Stine, R. L.: -

R. L. Stine is the author of many series of mystery and fantasy books for children and young adults and the creator of the Goosebumps series, one of the bestselling children's series ever. In 2024 he was named a Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America, one of the mystery world's highest honors.

Bradbury, Ray: -

Ray Bradbury (1920-2012) was the author of more than three dozen books, including such classics as Fahrenheit 451, The Martian Chronicles, The Illustrated Man, Dandelion Wine, and Something Wicked This Way Comes, as well as hundreds of short stories. He won many awards, including the Grand Master Award from the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, the O. Henry Memorial Award, the Benjamin Franklin Award, the World Fantasy Award for Lifetime Achievement, and the PEN Center USA West Lifetime Achievement Award.

Hamilton, Laurell K.: -

Laurell K. Hamilton is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter novels, as well as the Meredith Gentry series.

Lavalle, Victor: - Victor LaValle is the author of six previous works of fiction: three novels, two novellas, and a collection of short stories. His novels have been included in best-of-the-year lists by The New York Times Book Review, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, The Nation, and Publishers Weekly, among others. He has been the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, an American Book Award, the Shirley Jackson Award, and the Key to Southeast Queens. He lives in New York City with his wife and kids and teaches at Columbia University.

Howard, Robert E.: - Robert E. Howard (1906-1936) was an American author who made his name writing inexpensive fiction magazines known as pulp fiction. He is known as the father of sword and sorcery, a sub-genre of fantasy/historical fantasy, which involves sword-wielding heroes and violent adventures. Howard's most famous creation in this genre was Conan the Barbarian. He tragically committed suicide at the age of 30 but his name and literary legacy have lived on.

Piper, Hailey: - Hailey Piper is the Bram Stoker Award-winning author of Queen of Teeth, A Light Most Hateful, The Worm and His Kings series, and other books of dark fiction. She is also the author of over 100 short stories appearing in Weird Tales, Pseudopod, Cosmic Horror Monthly, Cast of Wonders, and various other publications. Her nonfiction appears in Writer's Digest, Library Journal, CrimeReads, and elsewhere. She lives with her wife in Maryland, where their occult rituals are secret. Find Hailey at HaileyPiper.com.

Lovecraft, H. P.: - "H.P. Lovecraft was born in Providence, Rhode Island in 1890. He was self-educated and lived in his birthplace all his life, working as a freelance writer, journalist, and ghostwriter. His best work - including some sixty or so short stories - was published from 1923 onwards in the pulp magazine Weird Tales. He died in 1937, in poverty and virtually unknown; today he is recognized as one of the great masters of supernatural fiction."

Williams, Tennessee: -

Tennessee Williams, born Thomas Lanier Williams in 1911 in Columbus, Mississippi won Pulitzer Prizes for his dramas, A Streetcar Named Desire and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Other plays include The Glass Menagerie, Summer and Smoke, The Rose Tattoo, Camino Real, Suddenly Last Summer, Sweet Bird of Youth and Night of the Iguana. He also wrote a number of one-act plays, short stories, poems and two novels, The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone and Moishe and the Age of Reason. He died in 1983 at the age of 72.

Maberry, Jonathan: -

Jonathan Maberry is a New York Times bestselling author, five-time Bram Stoker Award winner, anthology editor, and comic book writer. He writes for adults and teens. He also writes comics for Marvel, IDW, and Dark Horse. He lives in Del Mar, California, with his wife, Sara Jo, and their dog, Rosie.

Aquilone, James: -

James Aquilone was raised on Saturday-morning cartoons, comic books, sitcoms, and Cap'n Crunch. Amid the Cold War, he dreamed of being a jet fighter pilot but decided against the military life after realizing it would require him to wake up early. He had further illusions of being a stand-up comedian, until a traumatic experience onstage forced him to seek a college education. Brief stints as an alternative rock singer/guitarist and child model also proved unsuccessful. Today he battles a severe chess addiction while trying to write in the speculative-fiction game.