João F. Silva is a Portuguese writer of Science Fiction and Fantasy now based in the UK. When not writing, he can be found playing video games or cooking Portuguese food. He's a member of the BSFA and was also on the jury for the Best Newcomer Award at the 2020 British Fantasy Awards.

Chloe Smith works as a middle-school teacher, librarian, and copyeditor, and writes science fiction and fantasy stories despite all that. She was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, and she lived in Texas and Washington states, New York City, and rural France before coming back to California. Her short fiction has appeared in Three-Lobed Burning Eye, Daily Science Fiction, Bourbon Penn, and elsewhere. Her debut novella, Virgin Land, came out from Luna Press Publishing in 2023.

Elise Stephens credits much of her storytelling influence to a lifelong love of theater and childhood globetrotting. Much of her work focuses on themes of family, memory, and finding hope after a devastating loss. She is a first-place winner of Writers of the Future (2019), and her fiction has appeared in Analog, Galaxy’s Edge, Escape Pod, Writers of the Future Vol 35, and FIYAH, among others. Elise lives with her family in Seattle in a house with huge windows to supply the vast quantities of light she requires to stay happy. Elise is currently seeking representation on her next science fiction novel. Find her at www.EliseStephens.com.

A.D. Sui is a Ukrainian-born, queer, and disabled science fiction writer. She is a failed academic and a retired fencer. Her writing has appeared in Dark Matter Magazine, Augur, and others. Her debut novella THE DRAGONFLY GAMBIT is coming out with Neon Hemlock in 2024. When not wrangling her two dogs, she's on every social media platform as @TheSuiWay.

Catherine Tavares is a speculative fiction author of the sci-fi and fantasy variety and a member of both SFWA and Codex. An avid reader, she spends most of her time haunting the shelves of her local library, but she can on occasion be persuaded to try a new recipe or work on a new knitting project. You can read her work and learn more about her at www.catherinetavares.com.

Gretchen Tessmer lives in the deep woods of the U.S./Canadian borderlands. She's published more than 100 short stories and poems in such venues as Nature, Bourbon Penn, Strange Horizons, Beneath Ceaseless Skies and F&SF.

Natalia Theodoridou has published over a hundred short stories, most of them dark and queer, in magazines such as Strange Horizons, Uncanny, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, and F&SF, among others. He won the 2018 World Fantasy Award for Short Fiction and has been a finalist for the Nebula Award in the Novelette and Game Writing categories. Natalia was born in Greece, with roots in Georgia, Russia, and Turkey. His debut novel, Sour Cherry is coming in April 2025. Find out more at www.natalia-theodoridou.com.

Matt lives on a small farm in Australia with his amazingly patient wife and kids, the dogs Sherlock and Enola, as well as Mycroft the cat. You can find more info at matttighe.weebly.com as well as a cool picture of his brain drawn by his oldest son. He is an Aurealis and Ditmar finalist and has won the Australian Shadows Award for short fiction. His wife would like him to write some stories with happy endings. He is thinking about it.

Eugenia Triantafyllou is a Greek author and artist with a flair for dark things. Her work has been nominated for the Ignyte, Nebula, and World Fantasy Awards, and she is a graduate of Clarion West Writers Workshop. You can find her stories in Reactor (formerly Tor.com), Uncanny, Strange Horizons, and other venues. She currently lives in Athens with a boy and a dog. Find her on Twitter or Bluesky @foxesandroses, her IG @eugeniatriantafyllou, or her website http://www.eugeniatriantafyllou.com.

Stacie Turner grew up splitting her time between Maine and California. She lives in Connecticut now and can be found feeding stray cats in her garden when she's not writing. You can also find her short fiction in Abyss & Apex.