Ellen Datlow has been editing science fiction, fantasy, and horror short fiction for forty years as fiction editor of OMNI Magazine and editor of Event Horizon and SCIFICTION. She currently acquires short stories and novellas for Tor.com. In addition, she has edited about one hundred science fiction, fantasy, and horror anthologies, including the annual The Best Horror of the Year series, The Doll Collection, Mad Hatters and March Hares, The Devil and the Deep: Horror Stories of the Sea, Echoes: The Saga Anthology of Ghost Stories, Edited By, and Final Cuts: New Tales of Hollywood Horror and Other Spectacles. She's won multiple World Fantasy Awards, Locus Awards, Hugo Awards, Bram Stoker Awards, International Horror Guild Awards, Shirley Jackson Awards, and the 2012 Il Posto Nero Black Spot Award for Excellence as Best Foreign Editor. Datlow was named recipient of the 2007 Karl Edward Wagner Award, given at the British Fantasy Convention for "outstanding contribution to the genre," was honored with the Life Achievement Award by the Horror Writers Association, in acknowledgment of superior achievement over an entire career, and honored with the World Fantasy Life Achievement Award at the 2014 World Fantasy Convention.

Bentley Little is an American author of numerous horror novels. He was discovered by Dean Koontz. Little was born one month after his mother attended the world premiere of Psycho. He published his first novel, The Revelation, with St. Martin's Press in 1990. After reading it, Stephen King became a vocal fan of Little's work, and Little won the Bram Stoker Award for "Best First Novel" in 1990. He moved to New American Library for his next two novels, but was dropped from the company after he refused to write a police procedural as his next novel. He eventually returned to New American Library, with whom he continues to publish his novels. Little has stated on several occasions that he considers himself a horror novelist, and that he writes in the horror genre, not the "suspense" or "dark fantasy" genres. He is an unabashed supporter of horror fiction and has been described as a disciple of Stephen King.

Dallas William Mayr, better known by his pen name Jack Ketchum, was an American horror fiction author. He was the recipient of four Bram Stoker Awards and three further nominations. His novels included Off Season, Offspring, and Red, which were adapted to film. In 2011, Ketchum received the World Horror Convention Grand Master Award for outstanding contribution to the horror genre. A onetime actor, teacher, literary agent, lumber salesman, and soda jerk, Ketchum credited his childhood love of Elvis Presley, dinosaurs, and horror for getting him through his formative years. He began making up stories at a young age and explained that he spent much time in his room, or in the woods near his house, down by the brook: "[m]y interests [were] books, comics, movies, rock 'n roll, show tunes, TV, dinosaurs [...] pretty much any activity that didn't demand too much socializing, or where I could easily walk away from socializing." He would make up stories using his plastic soldiers, knights, and dinosaurs as the characters. Later, in his teen years, Ketchum was befriended by Robert Bloch, author of Psycho, who became his mentor. Ketchum worked many different jobs before completing his first novel (1980's controversial Off Season), including acting as agent for novelist Henry Miller at Scott Meredith Literary Agency. His decision to eventually concentrate on novel writing was partly fueled by a preference for work that offered stability and longevity. Ketchum died of cancer on January 24, 2018, in New York City at the age of 71.

Called a “writing machine” by the New York Times and a “master storyteller” by the Midwest Book Review, Sophie Littlefield has written dozens of novels for adults and teens. She has won Anthony and RT Book Awards and been shortlisted for Edgar, Barry, Crimespree, Macavity, and Goodreads Choice Awards. Sophie also writes under the pen name Sofia Grant.

Hi! I'm Steve Vernon and I'd love to scare you. Along the way I'll entertain you. I guarantee a giggle as well. If I listed all of the books I've written I'd bore you - and I am allergic to boring. Instead, let me recommend one single book of mine. Pick up SUDDEN DEATH OVERTIME for an example of true Steve Vernon storytelling. It's hockey and vampires for folks who love hockey and vampires - and for folks who don't! For more up-to-date info please follow my blog at: http://stevevernonstoryteller.wordpre... And follow me at Twitter: @StephenVernon yours in storytelling, Steve Vernon

Peter Straub was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the son of Gordon Anthony Straub and Elvena (Nilsestuen) Straub. Straub read voraciously from an early age, but his literary interests did not please his parents; his father hoped that he would grow up to be a professional athlete, while his mother wanted him to be a Lutheran minister. He attended Milwaukee Country Day School on a scholarship, and, during his time there, began writing. Straub earned an honors BA in English at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1965, and an MA at Columbia University a year later. He briefly taught English at Milwaukee Country Day, then moved to Dublin, Ireland, in 1969 to work on a PhD, and to start writing professionally After mixed success with two attempts at literary mainstream novels in the mid-1970s ("Marriages" and "Under Venus"), Straub dabbled in the supernatural for the first time with "Julia" (1975). He then wrote "If You Could See Me Now" (1977), and came to widespread public attention with his fifth novel, "Ghost Story" (1979), which was a critical success and was later adapted into a 1981 film. Several horror novels followed, with growing success, including "The Talisman" and "Black House", two fantasy-horror collaborations with Straub's long-time friend and fellow author Stephen King. In addition to his many novels, he published several works of poetry during his lifetime. In 1966, Straub married Susan Bitker.They had two children; their daughter, Emma Straub, is also a novelist. The family lived in Dublin from 1969 to 1972, in London from 1972 to 1979, and in the New York City area from 1979 onwards. Straub died on September 4, 2022, aged 79, from complications of a broken hip. At the time of his death, he and his wife lived in Brooklyn (New York City).

Eric Red is a Los Angeles based novelist, screenwriter, and film director. His novels, an edgy Y/A book called DON’T STAND SO CLOSE and a dark fantasy called THE GUNS OF SANTA SANGRE and its sequel THE WOLVES OF EL DIABLO are published in hardcover, trade paperback and digital editions by SST Publications. Two other novels, a science fiction thriller called IT WAITS BELOW, and a mystery crime thriller called WHITE KNUCKLE are published by Samhain Publishing. The first two of his Joe Noose Western novels, NOOSE and HANGING FIRE, are published in Mass Market Paperback and digital editions by Kensington Books and Pinnacle Books. The next two Joe Noose Westerns, BRANDED and THE CRIMSON TRAIL, will be published in 2021. Mr. Red directed and wrote the films COHEN AND TATE for Hemdale, BODY PARTS for Paramount, UNDERTOW for Showtime, BAD MOON for Warner Bros. and 100 FEET for Grand Illusions Entertainment. His original screenplays include THE HITCHER for Tri Star, NEAR DARK for DeLaurentiis Entertainment Group, BLUE STEEL for MGM and THE LAST OUTLAW for HBO. His published horror and suspense short stories have been in Cemetery Dance magazine, Weird Tales magazine, Shroud magazine, Dark Delicacies III: Haunted anthology, Dark Discoveries magazine, Mulholland Books' Popcorn Fiction, among others. He created and wrote the sci-fi/horror comic series and graphic novel CONTAINMENT from SST Publications and the horror western comic series WILD WORK for Antarctic Press. Visit his website at www.ericred.com.

Mystery Writers of America Awards "Grand Master" 2008 Shamus Awards Best Novel winner (1999) for Boobytrap Edgar Awards Best Novel nominee (1998) for A Wasteland of Strangers Shamus Awards Best Novel nominee (1997) for Sentinels Shamus Awards "The Eye" (Lifetime achievment award) 1987 Shamus Awards Best Novel winner (1982) for Hoodwink Married to author Marcia Muller. Pseudonyms: Robert Hart Davis (collaboration with Jeffrey M. Wallmann) Jack Foxx William Jeffrey (collaboration with Jeffrey M. Wallmann) Alex Saxon

Born, 20th April, 1958, Simon Clark is the author of such highly regarded horror novels as Nailed By The Heart, Blood Crazy, Darker, Vampyrrhic and The Fall, while his short stories have been collected in Blood & Grit and Salt Snake & Other Bloody Cuts. He has also written prose material for the internationally famous rock band U2. Raised in a family of storytellers – family legend told of a stolen human skull buried beneath the Clark garage – he sold his first ghost story to a radio station in his teens. Before becoming a full-time writer he held a variety of day jobs, that have involved strawberry picking, supermarket shelf stacking, office work, and scripting video promos. He lives with his wife and two children in mystical territory that lies on the border of Robin Hood country in England.

Michael Koryta (pronounced Ko-ree-ta) is the New York Times-bestselling author of 14 suspense novels. His work has been praised by Stephen King, Michael Connelly, Lee Child, Dean Koontz, James Patterson, Dennis Lehane, Daniel Woodrell, Ron Rash, and Scott Smith among many others, and has been translated into more than 20 languages. His books have won or been nominated for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, Edgar® Award, Shamus Award, Barry Award, Quill Award, International Thriller Writers Award, and the Golden Dagger. They've been selected as "best books of the year" by publications as diverse as the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Amazon.com, O the Oprah Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, People, Reader's Digest, iBooks, and Kirkus Reviews. His recent thriller Those Who Wish Me Dead was named the summer's best thriller by both Amazon and Entertainment Weekly, and was selected as one of the year's best books by more than 10 publications. The audio version was named one of the best audio books of the year, as well, the second time that Robert Petkoff's narration of Michael's work has earned such an honor. The novel is currently being adapted as a major motion picture by 20th Century Fox. Michael's previous work ranges from a trio of supernatural novels—So Cold the River, The Cypress House, and The Ridge, which were all named New York Times notable books of the year and earned starred reviews from Publishers Weekly—to stand-alone crime novels such as The Prophet (A New York Times bestseller) and Envy the Night (selected as a Reader's Digest condensed book), to a series of award-winning novels featuring private investigator Lincoln Perry—Tonight I Said Goodbye, Sorrow's Anthem, A Welcome Grave, and The Silent Hour. Various film and television adaptations of the books are underway, with The Prophet, So Cold the River, The Cypress House, and Those Who Wish Me Dead all optioned as feature films, and the Lincoln Perry series and The Ridge being developed for television. Michael has written for the screen in both feature film and television. Oscar and Emmy winners are attached to every project. Before turning to writing full-time, Michael worked as a private investigator and as a newspaper reporter, and taught at the Indiana University School of Journalism. He began working for a private investigator as an intern while in high school, turned it into his day job in the early stages of his writing career, and still maintains an interest in the firm. As a journalist, he won numerous awards from the Society of Professional Journalists. Michael's first novel, the Edgar-nominated Tonight I Said Goodbye was accepted for publication when he was 20 years old. He wrote his first two published novels before graduating from college, and was published in nearly 10 languages before he fulfilled the "writing requirement" classes required for his diploma. Michael was raised in Bloomington, Indiana, where he graduated from Bloomington North High School in 2001, and later graduated from Indiana University with a bachelor's degree in criminal justice. In 2008 he was honored as a "distinguished young alumni" by Indiana University, and in 2010 he was named "distinguished alumni' by the criminal justice department. Michael's passions outside of writing and reading involve a variety of outdoor pursuits - hiking, camping, boating, and fishing are all likely to occupy his free time when he's not working on a new book. Some of his favorite spots in the world are the Beartooth Mountains, the setting of Those Who Wish Me Dead and a place to which he returns at least twice a year; the flowages of the Northwoods in Wisconsin, where he began fishing with his father as a child and still returns each fall; St. Petersburg, FL, and the Maine coast.

Joel Lane was a British novelist, short story writer, poet, critic and anthology editor. He received the World Fantasy Award in 2013 and the British Fantasy Award twice. Born in Exeter, he was the nephew of tenor saxophonist Ronnie Scott. At the time of his death, Lane was living in south Birmingham, where he worked in health industry-related publishing. His location frequently provided settings for his fiction.

Graham Masterton was born in Edinburgh in 1946. His grandfather was Thomas Thorne Baker, the eminent scientist who invented DayGlo and was the first man to transmit news photographs by wireless. After training as a newspaper reporter, Graham went on to edit the new British men's magazine Mayfair, where he encouraged William Burroughs to develop a series of scientific and philosophical articles which eventually became Burroughs' novel The Wild Boys. At the age of 24, Graham was appointed executive editor of both Penthouse and Penthouse Forum magazines. At this time he started to write a bestselling series of sex 'how-to' books including How To Drive Your Man Wild In Bed which has sold over 3 million copies worldwide. His latest, Wild Sex For New Lovers is published by Penguin Putnam in January, 2001. He is a regular contributor to Cosmopolitan, Men's Health, Woman, Woman's Own and other mass-market self-improvement magazines. Graham Masterton's debut as a horror author began with The Manitou in 1976, a chilling tale of a Native American medicine man reborn in the present day to exact his revenge on the white man. It became an instant bestseller and was filmed with Tony Curtis, Susan Strasberg, Burgess Meredith, Michael Ansara, Stella Stevens and Ann Sothern. Altogether Graham has written more than a hundred novels ranging from thrillers (The Sweetman Curve, Ikon) to disaster novels (Plague, Famine) to historical sagas (Rich and Maiden Voyage - both appeared in the New York Times bestseller list). He has published four collections of short stories, Fortnight of Fear, Flights of Fear, Faces of Fear and Feelings of Fear. He has also written horror novels for children (House of Bones, Hair-Raiser) and has just finished the fifth volume in a very popular series for young adults, Rook, based on the adventures of an idiosyncratic remedial English teacher in a Los Angeles community college who has the facility to see ghosts. Since then Graham has published more than 35 horror novels, including Charnel House, which was awarded a Special Edgar by Mystery Writers of America; Mirror, which was awarded a Silver Medal by West Coast Review of Books; and Family Portrait, an update of Oscar Wilde's tale, The Picture of Dorian Gray, which was the only non-French winner of the prestigious Prix Julia Verlanger in France. He and his wife Wiescka live in a Gothic Victorian mansion high above the River Lee in Cork, Ireland.

Al Sarrantonio (born May 25, 1952, in New York City) is an American horror and science fiction author who has published, over the past thirty years, more than forty books and sixty short stories. He has also edited numerous anthologies and has been called “a master anthologist” by Booklist. Wikipedia entry: Al Sarrantonio

Journeyman. Croupier. Editor for "The Rag." Dan grew up in relatively uninteresting times: The Cold War was over and by the time he was in high school it was cool to think Nirvana sucked, yet he still came of age pre-9/11. His values: amorphous, not bound by history. He came of age in a space of time that escapes history. The big deal was the president got a blowjob from some chick, the stock market went wild over some fake businesses, a dollar bought you a gallon of gasoline and the world did not end when the calendar flipped to 2000. He was born to a single mother, nursed from mores and values shaped by AIDS, Madonna and Reaganomics. Dan is necessarily confused, lost, apart from the culture he lives in. He finished his first novel in his early-twenties, which turned out to be an utter disaster. From the ashes and humility of his mistakes he ultimately learned an important skill; how to empathize with a reader. He now uses this experience to select and publish other people's work, and as it turns out, living vicariously through the success of far more talented people is a close second, in his mind, to the glory of being published himself. Dan has no formal literary background, though he's been writing fiction since he was 18. His background is in neuroscience, which he gave up in 2008 when all the world's money magically disappeared and he decided to play poker for a living. Today he lives in New York City where he continues to write fiction and play cards. "The Rag" is his second full-time job.

AKA A.J. Matthews Rick Hautala has more than thirty published books to his credit, including the million copy, international best-seller Nightstone, as well as Twilight Time, Little Brothers, Cold Whisper, Impulse, and The Wildman. He has also published four novels—The White Room, Looking Glass, Unbroken, and Follow—using the pseudonym A. J. Matthews. His more than sixty published short stories have appeared in national and international anthologies and magazines. His short story collection Bedbugs was selected as one of the best horror books of the year in 2003. A novella titled Reunion was published by PS Publications in December, 2009; and Occasional Demons, a short story collection, is due in 2010 from CD Publications. He wrote the screenplays for several short films, including the multiple award-winning The Ugly Film, based on the short story by Ed Gorman, as well as Peekers, based on a short story by Kealan Patrick Burke, and Dead @ 17, based on the graphic novel by Josh Howard. A graduate of the University of Maine in Orono with a Master of Art in English Literature (Renaissance and Medieval Literature), Hautala lives in southern Maine with author Holly Newstein. His three sons have all grown up and (mostly) moved out of the house. He served terms as Vice President and Trustee for the Horror Writers Association. Sadly, Rick died on March 21, 2013.

Stewart O'Nan is the author of eighteen novels, including Emily, Alone; Last Night at the Lobster; A Prayer for the Dying; Snow Angels; and the forthcoming Ocean State, due out from Grove/Atlantic on March 8th, 2022. With Stephen King, I’ve also co-written Faithful, a nonfiction account of the 2004 Boston Red Sox, and the e-story “A Face in the Crowd.” You can catch me at stewart-onan.com, on Twitter @stewartonan and on Facebook @stewartONanAuthor

Brian Hodge, called “a writer of spectacularly unflinching gifts” by Peter Straub, is the award-winning author of ten novels of horror and crime/noir. He’s also written well over 100 short stories, novelettes, and novellas, and four full-length collections. His first collection, The Convulsion Factory, was ranked by critic Stanley Wiater as among the 113 best books of modern horror. He lives in Colorado, where he also dabbles in music and photography; loves everything about organic gardening except the thieving squirrels; and trains in Krav Maga, grappling, and kickboxing, which are of no use at all against the squirrels.

JG Faherty is a Bram Stoker Award® and ITW Thriller Award nominee and the author of six novels, nine novellas, and more than 50 short stories. He writes adult and YA horror/sci-fi/fantasy, and his works range from quiet, dark suspense to over-the-top comic gruesomeness. His novels and novellas, all of which are listed on Goodreads, include THE CURE, CARNIVAL OF FEAR, GHOSTS OF CORONADO BAY, CEMETERY CLUB, THE BURNING TIME, LEGACY, CASTLE BY THE SEA, FATAL CONSEQUENCES, THIEF OF SOULS, THE COLD SPOT, and HE WAITS. He enjoys urban exploring, photography, classic B-movies, good wine, and pumpkin beer. As a child, his favorite playground was a 17th-century cemetery, which many people feel explains a lot. His personal motto is "Photobombing people since 1979!" You can follow him at www.twitter.com/jgfaherty, www.facebook.com/jgfaherty, http://about.me/jgfaherty, and www.jgfaherty.com.

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. Edward Lee is an American novelist specializing in the field of horror, and has authored 40 books, more than half of which have been published by mass-market New York paperback companies such as Leisure/Dorchester, Berkley, and Zebra/Kensington. He is a Bram Stoker award nominee for his story "Mr. Torso," and his short stories have appeared in over a dozen mass-market anthologies, including THE BEST AMERICAN MYSTERY STORIES OF 2000, Pocket's HOT BLOOD series, and the award-wining 999. Several of his novels have sold translation rights to Germany, Greece, and Romania. He also publishes quite actively in the small-press/limited-edition hardcover market; many of his books in this category have become collector's items. While a number of Lee's projects have been optioned for film, only one has been made, HEADER, which was released on DVD to mixed reviews in June, 2009, by Synapse Films. Lee is particularly known for over-the-top occult concepts and an accelerated treatment of erotic and/or morbid sexual imagery and visceral violence. He was born on May 25, 1957 in Washington, D.C., and grew up in Bowie, Maryland. In the late-70s he served in the U.S. Army's 1st Armored Division, in Erlangen, West Germany, then, for a short time, was a municipal police officer in Cottage City, Maryland. Lee also attended the University of Maryland as an English major but quit in his last semester to pursue his dream of being a horror novelist. For over 15 years, he worked as the night manager for a security company in Annapolis, Maryland, while writing in his spare time. In 1997, however, he became a full-time writer, first spending several years in Seattle and then moving to St. Pete Beach, Florida, where he currently resides. Of note, the author cites as his strongest influence horror legend H. P. Lovecraft; in 2007, Lee embarked on what he calls his "Lovecraft kick" and wrote a spate of novels and novellas which tribute Lovecraft and his famous Cthulhu Mythos. Among these projects are THE INNSWICH HORROR, "Trolley No. 1852," HAUNTER OF THE THRESHOLD, GOING MONSTERING, "Pages Torn From A Travel Journal," and "You Are My Everything." Lee promises more Lovecraftian work on the horizon.

A former stand-up comedian and musician, Michael McCarty has been a professional writer since 1983. The author of over 40 books (fiction and nonfiction). He has also penned hundred of articles, short stories, poems, etc. He is a David R. Collins’ Literary Achievement Award winner from the Midwest Writing Center and a 5 times Bram Stoker Finalist. He lives in Rock Island, Illinois with his wife Cindy and pet rabbit Latte. He published his first book in 2003, GIANTS OF THE GENRE. He also the author of such books MODERN MYTHMAKERS, LIQUID DIET & MIDNIGHT SNACK, I KISSED A GHOUL, A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FIENDS, DARK DUETS, LOST GIRL OF THE LAKE (with Joe McKinney), DRACULA TRANSFORMED (with Mark McLaughlin), CONVERSATIONS WITH KRESKIN (with The Amazing Kreskin) MONSTER BEHIND THE WHEEL (with Mark McLaughlin), BLOODLESS and BLOODLUST and BLOODLINE (with Jody LaGreca) and many more. He can be found on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/michaelmccart... Blog: https://monstermikeyaauthor.wordpress...

Deborah Kalin is the award-winning author of the collection Cherry Crow Children and The Binding books. She lives in Melbourne, subject to the whims of a toddler who thinks she's a cat and a cat who thinks she's a person. Both of them whinge, mostly about sleep and food. (The toddler wants less of each, the cat more. Both want more outside time.) Kalin herself hasn't slept uninterrupted through the night since March 2012. A note on my Goodreads presence: I am absurdly inconsistent with my use of shelves and ratings, or indeed with my use of this site altogether. Every couple of years I am filled with a resolve to use the site to document all the books I've read, all the books I've tried to read, all the books I've loved, all the books I want to read, or some combination of everything. And I come up with a new shelving or rating system, apply it for a couple of books ... and then forget it. So take what you find here as nothing more than a very incomplete and oftentimes incoherent glimpse into my reading tastes and list-making tendencies.

Ken Eulo is a Eugene O'Neill Award-winning writer and bestselling author whose novels have collectively sold over 13 million copies worldwide. Eulo's began his career in New York City, in the 1970s, as a playwright. In the 1980s, he received national recognition with his first horror book series The Brownstone Trilogy. Since its publication in October 1980, the series has developed a cult following. His success was followed by the novels Nocturnal, The Ghost of Veronica Gray, Manhattan Heat, Claw and The House of Caine. During the same decade Eulo moved to Los Angeles where he worked as a writer for television shows, including Small Wonder, Marblehead Manor, and Benson. Eulo relocated to Orlando, Florida in the 1990s where he founded and currently serves as the artistic director for the New York Acting Ensemble. The repertory company consists of writers, directors, and actors. They regularly produce touring shows and host regular performances in the Orlando area. Several notable company members have included writer Daniel Corey and actor Creagen Dow.

I wanted to be a writer from a very young age, and wrote my first proper short story at 14. I also wrote a novel that year, called “Skin Deep”‘, which I really need to type up. I started sending stories out when I was about 23, and sold my first one, “White Bed”", in 1993. Since then I’ve sold about 70 short stories, two short story collections and three novels. I’m an avid and broad reader but I also like reality TV so don’t always expect intelligent conversation from me.

Richard Chizmar is a New York Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Amazon, and Publishers Weekly bestselling author. He is the co-author (with Stephen King) of the bestselling novella, Gwendy’s Button Box and the founder/publisher of Cemetery Dance magazine and the Cemetery Dance Publications book imprint. He has edited more than 35 anthologies and his short fiction has appeared in dozens of publications, including multiple editions of Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine and The Year’s 25 Finest Crime and Mystery Stories. He has won two World Fantasy awards, four International Horror Guild awards, and the HWA’s Board of Trustee’s award. Chizmar (in collaboration with Johnathon Schaech) has also written screenplays and teleplays for United Artists, Sony Screen Gems, Lions Gate, Showtime, NBC, and many other companies. He has adapted the works of many bestselling authors including Stephen King, Peter Straub, and Bentley Little. Chizmar is also the creator/writer of the online website, Stephen King Revisited. His fourth short story collection, The Long Way Home, was published in 2019. With Brian Freeman, Chizmar is co-editor of the acclaimed Dark Screams horror anthology series published by Random House imprint, Hydra. His latest book, The Girl on the Porch, was released in hardcover by Subterranean Press, and Widow’s Point, a chilling novella about a haunted lighthouse written with his son, Billy Chizmar, was recently adapted into a feature film. Chizmar’s work has been translated into more than fifteen languages throughout the world, and he has appeared at numerous conferences as a writing instructor, guest speaker, panelist, and guest of honor.

TAYLOR GRANT is a two-time Bram Stoker Award Nominated Author, professional screenwriter, and award-winning filmmaker. His work has been seen on network television, the big screen, the stage, the web, newspapers, comic books, national magazines, anthologies, and heard on the radio. As an author, he has shared pages with Stephen King, Neil Gaiman, Clive Barker, Blake Crouch, Kelley Armstrong, Joe R. Lansdale, Peter Straub, Bentley Little, and many of the top writers in speculative fiction. He wrote and produced the hit comic adaptation "Rot & Ruin," based on the New York Times Bestselling series, which became the #1 horror comic for WEBTOON, the largest digital comics publisher in the world, with over 75 million active readers. His fiction has been published by Random House, Cemetery Dance, National Lampoon, Crystal Lake Publishing, WEBTOON, Moonstone Books, and many more.

Jeremy C. Shipp is the Bram Stoker and Shirley Jackson Award-nominated author of The Atrocities, Bedfellow, and Cursed. Their shorter tales have appeared in over 60 publications, including Cemetery Dance, Dark Moon Digest and Apex Magazine. Jeremy lives in Southern California in a moderately haunted Farmhouse. Their online home is jeremycshipp.com. “Jeremy C. Shipp’s boldness, daring, originality, and sheer smarts make them one of the most vital younger writers who have colonized horror literature in the past decade. Shipp’s modernist clarity, plus their willingness to risk damn near everything, put them up at the head of the pack with the very best.” ―Peter Straub “Shipp’s clear, insistent voice pulls you down into the rabbit hole and doesn’t let go.” ―Jack Ketchum “I’m convinced Jeremy Shipp is a little bit crazy, in the best possible way. This is one of those books that alters your brain in a way similar to Philip K. Dick.” —Jeff VanderMeer

Joe Konrath has written over a dozen novels in the Lt. Jacqueline "Jack" Daniels thriller series. They do not have to be read chronologically to be enjoyed, but the order is: Whiskey Sour, Bloody Mary, Rusty Nail, Dirty Martini, Fuzzy Navel, Cherry Bomb, Shaken, Stirred, Rum Runner, Last Call, White Russian, Shot Girl, and Chaser. More coming soon. If you love Jack Daniels and her cast of supporting characters, you should know about the Jack Daniels and Associates Mysteries, which include the titles Dead On My Feet, Dying Breath, Everybody Dies, Shot of Tequila, Serial Killers Uncut (with Blake Crouch), Jack Daniels Stories Vols 1-4, and Banana Hammock. Wow, that's a lot of Jack. If you like your thrillers on the dark side, check out the Konrath Dark Thriller Collective, which includes the books The List, Origin, Afraid, Trapped, Endurance, Haunted House, Webcam, Disturb, What Happened To Lori, The Nine, Close Your Eyes, and Second Coming. Joe also wrote the Stop A Murder mystery puzzle series, where you become the sleuth and solve brain teasers to try and catch a killer. He also wrote the sci-fi trilogy, Timecaster, Timecaster Supersymmetry, and Timecaster Steampunk. Even if you don't think you like sci-fi, give them a try. They feature Joe's well-known characters from his other series, and are insane. With Ann Voss Peterson he wrote the Codename: Chandler thrillers, including Flee, Spree, Three, Hit, Exposed, Naughty, Fix (with F. Paul Wilson), and Rescue. And, finally, he wrote erotica under the pen name Melinda DuChamp, also with Ann Voss Peterson. Joe writes a lot. You should probably read everything. You can visit Joe and sign up for his newsletter at www.JAKonrath.com/mailing-list.php

American writer best known for his novels The Wolfen,The Hunger and Warday and for Communion, a non-fiction description of his experiences with apparent alien contact. He has recently made significant advances in understanding this phenomenon, and has published his new discoveries in Solving the Communion Enigma. Strieber also co-authored The Coming Global Superstorm with Art Bell, which inspired the blockbuster film about sudden climate change, The Day After Tomorrow. His book The Afterlife Revolution written with his deceased wife Anne, is a record of what is considered to be one of the most powerful instances of afterlife communication ever recorded.

Ray Douglas Bradbury, American novelist, short story writer, essayist, playwright, screenwriter and poet, was born August 22, 1920 in Waukegan, Illinois. He graduated from a Los Angeles high school in 1938. Although his formal education ended there, he became a "student of life," selling newspapers on L.A. street corners from 1938 to 1942, spending his nights in the public library and his days at the typewriter. He became a full-time writer in 1943, and contributed numerous short stories to periodicals before publishing a collection of them, Dark Carnival, in 1947. His reputation as a writer of courage and vision was established with the publication of The Martian Chronicles in 1950, which describes the first attempts of Earth people to conquer and colonize Mars, and the unintended consequences. Next came The Illustrated Man and then, in 1953, Fahrenheit 451, which many consider to be Bradbury's masterpiece, a scathing indictment of censorship set in a future world where the written word is forbidden. In an attempt to salvage their history and culture, a group of rebels memorize entire works of literature and philosophy as their books are burned by the totalitarian state. Other works include The October Country, Dandelion Wine, A Medicine for Melancholy, Something Wicked This Way Comes, I Sing the Body Electric!, Quicker Than the Eye, and Driving Blind. In all, Bradbury has published more than thirty books, close to 600 short stories, and numerous poems, essays, and plays. His short stories have appeared in more than 1,000 school curriculum "recommended reading" anthologies. Ray Bradbury's work has been included in four Best American Short Story collections. He has been awarded the O. Henry Memorial Award, the Benjamin Franklin Award, the World Fantasy Award for Lifetime Achievement, the Grand Master Award from the Science Fiction Writers of America, the PEN Center USA West Lifetime Achievement Award, among others. In November 2000, the National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters was conferred upon Mr. Bradbury at the 2000 National Book Awards Ceremony in New York City. Ray Bradbury has never confined his vision to the purely literary. He has been nominated for an Academy Award (for his animated film Icarus Montgolfier Wright), and has won an Emmy Award (for his teleplay of The Halloween Tree). He adapted sixty-five of his stories for television's Ray Bradbury Theater. He was the creative consultant on the United States Pavilion at the 1964 New York World's Fair. In 1982 he created the interior metaphors for the Spaceship Earth display at Epcot Center, Disney World, and later contributed to the conception of the Orbitron space ride at Euro-Disney, France. Married since 1947, Mr. Bradbury and his wife Maggie lived in Los Angeles with their numerous cats. Together, they raised four daughters and had eight grandchildren. Sadly, Maggie passed away in November of 2003. On the occasion of his 80th birthday in August 2000, Bradbury said, "The great fun in my life has been getting up every morning and rushing to the typewriter because some new idea has hit me. The feeling I have every day is very much the same as it was when I was twelve. In any event, here I am, eighty years old, feeling no different, full of a great sense of joy, and glad for the long life that has been allowed me. I have good plans for the next ten or twenty years, and I hope you'll come along."