Danielle Ackley-McPhail has worked both sides of the publishing industry for longer than she cares to admit. In 2014 she joined forces with husband Mike McPhail and friend Greg Schauer to form her own publishing house, eSpec Books (www.especbooks.com). Her published works include six novels, Yesterday's Dreams, Tomorrow's Memories, Today’s Promise, The Halfling’s Court, The Redcaps’ Queen, and Baba Ali and the Clockwork Djinn, written with Day Al-Mohamed. She is also the author of the solo collections A Legacy of Stars, Consigned to the Sea, Flash in the Can, and Transcendence, the non-fiction writers’ guide, The Literary Handyman, and is the senior editor of the Bad-Ass Faeries anthology series, Gaslight & Grimm, Dragon’s Lure, and In an Iron Cage. Her short stories are included in numerous other anthologies and collections. She is a member of Broad Universe, a writer’s organization focusing on promoting the works of women authors in the speculative genres. In addition to her literary acclaim, she crafts and sells original costume horns under the moniker The Hornie Lady, at literary conventions, on commission, and wholesale. Danielle lives in New Jersey with husband and fellow writer, Mike McPhail and three extremely spoiled cats. She can be found on Facebook (Danielle Ackley-McPhail) and Twitter (DMcPhail, BadAssFaeries, eSpecBooks, and TheHornieLady). To learn more about her work, visit www.sidhenadaire.com and www.especbooks.com.

Linda Adams was probably the least likely person to be in the Army—even the Army thought so! She was an enlisted soldier and served for twelve years and was one of the women who deployed to Desert Storm. But she’d much prefer her adventures to be in books. She is the author of the military-based GALCOM Universe series, including the novels Crying Planet and Lonely Planet. She’s also received three honorable mentions in the Writers of the Future contest and an honorable mention in Alfred Hitchcock Magazine’s contest. Find out more about Linda Maye Adams on her website at http://www.lindamayeadams.com.

Daphne Eftychia Arthur is a new name for an old fan, who tried for years to strike a balance between FIAWOL and FIJAGDH before giving up and going to the FIAWOL side a few decades ago. A multi-instrumentalist and sometimes filker, she plays with The Homespun Ceilidh Band and organized Circle of Confusion for the Time Travelers Social.

Fred Blonder has always been fascinated by ancient technologies, and was into Steampunk long before it had a name. He regularly rows in the crew of a replica Viking Longship, and has been in the crew of the Trireme, Olympias, the largest (170 oars) oar-powered vessel in the world, designs and builds sundials, and teaches English Country Dance. He recently became a published Science Fiction author, with the publication of his short story, The First Law.

Lee Budar-Danoff sails, plays guitar, and writes when she isn’t reading. Lee volunteers as Municipal Liaison for National Novel Writing Month and is an alum of the Viable Paradise Writer’s Workshop. A former history teacher, Lee spends that energy raising three children with her husband in Maryland. Her work has appeared in Perihelion SF, Diabolical Plots and Abyss & Apex.

Charles Butler is a Pagan Pastor with training in both Wicca (Northern European) and Ifa (West African) lineages. For more than 20 years he was the con chair of Ecumenicon Interfaith Conference (which ended in 2013), and has been the coordinator of the Esoteric/Mystic track for Darkover/Chessicon for almost as long. He used to interpret for Clam Chowder, and still interprets the Hallelujah chorus here at Chessiecon. He and his wife Fancy run a home circle of prayer in the Ifa & Voudoun traditions. Talk to them individually at the Rising Sun Outreach Ministry table in the Dealer's Room. He is the author of Princess of Galilee, Madupe - Tales of the Orisha, The Transformation Tarot (forthcoming), Matrona of Crete (forthcoming), Parsha - Meditations on the Torah (forthcoming), Strangers at the Gate with Pyracantha, the opera According to Us with Rosanna Tufts, Pagan Prison Ministry, and editor for Baen Books (Bujold), and The Forty Virgins (Yunus Salehi).

Lanthir Calendae is an artist and aspiring writer from central Virginia. They are transgender, queer, and autistic, and have a lifelong passion for speculative fiction.

Margaret Carter specializes in vampires, having been marked for life by reading Dracula at the age of twelve. Her vampire novel Dark Changeling won an Eppie Award in the horror category in 2000. Other creatures she writes about include werewolves, dragons, ghosts, and Lovecraftian entities with tentacles. In addition to her horror, fantasy, and paranormal romance fiction, she has had several non-fiction books and articles published on the supernatural in literature. With her husband, retired Navy Captain Leslie Roy Carter, she has collaborated on a sword-and-sorcery trilogy, beginning with WILD SORCERESS. Her recent works include LEGACY OF MAGIC (a prequel to the trilogy), CRIMSON DREAMS (vampire romance), FROM THE DARK PLACES (horror with Lovecraftian elements), and HEART'S DESIRES AND DARK EMBRACES (story collection). Her story "Haunted Book Nook" appears in SWORD AND SORCERESS 33.

Leslie Roy Carter lived all over the United States, as well as in Argentia, Newfoundland, while growing up. After receiving a B.S. in Physics from the College of William and Mary, he was commissioned as an Ensign in the U.S. Navy. While serving as a naval officer, he earned an M.S.E.E. from the Naval Postgraduate School. His career as a surface line officer took him to many ports such as Pearl Harbor, Long Beach, San Diego, and Charleston, culminating in command of the Oliver Hazard Perry Class Frigate, U.S.S. Reid. He then switched to the acquisitions specialty, eventually becoming a major program manager before his retirement in 2002 with the rank of Captain. In retirement, he turned his attention to writing. His recent publications include LEGACY OF MAGIC (sword and sorcery, in collaboration with his wife, Margaret L. Carter). “A Walk in the Mountains,” co-written with Margaret, appeared in the 2016 anthology REALMS OF DARKOVER. A sequel, “Believing,” was included in MASQUES OF DARKOVER (2017). For more information, please visit Carter's Crypt: www.margaretlcarter.com

Beth Chandler has been living the fandom life ever since watching Gigantor as a preschooler. After an early career in the lower echelons of publishing, she earned her master’s degree in library and information studies. A public librarian for fifteen years, Beth currently selects library materials for her employer including computer titles, consumer-health books, and graphic novels. The highlight of her science-fiction-writing career to date is winning third place in the first Turkey Award contest at ChessieCon. Her other interests range from needlecrafts to world religions. Beth lives on the Maryland side of the DC suburbs with her nerdy husband and fanboy cat, Lord Ivan Vorcatril.

Carl Cipra started reading F&SF in his pre-teen years and has been hooked ever since. He became involved with Fandom back in the 1970s (by way of the SCA in Southern California) and is one of the founding members of Lambda Sci-Fi: DC Area Gaylaxians. He really enjoys moderating discussion panels at conventions and is looking forward to all the fascinating discussions at Chessiecon this year. Mundanely, Carl is the program manager for instructor-training in a much-maligned, three-letter Government agency.

Loren Damewood has a lifelong fascination with knots and knot tying, and a penchant for teaching anyone unwary enough to remain in the vicinity. Some of his knots are tied in precious metal, to make jewelry, but many of them are tied in plain string, to be handed out in exchange for smiles.

Harrison Demchick came up in the world of small press publishing, working along the way on more than sixty published novels and memoirs, several of which have been optioned for film. An expert in manuscripts as diverse as young adult, science-fiction, fantasy, mystery, literary fiction, women's fiction, memoir, and everything in-between, Harrison is known for quite possibly the most detailed and informative editorial letters in the industry--if not the entire universe. Harrison is also an award-winning screenwriter and an inaugural fellow of the Johns Hopkins University/Saul Zaentz Innovation Fund Screenplay Lab. His first film, Ape Canyon, filmed in June and is currently in post-production. As an author of horror and magical realism, Harrison wrote The Listeners (Bancroft Press, 2012), and his latest short story, "Magicland," appears in the October 2018 edition of Phantom Drift: A Journal of New Fabulism. He's currently accepting new clients in fiction and memoir at the Writer's Ally (http://thewritersally.com).

Scott Edelman has published more than 85 short stories in magazines such as Analog, Postscripts, The Twilight Zone, and Dark Discoveries, and in anthologies such as Why New Yorkers Smoke, Crossroads: Southern Tales of the Fantastic, Chiral Mad 3, and MetaHorror. A collection of his horror fiction, These Words Are Haunted, came out in hardcover from Wildside Books in 2001, and was rereleased in paperback in 2015 by Fantastic Books. He is also the author of the Lambda Award-nominated novel The Gift (Space & Time, 1990) and the collection Suicide Art (Necronomicon, 1992). His collection of zombie fiction, What Will Come After, came out in 2010 from PS Publishing, and was a finalist for the Shirley Jackson Memorial Award. His science fiction short stories have been collected in What We Still Talk About from Fantastic Books. A collection of zombie novelettes, Liars, Fakers, and the Dead Who Eat Them, was published earlier this year by Written Backwards Press. He has been a Stoker Award finalist seven times, both in the category of Short Story and Long Fiction. Additionally, Edelman worked for the Syfy Channel for more than thirteen years as editor of Science Fiction Weekly, SCI FI Wire, and Blastr. He was the founding editor of Science Fiction Age, which he edited during its entire eight-year run. He also edited SCI FI magazine, previously known as Sci-Fi Entertainment, for more a decade, as well as two other SF media magazines, Sci-Fi Universe and Sci-Fi Flix. He has been a four-time Hugo Award finalist for Best Editor.

Ruthanna Emrys is the author of the Innsmouth Legacy series, including Winter Tide and Deep Roots. Ruthanna co-writes Tor.com's Lovecraft Reread series, and writes radically hopeful short stories about religion and aliens and psycholinguistics. She lives in a mysterious manor house on the outskirts of Washington, DC with her wife and their large, strange family. She makes home-made vanilla, gives unsolicited advice, and occasionally attempts to save the world.

Bob Esty : As a matter of fact, yes, it is all about the music. Music was what got Bob involved in Chowder nearly (mumble) years ago. Bob and Sue met while doing music with the Markland Madrigalia, and they have been playing as a harp and singing duo at the Maryland Renaissance Faire since before they were married over 30 years ago. Bob, now retired from full-time teaching, is broadening his exposure to Irish music, and Bob and Sue are singing with the revived Markland Madrigalia.

Mary Fan writes sci-fi/fantasy stories about intrepid heroines and far-off worlds. Her books include the Jane Colt sci-fi trilogy (comprising Artificial Absolutes, Synthetic Illusions, and Virtual Shadows), Starswept (YA sci-fi), and Flynn Nightsider and the Edge of Evil (YA dark fantasy). She is also the co-editor of the Brave New Girls anthologies about tech-savvy teen girls that aims to inspire more young women to enter science and technology careers. Her short stories have appeared in multiple anthologies, including Love, Murder & Mayhem (Crazy 8 Press), Mine! (ComicMix), and Magic at Midnight (Snowy Wings Publishing). Her next release will be Stronger Than A Bronze Dragon (Page Street Publishing), a YA adventure about a girl warrior who fights demons and evil automatons a China-inspired steampunk fantasyland.

C.S. Friedman is a best-selling author of fantasy and science fiction, as well as an accomplished costume designer. Critics have acclaimed her complex and compelling characters, richly textured worlds, and keen insight into the shadows and twists of human nature. She has published eight science fiction and fantasy novels to date, including the acclaimed Coldfire Trilogy. Her works have been translated into German, French, Italian, Dutch, Russian, and Polish.

Hanne Madeleine Gates Paine is a book lover with a background in physics, computer science, and linguistics. She loves languages - natural and constructed - and everything to do with space. She hopes to one day go to graduate school in linguistics or astrophysics. Hanne Madeleine became an instant superfan of The Expanse after reading the novels, and organized the Save The Expanse team that helped rescue the show from cancellation with passionate fan organization and memorable stunts. She is also a moderator on the Expanse subreddit and Discord server - find her as “It Reaches Out” on Twitter, Reddit, and Discord. Hanne Madeleine has taught her workshop on Lang Belta, the creole language of The Expanse, at cons in the US, Canada, and Europe, and loves getting to see people discover and grow through language immersion. Hanne Madeleine’s work typically involves computer programming and organizing people and systems. In her free time, she is one half of Paine×MacTane, a transcontinental duo creating ambitious projects from websites to popup bars, teaching Lang Belta, and producing a weekly series of character-inspired craft cocktails. She especially enjoys working with younger students, and volunteered at an immersive space camp for kids for many years. She is currently working on learning to sing in public and accompany herself on the guitar, studying Quenya, Spanish, and Japanese, and discovering the secrets of New York and San Francisco, her two cities.

J.L. Gribble is a professional medical editor by day. By night, she does freelance fiction editing in all genres, along with reading, playing video games, and occasionally even writing. She is currently working on the Steel Empires series for Dog Star Books, the science-fiction/adventure imprint of Raw Dog Screaming Press. Previously, she was an editor for the Far Worlds anthology.

Gribble studied English at St. Mary’s College of Maryland. She received her Master’s degree in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, where her debut novel Steel Victory was her thesis for the program.

She lives in Ellicott City, Maryland, with her husband and three vocal Siamese cats. Find her online (www.jlgribble.com), on Facebook (www.facebook.com/jlgribblewriter), and on Twitter and Instagram (@hannaedits).

Jeff Gritman is a programmer by day, self published science fiction comedy author / science fiction podcast host by night. He is co-author of "Prison Dad" a six volume collection of science fiction comedy shorts that has been around for about five years. Also, Jeffrey is co-host of the "Silly Talks About Science Fiction" a weekly podcast. In his spare time Jeffrey enjoys playing video games with his son Logan and wrangling his army of cats at his home outside Philadelphia.

Elektra Hammond emulates her multi-sided idol Buckaroo Banzai by going in several directions at once. She’s been involved in publishing since the 1990s— now she writes, concocts anthologies & edits science fiction for various and sundry. When not freelancing or appearing at science fiction conventions, she travels the world judging cat shows. Her latest story "Two Horses," can be found in TV Gods: Summer Programming edited by Jeff Young and Lee C. Hillman. Elektra is a graduate of the Odyssey Writing Workshop and an associate member of SFWA. She lives in Delaware with her husband, Mike, and more than the usual allotment of felines.

Steve Haug (aka Maugorn The Stray) is a full-time musician and has been performing music since some time that he's neglected to note. Suffice it to say, that's been for at least one lifetime, probably several. He's performed on and in festivals, renaissance faires, dives, bistros, coffee shops, sub shops, streetcorners, and sci-fi conventions. His repertoire and writing spans the Ages and a keleidoscope of genres. He performs upon an arsenal of instruments, sometimes on several at once.

Julie Holderman was born in the dead of a Minnesota winter to a mother who will never let her forget how wide her shoulders were on the way out. A storyteller from a young age, when she wasn’t asking her parents to write down tales of unicorns and little girls on adventures, she was coming up with ridiculous lies about her own life. Her current writing credits include Tortall: A Spy’s Guide, which was released in October of 2017. Not only did she write large portions of the manuscript, but she coordinated four authors across the US and one living abroad in order to pull it all together. She’s been editing, critiquing, and picking apart the way stories work for as long as she’s been writing them. From Aristotle’s Poetics to Scott McCloud’s Understanding Comics, she’s obsessed with studying storytelling, its modes, its genres, and its formats. She’s parlayed this into editorial experience, critiquing first her peers and now her clients as a freelance developmental and copy editor. Her hobbies include long walks through the library and overanalyzing superhero movies. One day she will stop going to school. Maybe. Probably.

Tom Holtz is a dinosaur paleontologist specializing in the origin, evolution, adaptations, and behavior of carnivorous dinosaurs (especially the Tyrannosauridae: T. rex and its kin). He is Principal Lecturer in Vertebrate Paleontology in the Department of Geology at the University of Maryland, where he also teaches courses in historical geology, general paleontology, evolutionary biology, and global change, and where he directs the Science & Global Change living-learning program. He is also a Research Associate at the Department of Paleobiology at the National Museum of Natural History (Smithsonian Institution) and a member of the Scientific Council of the Maryland Science Center. In addition to numerous technical publications, he is author of several general audience books (including Dinosaurs: The Most Complete Up-To-Date Encyclopedia for Dinosaur Lovers of All Ages (Random House)), has been a featured expert on many TV documentaries, and has been a consultant for several museum exhibits around the world. Michael Swanwick killed him off in the 2003 short short story “Proving Dr. Tom’s Hypothesis” (yes, that’s a spoiler, but the story is only one page long…). Dr. Holtz lives with his wife (costumer C Sue Shambaugh), three cats, and the Inland bearded dragon Osborn in Upper Marlboro, MD.

John Huff grew up in a house where music was a pretty common commodity. His mother played piano and sang and his eldest sister was heading in the direction of a concert pianist. Little did he know that his father played guitar (he kept it well hidden) in a swing band put together from fellow crewman on his various naval vessels he crewed on.

In grade school John learned to play the clarinet and piano accordion, but when he entered high school he discovered those weren't "cool" instruments so he dropped them. It was in 1972, five years after the summer of love, that John got his hands on a guitar for the first time; it was love at first bite. After that he learned to play five string banjo, tenor banjo, concertina, bass guitar, mandolin and in the last few years violin and fiddle.

So, how does this end up with John playing at sci-fi cons?

A couple of years later (the fall of '74) John and his buds, who were also freaks of folk music, science fiction, photography, and model rocketry learned that the 32nd annual World Science Fiction Convention was to be held in Washington D.C.. To make a long story short the lead to John learning about filk, to getting into medievalism (through model rocketry no less), to meeting his future wife, forming Clam Chowder, to getting into raising and training whippets to living the life of humble artisans in southern PA.

Nicole Jamison is a pseudonym of Ora J. McGuire. Ora wrote her first full-length novel at age 10 – that creative endeavor sparked the desire to begin her writing career. Her stories dabble in and blend many different genres; science fiction, fantasy, romance, contemporary, poetry, horror, and whatever else captures her interest. Under her nom de plume, Mrs. McGuire' short adult fiction is published in the Coming Together Among the Stars, Coming Together Outside the Box, and Coming Together Strange Shifters anthologies. Her Contemporary LGBTQ Romance novellas are available through JMS Publishing and available on Amazon. Ora’s hobbies include drinking copious amounts of wine, Netflix binge-watching, and talking about makeup and other beauty products on her YouTube channel. She is a graduate of Old Dominion University (Creative Writing, Class of 2006) and lives in Hampton Roads with her darling husband, step-child, and two spoiled furbabies; #thecatwecalljayne and #KAYLEEsmallFRYE

Heather Rose Jones is the author of the Alpennia historic fantasy series: an alternate-Regency-era Ruritanian adventure revolving around women’s lives woven through with magic, alchemy, and intrigue. The most recent entry is Mother of Souls (2016). Heather blogs about research into lesbian-like motifs in history and literature at the Lesbian Historic Motif Project and writes both historical and fantasy fiction based on that research. She works as an industrial failure investigator in biotech. For more information, see alpennia.com.

Intisar Khanani grew up a nomad and world traveler. Born in Wisconsin, she has lived in five different states as well as in Jeddah on the coast of the Red Sea. She first remembers seeing snow on a wintry street in Zurich, Switzerland, and vaguely recollects having breakfast with the orangutans at the Singapore Zoo when she was five. She currently resides in Cincinnati, Ohio, with her husband and two young daughters. Until recently, Intisar wrote grants and developed projects to address community health with the Cincinnati Health Department, which was as close as she could get to saving the world. Now she focuses her time on her two passions: raising her family and writing fantasy. Intisar’s debut novel, Thorn, was picked up by HarperTeen and will be re-released in Winter 2020. In the meantime, she’s hard at work on the remaining books of The Sunbolt Chronicles.

Cristin Kist loves words and has been writing since she was old enough to hold a pencil. She dislikes clowns, squirrels, and the music of Billy Joel, but loves dogs, travel, champagne, and a good story. She is devoted to her amazing family and friends. She lives with her awesome dogs, Isla Sookie Slagathor (a puggle) and Samwise Brody Chewbacca (a hound mix) who she is so grateful for and who make her laugh. She spends her free time cooking, writing, shopping, and watching movies. She studied English at Penn State and has a law degree from Villanova. Her day job is working in contract negotiations. She is an attorney registered in Pennsylvania.

Steve Kozeniewski (pronounced "causin' ooze key") is the author of several horror and science fiction novels, including "Braineater Jones", Billy and the Cloneasaurus, and Every Kingdom Divided. During his time as a Field Artillery officer, he served for three years in Oklahoma and one in Iraq, where due to what he assumes was a clerical error, he was awarded the Bronze Star. He is also a classically trained linguist, which sounds much more impressive than saying his bachelor's degree is in German.

Joshua Kronengold Josh is Chessiecon's Music Track Coordinator. He also makes music.

Timothy Liebe is the husband of and Site Administrator for popular YA fantasy novelist Tamora Pierce, as well as her co-author on Marvel Comics' White Tiger miniseries. As an actor, he appeared in original audio productions for NPR and the Pacifica Network; in audio dramatizations of Robert Heinlein's The Star Beast, Shannon Hale's Enna Burning, Geraldine McCaughrean's myth retellings of Odysseus, Thesus and Hercules, and in Tamora Pierce's Circule of Magicseries,The Will of the Empress" and original audio novel Melting Stones; as well as in cult classic movies Shock! Shock! Shock! And Attack of the Killer Tomatoes. As an independent video/filmmaker, he has helped directed and produce numerous independent projects. TORTALL, A SPY'S GUIDE, a book he co-wrote with Tamora Pierce, Julie Holderman & Megan Messenger, is currently available in hardcover from Random House Children's Books.

Kit Mason is a third-degree Reiki master and a shamanic practitioner, a graduate of the Gryphons Grove School of Shamanism. She has been doing energy work for more than 20 years.

Mike McPhail is member of the Military Writers Society of America; he is dedicated to helping his fellow service members (and those deserving civilians) in their efforts to become authors/editors/artist, as well as supporting related organization in their efforts to help those "who have given their all for us." www.milscifi.com He is best known as the editor and illustrator of the award-winning Defending The Future series of military science fiction anthologies, which just celebrated it's tenth anniversary. www.defendingthefuture.com In 2014 he added the title of publisher, as the co-founder of eSpec Books LLC, Speculative Fiction Publishing. www.especbooks.com

Valerie Mikles loves science, Stargate, grapes, and the color blue. Her early plans of being a dance teacher and a novelist were put on hold when she realized 'Black Hole Hunter' was a career option. She received her PhD in astronomy in 2008, then moved to L.A. to be a screenwriter. She wrote and produced several indie films about asexuality. Now she works on weather satellites for NOAA and is writing a sci-fi novel series. Her motto in life is "I can be everything I want, just not all at the same time.

Jo Miles is a science fiction and fantasy writer, and she has short stories in Diabolical Plots, the Agents and Spies anthology, and forthcoming in Analog. You can find her online at www.jomiles.com and on Twitter as @josmiles. She lives in Maryland, where she is owned by two cats.

Ben Newman is a filker, singer/songwriter, software developer, and eclectic mystic. He has written over 200 songs on a wide variety of topics, including science fiction and fantasy, video games, spirituality, and science, singly or in whimsical combinations. He has also contributed to organizing filk programming and filk conventions for many years.

Tamora Pierce writes fantasy novels for teenagers, best known for their teen girl warriors and wizards, with a powerful fan base composed of teens, adults, and fellow authors. In October she co-wrote _TORTALL: A SPY'S GUIDE_ together with Julie Holderman, Tim Liebe, and Megan Messinger, and will publish _TEMPESTS AND SLAUGHTER_, first in a new trilogy, in February 2018.

Sarah Pinsker is the author of the Nebula winning novelette, "Our Lady of the Open Road" and the Theodore Sturgeon Award winning novelette, "In Joy, Knowing the Abyss Behind." Her stories have appeared in Asimov's, Strange Horizons, Fantasy & Science Fiction, Lightspeed, and Uncanny, among others, as well as numerous anthologies and year’s bests. Her first collection, Sooner or Later Everything Falls Into the Sea: Stories will be published by Small Beer Press in 2019, followed by a novel. She is also a singer/songwriter and has toured nationally behind three albums on various independent labels. She lives with her wife and dog in Baltimore, Maryland.

Roberta Rogow writes Historical Mysteries, although she sometimes makes up her own history. Her most recent book is Madness in Manatas, the conclusion of a trilogy set in a Manhattan Island, in which a reluctant sleuth must solve a murder and stop a war in a Manhattan Island that never was and never will be (think Last of the Mohegans meets Arabian Nights with a Spanish accent). Roberta is also known as a filker; she was inducted into the Filk Hall of Fame in 2013. In her Mundane life, Roberta is retired after a 37-year career as a Children's Librarian in public libraries in New Jersey.

Don Sakers was launched the same month as Sputnik One, so it was perhaps inevitable that he should become a science fiction writer. A Navy brat by birth, he spent his childhood in such far-off lands as Japan, Scotland, Hawaii, and California. In California, rather like a latter-day Mowgli, he was raised by dogs.

As a writer and editor, he has explored the thoughts of sapient trees (The Leaves of October), brought ghosts to life (Carmen Miranda's Ghost is Haunting Space Station Three), and beaten the "Cold Equations" scenario ("The Cold Solution," Analog 7/91, voted best short story of the year.) He's best known for his Scattered Worlds series.

Since 2009, Don has been the book reviewer for Analog Science Fiction & Fact, where he writes the "Reference Library" column in every issue.

Don lives at Meerkat Meade in suburban Baltimore with his spouse, costumer Thomas Atkinson.

Sarah Sexton is an artist living in Maryland.

Kathleen Sobansky spent most of her young life reading science fiction and looking for people to sing in harmony with. Soon after moving to Maryland in 1977, she found John Huff, Bob Esty and Don Stallone in the Markland Militia, and shortly after THAT, Clam Chowder was born, under the escalators at the Hunt Valley Inn, at Balticon 1978. The rest is history. Though Clam Chowder is now retired, making her a Clam Emerita, she still cherishes her passions for music and science fiction. She is married to her other passion, resident lawyer and poker maven Ed Sobansky, aka Igor Bear.

Michelle D. Sonnier is an author of dark urban fantasy and classic horror, with occasional forays into other genres, such as steampunk and science fiction, as the story inspiration takes her. She enjoys writing anything that lets her combine the weird and fantastic in unexpected ways. She is particularly fascinated by the shades of gray in human behavior and took it as a great compliment when a reader said of her characters, “no one is pure.” She also enjoys sly dark humor and complex character relationships that draw you in deep and make you care. She admires Charles de Lint and Margaret Atwood, and is discovering the joys of Nnedi Okorafor and N.K. Jemisin. Ms. Sonnier has published short stories in a variety of print and online venues, as well as a collection of short stories, Charmed City, and a novel, The Clockwork Witch. She has upcoming projects with eSpec Books and Otter Libris. She lives in Maryland with her husband, son, and a variable number of cats.

Steven R. Southard 's short stories appear in over ten anthologies including Dark Luminous Wings, In a Cat’s Eye; and Avast, Ye Airships! He’s the author of the What Man Hath Wrought series, with fourteen alternate history stories so far. An engineer and former submariner, Steve takes readers on voyages to far-off places and long-ago times aboard amazing vehicles accompanied by engaging characters. Steve scribbles in several genres including steampunk, clockpunk, science fiction, fantasy, and horror. Set sail to stevenrsouthard.com to learn more about his fictional adventures.

Erwin S. Strauss (Filthy Pierre) got into fandom at MIT in the mid-1960s. He published the "Index to the SF Magazines 1951-1965." He caused a stir by publishing the MIT SF Society's collection of underground campus songs, and trying to import pirated textbooks. He was a fixture at East Coast cons, playing the piano at filksings. From 1974 to 1996, he published "The SF Convention Register." From 1979 to the present, he's done the SF Conventional Calendar for Asimov's SF. From 1975 to 1983, he published the Microfilk, a compendium of filksongs songs in ridiculously tiny type. He's written "Basement Nukes" and "How to Start Your Own Country." These have been mentioned in SF novels, and said to have been found in the library of the "Heaven's Gate" comet cult. Less controversially, he's written "The Complete Guide to Science Fiction Conventions" for the neophyte congoer. He's in the Filk Hall of Fame, has received the Big Heart service award, is a Fellow of the New England Science Fiction Association, and received a Special Noreascon Four Award for contributions to the fan community. He can be recognized by his iridescent "Filthy Pierre" badge, and his mouth-powered organ.

Brent Warner works in the space industry as a thermal engineer. That means he does heating and air conditioning in space. As a change from this hi-tech job, he enjoys studying the technology of earlier eras, such as steam power technology, and even water power technology. [Note: I've suggested a talk on water power (ore "water punk" technology) in this area. It's more sophisticated than you might think.

Fr. Tommy Lee Whitlock is among the founding members of The Order of Saint Michael and has been active in the Order’s Hospitaller Path and Esoteric Studies Group. He was ordained to the priesthood in the Celtic Christian Church by Bishop Katherine Kurz and has officiated interfaith weddings and hand-fastings. Fr. TommyLee has been a fan of Science Fiction and Fantasy literature since junior high school. Since moving to northern Virginia area in 1987, he has attended and participated in numerous Science Fiction/Fantasy conventions in the Baltimore/Washington, D.C. area, as well as several esoteric conventions.

Martin Wilsey is a full-time author and creator the highly acclaimed, bestselling, SOLSTICE 31 SAGA. Mr. Wilsey's first novel, STILL FALLING, was published March 31st of 2015. Less than three years and over a half a million published words later, he retired from his career as a research scientist for a government-funded think tank. As a full-time science fiction writer, Mr. Wilsey still uses his research and whiteboard skills to keep the books flowing. He likes to put the science back into science fiction. Mr. Wilsey is also the founder and CEO of Tannhauser Press, a small press and collaborative environment that was explicitly created by writers for writers. As a prolific blogger, Martin shares what he has learned on his journey as an indie published author. On his blog, he writes a weekly webcomic and shares his inspirations and views on life. In addition to writing, he has begun to expand efforts into publishing through Tannhauser Press, audio narration, and podcasting. Mr. Wilsey has more projects than he has time. Please feel free to email him and distract him even more. He and his wife Brenda live in Virginia with their cats Brandy and Bailey.

Sherri Cook Woosley writes fantasy/sci-fi stories incorporating world mythology and interesting animals. Her stories have been published in Pantheon Magazine, Abyss & Apex, and Flash Fiction Magazine. Her debut novel, Walking Through Fire, is about a mother and son in post-apocalyptic Baltimore…with dragons. She’s on Twitter @SherriWoosley and blogs at www.tasteofsherri.wordpress.com