Steve Oden
Steve Oden has worked in the publishing industry–mainly newspapers and magazines–for more than 30 years. Although retired, he provides editorial services on a consulting basis, mainly to corporate clients, and writes on assignment. His newspaper columns have appeared regularly in Tennessee and Alabama publications since 1980, winning awards from the Alabama Press Association, University of Tennessee-Tennessee Press Association, Society of Professional Journalists, National Rural Electric Cooperative Association and several wildlife conservation organizations.
Lara Frater
Lara Frater is an author and librarian from NYC. She writes horror, sci-fi, and dystopian fiction, plus essays, and poetry. Her short stories have appeared in “Tales from the Canyon of the Damned” and “Necrotic Tissue” and upcoming in “Soul Scream” & “Conspiracies and Cryptids” She’s the author of the zombie series: “End of the Line”, the paranormal suspense series Paranormal Pest Control and the nonfiction book Fat Chicks Rule. Her essays include Fat Heroines in Chick Lit, The Statue and several chapters about library science. She is an affiliate member of the Horror Writers Association. http://www.larafrater.com
Ernie Howard
Ernie Howard was born on January 29,1977 during a Minnesota blizzard. His two story telling parents almost didn't make it to the hospital in their beat up blue Cadillac. Ernie is the writer of Write Something!, a book about the illusion of Writers Block. A World Without, a Science Fiction book about the love between a husband and wife, and the darkness that can come into a marriage. Walter, A Science Fiction book about a boy who is an outcast who makes a friend with a man that speaks to him through his television. Ernie lives with his wife and 3 boys in Henderson, NV, where he dreams up new stories, and tries to live everyday to the fullest.
Liviu Surugiu
Liviu Surugiu is a writer from outside the English-speaking world. He is editor for the foreign stories in the Romanian magazine CSF Magazine. Among his recent achievements, his prose was selected by The Lunar Codex project in NASA's Artemis program to be taken to the Polaris time capsule that will be buried by the Astrobotic Griffin / VIPER rover on the Moon next year. On the Earth, his fiction has appeared in Galaxy’s Edge by Mike Resnick (US), Cirsova Magazine (US), Vigyan Katha (India), Galaktika (Hungary), Unfit Magazine (US), Orion’s Belt Magazine (US), Gravity City (US), Supersonic (Spain), Nova Sci Fi Magazine (Germany), Teoria Omicron (Ecuador), Maquina Combinatoria (Peru), Algernon Magazine (Estonia), Short Edition (France), and, of course, in the most important magazines and anthologies in Romania. He received six Honorable Mention and two Silver HM from Writers of the Future. As a Romanian science fiction author, he won forty-one different awards over a thirty years career. Other awards he has received include: Second Place in the HBO Screenwriter's Contest (2013), Best Novel of the Year 2015, Best Novel of the Year 2016, Best Short Story Collection 2016, Best Short Story of 2017, Best Story 2020, Best Short Story Collection 2022. He also published eight books in Romania over the past eight years.
Daniel Arthur Smith
Daniel Arthur Smith is a USA Today bestselling author. His titles include Spectral Shift, Hugh Howey Lives, The Cathari Treasure, The Somali Deception, and a few other novels and short stories. He also curates the phenomenal short fiction series Tales from the Canyons of the Damned and Frontiers of Speculative Fiction. He was raised in Michigan and graduated from Western Michigan University where he studied philosophy, with focus on cognitive science, meta-physics, and comparative religion. He began his career as a bartender, barista, poetry house proprietor, teacher, and then became a technologist and futurist for the Fortune 100 across the Americas and Europe. Daniel has traveled to over 300 cities in 22 countries, residing in Los Angeles, Kalamazoo, Prague, Crete, and now writes in Manhattan where he lives with his wife and young sons.