Staff
AE Marling is a fantasy writer, dancer, law-abiding citizen, and human being (in that order). He encourages everyone to touch the sky of human imagination and read fantasy. He collects reasons people love fantasy on his blog, The Importance of the Impossible. The siren call of his tweets emanate from @AEMarling.
A. J. Zaethe is a High Fantasy Author who has spent most of his life filtering the fantastical out of real life and bleeding it back out on the page. Fantasy is his life, and aims to have shelves of his novels at a bookstore near you. He is also a self-proclaimed historian, a title claimed without shame. He loves myth and especially religious history. Yes, he is aware of the edge the subject treads, but it is often the center of his writings. And if he isn't writing or perversely becoming a historian, he is with a mound of clay, sculpting the next David.
After being told that supervillainy wasn’t an acceptable career path for a young man and that Geek wasn’t a job title, Aaron Miles chose the path of the author and now writes stories where the bad guys win. Having just completed a Masters degree, he is currently searching for a university where he can corrupt young minds, and possibly teach a bit of writing as well. An avid reader, you will likely find him clawing his way out from a literal pile of books because his shelves have buckled under the weight again. These painfully heavy tomes are usually a mix of fantasy, science fiction and horror. If he has managed to break free, odds are he’ll be working on his novel, a short story, or writing pretentiously about himself in the third person.
Adrian Faulkner has been writing stories since he was 7 and has never really stopped making things up. He spent a decade as a leading pop culture journalist and geek culture commentator, before focusing on fiction. His debut urban fantasy novel, The Four Realms, is released from Anarchy Books at the end of 2012. Adrian lives in Berkshire, England and in his spare time is one of the country’s leading geocachers. You can find more details at http://adrianfaulkner.com/.
Dublin based Aidan Harte studied classical sculpture in Florence where he began writing a historical fantasy set in Medieval Italy.
Irenicon was published this year by Jo Fletcher Books. Lawrence Osborne called it “quite simply the best piece of fantasy that I have read so far this year,” and described Harte as “a brilliant new voice in historical fantasy.” The sequel The Warring States comes out in 2013.
Before writing, Harte created the BAFTA-nominated BBC show Skunk Fu for the Oscar-nominated Cartoon Saloon. Londoners can see his sculpture at The Sculpture Company in Nottinghill. Everyone else, go to http://www.aidanharte.com/
Alek has been an avid reader of fantasy since he was told to give The Lord of the Rings a go. Already a geek through his tastes in RPG/JRPG games, his fate was sealed. Since then, although he has attempted to stray from the genre, fantasy has been where his heart belongs. Somewhere along the line, he decided that it would be cool to one day write his own fantasy novel and he has several—although a little scattered—plot ideas that are waiting for him to put pen to paper. Or is it fingers to keys these days? His progress in the writing world was halted for a few years when he toiled full time as a customer assistant in an electronics shop, spending his days surrounded by computers. As such, he can add to his geek résumé that he can change RAM in a computer! At the moment, Alek is a Psychology student and when he’s not studying, or reading, he’s working on his own work in progress. He has a very strong crush on Brynd Lathraea and loves Kvothe so much that one of his cats has been named Reshi after him.
Alex can be found in the rolling hills of Oxfordshire, splitting his time unevenly between fighting crime and raising two little boys (which is surprisingly similar). When he does find a spare moment he crams it full of fantasy or basketball, and due to rapidly ageing knees it's mostly fantasy these days. He's trying to learn the writing craft through sheer bloody mindedness and dreams of the day he has to do nothing else. If you're so inclined you can watch him stalk writers on Twitter - @shep5377
Alister rediscovered fantasy a few years ago when he was handed an old David Gemmell novel and remembered everything he loved about the genre. He's been stringing words together since he can remember, and - inspired by the likes of Scott Lynch and Joe Abecrombie - he set out to write a fantasy of his own. That story has expanded to a trilogy, part one of which is now setting out on the noble quest for representation. If not writing, reading or reviewing, Alister is probably watching TV while wondering what to read next.
Amy Rose Davis is an independent epic fantasy author. She lives in Oregon with her husband, Bryce, and their four children. Bryce provides comic relief, editing, and inspiration, and regularly talks her off the various ledges she climbs onto.
Amy is an unapologetic coffee addict, but her other vices include chocolate, margaritas, and whiskey. She prefers cats to dogs (but houses both), loves the color green, and enjoys the smell of new pencils and crayons. She has eclectic tastes in friends, music, and books, and is as likely to watch 300 as Becoming Jane.
Amy's published works include the novella “Silver Thaw” and the novel “Ravenmarked”. Her books are available in all major e-bookstores.
Arry spends her days programming in Java, living the exciting life of a cubicle ridden software engineer. When not at work, she enjoys her time with her husband and two boys. She spends the rest of her free time playing on multiple indoor soccer teams and of course reading, reading, reading. She is ‘new’ to the fantasy genre, having read her first fantasy book in 2010. After reading more and more fantasy, she is now hooked and can often be found around the forum searching for her next book and adding titles to her ever increasing TBR list.
After years of living in a fantasy world, Ashley attempted to leave Neverland and be a grown up. She started a theater company with her husband in Phoenix, Arizona, and for ten years, she produced and acted in nearly two-dozen classical and Shakespearean plays, even writing a few that were published. But she never could quite escape that childhood world, and the pull of the fantastical. Her dark-fantasy trilogy beginning with Shadow Fox was picked up by Champagne Books, and it now seems foolish to continue resisting. Her favorite fantasy authors are George R. R. Martin and Guy Gavriel Kay, and she’s looking forward to finding even more. It’s good to be back.
Jennie Ivins is the mother of three boys (one set of twins & one singleton) who for some reason likes living in Central New Jersey. She married a geek and enjoys watching other geeks discuss their geeky ways. In her pre-mom life, she worked as a chef’s apprentice and a retail store manager. She is currently writing her first series of fantasy books and enjoying it more then she thought humanly possible. Being a stay-at-home-mom means she spends way too much time on the internet, mostly on Twitter and Fantasy-Faction, in between chasing kids and cleaning her house. When she gets a spare second, she loves taking pictures and cooking up new and delicious creations. But her other loves include art, science, music, computers, history and anything else shiny that happens across her field of vision. She is not sure exactly how she became features editor, but she is enjoying that as well. However, she has found writing about herself in the third person is rather odd.
As far as Ben Galley is concerned, business cards are far too small. If they were big enough, his would read something like: “Ben Galley - Professional Liar, Imagination Jockey, Daydream Merchant, and Teller of Tales so tall they make skyscrapers blush.” At the moment Ben’s simply says “Author”. That does the job just fine.
Born in 1987, Ben is a young author from sunny England, and has been writing since he was old enough to be trusted with a pencil. He is the author of the dark and epic fantasy trilogy - The Emaneska Series. He has released two books to date and there is soon to be a third.
His debut, The Written, was unleashed on a snowy January in 2011. It was written mostly on Ben’s mobile phone whilst he worked behind a succession of bars, each as depressing, and yet somehow inspiring, as the next. Its sequel, Pale Kings, was released to an eager audience in February 2012. Grittier and colder, it leaves The Written somewhat aquiver in its shadow. Ben has since escaped the dreaded void of bar-work, and has thrown himself fully into the book industry.
Ben and his books can be found at www.bengalley.com. He can also be caught being loquacious and attempting to be witty on Twitter @BenGalley, or hiding in your garden shed.
Ben Godby writes mysteriously thrilling pseudo-scientific weird western adventure fantasy tales. He lives in Ottawa, Ontario with a girl, two dogs, and a cat, and chronicles his literary battle stories at http://bengodby.blogspot.com.
Chelsea grew up thinking that she could fly...at least at night. It was always strange to her when she woke up the ability seemed to escape her. Now she plays as a vampire in a Live Action Role Playing (LARP) game in the One World by Night (OWbN) organization. When she is not playing make believe, though, she has completed two associate degrees in Liberal Arts and Social and Behavioral Science, along with completing her Bachelor's in English. Not wishing to become a schoolteacher, she has set her dreams upon being a writer.
She currently lives in the Sacramento Valley, has been married since 2008 and has two fur babies and hopes to add to the family in the future. Having many odd jobs in the past she has settled upon a career of secretarial work until her books can sustain her and her family. Hoping to have this as step into that world, hopefully in the next few years someone will be doing a spotlight or a review of her work.
Cheryl Morgan is a science fiction critic and publisher. She is the owner of Wizard’s Tower Press and the Wizard’s Tower Books ebook store. Previously she edited the Hugo Award winning magazine, Emerald City (Best Fanzine, 2004). She also won a Hugo for Best Fan Writer in 2009. She is a director of San Francisco Science Fiction Conventions Inc., and a founder of the Association for the Recognition of Excellence in SF & F Translation. She is currently part of the team running Science Fiction Awards Watch, and is non-fiction editor of Clarkesworld Magazine, with which she won her third and fourth Hugo Awards in 2010 and 2011. She maintains the websites for the SF in SF readings in San Francisco, and for BristolCon in the UK. In addition to spending far too much time reading Cheryl has been known to dabble in computer programming, web site design, journalism and the economics of competitive electricity markets. Her writing has appeared in venues such as Locus, Interzone, The Internet Review of Science Fiction, Strange Horizons and of course Clakesworld.
At a younger age, Chloe Smith dreamed of becoming a warrior maiden when she grew up, complete with magic weapons, an animal companion she could ride and/or have telepathic conversations with, and maybe a quest or two. Since then, she has diversified her aspirations, and her quests have included training to become a professional ballet dancer, working as a barista, traveling in India, and, more recently, obtaining her BA in History from Columbia University.
She spent last summer as an editorial intern at Locus Magazine, exploring the wild and wooly frontier of Science Fiction and Fantasy publishing. She is currently living in a small town in France (rather like the one when people wake up to say “Bonjour!”) and working as an assistant English teacher in a high school. She also spends a lot of time writing—both fiction and non—and putting it up on her blog, www.imaginaryresearch.blogspot.com. Selections from her long list of favorite authors include Connie Willis, Terry Pratchett, Barbara Kingsolver, Robin Mckinley, J. R. R. Tolkien, and Anthony Trollope. She had a dangerous weakness for anything created by Joss Whedon.
ChrisMB penned his first stories when he was eight years old, and since then has never been without a pen and stack of paper by his side. Drawn to science fiction, fantasy, and history at an early age, Chris dabbled in short stories based off TV shows and movies he loved as a child. After reading The Elfstones of Shannara, Chris’ love of fantasy was forever secured, and he began to work on Cinina: his first original fantasy setting.
During his years at university, Chris developed a passion for roleplaying and story telling that amplified his desire to write. After many false starts, Chris started Ghosts of Eternity: a small roleplaying forum for his friends to enjoy. Inspired by the events of the game and encouraged by his friends, Chris started to adapt Ghosts of Eternity into a novel, which he has worked on since graduating with a degree in History.
Chris can be reached through his email at ghostsofeternity@hotmail.com, on Skype as ghostsofeternity and on Twitter as ChristopherMB87. Although rarely updated, he still runs the Ghosts of Eternity forum at www.ghostsofeternity.yuku.com.
D. E. M. Emrys. Author. Soldier by day, Soldier by night - Writer in between. Knows war to write war. Growing up with the heroic tales written by authors such as David Gemmell and James Barclay, D was inspired to write stories of his own. D turned the stories into books after the passing of his father, forging a legacy in memory and name. D lives with his fiancée in Chelmsford. She inspires his work and supports his dreams, but most importantly provides the coffee at the most crucial of times. David Emrys is not his real name. Nor is D. You can follow him on Twitter at @DEMEmrys.
The first fantasy book Dan ever read was Enid Blyton’s The Enchanted Wood. He knew even then that fantasy was where he belonged and has since never looked back, or indeed grown up. An editor for a heritage consultancy, as well as occasional archaeologist and award-winning copywriter, Dan still somehow finds time to write articles, screenplays and short stories, as well as one behemoth of a fantasy-steampunk novel that sets the ‘war on terror’ in the mythical land of Atlantis. He currently resides as the stereotypical whinging pom in Sydney, Australia, with his beautiful wife, two sons and a dog named Indy. Feel free to follow him on Twitter (@dan_hanks) where you will undoubtedly find him researching (procrastinating) as much as humanly possible.
Dan D. Jones is a retired US Navy Chief Petty Officer now working as a network engineer. When he's not mucking about with switches, routers, Linux servers or programming code, he enjoys reading, woodworking, cooking and, of course, writing.
He succumbed to the writing bug early, drafting his first story at the age of seven, and has never managed to rid himself of the affliction. He suspects that it is a chronic and incurable condition, and treats it with a self-prescribed regimen of daily doses of BICHOK (Butt In Chair, Hands On Keyboard.) While this has been effective at holding the worst of the symptoms at bay, it has resulted in a side effect of severe logorrhea. Fortunately, he is surrounded by a cadre of loving family and friends who are able to overlook the condition, and who support him in his treatment efforts.
David Carani is a sci-fi/fantasy writer, slush reader at Lightspeed Magazine, and manufacturer’s rep. Like much of his generation, he grew up reading Brooks, Eddings, Farland, and Jordan – all after reading Tolkien, of course. Sixty or seventy years in the future, he plans to explain to younger generations how books were once "heavy" and how “moving your library” was a lot harder than click and drop…You can find him on twitter @djcarani or at http://agrainofstardust.wordpress.com/.
David Tallerman is the author of the Giant Thief and its sequel Crown Thief, both published through Angry Robot. He has also written around a hundred short stories, comic and film scripts, poems, and countless reviews and articles. Many of these have been released in one form or another, and others are on their way over the next few months. Not liking to be pinned down, his work ranges from comic fantasy to gruesome horror, from political science-fiction to tales about mechanically assisted grizzly bears battling Nazi dolphins on the moon. He’s been writing pretty much flat out since around 2005, having realised he enjoys it a lot more than any of the other jobs he’s tried his hand at. Most of his remaining time is eaten up by regular employment as an itinerant IT Technician, and whatever's left is spent reading books, watching films, hiking, drinking wine and renovating his house.
Django Wexler graduated from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh with degrees in creative writing and computer science, and worked for the university in artifical intelligence research. Eventually he migrated to Microsoft in Seattle, where he now lives with two cats and a teetering mountain of books. When not planning Shadow Campaigns, he wrangles computers, paints tiny soldiers, and plays games of all sorts. You can follow him on Twitter at @DjangoWexler. His novel, The Thousand Names, will be released July 2nd, 2013.
Dominic Stevens has enjoyed reading fantasy novels ever since he was a young boy when he read Brian Jacques’ Redwall novels and gobbled up various versions of the legends of King Arthur. He is fairly well read, having read English Literature at Leeds University, but it is fantasy novels that he returns to again and again to take a break from the real world. Dominic has also recently returned to the UK having spent several years teaching English as a Foreign Language in Indonesia and can be followed on twitter @dk_stevens.
Dori is a young Hungarian girl currently on a gap year, working somewhere between event management and fine arts, besides volunteering at a local museum. When she is not reading, playing video games or talking to her cat, Dori likes to believe she'll land a job in publishing later on. As an avid fantasy-lover, she also likes to write reviews and share her thoughts, spread the love or advise people on which books to avoid. You can also find her on Twitter @DoriCzerna occassionally tweeting interesting stuff, but more than often sharing personal nonsense.
Elloise Hopkins is an author, book reviewer and freelance graphic designer currently based in the UK. She devotes her time predominantly to writing fantasy fiction and is working on her debut novel as well as dabbling with the occasional short story. Having nurtured a love of all things fantastic from a young age, literature, film and visual arts are of the utmost importance, and when she’s not working, her time is devoted to exploring the country, and indeed the world, for artistic treasures and inspiration. Elloise is currently studying for an MA in Professional Writing and managing the trials that come with balancing life as a student, life as a writer, and life as a professional worker bee. Usually to be found engrossed in a book or putting her beloved Mac through its paces with furious keyboard strokes, Elloise also finds time to network and blog about life, the universe and everything. Find out more and join in at www.elloisehopkins.biz.
As a little girl, you could always find me at the bottom of the school playground searching for fairies. I never found any, but I truly believed that they were out there somewhere, and hiding from me because I was looking for them. As I grew up, this fascination with fantastical beings grew into more deluded fantasies. Battles for the right for freedom began to take place; individual characters began to appear into complex and intriguing stories. Stories I just had to write down. An obsession with ancient history and these delusions are providing the basis for my novels. Novels which I intend to publish in the not too distant future. I also write short stories and illustrate them. Examples of my artwork and Short stories will be able to be found here: emmahays.wordpress.com. You can also follow my random musings on Twitter: @EmmaHays.
Emma Newman was born in a tiny coastal village in Cornwall during one of the hottest summers on record and now lives in Somerset, England. She writes dark short stories, post-apocalyptic and urban fantasy novels and records audio books in all genres. Her hobbies include dressmaking and gaming and she drinks far too much tea. She blogs at www.enewman.co.uk, rarely gets enough sleep and refuses to eat mushrooms.
Eric used to work as a lawyer at a big firm. He soon realized that if he was going to be paid to read and write, he might as well be reading and writing about something he really loved: speculative fiction (ever since his parents first read him stories of magic and monsters, he’s been hooked). Now a freelance writer, and always a nerd, Eric spends his time with his wife, Laura, and dog, Scotch, in Washington, DC. You can find him on twitter at @erchristensen or online at www.eric-christensen.com.
Evie Manieri graduated from Wesleyan University with a degree in Mediaeval History and Theatre, disciplines that continue to influence her work in about equal measure. She is enthralled by intricacy, and when not weaving together the threads of her plots, she can be found knitting airy lace shawls and singing soprano with New York’s Renaissance Street Singers. Evie lives with her family in New York. Her first novel, Blood's Pride, is out now from Jo Fletcher Books.
In her misspent youth, Hannah Mariska imagined herself as a spy that could fly and do magic. This most probably had something to do with all the Enid Blyton books she read. Sometimes - when the wind blows and the moon sings, she still dreams of being the magical heroine rising from the ashes. Nowadays she lives in London, although sadly not with Aunt Fanny and Timmy the dog. By day, she tries to read as much as possible; whether it’s on the bus or hidden away in the office. Since reading Sabriel many years ago, she has turned towards fantasy books. Her favourite authors include Trudi Canavan, Mike Carey and Jim Butcher. By night, she writes a book blog in order to keep track of new authors and past reads.
Joanne Hall lives in Bristol, England, with her partner. She has been writing since she was old enough to hold a pen, and gave up a sensible (boring) job in insurance to be a full time writer, to the despair of her mother. She dabbled in music journalism, and enjoys going to gigs and the cinema, and reading. Her first three novels, which made up the New Kingdom Trilogy, were published by Epress Online. Since then she has had to move house to make more space for manuscripts. Her short stories have been published in several anthologies, including “Dark Spires” and “Future Bristol”, as well as a number of magazines. A collection of short stories, “The Feline Queen” was published by Wolfsinger Publications in April 2011. She is also the founder of Bristolcon, Bristol’s premiere (and only) Science Fiction convention. Her blog can be found at www.hierath.co.uk, and she’s always happy to hear from readers.
Doug Smith is a part time student who lives in the Scottish Highlands. He already holds a degree in sociology and is studying part time for a second degree in history. In his spare time, he reads so much it occasionally hurts. He is working towards writing a book of his own, one word at a time. If you would like to hear some of his ramblings, follow him on twitter @The_Idlewilder. He also runs the genre blog Wilder's Book Review.
Jacob Topp-Mugglestone is an SFF reader and reviewer over at Drying Ink. Though whim provides an essential part of his choices, his favourite authors include Steven Erikson, Kate Griffin, Robin Hobb, and Brandon Sanderson, which he reads while waiting for the rain to stop. Living in the UK as he does, this rarely happens, and his current TBR pile rarely lasts very long.
James Calbraith is a 34-year-old Poland-born writer, foodie and traveller, currently residing in South London.
Growing up in communist Poland on a diet of powdered milk, Lord of the Rings and soviet science-fiction, he had his first story published at the ripe age of eight. After years of bouncing around university faculties, he moved to London in 2007, found a job and started writing in English.
His debut historical fantasy novel, The Shadow of Black Wings - volume one in The Year of the Dragon series - has reached ABNA semi-finals. It was published in July 2012 and hit the historical fantasy and alternate history bestseller lists on Amazon US & UK. Two more volumes in the series have been published since, also reaching Amazon's bestseller lists.
Most girls dreamed of being a princess or a warrior. Jamie dreamed of both. Spending her days running around in the woods, Jamie spliced together different worlds to create her own unique one. The only things that stayed the same were the balance between good and evil in her characters: oh and fire. Oh and cats.
Even with a strong background of video games and 80’s cartoons, she was really only interested in talking animals. One fateful date in 6th grade, the 11 year old Jamie was forced to read The Book of Three By Lloyd Alexander. The thought of reading something without talking animals (even though her teacher assured her that there was a “talking” pig) was unbearable. She only agreed after being told that someone would be reading it to her.
The book changed her life and Jamie jumped from talking animals to the deep rich fantasy that had plagued her imagination as a child. From there, she began to write original fiction and fan fiction. She attended the Maine School of Science Mathematics for high school. She then ran away to Umaine for her BA in Creative Writing and finally ending her school career with a MFA in Creative Writing from Full Sail University. She currently lives in Maine with her two beloved Corgis. You can read her blog and other writings at http://jamieprovencher.wordpress.com.
I am a writer by virtue of the fact I write every day, okay sometimes not on the weekends. I don't know why, but I wake up early and write until late in the night and sometimes through to the following morning. My most recent accomplishment was serving as the 2010 Conference Director for the Florida Writer's Association. My background is with fine arts and the law. As an attorney, my strength was reading and writing. My legal work has been published in treatises; however, I haven't quite yet found agent. But, by golly, if I keep writing I will. I received an award from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers while in law school. Out of 400 fabric designers, I was one of ten featured at New York City's International Fashion Fabric Exhibition.
You can review my writing tips at www.janiebill.com. I have written travel articles for www.itournow.com and links to them are available on the site. Also, I have a website called www.savelivestock.com to help those poor defenseless animals that I resist eating although must admit I still wear leather. (Sorry world.)
Jay Kristoff is a Perth-born, Melbourne-based author. His first trilogy, The Lotus War, was purchased in the three-way auction by US publishing houses in 2011. He is as surprised about it as you are. The first installment, Stormdancer, is set to be published in September 2012 in the US, UK and Australia. Jay is 6’7”, has approximately 13870 days to live and does not believe in happy endings. Find him at http://www.jaykristoff.com/.
Jesse is in the process of immigrating from the United States to Canada, all to be with some girl he met on World of Warcraft. In between learning to speak Canadian (TimHortons means coffee, apparently) and studying the rules of hockey (which supposedly involves a ‘puck’ of some kind, and is not actually a branch of the UFC) Jesse devours fantasy literature at an alarming rate. Counting Peter V. Brett, Brent Weeks, Jim Butcher, and Brandon Sanderson among his favorite new authors Jesse is very excited with the direction fantasy literature is taking, and cannot wait to see what lies ahead for us sword-and-sorcery-lovin' nerds! Jesse also writes for Suite101.com and often leaves snarky comments on Twitter...find him @bentonstein!
Jo Warne is a long-term fan of Sci-Fi and paranormal/urban/romance type novels. She has a crush on Jack Reacher and a tenancy to collect and read books like a 13-year-old comic book hound, waiting for his next fix.
When Josephine Hao first read the Greek/Roman myths as a child, she was hooked into the world of the fantastical and has never really left. Her all-time favorite magical conjurers are C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. Josephine was a clinical pharmacist in another lifetime and still attempts to make the occasional jaunt back in time in order to appease guilt over the time and expense of her degree. Most days, she can be found trying to keep up with her three active children in her very real life and immersing herself in extraordinary and bizarre worlds in her spare time.
As a little boy, Joshua Benes made the wild outdoors his battleground. Fighting against an unseen enemy in his own backyard. As time went on, he enjoyed spending time reading and experiencing the places and journeys that were held within the pages of his books. It wasn't until one day in his high school library when things would change forever. As he pulled a singular well worn book and opened its pages the world came to life before his eyes. It was at that moment that a desire for reading and writing was born. Shortly after high school, he went into the Marine Corps, living out part of his childhood fantasies. It was there that he began building the worlds in which his beloved characters lived. Throughout the next five years of his enlistment, he continued to work on his worlds, their histories and everything in them. These days he spends time with his new wife in his new house, the dream still burning bright in him to complete what he started. That desire recently taking shape in his blog jcbenes.wordpress.com. His favorite authors include Terry Brooks, Terry Goodkind, Robert Jordan, J. R. R. Tolkien and the list goes on and on...
Juan de Dios Dougnac (aka Fallen One), is a former bullying victim turned assistant instructor in traditional tae kwon-do. The lack of human interaction in his first twenty years of life caused him to read and read and read. Faced now with the horrors of studying law, one of his few escapes consists of taking his rants to paper and seeing if there’s anyone gullible enough to publish them. :P
Kevin James Breaux is an award-winning author and artist. Along with having many short stories published Kevin's first novel, SOUL BORN, an epic fantasy, was released 11/30/2010 by Dark Quest Books and has already been won Best SF/F in the P&E Reader’s Poll. Soul Born is book one in a three book series, and runs over 110,000 words.
Kevin is an active member of many writing grounds including the Horror Writers Association and the Erotic Authors Association. Check out www.kevinbreaux.com for more information and follow Kevin on Twitter @KevinBreaux.
Zafri Mollon, AKA Khaldun, is a teacher with a penchant for reading at inappropriate times. He decided to take up writing so he could describe those moments as “professional development.” He is hoping to sell fiction to buy a house and retire to the tropical island that all published authors live on, but for now, he reviews books to get back at those hardworking jerks who've actually finished something. In case anyone is curious, some of his current favourites include Patrick Rothfuss, George RR Martin, Scott Lynch, Joe Abercrombie, and Jim Butcher.
When Kit was younger, she wanted nothing more than to be a princess. Instead, she was a plain girl with an evil older brother who liked to push her out of tree houses. After coming to terms with the fact that she would probably never be whisked away by a queen who was, in fact, her mother, Kit began to delve into the realms of fantasy as a means of escape.
Now, Kit still enjoys reading fantasy novels, but has also occasionally enjoyed some historical fiction, horror, and sci-fi. Her favorite authors include Terry Goodkind, Anne Bishop, and Peter V. Brett. When she’s not reading, Kit is a paralegal at a small law firm, and an aspiring photographer. She holds an AS in Paralegal Studies from Husson University in Bangor, Maine. Kit currently lives in the Pacific Northwest, where it isn’t quite as rainy as people think it is. She enjoys tea more than she probably ought to, and desires a cat more than anything else. Her favorite pastime is curling up with a book on a rainy day, with a hot cup of tea and a homemade cookie.
My first exploration into Fantasy was when I met a Faun at a lamppost at the age of nine. But aside from seven years at Hogwarts and an obsession with Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings films I didn’t return to it again until I was handed a copy of Game of Thrones when I was eighteen and realised Fantasy could give to me what I’d been searching for. It was also with this discovery I realised the true home for my writing. I’m currently writing the first in a planned seven part fantasy series; imagine the Spartans, with the power of the Roman Empire, set in Russia and you’ve got a basic idea. I studied at Lancaster University in the UK and came away with a BA in English Literature, Creative Writing and Practice and an MA in English Literary Studies. I’m currently slogging away at work whilst saving up for my PhD but every day I escape into my writing and the books I’m reading then I’m free.
Lady Rosalie Skinner resides on the east coast of Australia. When not totally immersed in the fantasy world of her writing she wanders through the mundane world of reality. Living close to the ocean, among rolling hills and the golden beaches, reality is not such a bad place to reside.
Formerly an artist, after painting portraits professionally for twenty years, Rosalie began to write. She turned an obsession with reading towards writing and the world of Fantasy.
Rosalie’s love of the ocean, nature, history, and horses has given her books an authentic air.
In 2010 when asked, Rosalie signed contracts for all eight books in her epic fantasy series the Chronicles of Caleath. Confident to work with a publisher she trusts, Rosalie is thrilled to announce that from September 2011 Museitup Publishing will release one ebook in the series each month.
When not looking after family or writing novels Rosalie spends time editing, rewriting and learning the art of writing. Rosalie believes Fantasy writing is a craft she has finally begun to understand. Her world revolves around sharing and discussing writing, editing and how to become published.
Other than being a published author, her greatest thrill is being a grandmother.
Laura is a warrior of Pictish descent. By that, we mean she battles not to burn every time the sun deigns to shine on Scotland. As a result, she spends a lot of time indoors, tearing through the books crammed into her bookshelves and storage boxes, or scribbling away in her notebook on various writing projects. All of which involve pirates. When not in a world of fiction, she can be found cooking, baking, knitting, sewing, playing Bb bass in a brass band, shouting at motorbike racing on the TV, or turning her young cousin into a nerd like herself. Heaven help us all.
Leo Elijah Cristea is an avid reader of epic fantasy and YA science fiction and fantasy. He hails from somewhere green and pleasant where there isn’t nearly enough snow, rain or thunder for his liking. A perpetual scholar, language fanatic and Muggleborn Ravenclaw, Leo is so deeply immersed in the genre that he isn’t sure there even is a way out at this point. An aspiring writer, he examines many topics close to his heart—religion, identity and belonging, to name a few—through the imaginary worlds of his epic fantasy novels. It’s inevitable that he will write urban fantasy and YA, as well. Always either reading or writing, Leo adores words and so far it seems they quite like him in return. His favourite authors include Elspeth Cooper, Anne Lyle, Patrick Rothfuss and Cinda Williams Chima, among many others too numerous to list. With his elder brother and their five cats—Reshi, Nimh, Nicodemus, Baekho and Pandora—he enjoys a hermit-like existence sharing a house somewhere that is never quite far enough off the beaten track for his pleasure. Still believing in faeries, elves and magic, Leo far prefers his own world and those found in books, to the normalcy of the supposed Real World.
Like most of you, Lisa Parkin is an avid reader. She's been reading fantasy novels since she first picked up Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone when she was in the fifth grade. From there, Lisa's jumped into the sub-genres of epic, paranormal and young adult fantasy. Currently, her favorite authors are Sharon Shinn, Juliet Marillier, Maria V. Snyder, Robin Hobb and Kristin Cashore.
Lisa lives in sunny Florida, where it's just as likely to pour down buckets of rain as scorch you with blazing heat. She has an academic background in journalism and literature and works as a professional writer and editor for a health website.
Other than reading, Lisa loves writing, editing, scrapbooking, laughing, coffee, raspberry pie, journaling, picking at her nails and collecting quirky friends. You can find other fantasy and YA reviews on her blog, Read.Breathe.Relax, and on Twitter @LisaMParkin.
A second generation fantasy reader, Liz Ambrose associates it less with escapism and more as comfort reading. After obtaining a BA in Film and digital media with an emphasis on theory, she attempted to find a job in her field. Then she successfully found a day job taking care of rodents and fish. After a while, it became increasingly clear that she had to use that degree in some way and so she started blogging reviews and various genre rants (lady-fellshot.livejournal.com). In keeping with her film degree, Liz is not the person you want sitting behind you in a movie theater, as she cannot help but make smartass remarks about whatever film it is.
Currently, she manages to juggle blogging, a day job, judo and teaching modern fencing mostly by mild insomnia and with the help of two cats, a chinchilla and her husband.
Marc started writing as a teenager, and has always been obsessed with science fiction and fantasy. He has a soft spot for books with fast plots, unusual characters and twisted humor. The more unusual, the better. He predominantly reads sci-fi and fantasy, depending on mood.
Marc is an active member of several writers groups, including the Online Workshop for Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror, and maintains a blog at www.marcdavies.net. His debut book, HIVE, a sci-fi novel about a hidden community of psionicists set in contemporary London, is due for release with Burst Books in Fall 2012.
He lives in an old house owned by a Golden Retriever and a Labrador, with a mountain of books, an impressive collection of half-finished wine bottles, and the occasion ball of drifting dog hair. If you have a neighbor that sits at the computer all day in a dressing gown and cackles insanely, chances are it's him.
Marsha A. Moore is a writer of fantasy romance. The magic of art and nature spark life into her writing. Her creativity also spills into watercolor painting and drawing. After a move from Toledo to Tampa in 2008, she’s happily transforming into a Floridian, in love with the outdoors. Crazy about cycling, she usually passes the 1,000-mile mark yearly. She is learning kayaking and already addicted. She’s been a yoga enthusiast for over a decade and that spiritual quest helps her explore the mystical side of fantasy. She never has enough days spent at the beach, usually scribbling away at new stories with toes wiggling in the sand. Every day at the beach is magical! She is the author of the novel, TEARS ON A TRANQUIL LAKE, the first in a trilogy available through MuseItUp Publishing. Part two, TORTUGA TREASURE is scheduled for release in January 2012. Look for her first Indie publication of an epic fantasy romance series, SEEKING A SCRIBE: ENCHANTED BOOKSTORE LEGENDS ONE, to be available late 2011. Learn more about Marsha at her website: http://MarshaAMoore.com and chat with her on Twitter @MarshaAMoore.
Matt has been reading and writing fantasy since he was very small and not terribly articulate. Though now a lack of articulation has turned to verbosity, he still loves the genre. Matt lives in Boulder, Colorado with his wife and daughter, where he works as a professional cook. More of his writing can be found at The Loquacious Coyote, which is updated sporadically.
Sheffield-born writer, Michael J. Ward, was first introduced to the fantasy genre through the Fighting Fantasy game books in the eighties. Now living in the Midlands, Michael divides his time between writing DestinyQuest novels, working freelance and playing – by his own admission – far too many video games.
Mike Shackle is a citizen of the world, having lived in Hong Kong, Singapore, China and New York before returning to his hometown of London where he now resides with his wife, son and a French bulldog called Ribsy. His other constant traveling companions around the globe have been his comic books, his favorite fantasy novels and an army of super-hero statues. He more often than not can be found daydreaming over a cup of tea.
My name is Max, and I am a bookaholic. OK, OK, enough of the AA meetings now. Like I said, I’m Max, and I am a young gap-year-ee currently working as a bookseller in the famous Blackwell Bookshop in Oxford, UK. My hobbies are reading, computer games and all aspects of football (soccer to those non-Europeans) – from watching, to playing to refereeing. I am currently in the process of applying for an English degree in London, because of my love of books.
Obviously, I love fantasy, but I also have a love of Sci-Fi and YA books, as well as more than a passing appreciation of more ‘mainstream’ and ‘Lit-Fic’ books. Indeed, as I study, it will have to be that I look at more and more ‘literature, and less and less of my true loves, though I will take every opportunity to go back to that.
I have two ambitions in life: one is to write full time, or at least be published. The second is to make a career out of refereeing football (soccer, damn you North Americans!) matches. Either may not be possible, or maybe both are. Who knows?
Now you know a bit about me, feel free to insult, abuse, torment or deride me, though I’d prefer praise, rewards, chocolate, free books and hugs. Oh, and also check the blog: http://zisforzebracrossing.blogspot.com.
As a security contractor, government civilian and military officer, Myke Cole’s career has run the gamut from Counterterrorism to Cyber Warfare to Federal Law Enforcement. He’s done three tours in Iraq and was recalled to serve during the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. All that conflict can wear a guy out. Thank goodness for fantasy novels, comic books, late night games of Dungeons and Dragons and lots of angst fueled writing. You can visit Myke at his website or on Twitter.
Nicholas knew from a young age that he belonged in made-up worlds and the land of make believe. He spent the better part of his childhood inserting himself into the stories of his favorite video games and books before he finally realized he could just tell one himself. He has since finished the first draft of an original epic trilogy and is hard at work revising and editing while producing a series of short stories to come to a Kindle near you. Recently freed from University, he's hard at work finding that perfect job to tide him over until he joins the few, the proud, the published.
Nyki Blatchley is a British author and poet who graduated from Keele University in English and Greek and now lives just outside London. He has had about forty stories published, mostly fantasy or horror, in various magazines, webzines and anthologies, including Aoife’s Kiss, Golden Visions, Icarus and The Thirteenth Fontana Book of Great Horror Stories. His novel At An Uncertain Hour was published by StoneGarden in April 2009, and he’s had novellas out from Crystal Codices and Darwin’s Evolutions. He’s currently working on a fantasy trilogy called The Winter Legend.
Nyki is an administrator for the online fantasy writers’ group fantasy-writers.org and runs the live group East Herts Fantasy Writers. He has also had many poems published, and has performed poetry and music at various venues around London, including frequent appearances at the legendary coffeehouse Bunjies, which in the 60s featured artists such as Bob Dylan, Paul Simon and David Bowie.
Marc Aplin probably isn’t what you would consider your “conventional fantasy fan”. He has held British titles in Mixed Martial Arts having won fights by both submission and knockout inside a cage. The training for which was pretty brutal and led him to living in Thailand training six hours a day and sharing a room with fifteen other Thai men. Fighting on an almost monthly basis in Thailand and then bi-monthly basis when he returned to the UK, the abuse on his body tallied up. In 2010, he retired from the sport with a number of minor injuries consistently plaguing him and some well earned cauliflower ears. Today, his body clock is still locked to force him into slumber at around 10pm and waking him up at 4am, but instead of running along the cold streets he now spends the early hours in quiet reading of non-existent worlds…it’s far less tiring anyway. Without the need to train five to six hours a day, Marc devours about a book each week. A wanting to share and discuss his newfound passion, led him to create Fantasy-Faction in late 2010.
Paolo Gabriel V. Chikiamco runs Rocket Kapre Books, a publishing imprint dedicated to publishing and promoting speculative fiction (prose and comics) by Filipino authors, which can be found (along with USOK, his online Philippine SF webzine) at www.rocketkapre.com. His fiction has placed in the Philippines' prestigious Palanca Awards, and has been published in venues such as Philippine Genre Stories (http://philippinegenrestories.com), the annual Philippine Speculative Fiction anthology, and The Best of Philippine Speculative Fiction 2009 (http://bestphilippinesf.com/best-of-2009/). He is a slush reader for Fantasy Magazine (http://www.fantasy-magazine.com/), and serves on the legislative staff of a member of Congress, two jobs that have more in common than he'd care to admit. You can find him on Twitter as @anitero.
One day, Paul Wiseall intends on growing up and getting a real job as a superhero or a dinosaur but for the moment, he is quite happy with this writing malarkey as it is far too much fun. He does have a degree in History but please don’t judge him too harshly as he really isn’t that boring. Honest. For those who are interested, he is a film buff, a chronic comic collector and inhales anything written by Neil Gaiman, China Mieville and Terry Pratchett. Paul tends to live in his head more than anywhere else but his tangible self can often be found frequenting coffee shops or living behind a laptop somewhere in Italy.
Phil Norris is a life-long fan of fantasy, science fiction and horror. His early reading years were dominated by the adventures of Conan, 2000AD and Marvel superheroes. From Conan he migrated to Middle Earth and then to the legends of Shannara. Now he reads anything he can lay his hands on, his tastes varying from George RR Martin, Joe Aberceombie and Scott Lynch to Chuck Wendig, Adam Christopher and Bernard Cornwell. Phil is also a budding author, he’s had a short story published and has another two due to be published in 2013. He’s currently writing his first full novel, 300 words a day and counting. Phil has a blog where you can find his ramblings about life, the universe and writing and he can be found on Twitter @pnorris14.
Faith M. Boughan is a bibliophile, logophile, and unabashed caffeine addict. She grew up on Xanth novels, Gauntlet (on the Tandy1000, no less), and Star Trek: TNG (sustenance indeed!). Faith has put her Near Eastern Archaeology & Classical Studies degree to good use by ignoring it entirely and writing fiction instead. She has had several short stories published, and currently edits flash fiction for the online spec-fic ‘zine Abyss & Apex.
When she’s not reading, writing, or playing video games, Faith teaches & performs Middle Eastern bellydance and Bollywood dance. She also posts about writing & books on her blog, Literary Coldcuts on Toasty Buns (http://www.boughanfire.com). You can also find her on Twitter (http://www.twitter.com/FaithBoughan), where she’s probably procrastinating, so feel free to yell at her to get back to work.
Jared Shurin is a proud part of The Kitschies, presented by The Kraken Rum. He’s half the editorial team at Pornokitsch and Pandemonium Fiction and spends an awful lot of his time lurking around the forums.
R. T. Kaelin is a loving husband, father of two, and a lifelong resident of Ohio. While writing for a local gaming group, some suggested he try his hand at something a bit more ambitious. Committing to the undertaking, he wrote, Progeny, the first volume in The Children of the White Lions series. The book has garnered critical acclaim and reached #34 bestselling at Amazon for Epic Fantasy. He has also published the Terrene Chronicles, a series of twelve short prequel stories and is currently editing book two in the series, due out in the fall of 2012.
Rachel has lived in the same house in Ohio the entirety of her young life, but has traveled through the pages of books to many fantastical lands in this world and the next. She sees little point reading about things that she could easily go and experience on her own, so instead she devours fantasy, science-fiction and all of the various subgenres therein, choosing to pen her own tales in these genres as well. A few of her favorite things are: fall weather, a fresh journal and a smooth-writing pen, the cold side of a pillow, potatoes (any form), B movies, and playing nerdy tabletop games. One day she hopes to break into the YA Fantasy scene, but right now she’s concentrating on finishing her Master’s degree, getting a teaching job, planning her wedding, and finishing her second novel. Find her on Twitter @rmriegel.
Robbie Cameron is a freelance author and writer. He began studying for a PhD in English Literature, but has not yet finished. When he's not writing, reading, or writing about reading, he spends his time playing the Cello, discovering interesting new board games, looking at the stars, or surfing if he's anywhere near an ocean. He is on twitter @thecameronin where he largely indulges in marginally acceptable Haiku.
Ryan Howse has been a fan of fantasy, a voracious reader and a writer for as long as he can remember. He has a degree in English Literature. He spent several years abroad teaching English as a Second Language in South Korea. He has written articles, short stories, RPG fiction, and one novel so far. He enjoys Star Trek, tabletop roleplaying games, travel, and cooking. He currently lives in Saskatchewan, Canada, with his wife and two cats. You can find him on twitter at @RyanHowse.
Sandra Norval is an aspiring novelist. She started writing as a child and her stories and outlandish ideas have often resulted in her being described as ‘odd’. She likes that.
It’s only recently that Sandra has started thinking about actually getting her work published and is getting interest from a wide variety of readers. Yes, it’s true that one of those is her mum but that is the one whose honesty is sometimes brutal. Go figure.
A serial volunteer Sandra has a full time job (now an Environmental Manager, previously an Accountant) and has volunteered with kids teaching water sports, worked with bats, badgers and other wildlife and is currently heavily involved with organising the Verulam Writers’ Circle’s Get Writing events. Through this more recent work, she has had the joy of discussing the publishing world with the likes of Toby Frost and John Jarrold amongst a growing list and has learnt all about what she wasn’t doing right or could do better. This is what she wants to share with you.
Currently working on her first novel ‘Libertine’, she has several other books on the back burner. Find her at www.sandranorval.co.uk, @sandranorval and @enterthetwixt on twitter. Drop by, say Hi!
Marius du Plessis is a lecturer in the small, but potent, academic field of Publishing Studies. He likes going on walks and presenting his life as a personals ad. After graduating, he gathered his wit and started a small indie press with his dearest of friends, Shaina (@Shaina_Jade). Marius is a self-admitted Tolkienist and tattoo lover – “my body is a canvas, and I’ll fill it with words.” He can often be heard rationalizing the quotes and poems inked onto his body. He sometimes has cool things to say, and hopefully this is where you’ll read them. Check Marius out on twitter (@shanothaine), and have a look at his blog (http://thegeishahouse.com) which is (at least according to Marius) a blog about tales of outrageousness and reviews of stark brevity. Marius lives in a little house with a turquoise wall, with his partner Addy and their two dogs. Because he’s domestic like that.
Spencer read The Lord of the Rings in grade five and has been chasing the dragon ever since. Today, he reads science fiction as much as he does fantasy and aspires to be a novelist. He happily curses while reading great prose and is wont to wax poetic on Noam Chomsky. Three years of writing in the gaming industry somewhat jaded him, but his enthusiasm returned after leaving for greener pastures. He idolizes Bruce Lee, is awed by Patrick Rothfuss, and might secretly share Hayao Miyazaki’s desire to see human civilization fail. You can message him on Fantasy-Faction or tweet him @spencerwightman.
Steff is a nomadic Fantasy junkie who wanders around London searching for new books to eat. After obtaining a largely useless degree in Television Production she spent time as a pirate assassin, a freelance unicorn, a bookseller and a Rodent of Unusual Size. That all got boring so she packed it in for the high-flying, jet-setting lifestyle of events coordination and book reviewing until she finds the divine inspiration to write her fantasy masterpiece. She traded her sense of smell for a lifetime’s supply of bobble hats and pyjamas. You can find more of her ramblings here: http://steffreviewsbooks.blogspot.co.uk/
Tegan Beechey is an epic fantasy and horror author by night and a political scientist by day. This odd mix of careers stems from a strange combination of creative and analytical personality traits, which may in fact be categorized as a mental condition. In spite of the confused looks from her academic peers and the outright laughter from her fellow fantasy lovers, Ms. Beechey has decided to take up completing her first novel while completing her PhD program (as previously stated: mental condition.) This novel, Firedust, combines her passion for government and politics with her love of high fantasy, creating a work that some have called stunning (and others bewildering.) Her other hobbies include digital painting, cooking, hiking, health policy development, animal rescue, and seeking out the six fingered man so she can watch him try to sign an autograph. She lives in Ohio with her cat, Molly, and the hulking specter of her PhD dissertation. That might sound bad, but for an intangible entity, he does a bang-up job cleaning the place. To follow her hilarious journey, please visit www.FiredustNovel.com.
Thomas A. Knight is a fantasy author, software developer and avid role-player from Southwestern Ontario. He was born and raised in a small town that's now grown into a much bigger place. Despite that, he still lives there with his wife and two children.
He's spent over twenty years of his life playing fantasy games, reading fantasy books, and generally immersing himself in other worlds. It's from this life experience that he draws his inspiration for his writings. Thomas still attends a regular weekly Dungeons & Dragons game on top of everything else going on in his life.
His debut novel, The Time Weaver, is currently available at most online book and eBook retailers, including Amazon.com and KoboBooks.com. It's a fast-paced story about an ordinary guy who discovers an extraordinary ability to control time. When he's kidnapped and taken to an alternate universe, he becomes the key to averting a war that could shatter an entire world.Find him at Facebook.Follow him on Twitter.
Tiffany "Kysis" Tackett rebelled her way through a traditional university Creative Writing program and was reluctantly awarded a Bachelor's Degree after five long years. She volunteers with OLL as a ML for NaNoWriMo and Script Frenzy both, is a Board Member of Southwest Writers, tutors English, and is working on a plethora of book projects, one she feels is on the verge of traditional publication. She runs a blog on writing and the quest towards publication at http://aspiring-forandby.blogspot.com/ and is constantly tweeting about various writing projects and food at http://www.twitter.com/#!/RelentlessMuse.
Victoria Hooper is a writer and editor living in Nottingham, UK. She's a huge fan of all things fantasy, science-fiction, speculative, paranormal, magical, weird, mythical, and alternate history, as well as anything Ancient Greek or Roman. She's the Editor of Polluto, a speculative fiction short-story and poetry magazine. She loves video games and cheesy movies, and can easily be bribed with chocolate brownies. Find her on Twitter @VickyThinks, or on her blog: http://vickyhooper.blogspot.co.uk
My name is Walt White and I am an avid Fantasy reader. Throughout my childhood, I was drawn to Horror and Thrillers. It wasn’t until my adult life, 2007 to be precise, that I read my first Fantasy novel. I was blown away at how much enjoyment I got out of that novel and have been reading the genre since. While reading, I can be found with a cigar clinched between my teeth. I am a passionate cigar smoker and co-founder of Stogie Review, one of the best cigar review websites on the web.
In addition to reading and cigars, I also enjoy firearms, photography, and most of all, playing with my beautiful baby girl. More about these pastimes, and other random topics, can be found on my personal blog, Walt In PA.
When Christian Abresch was fifteen, he stayed home to write a fantasy book instead of going with his parents and brother on vacation. More fantasy novels, poems and short stories followed in the years to come and since each was less crappy than the one before he hopes to get published someday. To keep his fingers on the pulse of fantasy, he loves browsing Fantasy-Faction with its articles, reviews and forums even though it caused an unnatural growing of his TBR, which worries him. Christian lives with his girlfriend and an imaginary cat in Berlin. Follow him on twitter: @xiaiswriting.
Zack is a freelance writer and lawyer that has spent the better part of this young 21st Century charging people for his thoughts in six minute increments. An avid reader of fantasy (epic and otherwise), Zack splits his time between worlds fictional and less so in near-equal measure. He hopes to one day write novels of dubious substance and live out his days as a man of leisure. Zack lives in Detroit with his sainted wife and two disgustingly intelligent children whom he suspects are trying to murder him in increments. He loves them all anyway, but sleeps with one eye open. An avid sports fan, Zack is an occasional contributor to BoomRoast.com and regularly waxes poetic on baseball, hockey and the glory of Tottenham Hotspur FC on Twitter.
