Born and raised in the Magic Valley of Southern Idaho, Dakota Frandsen has been a published author since the age of sixteen and is a seasoned paranormal investigator, often dubbed the ‘Specialist of the Strange,’ whose work transcends traditional ghost hunting by delving deeply into the human psyche and the harsh truths of life few dare to admit.
Born into the mountains of Southwest Virginia and spending early childhood with a family of artists, Sandra Baldwin’s Appalachian childhood and travels have given her a unique American perspective. Though she resided in Virginia, New York, North Carolina, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Nebraska, Kentucky, and finally Delaware, her notoriously ‘itchy feet’ have taken her through forty-seven states.
Skye Gent is a UK children’s author whose writing is rooted in one simple belief – that no child should feel alone while they’re growing up. Before becoming an author, she trained and worked as a nurse, where she saw first-hand how deeply emotional experiences shape the way we understand ourselves. That perspective stayed with her, but it was her own lived experiences – of confusion, change, and not always having the right words or support at the right time – that ultimately led her to writing.
I hold an MA in global studies, with a focus on peace and security in Africa, from the Institute for Peace and Security Studies and Leipzig University, as well as a bachelor’s degree in political science and international relations from the University of Roma Tre. For almost ten years, I have worked as a project manager and country representative for non-governmental organizations. Right now, I live in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
I’m a much-published scholar of translation, literature, rhetoric, and semiotics (forty books, one hundred and twenty articles) who has always wanted to be a published novelist – and now my fourth published novel is out!
Born in the back room of a Wisconsin tenant farm, went to a one-room grade school, and rode a bus fifty-two miles to high school. A peacetime army veteran who discovered theatre and my wife-to-be the same week my college football career ended. Began writing fiction only after my college teaching career ended with five awards, a Fulbright lectureship in Poland, and acting in seven foreign countries.
Whitney Healy specializes in poetry, creative nonfiction, memoir, and fantasy. In 2025, Whitney’s small poetry series, Blackberry Winter: Songs of the Appalachian Trails, received first place in Appalachian Literature with West Virginia Writers, Inc. A lover of hot tea, watching her son at first base, and Stranger Things, Evermyst: The Awakening will be Whitney’s debut novel.
D.K. Dillenback is an American author and military strategist who explores the intersection between the human condition and our perceived reality. His writing attempts to capture reason, order, and peace from an infinite web of complex adaptive systems.
Originally from the east, I lived in a hundred-year-old log cabin in the Colorado foothills while I attended CU Boulder, earning a degree in Natural Resource Conservation. Upon graduation, I turned down a state job to work in game management and agriculture in East Africa, after which I went to horseshoeing school in Texas to become a farrier.
Ralph S. Souders is an American author of suspense and literary fiction. His first novel, Hans Becker’s Family, was published in 2010. It takes place in Munich and other locations in Southern Germany. It contains a very unusual plot, a plot that quite possibly has never been previously featured in a published story.
I am Jade Shade. A poetess. A storyteller. A gardener. A daughter.
Susan McLeod resides with her husband John in Alplaus, New York. She is originally from Southold, Long Island, New York. In the fall of 1975, she moved to Troy, New York, attending Hudson Valley Community College’s nursing program, and received her A.A.S.
Lisa Riddoch lives in Liverpool, UK with her husband, two teenagers and her doggy writing companion, Dex. She works full time as a programmer manager for a large retail company, but her passion is reading and writing.
A.B. Taylore is an imaginative storyteller and high school biology teacher who believes that the natural world is the greatest source of wonder. By day, she guides students in Grades 9 to 12 through the intricate beauty of cells, ecosystems, evolution, and the delicate systems that sustain life. By night – and in every spare creative moment – she transforms that same sense of awe into fantastical tales born from boundless curiosity.
Mari, pronounced Mary, Miller is a retired oral communication educator of thirty-three years, having taught at private and public high schools and at the collegiate level. She has been a speech coach and drama director and presented at communication, education, and technology conferences across the country. She now divides her time between Iowa and South Dakota.
Freeman Smith, aka Dan Freeman, is an artist and writer born in the United States. He has lived in various cities including Denver, Los Angeles, San Francisco, New Orleans, and New York City. Over the years, he has published novels under different pseudonyms and has discreetly placed many of his stories in various books at numerous libraries nationwide.
Dr Mel Baker is an author, speaker, and storyteller whose work explores resilience, identity, and the courage to rebuild. Drawing on her own lived experience, from early childhood trauma to frontline chaplaincy and military service, Mel writes with clarity, compassion, and unflinching honesty.
Peter Oloche David is an entrepreneur, researcher, and author whose work examines the powerful intersection of science, history, technology, and global health systems. His intellectual pursuits are driven by a central conviction: that understanding humanity’s greatest challenges requires both historical depth and forward-looking innovation.
Eliezer Sobel, 73, is the author of The Silver Lining of Alzheimer’s: One Son’s Journey Into The Mystery, a joyful memoir of caring for his mother, Manya, whose ordeal with Alzheimer’s lasted twenty years, until she finally passed away at 95. His story shines an unusual light on what has become an epidemic of dementia around the world, which most accounts largely tend to depict as purely tragic. Instead, Eliezer discovered that as his mother’s memories as a Holocaust survivor began to vanish, what emerged was the innocent, radiant, and loving young girl she had once been.
I was born in Kansas City, Missouri in 1944. I hold degrees from the University of Chicago, Stanford University, and Yale Divinity School, and was the recipient of an NEA grant. My novel Skywater was named an American Library Association notable book, and my memoir Grace Period was a Next Generation Indie Book Award finalist. After fifty-plus years of writing and raising a family in Los Angeles, I now reside in my hometown.