Leaving snowy Ohio for California, Katharine Kerr studied at Stanford University for a spell before dropping out to join some of the many social movements sweeping San Francisco in the 60s. She first became involved in the field of fantasy through role-playing games, writing articles for gaming magazines and authoring early quests for Dungeons and Dragons - all of which soon led her to fantasy writing, with her first Deverry novel, Daggerspell, appearing in 1986. Since then, her Deverry series has hit The Times and the Australian bestseller lists, garnering fans from around the world.

Faith Hunter is the New York Times bestselling author of the Jane Yellowrock series and the Rogue Mage series.

Joshua Palmatier is a writer and a mathematician. He was born in Pennsylvania, but has lived in numerous states over his life and currently resides in Binghamton, New York, and is a tenured professor of mathematics at Oneonta.

Seanan McGuire is the author of the Hugo, Nebula, Alex and Locus Award-winning Wayward Children series, the October Daye series, the InCryptid series, and other works.

She also writes darker fiction as Mira Grant. Seanan lives in Seattle with her cats, a vast collection of creepy dolls, horror movies, and sufficient books to qualify her as a fire hazard.

She won the 2010 John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, and in 2013 became the first person to appear five times on the same Hugo ballot.