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About the Contributors

DAVID BOOP is a Denver-based speculative fiction author and editor. He’s also an award-winning essayist, and screenwriter. Before turning to fiction, David worked as a DJ, film critic, journalist, and actor.

David’s novels run the gambit, such as the sci-fi/noir She Murdered Me with Science to the Weird Western, The Drowned Horse Chronicle, Volume 1.

David edited the bestselling and award-nominated Weird Western anthology series, Straight Outta Tombstone, Straight Outta Deadwood and Straight Outta Dodge City, and a trio of Space Western anthologies starting with Gunfight on Europa Station, High Noon on Proxima B, and Last Train Outta Kepler-283c for Baen. He’s edited several pulp anthologies, including the upcoming Green Hornet & Kato: Detroit Noir.

David is prolific in short fiction with many short stories including media tie-ins for Predator (nominated for the 2018 Scribe Award), Kolchak: The Night Stalker, The Green Hornet, and Veronica Mars. His first comic, Travailiant Rising, co-authored with NYT bestselling author Kevin J. Anderson, is a giant mech series from Outland Entertainment.

He’s a Summa Cum Laude graduate from UC-Denver in the Creative Writing program. He temps, collects Funko Pops, and is a believer. His hobbies include film noir, anime, the Blues, and history. You can find out more at Davidboop.com, Facebook.com/dboop.updates, Twitter @david_boop, and www.longshot-productions.net.


KEVIN IKENBERRY is a lifelong space geek and retired Army officer. As an adult, he managed the U.S. Space Camp program and served in space operations before Space Force was a thing. He’s an international bestselling science fiction author and renowned writing instructor which is pretty cool because he never imagined being either one of those—he still wants to be an astronaut. Kevin’s debut novel, Sleeper Protocol, was hailed by Publishers Weekly as “an emotionally powerful debut.” His over twenty science fiction novels include The Crossing, Vendetta Protocol, Eminence Protocol, Runs in the Family, Peacemaker, Honor the Threat, Stand or Fall, Fields of Fire, and Harbinger. Kevin is an Active Member of the International Association of Science Fiction and Fantasy Authors, International Thriller Writers, and SIGMA—the science fiction think tank. Kevin continues to work with space every day and lives in Colorado with his family.


SF convention favorites SHARON LEE and STEVE MILLER have been collaborating since the 1980s, with over one hundred works of fantastic fiction to their joint credit.

While starting their joint writing career, they were traveling SF fans, SF convention booksellers and art agents, and have other unique science fictional backgrounds—Sharon is the only person to consecutively hold office as the Executive Director, Vice President, and President of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (now the Science Fiction Writers Association), while Steve was Founding Curator of Science Fiction at the University of Maryland’s SF Research Collection, Director of Information for the Baltimore Science Fiction Society, and helped found several regional conventions and a WorldCon.

Their July 2023 Liaden Universe® novel, Salvage Right, is their twenty-fifth collaborative novel in that universe, while “The Last Train to Clarkesville” is their first Liaden western.


KELLI FITZPATRICK is a sci-fi author, editor, and game writer. She won the Star Trek: Strange New Worlds contest from Simon and Schuster in 2016 and has been a contributing writer for the Star Trek Adventures tabletop roleplaying game from Modiphius Entertainment. Her stories have been published by Flash Fiction Online, KYSO Flash, Crazy 8 Press, and others, and her essays appear at StarTrek.com, Women at Warp, and from Sequart and ATB Publishing. She has written for the NASA Hubble Space Telescope Outreach team and edits for Dunes Review and The Journal of Popular Culture. A former high school teacher, she is an advocate for public education, the arts, and gender rights and representation. Find her at KelliFitzpatrick.com and on Twitter @KelliFitzWrites.


DAVID MACK is the award-winning and New York Times bestselling author of thirty-eight novels and numerous short works of science fiction, fantasy, and adventure, including the Star Trek: Destiny and Cold Equations trilogies.

Mack’s writing credits span television (for episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine), film, and comic books. He also has worked as a consultant on the animated television series Star Trek: Lower Decks and Star Trek: Prodigy. In June 2022, the International Association of Media Tie-In Writers honored him as a Grandmaster with its Faust Award.

His most recent publications include Harm’s Way, a Star Trek: Vanguard / Star Trek: The Original Series crossover novel, a new Star Trek: Picard novel titled Firewall, and several new works of original short fiction.

Mack resides in New York City with his wife, Kara.


M. TOD GALLOWGLAS. Start with raw imagination. Add two parts coffee to every one part whiskey. (For best results, use Irish or Scottish single malts. Bourbon may result in a volatile mess.)

Add equal heaping spoonfuls of angst, whimsy, snark, and just a dash of imposter syndrome. Shake vigorously. Once it stops frothing, drop in one Masters of Fine Arts in Fiction and a second in Poetry. Sprinkle a healthy dose of shenanigans on top, while chanting either “What’s a gleeman?” or “Tell me a story,” depending on personal taste.

Yields one pantheon, a Faerie War, a cloak of tales, the thwarting of devils and demons, revolutions, Slightly Above Average Misadventures, nerdy poetry, convention panels, geek literary theory, writing classes, role-playing games, airsoft battles (because it’s cooler than paintball), and groovy swing dancing. Best served at Con temperature.


DR. CHESYA BURKE is an Asst. Professor of English and U.S. Literature and the director of Africana Studies. Having written and published over a hundred stories and articles within the genres of horror, science fiction, comics, and Afrofuturism, her academic research focuses primarily on the intersections of race, gender, and genre. Her short story collection, Let’s Play White, is being taught in universities around the world, leading Grammy Award winning poet, Nikki Giovanni, to compare her writing to that of Octavia E. Butler and Toni Morrison, and Samuel Delany naming her the “formidable new master of the macabre.” Chesya’s episode for I Hear Fear, hosted by Carey Mulligan, titled, “Under the Skin,” was produced by Wondery and Amazon Music and debuted on Halloween 2022. She is represented by Alec Shane of Writer’s House and Sukee Chew and Katrina Escudero of Sugar23.


JOHN E. STITH’s first science fiction sale was to Fantastic Science Fiction. His second sale was to Amazing Stories.

Since then, he has sold eight science-fiction novels to Ace Books, Tor Books, the Science Fiction Book Club, and numerous translations. His works include Redshift Rendezvous, a Nebula Award nominee, and Manhattan Transfer, currently in development for television. His most recent novel is Pushback, a mystery-suspense thriller set in Colorado Springs, where he lives. Pushback was a finalist for the Daphne Du Maurier Award for Excellence in Mystery/Suspense and the Colorado Author’s League Award.

He appeared on live national TV on the Science-Fiction Science Fact (SF2) PBS broadcast with Ben Bova, Arthur C. Clarke, Charles Sheffield, G. Harry Stine, and Jesco von Puttkammer.

He has optioned several feature-film screenplays, and has sold to television (Star Trek). Complete information on his works may be found at www.neverend.com. His latest novellas are the young-adult Tiny Time Machine and Tiny Time Machine 2: Return of the Father from Amazing Select, the imprint for stand-alone volumes produced by Amazing Stories. He is at work on Tiny Time Machine 3: Mother of Invention to complete the trilogy. “Stith” rhymes with “Smith.”


D.J. (DAVE) BUTLER has been a lawyer, a consultant, an editor, a corporate trainer, and a registered investment banking representative, and he is now a Consulting Editor for Baen Books. His novels published by Baen Books include the Witchy War series (Witchy Eye, Witchy Winter, Witchy Kingdom, and Serpent Daughter), In the Palace of Shadow and Joy, and Abbott in Darkness, as well as The Cunning Man and The Jupiter Knife, co-written with Aaron Michael Ritchey, and Time Trials, co-written with M.A. Rothman. He also writes for children: the steampunk fantasy adventure tales The Kidnap Plot, The Giant’s Seat, and The Library Machine are published by Knopf. Other novels include City of the Saints from WordFire Press and The Wilding Probate from Immortal Works. His novels have won the Whitney Award, the Association for Mormon Letters Award for Novel, and the Dragon Award.

Dave also organizes writing retreats and anarcho-libertarian writers’ events, and travels the country to sell books. He tells many stories as a gamemaster with a gaming group some of whom he’s been playing with since sixth grade. He plays guitar and banjo whenever he can, and likes to hang out in Utah with his wife, their children, and the family dog.


LEZLI ROBYN is a mostly blind, award-winning Australian author, as well as executive editor and associate publisher of Arc Manor and its three imprints, who lives in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, with her blue-eyed chiweenie, Bindi (which means “little girl” in several indigenous Australian dialects). She’s known for writing bittersweet fiction, being a lover of chocolate and gardening, and is forever drawn by the call of the ocean.


CHRISTOPHER L. SMITH. A native Texan by birth (if not geography), Chris moved “home” as soon as he could.

Attending Texas A+M​, he learned quickly that there was more to college than beer and football games. He relocated to San Antonio, attending SAC and UTSA, graduating in late 2000 with a BA in Lit.

While there, he also met a wonderful lady who somehow found him to be funny, charming, and worth marrying. (She has since changed her mind on the funny and charming.)

Christopher began writing fiction in 2012. His short stories can be found in multiple anthologies, including John Ringo and Gary Poole’s Black Tide Rising, Mike Williamson’s Forged in Blood, Larry Correia and Kacey Ezell’s Noir Fatale, and Tom Kratman’s Terra Nova.

Christopher has co-written two novels, Kraken Mare with Jason Cordova, and Gunpowder & Embers with Kacey Ezell and John Ringo.

His cats allow his family and their dogs to reside with them outside of San Antonio.


DAVID AFSHARIRAD is an author and Editor at Baen Books. For five years he edited The Year’s Best Military and Adventure SF series; he is also the editor of the anthology The Chronicles of Davids, and is the short fiction editor for Baen.com. He has published over two dozen short stories in various magazines and anthologies. He lives in Austin, TX.


MEL TODD has over forty-four titles out, including the Kaylid Chronicles, Blood War series, and the Twisted Luck series. She has stories in multiple anthologies, as well as a pen name where you can find a few stray romances. Currently working on the last two books in the Twisted Luck series, she has plans to write more in that world, but there are epic fantasies and sci-fi also bouncing around her brain. follow her on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/badashbooks/

You can also sign up for her newsletter and read her blog at https://www.badashpublishing.com.


MARK L. VAN NAME is a writer, technologist, and spoken-word performer. As a science fiction author, he has published five novels (One Jump Ahead, Slanted Jack, Overthrowing Heaven, Children No More, and No Going Back), as well as an omnibus collection of his first two books (Jump Gate Twist); edited or co-edited four anthologies (Intersections: The Sycamore Hill Anthology, Transhuman, The Wild Side, and Onward, Drake!), and written many short stories. Those stories have appeared in a wide variety of books and magazines, including Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, many original anthologies, and The Year’s Best Science Fiction.

As a technologist, he is the co-founder and co-owner of a fact-based marketing and learning services firm, Principled Technologies, Inc., that is based in the Research Triangle area of North Carolina and has been in business for over twenty years. He has worked with computer technology for his entire professional career and has published over a thousand articles in the computer trade press, as well as a broad assortment of essays and reviews.

As a spoken-word artist, he has created and performed five shows—Science Magic Sex; Wake Up Horny, Wake Up Angry; Mr. Poor Choices; Mr. Poor Choices II: I Don’t Understand; and Mr. Poor Choices III: That Moment When—and also frequently leads humor panels at SF conventions.



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