About the Contributors
When she was in third grade, her teacher told her to "write what you know," so from that point onward K. I. Borrowman set out to experience as much as possible. She has lived on five of the planet's seven continents, earned two bachelor's degrees, and hand-reared a human child. She has owned twenty-one different vehicles and lived in thirty-four different homes. She has climbed many mountains, dived many seas, and carried many back packs. Borrowman is currently living in Dubai with her husband, who wants to believe in aliens, and two Qatari cats. She hopes to know more, and continue to write it.
Jeremy M. Gottwig wakes at 4:30am each morning to write speculative fiction. As a result, he is addicted to caffeine. He currently works for the University of Maryland libraries and lives in Baltimore, MD with his wife and young son. Find him online at StrangeShuttle.com or at twitter.com/jgottwig.
Elektra Hammond emulates her multi-sided idol Buckaroo Banzai by going in several directions at once. She's been involved in the copyediting and proofreading end of publishing since the 1990s for presses small and large and nowadays concocts anthologies, writes the occasional short story, and is a freelance editor and movie reviewer.
She lives in Delaware with her husband, Mike, and the cat herd of BlueBlaze/Benegesserit catteries. When not freelancing or appearing at science fiction conventions she travels the world judging cat shows.
Find Elektra on Facebook (Elektra Hammond), Twitter (elektraUM), LiveJournal (elektra_h), g+ (Elektra Hammond), and building her website at http://www.untilmidnight.com.
Joanna Michal Hoyt lives with her family (and without any cats) on a farm in upstate NY where she spends her days tending gardens, goats and guests and her evenings reading and writing peculiar stories. Her writing has appeared in publications including Crossed Genres, Daily Science Fiction, and Mysterion: Rediscovering the Mysteries of the Christian Faith. She has had some opportunities to observe the quaint behavior of expert researchers at firsthand, though she has yet to encounter a real live cryptoethnogastronomist.
A. L. Kaplan’s love of books started at an early age and sparked a creative imagination. Born on a cold winter morning in scenic northern New Jersey, A. L. spent many hours developing her ideas before translating them into words. Her stories have been included in several anthologies, including Young Adventurers: Heroes, Explorers and Swashbucklers, Suppose: Drabbles, Flash Fiction, and short stories, as well as Indies Unlimited’s 2014 & 2015 Flash Fiction. You can find her poems in Dragonfly Arts Magazine’s 2014, 2015, and 2016 editions, and the BALTICON 49 and 50 BSFAN. She is the President of the Maryland Writers’ Association’s Howard County Chapter and holds an MFA in sculpture from the Maryland Institute College of Art. When not writing or indulging in her fascination with wolves, A. L. is the props manager for a local theatre. This proud mother of two lives in Maryland with her husband and dog. Read A. L.’s short works and poems at alkaplan.wordpress.com. Twitter: @alkaplanauthor Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorA.L.Kaplan/.
Christine Lucas lives in Greece with her husband and a horde of spoiled animals. A retired Air Force officer and mostly self-taught in English, has had her work appear in several print and online magazines, including the Other Half of the Sky anthology, Daily Science Fiction, and Space and Time Magazine. She is currently working on her first novel, and in her free time she reads slush for ASIM. Visit her at: http://werecat99.wordpress.com/
Gail Z. Martin is the author of Vendetta: A Deadly Curiosities Novel in her urban fantasy series set in Charleston, SC; Shadow and Flame the fourth and final book in the Ascendant Kingdoms Saga; The Shadowed Path, and Iron and Blood a new Steampunk series, co-authored with Larry N. Martin. A brand new epic fantasy series will launch in 2017 from Solaris Books.
She is also author of Ice Forged, Reign of Ash and War of Shadows in The Ascendant Kingdoms Saga, The Chronicles of The Necromancer series (The Summoner, The Blood King, Dark Haven, Dark Lady's Chosen); The Fallen Kings Cycle (The Sworn, The Dread) and the urban fantasy novel Deadly Curiosities. Gail writes three ebook series: The Jonmarc Vahanian Adventures, The Deadly Curiosities Adventures and The Blaine McFadden Adventures. The Storm and Fury Adventures, steampunk stories set in the Iron & Blood world, are co-authored with Larry N. Martin.
Her work has appeared in over 30 US/UK anthologies. Find her at www.AscendantKingdoms.com, on Twitter @GailZMartin, on Facebook.com/WinterKingdoms, at DisquietingVisions.com blog and GhostInTheMachinePodcast.com, on Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/GailZMartin and free excerpts on Wattpad http://wattpad.com/GailZMartin
Gregory L. Norris is a full-time professional writer, with work appearing in numerous short story anthologies, national magazines, novels, the occasional TV episode, and, so far, one produced feature film (Brutal Colors, which debuted on Amazon Prime January 2016). A former feature writer and columnist at Sci Fi, the official magazine of the Sci Fi Channel (before all those ridiculous Ys invaded), he once worked as a screenwriter on two episodes of Paramount's modern classic, Star Trek: Voyager. Two of his paranormal novels (written under his rom-de-plume, Jo Atkinson) were published by Home Shopping Network as part of their "Escape With Romance" line—the first time HSN has offered novels to their global customer base. Norris judged the 2012 Lambda Awards in the SF/F/H category. Three times now, his short stories have notched Honorable Mentions by Ellen Datlow. He won Honorable Mention in the 2016 Roswell Awards in Short SF for his short story 'Mandered'. Norris lives and writes in the outer limits of New Hampshire with his husband, their small pride of rescue cats, and his emerald-eyed muse. Follow his literary adventures on Facebook, or at www.gregorylnorris.blogspot.com.
Jody Lynn Nye lists her main career activity as 'spoiling cats.' When not engaged upon this worthy occupation, she writes fantasy and science fiction books and short stories.
Since 1987 she has published over 45 books and more than 150 short stories, including epic fantasies, contemporary humorous fantasy, humorous military science fiction, and edited three anthologies. She collaborated with Anne McCaffrey on a number of books, including the New York Times bestseller, Crisis on Doona. She also wrote eight books with Robert Asprin, and continues both of Asprin's Myth-Adventures series and Dragons series. Her newest series is the Lord Thomas Kinago adventures, the most recent of which is Rhythm of the Imperium, a humorous military SF novel. She also runs the two-day intensive writers' workshop at DragonCon.
Her other recent books are Myth-Fits, Wishing on a Star; an e-collection of cat stories, Cats Triumphant; Dragons Run, and Launch Pad, an anthology of science fiction stories co-edited with Mike Brotherton. She is also happy to announce the reissue of her Mythology series and Taylor's Ark series from WordFire Publishing. Jody runs the two-day intensive writers’ workshop at DragonCon, and she and her husband, Bill Fawcett are the book reviewers for Galaxy's Edge Magazine.
R. S. Pyne is a freelance writer/research Micropalaeontologist/Mental Health First Aider based in rural West Wales, near the University town of Aberystwyth. Ravens regularly visit the back garden and the only traffic problems are caused by sheep. Working in the historical fiction, horror, Science Fiction, and fantasy genres, she is currently enrolled in a screenwriting module as part of a certificate in Creative Writing (the equivalent of the first year of an undergraduate degree).
Previous fiction credits have included Bête Noire, Aurora Wolf, Albedo One, Bards and Sages Quarterly, Christmas is Dead - a Zombie Anthology, Eschatology, Fifth Di, Neo-Opsis Science Fiction Magazine, Hungur, Lacuna, and many others, but she also writes sonnets and evil haiku. Someone has to do it.
She shares an eighteenth century mine captain’s cottage with a hyperactive rescue sprollie (springer spaniel x Welsh collie) and a black tortoiseshell cat which appeared on the doorstep one rainy day in August 2015 and decided to move in. “A Canticle for Grimalkin” features a black tortoiseshell cat with attitude (‘tortitude’) and, although the real life inspiration for the story has never caught a fairy at the bottom of the garden—it is not from lack of trying!
Alex Shvartsman is a writer, translator and game designer from Brooklyn, NY. Over 80 of his short stories have appeared in Nature, Galaxy's Edge, InterGalactic Medicine Show, and many other magazines and anthologies. He won the 2014 WSFA Small Press Award for Short Fiction and was a finalist for the 2015 Canopus Award for Excellence in Interstellar Fiction. He is the editor of the Unidentified Funny Objects annual anthology series of humorous SF/F. His collection, Explaining Cthulhu to Grandma and Other Stories and his steampunk humor novella H. G. Wells, Secret Agent were both published in 2015. His website is www.alexshvartsman.com.
A. L. Sirois is also a developmental editor, graphic artist and a performing musician. He has had fiction published in Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, Fantastic, Amazing Stories, and Thema, and online at Electric Spec, Every Day Fiction and Flash Fiction Online, among other publications. His story, “In the Conservatory,” was nominated for the Pushcart Prize. He's published several novels and a short story collection. Other works include a children's book, Dinosaur Dress Up. His graphic novel, The Endless Incident, based on a video game, was published in February, 2016. Al has contributed comic art for DC, Marvel, and Charlton, and has scripted for Warren Publications. He wrote and drew "Bugs in the System" for witzend #12, the famous comics fanzine started by Wally Wood. His illustrations have appeared in many publications and on book covers. He lives in rural Bucks County, Pennsylvania with his wife and occasional collaborator, author Grace Marcus. Together they are writing a Young Adult novel set in ancient Egypt. Al has been a drummer for five decades, and currently plays in a jazz quartet. In his spare time he is teaching himself how to play piano.
Oliver Smith is a visual artist and writer from Cheltenham, UK. He was born in 1966 and recently returned to university 25 years after graduating in Fine Art to study Creative Writing as a post-graduate research student.
His writing practice developed from an interest in various surrealist techniques and his stories and poetry generally involve the weird, fantastic, and speculative: a mermaid in the bath, pickled brains plotting in the pantry, and a green man who has lost his head and isn't going to take it lying down. All this and more are included along with many of his previously anthologised stories and twenty poems in Basilisk Soup and Other Fantasies available as a Kindle download from Amazon.
Oliver's writing has been described as “literary splatter-horror, and wild-conceited ironic fantasy to die for.” (D F Lewis), “richly textured and shaded through a dark and subtle palette,” “hauntingly poetic,” “beautifully written with a superb poetic turn of phrase,” and “not my cup of tea”(all Amazon reviews).
His short fiction has appeared in anthologies from Inkermen Press, Ex Occidente Press, Dark Hall Press, History and Mystery LLC, and Horseplay Press.
His poetry regularly appears in S T Joshi's Spectral Realms journal from Hippocampus Press, and has been published in the Horrorzine and on NewMystics.com, and is scheduled to appear in Illumen, Eye to the Telescope, and Fossil Lake.
Oliver lives with his wife, Claire, and they both share their home with Ishtar, a very spoiled two-year old Tonkinese female.
Steven R. Southard has been described by some as one cool cat, and as the cat's meow, but when he hears it, that sort of talk rubs his fur the wrong way. Busier than a one-eyed cat watching two mouse holes, he's had short stories published in over ten anthologies, including Hides the Dark Tower, Dead Bait, and Avast, Ye Airships! He's the author of the fourteen-story series, What Man Hath Wrought. An engineer and former submariner, Steve has pounced into the genres of steampunk, clockpunk, science fiction, fantasy, and horror, and managed to land on his feet each time. He has marked the following territories: a blog and website at www.stevenrsouthard.com, www.facebook.com/steven.southard.16, and www.twitter.com/StevenRSouthard, where you can find him grinning like a Cheshire...well, you know.
Doug C. Souza began his story “Tenth Life” when the first line, “I found Mr. Gary confessing to the cat one evening,” popped into his head. It was a random image that seemed to have the makings of a fun story. He had no idea where the characters would end up, but one thing was certain: the cat would be a gray tabby. A couple years earlier, Doug C. Souza had to say goodbye for the final time to the greatest cat that ever walked the face of the Earth. He's glad his pal Remy found a home in one of his stories.
You can follow Doug C. Souza at dougcsouza.com. Recently, he won first place in the Writers of the Future Contest, and has a story featured in “The Young Explorer's Adventure Guide” due out later this year. His story “Mountain Screamers”—a novelette about cougars—appeared in Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine.
Doug C. Souza hopes you enjoy “Tenth Life,” a story where a cat gets into (and out of) trouble the way only a cat can.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is a Scottish writer and physician, known chiefly as the author of the Sherlock Holmes mysteries, though he wrote non-fiction, poetry, novels and over 200 short stories.