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/.

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 "booknivorous" dogs and 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.