Originally from Ontario, Canada, Loren Walker’s debut fiction novel EKO won the Library Journal Indie E-book Award for Science Fiction, was awarded a BRAG Medallion, shortlisted for the Half the World Global Literari Award, and selected as a Shelf Unbound Notable Indie title. The sequels, NADI, INSYNN, and NYX were released to high acclaim. In addition to fiction, Loren’s micro-chapbook of poetry neverheart was published by Dancing Girl Press in 2021. She has been nominated twice for the Pushcart Prize in Poetry, and chosen as a finalist in the Beulah Rose Poetry Contest and the Harbor Review Editor’s Prize. A member of The Collaborative in Warren, Rhode Island, Loren is alsoa linocut printmaker and ‘impressionist embroiderer.’ She lives in Providence, Rhode Island. Instagram @lorenwalkercreates Twitter @lorencreates. Website: www.lorenwalker.net
Luz Rosales is a Mexican-American college student and horror lover from South LA. Their work has been published in Strange Horizons, Black Telephone Magazine, Cotton Xenomorph, Okay Donkey, Perhappened, and elsewhere. They are an editor for Ginger Bug Press and a reader for Farside Review, X-R-A-Y Lit, and The Gamut Mag. When they aren’t reading or writing, they’re usually either watching cooking shows, looking at birds online, or hanging out with their cats.
Twitter: @TERRORCORES
Instagram: @luzziemcguire
María José Maldonado (she/they/fairy) is a Salvadoran-Ecuadorian writer & artist born & raised in Queens, NY. Their work is queer, feminist & leftist Central American. She hates cismen & loves to Instagram: @saymariajose
María José is a proud alum of Macondo Writers Workshop (Fiction) 2021, a 2020-2021 Barbara Deming Fund grantee for feminist fiction, a 2020-2021 Leslie-Lohman Artist Fellow, and a 2019-2020 Queer|Art Mentorship Literature Fellow mentored by Charles Rice-Gonzalez. She completed her first docushort “CALL 1-800-SALVI” as a grantee of Toronto Queer Film Festival’s DIY Film Lab 2020-2021.
Peggy Kyoungwon Lee is a queer Korean American writer and professor based in DC. Her novel-in-progress is inspired by anticolonial Korean anarchist resistance. Creative non-fiction is a significant practice for her fiction writing and cultural criticism. She was a part of the inaugural cohorts for creative non-fiction at Kundiman and the Asian American Writer’s Workshop Open City Fellowship. She has been invited to read her creative work at community spaces like Bluestockings or the first Asian American Literature Festival hosted by the Smithsonian and Library of Congress. When not writing or teaching, she is pursuing Piscean pleasures on a daily, from bringing a ranch sauce fountain to karaoke to thrifting vintage Korean silk pieces. Learn more at peggyleewrites.com.
Rafi Kleiman is a queer, Jewish, nonbinary author of speculative sci-fi and fantasy. They know firsthand the value of being able to see yourself reflected in the media you consume, and believe it’s vitally important that people of all types, especially those who have been historically underserved, are thoughtful represented in fiction. They love modern fantasy, bad puns, mythical creatures of all kinds, and live punk shows. They believe thoroughly in the power of hope, community, and friendship, but also believe that necromancy is pretty cool and maybe not that big of a deal. They are occasionally on twitter at @mothmanlives.
Sachiko Ragosta (they/them) is a Bay Area-based speculative fiction writer, sexual and reproductive health researcher, and sex educator. As a mixed nonbinary nisei, they like to write about light, feathery things such as the limits of the self and the body, mothers, and failed technological solutions for loneliness. Their work is in Ms. and forthcoming in It Came from the Closet: Queer Reflections on Horror (Feminist Press, October 2022) and the Intergalactic Gaysians anthology (2022). They are an alum of the Tin House Summer Workshop and a first reader for khōréō magazine. Check out their multimedia online chapbook and say “greetings” at sachikor.com or @v3rsachiko.
Seoung Kim (he/they) is a librarian and writer. They have published short stories with If There’s Anyone Left and Strange Horizons. He has a story forthcoming with Cast of Wonders.
Their favorite genre to work in is historical fantasy, but they’ll never say no to a good romance.
He resides gratefully on the homeland of the people of the Council of Three Fires. In his spare time, he enjoys Kate Bush, hiking in the woods, and his cats Jolene and Spaghetti. He can be found at seoungkim.com and @chimneyfalls on Twitter.
Sean Dowie is an Assistant Editor at Augur Magazine where he finds many creative, hidden spec fic gems in the slush pile. He also reviews books, movies, and TV at Nerds of a Feather and FIYAH Literary Magazine. Recently, his has been published at Carousel Magazine. He loves writing in pretty much every genre but weird fiction is where he gravitates toward the most. Sean is biracial (Black/white), gay, and resides in Toronto, Canada. Find him on Twitter @DowieSean
Si Yon Kim is a Korean writer who grew up in Ilsan and Seoul. She is an MFA candidate in fiction at Syracuse University and has been a finalist for multiple Speculative Literature Foundation grants. Her translations of Korean poems can be found in chogwa zine. The noona of two doggos, Ddalgi and Ankko, Si Yon is working on two speculative novels and tweets @seeyawning.
Victor Manibo is a Filipino speculative fiction writer living in New York. As a queer immigrant and a person of color, he writes about people who live these identities and how they navigate imaginary worlds. Aside from fiction, he also spins fantastical tales in his career as a lawyer. He lives in Queens with his husband, their dog, and their two cats. He is a 2022 Lambda Literary Emerging Voices Fellow, and his debut science fiction noir novel, THE SLEEPLESS, is out August 2022 from Erewhon Books. Find him online at victormanibo.com or on Twitter @victormanibo.
