Elizabeth Massie, an eighth generation Virginian, has been writing professionally since 1984. Most of her works are in the horror/suspense genre (Sineater, Hell Gate, Desper Hollow, Wire Mesh Mothers, Homeplace, Afraid, It, Watching, Naked on the Edge, and more), but she also writes historical fiction, mainstream fiction (Homegrown), media tie-ins (The Tudors, Versailles, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Dark Shadows), educational materials for American history textbooks, and poetry (Night Benedictions). Her first novel, Sineater, and her novella "Stephen" have both won Bram Stoker Awards from the Horror Writers Association. Her Tudors novelization (Season 3) won the Scribe award. Her short fiction can be found in numerous anthologies and several years' best collections. She, along with Mark Rainey, is currently working on Ameri-Scares (Crossroad Press) a 50 novel series of spooky books for middle grade readers (age 8-12), a series which was optioned for television by Warner Horizon and which, as of December 2021, has 13 novels so far. She also continues to work on new horror novels and short stories for adults. Check out her lead story in Freedom of Screech, edited by Craig Spector and her newest tales "It's in the Cards" in The Porcupine Boy and Other Anthological Oddities, "Those Who Are Terrified" in Midnight in the Graveyard, and "Scarves," which is featured in the ACLU-benefiting anthology, Dystopian States of America (March 2020.) Her newest collection, Madame Cruller's Couch and Other Bizarre and Dark Tales, was released from Crossroad Press August 2021.

On the Outside Looking Up: Seeking and Following God Beyond the Gates of Organized Religion, a nonfiction memoir/exploration of religious beliefs from the point of view of an un-churched believer, was released June 2016. A clear departure from horror, On the Outside Looking Up is part spiritual memoir, part musings on issues that religions tend to tackle, and part extended hand to un-churched believers to assure them they are not the only ones. A believer for years, Massie offers up her personal spiritual journey, struggles, and understandings to help bridge gaps between the unchurched, churched, and those who have no belief and/or no interest in religion.

A member of Amnesty International for more than 35 years, Massie writes numerous letters on behalf of victims of human rights abuses worldwide. She lives in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia with her husband, talented illustrator and theremin player, Cortney Skinner, and enjoys hiking, geocaching, knitting, traveling roads she's never been on before, and visiting amusement parks (the older, the better.) She founded and for nearly four years managed the Hand to Hand Vision project (on Facebook) that raised thousands of dollars to help others during these tough economic times. Though she has a home office, she likes to work at Starbucks a couple days a week. There she can feel like part of the human race. And have a chai.

John Skipp is a New York Times bestselling author, editor, film director, zombie godfather, compulsive collaborator, musical pornographer, black-humored optimist and all-around Renaissance mutant. His early novels from the 1980s and 90s pioneered the graphic, subversive, high-energy form known as splatterpunk. His anthology Book of the Dead was the beginning of modern post-Romero zombie literature. His work ranges from hardcore horror to whacked-out Bizarro to scathing social satire, all brought together with his trademark cinematic pace and intimate, unflinching, unmistakable voice. From young agitator to hilarious elder statesman, Skipp remains one of genre fiction's most colorful characters.

Weston Ochse is the author of more than twenty five books, most recently the SEAL Team 666 books, which the New York Post called 'required reading' and USA Today placed on their 'New and Notable Lists,' and his military sci fi novel Grunt Life. His first novel, Scarecrow Gods, won the Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in First Novel and his short fiction has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize. His work as appeared in comic books, and magazines such as Cemetery Dance and Soldier of Fortune.

His work has been lauded by Joe R. Lansdale, Peter Straub, Kevin J. Anderson, John Skipp, Brian Keene, Jonathan Maberry, David Gerrold, William C. Dietz, Tim Lebbon, and many more, including the New York Times, New York Post, The Atlantic, Washington Post, Denver Post, The Financial Times of London, and The Examiner (UK).

His last name is pronounced "oaks." Together with his first name, it sounds like a stately trailer park. He lives in the Arizona desert within rock throwing distance of Mexico. For fun he races tarantula wasps and watches the black helicopters dance along the horizon. He is a military veteran with 30 years of military service and recently returned from a tour in Afghanistan. He's traveled the world, been more to 50 countries, and blogs at Living Dangerously. You can google him under 'Literary Stuntman,' 'Superhero for Rent,' or 'Yakuza of the Written Word."

Ed Kurtz is the author of THE RIB FROM WHICH I REMAKE THE WORLD, NAUSEA, ANGEL OF THE ABYSS, THE FORTY-TWO, and A WIND OF KNIVES, as well as numerous short stories. His work has appeared in Needle: A Magazine of Noir, BEAT to a PULP, Shotgun Honey, Thuglit, and several anthologies, including The Best American Mystery Stories 2014. Ed resides in Connecticut.

An active member of the International Thriller Writers and the Horror Writers Association, Peter Giglio is the author of five novels, four novellas, and his works of short fiction can be found in a number of notable volumes, including two comprehensive genre anthologies edited by New York Times Bestselling author John Skipp. Peter resides on the Georgia coast with his wife and frequent collaborator, Shannon Giglio.

Mercedes M. Yardley is a whimsical dark fantasist who wears poisonous flowers in her hair. She is the author of many diverse works, including Beautiful Sorrows, Pretty Little Dead Girls: A Novel of Murder and Whimsy, and the Stabby Award-winning Apocalyptic Montessa and Nuclear Lulu: A Tale of Atomic Love.

She recently won the prestigious Bram Stoker Award for her realistic horror story Little Dead Red and was a Bram Stoker finalist for her short story "Loving You Darkly." Mercedes lives and creates in Las Vegas with her family and menagerie of battle-scarred, rescued animal familiars. She is represented by Italia Gandolfo of Gandolfo Helin and Fountain Literary Management.

Simon McCaffery's fiction has appeared in Black Static, Lightyear, Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, Space & Time and in numerous anthologies such as Night Terrors III, Other Worlds Than These, Psychos, Appalachian Undead, The Zombie Feed, Best New Werewolf Tales, Rocket Science, Book of the Dead 2: Still Dead, Mondo Zombie, The Haunted Hour, 100 Wicked Little Witch Stories, and Best New Zombie Tales Volumes 1 an 3. He lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Scott Bradley is the co-editor of The Book of Lists Horror (HarperCollins), which earned nominations for the Rondo Hatton, Black Quill, and Bram Stoker Awards, and the co-author of the horror novel The Dark (Ravenous Shadows). He is the author of multiple short stories, as well as an analysis of the 1986 cult classic The Hitcher in editor Vince A. Liaguno's Butcher Knives and Body Counts. His criticism and journalism have appeared in Film Quarterly, The Kansas City Star, PAPERMAG.com, Creative Screenwriting, PopMatters.com, and elsewhere. In 2014 he edited the anthology Explosions (EJ Press) to benefit Mines Advisory Group, featuring Amy Wallace, Peter Straub, Jeffery Deaver, John Sayles, and numerous others.

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more

John Boden lives a stones throw from Three Mile Island with his wonderful wife and sons.

A baker by day, he spends his off time writing, working on Shock Totem or watching M*A*S*H re-runs.

He likes Diet Pepsi, cheeseburgers, heavy metal and sports ferocious sideburns.

While his output as a writer is fairly sporadic, it has a bit of a reputation for being unique.

Leah Mann grew up in Washington, DC and graduated with a degree in Theater from Brown University in 2003. Since moving to Los Angeles in 2004 she has written several screenplays, television specs, short stories and one novel than no one will ever see.

Publications include a short story "Going Solo" in the horror anthology Psychos: Serial Killers, Depraved Madmen and the Criminally Insane and two dozen monologues included in the Comedic Monologues That Are Actually Funny collections for Men, Teen Boys, Teen Girls, and Kids.

Leah currently works as a production designer, property master and set

decorator. Her dog is cuter than yours.

Mehitobel Wilson has been publishing horror fiction since 1998. She has been a Bram Stoker Award nominee, and many of her stories have been granted Honorable Mentions in the Year's Best Fantasy and Horror series. Recent stories appear in Apex Magazine, Deep Cuts, Necro Files, Zombies: Encounters with the Hungry Dead, Psychos, and Sins of the Sirens. Selected stories have been collected in Dangerous Red. Her newest book, Last Night at the Blue Alice, is an original novella from Bedlam Press.

Violet LeVoit ("luh-VWAH") is a bizarro, horror, and erotica writer, film critic, and graphic novelist whose work has been published in the US and UK.

"Violet LeVoit is a gleefully savage literary mindf**k virtuoso. Her setups leave scars, and her punchlines poke holes, but it's all the blazing little riffs in between that truly stagger." -- John Skipp, author of Spore

"Violet LeVoit's work exists at the center of a glowing nexus where fever dream punk rock poetry collides with raw emotion and vertiginous talent. It's f**ed-up, frightening, frequently funny (in ways that make you feel guilty for laughing), and highly recommended."--Jeremy Robert Johnson, author of Skullcrack City and We Live Inside You

"Revelatory, gut-punching, brilliantly anarchic perfection." -- J. Davis Osborne, author of Black Gum Godless Heathen

"Violet LeVoit is the most brilliantly inventive young writer I know. Buy this book and feel proud of yourself for divining her genius now, seconds before the literati claim her for their own." -- Lauren Grodstein, New York Times bestselling author of A Friend of the Family