Bryce O’Connor learned the importance of a well-crafted story at an early age. Raised on the tall tales of Brian Jacques’ Redwall and J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series, he fell in love with reading when he realized that one’s imagination is the only place where dragons might actually fly free.

Check out Bryce's imprint, Wraithmarked Creative, on Patreon for early access chapters and books, exclusive art, and unique hardcopies! Link below!

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Hailing from Scotland's wet and wild west coast, Michael enjoys writing stories as sweeping in scope as the ancient landscapes he grew up in. His writing is known for rich character arcs, tight pacing, and layered magic systems, creating an epic tale all ages can enjoy.

Michael is also 'that guy' who enjoys - well, enjoyed... - discussing the mad fan theories of Game of Thrones even more than the books or show, and knows more about World of Warcraft than is probably healthy.

Dyrk Ashton was born in Athens (Ohio, not Greece) on a chilly Halloween morning. He whiled away his adolescent years and teens in cornfields, woods, rivers, ditches and haymows, climbing trees, running along barn beams, riding, wrestling, soccering, fighting BB gun wars, reading Stuart Little, Jonathan Livingston Seagull, everything Verne, London, Kipling, White, Lewis, Doyle, Burroughs, Poe, Howard, Fleming, Lovecraft, Tolkien, Zelazny, and generally ignoring school -- though he somehow managed excellent grades (except in Algebra, of course).

Dyrk earned a BFA and masters degrees in filmmaking at The Ohio State University, which lead to working in film production in Columbus, OH, where he crawled his way up from production assistant to grip then production manager and producer for commercials, industrial films and low budget features. He then headed west to Los Angeles where he wrote and pitched scripts but fed and clothed himself as a "jack-of-all-trades": editor, assistant editor, location sound recordist, cinematographer, assistant director, production manager, producer, you name it.

Mostly, however, he made his living as a SAG/AFTRA actor, appearing in nothing you've ever seen. And if you have seen it, he was probably in it so briefly you missed him. It can be done, acting professionally, even if you have no talent but are good at auditioning and have a look that very few actors and no regular folks can pull off. He didn't earn a lot of money and whatever he did make is long gone (L.A. is expensive), but he did get to travel quite a bit, including an eight week stint in Kandy, Sri Lanka (and it was awesome).

After nearly six years of scraping by in L.A., he realized he probably wouldn't, in all actuality, die if he never got to make a big Hollywood film, so he moved back to the Midwest and went to Bowling Green State University for a PhD in Film Studies. He wrote a dissertation on The Lord of the Rings movies. And they gave him a diploma. Shocking. Then he got hired as a professor. Even more shocking. Apparently PhDs are tossed out like parade candy these days and just about anyone is allowed to warp the minds of our precious youth.

He spent four years in a tenure track position then began teaching entirely online and found he actually had time to read books again -- fiction, sci-fi, fantasy -- not just academic journals and textbooks. Then he realized he actually had time to write. And so he did, bringing to bear his lifelong fascination with mythology and storytelling and gathering together (some clearly ridiculous) ideas he'd had for years.

The result is Paternus, the first in a trilogy of contemporary urban fantasy adventures for grown ups. Writing novels is something he'd always wanted to do but never had the time, gumption, or the maturity, more likely, to actually do. He's found he loves the writing process, actually needs it, and will continue to write even if nobody buys the stuff.

Still, he's been heard to paraphrase the immortal line of Billy Mack (played by the ever fantastic Bill Nighy), from Love Actually: "If you believe in Father Christmas, children, like your Uncle Dyrky does, buy my festering turd of a novel."

And yes, Dyrk Ashton is his real name. He's been told many times it sounds like the screen name of a Soap actor or porn star. Cool. Truth is, his father is of (mixed) English decent, and his mother (mixed) Scottish, (a Campbell, no less, though her father always emphasized that they were highland Campbells, not lowland. The highland Scots fought against the English, the lowlands sided with them, you see). Anyway, Dyrk's mom liked the way the name looked when spelled with a "y" instead of the more common "i". So there.

Born Lancashire, England, J. P. Ashman is a Northern lad through

and through. His parents love wildlife, history, fantasy and science fiction, and passed their passion on to him. They read to him from an early age and encouraged his imagination at every turn. His career may be in optics, as a manager/technician, but he loves to make time for writing and reading every day. Now living rurally in the Cotswolds with Wifey and their little Norse Goddess Freya, he's inspired daily by the views they have and the things they see, from the deer in the fields to the buzzards circling overhead.

Writing is a huge part of his life and the medieval re-enactment background and tabletop gaming lend to it; when he's not writing the genre, he's either reading or playing it. He plans to keep writing, both within his current series, and those to come, whether short stories or epic tomes

David Benem is an author of fantasy fiction. His debut novel, What Remains of Heroes, has been named to multiple "best of" indie fantasy lists and was a finalist in the SPFBO. The sequel, The Wrath of Heroes, is the second installment in the Requiem for Heroes trilogy. David lives in St. Louis, Missouri though his mind is often elsewhere. You can read his inane musings on Twitter (@dbenem) or on his oft-neglected website, www.davidbenem.com.

Author Website: www.mikeshel.com

Mike was born in Detroit and raised in Dearborn, Michigan, oldest of three boys, the son of a firefighter and homemaker. He has practiced as a psychotherapist for over 25 years. He lives in Indianapolis, Indiana with his wife Tracy, son Leo, and dog Neko. Mike began freelancing for Paizo Publishing’s Pathfinder Roleplaying Game in 2010. He released his first novel, ACHING GOD, in 2018. Its sequel, SIN EATER, followed in 2019. IDOLS FALL is his third novel and completes the ICONOCLASTS trilogy. He is at work on several projects. Be patient.

Mike's short stories set in the ICONOCLASTS world can be found in two free fantasy anthologies, LOST LORE and HEROES WANTED.

T L Greylock is the author of THE GODFORGED CHRONICLES series and THE SONG OF THE ASH TREE trilogy.

She can only wink her left eye, jumped out of an airplane at 13,000 feet while strapped to a Navy SEAL, had a dog named Agamemnon and a cat named Odysseus, and has been swimming with stingrays in the Caribbean.

P.S. One of the above statements is false. Can you guess which?

Get a free copy of "The Iron Keys" - a prequel short story from Ben's Emaneska Series at: www.linktr.ee/bengalley

Ben Galley is a British author of dark and epic fantasy who currently lurks in Vancouver, Canada. Since publishing his Emaneska Series in 2010, Ben has released the award-winning Scarlet Star Trilogy and The Heart of Stone, the critically-acclaimed Chasing Graves Trilogy and Scalussen Chronicles, and the new Bloodwood Saga.

When he isn't conjuring up new stories or arguing the finer points of magic systems and dragon anatomy, Ben terrorises the Canadian wilds, swills Scotch single malts, and snowboards very, very badly. One day he hopes to haunt an epic treehouse in the mountains and dole out side quests to passersby.

Phil Tucker is a Brazilian/Brit that currently resides in Asheville, NC.

Laura M. Hughes was born and raised beneath the grey, pigeon-filled skies of northern England. Her short fiction has appeared in anthologies such as Lost Lore, Art of War, and the upcoming Heroes Wanted. She is the founder and editor-in-chief of The Fantasy Hive, and has also written numerous non-fiction articles for Fantasy-Faction and Tor.com.

Laura currently works as a freelance editor and proofreader. When she isn't writing or editing, you're most likely to find her playing Dungeons & Dragons, hoarding polyhedral dice, painting gaming miniatures, or trying to convince unsuspecting bystanders to read The Malazan Book of the Fallen.

Her first LitRPG novel, God of Gnomes (God Core #1), was released in September 2019 under the pen name Demi Harper.

Benedict Patrick is from a small town in Northern Ireland called Banbridge, but has been living and working in Scotland since he moved there at the age of eighteen. Tragically, that was quite a while ago.

He has been writing for most of his life, and has been reading for pretty much all of it (with help from mum and dad at the beginning). Benedict's life changed when a substitute primary school teacher read his class part of The Hobbit and later loaned him the book – he fell in love with the fantasy genre and never looked back.

Try out some free Yarnsworld stories by signing up to Benedict's Readers Group: http://yarnsworldreaders.benedictpatrick.com/2

Writer of strange stuff and after dark doodler, Jeff spends way too much time lost in other places besides here. He currently resides in the suburbs of Massachusetts with his wonderful wife and two sons. When Jeff isn't exploring different worlds through the written word, doodling, or spending time with his family, you can find him playing basketball, reading, trying new restaurants, and thumbing away at a videogame or two.

To find out more about his fiction, read his blog, and see his doodles visit him at www.hallwaytoelsewhere.com

Timandra Whitecastle lives in North Germany. She is a native speaker of both English and German.

Reading is an obsession that borders on compulsion most days.

Her short story "This War of Ours" has been nominated by the BSFA (Best Short Fiction 2018). You can find her other short fiction in various anthologies as well as in Grimdark Magazine.

Tim has never bothered to get a life because she feels like she’s been trying to lead three different ones already – and, yes, she totally stole that line from Terry Pratchett. Also, she's partial to Mojitos and Baileys … er, just in case you meet her in a bar and want to buy her a drink, say. (She knows people don't actually read author's biographies, but feels mentioning this might be worth a shot … or two.)