Smith, Lindsay: - Lindsay Smith is the author of the YA espionage thrillers Sekret, Skandal, and Dreamstrider, all from Macmillan Children's. She lives in Washington, DC with her husband and dog, where she writes on international issues in cyber security.

Tregillis, Ian: - Ian Tregillis is the son of a bearded mountebank and a discredited tarot card reader. He is the author of the Milkweed Triptych, Something More than Night, and the Alchemy Wars trilogy. His most current novel is The Rising (Alchemy Wars #2). His short fiction has appeared at numerous venues including Tor.com, Fantasy & Science Fiction, and Popular Science. He lives in New Mexico, where he consorts with writers, scientists, and other disreputable types.

Swanwick, Michael: - Michael Swanwick has received the Nebula, Theodore Sturgeon, World Fantasy, and Hugo Awards. He has written nine novels, 150 short stories, and countless flash fictions. His latest novel, Chasing the Phoenix, is available from Tor Books.

Clarke, Cassandra Rose: - Cassandra Rose Clarke is the author of Star Trek: Prodigy: A Dangerous Trade, Star Trek: The Next Generation: Shadows Have Offended, Our Lady of the Ice, Magic of Blood and Sea, Magic of Wind and Mist, Star's End, Halo: Battle Born, and Halo: Battle Born: Meridian Divide. She grew up in south Texas and currently lives in Richmond, Virginia, where she tends to multiple cats. Cassandra's first adult novel, The Mad Scientist's Daughter, was a finalist for the 2013 Philip K. Dick Award, and her YA novel, The Assassin's Curse, was nominated for YALSA's 2014 Best Fiction for Young Adults. Her short fiction has appeared in Strange Horizons and Daily Science Fiction. Visit her at CassandraRoseClarke.com.

Gladstone, Max: - Max Gladstone is the author of the Hugo-nominated The Craft Sequence series, which Patrick Rothfuss called "stupefyingly good." Max's interactive mobile game Choice of the Deathless was nominated for the XYZZY Award, and his critically acclaimed short fiction has appeared on Tor and in Uncanny Magazine, and in anthologies such as XO Orpheus: Fifty New Myths and The Starlit Wood: New Fairy Tales. John Crowley described Max as "a true star of 21st-century fantasy." Max has sung in Carnegie Hall and was once thrown from a horse in Mongolia.