Allan Kaster is a child of the Sputnik era. Raised, mostly, in San Antonio, Texas, he traveled the world as an Air Force brat. Sharing and trading comic books with other kids in Germany is a fond memory of his childhood. He started reading sci-fi novels when he was ten-years old. Not surprisingly, science was always his favorite subject in school. He graduated from Texas A&M University with a degree ...Read More

David Steffen is an editor, software developer, and cross-stitcher. He is most well-known for editing Ignyte Award-winning online zine Diabolical Plots and The Long List Anthology and for administering the Submission Grinder. He has restored an old mill to working order, gone skydiving, and worked as a model (one of these things is not true), but his favorite hobby is collecting more hobbies.

What is the origin story for The ...Read More

ETHAN PRICE is a visual artist living in Ken­tucky. His work implements a delicate handling of drawing and painting, punc­tuated by various textured overlays to create a body of work that evokes mystery, decay, and the passage of time.

His work has been featured in publications like Infected by Art, and has shown in a variety of galleries across the US including Arcadia Contemporary, Arch Enemy Arts, and Nucleus Gallery. ...Read More

DAPHNE TONGE is the founder and CEO of Illumi­crate, the UK’s first specialist book subscription box. She is also the founder and MD of Daphne Press, a science fiction and fantasy publisher. She’s judged for book prizes and is an event chair. Previously, she was an award-winning book blogger. She lives in London, but is Chinese-Filipino born and was raised in Manila.

Tell us about your book subscription box ser­vice, ...Read More

Her imagination, creativity, and thirst for learning have been near-constant com­panions, but artist/illustrator CHRISTINE MITZUK didn’t initially consider working as an artist. Her career started after college while working as a production artist and graphic designer at a few design and marketing firms for about seven years. She gained insight into client work and procedures to help a project flow along. As a freelance artist she uses several of these ...Read More

VIRGINIA LEE is an artist, illustrator and sculptor based on Dartmoor, England where she was raised in a creative house­hold immersed in myth and fantasy art. She has illustrated several books for children, including the Greek myth of Persephone and the Rus­sian fairy tale ‘‘The Frog Bride’’. She provided illustrations for “The Enchanted Lenormand Oracle”, StoryWorld cards, and The Secret His­tories: Mermaids and Hobgoblins books. She also worked as a ...Read More

M. M. OLIVAS is an alumna of the 2022 Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers’ Workshop and the 2023 Under the Volcano Writers Residency. Her short fiction has appeared in several publications, including Uncanny Magazine, Weird Horror Magazine, Apex, and Bourbon Penn. As a trans, first-generation Chicana, she explores the intersection of queer and diasporic experiences in her fiction. She currently resides in the San Francisco Bay Area, earning her ...Read More

Tell us about your magazine, The Deadlands. When was it founded, and who’s on the publish­ing team?

The Deadlands is a spec-fic/literary zine all about death. It launched in May 2021. In late 2020 I (Sean Markey) brought the idea to E. Catherine Tobler (Elise), whom I knew from when she was the editor in chief of Shimmer, which had closed down a few years before. The publisher of Shimmer, ...Read More

MICAELA ALCAINO is a book cover designer and illustrator who relocated from her home in Sydney, Australia to London, UK in 2013. Her career has been marked by sig­nificant achievements, including being named one of The Bookseller’s Rising Stars in 2021 and winning the prestigious Designer of the Year title at the British Book Awards in 2022, with a sub­sequent nomination this year in 2024. She was also a finalist ...Read More

CHRIS MCGRATH was born in the Bronx and has lived in and around NYC his whole life. At an early age he became interested in art, especially science fiction and fantasy. After graduating from The School of Visual Arts in NYC, Chris gave guitar lessons for several years before beginning his career in 2001. Since then he has done covers for #1 New York Times best selling authors such as: ...Read More

What is the mission statement of your orga­nization?

We are Authors Against Book Bans.

We stand united against the deeply unconstitutional movement to limit the freedom to read. We unequivocally support the availability of diverse voices on our library shelves, in our schools, and in our culture. We pledge to band together against the oppression of literature, to speak when our voices are silenced, to go where our bodies are ...Read More

WANG JINKANG (1948—), a Chinese science fiction writer, senior engineer, and multiple Yinhe Award winner. He spent several years in a countryside commune, before being sent to work in an iron foundry and a diesel engine plant. This unique experience sparked his interest in science and engineering, and in 1978, he entered Xi’an Jiaotong University for further studies. Later, he became a petroleum engineer in Nanyang Oilfield. At the age ...Read More

LINDSAY ELLIS is an author, media critic, and Hugo-nominated video essayist. She also was the co-host of the PBS digital series “It’s Lit!”. After earning her bachelor’s in Cinema Studies from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, she earned her MFA in Film and Television Production from USC’s School of Cinematic Arts with a focus in documentary and screenwriting. She lives in Long Beach, CA. Apostles of Mercy is her ...Read More

You’re the publishing director for the SF/F imprint at Quercus in the UK (formerly known as Jo Fletcher Books). We understand you’re relaunching with a new vision and name. Tell us about it.

I was very lucky when I started at Quercus; Jo Fletcher Books was 11 years old and well-established, and had a reputation for being particularly strong in epic fantasy, having launched authors like Sebastien de Castell, Peter ...Read More

When I give presentations to aspiring writers – particularly presentations on writing and selling short stories – I’m always careful to emphasize that short stories are no longer the apprenticeship into the novel world that they once were. I know plenty of folks who have sold science fiction and fantasy novels without ever having bothered with shorts.

That said, short fiction did kind of func­tion as a proving and learning ...Read More

LIZ KERIN is an author, playwright, screenwriter, and graduate of the Rita and Burton Goldberg Department of Dramatic Writing at NYU Tisch School of the Arts. She is also the author of The Phantom Forest (2019). She lives in Southern California.

Tell us about your new novel, Night’s Edge — the world where it takes place, and the characters who live in that world.

Night’s Edge takes place in a ...Read More