Phil Halton is a Toronto based novelist and screenwriter. Before turning to writing full-time, he worked in conflict zones around the world as an officer in the Canadian Army and as a security consultant. In particular, he has extensive experience in Afghanistan. He is the author of a novel set in Afghanistan, This Shall Be a House of Peace (Dundurn Press, 2019) and a contrarian history, Blood Washing Blood: Afghanistan’s Hundred-Year War (Dundurn Press, 2021). His latest novel, Every Arm Outstretched (Double Dagger Press, 2020), is set in 1978 during the Nicaraguan revolution. He has published stories and articles in such publications as Thing, Ricky’s Backyard and the Canadian Army Journal. He founded Toronto-based literary journal Blood & Bourbon. He holds a Master’s Degree in Defence Studies from Royal Military College of Canada, and a Graduate Certificate in Creative Writing from Humber College.

Daniel G. Newman is a national expert on government accountability and money in politics. He is president and co-founder of MapLight, a nonpartisan nonprofit that promotes transparency and political reform, earning a Knight-Batten Award for Innovations in Journalism, a James Madison Freedom of Information Award, a Library Journal Best Reference award, and a Webby Award nomination for Best Politics Website. Newman has appeared in hundreds of media outlets, including CNN, CBS, MSNBC, FOX Business, and NPR. He led a ballot measure campaign establishing public funding of elections in Berkeley, California, and was named one of Fast Company’s 100 Most Creative People in Business. Newman received an MA in political psychology from U.C. Berkeley and a BA from Brown, and was a Fellow at the Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Janet Rebhan is the author of the novel Finding Tranquility Base (2012) and Rachael's Return (2020). Born in Texas, she was sixteen when she moved to Los Angeles, where she pursued acting and modeling before studying creative writing at UCLA. Rebhan has two grown daughters and still resides in the Los Angeles area.

Donna Hemans is the author of two novels: River Woman and Tea by the Sea (June 2020, Red Hen Press). In 2015, she won the Lignum Vitae Una Marson Award for Adult Literature for the unpublished manuscript of Tea by the Sea. 

Award-winner Catherine Wallace Hope is the author of Once Again: A Novel, a speculative thriller from Alcove Press releasing on 10/06/2020. She earned her degree in creative writing at the University of Colorado and delved into dance in New York and art and psychology in California. When she returned to Colorado, she became an instructor at the renowned Lighthouse Writers Workshop, offering creativity workshops for writers. Currently, she and her family are living on an island in the Pacific Northwest where they serve at the pleasure of two astonishingly spoiled dogs.

Teressa Shelton is the author of The Sergeant's Daughter (She Writes Press, August 11), a memoir reminiscent of The Glass Castle. It follows Teressa and her sisters through a childhood of abuse and torment, aided only by the solace of books, music, and family found outside of their home, until Teressa ultimately escapes to build a better life for herself. She has lived in nine states and three countries. After graduating from Belmont University in Nashville, she embarked on a career in managing medical practices. The Sergeant’s Daughter is her first book. She lives with her family in Springfield, IL.

Len Joy is the award-winning author of the novels, American Past Time (2014), Better Days (2018) and Everyone Dies Famous (August 2020). He is a nationally ranked triathlete and competes internationally representing the United States as part of TEAM USA.

Martha Hunt Handler grew up in northern Illinois dreaming about wolves and has always understood that her role in this lifetime is to tell stories and be a voice for nature. She has been an environmental consultant, a magazine columnist, an actress, and a polar explorer, among other occupations. She has also driven across the country in an 18-wheeler and been a grand-prize winner of The Newlywed Game.

Linda Ulleseit, born and raised in Saratoga, California, has an MFA in writing from Lindenwood University. She is a member of the Hawaii Writers Guild, Marketing Chair for Women Writing the West, and a founding member of Paper Lantern Writers. Linda is the author of Under the Almond Trees, which was a semifinalist in the Faulkner-Wisdom Creative Writing Contest, and The Aloha Spirit, to be released in 2020. Linda believes in the unspoken power of women living ordinary lives. Her books are the stories of women in her family who were extraordinary but unsung. She recently retired from teaching elementary school and now enjoys writing full-time, as well as cooking, leatherworking, reading, gardening, spending time with her family, and taking long walks with her dogs. She currently lives in San Jose with her husband. They have two adult sons and two yellow Labradors.

Laura Jamison is the author of the debut ALL THE RIGHT MISTAKES (She Writes Press), an uplit novel about the relatable messiness of adult friendship and life ambitions in the vein of Camille Pagán’s I’m Fine and Neither Are You and Allison Pearson’s I Don’t Know How She Does It. Jamison is an attorney from Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin, where she lives with her husband and their four children. When she is not practicing law or writing, she is driving her kids to one of their many activities in her minivan. Laura is a graduate of Dartmouth College and the University of Michigan Law School. This is her first book.

Gretchen Eberhart Cherington is the author of Poetic License: A Memoir (She Writes Press).  In the vein of Small Fry by Lisa Brennan Jobs and Famous Father Girl by Jamie Bernstein, Poetic License explores the life of a Pulitzer prize winning poet’s daughter: how she confronts her family’s myths and her beloved father’s betrayals while finding her voice and establishing her own legacy. It’s an extremely engaging account of growing up in an academic family that had a constant stream of famous poets and writers through their door, and the winding journey to understanding how her own father’s early childhood trauma plays out over generations.

Miriam Feldman is the author of HE CAME IN WITH IT:  A Portrait of Motherhood and Madness, as well as an artist, writer, and mental health activist who splits her time between her Los Angeles studio and her farm in rural Washington state. She has been married to her husband Craig O’Rourke, also an artist, for 34 years and they have four adult children. Their 33-year-old son, Nick, has schizophrenia.

Margaret Thomson is a journalist who worked in London for twelve years, during which time she reported on a variety of subjects, from war in the Middle East to the British royal family. Upon returning to the United States, she has continued to write for a number of print and online publications. The World Looks Different Now, a memoir about the death of her older son by suicide, is being published by She Writes Press in July.

Rebecca Winn is the author of One Hundred Daffodils; Finding Beauty, Grace, and Meaning When Things Fall Apart (Grand Central/Hachette), a memoir that chronicles her psychological, emotional and spiritual journey to self-reinvention at midlife after a significant life upheaval. Incorporating a deep dive in Jungian psychology and global spiritual practices, Winn learned to trust the wisdom of the divine in nature, as her sanctuary and sage teacher. 

Michelle Cameron is a director of The Writers Circle, an NJ-based organization that offers creative writing programs to children, teens, and adults, and the author of works of historical fiction and poetry: Beyond the Ghetto Gates (She Writes Press, 2020), which won the Silver Medal in the 2020 Independent Publishers Award (IPPYs), The Fruit of Her Hands: The Story of Shira of Ashkenaz (Pocket, 2009), and In the Shadow of the Globe (Lit Pot Press, 2003). She lived in Israel for fifteen years (including three weeks in a bomb shelter during the Yom Kippur War) and served as an officer in the Israeli army teaching air force cadets technical English. Michelle lives in New Jersey with her husband and has two grown sons of whom she is inordinately proud.

Eddy Boudel Tan is the author of two novels, After Elias and The Rebellious Tide. His work depicts a world much like our own — the heroes are flawed, truth is distorted, and there is as much hope as there is heartbreak. He lives with his husband in Vancouver, Canada. 

Cindy Rasicot’s life has been a spiritual journey since she was a small child. At four she asked her older brother (who was five at the time): “Where is God?” His answer: “Everywhere.” Puzzled, she looked all around her, but didn’t find evidence. She kept her brother’s words in her heart while growing up, and figured she’d have an answer someday. In the meantime, she got her master’s degree in marriage, family, and child counseling, married, and held management positions in non-profits for twenty-five years―all while exploring her passion for dance, art, and writing.Cindy’s spiritual journey took on new dimensions when she, her husband, and their son moved to Bangkok, Thailand for three years. She met her spiritual teacher, Venerable Dhammananda Bhikkuni, the first fully ordained Thai Theravada nun―an encounter that opened her heart and changed her life forever. This deepening relationship led to writing her memoir, Finding Venerable Mother: A Daughter’s Spiritual Quest in Thailand, which chronicles her adventures along the spiritual path.Her other writings include an article in Sawasdee Magazine in 2007 and essays featured in two anthologies: Wandering in Paris: Luminaries and Love in the City of Light (Wanderland Writers, 2013) and A Café in Space: The Anaïs Nin Literary Journal, Volume 11 (Sky Blue Press, 2014). She currently resides in Point Richmond, California, where she writes and enjoys views of the San Francisco Bay.

Megan Kate Nelson was born and raised in Colorado; she is now a writer and historian living in Lincoln, Massachusetts. She earned her BA from Harvard University in History and Literature and her PhD from Iowa in American Studies. Her new book, The Three-Cornered War: The Union, the Confederacy, and Native Peoples in the Fight for the West, was published by Scribner in February 2020. This project was the recipient of a 2017 NEH Public Scholar Award and a Filson Historical Society Fellowship.

Dr. Nelson is the author of two previous books: Ruin Nation: Destruction and the American Civil War (Georgia, 2012) and Trembling Earth: A Cultural History of the Okefenokee Swamp (Georgia, 2005). She has also written about the Civil War, the U.S. West, and American culture for The New York Times, Washington Post, Smithsonian Magazine, Preservation Magazine, and Civil War Times. Her column on Civil War popular culture, "Stereoscope," appears regularly in the Civil War Monitor.

Sarah Lahey is a designer, educator, and writer. She holds bachelor’s degrees in interior design, communication, and visual culture, and works as a senior lecturer teaching classes on design, technology, sustainability and creative thinking. She has three children and lives on the Northern Beaches in Sydney, Australia.

A bit about GRAVITY IS HEARTLESS: What will the world look like in thirty years’ time? How will humanity survive the oncoming effects of climate change? Set in the near future and inspired by the world around us, Gravity Is Heartless is a romantic adventure that imagines a world on the cusp of climate catastrophe.The year is 2050: automated cities, vehicles, and homes are now standard, artificial Intelligence, CRISPR gene editing, and quantum computing have become a reality, and climate change is in full swing—sea levels are rising, clouds have disappeared, and the planet is heating up. Quinn Buyers is a climate scientist who'd rather be studying the clouds than getting ready for her wedding day. But when an unexpected tragedy causes her to lose everything, including her famous scientist mother, she embarks upon a quest for answers that takes her across the globe—and she uncovers friends, loss and love in the most unexpected of places along the way. Gravity Is Heartless is bold, speculative fiction that sheds a hard light on the treatment of our planet even as it offers a breathtaking sense of hope for the future.

R.L. Maizes is the author of the novel Other People’s Pets (on sale July 14, 2020) and the short story collection We Love Anderson Cooper (paperback on sale July 14, 2020), both from Celadon Books (Macmillan). Her writing has aired on National Public Radio and has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, and elsewhere.