Sheldon Woodbury worked for some of the top advertising agencies in New York City then returned to school to get an M.F.A. in Dramatic Writing from New York University where he also taught screenwriting. He’s an award winning writer (screenplays, plays, books, short stories, and poems). His book “Cool Million” is considered the essential guide to writing high concept movies. His short stories and poems have appeared in many horror anthologies and magazines. His poem, The Midnight Circus, was selected by Ellen Datlow as an honorable mention for Best Horror 2017.

Mercedes M. Yardley is a whimsical dark fantasist who wears poisonous flowers in her hair. She is the author of many diverse works, including Beautiful Sorrows, Pretty Little Dead Girls: A Novel of Murder and Whimsy, and the Stabby Award-winning Apocalyptic Montessa and Nuclear Lulu: A Tale of Atomic Love.

She recently won the prestigious Bram Stoker Award for her realistic horror story Little Dead Red and was a Bram Stoker finalist for her short story "Loving You Darkly." Mercedes lives and creates in Las Vegas with her family and menagerie of battle-scarred, rescued animal familiars. She is represented by Italia Gandolfo of Gandolfo Helin and Fountain Literary Management.

Naching T. Kassa is a member of the Horror Writers Association, Mystery Writers of America, and a staff writer at Crystal Lake Publishing. She resides in Eastern Washington State with her husband Dan. They are the proud parents of three children and a dog.

Stephanie M. Wytovich is an American poet, novelist, and essayist. Her work has been showcased in numerous magazines and anthologies such as Weird Tales, Nightmare Magazine, Southwest Review, Year's Best Hardcore Horror: Volume 2, The Best Horror of the Year: Volume 8, as well as many others.

Wytovich is the Poetry Editor for Raw Dog Screaming Press, an adjunct at Western Connecticut State University, Southern New Hampshire University, and Point Park University, and a mentor with Crystal Lake Publishing. She is a recipient of the 2021 Ladies of Horror Fiction Writers Grant and has received the Rocky Wood Memorial Scholarship for non-fiction writing.

Wytovich is a member of the Science Fiction Poetry Association, an active member of the Horror Writers Association, and a graduate of Seton Hill University’s MFA program for Writing Popular Fiction. Her Bram Stoker Award-winning poetry collection, Brothel, earned a home with Raw Dog Screaming Press alongside Hysteria: A Collection of Madness, Mourning Jewelry, An Exorcism of Angels, Sheet Music to My Acoustic Nightmare, and most recently, The Apocalyptic Mannequin. Her debut novel, The Eighth, is published with Dark Regions Press.

Follow Wytovich at http://stephaniewytovich.blogspot.com/ and on Twitter and Instagram @SWytovich​ and @thehauntedbookshelf. You can also find her essays, nonfiction, and class offerings on LitReactor.

Carina Bissett is a writer, poet, and educator working primarily in the fields of dark fiction and fabulism. Her short fiction and poetry have been published in multiple journals and anthologies including What Remains, Upon a Twice Time, Bitter Distillations: An Anthology of Poisonous Tales, Arterial Bloom, Gorgon: Stories of Emergence, Weird Dream Society, Hath No Fury, and the HWA Poetry Showcase Vol. V, VI, and VIII. She has also written stories set in shared worlds for RPGs at Green Ronin Publishing and Onyx Path Publishing. In addition to writing, she has edited several projects; the most recent is in the role as co-editor for the award-winning anthology Shadow Atlas: Dark Landscapes of the Americas.

As an educator, Carina has taught at Pikes Peak Community College, Glendale Community College, and Arizona State University. She also participated in the Colorado Writing Project and works with educators to develop writing instruction in college and secondary school classrooms. She currently offers workshops focused on story generation at The Storied Imaginarium. Her fiction has been nominated for the Sundress Publications Best of the Net Award and was a finalist for the Ron L. Hubbard Writers of the Future Awards. Her poetry has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and the Sundress Publications Best of the Net Award. In her editorial capacity, she’s received recognition as a Winner at the Colorado Book Awards 2022 (Anthology) and as a Finalist in the Fiction: Anthologies category of the 2022 International Book Awards.

Described by NPR as “Shirley Jackson meets Johnny Rotten,” Emma J. Gibbon is an award-winning horror writer and poet. Her debut fiction collection, Dark Blood Comes from the Feet, was one of NPR’s best books of 2020 and won the Maine Literary Book Award for Speculative Fiction. Her stories have appeared in The Dark Tome and Toasted Cake podcasts, and various anthologies, including Wicked Haunted and 13 Haunted Houses. Her poetry has been published in magazines and anthologies, including Strange Horizons, Kaleidotrope, and Under Her Skin. Most recently, Emma was part of the writing team behind the Realm podcast drama, Undertow: Blood Forest. Emma lives with her husband, Steve, and three exceptional animals: Odin, Mothra, and M. Bison (also known as Grim) in a spooky little house in the woods. You can find her online at emmajgibbon.com.

Brenda S. Tolian, MFA, New Orleans ~is the author of BLOOD MOUNTAIN, published by RAW DOG SCREAMING PRESS.

She is an Active member of the HWA and the Angela Carter Society. She is a graduate of Adams State University, Regis University (MFA), and a Doctoral Student of Literature at Murray State University.

Her work has appeared in Haunted Mtl.com, the anthology 101 Proof Horror, the Denver Horror Collective’s anthology Consumed Tales Inspired by The Wendigo, The Jewish Book Of Horror, and Twisted Pulp Magazine issue 3.

Find out more at brendatolian.com

Alicia Hilton is an author, editor, arbitrator, law professor, actor, and former FBI Special Agent. She believes in angels and demons, magic, and monsters. Ever since she was a little girl and saw a ghost, she’s been fascinated by the supernatural. Alicia’s work has appeared in Akashic Books, Best Asian Speculative Fiction, Daily Science Fiction, Modern Haiku, Neon, NonBinary Review, Space & Time, Unnerving, Vastarien, Year’s Best Hardcore Horror Volumes 4, 5 & 6, and elsewhere.

Alicia has taught writing workshops through MWA and RWA, and has been a guest speaker at more than sixty law schools, including: Harvard, the University of Chicago, the University of Pennsylvania, Northwestern University, and the University of Southern California. She received her BA in Sociology from the University of California, Berkeley, and her JD and MA from the University of Chicago.

As an FBI Special Agent, Alicia was a member of a foreign counterintelligence squad, and also worked undercover in two long-term criminal cases. Now, Alicia enjoys playing different personalities on the stage and screen. She’s had acting roles with NBC’s Chicago PD, Fox’s Empire & Proven Innocent, Showtime’s The Chi, Lyric Opera of Chicago, and the Joffrey Ballet.