives near Philadelphia with his wife, Valerie, who is neither a psychologist nor a Klingon speaker.
ALEX SHVARTSMAN is the author of Kakistocracy (2023), The Middling Affliction (2022), and Eridani’s Crown (2019) fantasy novels. Over 120 of his stories have appeared in Analog, Nature, Strange Horizons, etc. He won the WSFA Small Press Award for Short Fiction and was a three-time finalist for the Canopus Award for Excellence in Interstellar Fiction. His translations from Russian have appeared in F&SF, Clarkesworld, Tor.com, Analog, Asimov’s, etc. Alex has edited over a dozen anthologies, including the long-running Unidentified Funny Objects series. He resides in Brooklyn, NY.
ALAN SMALE writes alternate history, historical fantasy, and hard SF. His novella of a Roman invasion of ancient America, “A Clash of Eagles,” won the Sidewise Award for Alternate History, and his novels set in the same universe, Clash of Eagles, Eagle in Exile, and Eagle and Empire (2015-2017), are available from Del Rey. His “Roman baseball” collaboration with Rick Wilber, The Wandering Warriors, came out from WordFire Press in 2020, and Hot Moon, his alternate-Apollo thriller set entirely on and around the Moon, was launched by CAEZIK SF & Fantasy in July 2022, with sequel Radiant Sky released in November 2024. Alan has sold more than fifty pieces of short fiction to Asimov’s, Galaxy’s Edge, Abyss & Apex, and numerous other magazines and original anthologies, and his short story “Gunpowder Treason” earned him a second Sidewise Award in 2022. His nonfiction essays have appeared in Lightspeed, Journey Planet, and Galaxy’s Edge. Alan grew up in Yorkshire, England, and received degrees in Physics and Astrophysics from Oxford University. Until recently, he performed research into galactic neutron star and black hole binary systems at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center and served as the director of one of NASA’s big-three astrophysical data archives.
RICHARD SPARKS is an English-born comedy writer, lyricist, librettist, author, and director now living in Los Angeles. His writing credentials span the gamut of the entertainment world, from film and TV and books through lyrics for operas. His TV writing includes iconic shows like Not the Nine O’clock News (BBC TV) and The Secret Policeman’s Ball (BBC TV, performed by Rowen Atkinson and directed by John Cleese). He has written several books, including the biography of the music producer Milt Okun, Along the Cherry Lane. (Okun discovered and launched John Denver and mentored him throughout his career. He created arrangements for Peter, Paul and Mary that the trio performed for half a century. He brought Placido Domingo a crossover career that made him an international star beyond the world of opera.) Richard’s novel New Rock New Role blends the gaming world and epic fantasy and launched the New Rock series. The second book in the series, New Rock New Realm, was published in November 2024.
P.L. STUART was born in Toronto and holds a university degree in English, specializing in Medieval Literature. He is an assistant editor with Before We Go Blog. P.L.’s seven-book The Drowned Kingdom Saga chronicles flawed and bigoted Prince Othrun’s journey toward change and his rise to power in a new world after the downfall of his homeland, which is based on Plato’s lost realm of Atlantis. The bestselling first book, A Drowned Kingdom, was mentioned in Kirkus Magazine’s 2021 Indie Issue among “Four Great Examples of the Genre” of fantasy and won the 2022 Picky Bookworm Award for Best Indie Book Based on Mythology. Other books in the series so far are The Last of the Atalanteans, Lord and King, and A Lion’s Pride.
BRAD R. TORGERSEN is a multi-award-winning science fiction and fantasy writer whose book A Star-Wheeled Sky won the 2019 Dragon Award for Best Science Fiction Novel at the 33rd annual DragonCon fan convention in Atlanta, GA. A prolific short fiction author, Torgersen has published stories in numerous anthologies and magazines, including several best-of-the-year collections. Brad is named in Analog magazine’s Who’s Who of top Analog authors, alongside venerable writers like Larry Niven, Lois McMaster Bujold, Orson Scott Card, and Robert A. Heinlein. Married for more than twenty-eight years, Brad is also a United States Army Reserve Chief Warrant Officer—with multiple deployments to his credit—and currently lives with his wife and daughter in the Mountain West.
HAYDEN TRENHOLM is an award-winning playwright, novelist, and short story writer. He has also been a public servant, an actor, a bartender, a freelance researcher and consultant, and a telemarketer for Alberta Ballet. His short fiction has appeared in many magazines, including Analog Science Fiction and Fact, anthologies such as The Sum of Us and Strangers Among Us, and on CBC radio. His first novel, A Circle of Birds, won the Three-Day Novel Writing competition in 1993; it was later translated and published in French. Each book in his trilogy, The Steele Chronicles, was nominated for an Aurora Award. Stealing Home, the third book, was a finalist for the Sunburst Award. Hayden has won five Aurora Awards—three times for short fiction and twice for editing anthologies. He purchased Bundoran Press in 2012 and was its managing editor until the press closed in 2020. He lives with his wife and fellow writer, Liz Westbrook-Trenholm, in Ottawa, having retired in 2017 after fifteen years as a policy adviser to the Senator for the Northwest Territories. In 2022, he was inducted into the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association Hall of Fame.
BRIAN TRENT is the award-winning author of the sci-fi thrillers Redspace Rising and Ten Thousand Thunders, and more than a hundred short stories in the world’s top fiction markets, including the New York Times-bestselling Black Tide Rising series, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Analog Science Fiction and Fact, Nature, Daily Science Fiction, Escape Pod, Pseudopod, Galaxy’s Edge, the Weird World War series from Baen Books, and numerous year’s best anthologies. He lives in Connecticut.
ELI K.P. WILLIAM is a novelist, translator, essayist, and video game writer who has spent most of his adult life in Japan. The only member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of Japan who writes fiction in English, he is the author of The Jubilee Cycle trilogy (Skyhorse Publishing), set in a cyber-dystopian future Tokyo. He also translates Japanese literature, including the bestselling novel A Man (Crossing) by Keiichiro Hirano, and is now a bilingual writing consultant for a major Japanese video game company. His translations, essays, and short stories have appeared or are forthcoming in such publications as Granta, Aeon, The Malahat Review, The Japan Times, Tor.com, Writer’s Digest, and (in Japanese) SF Prologue Wave and Subaru. After ten years in the thick of Tokyo, he now lives in the green hills outside the metropolis with his wife and daughter. Since the pandemic, he has made a point of more frequently visiting Toronto, the city of his birth, and can sometimes be found roaming North America or the UK in the summertime.
EDWARD WILLETT is the award-winning author (under his own name and as E.C. Blake and Lee Arthur Chane) of more than sixty books of science fiction, fantasy, and nonfiction for readers of all ages, including twelve novels for DAW Books, the most recent of which is The Tangled Stars, a humorous far-future space-opera heist adventure featuring an AI-uplifted talking cat who becomes a starship captain. Ed won Canada’s top science fiction award, the Aurora Award, for his second novel for DAW, Marseguro, and has been shortlisted several times since, including for his most recent young adult science fiction novel, Star Song. Ed has also won an Aurora Award for his podcast, The Worldshapers, which gave rise to this Kickstarter project and its four prequels. In 2018, Ed founded Shadowpaw Press, publisher of the Shapers of Worlds anthologies among many other books, not only science fiction and fantasy but also literary fiction, poetry, historical fiction, children’s books, and nonfiction In addition to writing, Ed is a professional actor and singer. He lives in Regina, Saskatchewan, with his wife. They have a grown daughter and a much younger black Siberian cat named, of course, Shadowpaw.
Award-winning author NATALIE WRIGHT is ensconced in her dark-academia writing den penning the next book in the epic Dragos Primeri series. Natalie is the author of Season of the Dragon, named a Top Ten Indie epic fantasy by Bookshop.org and Ingram. A lifelong fantasy and sci-fi nerd, when not writing her own epic, Natalie is engrossed in a speculative fiction movie, book, series, or open-world RPG. Natalie is a frequent panellist, guest, and exhibitor at book festivals, book signing events, and sci-fi and fantasy conventions. She lives in Arizona with her husband and two cat overlords and visits her college-age son frequently in NYC. To meet Natalie, check her tour and appearance schedule on her website: www.NatalieWrightAuthor.com.
About the artist
WENDI NORDELL has been drawing for as long as she could hold a pencil. It has always been a favourite pastime and eventually became an occasional job. While her three children were growing up, she painted many murals, including in the pediatrics wing in a hospital, in a school entrance, and in many homes. She also attended festivals and craft shows, selling hand-drawn gift cards, bookmarks, and illustrations. Now that her children are grown, she has pursued an illustration career, illustrating a dozen books in the last five years, mostly for children, but also including Edward Willett’s science fiction and fantasy poetry collection I Tumble Through the Diamond Dust and the science fiction and fantasy anthology Shapers of Worlds Volume IV. Recently, Wendi decided to improve her artistic skills and abilities by returning to the Alberta University of the Arts, pursuing a degree in illustration. Wendi has almost always picked up books based on their cover art, and if there are illustrations inside the book, she thinks that’s even better. She truly hopes that her illustrations enhance readers’ experience with books–including this one!
