Born in the Year of the Dragon, Vonnie Winslow Crist is author of award-winning short stories, poems, and books. An active member of the Horror Writers Association, Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers Association, Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators, and National League of American Pen Women - she taught creative writing for the Maryland State Arts Council for 10 years.

"Shivers, Scares, and Goosebumps" won a 2023 Imadjinn Award. "Beneath Raven's Wing" won a 2022 International Edgar Allan Poe Festival Saturday Visiter Award and was an Imadjinn Award Finalist. "The Enchanted Dagger" won a Maryland Writers Association Book Award and was a Compton Crook Award Finalist. Both "Owl Light" and "The Greener Forest" won eFestival of Words Short Story Collection Awards (2017 & 2018).

Her speculative writing appears in hundreds of books and magazines including "Asimov's Magazine," "Amazing Stories," "Chilling Ghost Short Stories," "Slay: Stories of the Vampire Noir," "Faerie Magazine," "Weirdbook: Witches," "Black Infinity," "Cirsova," and "Cast of Wonders."

As an illustrator, she's had over 1,000 illustrations published in books, magazines, and calendars.

She is an avid JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis fan, and a firm believer in the magical world that surrounds us! A clover-hand who has found so many 4-leafed clovers she keeps them in jars, Vonnie is quite fond of Harry Potter & Hogwarts, The Hunger Games, A Song of Ice & Fire, Star Wars, Star Trek, and everything Faerie!

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Talking about myself is much harder than writing a book. You'd think a wordmistress wouldn't have such a problem, but I do. Let me rework a flat scene any day.

Simple background: I'm married, have lots of pets, still work full time, and grew up in Las Vegas.

But there's so much more to a person than that.

Writing is more than just words on paper to me. It's a passion, an incessant need, a deep-seated drive to be a storyteller. I knew I wanted to be an author as far back as high school. Writing may have taken a backseat a few times, but I finally made it.

My stories have bite because I'm a little different, and like slightly different things. No shock horror here, or cheap gimmicks meant to offend, or pandering to the latest trend. My vampires love human blood, my dragons hunt people, and my elves are magical and arrogant.

Romance and darkness will always go together for me. Love really can get you through anything, as I know from personal experience. My characters will always have that glimmer of new love, that bond with a soulmate, and will do anything to be with their one and only.

When I'm not busy having things killed. Being deeply romantic doesn't mean I'm not also a violent or twisted writer. Fight scenes, bloodshed, dark magic, and triumphant villains all have their places in my tales.

I'll never apologize for who I am. Sometimes abrasive and uncouth, full of contradictions and juxtaposition, I am merely who I am.

And what I am is a storyteller wanting to craft new entertainments for you.

Brian Rosenberger lives in a cellar in Marietta, GA and writes by the light of captured fireflies. He is the author of As the Worm Turns, a collection of short stories, and three poetry collections - Poems that go SPLAT, And For My Next Trick and Scream For Me. His writing has appeared in numerous print and online magazines and anthologies.

Shelly Jarvis began working on speculative fiction thanks to a writing assignment in Mrs. Bettijane Burger's eleventh grade English class, but her passion for writing developed at seven when she wrote a Halloween tale about a witch and a ghost who became best friends.

An avid science fiction and fantasy reader, Shelly spends a large portion of each day dwelling in other worlds. She gives credit to Madeleine L'Engle for her introduction to the genre, J.R.R Tolkien for expanding her world, George R.R. Martin for killing all the darlings, and Patrick Rothfuss for blowing her mind.

​Shelly enjoys spending time with her wacky spouse, her wonderful nephews, and her rescue pups, Gimli, Butters, Fergus, and Pickles. She currently resides near Charleston, West Virginia, in the wild and wonderful mountains that have her heart.

Learn more at www.shellyjarvis.com or by following on Twitter @shellyjarvis

Aiki lives in Australia and hasn't yet died from ANY wildlife encounter. Go figure.

She has numerous published sci-fantasy and fantasy novels, plus an action-y romance with a kickarse heroine. She has also edited a couple of short story anthologies and has a number of her own short stories in various e-magazines and anthologies.

Her works have been shortlisted in the Australian Aurealis awards and in the USA Writers of the Future competition.

When not writing, she runs a business and does heroine-approved hobbies such as martial arts, archery, knife-throwing, lute-playing, and belly-dancing.

You're more than welcome to check out more details at www.aikiflinthart.com

Always love to hear from happy readers.

Stuart Conover is a father, husband, rescue dog lover, blogger, published author, geek, entrepreneur, and horror fanatic. He works IT during the day and tries to battle the urge to sleep with a healthy consumption of caffeine.

Adam Bennett (aka A.Alexander) is an Australian author living in northern New South Wales. He has had twenty short stories published in various anthologies and is now one of the co-founders of Zombie Pirate Publishing, working on releasing 3-4 short story anthologies a year.

With a first class degree in Physics from Oxford, Liam is an award-winning speculative short story writer, appearing in over 200 anthologies including Best of British Science Fiction and Best of British Fantasy (Newcon Press).

His retro sci-fi collection, "A Short History of the Future", is published by Northodox Press (2025).

His twisted fantasy collection, "Happy Ending NOT Guaranteed", is published by Arachne Press (2017).

Morgan Chalfant is a native of Hill City, Kansas. He received his Bachelor's degree in writing and his Master's degree in literature from Fort Hays State University. He is the author of the horror/thriller, Focused Insanity andf the urban fantasy novels, Ghosts of Glory and Infernal Glory. You can find him at http://the-morgan-chalfant.tumblr.com/ or on Facebook at Morgan Chalfant's Real Page.

Beth W. Patterson was a full-time musician for over two decades before sidestepping into the world of writing (a process she describes as “fleeing the circus to join the zoo”). Much of her fiction is based on real-life musical experiences made more plausible by the infusion of things that go bump in the night. Her most recent novel is The Wild Harmonic, and her short stories and poetry have appeared in over ninety anthologies. She has also penned some nonfiction articles on music.

Patterson has played in over twenty countries across the Americas, Europe, Oceania, and Asia. She appears on over two hundred albums (including nine solo albums of her own) in addition to a smattering of soundtracks, videos, commercials, and voice-overs. Various artists have recorded over a hundred of her compositions and co-writes. She studied ethnomusicology at University College, Cork in Ireland and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Music Therapy from Loyola University New Orleans.

Beth has occasionally worn other hats as a body paint model, film extra, minor role actor, recording studio partner, record label owner, and artist. She is a lover of exquisitely stupid movies and a shameless fangirl of the band Rush.

Rennie St. James shares several similarities with her fictional characters (heroes and villains alike) including a love of chocolate, horror movies, martial arts, yoga, and travel. She doesn’t have a pet mountain lion but is proudly owned by three rescue kitties. They live in relative harmony in beautiful southwestern Virginia (United States). In 2023, her first series, the Rahki Chronicles, will be re-released as Amazon exclusive available in KU. Rennie's completed Guardian trilogy is also available in KU as part Fred Shernoff's Atlantic Island Universe. Please join Rennie on Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, and Instagram as she loves to interact with fellow bookworms and authors.

The Rahki Chronicles

Azimuth (#1)

Coppe (#2)

Lamassu (#3)

Nadya's World (#3.5)

Mercury (#4)

Yen (#5)

Zanhin (#6)

Atlantic Island: Guardian Trilogy

Jaguar Warrior (Book 1)

Place of Fear (Book 2)

Blood of Trees (Book 3)

Visit https://writerRSJ.com for additional information.

Gregg Cunningham 50, born Scotland currently serving out his time in the largest penal colony on earth.

So far I have had 20 short stories published over the last 5 years, each tale a greater challenge than the one before.Competition out there is tough so my rejection list seems to be getting even longer! All the more time to practice, and produce something special.

Mostly I try humour/horror/ science fiction- tongue firmly in cheek dead pan humour. My first story was picked up by 559 publishing and printed in 13 Bites volume III - titled "Stacey" which was about a seance that goes horribly wrong and a horny teen who has to deal with the bloody aftermath. A few good giggles in that one.

I've scattered a few breadcrumbs in many anthology books, some tales carrying on from other stories hidden away.

One such story is "War Pig" picked up by Zombie Pirate Publishing in their anthology 'World War Four'. My tale follows the life of an old time travelling pilot as he battles enemies above the mining craters of our Moon, before finding himself lost in time, a reluctant prisoner of war caught while trying to steal the very secret enemy technology that began his adventures.

Some technology just ain't worth the blood spilled to capture.

Or is it?

Another tale follows Sydney, a young girl lost in space and trying to survive against the stacking odds against her as her Oxygen supply leaks away.

'The Lucky One' can be found inside Deep Space Volume 1 Black Hare Press.

-UPDATE- Her latest Adventure out August 2021 finds Sydney teaming up with a very familiar Mechanical Medical mech as they battle a common foe.

look out for 'Jonah' in Black Ink Fiction's Space Opera Anthology.

Scruddin' Awesome that one!

My First Novellete release in 2020- WARDENCLYFFE is a tongue in cheek daring doo adventure following Captain Swarley Paxmore as he battles monstrosities over the Atlantic ocean onboard the infamous Titanic.

Swarley's second adventure Loves great adventurer is Published soon with Breaking Rules Europe releasing their Adventure Awaits Anthology late 2021.

I hope you read a few of my short tales on your own travels, and enjoy the yarns.

Thanks for stopping by.

https://cortlandsdogs.wordpress.com/

“Never ignore coincidence. Unless, of course, you’re busy. In which case, always ignore coincidence.” Matt Smith AKA the Doctor.

Eddie D. Moore travels hundreds of hours a year, and he fills that time by listening to audiobooks. When he isn’t playing with his grandchildren, he writes his own stories. His stories have been published by Kzine, Alien Dimensions, Black Hare Press, Nomadic Delirium Press, Fantasia Divinity Publishing and by dozens of online publishers. You can find a list of his publications on his blog, eddiedmoore.wordpress.com. Be sure to pick up a copy of his mini-anthology Misfits & Oddities.

Crystal L. Kirkham resides in a small hamlet west of Red Deer, Alberta. She is an avid outdoors person, unrepentant coffee addict, part-time foodie, servant to a wonderful feline, and companion to several delightfully hilarious canines - Treble and Freddie, the Standard Poodles, and Nahni, the Australian Shepherd. Crystal has published novels across several genres and is a contributing author to multiple best-selling anthologies.

She will neither confirm nor deny the rumours regarding the heart in a jar on her desk or the bottle of readers' tears right next to it. However, she will confirm that she once broke the metal handle to a 4-tonne car jack with her bare hands.

Terry Miller is the author of Den of the Wererats, Wererats Underground, We All Die Eventually, and Love You to Death. His work has also been featured in anthologies from around the world. Miller is a 2017 nominee for the Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association's Rhysling Award for his short-form poem, "Salome's New King".

Rowanne S Carberry was born in England in 1990, where she stills lives now with her cat Wolverine. Rowanne has always loved writing, and her first poem was published at the age of 15, but her ambition has always been to help people which led her in a long journey. Whilst still writing Rowanne studied at the University of Sunderland where she completed combined honours of Psychology with Drama. Rowanne is hoping to soon gain her masters in counselling. Rowanne writes to offer others an escape and in doing so has published short stories, been accepted into various story anthologies and also into poetry anthologies. Although Rowanne writes in varied genres her favourite being fantasy, each story or poem she writes will often have a darkness to it, which helped coin her brand, Poisoned Quill Writing – Wicked words from a poisoned quill. Rowanne is currently working on several projects at the moment, both novels and poetry. When Rowanne isn’t working or writing she reads the thousands of book that are still to be read, enjoys the gym, spending time with her family and friends, baking and binge-watching new TV series.

To keep in touch with Rowanne you can follow her on the following social media outlets:

Twitter: @RowRow1990

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PoisonedQuillWriting/

Instagram: @poisoned_quill_writing

Becky Benishek has a B.A. degree in English, and loves to create stories that help children believe in themselves and find the magic in ordinary things. She also writes science fiction, fantasy, and is working on her first YA novel. Becky is married with guinea pigs.

Stephen Coghlan is a burgeoning author who hails from the oft-frozen national capital of Canada. When not attempting to create worlds and describe characters, he can be found constructing buildings, entertaining his children, or annoying his long-suffering wife.

Eric Fomley is a short fiction writer from Garrett, Indiana. His fiction has been published in places like Galaxy’s Edge, Daily Science Fiction, Flame Tree Press, and The Black Library. You can follow Eric on his website ericfomley.com or on Twitter @PrinceGrimdark.

I grew up in the Barossa Valley, an area of South Australia predominantly settled by German immigrants. As a dark-haired, tanned little English girl (remember Britain was at one stage occupied by the Romans), I was very different and mercilessly teased.

I remember the struggle to learn to read – painfully stringing three letter words together – there was Sam and Pam and a ball. Sometimes there was a fat cat on a mat or dog with a ball. Reading was a slow process until one birthday, I sat down with my gift, a Famous Five book by Enid Blyton. The mystery story was so exciting, I finished it in one session and I was a fast reader from that moment onwards. I loved Enid Blyton, her Wishing Chair stories, Magic Faraway Tree stories, fairy-land and toy-land stories as well as the mysteries.

A couple of years later, I discovered The Lion, Witch and Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis. It was so amazing, I read it seven times in a row! Eventually, I discovered there was a whole series… I survived on this sort of fair until I was sixteen and read The Lord of the Rings trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien. That gave me a taste for mature fantasy. In search of more riveting reading, I discovered Stephen King and James Herbert. Stephen King’s Danse Macabre led me to H.P. Lovecraft, on whom I completed a Master’s project.

My Thesis entitled: THE LITERARY MANIFESTO OF H.P. LOVECRAFT: A WRITER IN SEARCH OF A THEORY (1993-1994) was completed as a reseach project which replaced several subjects in my Master of Arts through the Univeristy of New South Wales. The last chapter was considered to have the most appeal to fans of Lovecraft's work and was extracted and published as “Symbolism of Style in `The Strange High House in the Mist'", Lovecraft Studies 31, edited by S.T. Joshi, pp.11-15. (Published under the name of Cecelia Drewer).

In 1988, I wrote my first full length fictional manuscript, often scribbling on the train as I travelled from Newcastle to Sydney to attend post graduate study at university. In the year 2000, I brought my second full length manuscript into being and 2004 saw my third full length manuscript. All are very different genres and all are waiting for readers! I have always been clever at creating dialogue and in 2010, a Nativity Play I wrote was produced by a local church.

In 2016 I wrote an online course on “Poetry Appreciation and Analysis Skills” on Open Learning. The course can be found at: https://www.openlearning.com/courses/poetry-appreciation-and-analysis-skills

I also write for Weekend Notes (an online magazine) and Hubpages. My Poetry can be found on Poetry Soup at: https://www.poetrysoup.com/poems_poets/best/85098/cecelia_hopkins-drewer

Books by Cecelia Hopkins Drewer include:

Silver Springtime (The Silver Springs University Series #1) by Cecelia Hopkins-Drewer - 2017

Faith and Love (The Silver Springs University Series, #2) by Cecelia Hopkins-Drewer - 2018

All For Love: on the charity dating show by Cecelia Hopkins - 2018

Mystic Evermore (The Nevermore Parables, #1) by Cecelia Hopkins-Drewer - 2018

Saints and Sinners (The Nevermore Parables, #2) by Cecelia Hopkins-Drewer - 2018

Autumn Secrets (The Nevermore Parables, #3) by Cecelia Hopkins-Drewer - 2018

R.A. Goli is an Australian reader, writer, gamer and sometime hiker. She writes horror, fantasy, speculative fiction and erotic horror. Hobbies include bugging her pets and husband.

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Pamela Jeffs is an award-winning speculative fiction author living in Queensland, Australia. Her work has been recognised numerous times in the Australian Aurealis Awards, Ditmar Awards, Australasian Shadow Awards and has also been noted in the Writers of the Future Competition.

Short-fiction author, and poet, Nerisha Kemraj, hails from Durban, South Africa. She is the mother of procrastination, and two beautiful girls.

Peter got locked in a bookstore as a child and has been reading his way to freedom ever since.

As a blue-collar sci-fi author, Peter tells gritty and personal sci-fi and fantasy stories of ordinary people placed in extraordinary situations that resonate with readers and provide much-needed escapism.

Stephen is an IT Geek, writer, actor and film maker based in Canberra Australia. He has been writing for over twenty years and has completed a couple of dodgy novels, sixteen feature length screenplays and numerous short stories and scripts.

Stephen was very successful in this year’s International Horror Hotel screenplay competition, with his scripts TITAN winning the Sci-Fi category and Dark are the Woods placing second in the horror category.

Last year two of his short stories Death Spores and We came in peace were published in Sproutlings – A compendium of little fictions and his short story Alone was published in the Hells Bells Christmas horror story anthology published by the Australasian Horror Writers Association.

This year Stephen is elated be published in The Body Horror Book and to have his story Andromeda appear in Anemone Enemy both through Oscillate Wildly Press. His stories Eyes of Glass, Pig Man and The Carollers have been chosen by OzHorror.Con for inclusion in their Below the Stairs, Trickster’s Treats and Shades of Santa anthologies.

In 2018, Stephen’s story The Curious Case of the Sleeper will appear in the anthology Sherlock Holmes in the realms of H.G. Wells.

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read book recommendations and more.

Copper Rose perforates the edges of the page while writing unusual stories from the heart of Wisconsin. She has been known to play well with others. She has a fascination with fences and other barriers. She understands there really is something about pie. About every third day she has a good idea. Chocolate is not safe around her, and she is highly aware that our current news is broken and we may never be able to fix it.

Brandy Bonifas currently resides in Ohio with her husband and son. When she isn't busy reining in her rambuctious preschooler, she spends late nights at her laptop working on her next story. Her speculative fiction spans several genres and her writing has appeared or is forthcoming in anthologies by Clarendon House Publications, Zombie Pirate Publishing, and Pixie Forest Publishing. To find out more visit her at http://brandybonifas.com where you can also subscribe to her blog for updates on her current projects and releases.

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J.W. Garrett is a multi–award winning author and has been writing in one form or another since she was a teenager. Her love of the Fantasy genre goes all the way back to elementary school when she read The Hobbit for the first time - she's been hooked ever since. Her works include novels and poetry as well as short stories.

When she's not hanging out with her characters, her favorite activities are reading, running and spending time with family.

Check out Remeon's Quest, the latest book in her fantasy scifi series, Realms of Chaos.

Visit her website at www.jwgarrett.com to subscribe to her newsletter and find out the latest updates regarding new releases and works in progress.

Join in on her writing journey!

David Bowmore was born on a winter’s night with the sound of thunder and the flash of lightning welcoming him into a brightly painted Gypsy caravan. Forty-five years later he started writing fiction. After a steep learning curve, his short stories and flash fiction began to appear in various collections.

A classically trained chef, a personable teacher and unqualified landscape gardener, David has lived here, there and everywhere, but currently dwells in Yorkshire with his wonderful wife and a small white poodle.

David tends to write thrillers and mysteries as well as stories with a touch of the supernatural about them. He focuses on character and the oddities of being human, sometimes with humour, but more often with dark unreality.

When he was younger, he had a love of science fiction and fantasy. In adult life his reading tastes veered towards thrilling mysteries, particularly Golden Age crime. You know the sort of thing – country house murders where everyone is a suspect, impossible locked room mysteries with more red herrings than your local fishing hole.

David is an admirer of many authors including Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, Eric Ambler, Patricia Highsmith, Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman, Elmore Leonard, Stephen King, and P.G. Wodehouse.

Since his first published story, 'Sins of The Father' appeared in Vortex, published by Clarendon House in 2018, David has featured in more than seventy-five short story anthologies, journals and magazines.

In 2020, The Magic of Deben Market was enacted by BookStreamz with actors from across the globe comparing his work to 'Tales of The Unexpected' and 'Inside No. 9'

C.L. Williams is an independent author from central Virginia. He is a writer of poetry, short stories, recently released his first novel, and is a contributor to multiple anthologies. When C.L. Williams is not writing, he is reading the works of other independent authors

M. M. Montelione has a Master of Arts degree in History and has published articles in Long Island History Journal and Journal of the American Revolution.

G. Allen Wilbanks, an internationally best-selling author on Amazon, is a retired police officer living in Northern California. For twenty-five years he wrote collision and crime reports to pay the bills while writing short fiction at nights to keep himself sane. In 2016, he retired from real life to live in a fantasy world of his own making full time.

He is a member of the Horror Writers Association (HWA) and has had over 200 short stories published in Deep Magic, Daily Science Fiction, Mythic, The Colored Lens, as well as many other magazines, e-zines and anthologies from all over the world.

In addition to short stories, G. Allen is the author of several novels, including the Amazon #1 best sellers, A Life of Adventure, Deadly Seven, and Testing Grounds. He recently concluded his science fiction trilogy, On Dangerous Grounds, with the Hunting Grounds, and he is currently hard at work on new series of novels tentatively titled Dead Town.

For additional information, please check out his website, and feel free to say hi in the comments section.

Sam M. Phillips is an Australian author of horror and science fiction. You can read his work in his short story collection INFINITY AND I.

Melanie Harding-Shaw is a speculative fiction writer from Wellington, New Zealand. Her short fiction has been widely published, including in Strange Horizons, Analog, Daily Science Fiction, and The Best of British Fantasy.

You can follow her on Twitter: @MelHardingShaw, Instagram @MelHardingShaw and Facebook: @MelanieHardingShawWriter

Her website is: www.MelanieHardingShaw.com

Alanna Robertson-Webb is a rising star among short story writers, and one of the anthologies she is featured in (Monsters, by Black Hare Press) has been nominated for a 2019 Bram Stoker Award. Additionally, the novella she co-wrote (Storming Area 51: Horror at the Gates) reached the #1 spot in Amazon's sci-fi books in October of 2019.

Her stories are often infused with hair-raising horror, and her paranormal tales in particular add just the right amount of darkness to keep her readers intrigued.

For Alanna the spooky side of writing is a riviting journey through the human psyche, so whether you are looking for some of her wholesome horror (Monstronomicon by Haunted House Publishing) or wish to be transported into one of her grimmer worlds (Death and Butterflies by Suicide House Publishing) then grab a book and embark on a thrilling read!

Shawn M. Klimek is an internationally published poet and short story author specializing in science-fiction, fantasy, horror, and humor, frequently blended. Over 250 of his works have been published in anthologies and e-zines. Hungry Thing is his first, self-published book. Follow him on Facebook @shawnmklimekauthor, XTwitter @shawnmklimek, or via his blog: jotinthedark

Rich Rurshell is a writer of Horror, Fantasy, and Science Fiction. From his home in Suffolk, England, Rich likes to ponder the existence of the sinister, the fantastic, and the downright terrifying. He likes to explore the darker side of life and what lies within us, and celebrate the beauty in the world and what lies beyond.

Eric Labrie Giles is a Canadian author of horror and science fiction. Since 2018, Eric has published over fifty short stories, drabbles, novellas, and novels. His latest horror novel, Benighted, was released in 2023 and is the first part of a series. Eric is currently working on the second book.

Eric is a member of the Horror Writers Association

www.elgilesauthor.com

www.facebook.com/elgilesauthor

Instagram: e.l.giles_author

Jefferson Retallack is an Australian writer of speculative fiction. He is based in Adelaide. His work draws influence from linguistic science fiction, the new weird and Australia’s big things. Outside of the literary world, he skateboards on the weekends and spends afternoons on the beach with his partner, their son, and their Pomeranian, Tofu.

Hari Navarro has for many years now been locked in his neighbours cellar. He survives due to an intravenous feed of puréed extreme horror and Absinthe infused sticky-spiced unicorn wings.

His anguished cries for help can be found via Black Hare Press, Raven & Drake Publishing, Black Ink Press, Hellbound Books, 365 Tomorrows, Breachzine, AntipodeanSF and Horror Without Borders.

Hari was the Winner of the Australasian Horror Writers’ Association [AHWA] Flash Fiction Award 2018 and has, also, succeeded in being a New Zealander who now lives in Northern Italy with no cats.

DM Burdett was born in the UK, roamed as an army brat, and now lives in Australia where she spends her days avoiding drop bears and killer spiders.

She has published a Sci-Fi series, had success with short stories, and is currently working on a YA dystopian series.

She has worked in software development for three decades and has published two children’s series on the subject.

A life of roaming the shores of Australia in her teardrop caravan calls to her but, until then, there always seems to be just one more software project to complete.

Visit her website : www.dmburdett.com

Austin is a Australian writer of speculative fiction, a lover of language, literature and ’90s TV.

Armed with a psychology degree, he went out into the world to study humanity, and now prefers the company of his wife and their greyhounds.

He grew up in Victoria’s high country, and despite living in Melbourne for the past decade, feels more at home amongst the mountains. You’ll often find mountains in his stories, whether sci-fi, fantasy or alternative history.

Umair Mirxa lives and writes in Karachi, Pakistan. His first published story, 'Awareness', appeared on Spillwords Press. 'Anonymous' in Zombie Pirate Publishing's anthology, 'Flash Fiction Addiction', is his first story in print.

The publication of these stories is the realization of a lifelong dream he first saw as a kid after reading 'Adventures of a Wishing-Chair' by Enid Blyton. The early dream, a casual hope of one day telling stories to the world himself, became a goal when his mother bought him the two-volume set, 'Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Novels and Stories' by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and it had transformed into a burning ambition by the time he'd finished reading 'The Hobbit' and 'The Lord of the Rings' by J.R.R. Tolkien.

He remains a massive Tolkien fan, loves everything to do with mythology, fantasy, and history, and wishes with all his heart that dragons were real. When he's not writing, he enjoys reading novels and comic books, playing video games, listening to music, and watching movies, TV shows, and football as an Arsenal FC fan.

N. M. Brown is a married mother of three who has taken the horror community by storm this year. She has lived in St. Augustine, Florida for her whole life and took creative writing in high school.

Her ability to create, terrify, and drive home stories is insurmountable. Whether you are a parent, spouse, animal lover or anyone even remotely susceptible to fear, this is your girl.

Brown's published works can be found in multiple anthologies for all to read, but be forewarned, if you do... you may want to call your therapist after, her stories are terrifying, disturbing and devilishly unsettling.

She is not only a fright visually, but also has a creepy tentacle in horror podcasting as well. This Sinister Sweetheart writes, voice acts and is the media director of the Scarecrow Tales podcast

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read book recommendations and more.

J. U. Menon is an award-winning scientist and the author of the 'PANCHABHUTAM' and 'PRESTORIA' series. She mostly writes young-adult and middle-grade fiction rooted in Indian history and mythology. When not balancing her lab coat and her literary cape, she can be found reading and crafting fictional backstories for the unsuspecting people around her, while fueled by copious amounts of chai. Explore more at jumenon.com