Ursula Kroeber Le Guin was an American author best known for her works of speculative fiction, including science fiction works set in her Hainish universe, and the Earthsea fantasy series. She was first published in 1959, and her literary career spanned nearly sixty years, producing more than twenty novels and over a hundred short stories, in addition to poetry, literary criticism, translations, and children's books. Frequently described as an author of science fiction, Le Guin has also been called a "major voice in American Letters". Le Guin said she would prefer to be known as an "American novelist".
Kathleen Marie Blanco was an American politician who served as the 54th governor of Louisiana from 2004 to 2008. A member of the Democratic Party, she was the first and, to date, only woman elected as the state's governor.
Janet Inglis "Janny" Wurts is an American fantasy novelist and illustrator. She has written several standalone novels and series, including the Wars of Light and Shadow, The Cycle of Fire trilogy and the internationally best-selling Empire trilogy that she co-authored with Raymond E. Feist. Her short story collection That Way Lies Camelot was nominated for the British Fantasy Award in 1995. She often illustrates her own books, and has won Chesley Awards for her artwork.
Tanith Lee was a British science fiction and fantasy writer. She wrote more than 90 novels and 300 short stories, and was the winner of multiple World Fantasy Society Derleth Awards, the World Fantasy Lifetime Achievement Award and the Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement in Horror. She also wrote a children's picture book, and many poems. She wrote two episodes of the BBC science fiction series Blake's 7. She was the first woman to win the British Fantasy Award best novel award, for her book Death's Master (1980).
Ann Carol Crispin was an American science fiction writer, the author of twenty-three published novels. She wrote several Star Trek and Star Wars novelizations, and created an original science fiction series called StarBridge.
Brian Keene is an American author and podcaster, primarily known for his work in horror, dark fantasy, crime fiction, and comic books. He has won the 2014 World Horror Grandmaster Award and two Bram Stoker Awards. In addition to his own original work, Keene has written for media properties such as Doctor Who, Thor, Hellboy, Alien, Masters of the Universe, and The X-Files.
Deborah Blum is an American science journalist and the director of the Knight Science Journalism program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She is the author of several books, including The Poisoner's Handbook (2010) and The Poison Squad (2018), and has been a columnist for The New York Times and a blogger, via her blog titled Elemental, for Wired.
Dudley Joseph LeBlanc was an American entrepreneur and politician. He created the patent medicine Hadacol and promoted it through the 'Hadacol Caravan' which featured major celebrities of the day including Mickey Rooney, Ava Gardner, Cesar Romero, Hank Williams, and many others. Williams began writing the song 'Jambalaya' while traveling on the Hadacol bus, listening to the Cajun conversation.
Elizabeth Donald is an American author and journalist, best known for writing horror and science fiction, including the Nocturnal Urges vampire mystery series and Blackfire zombie series.
Leisure Books was a mass market paperback publisher specializing in horror and thrillers that operated from 1957 to 2010. In the company's early years, it also published fantasy, science fiction, Westerns, and the Wildlife Treasury card series.
Mort Castle is an American horror author with more than 500 short stories and 17 books to his credit, including Cursed Be the Child and The Strangers. Castle's first novel was published in 1967. Since then he has had pieces published in all sorts of places ranging from traditional literary magazines to more off-the-wall or risqué markets. He has been nominated eleven times for the Bram Stoker Award for Short Fiction and was winner three times.
Lisa Morton is an American horror author and screenwriter.
Lucy A. Snyder is an American science fiction, fantasy, humor, horror, and nonfiction writer.
Kaye Dacus is an American author and editor who has been writing fiction for more than twenty years. Her first novel, Stand-In Groom, was published by Barbour Publishing with a release date of January 1, 2009. Subsequent titles in the Bonneterre Brides series are Menu for Romance and A Case for Love.
John Everson is an American author of contemporary horror, dark fantasy, science fiction and fantasy fiction. He is the author of thirteen novels and four short fiction collections, as well as three mini-collections, all focusing on horror and the supernatural. His novel Covenant, was originally released in a limited edition hardcover by Delirium Books in 2004 and won the Bram Stoker Award for a First Novel the following year from the Horror Writers Association. His sixth novel, NightWhere, was a finalist for the Bram Stoker Award in 2012.
Seanan McGuire is an American author and filker. McGuire is known for her urban fantasy novels. She uses the pseudonym Mira Grant to write science fiction/horror and the pseudonym A. Deborah Baker to write the "Up-and-Under" children's portal fantasy series.
Ronald Malfi is an American novelist whose genres include horror, thrillers, mainstream, and literary fiction. Malfi is also a musician, having fronted the Baltimore-based alternative rock band Nellie Blide as well as his current project, Veer. He currently lives in Maryland.
Alix Ohlin is a Canadian novelist and short-story writer. She was born and raised in Montreal, Quebec, and lives in Vancouver, British Columbia. She is a recipient of the 2022 Lambda Literary Award for Bisexual Literature for her short story collection, We Want What We Want.
Amanda Downum is an American fantasy author currently living in Austin, Texas. She was born on July 15, 1979, in Virginia. She is most known for her necromancer chronicles: The Drowning City, The Bone Palace, and Kingdoms of Dust. Downum’s books consist of themes relating to identity, gender roles and sexuality, death, secrets and social stratification. She was nominated for the James Tiptree, Jr. Award in 2010.
David Armand is an American writer of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. He has published four novels, The Pugilist's Wife, Harlow, The Gorge, and The Lord's Acre. He has also published three collections of poems, The Deep Woods, Debt, and The Evangelist as well as a memoir titled My Mother's House. From 2017-2019 he served as Writer-in-Residence at Southeastern Louisiana University, where he is currently assistant professor of creative writing. His latest book, a collection of essays called Mirrors, was published by the University of Louisiana at Lafayette Press. Armand is the 2022 recipient of the Louisiana Writer Award, presented annually by the Louisiana Center for the Book in the State Library of Louisiana. He is the twenty-third recipient of the prestigious award presented to recognize outstanding contributions to Louisiana’s literary and intellectual life exemplified by a contemporary Louisiana writer’s body of work.
