Steampunk is a subgenre of science fiction that incorporates retrofuturistic technology and aesthetics inspired by, but not limited to, 19th-century industrial steam-powered machinery. Steampunk works are often set in an alternative history of the Victorian era or the American "Wild West", where steam power remains in mainstream use, or in a fantasy world that similarly employs steam power.
Jeff VanderMeer is an American author, editor, and literary critic. Initially associated with the New Weird literary genre, VanderMeer crossed over into mainstream success with his bestselling Southern Reach Trilogy. The trilogy's first novel, Annihilation, won the Nebula and Shirley Jackson Awards, and was adapted into a Hollywood film by director Alex Garland. Among VanderMeer's other novels are Shriek: An Afterword and Borne. He has also edited with his wife Ann VanderMeer such influential and award-winning anthologies as The New Weird, The Weird, and The Big Book of Science Fiction.
Urban fantasy is a subgenre of fantasy, placing supernatural elements in an approximation of a contemporary urban setting. The combination provides the writer with a platform for classic fantasy tropes, quixotic plot-elements, and unusual characters - without demanding the creation of an entire imaginary world.
Kristine Kathryn Rusch is an American writer and editor. She writes under various pseudonyms in multiple genres, including science fiction, fantasy, mystery, romance, and mainstream.
Peter Soyer Beagle is an American novelist and screenwriter, especially of fantasy fiction. His best-known work is The Last Unicorn (1968) which Locus subscribers voted the number five "All-Time Best Fantasy Novel" in 1987. During the last twenty-five years he has won several literary awards, including a World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement in 2011. He was named Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master by SFWA in 2018.
Holly Black is an American writer and editor best known for her children's and young adult fiction. Her most recent work is the New York Times bestselling young adult Folk of the Air series. She is also well known for The Spiderwick Chronicles, a series of children's fantasy books she created with writer and illustrator Tony DiTerlizzi, and her debut trilogy of young adult novels officially called the Modern Faerie Tales. Black has won an Eisner Award, a Lodestar Award, a Nebula Award, and a Newbery Honor.
Kieron Michael Gillen is a British comic book writer and former video game and music journalist. In comics, Gillen is known for Once & Future, Die, Phonogram, and The Wicked + The Divine, the latter two co-created with artist Jamie McKelvie and published by Image, as well as numerous projects for Marvel, such as Journey into Mystery, Uncanny X-Men, Young Avengers, Eternals, and the company-wide crossover storyline A.X.E.: Judgment Day. He has also written projects for Star Wars including Darth Vader, Star Wars, and co-created the character Doctor Aphra who starred in her own ongoing spin-off comic series Star Wars: Doctor Aphra of which Gillen wrote the first 19 issues.
Daniel James Abraham, pen names M. L. N. Hanover and James S. A. Corey, is an American novelist, comic book writer, screenwriter, and television producer. He is best known as the author of The Long Price Quartet and The Dagger and the Coin fantasy series, and with Ty Franck, as the co-author of The Expanse science fiction series, written under the joint pseudonym James S. A. Corey. The series has been adapted into the television series The Expanse (2015–2022), with both Abraham and Franck serving as writers and producers on the show. He also contributed to Wildcards anthology series shared universe.
Nisi Shawl is an African-American writer, editor, and journalist. They are best known as an author of science fiction and fantasy short stories who writes and teaches about how fantastic fiction might reflect real-world diversity of gender, sexual orientation, race, colonialism, physical ability, age, and other sociocultural factors.
Ann Aguirre is an American author of speculative fiction. She writes urban fantasy, romantic science fiction, apocalyptic paranormal romance, paranormal romantic suspense, and post-apocalyptic dystopian young adult fiction.
James S. A. Corey is the pen name used by collaborators Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck, authors of the science fiction series The Expanse. The first and last name are taken from Abraham's and Franck's middle names, respectively, and S. A. are the initials of Abraham's daughter. The name is also meant to emulate many of the space opera writers of the 1970s. In Germany, their books are published under the name James Corey with the middle initials omitted.
Maurice Broaddus is an author who has published fiction across a number of genres including young adult, horror, fantasy and science fiction. Among his books are The Knights of Breton Court urban fantasy trilogy from Angry Robot, the steampunk novel Pimp My Airship from Apex Publications, and the young adult novel The Usual Suspects from HarperCollins. His Afrofuturist space trilogy Astra Black will be released by Tor Books beginning in March, 2022. He has also published dozens of short stories in magazines such as Asimov's Science Fiction, Black Static, Fantasy & Science Fiction, and Weird Tales along with anthologies including Black Panther: Tales of Wakanda, The Year's Best Science Fiction & Fantasy and Sunspot Jungle.
Kevin Hearne is an American-Canadian fantasy novelist originally hailing from Arizona, now residing in Ontario.
Captain Phasma is a fictional character in the Star Wars franchise, portrayed by English actress Gwendoline Christie. Introduced in Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015), the first film in the Star Wars sequel trilogy, Phasma is the commander of the First Order's force of stormtroopers. Christie returned to the role in the next of the trilogy's films, Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017), and in the animated television series Star Wars Resistance (2018) and several video games. The character also made an additional appearance in Before the Awakening, an anthology book set before the events of The Force Awakens.
"Journey to Star Wars" is a Disney/Lucasfilm publishing initiative that connects the Star Wars sequel films with previous film installments in the franchise. It currently includes the initiatives "Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens", and "Journey to Star Wars: The Last Jedi", and "Journey to Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker". All titles under the program are canonical to the Star Wars universe.
General Armitage Hux is a fictional character in the Star Wars franchise. First introduced in the 2015 film Star Wars: The Force Awakens, he is portrayed by Irish actor Domhnall Gleeson. He is an unpleasant military commander in a power struggle with Kylo Ren for the First Order leadership, and being exceeded only by Supreme Leader Snoke. The character first featured in The Force Awakens media and merchandising, and returned in the film's sequels, The Last Jedi (2017) and The Rise of Skywalker (2019).
Star Wars: Phasma is a Star Wars novel by Delilah S. Dawson, published by Del Rey Books on September 1, 2017 as part of the Journey to Star Wars: The Last Jedi publishing initiative. It explores the backstory of Captain Phasma, the stormtrooper leader introduced in the 2015 film Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
Rebecca Roanhorse is an American science fiction and fantasy writer from New Mexico. She has written short stories and science fiction novels featuring Navajo characters. Her work has received Hugo and Nebula awards, among others.
Star Wars Galaxy's Edge: Black Spire is a 2019 novel written by Delilah S. Dawson and published by Del Rey Books. The novel is a sequel to the 2018 novel Phasma, also by Dawson. It takes place in the Star Wars galaxy, immediately after the events of Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi.
