Venessa Vida Kelley
Venessa is a Nuyorican author, illustrator, and aspiring mermaid who writes fairy tales about the real world so she can draw them too. They hold a BA and MA in English literature with concentrations in film from the University of Delaware and the George Washington University respectively, and their illustrations have decorated LGBTQ+ books worldwide. Venessa lives in Washington, DC, with their spouse, two sons, and an overabundance of teacups and washi tape.
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Vida Cruz
Vida Cruz-Borja is a Filipina fantasy and science fiction writer, editor, artist, tarot reader, and conrunner. Her short fiction and essays have been published in F&SF, Fantasy, Strange Horizons, PodCastle, Expanded Horizons, and various anthologies.
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She won the 2022 IGNYTE Award for Best Creative Nonfiction for “We are the Mountain: A Look at the Inactive Protagonist,” which will be republished in Letters to a Writer of Color in Spring 2023. She is the author of two illustrated fantasy short story collections: Beyond the Line of Trees (2019) and Song of the Mango and Other New Myths (2022).
Her work in her different fields has been nominated, longlisted, and recommended for the Hugo Award, the British Science Fiction Award, and the James T -
Eboni J. Dunbar
Eboni J. Dunbar (She/her) is a queer, black woman who writes queer and black speculative fiction. She lives in Northern California with her wife. She received her BA from Macalester College in English and her MFA in Creative Writing from Mills College. Eboni is a VONA Alum, and the former managing editor for the Hugo Award-Winning FIYAH Literary Magazine. She is also the winner of the Lambda Literary 2023 Randall Kenan Prize for Black LGBTQ Fiction and the IGNYTE Award 2024 for outstanding novelette for "Spell for Grief and Longing" (FIYAH, issue 26).
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Her work can be found in Stellium Literary Magazine, FIYAH Magazine of Black Speculative Fiction, Drabblecast, Anathema: Spec from the margins, Nightlight Podcast and Beneath Ceaseless Skies. -
Jenny Lawson
Known for her sardonic wit and her hysterically skewed outlook on life, Jenny Lawson has made millions of people question their own sanity, as they found themselves admitting that they, too, often wondered why Jesus wasn't classified as a zombie, or laughed to the point of bladder failure when she accidentally forgot that she mailed herself a cobra. Her blog (www.thebloggess.com) is award-winning and extremely popular.
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K.T. Hoffman
KT Hoffman is originally from Beaverton, Oregon and currently lives in Brooklyn. He received his bachelor’s degree in English and Creative Writing from Stanford University. If he isn’t writing about trans hope and gay kissing, he’s probably white-knuckling his way through the ninth inning of a Seattle Mariners game. The Prospects is his debut novel.
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Victoria Zeller
Victoria Zeller is a trans writer born and raised in Buffalo, New York, where she still proudly resides. A former football player and lifelong fan, her initial focus was sports journalism before she made a sharp pivot to writing about queers who can’t stay out of trouble. Her sportswriting can be found at Defector, while her manic minute-by-minute sports analysis can be found at Bluesky at @dirtbagqueer.rocks.
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Jules Arbeaux
Born in the big city but raised reckless and barefoot deep in the woods, Jules Arbeaux is a science fiction and fantasy author and inveterate enjoyer of visceral, wrenching poetry and prose, complex characters, and powerful relationships of every flavor.
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Cat parent, artist, learner of languages, and professional neglector of many thriving succulents, Jules subsists on sour gummy worms and far-fetched dreams. LORD OF THE EMPTY ISLES, forthcoming from Hodderscape in summer 2024, is the author's debut novel. -
Rin Chupeco
Gone.
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Newsletter: http://www.rinchupeco.com/newsletter
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Maiga Doocy
Maiga Doocy lives in a house where the people are outnumbered by cats, has a serious tea habit, and loves sad songs. She likes to write stories that are full of bittersweet longing and as much unexplainable magic as she can get away with.
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Alicia Jasinska
Alicia Jasinska hails from Sydney, Australia and is the author of acclaimed YA novels THE DARK TIDE, THE MIDNIGHT GIRLS, THIS FATAL KISS, and the forthcoming THIS LETHAL LOVE. A library technician by day, she spends her nights writing and hanging upside down from the aerial hoop.
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Sara Raasch
Sara Raasch has known she was destined for bookish things since the age of five, when her friends had a lemonade stand and she tagged along to sell her hand-drawn picture books too. Not much has changed since then — her friends still cock concerned eyebrows when she attempts to draw things and her enthusiasm for the written word still drives her to extreme measures. Her debut YA fantasy, SNOW LIKE ASHES, the first in a trilogy, came out October 14, 2014 from Balzer + Bray. It does not feature her hand-drawn pictures.
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A. Rae Dunlap
A. Rae Dunlap studied film and Victorian literature at Northwestern University and spends her days as a trailer editor at Disney, bringing to life the magic of the world’s most influential storytellers for audiences everywhere. She lives with her husband in a small mountain town in California and can be found online at ARaeDunlap.com.
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Elias Cold
Hi! I'm Eli. I write dark cosy YA Fantasy.
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I also write Adult Science Fantasy under the name Eli Snow. -
Ryan Douglass
Ryan Douglass is a queer author and poet from Atlanta, Georgia. He is the New York Times bestselling author of The Taking of Jake Livingston, and his short fiction appears in All These Sunken Souls and Night of the Living Queers. His poetry is featured in Poemhood: Our Black Revival and He/She/They/Us. When he’s not writing, he’s probably baking something sweet or making a playlist for a story he hasn’t written yet.
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Cass Biehn
Cass Biehn (they/them) writes messy queer characters in messier situations—and always with angsty kissing. They hold a Master of Library Science degree from Aberystwyth University in rainy Wales and currently live in the Utah desert, where they split their time between cosplaying and wrangling their dogs.
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Cass' debut novel, VESUVIUS, will release Summer 2025 from Peachtree Teen.
Learn more about them at cassbiehn.com or @cassbeewrites on Twitter and Instagram. -
Ellen Airgood
I grew up on a small farm, the youngest of four children. My father was a blacksmith and a schoolteacher. For the last nineteen years I’ve been a waitress in Grand Marais, Michigan. I was twenty-five when I came to this tiny, Lake Superior town, on a camping trip with my sister, and fell in love with the man who made my cheese sandwich and chocolate malt at the local diner. We met, exchanged assessing, almost challenging gazes, and six months later we got married. I told my sister we would, on the way back to our campsite that first day. “You’re crazy,” she said worriedly. But pretty soon she grinned, shook her head, started getting into the spirit of it. “Well,” she said. “This is going to be interesting.” And it has been.
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I’ve never been s -
Olivia Wolfgang-Smith
Olivia Wolfgang-Smith is the author of Mutual Interest (forthcoming from Bloomsbury in February 2025) and Glassworks, which was longlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize. She is a 2024 NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellow in Fiction from The New York Foundation for the Arts and lives in Brooklyn with her partner.
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Nicholas Atwater
Nicholas Atwater writes swashbuckling steampunk fantasy. He resides in Montreal, Quebec with his incredible, brilliant wife and two cats. As an ex-thespian, he certainly does not practice funny accents in the shower, and no one can prove otherwise. He is a veteran Dungeons & Dragons gamemaster, famously feared for both his villains and his puns.
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In the mood for more swashbuckling adventures? Sign up for the Atwater Adventure Column at nicholasatwater.com and get ongoing updates, along with the exclusive short story The Good, the Bad, and the Goblin. -
Elle Tesch
Elle Tesch has lived just east of Vancouver, British Columbia her entire life. Surrounded by forests and mountains, it was inevitable that she would daydream about what might lurk in those trees. She twists places she loves and writes what she knows best: hungry monsters, casually cruel villains, and ace-spec girls in the stories they deserve.
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When not writing, Elle can be found reading whatever she can get her hands on, wrestling with her current cross-stitch project, or re-watching Pride & Prejudice (2005) for the 72nd time. -
T.J. Alexander
TJ Alexander is an amateur baker and author who writes about queer love. Originally from Florida, they received their MA in writing and publishing from Emerson College in Boston. They live in New York City with their wife and various houseplants.
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Erin Dunn
ERIN DUNN loves twisty mysteries and swoony rom-coms, so she decided to combine the two. A native of Calgary, Canada, Erin has lived in Brooklyn long enough to officially call herself a New Yorker, or so she is informed. When she's not writing, you can find her playing music, cooking, or sampling other people's cooking. Hit her up on Instagram @murdercuteHQ!
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E.H. Lupton
E. H. Lupton (she/they) lives in Wisconsin. She is a writer, playwright, artist, runner, and experimental baker. She is the producer/co-host of the hit podcast, Ask a Medievalist. Visit her website at ehlupton.com.
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Alistair Reeves
Alistair Reeves (he/him) writes romantasy about messy queers and morally grey characters. Born in Canada, he moved to England to indulge his addiction to hot caffeinated beverages. His influences range from video games to Chinese danmei. When not writing, he can be found playing Dungeons & Dragons or tending to his frankly absurd collection of succulents.
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In 2019 he won a Watty Award for his queer science fiction, Static Crush, and was a 2022 Pitch Wars mentee. A SPELL FOR HEARTSICKNESS is his debut novel, releasing with Podium in Fall 2024.
He graduated from Sheridan College with a Bachelors in Animation, but he mostly uses his artistic skills to draw his OC’s kissing. -
G. Bruce Knecht
G. Bruce Knecht is a former senior writer and foreign correspondent for The Wall Street Journal. Author of GRAND AMBITION: An Extraordinary Yacht, the People Who Built It, and the Millionaire Who Can't Really Afford It; THE PROVING GROUND: The Inside Story of the 1998 Sydney to Hobart Race; and HOOKED: Pirates, Poaching and the Perfect Fish, he has also written for The Atlantic Monthly, The New York Times Magazine, Smithsonian and Conde Nast Traveler. An avid sailor, Knecht raced across the Atlantic in 2005 on the yacht that broke the 100-year-old transatlantic race record. He lives in New York City.
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Page Powars
Page Powars is the New York Times, USA Today, and #1 Indie bestselling author of And They Were Roommates, The Borrow a Boyfriend Club, and more coming down the line. He was raised by video game lore that requires stringboard analyses to understand. Now, he writes books for teenagers and adults. He lives in Brooklyn with his partner.
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Al Hess
Author of World Running Down, Key Lime Sky, Yours Celestially, and the award-winning Hep Cats of Boise series.
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Lovell Holder
Lovell Holder is a filmmaker who has directed and co-written the feature films Lavender Men and Loserville. As a producer, his movies include The Surrender, Peak Season, Midday Black Midnight Blue, The End of Us, Working Man, and Some Freaks. A graduate of Princeton University and Brown University (MFA), he currently lives in Los Angeles, California and Charlotte, North Carolina. The Book of Luke is his first novel. Instagram: @lovell.holder
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A.M. Woody
A. M. Woody is a queer nonbinary author based in metro-Detroit and represented by New Leaf Literary. Some of their book weaknesses include:
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Uncontrollable magic
Boys who fall in love
Girls with swords
Snarky banter
Eyes that glow
Chaotic queers
Dorks to lovers
Pirates and thieves -
Kara Jorgensen
Kara Jorgensen (they/them) is a queer, nonbinary oddball with a penchant for all things antiquated, morbid, or just plain strange. While in college, they realized they no longer wanted to be Victor Frankenstein but instead wanted to write like Mary Shelley and thus abandoned their future career in science for writing. Kara melds their passions through their books and graduated with an MFA in Creative and Professional Writing in 2016. When not writing, they can be found hanging out with their dogs watching period dramas or trying to convince their students to cite their sources.
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To find out more about their books go to https://karajorgensen.com
Sign-up for their newsletter and get a free sapphic novella: eepurl.com/bfJTW9
Historical Fantasy/St -
Louise Fitzhugh
Louise Perkins Fitzhugh was an American writer and illustrator of children's books. Fitzhugh is best known for her 1964 novel Harriet the Spy, a fiction work about an adolescent girl's predisposition with a journal covering the foibles of her friends, her classmates, and the strangers she is captivated by. The novel was later adapted into a live action film in 1996. The sequel novel, The Long Secret, was published in 1965, and its follow-up book, Sport, was published posthumously in 1979. Fitzhugh also wrote Nobody's Family Is Going to Change, which was later adapted into a short film and a play.
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Lari Don
I'm a children's writer based in Scotland, and most of my fiction is inspired by the Scottish landscape and local legends. I love writing fantasy adventures for 8-12 year olds, including the Fabled Beast Chronicles and the Spellchasers trilogy, but I also love creating stories for other age groups.
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I've gone darker and more dangerous in my YA thriller MindBlind.
And I've worked with amazing illustrators on picture books, including a retelling of the Scottish tale of the kelpie, The Secret of the Kelpie, with gorgeous pictures by Philip Longson, and a new fable about Nessie, The Treasure of the Loch Ness Monster, with fabulous artwork by Nataša Ilinčić.
I've written collections of myths and legends, including heroine tales from all over the -
Samantha Bansil
Samantha Bansil is a Filipino-American fantasy author. She studied sociology and French at Boston University before earning a master’s degree at Institut d’études politiques de Paris. After trying on many a professional hat, she found her way back to her one true love: writing. Her stories often feature big feelings, lush settings, and unlikeable protagonists. A jet-setter at heart, she lives to travel worlds both real and imagined. When she’s not writing, she can be found wandering bookstores and ricocheting between continents. She works in Paris, France, as a content marketer.
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Frances Wren
Frances Wren is a kiwi writer based in Australia. They lawyer during rent-paying hours, specialising in antitrust before leaving big-law for NFP med research. Earthflown is their debut novel. They illustrate covers sometimes at Instagram • TikTok • Twitter • franceswren.com
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Laura R. Samotin
LAURA R. SAMOTIN and her spouse live with two enormously large felines. When she’s not pursuing her academic research on military tactics, power politics, and leadership, she relishes her role as a full-time cat servant.
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Fiona Fenn
Fiona Fenn is an author of fantasy novels that put complicated “heroes” front and center. A fan of villains, redemption arcs, and intense explorations of healing in all its forms, her debut novel, The Crack at the Heart of Everything, is a love letter to every villain who could have done better but never got the chance.
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Falencia Jean-Francois
Falencia Jean-Francois is an author and educator living in the Pittsburgh area with her wife, two cats, and dog. She has wanted to be a published author since she started writing NSYNC fan fiction in her notebook when she was twelve years old! She is looking forward to the release of her debut novel, Devil of the Deep, on August 1, 2023.
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Grace Curtis
Author of FRONTIER, FLOATING HOTEL and IDOLFIRE. Up next: HEAVEN'S GRAVEYARD.
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Veronica Chapa
Veronica Chapa is an author, essayist, and award-winning copywriter with a master’s degree in advertising from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. She lives in the Chicago area with her husband.
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F.T. Lukens
F.T. Lukens is a New York Times bestselling author of YA speculative fiction including the novels Otherworldly, Spell Bound, So This Is Ever After (2023 ALA Rainbow Booklist; 2022 Goodreads Choice Awards nominee), In Deeper Waters (2022 ALA Rainbow Booklist; Junior Library Guild Selection), and the forthcoming Love at Second Sight (2025) as well as other science-fiction and fantasy works. F.T. resides in North Carolina with their spouse, three kids, three dogs, and three cats.
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Lancelot Schaubert
"Schaubert recounts a mischievous man's eight decades in Illinois's Little Egypt region in his picaresque debut BELL HAMMERS. Remmy's life of constant schemes and pranks and a lifelong feud with classmate Jim Johnstone and the local oil drilling company proves consequential. This is a hoot."
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- Publisher's Weekly
He's also the author of the children's picture book horror Harry Rides the Danger, the editor for Of Gods and Globes III (+ vol. 1 + vol 2), Tap and Die, and The Greenwood Poet.
His work Cold Brewed reinvented the photonovel for the digital age and caught the attention of the Missouri Tourism Board who commissioned him to write and direct a second photonovel, The Joplin Undercurrent, in partnership with award-winning photographer, Mar -
Ryan La Sala
Ryan La Sala is a bestselling and award-winning author known for his genre defying, queer-centered horror and fantasy.
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Ryan is the author behind the bestselling cottagecore horror, The Honeys, which is in development to become a major motion picture with Anonymous Content. He is also the author of Beholder, Reverie and Be Dazzled. He has been featured in The New York Times Book Review, Entertainment Weekly, NPR, and more. He writes to you from New York, overseen by his cat, Haunted Little Girl. -
Christine Heppermann
Christine Heppermann writes fiction, poetry, and criticism. Her books include What Goes Up (coming summer 2020); Ask Me How I Got Here; Poisoned Apples: Poems for You, My Pretty; City Chickens; and the Backyard Witch series (with Ron Koertge). She currently reviews young adult books for the Chicago Tribune.
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Christine grew up in Omaha, Nebraska, where she attended an all-girls Catholic high school. As an undergraduate she studied philosophy and literature at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. She has a masters degree in children’s literature from Simmons College in Boston, Massachusetts, and an MFA in writing for children and young adults from Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Christine lives in New York’s Hudson Valley with he -
O.O. Sangoyomi
O.O. Sangoyomi is a Nigerian American author with a penchant for African mythology and history. During a childhood of constantly moving around, she found an anchored home in the fictional worlds of books. She is a recent graduate of Princeton University, where she studied literature. Her debut novel, Masquerade, will be published by Macmillan/Forge in July 2024.
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You can find Sangoyomi on Instagram and Twitter @oosangoyomi. -
Louangie Bou-Montes
Louangie Bou-Montes was born in Northampton, Massachusetts and grew up flitting back and forth between rural Western Mass and el campo in Guayama, PR, surrounded by countless cousins in both locations. Thanks to those cousins, she was raised on a healthy diet of everything from The Addams Family to Silent Hill to Pet Sematary, resulting in a love of telling stories about Puerto Rican kids with morbid hobbies and senses of humor.
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After graduating with a BA in English from UMass Amherst, she spent nearly a decade working as a high school educator, mostly focused in Special Education, Trauma-Informed teaching, and ELL. Currently, she works as an Anti-Oppression Consultant.
On any given day, you can find Louangie at home playing video games or w -
Blair Fell
Blair Fell writes and lives in New York City. Blair’s television work includes Queer as Folk, and the Emmy Award–winning California Connected. He’s written dozens of plays including the award-winning plays Naked Will, The Tragic and Horrible Life of the Singing Nun, and the downtown cult miniseries Burning Habits. His personal essays have appeared in HuffPost, Out, Daily News (New York), and more. He’s a two-time winner of the prestigious Doris Lippman Prize in Creative Writing from the City College of New York, including for his early unfinished draft of The Sign for Home. Concurrently with being a writer, Blair has been an ASL interpreter for the Deaf since 1993, and has also worked as an actor, producer, and director.
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Lindsey Byrd
Lindsey began writing stories at a young age, enjoying the escapism of fantasy worlds where anything could happen. When she writes, she focuses on creating complex characters who are neither perfectly good or bad.
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She grew up in New York, but moved to Europe to complete her doctoral studies in History. She uses a pen-name to keep her academic publications separate from her fiction work, but her pen-name does have personal meaning.
When she was a child, her mother asked her what she wanted to be when she grew up. Lindsey responded: "A Bird," and so this name helps make that dream come true.
Shy by nature, Lindsey does not spend much time on social media. Instead, she can be found taking long walks and looking for new birds to add to Merlin ID. -
Lisa Tirreno
Lisa Tirreno lives in Melbourne, Australia with her family and a soap opera of chickens.
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A recovering journalist, she likes museums, old Hammer Horror movies and Pre-Raphaelite art. She has a degree in English literature and history, and is good at stabbing herself with embroidery needles and making elaborate cakes for no good reason.
Her debut novel, Prince of Fortune, came out with Simon & Schuster in October, 2024. -
Sangu Mandanna
Sangu Mandanna was four years old when an elephant chased her down a forest road and she decided to write her first story about it. Seventeen years and many, many manuscripts later, she signed her first book deal. Sangu now lives in Norwich, a city in the east of England, with her husband and kids.
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Ry Herman
Born in the US, Ry Herman is now a permanent Scottish resident. Their debut novel, the queer supernatural romcom Love Bites, was published by Jo Fletcher Books in July of 2020. Ry is bisexual and genderqueer.
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Their most recent book, This Princess Kills Monsters, is a retelling of “The Twelve Huntsmen”, one of the Grimm Brothers’ weirdest fairy tales. It takes that tale’s jilted, trouser-wearing fiancée, her eleven identical crossdressing doppelgangers, a talking lion, and of course, the princess, on an extravagant, fantastical quest to save a kingdom, subvert destiny, and fall in love with the perfectly right wrong person.
Ry has worked at a variety of jobs, including submissions editor, theatre technician, and one job which could best be des -
Sara Raasch
Sara Raasch has known she was destined for bookish things since the age of five, when her friends had a lemonade stand and she tagged along to sell her hand-drawn picture books too. Not much has changed since then — her friends still cock concerned eyebrows when she attempts to draw things and her enthusiasm for the written word still drives her to extreme measures. Her debut YA fantasy, SNOW LIKE ASHES, the first in a trilogy, came out October 14, 2014 from Balzer + Bray. It does not feature her hand-drawn pictures.
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K.J. Charles
KJ is a writer of romance, mostly m/m, historical or fantasy or both. She blogs about writing and editing at http://kjcharleswriter.com.
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She lives in London, UK, with her husband, two kids, and a cat of absolute night.
Bluesky @kj_charleswriter.com
Join the lively Discord group at https://discord.gg/fmPTWSZfT6
Sign up to the (infrequent) newsletter at http://kjcharleswriter.com/newsletter
Please **do not** message me on Goodreads as I no longer check the inbox due to unwanted messages. -
V.E. Schwab
This author also writes under the name of Victoria Schwab.
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VICTORIA “V. E.” SCHWAB is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of more than twenty books, including the acclaimed Shades universe, the Villains series, the City of Ghosts series, Gallant, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue and The Fragile Threads of Power. When not haunting Paris streets or trudging up English hillsides, she can usually be found in Edinburgh, Scotland, tucked in the corner of a coffee shop, dreaming up monsters. -
Alistair Reeves
Alistair Reeves (he/him) writes romantasy about messy queers and morally grey characters. Born in Canada, he moved to England to indulge his addiction to hot caffeinated beverages. His influences range from video games to Chinese danmei. When not writing, he can be found playing Dungeons & Dragons or tending to his frankly absurd collection of succulents.
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In 2019 he won a Watty Award for his queer science fiction, Static Crush, and was a 2022 Pitch Wars mentee. A SPELL FOR HEARTSICKNESS is his debut novel, releasing with Podium in Fall 2024.
He graduated from Sheridan College with a Bachelors in Animation, but he mostly uses his artistic skills to draw his OC’s kissing. -
Chuck Tingle
Chuck Tingle is a mysterious force of energy behind sunglasses and a pink mask. He is also an anonymous author of romance, horror, and fantasy. Chuck was born in Home of Truth, Utah, and now splits time between Billings, Montana and Los Angeles, California. Chuck writes to prove love is real, because love is the most important tool we have when resisting the endless cosmic void. Not everything people say about Chuck is true, but the important parts are.
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Management and general inquiry: infotingleverse@gmail.com
Literary agent: DongWon at dongwonsong.com -
F.T. Lukens
F.T. Lukens is a New York Times bestselling author of YA speculative fiction including the novels Otherworldly, Spell Bound, So This Is Ever After (2023 ALA Rainbow Booklist; 2022 Goodreads Choice Awards nominee), In Deeper Waters (2022 ALA Rainbow Booklist; Junior Library Guild Selection), and the forthcoming Love at Second Sight (2025) as well as other science-fiction and fantasy works. F.T. resides in North Carolina with their spouse, three kids, three dogs, and three cats.
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S.T. Gibson
S.T. Gibson is a poet, author, and village wise woman in training.
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She holds a Bachelors degree in Creative Writing from the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and a Masters of Theological Studies from Princeton Theological Seminary. -
K. Ancrum
K. Ancrum, is an author of award winning speculative contemporary YA notably THE WICKER KING, DARLING and most recently the critically acclaimed ICARUS. K. is a Chicago native passionate about diversity and representation in young adult fiction. She currently writes most of her work in the lush gardens of the Chicago Art Institute.
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Caitlin Starling
Caitlin Starling is the nationally bestselling author of The Death of Jane Lawrence, the Bram Stoker-nominated The Luminous Dead, and Last To Leave The Room. Her upcoming novels The Starving Saints and The Graceview Patient epitomize her love of genre-hopping horror; her bibliography spans besieged castles, alien caves, and haunted hospitals. Her short fiction has been published by GrimDark Magazine and Neon Hemlock, and her nonfiction has appeared in Nightmare, Uncanny, and Nightfire. Caitlin also works in narrative design, and has been paid to invent body parts. She’s always on the lookout for new ways to inflict insomnia.
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Mason Deaver
Mason Deaver is a bestselling and award-winning author of young adult and adult romance novels. Their books have been awarded stars from Bookpage and Booklist, nominated for the Goodreads Choice Awards, and won the Pink News Best Young Adult Book Award.
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Their first novel, I Wish You All the Best, named one of Cosmopolitan's 100 Best YA Books was made into a film directed by Tommy Dorfman. It premiered at the SXSW film festival in 2024 to rave reviews.
They currently live in San Francisco. -
Emily Tesh
EMILY TESH is a UK-based author of science fiction and fantasy. Her debut novel, Some Desperate Glory, won the Hugo Award for Best Novel. Tesh is also a winner of the Astounding Award, and the author of the World Fantasy Award-winning Greenhollow duology.
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Allie Therin
Allie Therin is a bicultural author of award-winning romance and urban fantasy. She also is, or has been, a bookseller, an attorney, a Parks & Rec assistant, a boom operator, and a barista for one (embarrassing) day.
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A longtime fan of romance, mystery and speculative fiction, she now strives to bring that same delight to her readers. Allie grew up in a tiny Pacific Northwest town with more bears than people, although the bears sadly would not practice Spanish with her. -
Lindsey Byrd
Lindsey began writing stories at a young age, enjoying the escapism of fantasy worlds where anything could happen. When she writes, she focuses on creating complex characters who are neither perfectly good or bad.
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She grew up in New York, but moved to Europe to complete her doctoral studies in History. She uses a pen-name to keep her academic publications separate from her fiction work, but her pen-name does have personal meaning.
When she was a child, her mother asked her what she wanted to be when she grew up. Lindsey responded: "A Bird," and so this name helps make that dream come true.
Shy by nature, Lindsey does not spend much time on social media. Instead, she can be found taking long walks and looking for new birds to add to Merlin ID. -
Andrew Joseph White
Andrew Joseph White is the trans, autistic, and bestselling author of Hell Followed With Us, The Spirit Bares Its Teeth, Compound Fracture, and You Weren't Meant to be Human. Born and raised in the Shenandoah Valley, he received his MFA in Creative Writing from George Mason University, and lives in Virginia with his wife and their antisocial cat.
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He can be found at andrewjosephwhite.com or on Twitter and Instagram at @AJWhiteAuthor. -
Neon Yang
Neon Yang, formerly J.Y. Yang, is a Singaporean writer of English-language speculative fiction. Yang is non-binary and queer, and uses they/them pronouns.
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Yang has written a series of "silkpunk" novellas, and has published short fiction since 2012. Their novella The Black Tides of Heaven was nominated for the 2017 Nebula Award for Best Novella, the 2018 Kitschies Golden Tentacle and the 2018 Hugo Award for Best Novella.
Yang's work revolves around "the human body as a vessel for storytelling", and is based on their background as a molecular biologist, journalist and science communicator. -
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T.J. Alexander
TJ Alexander is an amateur baker and author who writes about queer love. Originally from Florida, they received their MA in writing and publishing from Emerson College in Boston. They live in New York City with their wife and various houseplants.
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Page Powars
Page Powars is the New York Times, USA Today, and #1 Indie bestselling author of And They Were Roommates, The Borrow a Boyfriend Club, and more coming down the line. He was raised by video game lore that requires stringboard analyses to understand. Now, he writes books for teenagers and adults. He lives in Brooklyn with his partner.
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Chip Pons
Chip Pons grew up in a small lake town in Northern Michigan, where he discovered the kind of stories that make you believe in magic, love, and second chances. Now based in Washington, DC with his dream of a husband and their pup, Margot, he writes romances rooted in queer joy and the belief that everyone deserves their happily ever after.
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When he isn't writing, Chip can be found wandering through bookstores, daydreaming about new characters, or shouting about his favorite reads on Bookstagram. And snacking, like, all the time. -
Thea Guanzon
Traveler, fangirl, dungeon master, cat lady, and iced coffeeholic residing in Metro Manila. Somehow also a No. 1 International, New York Times, USA Today, and Indie List bestselling author!
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Cass Biehn
Cass Biehn (they/them) writes messy queer characters in messier situations—and always with angsty kissing. They hold a Master of Library Science degree from Aberystwyth University in rainy Wales and currently live in the Utah desert, where they split their time between cosplaying and wrangling their dogs.
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Cass' debut novel, VESUVIUS, will release Summer 2025 from Peachtree Teen.
Learn more about them at cassbiehn.com or @cassbeewrites on Twitter and Instagram. -
A.B. Poranek
A. B. Poranek grew up sharing her time between Ontario, Canada and rural Poland, and eventually completed a veterinary degree at the Warsaw University of Life Sciences. A lover of mythology and history, she enjoys exploring both in her writing. When she isn't off on yet another inadvisable adventure, she can be found in London, where she spends her free time drawing strange creatures and trying to keep her plants from dying.
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Amy James
Amy James lives with her husband and dog on the east coast of Canada. Her debut romance novel, A FIVE-LETTER WORD FOR LOVE comes out from Avon Books on December 3rd, 2024. Her second romance novel, CRASH TEST, comes out from Avon Books on July 1st, 2025.
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Find her on Instagram @amyjamesbooks. -
Erin Dunn
ERIN DUNN loves twisty mysteries and swoony rom-coms, so she decided to combine the two. A native of Calgary, Canada, Erin has lived in Brooklyn long enough to officially call herself a New Yorker, or so she is informed. When she's not writing, you can find her playing music, cooking, or sampling other people's cooking. Hit her up on Instagram @murdercuteHQ!
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Davis Lavender
Davis has written everything from angsty but sweet MMMM fantasy to fun, cozy MM fantasy. But one thing is certain — her heroes (and anti-heroes) will always get their happily ever after.
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Living in a small seaside village in Ireland, she hasn’t given up hope of running into a selkie (dragons may prove to be more elusive).
In between writing, she wrangles cats, watches Asian dramas and ugly cries over the fates of fictional characters. -
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Rosália Rodrigo
Rosália (she/her) has been in the “immersive story” space for over 8 years, producing visitor experiences for museums and theme parks internationally. She now champions diversity, inclusion, equity and accessibility in this space as a DEIA consultant and educator, with the goal of creating work environments and visitor experiences that are inclusive to all—a passion she also extends to her writing. Born and raised in Puerto Rico, Rosália now lives in Central Florida with her partner and mischievous cat, Moonbeam.
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Jeffrey Marsh
Jeffrey Marsh’s TikToks and compassionate short-form videos have over one billion views. Jeffrey is a bestselling author, viral TikTok and Instagram star, nonbinary activist, and LGBTQ keynote speaker. Jeffrey was the first nonbinary public figure to appear on national television, being interviewed on Newsmax in 2016, and Jeffrey was the first celebrity activist to use they/them pronouns. Jeffrey’s #1 bestseller, ‘How to Be You,’ was the first nonbinary memoir. And Jeffrey is the first nonbinary author to sign a book deal with any “Big 5” publisher worldwide, for Penguin Random House. ‘How To Be You’ topped Oprah's Gratitude Meter and was named Excellent Book of the Year by TED-Ed. As chronicled in ‘How To Be You,’ Jeffrey lived as a Zen mo
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Sher Lee
Sher Lee writes young adult novels with Asian characters. She lives in Singapore and has an abiding love for local street food (including an incredible weakness for xiao long bao). She has two adorable corgis, Clover and Spade.
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Her debut YA rom-com, FAKE DATES AND MOONCAKES, is published by Penguin Random House (US) and Macmillan (UK), and has been translated in Spain, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Brazil, and the Czech Republic.
Her YA fantasy, LEGEND OF THE WHITE SNAKE, is published by HarperCollins (US) and Macmillan (UK), and will be translated in Spain, Italy, Germany, Portugal, and Brazil.
Follow her on Instagram and Twitter. -
Steven Salvatore
Steven Salvatore is a critically acclaimed author, book coach, and chaos agent whose obsessions include Star Wars, Mariah Carey, boating in the Adirondacks, his loud Italian family, exploring Italy, being Italian (Siciliano, not Italian-American!), and having and dissecting his existential crises (not in that order). As a studied, accomplished composition professor with experience running college writing programs, he’s currently an academic advisor at Manhattanville University, where he also teaches. He has an MFA in Creative Writing from The New School. He lives somewhere with his amazing husband Chris.
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Steven is represented by Jess Regel at Helm Literary. His books include the critical darling AND THEY LIVED..., CAN'T TAKE THAT AWAY, NO -
Toni Duarte
Toni Duarte writes stories about queer characters navigating unraveled worlds. Originally from Illinois, she now calls the Irish countryside home. When she’s not dreaming up new stories, she can be found spending time with her family or questing through video games. She loves D&D, books, and all things zombie-related.
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E.M. Anderson
E.M. Anderson (she/they) is the queer, neurodivergent author of The Remarkable Retirement of Edna Fisher (Midnight Meadow, 2023) and The Keeper of Lonely Spirits (MIRA Books, 2025). Her work has appeared in Wyldblood Press's From the Depths: A Fantasy Anthology, Dark Horses: The Magazine of Weird Fiction, and SJ Whitby's Awakenings: A Cute Mutants Anthology. It is their doom to one day vanish in the depths of a forest, never to be seen again, after ignoring the repeated warnings of the locals to stay out of the woods. Until that fateful day, you can find her on Instagram, BlueSky, Facebook, or Tumblr at @elizmanderson.
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Giano Cromley
Born and raised in Montana, Giano Cromley is the author of two young adult novels and a collection of short stories. He is a recipient of an Artist Fellowship from the Illinois Arts Council and was a BookEnds Fellow with Stonybrook University. He is an amateur woodworker, a certified wildlife tracker, and an English professor at Kennedy-King College, where he is chair of the Communications Department. He lives on the Southside of Chicago with his wife and two dogs.
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River Flynn
River Flynn (they/them) is a late 20s non-binary transmasc writer of queer fiction & avid reader of queer niches.
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They are neurodivergent, able-bodied, white, first-generation academic, intersectional feminist.
When they aren't writing, they are working on their phd in gender studies or can be found at their local queer*feminist spaces.
pfp by @insectren -
Tess Carletta
Tess Carletta is a library assistant by day, and an indie writer every other waking moment. She holds a particular love for sunsets, quiet country walks, and stories about folks who love each other. She lives in Pennsylvania with two roommates and a round cat aptly named, Ruby the Ham Princess.
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Gabriella Buba
Gabriella Buba is a writer and chemical engineer who likes to keep explosive pyrophoric materials safely contained in pressure vessels or between the covers of her books. She writes Filipino epic fantasy for bold, bi, brown women who deserve to see their stories centered.
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Lan Cao
Lan is the co-author (with her teenage daughter) of the forthcoming memoir Family in Six Tones: A Refugee Mother, an American Daughter (Viking, September 15, 2020). She is also the author of the critically acclaimed novel Monkey Bridge, published by Viking in 1997. Her second novel, The Lotus and the Storm will be published by Viking Press in August 2014. She is a graduate of Mount Holyoke College and Yale Law School and worked as a litigation and corporate attorney in New York City for many years until she joined legal academia as a law professor.
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Tegan Anderson
Tegan Anderson is a storyteller from Devon, England, where they grew up believing in fairy tales and wishing they could become one too. They attended Falmouth University to study Photography and were lured into getting a master's degree after spending too much time longing to turn their stories into screenplays. They are the author of Beauty in the Breakdown and BBNYA finalist Paper Forests, and are currently working on novels focusing on neurodivergence and disability acceptance. Tegan spends most of their time surrounded by chow chows and overflowing bookshelves.
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O.E. Tearmann
Bringing their own experiences as a marginalized author to the page with flawed but genuine characters, O.E. Tearmann’s work has been described as “Firefly for the dystopian genre.”
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Tearmann is a member of the Science Fiction Writers of America, the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers, a finalist for the Cygnus award and the winner of the 2022 Feathered Quill award. They live in Colorado with two cats, their partner, and the belief that individuals can make humanity better through small actions. In their spare time, they teach workshops on writing GLTBQ characters, plant gardens that showcase sustainable agricultural practices, and play too many video games. -
Jennifer Inglis
Jennifer Inglis studies comedy writing at the Training Center of The Second City and is a member of the Chicago Writer’s Association. An alumna of Northern Illinois University, Jennifer earned a bachelor’s degree in Theater Arts and recently earned her master’s degree in Education. Most recently, she worked as a public school teacher, instructing her students in English Language Arts and Drama, and has worn a variety of hats in professional theater in suburban Chicago, including that of playwright, actor, director, and producer. She lives in Chicago with her cat, Daisy, and several plants that refuse to remain alive.
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Katie Simon
Katie Simon's writing has appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, Vogue, BuzzFeed, Tin House, and elsewhere, including the anthology The Anatomy of Silence. Her first nonfiction book, Tell Me What You Like: An Honest Discussion of Sex and Intimacy After Sexual Assault, is out July 29th. Katie studied creative writing at New York University, University of East Anglia, and Columbia University. She lives in Texas with her dog, Babka. @katiewsimon
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Carole Satyamurti
Carole Satyamurti (born 1939) is a British poet, sociologist, and translator.
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She grew up in Kent, and lived in North America, Singapore and Uganda. She taught at the University of East London, and at the Tavistock Clinic where her main interest was relating psycholanalytic ideas to the stories people tell about themselves whether in formal autobiography or everyday encounters.
She teaches for the Arvon Foundation and for the Poetry School. She is vice-president of Ver Poets.
She runs poetry programs in Venice, Corfu and the National Gallery (London), with Gregory Warren Wilson.
She has been writer in residence at the University of Sussex, and the College of Charleston.
She lives and works in London.
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Liv Strom
Liv Strom is a Swiss-Swedish writer of speculative fiction, often featuring strong women. Her stories have appeared in Apex, Hexagon SF Magazine, and Mystery Magazine, among others, and been included on Tor.com’s Must-Read Speculative Fiction and reviewed on Locus.
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Her first novel The Last Spiritwalker is a dark contemporary fantasy road trip where no one is safe, while her Tales of Bones and Roses series retells fairytales in the city of Tal, where epic fantasy and romance meet.
When not writing, she raises her three wild children on stories. -
Minerva Cerridwen
Minerva Cerridwen (xe or she) is a neurodivergent queer author from Belgium. Xe enjoys baking, drawing, crochet, and learning languages, and used to work as a pharmacist.
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Xyr debut, queer fairy tale novella The Dragon of Ynys, came out with Atthis Arts in 2020.
Since 2013 xe has been writing for Paranatellonta, a project of photography and flash fiction. In 2025 xe started reading these stories on a bilingual YouTube channel (English and Dutch). -
Marie Howalt
Marie Howalt was born and raised in a small North European kingdom called Denmark and started writing stories at the age of 11 after sucking the local library dry of science fiction and fantasy.
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After graduating from the University of Copenhagen with a master’s degree in English studies and religion, Marie worked as a translator between English and Danish for years before sustaining an injury that caused the condition PCS (Post Concussion Syndrome).
Now Marie writes as much as physically possible. The stories are a lot longer and quite a bit more complex than the childhood scribbles, but they still take place in the far future, fantasy worlds or alternate realities.
When not writing, Marie enjoys being a cat perch, drawing, reading and bribing -
Jane Hadley
Jane Hadley lives under seven layers of blankets staring out into the cold tundra of Minnesota winter from behind her original wavy glass 1915 windows which she stubbornly won’t replace because old things are inherently valuable.
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Talli L. Morgan
Talli is a writer, artist, and librarian who believes that books make some of the best friends. You can almost always find them buried in books (literally and figuratively), but they can also be spotted running around attempting to pet as many dogs as possible.
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You can find Talli on Instagram @tallimorgan.books and visit them at tallimorgan.com. -
Niamh Rose
Niamh Rose is an author of fantasy, historical, and LGBTQIA+ novels. Her fixation on Dr. Who aged eight, and on Lord of the Rings aged twelve, set off a lifelong love of the fantasy and supernatural genres. Niamh's adoration of all things mythological and magical goes into everything she writes, as well as influences from her favourite shows, anime, manga, and books.
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Her favourite reads of all time are Heaven's Official Blessing, Infernal Devices, and Wuthering Heights. Some of her favourite shows include Merlin, Game of Thrones, Word of Honour, Till the End of the Moon, and Fleabag.
Niamh is currently working on three different book series; Fate of the Five; To Forge A Sinner, and We Who Dwell in Dreams, and three standalone books; The Not -
Randee Dawn
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First of all, I'm the proud owner of a first novel, the humorous pop-culture fantasy Tune in Tomorrow (Solaris)!
I'm an entertainment journalist by day and an author at all other times. My tales have been published in a bunch of anthologies, and I'm the co-editor of Across the Universe: Tales of Alternate Beatles as well as the co-author of The Law & Order: SVU Unofficial Companion.
In my day job, I write for outlets including Today.com, Variety, The Los Angeles Times, and Emmy Magazine.
I live with the love of my life and an adorable West Highland Terrier (who is also quite lovable), in Brooklyn. Be sure to visit me at my web page, and sign up for the newsletter! -
Norees Gasper
Norees grew up on the west coast of Canada, where she still lives with her many books. She has two Master's degrees in Public Policy and Library and Information Studies, and her debut gothic low fantasy novel, The Arcane Archives, comes out in March 2027. You can find Norees on Tiktok @nerysreads and Instagram @noreeswrites.
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Whit McClendon
Hello! I'm Whit McClendon, a fantasy author and martial arts instructor. My favorite genres are fantasy/sword-and-sorcery, sci-fi, detective thrillers, and the occasional paranormal thriller. I'm west of Houston, Tx, and I enjoy reading, writing, teaching martial arts, and playing lacrosse. Oh, and pugs...love me some pugs!
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Shermon Kodi
Shermon Kodi is a legally blind author who finds inspiration in the quiet knolls of Chittenden County, Vermont, where the long snowy winters drive one to pair wool socks with moccasin slippers and curl up by the furnace with a pot of chamomile tea and a book about monsters in dark places doing dark things. Through his writing, Shermon seeks to explore the resilience of the human spirit, the tenacity of good people faced with hard times, and the relationships that light us up, make our hearts smile, and carry us through every storm.
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When he’s not writing, Shermon spends his time thinking about writing.
He knows this is a problem— although, he contends, it’s a good kind of problem to have. Occasionally, he’ll break from his routines and really