Josh Wagner was born with a hole in his heart, a Ventricular Septal Defect (VSD). He’s fine now.

Wagner’s writing has been described as lyrical, whimsical, and incisive. He works primarily in the realm of magical realism and fantastic fiction. Having studied Creative Writing and English literature at the University of Montana, he went on to earn his MSc from the University of Edinburgh.

Wagner has released four novels ("Shapes the Sunlight Takes," "Deadwind Sea", "Smashing Laptops," and "The Adventures of the Imagination of Periphery Stowe"), several stage plays ("Salep & Silk" and the collection "Bleached Bones"), graphic novels ("Fiction Clemens", "Sky Pirates of Neo Terra"), the short story/poetry collection "Nothing in Mind," and the novella "Mystery Mark," collaboratively illustrated by Theo Ellsworth. His short fiction has been published by Cafe Irreal, Not One of Us, Cleaver Magazine, Medulla Review, Lovecraft eZine, and Image Comics.

His first graphic short appeared in Image Comics "24Seven vol. 2", which was nominated for an Eisner award. "Fiction Clemens" won Project Fanboy's 2008 "Best storyline" award. His short play "Bleach Bone" won the 2012 Westcliffe Center's New Rocky Mountain Voices competition.

Wagner spent his formative years close to the ocean and then later in the mountains. Torn between these forces, Josh can’t sit still for very long. He rarely lives anywhere for more than a year, and his constant travels contribute to the particular imaginative flavor of his work. He is facinated by rhizomes, paradoxes, things left unsaid.

Josh is mostly friendly. Feel free to send a message. He reads them all!

Evan Dicken grew up in one of those Midwestern, rust belt towns that form the fodder for so many coming-of-age stories. He studied Psychology, History, and Biology at Ohio University, and received his M.A. in East Asian History from the Ohio State University, after which he spent more than a little time in Japan.

He writes whatever he has ideas for: primarily science fiction, horror, and fantasy. He has a number of stories in various genre publications, some of which you can read for free online, if you're so inclined. Learn more at: www.evandicken.com

Jaap Boekestein (1968) is an award winning Dutch writer of science fiction, fantasy, horror, thrillers and whatever takes his fancy. Five novels, a few novella's and over three hundred of his stories have been published. His has made his living as a bouncer, working for a detective agency and as editor.

Since 2015 he mostly writes for the English market. His story "Kitty Cross Saves the World" ended up with a honorable mention of the Roswell Award 2017. In 2019 his crime story "Long Overdue" won the second place of the Bill Crider Prize for Short Fiction.

Laura VanArendonk Baugh is an award-winning writer of speculative fiction, mystery, and non-fiction. Though she has hiked to the summits of extinct, dormant, and active volcanoes on several continents, not one has yet accepted her sacrifice. Her work has earned numerous accolades, including the Realm Award for Best Fantasy, a semi-finalist spot in SPFBO's Best Fantasy, and praise from Publishers Weekly.

Laura speaks professionally on everything from her day job as a professional animal trainer and behavior consultant to award-winning costuming. She enjoys travel, many kinds of geekery, fair trade chocolate, and making her imaginary friends fight each other for imaginary reasons. Find her (and free stuff!) at www.LauraVAB.com.

Steven Grassie writes fiction that stands proudly under the 'speculative' banner - essentially fantasy, horror, and science fiction. Occasionally he writes 'literary' stories, but he asks you not to tell anyone.

Born and (mostly) raised in Glasgow, Scotland, Steven now lives just outside the city, with a señorita and their two children.

You can catch up with him at www.stevengrassie.com.

Alison McBain (1979-not dead yet) was born in Canada, raised in California, and arrived in Connecticut with a few detours along the way. She has over one hundred fifty poems and short stories published in magazines and anthologies such as Flash Fiction Online, On Spec, and Litro. Her debut and award-winning novel is The Rose Queen: Book 1 of the Rose Trilogy, and was shortly followed by a collection of her short fantasy fiction called Enchantress of Books. When not obsessing over her plan of survival for a zombie apocalypse, she practices origami meditation and draws all over the walls of her house with the enthusiastic help of her kids. In her spare time, she is one of the editors at Scribes*MICRO*Fiction (which publishes flash stories & poems and is always open for submissions). You can chat with her at @AlisonMcBain or read her blog at www.alisonmcbain.com.

Having been telling tales (the good kind and the cheeky) since before memory Kirstie Olley first put fingers to keyboard at age eight when she attempted to write her own ‘Goosebumps’ tale. She continued on to teach her ninth grade English teacher the importance of setting word counts for short story assignments by handing in a 27 page novella. Word counts remain her greatest foe to this day(apart from big hairy spiders).

She favours writing fantasy but moves throughout the speculative fiction genre playing with fairy tales and mythology, super heroes, dark fantasy, and horror, even the odd bit of science fiction. She has a particular penchant for cross-dimensional tales.

Kirstie Olley lives in Brisbane, Australia with her husband T-J, son Xander, daughter Harlequin, and the rest of her menagerie and is a self-professed Japanophile.