I grew up reading Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys mysteries, and looking for clues in the ordinary behavior of my friends and family. Then I graduated to the Alfred Hitchcock school of mysteries, where innocent people were often caught up in situations that were beyond their worst imaginings. That led to police procedurals, and "whodunits" and a whole slew of other figure-it-out reading.

Much as I loved solving the mysteries, I often wondered about the shadowy characters who perpetrated the crimes. The people who had gone over to the "dark side." So I decided that while I'll often write stories from the point of view of the problem-solvers, I'd also write some from the criminal's point of view as well -- they're not always who (or what) you might expect. I hope you enjoy exploring what makes these characters tick as much as I have.

-- Lauryn Christopher

http://www.laurynchristopher.com

Based in Toronto, Canada, I write horror, science fiction and mystery/crime, often all at once in the same story. Garnering an Honorable Mention in "The Year's Best Science Fiction" and nominated for numerous Aurora Awards, my work has appeared in Obsessions: An Anthology of Original Fiction, Fiction River: Visions of the Apocalypse, Fiction River: Superpowers, Fiction River: Visions of the Apocalypse, Fiction River: Sparks, Fiction River: Recycled Pulp, the anthology Tesseracts 16: Parnassus Unbound, the anthology Tesseracts 15: A Case of Quite Curious Tales, the anthology Imaginarium 2012, the anthology Ride the Moon, the TransVersions anthology, Deadbolt Magazine, On Spec, The Vampire's Crypt, Storyteller, Reflection's Edge, the anthology Future Syndicate, and Into the Darkness, amongst others.

Mike Jack Stoumbos is a spec-fic author, disguised as a believably normal high school teacher, living with his wife and their parrot. He won 1st place in the 2021 Writers of the Future Contest, and his stories have appeared in several Scifi and Fantasy anthologies. His space opera series, THIS FINE CREW, is published by Chris Kennedy Publishing and Theogony Books. In addition to writing fiction, Mike Jack has published academic/informational articles, stageplays, and lovably geeky parody lyrics. Find him online at MikeJackStoumbos.com or @MJStoumbos on Twitter.

Melissa McShane is the author of the Extraordinaries series, beginning with BURNING BRIGHT, and the novels of Tremontane, SERVANT OF THE CROWN, RIDER OF THE CROWN, and AGENT OF THE CROWN. Her love of reading has been a constant in her life and she still remembers the places she lived by the books she was reading there: the Riddle-Master trilogy in New York, the Foundation series in Colorado, Howl's Moving Castle in Texas, Crown Duel in Utah. That love of reading stayed with her after she settled with her family in Utah and grew into a love of writing, first critical essays and reviews, then fiction. Her family includes her husband (a long-suffering man willing to let ideas bounce off him at speed), four children (also long-suffering and happy to live off macaroni and cheese while Mom writes) and three very needy cats, one of whom is so dumb he frequently runs into walls.

As a freelance editor, Lyn Worthen has helped indie authors polish over six million words of fiction, and her multi-author anthologies have received awards and acclaim from the League of Utah Writers, the Critters Writing Workshop, and the Horror Writers of America. She is a frequent participant in fiction workshops and conferences, both as a presenter and a student of the craft and business of publishing.

She is a self-described caffeine-to-text conversion unit, which explains how she gets so much done. To learn about her latest projects and releases, visit her at www.camdenparkpress.com

Kat Farrow grew up skinning her knees and listening to the wind among the rabbit trails and red rocks of the Four Corners area of the western U.S.

She spent many days of her adult life distracted by her imagination, creating possible stories belonging to the titles of books surrounding her at work. Now free from libraryland, she is creating her own stories and making up titles of her choosing.

A multi-genre author, her works range from fantasy, sci-fi, mystery, historical, and children’s stories.

Learn more at her website: www.Loreweaver.com