Sarah A. Hoyt was born (and raised) in Portugal and now lives in Colorado with her husband, two sons, and a variable number of cats, depending on how many show up to beg on the door step.

In between lays the sort of resume that used to be de-rigueur for writers. She has never actually wrestled alligators, but she did at one point very briefly tie bows on bags of potpourri for a living. She has also washed dishes and ironed clothes for a living. Worst of all she was, for a long time, a multilingual scientific translator.

At some point, though, she got tired of making an honest living and started writing. She has over 32 -- the number keeps changing -- published novels, in science fiction, fantasy, mystery, historical mystery, historical fantasy and historical biography. Her short stories have been published in Analog, Asimov's, Amazing Stories (under a previous management), Weird tales, and a number of anthologies from DAW and Baen. Her space-opera novel Darkship Thieves was the 2011 Prometheus Award Winner, and at this moment the third novel in the series, A Few Good Men, is a finalist for the honor.

Sarah also won the Dragon Award for Uncharted (With Kevin J. Anderson.)

She also writes under the names Sarah D'Almeida and Elise Hyat.

To learn more about Sarah A. Hoyt and read samples of her work, visit http://sarahahoyt.com

Doug Dandridge was born in Venice Florida in 1957, the son of a Florida native and a Mother of French Canadian descent. An avid reader from an early age, Doug has read most of the classic novels and shorts of Science Fiction and Fantasy, as well as multiple hundreds of historical works. Doug has military experience including Marine Corps JROTC, Active Duty Army, and the Florida National Guard. He attended Florida State University, studying Biology, Geology, Physics, and Chemistry, and receiving a BS in Psychology. Doug then studied Clinical Psychology at the University of Alabama, with specific interests in Neuropsychology and Child Psychology, completing a Masters and all course work required for a PhD. He has worked in Psychiatric Hospitals, Mental Health Centers, a Prison, a Juvenile Residential Facility, and for the past five years for the Florida Department of Children and Families. Doug has been writing on and off for fifteen years. He concentrates on intelligent science fiction and fantasy in which there is always hope, no matter how hard the situation. No area of the fantastic is outside his scope, as he has completed works in near and far future Science Fiction, Urban and High Fantasy, Horror, and Alternate History.

James Young is a science fiction and alternative history author and editor hailing from Missouri. Leaving small town life, James obtained a bachelor's in military history from the United States Military Academy then went on to spend six years as an armor and staff officer in Korea, the Pacific Northwest, and Germany.

After serving his commitment to the Republic, James returned to the Midwest to obtain his Masters and Doctorate in U.S. History from Kansas State. License for evil, er, Ph.D. in hand, Dr. Young now spends his spare time torturing characters, editing alternative history anthologies with far more famous authors like S.M. Stirling and David Weber (check out the Phases of Mars series), and admiring his wife's (Anita C. Young) award-winning artwork.

On Amazon, you can check out James' Usurper's War (alternative history) and Vergassy Chronicles (science fiction) series, both of which he is diligently working on now that the academic yoke is from around his neck. Outside of Amazon, Dr. Young can be found at conventions throughout the Midwest selling books and merchandise as James Young, Slinger of Tales. Stop by his booth sometime and he'll be happy to tell you about his latest project then discuss World War II carrier doctrine.

In addition to his positive fiction reviews, Dr. Young also writes military history non-fiction. In addition to Barren SEAD (available for sale), James is working on preparing his dissertation for publication. His awards include winning the United States Naval Institute's 2016 Cyberwarfare Essay Contest, placing as a runner up in the 2011 Adams Center Cold War Essay Contest, and having the Naval History and Heritage Command select an article (Surface Lessons of Guadalcanal) for inclusion on their professional reading list.

A Webster Award winner and three-time Dragon Award finalist, Chris Kennedy is a Science Fiction/Fantasy author, speaker, and small-press publisher who has written over 30 books and published more than 200 others. Get his free book, “Shattered Crucible,” at his website, https://chriskennedypublishing.com.

Called “fantastic” and “a great speaker,” he has coached hundreds of beginning authors and budding novelists on how to self-publish their stories at a variety of conferences, conventions, and writing guild presentations. He is the author of the award-winning #1 bestseller, “Self-Publishing for Profit: How to Get Your Book Out of Your Head and Into the Stores.”

Chris lives in Coinjock, North Carolina, with his wife, and is the holder of a doctorate in educational leadership and master’s degrees in both business and public administration. Follow Chris on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/ckpublishing/.

Find out more about Kacey Ezell at www.kaceyezell.net

Kacey Ezell was born in South Dakota in 1977. Her parents joined the US Air Force in 1984, and she grew up around the world on various military bases. When she was seven, her mother gave her a copy of Anne McCaffrey's Dragondrums, and shortly thereafter, Kacey decided that she wanted to be a dragonrider when she grew up. In 1999, she followed her parents into the "family business" and graduated from the United States Air Force Academy before going to pilot training. As dragons were in short supply at the time, she reasoned that flying aircraft was the next best thing. She earned her wings in 2001, and has over 2500 hours in the UH-1N and Mi-17 helicopters.

From the time she was a small child, Kacey made up stories to tell to her friends and family. In 2009, while deployed to Iraq, she wrote the military-themed supernatural story "Light", which was accepted for publication in the Baen Books anthology Citizens. She was asked to consult on John Ringo's 2015 novel Strands of Sorrow, and wrote the cover story for the Black Tide Rising anthology set in Ringo's zombie apocalypse universe. That story, "Not in Vain" was selected for inclusion in the "Year's Best Military SF and Adventure Fiction" anthology produced by Baen Books.

In addition, she's written a story for each of the bestselling Four Horsemen Universe anthologies, and her story "Family Over Blood" is included in the national bestseller "Forged In Blood" set in Michael Z. Williamson's Freehold Universe. It, too, was selected for inclusion in the "Year's Best Military SF and Adventure Fiction" anthology in 2018, and ended up winning the Baen Reader's choice award at DragonCon that year!

She and Christopher L. Smith are currently collaborating with John Ringo on a new post-apocalyptic steampunk trilogy from Baen, and her first solo novel, "Minds of Men" was released by Theogony Press on 10 November 2017. "Minds of Men" was a 2018 Dragon Award Finalist for Best Alternate History.

Kacey returned to the Four Horseman Universe to collaborate with Marisa Wolf on "Assassin", a novel about an alien race of felinoid killers-for-hire. "Assassin" is available now from Seventh Seal Press, as is "Weaver", a collaboration with Mark Wandrey.

Kacey writes science fiction, fantasy, horror, noir, romance... etc. fiction. She lives with her husband, two daughters, and two cats.

Philip Wohlrab has been a medic with the Army for over 12 years, and he has served his time in the sandbox. He earned the title "Doc" the hard way. He did a brief stint with the United States Coast Guard, where he did SAR, and formed an appreciation for all things nautical. He currently works as a professional war-gamer and analyst for a defense contractor in the DC area, and still serves in the National Guard. He can also be found at various Sci-Fi cons around the country.

Justin grew up an Army brat, living in Germany, Alabama, Texas, Korea, Colorado and Alaska, and fed on a steady diet of X-Men, Star Trek, Robert Heinlein, DragonLance, and Babylon 5. While attending West Point, he met his future wife, Michele, on an airplane, and soon began writing in earnest with her encouragement. In 2005 he graduated from West Point and served as a field artillery officer, completing combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, and earning the Bronze Star, Purple Heart and the Combat Action Badge.

Medically retired from the Army in 2015, Justin settled in Houston with Michele, their four children and an excessively friendly Old English Sheepdog.

Joelle Presby was born in France, raised in Cameroon, and now lives in the United States. She writes science fiction and fantasy. Website: joellepresby.com.

William Stroock was a professor of history at Raritan Valley Community College. He taught U.S. History I, World Civilization I, and World Civilization II.

Stroock enjoys teaching British topics such Henry VIII and Elizabeth, the Glorious Revolution, Britain's world war against Napoleon, Pax Britannia and the Empire. He is particularly interested in Great Britain's post war readjustment- the Atlee years and post war scarcity, British Cool, the Winter of Discontent, Thatcher, and Tony Blair's Cool Britannia.

In addition to writing novels William Stroock has published widely on military history in magazines such as Military Heritage, Strategy & Tactics, Against the Odds, World at War and many others.

He has written more than a dozen magazine articles on the Arab/Israel Wars as well as Israel's current conflicts with various terrorist groups including:

-Bulldozing to Victory: Operation Defensive Shield (S&T #256)

-The 2006 Hezbollah War (S&T #245)

-Chanukah Blitzkrieg: Operation Defensive Shield (S&T #257)

-Holy Land: The Next Arab/Israeli War (Modern War Magazine #8)

-Pharaoh Fails: The Egyptian Army: 1956-1973 (Modern War Magazine #4)

-Israel's War on Terror (Alexandrian Defense Group)

Stroock has also designed three war games, Green Hell: Battles for Burma, Meuse/Argonne, and Lebanon '82, all available from Decision Games.

Meriah L. Crawford has been a private investigator since 2003, working on a wide array of cases including background investigations, accident and theft cases, patent infringement, counterfeiting, harassment, shootings, and murder. About the only thing she hasn't investigated is marital infidelity.

In 2006, after she finished her MFA in creative writing, Meriah began teaching part-time; she became a full-time professor at Virginia Commonwealth University in August of 2010. She has published a variety of non-fiction work, short stories, poetry, and a co-authored novel. More information is available at www.meriahcrawford.com.

Day Al-Mohamed is co-editor for the anthology, "Trust & Treachery" from DarkQuest Books and her first novel, "Baba Ali and the Clockwork Djinn: A Steampunk Faerie Tale," co-written with Danielle Ackley-McPhail was released September 1, 2014. In addition to speculative fiction, she also writes comics and film scripts. Her recent publications are available in Lacuna Magazine, Daily Science Fiction, Crossed Genres anthology "Oomph - A Little Super Goes a Long Way," and GrayHaven Comics' anti-bullying issue "You Are Not Alone." She is an active member of the Cat Vacuuming Society of Northern Virginia Writing Group, a member of Women in Film and Video, and a graduate of the VONA/Voices Writing Workshop.

When not working on fiction, Day is Senior Policy Advisor with the Federal government. She has also worked as a lobbyist and political analyst on issues relating to Health care, Education, Employment, Disability, and International Development. She loves action movies and drinks far too much tea. She lives in Washington, DC with her wife, N.R. Brown, in a house with too many swords, comic books, and political treatises.

She can be found online at DayAlMohamed.com/wordpress and @DayAlMohamed on twitter.

Rob Howell is the publisher of New Mythology Press (chriskennedypublishing.com/new-mythology-press/), including his work as editor of the Libri Valoris and Libri Mysteriorum anthologies of heroic fantasy.

He is one of the founders of the Eldros Legacy (eldroslegacy.com/) and an author in the Four Horsemen Universe (mercenaryguild.org). He writes primarily epic fantasy, space opera, military science fiction, and alternate history.

He is a reformed medieval academic, a former IT professional, and a retired soda jerk.

His parents discovered quickly books were the only way to keep Rob quiet. He latched onto the Hardy Boys series first and then anything he could reach. Without books, it’s unlikely all three would have survived.

You can find him online at: robhowell.org, on Amazon at amazon.com/-/e/B00X95LBB0, and his blog at robhowell.org/blog.

Jan Niemczyk was born and brought up in Scotland, where he currently lives. He has long had an interest in military history, aviation, naval warfare, cats and horses. He also has an interest in the Cold War.

Mr Niemczyk is the author of the web novel The Last War, an alternative history where the USSR has survived into the early 21st Century. He is currently employed in the public sector.

Stephen J. Simmons left his home in a teeming metropolis of 900 people in the northern Catskills of upstate New York to pursue a career as a submarine nuclear-plant operator. After he retired from the Navy in 2004, he discovered that twenty-plus years of naval service had trained him in the fine art of spinning fanciful yarns (shipmates would call these "sea stories" of course) in addition to his training in nuclear physics and the fundamentals of steam propulsion.

I'm an army veteran currently living in Northern Virginia, though my heart will always belong to Minneapolis. I enjoy writing Urban Fantasy, intertwining the realistic with the fantastic. My debut book, The Devil's Gunman, is the tale of a supernatural assassin operating in Minneapolis. When I'm not writing, I'm either reading, gaming, or spending time with my lovely partner Victoria and my two dogs, Francois Guizot and Robert the Bruce.