Martin L. Shoemaker is a programmer who writes on the side… or maybe it’s the other way around. He told stories to imaginary friends and learned to type on his brother's manual typewriter even though he couldn't reach the keys. (He types with the keyboard in his lap still today.) He couldn't imagine any career but writing fiction... until his algebra teacher said, "This is a program. You should write one of these."

Fast forward 30 years of programming, writing, and teaching. He was named an MVP by Microsoft for his work with the developer community. He is an avid role-playing gamemaster, but that didn't satisfy his storytelling urge. He wrote, but he never submitted until his brother-in-law read a chapter and said, "That's not a chapter. That's a story. Send it in." It won second place in the Baen Memorial Writing Contest and earned him lunch with Buzz Aldrin. Programming never did that!

Martin hasn't stopped writing (or programming) since. His work has appeared in Analog, Galaxy's Edge, Digital Science Fiction, and select service garages worldwide. His novella "Murder on the Aldrin Express" was reprinted in The Year's Best Science Fiction: Thirty-First Annual Collection and in Year's Top Short SF Novels 4. Learn more at http://Shoemaker.Space.

SCIENCE FICTION AUTHOR

As an author, Martin has sold stories to the following markets:

"Not Close Enough", in Analog Science Fiction and Fact, May 2013.

"Murder on the Aldrin Express", in Analog Science Fiction and Fact, September 2013.

"Brigas Nunca Mais", in Analog Science Fiction and Fact, March 2015.

"Il Gran Cavallo", in Galaxy's Edge #5, November 2013.

"Pallbearers", in Galaxy's Edge #7, March 2014.

"Murder on the Aldrin Express", in The Year's Best Science Fiction: Thirty-First Annual Collection edited by Gardner Dozois.

"Murder on the Aldrin Express", in The Year's Top Short SF Novels 4.

"The Night We Flushed the Old Town" in Therefore I Am: Digital Science Fiction Volume 2.

"Father-Daughter Outing", the cover story for Heir Apparent: Digital Science Fiction Volume 4.

"Gruff Riders" in The Gruff Variations: Writing for Charity Anthology, Vol. 1

His writing has also won the following awards:

Writers of the Future, Quarter 1, 2011: Finalist, "The Mother Anthony"

Writers of the Future, Quarter 2, 2011: Honorable Mention, "Father-Daughter Outing"

Writers of the Future, Quarter 3, 2011: Honorable Mention, "Scramble"

Writers of the Future, Quarter 4, 2011: Semi-Finalist, "A Most Auspicious Star"

The 2012 Jim Baen Memorial Writing Contest: Second Place, "Scramble"

Writers of the Future, Quarter 1, 2012: Finalist, "One Last Chore for Grandpa"

Writers of the Future, Quarter 2, 2012: Honorable Mention, "Incoming"

Writers of the Future, Quarter 3, 2012: Honorable Mention, "Fog Traffic"

Writers of the Future, Quarter 4, 2012: Honorable Mention, "Mama's Little Angel"

Writers of the Future, Quarter 1, 2013: Honorable Mention, "The Books of Cheswick"

Writers of the Future, Quarter 2, 2013: Honorable Mention, "Killing Buddy"

Writers of the Future, Quarter 3, 2013: Honorable Mention, "In Its Shadow"

Writers of the Future, Quarter 1, 2014: THIRD PLACE, "Unrefined"

In addition, he has self-published seven stories and a collection, and has more in the works.

SOFTWARE ARCHITECTURE ANALYST

Martin is a software developer with 29 years experience in the industry. He has worked in the fields of color science, on-line shopping, databases, material handling, medical imaging, and customer relations management.

His most popular presentations are his UML courses, which he wrote and presents. As a side effort in his UML work, Martin has written two books on UML:

UML Applied: A .NET Perspective from Apress.

Ulterior Motive Lounge: UML, 80s Flicks, and Bunny Slippers, the world's first UML comic strip. Originally published online in 2009, this successful comic strip let Martin use humor and simple examples to teach UML to a wide audience. It is now collected in a version for Kindle.

David Boop is a Denver-based speculative fiction author & editor. He’s also an award-winning essayist, and screenwriter. Before turning to fiction, David worked as a DJ, film critic, journalist, and actor. As Editor-in-Chief at IntraDenver.net, David’s team was on the ground at Columbine making them the first internet only newspaper to cover such an event. That year, they won an award for excellence from the Colorado Press Association for their design and coverage.

David’s debut novel, the sci-fi/noir She Murdered Me with Science, returned to print in 2017 from WordFire Press. (Simultaneously, he self-published a prequel novella, A Whisper to a Scheme.) His second novel, The Soul Changers, is a serialized Victorian Horror novel set in Pinnacle Entertainment’s world of Rippers Resurrected. David edited the bestselling weird western anthology, Straight Outta Tombstone, for Baen, and has followed with Straight Outta Deadwood and Straight Outta Dodge City. David is prolific in short fiction with many short stories and two short films to his credit. Additionally, he does a flash fiction mystery series on Gumshoereview.com called The Trace Walker Temporary Mysteries (the first collection is available now.) He’s published across several genres including media tie-ins for Predator (nominated for the 2018 Scribe Award), The Green Hornet, The Black Bat and Veronica Mars.

David works in game design, as well. He’s written for the Savage Worlds RPG for their Flash Gordon (nominated for an Origins Award) and Deadlands: Noir titles. He owns Longshot Productions, a multimedia company specializing in books, games, and short animated videos.

His third go at a “real” degree landed him Summa Cum Laude in the Creative Writing program at UC-Denver. He also is part-time temp worker and believer. His hobbies include film noir, anime, the Blues and Mayan History. You can find out more at Davidboop.com, Facebook.com/dboop.updates or Twitter @david_boop.