April J. Asbury is a writer, teacher, and editor from southwest Virginia. She earned her M.F.A. from Spalding University and M.A. from Hollins. Her poetry and short stories appear in Artemis Journal, Still: The Journal, Gyroscope Review, Pine Mountain Sand & Gravel, Songs of Eretz, Women Speak, Power of the Feminine I, Up Your Ars Poetica, Floyd County Moonshine, Anthology of Appalachian Writers, and other publications. Her poetry collection, Woman with Crows, is available on apriljasbury.com.
James Blakey has published fifty short stories across a variety of genres and is a three-time finalist for the Short Mystery Fiction Society’s Derringer Award, winning in 2019 for his story “The Bicycle Thief.” As an active member of the writing community, he leads critique groups in Harrisonburg, Charlottesville, and Shenandoah County, and serves as the Secretary of the Rocktown Writers Guild. His debut novel Superstition, a paranormal thriller, was released by City Owl Press in 2024. James is also the publisher and co-editor of Charlottesville Fantastic: Arcane Echoes From Virginia’s Heartland, an anthology featuring speculative tales set in and around Charlottesville. When not crafting stories, James explores the outdoors having summited forty of the fifty US state high points, or embarks on bike-camping adventures along the East Coast. He resides in Broadway, VA. Discover more at JamesBlakeyWrites.com.
David Keener is an author, editor, and public speaker who lives in Northern Virginia with his wife and two, oops, three, inordinately large dogs. He writes SF, fantasy, and mystery but loves mashing up his favorite genres in new and unexpected ways, as seen in books like Jonelle Crosse and Road Trip. He is the editor of two anthologies, Fantastic Defenders and Fantastic Detectives. He is a founding member of the Hourlings Podcast Project, covering writing-related topics. David also frequently speaks at conventions, where he often conducts writing workshops.
Sean CW Korsgaard is a U.S. Army veteran, award-winning freelance journalist, author, editor, and publicist who has worked with Analog Science Fiction & Fact, Baen Books, and Writers of the Future, and recently became the editor of Anvil and Battleborn magazines. His first anthology, Worlds Long Lost, was released in December 2022, as was his debut short story, “Black Box.” He lives in Richmond, VA with his wife and child, along with, depending on who you ask, either far too many or far too few books.
Debbie Manber Kupfer grew up in the London, but somehow ended up in St. Louis, MO, where she lives with her family—including two very opinionated felines. She works as a writer, editor, and puzzle constructor and is the author of the young adult fantasy series, P.A.W.S. and a number of children’s picture books. Her puzzles have appeared in Tribune newspapers, Penny Press, and Dell magazines. She believes that with enough tea and dark chocolate you can achieve anything!
Gray Rinehart is a writer, an editor, a singer/songwriter, and a retired Air Force officer. He is the only person to have commanded a USAF satellite tracking station, written speeches for Presidential appointees, devised a poetic form, and had music on The Dr. Demento Show. He is currently a contributing editor (the “Slushmaster General”) for Baen Books.
Gray writes science fiction and fantasy stories, among which is the lunar colonization novel Walking on the Sea of Clouds. His short fiction has appeared in Analog Science Fiction & Fact, Asimov’s Science Fiction, Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show, and multiple anthologies. He has also written an eclectic mix of nonfiction books: A Church More Like Christ; Elements of War; and, Quality Education. In addition, he has written and released three albums which feature science-fiction-and-fantasy-inspired music; the most recent is Taking You Out to See the Stars.
During his unusual Air Force career, Gray fought rocket propellant fires, refurbished space launch facilities, “flew” Milstar communications satellites, drove trucks, encrypted nuclear command and control orders, commanded the largest remote tracking station in the Air Force Satellite Control Network, and did other interesting space-related things.
Gray’s alter ego is the Gray Man, one of several famed ghosts of South Carolina’s Grand Strand. His website is graymanwrites.com.
Amber Rodenbo is one of the founders of River City Siren Press, a small-press/indie publishing company situated in the Richmond, VA area. Amber is a published author with an M.F.A. in Creative Writing and a career background in teaching young writers, literary magazine editing, technical editing, and creative design. Amber is also a book cover designer, book formatter, and overall lover of all things books and publishing related.
Mike Jack Stoumbos is an award-winning science fiction author and the editor of the Unhelpful Encyclopedia series. He lives with his wife, a small dog, and an old parrot, and he “dabbles” in any medium of art he can get his hands on.
Ian Randal Strock (IanRandalStrock.com) is the editor and publisher of Fantastic Books (FantasticBooks.biz). He formerly edited Artemis Magazine, and served on the editorial staffs of Analog, Asimov’s, Baen Books, Science Fiction Chronicle, and many more. As a writer, his fiction has appeared in Analog, Nature, several anthologies, and much of it was recently collected in Wandering Through Time. He won two AnLab Awards for his work in Analog, and was named the 2025 recipient of the Edward E. Smith Memorial “Skylark” Award.
Jack is the Vice-Chair of the Modern Enigma Society Board of Directors. He has more than thirty years of gaming and LARP experience. Having been a storyteller since he was a little kid, about fourteen years ago he began putting his work on paper. In addition to working as a freelance editor, he returned to his childhood dream of being a writer, and has now written more than fifty short novels, many of them spicy romances, under his pen names, available on Amazon.
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