WILLIAM PETERSEN is a Missouri native and life-long resident, an avid outdoor enthusiast and constant writer. Born in the 1970′s, William’s career has taken him from website design and promotion, music promotion and advertising, to commercial non-fiction writing. Early in the new century, William began to write fiction for his own entertainment, which eventually led to the consideration of publication.

William’s writing is heavily influenced by the natural world, as well as the ever-changing course and endless possibilities of the human race. William has written three books, with a fourth in the works, along with seven short stories that explore the darker side of the existential What If? question. His first published story, an urban fantasy novella entitled Mythical, was guided and edited by none other than Piers Anthony himself.

BOBBIE PALMER writes both Paranormal and Thriller novels. She loves reading just about anything and when she’s not writing she has her nose stuck in a book. She loves to cook and hang out with her nephews and two cats. She is very involved in the writing community, hosting a writer’s breakfast once a month and is the Municipal Liaison for NaNoWriMo. Currently she has two books out, The Baltimore Butcher and Lucy’s Wolverine.

NICK NAFPLIOTIS is a music teacher and writer from Charleston, South Carolina. During the day, he instructs students from the ages of 11-14 on how to play band instruments. At night, he writes about weird crime, bizarre history, pop culture, and humorous classroom experiences on his blog. He is also a television, novel, and comic book reviewer for Adventures In Poor Taste.

DIANA MURDOCK had always dabbled with stories and poems from a very young age and shared them only with family and friends. It wasn’t until she had a very powerful dream, a dream that became her first novel, that she took her writing seriously. With many stories now lining up, waiting to be written, Diana is committed to penning each and every one. To add more variety, she’s adapted the first in her trilogy into a screenplay and is a partner in an independent film making production company. A single mother of two boys, she’ll take on the world, one story at a time.

 ROBERT D. MOORES is a semi-professional photographer at Hidden Aspect Photography, part-time humanist blogger at Basic Humanity, occasional dabbler in the all-but-dead art of poetry, aspiring fiction writer with a philosophical bent, and a full-time husband and father. His love for literature and art as a means of communicating the universal human condition has remained constant in an ever-evolving life.

RACHEL MCCOY is a Texan living in Baltimore. Between binge-watching MTV reality shows and baking gluten-free treats, she writes paranormal fantasy and science fiction novels. She is the USA Today Bestselling author of the Sparks Saga trilogy, The Alder Tales series, and The Extraction Files. Back when she lived in the real world, Rachel earned a degree in marine biology, which contributed to her die-hard love of manta rays.

WAYNE LIGON lives in Montgomery, Alabama, with the requisite cat and far, far too many books and comics. Between regular roleplaying sessions and Meetup groups related to sci-fi and horror, he somehow has time for a job. He’s currently working on a novel of far future America.

HANNAH LESNIAK is a believer of fairies, spirits, and truth. She knows that the truth can be bitter, but that tea can make anything better. She is a supporter of libraries and continues to make her way through the ranks to become a librarian (currently in the position of squire/circulation). She received her BA in English from Madonna University and is currently working on her Master’s in Library and Information Science at Wayne State University. She has been interested in The Steadfast Tin Soldier since she saw a narrated cartoon on the mysterious holiday compilation VHS found in her basement. To this day, she still has no idea from whence it appeared. That particular story had a happy ending, as did the Disney version in Fantasia 2000. When she read the original story, the ending haunted her, like death and beauty haunt us all, and led her to write Steadfast.

ALETHEA KONTIS is a storm chaser, world traveler, and New York Times bestselling author. She has received the Scribe Award, the Garden State Teen Book Award, and is a two-time winner of the Gelett Burgess Children’s Book Award. She was twice nominated for both the Andre Norton Nebula and Dragon Award. Alethea narrates stories for multiple award-winning online magazines, contributes book reviews to NPR, and does freelance work for Writing the Other. Born in Vermont, Alethea currently resides on the Space Coast of Florida where she watches K-dramas with her teddy bear, Charlie. Together they are ARMY, VVS, and Black Roses. 🥀

SHARI L KLASE has been writing since childhood, but only publishing since about 2011. She has published about 50 articles, stories, poems, and stories in anthologies. She lives and writes in a small town on the beautiful Susquehanna River with an artist husband, fellow writer daughter, and incorrigible corgi, Lucy.