Ruthie Marlenée is the Mexican-American author of Agave Blues, Isabela's Island and Curse of the Ninth and is currently working on the sequel, And Still Her Voice. A Pushcart nominee, Marlenée's work can be found in several literary publications. She was born and raised in Orange County, California, and lives in Los Angeles and the desert in the Coachella Valley with her husband.

Marlena Fiol and Ed O'Connor are spiritual seekers whose writing explores the depths of who we are and what’s possible in our lives. They have devoted themselves to supporting others in identifying and removing the barriers to realizing their dreams. They consider every blog, essay, video, book or workshop an opportunity to share their insights with others, as well as learn more about their own transformational journey. Marlena is also author of the memoir, Nothing Bad Between Us: A Mennonite Missionary's Daughter Finds Healing in Her Brokenness (Mango Publishing Group, 2020).

Lyn Liao Butler was born in Taiwan and moved to the States when she was seven. In her past and present lives, she has been: a concert pianist, a professional ballet and modern dancer, a fitness studio owner, a personal trainer and instructor, an RYT-200 hour yoga instructor, a purse designer with an Etsy shop and most recently, author of multi-cultural women's fiction. Lyn did not have a Tiger Mom. She came about her over-achieving all on her own. 

Alana Quintana Albertson has written thirty romance novels, rescued five-hundred death-row shelter dogs, and danced one thousand rumbas. A graduate of Stanford (B.A.) and Harvard (M.Ed.), she lives with her husband in sunny San Diego with her two sons and too many pets. Most days, she can be found writing her next heart book in a beachfront café while sipping an oat-milk Mexican mocha or gardening with her children in their backyard orchard and snacking on a juicy blood orange.

J.P. O’Connell is the author of Hotel Portofino, a heady historical fiction drama about a British family who open an upper-class hotel on the magical Italian Riviera during the ‘Roaring 20s.’ He has worked as an editor and writer for a variety of newspapers and magazines including Time Out, The Guardian, The Times, and the Daily Telegraph. JP has also written several books including a novel, a celebration of letter-writing, a spice encyclopedia, and, most recently, an analysis of David Bowie’s favorite books and the ways they influenced his music. JP lives in London.

Leah Angstman is the author of the debut novel of King William’s War in 17th-century New England, OUT FRONT THE FOLLOWING SEA (Regal House, January 2022), and the editor-in-chief of Alternating Current Press and The Coil magazine.

Steven Schwartz’s first novel, Therapy, was a Barnes and Noble Discover Selection and a finalist for the Harold U. Ribalow Award from Hadassah Magazine. His second novel, A Good’s Doctor’s Son, won the Colorado Book Award for the Novel. His stories, collected in four volumes, have received two O.Henry Prize Story Awards, the Nelson Algren Award from the Chicago Tribune, the Cohen Award from Ploughshares, the Foreword Review Gold Medal, the Sherwood Anderson Prize, and a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship. He lives in Fort Collins, Colorado.

Adesina Brown is a 21 year-old, queer, non-binary author who centers QTPOC in all their work. They have been previously published in Rigorous Magazine, Coffee People Zine, and more. Where the Rain Cannot Reach is their debut novel.

Sandra Cavallo Miller is a retired academic family physician in Phoenix who has helped launch hundreds of medical students and residents into their careers. Her unlikely path to medicine includes degrees in anthropology and creative writing at the University of Illinois before attending Rush Medical College. Her essays and poetry have been published in JAMA, PULSE - Voices from the Heart of Medicine, Under the Sun, and Embark, among others, as well as a trilogy about a woman physician at the Grand Canyon Clinic on the South Rim (THE COLOR OF ROCK / WHERE LIGHT COMES AND GOES / WHAT THE RIVER SAID). WHERE NO ONE SHOULD LIVE is her fourth novel.

Cameron MacKenzie is the author of the short story collection River Weather, from Alternating Current Press. His other books include the novel, The Beginning of His Excellent and Eventful Career, and monograph Badiou and American Modernist Poetics.

Jennifer Fliss (she/her) is a Seattle-based writer with over 200 stories and essays that have appeared in F(r)iction, PANK, Hobart, The Rumpus, The Washington Post, and elsewhere. She was a Pen Parentis Fellow and recipient of a Grant for Artist Project award from Artist’s Trust. She has been nominated four times for The Pushcart Prize and her story, Hineni, was selected for inclusion in the Best Small Fictions 2019 anthology. Her flash fiction collection, The Predatory Animal Ball will be published in late 2021. She is an alumna of the Tin House Summer and Winter Writers’ Workshops.

Briana Cole is an acclaimed author, motivational speaker, sex educator and actress. Her novels are known for exploring unconventional relationships and making readers question all expectations about love, lust, and monogamy – her latest release is Couples Wanted. An Atlanta native, she graduated cum laude from Georgia Southern University and is a proud member of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority. Her motto and ultimate drive toward success is a famous quote from Mae West: “You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.”

KAREN E. OSBORNE’s  novels followed a forty-year career, first as an academic administrator and then co-owner of The Osborne Group, serving as a consultant, trainer, and motivational speaker. Now Karen writes women’s fiction/suspense novels full time.

Getting It Right, published by Akashic Books, came out in June 2017, and was featured in Essence Magazine and Poets & Writers. Tangled Lies, Black Rose Writing, was released on July 22, 2021. It was chosen as a 2021 BestThriller.com finalist. Reckonings is due out on June 16, 2022.

Prior to writing Sometimes Shells Make Sand, author Julie Doyle Cullen spent thirty years as an executive, mostly in the media business. During the pandemic, Julie transitioned her career to a company of community-based healthcare centers focused on senior adults. Julie currently resides in St. Clair Shores, Michigan with her husband Mark. They have three adult daughters between them that they love dearly: Kylie, Caitlin, and Erin. Unfortunately, Winnie the Labradoodle recently passed away, and is currently running wild in heaven reunited with her previous owner, Suzanne, Julie’s mother.

Gina Yates’s debut novel NARCISSUS NOBODY was released in April 2021 by Three Rooms Press. As the youngest daughter of the late American literary master Richard Yates, Gina always felt a natural impulse to craft stories that illuminate shared human vulnerabilities. After attending the University of British Columbia in the early nineties, she sidestepped higher academia, opting instead to hone her fiction writing skills along a less conventional path of world travel and entrepreneurship. Gina currently lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico with her two rescue dogs Fannie and Scarlett, and she is the owner/operator of an eclectic vintage clothing shop.

Kelly Ann Jacobson is a prolific author and editor specializing in queer fiction and unique twists on genre fiction. In addition to Tink and Wendy, her recent books include the linked story collection An Inventory of Abandoned Things: Stories, winner of the Split/Lip Chapbook Contest, Miranda (Storylandia!), and Cairo in White (Musa Publishing). Her short fiction, poetry, and nonfiction has been appeared in more than fifty publications. Kelly earned her PhD in fiction from Florida State University and teaches as the Visiting Assistant Professor of English at the University of West Alabama and as an instructor of speculative fiction for Southern New Hampshire University's online MFA in creative writing. She lives in Livingston, Alabama.

Pamela Seelig is a yoga teacher and the author of Threads of Yoga: Themes, Reflections, and Meditations to Weave into Your Practice. She began her yoga and meditation journey in 1991 when an illness interrupted her Wall Street career. Along with helping recovery, the impact of her meditation led to a lifelong pursuit of perceiving and sharing yogic wisdom through practice, teaching, and writing. She completed her teacher training in 2006 at Integral Yoga Institute in New York. Pamela considers Swami Satchidananda, the founder of Integral, as her primary teacher (root guru), but she has trained with many of the top yoga luminaries in the world today. Pamela is a fervent student of yoga and continues to deepen and expand her yogic knowledge and understanding. Along with Hatha yoga, Pamela also studies Patanjali's Yoga Sutras and is a certified Raja Yoga instructor. While grateful for so many brilliant teachers along the way, she regards the practice itself as the greatest teacher. She lives in New Jersey where she practices yoga, teaches yoga workshops, writes, and empty-nests with her husband, Bob, and dog, Bodhi.

Jenn Bouchard's debut novel First Course was published by TouchPoint Press in 2021. It was named a finalist in the American Fiction Awards. Her short stories have appeared in the Bookends Review, Litbreak Magazine, the Penmen Review, and the Little Patuxent Review. A high school social studies teacher of twenty-two years, she is an avid cook and devoted Red Sox fan. She is a graduate of Bates College and Tufts University. She lives in the Boston suburbs with her husband and two children.

Christine Nolfi is the bestselling author of twelve novels of women’s and book club fiction, including The Road She Left Behind, Sweet Lake, and her 2021 release, The Passing Storm. Her award-winning books delve into the extraordinary moments in seemingly ordinary lives. She is the adoptive mother of four children, all now grown. Today Christine lives in South Carolina’s Lowcountry with her husband and crazy Wheaten Terrier, Lucy.

Joan Schweighardt writes both fiction and nonfiction. Her most recent work is a trilogy that moves back and forth from the New York metro area to the South American rainforests between the years 1908 and 1929. In addition to her own projects, she has worked as an editor/ghostwriter for more than 25 years.