From time to time we do one off anthologies, with no follow up planned. We have collected those here for you. Enjoy information on the storytellers involved in Wicked Women, Winter Tales, and You Left Your Biscuit Behind.
Wicked Women
A. R. Aston is a speculative fiction writer from former industrial town of Swadlincote, located deep in the Heart of England (in the left ventricle if you must know…). An avid student of history and english literature, he has always had a passion for the written word. When not writing, he can be found reading voraciously, creating a functional time machine, and composing spurious facts about himself… For more of his work, visit his author page on amazon:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/A.-R.-Aston/e/B00AKG2IEK
Or alternatively visit his blog, The Tentacled Tribunal, at: http://lordlucan1.wordpress.com
Stephanie Burgis lives in Wales with her husband, fellow writer Patrick Samphire, their two children, and their crazy-sweet border collie mix. She has published over thirty short stories in various SF and fantasy magazines and anthologies as well as a trilogy of Regency fantasy novels for younger readers, The Unladylike Adventures of Kat Stephenson. You can find links to her other short stories and excerpts from her novels on her website: http://www.stephanieburgis.com
Zen Cho is a Malaysian writer of SFF and romance living in London. She was a finalist for the Campbell Award for Best New Writer in 2013. Her short story collection Spirits Abroad was published by Buku Fixi in June 2014.
Her website can be found at http://zencho.org
Jaine Fenn is the author of the Hidden Empire series of far future SF novels published by Gollancz, which began with Principles of Angels. She also writes short stories in other genres, and is a sucker for a retold folk tale. Her website can be found at http://www.jainefenn.com
Tom Johnstone’s fiction has appeared in various publications, including the Ninth and Tenth Black Books of Horror (Mortbury Press), Brighton – The Graphic Novel (Queenspark Books) and Supernatural Tales, #27. He also co-edited the austerity-themed anthology Horror Uncut: Tales of Social Insecurity and Economic Unease with the late Joel Lane, published in September 2014 by Gray Friar Press.
Juliet E McKenna’s love of other worlds, other peoples, fantasy, myth and history was nurtured by childhood viewing of programmes such as Doctor Who, Star Trek and UFO. After studying Classics at Oxford University, she worked in personnel management before a career change to combine motherhood and book-selling. Her debut novel, The Thief’s Gamble, was published in 1999, the first of The Tales of Einarinn. That series was followed by The Aldabreshin Compass sequence, beginning with Southern Fire and The Chronicles of the Lescari Revolution, starting with Irons in the Fire. She writes diverse shorter fiction and always enjoying the challenge of something new, she wrote a serial story for Aethernet magazine in 2013. She is currently exploring the possibilities and opportunities of independent ebook publishing alongside traditional methods.
Check out her website at http://www.julietemckenna.com
Christine Morgan works the overnight shift in a psychiatric facility, which plays havoc with her sleep schedule but allows her a lot of writing time. A lifelong reader, she also reviews, beta-reads, occasionally edits and dabbles in self-publishing. Her other interests include gaming, history, superheroes, crafts, cheesy disaster movies and training to be a crazy cat lady. She can be found online at http://www.christine-morgan.org
Gaie Sebold’s debut novel introduced brothel-owning ex-avatar of sex and war, Babylon Steel (Solaris, 2012); the sequel, Dangerous Gifts, came out in 2013. Shanghai Sparrow, a steampunk fantasy, came out in 2014. She has published numerous short stories, had a variety of jobs (some more unusual than others) and is a member of T Party Writers. She now writes, runs writing workshops, grows vegetables, and procrastinates to professional levels. She has also been known to commit performance poetry and to run around in woods hitting people with latex weapons, though seldom both at the same time.
Extracts from Shanghai Sparrow and the Babylon Steel novels can be found on her website: http://gaiesebold.com.
Follow the latest scandal and tidbits from the world of Babylon Steel at http://scalentine.gaiesebold.com.
Sam Stone is the award-winning author of The Vampire Gene Series. Her latest works include the first part of her new apocalypse trilogy, Jinx Town, a short horror novel that first appeared in audio, The Darkness Within, and her latest Steampunk novella, What’s Dead PussyKat. A prolific and eclectic genre writer, Sam’s short fiction has appeared in many collections and anthologies as well as her own collection Zombies in New York and Other Bloody Jottings. She is currently working on the second Jinx book.
Sam lives in Lincolnshire with her partner David and their cat, Jinx.
Visit her at: http://www.sam-stone.com
Adrian Tchaikovsky is the author of the acclaimed Shadows of the Apt fantasy series, from the first volume, Empire In Black and Gold in 2008 to the final book, Seal of the Worm, in 2014, with a new series and a standalone science fiction novel scheduled for 2015. He has been nominated for the David Gemmell Legend Award and a British Fantasy Award and his first full length science fiction novel, Portia’s Children comes out in 2015. In civilian life he is a lawyer, gamer and amateur entomologist.
Find him online at: http://shadowsoftheapt.com
Jonathan Ward is a science-fiction, horror and fantasy writer hailing from the sprawling urban metropolis of Bedford. He has wanted to be an author since the age of eight, though it’s questionable whether his writing talents have improved since then. When not writing he can be found reading a good book, out exploring new places, or in the pub being sarcastic to his closest friends.
Jonathan’s Author Central page containing links to all of his published work: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Jonathan-Ward/e/B002BLQ8HA/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0
Jonathan’s Facebook writing page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Written-Ward/339336243357
Chloë Yates is a writer of odd stories. Having peppered her way across the Fox Spirit landscape with stories in all three of Kate Laity’s Noir series (Drag Noir will be out soon), work appearing (and to be appearing) in all but one of the Fox Pockets, and becoming a Girl at the End of the World (Vol. 1), she is currently working on her first novel and a collection of short stories for the upcoming Feral Tales trilogy. She lives in the middle of Switzerland with her bearded paramour, Mr Y, and their disapproving dog, Miss Maudie.
Find her online at: http://chloeyates.com
Winter Tales
Adrian Tchaikovsky was born in Woodhall Spa, Lincolnshire before heading off to Reading to study psychology and zoology. For reasons unclear even to himself he subsequently ended up in law and has worked as a legal executive in both Reading and Leeds, where he now lives. Married, he is a keen live role-player and occasional amateur actor, has trained in stage-fighting, and keeps no exotic or dangerous pets of any kind, possibly excepting his son. He’s the author of the critically acclaimed Shadows of the Apt series as well as standalone works Guns of the Dawn and Children of Time, and numerous short stories.
Amelia Gorman is a baker turned computer science student living in Minnesota. She has a short story in Innsmouth Free Press’s She Walks in Shadows anthology and her poetry has been published in Nonbinary Review and Liminality: A Magazine of Speculative Poetry. She sometimes writes things at http://gormanghastblog.wordpress.com/
Anne Michaud. Author of the Whispered Echoes series, Anne lives in Canada where her old house creaks at night… Might be from the ghosts or the weight of her many books, no one really knows.
B Thomas writes from New England where he unequally balances time between hiking, concerts, and quoting seemingly random movies. Get in touch at http://bthomas7.weebly.com
David Sarsfield has been earnestly writing within the Science Fiction genre for the past seven years, and is a proud member of the Sheffield Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers Group. He is particularly interested in the dystopian and cyberpunk sub-genres, born out of a fascination with the future and how far technology may shape it. David is an academic publishing editor by trade and much of his literary work has been inspired by this wonderfully niche day job. He now lives in Bradford with his wife, Lisa, and two children, Isaac and Poppy.
DJ Tyrer is the person behind Atlantean Publishing and has been widely published in anthologies and magazines in the UK, USA and elsewhere, including A Grimoire of Eldritch Inquests, Volume I (Emby Press), State of Horror: Illinois (Charon Coin Press), Steampunk Cthulhu (Chaosium), Tales of the Dark Arts (Hazardous Press), Ill-considered Expeditions (April Moon Books), and Sorcery & Sanctity: A Homage to Arthur Machen (Hieroglyphics Press), and in addition, has a novella available in paperback and on the Kindle, The Yellow House (Dunhams Manor). DJ Tyrer’s website is at http://djtyrer.blogspot.co.uk The Atlantean Publishing website is at http://atlanteanpublishing.blogspot.co.uk
Eliza Chan writes about East Asian mythology, British folklore and madwomen in the attic, but preferably all three at once. Her work has appeared in Fantasy Magazine, the British Fantasy Society’s New Horizons and Lontar Magazine. Originally from Scotland, Eliza lived for 3 years in Japan where she got the inspiration for ‘Yukizuki’ (which translates as snow lover) from the Yuki Onna folktale and the snowboarders of Hokkaido. Currently Eliza lives in Manchester with her husband, a growing collection of board games and a large collection of (toy and real) weapons. Follow her on Twitter: @elizawchan
Fiona Clegg is a freelance writer who lives near Oxford, England in a world of words and wonder. She inspires and encourages others to do the same in various writing communities.
G. H. Finn is the pen name of someone you are unlikely to have heard of but who keeps his real identity secret anyway, possibly in the hope of one day being mistaken for a superhero. G. H. Finn lives in Orkney. Having written non-fiction for a number of years he began submitting fiction in early 2015. He has been published in the UK, US & Canada writing speculative and cross-genre fiction, including detective, supernatural & comic horror. He is now also editing short story anthologies. Find him on Twitter: @GanferHaarFinn or Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/g.h.finn or on his website: http://ghfinn.orkneymagic.com
Jan Edwards lives close to the Peaks Nation Park (UK) with her husband Peter Coleborn and the obligatory three cats. She has a passion for folklore and the supernatural, with numerous stories published in those spheres, including the Mammoth Book of the Adventures of Moriarty and Terror Tales of the Ocean. Many of her published short fiction are reprinted in her collections Leinster Gardens and Other Subtleties and Fables and Fabulations. Jan has won a Winchester Slim Volume prize and was short-listed for a BFS Award for Best Short Story. She edits for the award winning Alchemy Press and also for Fox Spirit. In a previous existence she was a Chairperson for the British Fantasy Society. For more details go to http://janedwardsblog.wordpress.com
James Bennett is a British writer of fantasy and horror. He’s had several short stories published internationally, the latest ‘Broken Bridges’ earning him a mention in Starburst Magazine. James lives in West Wales where he is currently at work on a fantasy series, the first volume of which comes out from Orbit Books in autumn 2016. There is myth and then there is myth. ‘The Red Lawns’ is what really happened. Feel free to join him on Twitter: @wytcheboy
Jonathan Ward is a science-fiction, horror and fantasy writer hailing from the sprawling urban metropolis of Bedford. He has wanted to be an author since the age of eight, though it’s questionable whether his writing talents have improved since then. When not writing he can be found reading a good book, out exploring new places, or in the pub being sarcastic to his closest friends. Jonathan’s Author Central page containing links to all of his published work: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Jonathan-Ward/e/B002BLQ8HA/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0 and Jonathan’s writing page on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Written-Ward/339336243357
Kelda Crich is a new born entity. She’s been lurking in her creator’s mind for a few years. Now she’s out in the open. Find Kelda in London looking at strange things in London’s medical museums or on her blog: http://keldacrichblog.blogspot.co.uk/. Kelda’s poems have appeared in Nameless, Cthulhu Haiku II, Transitions and Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet.
K.N. McGrath is a science-fiction and horror writer from the lake-filled area of the state of New York. They are responsible for the DailyNightmare’s horror poem, ‘Cayuga’. They are greatly inspired by (and season their stories with) Asian history and cultures and Eldritch horror. You can read more about their work and publishing woes at http://karmaplacewriting.com
Lizz-Ayn Shaarawi is a Texan lost in the Oregon wilderness. She’s a screenwriter and author whose short stories have been featured in numerous anthologies. Her screenplays have been recognized by The Austin Film Festival, The Nicholl Fellowship in Screenwriting, and The Page Awards. She enjoys cheap thrills, expensive shoes, and things that go bump in the night. You can find her random babblings on Twitter under her username: @lizzayn
Masimba Musodza is Zimbabwe-born and lives in the North-East England town of Middlesbrough. His MunaHacha Maive Nei? (2011) holds the distinction of being the first science-fiction novel in his native ChiShona, and the first in that language to appear as an e-book first before going to print. His latest, Shavi Rechikadzi, alludes to the Lovecraftian mythos. Musodza’ next novel explores the return of the migrant to his native land, with a nod to Dracula…..
Mat Joiner lives near Birmingham, England. Their short stories and poetry have appeared in Not One Of Us, Strange Horizons and Lackingtons, amongst others. When not writing they consume tea and second-hand books, watch foxes, go hillwalking, and haunt backstreets and canals. Despite this story, their favourite season is autumn.
Ruth EJ Booth is an award-winning writer, and more, from the North-East of England. Her fiction has appeared in NewCon Press, Fox Spirit and Far Horizons; meanwhile her non-fiction work has appeared in publications from The Independent and Mirror Online, to Kerrang! magazine and Drowned In Sound. In 2015, she won the BSFA Best Short Fiction Award for ‘The Honey Trap’ (La Femme, NewCon Press). In her spare time, Ruth may be a live photographer, singer, musician, yogini, or half-marathon runner. Her heart is quartz. Her hands are ice. ‘The Love of a Season’ is her first published poem.
Sharon Kernow’s ability to write something dark, gritty, and even outright twisted has led to appearances in publications such as Midnight Street, Aoife’s Kiss, Night To Dawn, and Radgepacket. Her short story ‘Bitter and Intoxicating’ was snapped up for Red Velvet and Absinthe, an anthology edited by Mitzi Szereto, foreword by Kelly Armstrong, designed to evoke the romantic ethos of classic Gothic fiction with a serving of eroticism. She was propelled into the steampunk universe of Space, 1899 and beyond, winning approval of series creator and award-winning game designer, Frank Chadwick, and editor, writer, and co-author, Andy Frankham-Allen.
Su Haddrell lives in a picturesque and peaceful area of Worcester that’s been cleverly disguised as a noisy council estate. In addition to writing, she also cosplays as small Pratchett characters, builds rocket launchers and organises the UK’s only Judge Dredd convention. Su has been known to paint commissions for people and enjoys hoarding fabric for sewing projects that she never gets around to. Occasionally Su edits the work of other authors which she blatantly uses as an excuse to hide and read more. She loves rum, her cat, her boyfriend and movies where things explode within the first 14 seconds.
Tim Major lives in Oxford with his wife and son. His love of speculative fiction is the product of a childhood diet of classic Doctor Who episodes and an early encounter with Triffids. His novella, Carus & Mitch was published by Omnium Gatherum in February 2015 and his short stories have featured in Interzone, Perihelion and the Snowbooks anthology, Game Over. He blogs about writing and reading at http://www.cosycatastrophes.wordpress.com
Verity Holloway is a speculative fiction and historical non-fiction writer living in East Anglia. Her stories and poems are inspired by all things medical, historical, and religious, with a magical realist bent. In 2012, she published her first chapbook of poems, Contraindications, and her novella of magic and makeup, crypts and clownfish, Beauty Secrets of The Martyrs, was released in 2015. The Mighty Healer, Verity’s biography of her Victorian quack doctor ancestor, will be published by Pen & Sword in the winter of 2016. She blogs at http://verityholloway.com
You Left Your Biscuit Behind
A writer of bleakly noirish tales with a bit of grim humour, Graham Wynd can be found eating shortbread biscuits in Dundee, but would prefer you didn’t come looking. An English professor by day, Wynd grinds out darkly noir prose between trips to the local pub, including SATAN’S SORORITY from Number Thirteen Press and EXTRICATE from Fox Spirit Books, as well as tales in Anthony Award-nominated anthologies Murder Under the Oaks and Protectors 2: Heroes. See a full list of stories (including free reads) at GrahamWynd.com.
Jay Eales was born among the dying embers of the Swinging Sixties, in a rural Northamptonshire town where the Co-op was (and remains) King, and almost every family was in thrall to the boot and shoe industry (May it Rest In Peace). Jay has written, edited and published a variety of prose and comics, mostly under the Factor Fiction imprint, especially The Girly Comic and Violent! comic anthologies. He was News Features Editor for the award-winning Borderline Magazine and co-organised Caption, Britain’s longest-running comic convention. His comics have been published by Constable & Robinson, Image Comics, Accent UK, Futurequake Press and Borderline Press to name but a few. His prose has appeared within the pages of anthologies from Obverse Books, Murky Depths, Hersham Horror, Dog Horn Publishing, Rainfall Books, The Alchemy Press and Fox Spirit. His first novel progresses in fits and starts. If you simply must know more, then www.factorfictionpress.co.uk is a fine place to start.
James Bennett is a British author of Fantasy and other weirdness. ‘Ghost Signals’ doesn’t know whether it wants to be a spooky tale or a crime one, so it definitely falls into the biscuit category. Perhaps it isn’t a custard cream though. James Bennett’s debut Fantasy novel ‘Chasing Embers’ is out now from Orbit Books. James currently lives nowhere in particular. Feel free to follow him on Twitter: @Benjurigan
K.D. Kinchen was born and lives in Wales. She spends her time writing, drinking tea and defending her keyboard against the well-meaning paws of her ‘helpful’ rescue kitty. When not at her keyboard she can be found horse riding, watching action movies and hunting down Thai food. She likes rock music, archery, travel, fast cars and a good glass of red.
K.D. has self-published two crime novels via Amazon KDP; Evil Brewing and Darkest Hour. You can connect on Twitter, Facebook or pop on over to her website for further info.
www.kdkinchen.weebly.com
After working in many different jobs, Penny Jones finally realised that writing was the career for her, as she always spoke about herself in the third person. Her parents realised she was going to be a writer much earlier on in her life, when Santa brought her a typewriter for Christmas when she was three years old. You can follow her on twitter @pennyqotu although she does get a bit freaked that on-line stalking is now a thing.
Carol Borden is three days from retirement and she’s not looking for any more trouble. She’s just going to keep her head down and do paperwork. And three days from now, after she slams her badge down on the captain’s desk, she’s going to tell the captain where he can stick it. Just please don’t let her get assigned another spooky case with her hotheaded partner. She’s had enough of that guy. She’s going to spend every day, sitting by the river writing short stories. You can find more of her stories in Fox Spirit’s Noir series, Piercing The Vale, Things In The Dark, and The Girl At The End Of The World, Vol. 1. Man, that minute second hand seems to drag. Looks like it’s getting slower and slower, almost stopping. Shit, here comes the captain and her partner.
Mame Bougouma Diene is a French-Senegalese American humanitarian who lives in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn with a fondness for progressive metal, tattoos and policy analysis. He is published in Omenana, Brittle Paper, Short Story Day Africa, Edilivres, AfroSFv2 (Storytime), Myriad Lands (Guardbridge Books), and has stories upcoming with New English Press and Galaxies Magazine.
Originally from Wales, EJ Davies now resides in Ottawa, Canada. A keen cinephile, reader, reviewer, miniature painter, musician, cook, and gamer; he tries to get words on a page in some form of logical, and entertaining order. Find him on Twitter: @EJ_Davies, Facebook: @EJDaviesAuthor, or on his blog: http://ejdavies.wordpress.com
Biscuit of choice: The Golden Oreo
Kate Coe is a writer of fiction and fantasy, and blogs at writingandcoe.co.uk. In real life she’s a librarian with a background in classics and law, lives with an engineer and lazy cat, and fills her spare time in between writing with web design, gaming, geeky cross-stitch and DIY (which may or may not involve destroying things). She also reads far fewer books that she would like to, but possibly more than she really has time for.
She makes a mean chocolate brownie, but isn’t so good at biscuits – possibly for the best!
R.A. Kennedy is a Cornish writer whose animal fantasy stories focus on Cornish mythology and folklore. Once described as a “F**ked up Beatrix Potter”, he has been a musician for many years, listens to unhealthy amounts of metal, and looks like an extra from the t.v show Sons of Anarchy. R.A. Kennedy lives in Kernow with his wife (who is an actual mermaid) and animals. You can find him on Twitter: @RomeoRites and reviewing books, films etc for /Garbage-file
K. A. Laity is the award-winning author of How to Be Dull, White Rabbit, Dream Book, A Cut-Throat Business, Lush Situation, Owl Stretching, Unquiet Dreams, À la Mort Subite, The Claddagh Icon, Chastity Flame, and Pelzmantel, as well as editor of Respectable Horror, Weird Noir, Noir Carnival and Drag Noir. She also writes historical fiction as Kit Marlowe and crime as Graham Wynd. Her bibliography is chock full of short stories, humour, plays and essays, both scholarly and popular. As a 2011-2012 Fulbright Fellow in Galway, Ireland she worked in digital humanities at NUIG. Dr. Laity teaches medieval literature, film, gender studies, digital humanities and popular culture at the College of Saint Rose, where she is also the director of the Digital Humanities Initiative. She divides her time between Hudson, New York and Dundee, Scotland.
Jack of several trades, master of none, Ian Burdon started writing fiction in his fifties. When not occupied by his day job, Ian spends his time at his desk in the shed, exploring the subconscious he has so far kept hidden from his unsuspecting family, often to the accompaniment of wildly unfashionable music. He lives in Edinburgh. You can find him at www.cosmicsurfer.co.uk or on Twitter @Cosmic_Serf
Anjana Basu is a lady of sensibility based in Calcutta, India who has penned 7 novels to date, umpteen poems and left her mark on various magazines, including Vogue India. She can be reached on twitter AnjanaBasu@AnjanaBasu
Maura McHugh lives in the Irish countryside, in a house watched over by rooks, and visited by hares. Her short fiction and essays have appeared in publications in America and Europe, as well as two collections – Twisted Fairy Tales and Twisted Myths – published in the USA. She’s written several comic book series, including co-writing Witchfinder for Dark Horse Comics. She’s also a screenwriter, playwright, a critic, and has served on the juries of international literary, comic book, and film awards. Her web site is http://splinister.com and she tweets as @splinister.
HV Chao See www.EdwardGauvin.com
Coddled within the coterie of Contessa Cadenza Crimpildi’s College for Cultured Young Ladies in the temperate cheese forests of a forgotten Swiss canton, C. A. Yates, as she is currently known within certain hallowed circles, perversely cultivated a curiosity for all things respectably macabre during her early teenage years. Although frequently cited for insubordination and flagrant contempt, she eventually excelled in all her studies, most notably in Comportment, Gracious Conduct, and Finger Boxing (Heavyweight). By the end of her education, even the Contessa herself, had she not, some years previously, become ill-advisedly dead at the hand of her erstwhile Bavarian paramour, Colonel Dandy Von Nichols, would have been proud of how very respectable Ms Yates had become. Should you wish to follow her continued pursuit of excellence and, of course, respectability, you may visit her most courteous web presence at www.chloeyates.com or follow her, @shloobee, on the tawdry garden path that is Twitter.
Alan C. Moore is a writer, blogger, digital strategist, husband, and father from Virginia. He has been a writer for most of his adult life through academic, professional, and personal sources.
Catherine Lundoff is a Minneapolis-based award-winning writer and editor. Her stories and articles have appeared in such venues as The Mammoth Book of the Adventures of Professor Moriarty, The Mammoth Book of Jack the Ripper Stories, The Cainite Conspiracies, Callisto, Tales of the Unanticipated, Nightmare Magazine: Queers Destroy Horror and SF Signal. Her books include Silver Moon and Out of This World: Queer Speculative Fiction.
Website: www.catherinelundoff.com
Jonathan Oliver is the Editor-in-Chief at Rebellion Publishing, overseeing Solaris, Abaddon and Ravenstone books. He is the author of two novels and a forthcoming short story collection, The Language of Beasts. He twice won the British Fantasy Award for Best Anthology, for Magic and End of the Road. He lives in Abingdon, Oxfordshire with his wife, two daughters and their faithful cat.
Richard Farren Barber was born in Nottingham in July 1970. After studying in London he returned to the East Midlands. He lives with his wife and son and works as a Registry Manager for a local university.
He has written over 200 short stories and has had short stories published in Alt-Dead, Alt-Zombie, ePocalypse – Tales from the End, Horror D’Oeuvres, Murky Depths, Midnight Echo, Midnight Street, Morpheus Tales, Night Terrors II, Siblings, The House of Horror, Spectral Press’s 13 Ghosts of Christmas, Trembles, When Red Snow Melts, and broadcast on BBC Radio Derby, Pseudopod, and The Wicked Library.
Richard’s first novella, “The Power of Nothing” was published by Damnation Books and his second, “The Sleeping Dead” was published by DarkFuse. His next novella “Odette” is due out early in 2016.
His website can be found here www.richardfarrenbarber.co.uk
Su Haddrell is a British writer in a picturesque and peaceful area of Worcester that’s been cleverly disguised as a noisy council estate. She has had stories published by Fox Spirit and Phrenic Press and enjoys editing and beta reading for other authors. In addition to writing, she also paints, sews and organises the UK’s only Judge Dredd convention. She loves rum, her cat, her boyfriend and movies where things explode within the first 14 seconds.
Ivan Kershner Growing up “poor and on horseback” as part of a cattle ranching family on the Lakota Sioux Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, USA, provided Ivan with opportunities and perspectives rare in today’s world. Uniquely, Ivan was a minority in a Native culture not far removed from its roots in the open Western plains. His family’s hired man, Paul Bear Saves Life, had been a baby at the Massacre at Wounded Knee and Ivan’s best friend was Chucky Looking Elk.
The roots of Miss Metcalf…as a Halloween story…likely began with Ivan’s ranching family’s remote and rural lifestyle. On Halloween, Ivan and his brother and sister would put on their costumes, exit the back door, go around to the front door, and knock. Their father would answer the door and hand out treats. The children would then reverse their trek, entering the back door, and surprise their parents with the treats they had received. ikershner@netscape.net
Octavia Cade is a New Zealand writer. Her short stories have appeared in Asimov’s, Strange Horizons, and Apex Magazine, amongst others. She recently won a Sir Julius Vogel award for a ghost story about Ernest Rutherford splitting the atom, and her latest novella, “The Convergence of Fairy Tales” is a horror mash-up of fairy tale retellings. Her website is https://ojcade.com/, or you can find her @OJCade on Twitter.
Matthew Pegg is a writer based in Leicestershire. Most of his early writing was for theatre and his plays include work for puppet companies, youth theatres, community casts and a script designed to be performed during a medieval banquet. His most recent theatre work was Escaping Alice, a love story with chains and handcuffs, for York Theatre Royal. Most recently he’s written a community audio drama based on the life of Wordsworth and has been commissioned to create a puppet play which will tour to care homes for people suffering from dementia.
In 2012 he completed an MA in Creative Writing, and since then he has been working on a novel, and placing short fiction with a variety of publishers. His fiction is influenced by youthful encounters with M.R. James and Carnacki the Ghostfinder.
His website can be found at www.mpegg.co.uk
Suzanne J. Willis is a Melbourne, Australia-based writer, a graduate of Clarion South and an Aurealis Awards finalist. Her stories have appeared or are forthcoming in anthologies by PS Publishing, Prime Books, Fablecroft Publishing and Falstaff Books, and in Fantasy Scroll Magazine, SQ Mag, Mythic Delirium, and Lackington’s. Suzanne’s tales are inspired by fairytales, ghost stories and all things strange, and she can be found online at suzannejwillis.webs.com
D. C. White lives in Blackwood, South Australia with his possum Cheeky. D. C.’s work has been published in Australia, the UK and the US. He is currently wondering what to have for tea.
Rosalind Mosis is an arts graduate and classroom assistant by day, hunched gargoyle/slash writing creature by night. She is typically found at her desk, somewhere in deep dark Essex, drinking tea next to a storage heater because she spends about 80% of her time too cold and antisocial to function. Her main obsessions include Japanese horror, ghosts, urban legends, the paranormal and folklore. If it involves screaming relentless spirits with long black hair and twisted faces, she’ll probably be interested. Outside of horror, her favourite writing genres are fantasy, sci-fi and comedy.
Her main horror/weird writing influences are Clive Barker, H.P Lovecraft, James Herbert, Neil Gaiman, Banana Yoshimoto and Haruki Murakami. Her writing hero is Terry Pratchett. She also mainlines horror survival games like Ikenie no Yoru, Calling, White Day, Yomawari as well as the Silent Hill and Fatal Frame games. And a lot of graphic novels.
Somehow Rosalind managed to acquire a husband and daughter, who worry about what awful deeds she commits after dark and quietly appease her with biscuits. Her first novel is THE RITES OF LEMURIA, available on Inkitt.
Under some strange, irresistible compulsion Carol Borden was drawn to the manor library. She found the forbidden tome already opened, as if some has had left it for her ready to read. And she did read the book, though she knew she should not. Some had gone mad merely from glimpsing the subtitle. No, Carol Borden counted herself lucky to retain her sanity after what she learned. Decades later she still fell into trances of automatic writing, in which she produced dozens of short stories, including one published in this very book.