JENN LYONS lives in Atlanta, Georgia, with her husband, three cats, and a nearly infinite number of opinions on anything from Sumerian mythology to the correct way to make a martini. Formerly a video game producer, she now spends her days writing fantasy. A long-time devotee of storytelling, she traces her geek roots back to playing first edition Dungeons&Dragons in grade school and reading her way from A to Z in the school's library.
ANDREA HAIRSTON is a novelist, essayist, playwright, and the Artistic Director of Chrysalis Theatre. She is the author of Redwood and Wildfire, winner of the 2011 Tiptree Award and the Carl Brandon Kindred Award, and Mindscape, shortlisted for the Phillip K Dick and Tiptree Awards, and winner of the Carl Brandon Parallax Award. In her spare time, she is the Louise Wolff Kahn 1931 Professor of Theatre and Afro-American Studies at Smith College. She has received the International Association of the Fantastic in the Arts Distinguished Scholarship Award for outstanding contributions to the criticism of the fantastic. She bikes at night year-round, meeting bears, multi-legged creatures of light and breath, and the occasional shooting star.
CHRISTOPHER PAOLINI was born in Southern California and has lived most of his life in Paradise Valley, Montana. He published his first novel, Eragon, in 2003 at the age of nineteen, and quickly became a publishing phenomenon. His Inheritance Cycle—Eragon and its three sequels—have sold nearly 40 million copies worldwide. To Sleep in a Sea of Stars is his first adult novel.
S. L. HUANG has a math degree from MIT and is a professional stuntwoman&armorer who has worked in Hollywood on Battlestar Galactica and a number of other productions. Her short fiction has appeared in Strange Horizons, Nature, Daily Science Fiction, and The Best American Science Fiction&Fantasy 2016. She is the author of Zero Sum Game, Null Set, and Critical Point.
CORY DOCTOROW is a regular contributor to the Guardian, Locus, and many other publications. His award-winning novel Little Brother was a New York Times bestseller, as is its sequel, Homeland. His novella collection Radicalized was a CBC Best Fiction of 2019 selection. Born and raised in Canada, he lives with his family in Los Angeles.
VICTORIA “V. E.” SCHWAB is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of more than a dozen books, including the acclaimed Shades of Magic series, the Villains series, This Savage Song, and Our Dark Duet. Her work has received critical acclaim, been featured in the New York Times, Entertainment Weekly, Washington Post and more, been translated into more than a dozen languages, and has been optioned for television and film. When she’s not haunting Paris streets or trudging up English hillsides, she lives in Edinburgh, Scotland and is usually tucked in the corner of a coffee shop, dreaming up monsters.
Twice-nominated Astounding Award finalist
JENN LYONS lives in Atlanta, Georgia with her husband, her cats and a nearly infinite number of opinions on anything from Sumerian mythology to the correct way to make a martini. After spending thirty years working as a graphic artist, art director, and video game producer (in that order), Lyons now spends her days writing fantasy. She traces her geek roots back to playing first edition Dungeons&Dragons in grade school—a passion she’s continued as an adult—as well as pursuing whatever craft or skill she’s obsessed with this week: pyrography, beadwork, stenography, furniture upholstery, etc. Her five book epic fantasy series, A Chorus of Dragons, begins with
The Ruin of Kings.
Andrea Hairston is a novelist, essayist, playwright, and the artistic director of Chrysalis Theatre. She is the author of
Redwood and Wildfire, winner of the 2011 Otherwise Award and the Carl Brandon Kindred Award, and
Mindscape, short-listed for the Philip K. Dick and Otherwise Awards and winner of the Carl Brandon Parallax Award. In her spare time, she is the Louise Wolff Kahn 1931 Professor of Theatre and Afro-American Studies at Smith College. Hairston has received the International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts Distinguished Scholarship Award for outstanding contributions to the criticism of the fantastic. She bikes at night year-round, meeting bears and the occasional shooting star.
Christopher Paolini, firstborn of Kenneth and Talita. Creator of the World of Eragon and the Fractalverse. Holder of the Guinness World Record for youngest author of a bestselling series. Qualified for marksman in the Australian army. Scottish Laird. Dodged gunfire . . . more than once. As a child, was chased by a moose in Alaska. Has his name inscribed on Mars. Husband. Father. Asker of questions and teller of stories.
S. L. Huang is a Hollywood stunt performer, firearms expert, Nebula Award finalist, and Hugo Award winner with a math degree from MIT and credits in productions like “Battlestar Galactica” and “Top Shot.” The author of the fantasy novella
Burning Roses as well as the Cas Russell novels including
Zero Sum Game,
Null Set, and
Critical Point,
Huang’s short fiction has also appeared in
Analog,
The Magazine of Fantasy&Science Fiction,
Strange Horizons,
Nature, Tor.com, and more, including numerous best-of anthologies.
Cory Doctorow is a science fiction author, activist and journalist. He is the author of many books, including
The Lost Cause, a solarpunk science-fiction novel of hope amidst the climate emergency. His nonfiction book
The Internet Con: How to Seize the Means of Computation is a Big Tech disassembly manual. Other recent books include
Red Team Blues, a science fiction crime thriller; Chokepoint Capitalism, nonfiction about monopoly and creative labor markets; the Little Brother series for young adults;
In Real Life, a graphic novel; and the picture book
Poesy the Monster Slayer. In 2020, he was inducted into the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame.
VICTORIA “V. E.” SCHWAB is the #1
New York Times bestselling author of more than twenty books. Schwab's series and standalone titles for readers of all ages have made her a major literary figure, whose notable works include the
Villains series, the
Shades of Magic universe, and
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue. When not haunting Paris streets or writing in the corner of her favorite coffee shop, she lives in Edinburgh, Scotland.
