My name is Zoey Xolton, and I’m an Australian Speculative Fiction Author. I like to daydream, and write stories about the beautiful and improbable, the dark and fantastical, as well as the adventurous and utterly romantic! Whether it’s fairy tales, fantasy, horror, paranormal romance, urban fantasy, or science-fiction…I dabble in it. I have featured in over 100 anthologies to date, and am currently working on progressively longer stories. I pray you enjoy, and fall in love with the deliciously tempting tales, and the characters that I bring into the world. My writing is my guilty pleasure…perhaps reading it will become one of yours? To find out more, please visit: www.zoeyxolton.com!

Barbara Smith was born and raised in Toronto and lived most of her life in Edmonton. She settled in the Victoria area in 2006 with her husband, Bob. They have two daughters and two grandsons. Barbara has always collected folklore stories. Following her job on the Edmonton school board, she has been a full-time writer since 1988. Her work is inspired by a love of mystery, combined with her lifelong interest in social history. She has published over thirty books, the majority regional true ghost stories. They include: Ghost Stories Of Manitoba, Campfire Stories Of Western Canada, Ghost Stories Of Alberta, Ghost Stories And Mysterious Creatures Of British Columbia, Ghost Stories Of The Rocky Mountains, and Canadian Ghost Stories. Barbara was featured on the Discovery Channel's "Hunt For the Mad Trapper". She continues to publish, give readings, and interviews. Canadian Ghost Stories came out in November 2018. http://www.superstitioustimes.com/can...

Its coming!!! Finally the book you've all been asking for - Missals from the Dark - sequel to Letters from the Light. Available October 1st. We pick up the story three years later. The climate is failing, Kohl is missing, Spectra and Governor Pallas are down in Melbourne bringing back true night, and a dragon riding numan is trying to kill Aggy. If only the rebels had more Letters from the Light to guide them. Perhaps help is closer than they think. If you love your scifi a bit on the fantasy side, with strong women, diverse characters and a liberal dose of social discussion then this is the book for you. Pre-order now on Amazon. By the way if you are wondering about me... My novels are mostly set in the sci-fantasy genre, but I only use science as the backdrop against which characters struggle with the contemporary issues of class, gender and power. Actually it’s all a little bit dystopian. I am a passionate believer that all our small lives are connected, valuable and critical to the collective journey. So thank you for connecting with me and reading my work.

Cage writes Aussie horror/speculative fiction. A dreamer, a schemer, an imaginer. Some would say Fibber, Fabricator, Teller of Tall Tales. Yep – Storyteller. Born in the mid-northwest wheat-belt of Western Australia; lived all over Australia, worked at everything from sewage collection to computer programming; graduated with a BA Comm (Prof. Writing) and Grad Dip Computing. You’ll find Cage in Adelaide, South Australia, behind the sunny window where the ideas flow in with the sun, where the birds argue about territory, and where dogs and people wander at will.

Nikky Lee is an award-winning author who grew up as a barefoot 90s kid in Perth, Western Australia on Whadjuk Noongar Country. She now lives in Aotearoa New Zealand with a husband, a dog and a couch potato cat. In her free time she writes speculative fiction, often burning the candle at both ends to explore fantastic worlds, mine asteroids and meet wizards. She's had over two dozen stories published in magazines, anthologies and on radio. Her short fiction has been shortlisted six times in the Aurealis Awards with her novelette Dingo & Sister winning the Best Young Adult Short Story and the Best Fantasy Novella categories in 2020. In 2021, she received a Ditmar Award for Best New Talent. Her debut novel The Rarkyn's Familiar won the 2023 Sir Julius Vogel Award for Best Youth Novel, three 2022 Indie Ink Awards, Bronze in Young Adult Fiction at the 2022 Foreward INDIES Book of the Year Awards, and was a finalist in the 2022 Aurealis Awards for Best Young Adult Novel.

Hi, I'm Fallacious Rose. I also write under the pen name F.L.Rose. I live on the gorgeous east coast of Australia with my spoilt kelpie, Darcy, and a possum called Edith. I write in a wide range of genres, including some you've never heard of (culinary philosophy, anyone?). I divide my time between writing (of course) and painting truly terrible portraits of my friends. I don't have a lot of friends, come to think of it... To find out more visit www.fallaciousrose.com

M R Mortimer is a former high school teacher and an Anthropologist. He lives in NSW, Australia. M R Mortimer also has interest in music and the visual arts, as well as on video game programming and design. While he publishes SF as M.R. Mortimer, you can find his fantasy novels, the series "The Cinder Chronicles" on goodreads listed as written by Martin R Mortimer. Always having been a keen writer, he has supported and assisted others in that area for many years, but only began publishing in 2011, having not pursued such ambitions earlier as a result of a range of factors. M R Mortimer has been active with writers groups, and never been far away from the world of storytelling. His hope is to continue writing and publishing long into the future.

Shay Laurent has loved reading and writing since her youth. She lives with her husband and two young daughters in Australia. When she's not with her daughters playing peekaboo or reading their favourite books, she's dreaming up imaginary worlds and committing them to paper. Shay mostly writes tales of fantasy and she is publishing her debut Young Adult epic fantasy trilogy in 2020. She also loves to connect with readers and writers around the world. You will often find her on Twitter @slaurentauthor. To find out more about Shay, you can check out her website: www.shaylaurent.com

Stephen is an IT Geek, writer, actor and film maker based in Canberra Australia. He has been writing for over twenty years and has completed a couple of dodgy novels, sixteen feature length screenplays and dozens of short stories and scripts. Stephen’s scripts, TITAN, Dark are the Woods, Control and Death Spores have found success in the international screenwriting competitions with a win, two runner-up and two top ten finishes. His horror stories have featured in Sproutlings, Hells Bells, Below the Stairs, Trickster’s Treats #1 and #2, Shades of Santa, Behind the Mask, Beyond the Infinite, Beside the Seaside, The Body Horror Book, Anemone Enemy, Petrified Punks and Beginnings. His Sherlock Holmes stories have been published in Sherlock Holmes in the realms of H.G. Wells, Sherlock Holmes: Adventures beyond the Canon, The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes stories: Part XI and will soon be seen in Sherlock Holmes: Adventures in the realms of Steampunk, The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes stories: Part XIV & XVI. Later this year, Stephen will appear in A Tribute to H.G. Wells, and has had over twenty drabbles accepted for the Curses and Cauldrons, Blood and Bitemarks, Worlds, Angels and Monsters anthologies.

By day, a manager at a well-known bookstore chain in Melbourne, Australia, moonlighting as a ghoulish horror author by night. Marcus lives to share his passion for the written word – whether it’s in recommending books someone else has written, or in sharing his own. He particularly likes to use words to scare the shit out of people. A dedicated horror aficionado, Marcus is also a gamer, metal-head/elder emo kid, voracious reader, and may be a little too obsessed with Cthulhu, the apocalyptic hubris of mankind and the inevitable heat death of the universe. Marcus lives with bipolar II disorder. He uses his experience to inform his bipolar- and mental illness themed podcast, “Letters From The Edge”, available to listen on Spotify and other major podcast/radio platforms.

Sasha Hanton grew up in the tropics of Darwin, Northern Territory. From a young age, she devoured books and iced coffee, both of which she continues to intake on an almost daily basis. Now living on beautiful Bribie Island in Queensland her time is split between writing and spoiling her puppy Miley. Sasha, who has a Bachelor of Journalism from Bond University, has dabbled in the journalistic profession but finds fiction far more fascinating. Her first published work The Short Story Press Collection draws on her love for a diverse range of genres and passion for short stories. Coming from a multicultural background (Eurasian) she aspires to make her writing inclusive for people from all walks of life and to bring a unique blend of eastern and western culture to her writing. Throughout her life, she has been a lover of history and mythology, and at any time will find some way to worm one or the other into her storytelling. When she’s not writing or reading she can be found walking her dog and volunteering. You can keep up with her writing over on www.theshortstorypress.wordpress.com

Frank Prem has been a storytelling poet for forty years. When not writing or reading his poetry to an audience, he fills his time by working as a psychiatric nurse. He has been published in magazines, zines and anthologies, in Australia and in a number of other countries, and has both performed and recorded his work as ‘spoken word’. He lives with his wife, in the beautiful township of Beechworth in northeast Victoria (Australia). Franks web page is located at: www.FrankPrem.com. YouTube video of Frank reading 'callignee butterflies', from Devil In The Wind.

I am a lover of books and whisky, and both at the same time. I'm lucky enough to put words on paper and sometimes have it turn into STUFF! I'll write whatever I dang well want, but usually my mind leads me to contemporary fantasy and the paranormal/supernatural. If asked why I write what I do, the first response is usually "Because it entertains me". I have a wide range of reading interests, both non-fiction and fiction, in a range of genres. I like a good bit of action, but will preference stories with vibrant and relatable characters. Note: I am not affiliated with any form of goldfish.