Guest of Honor Patricia C. Wrede
Patricia Collins Wrede was born March 27, 1953 in Chicago, Illinois. She and her siblings (she is the eldest of five) grew up in the Chicago suburbs. She attended Carleton College, where she earned an A.B. in Biology and took no English or writing courses at all. Following graduation, she earned a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Minnesota and worked for a number of years as a financial analyst and accountant. She married James Wrede in 1976; they divorced in 1991. She currently lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota with her cat, Karma.
She began writing fiction in 7th-grade, and continued off and on throughout high school and college. In 1974 she started work on SHADOW MAGIC, which took her four and a half years to complete and another year and a half to sell. By the time the book was released in 1982, she had completed two more novels. In 1985, she left her day job to write full-time, and has been making her living as a writer ever since.
To date, Patricia has published 22 novels, two collections of short stories, and one book on writing. Her work is available in twelve languages (including English), and has won a number of awards.
Featured Author Harry Turtledove
Harry Turtledove earned a PhD in Byzantine history from UCLA. This and a few published bits of fiction equipped him to spend 11-1/2 years as a tech writer (i.e., hired keyboard) with the Los Angeles County Office of Education. He quit his day job in 1991, and has been living off alternate history, other science fiction, fantasy, and historical fiction ever since. His more recent books include Joe Steele, The House of Daniel, and Through Darkest Europe. The unwary can also seek out his snark, bad puns, cat pics, and ill-founded opinions on Twitter @HNTurtledove.
He is married to fellow writer Laura Frankos. They have three daughters, two granddaughters, and three highly overprivileged kitties. We call the west end of the San Fernando Valley home. What the west end of the San Fernando Valley calls us is better left unreported.
Featured Authors David L. Drake and Katherine L. Morse
David and Katherine are the award-winning, San Diego-based authors of “The Adventures of Drake and McTrowell – Perils in a Postulated Past,” a serialized steampunk tale detailing the adventures of Chief Inspector Erasmus Drake and Dr. “Sparky” McTrowell. The duo’s many adventures are provided in weekly penny dreadful-style episodes on the web (www.DrakeAndMcTrowell.com).
They have produced four novels since 2010: “London, Where It All Began,” “The Bavarian Airship Regatta,” “Her Majesty’s Eyes and Ears,” and “The Hawaiian Triple Cross.” They’ve also contributed stories to several steampunk anthologies. Additionally, Dr. Morse edits and Mr. Drake does cover art and design. Drake and Morse won a Starburner Award for the radio show based on their first story that has run multiple times on Krypton Radio.
When not cosplaying their alter egos at conventions all over the West, they are both research computer scientists specializing in distributed modeling and simulation. Mr. Drake is a nationally ranked foil fencer. Dr. Morse is an internationally respected expert on standards, but prefers to be recognized for her cookie baking skills. They throw awesome parties if they do say so themselves.
AJ Sikes
AJ is an author of steampunk, neo-noir dieselpunk, and, more recently, post-apocalyptic military sci-fi. AJ is also a freelance editor for authors writing in these genres. He’s even had the pleasure of editing a memoir or two. Truth telling time: the stories you hear about writers and editors are true. It’s all tea, cats, and naps. Find AJ on Twitter: @AJSikes_Author. If you’re in the market for editing, visit http://www.ajsikes.com/
Anthony Francis
By day, Anthony Francis teaches robots to learn; by night he writes science fiction and draws comic books. Anthony’s best known for his Skindancer urban fantasy series of novels including the Epic eBook Award winner Frost Moon and its sequels Blood Rock and Liquid Fire, all following the misadventures of magical tattoo artist Dakota Frost trying to raise her weretiger daughter Cinnamon in Atlanta.
Anthony also writes the Jeremiah Willstone Steampunk series, following a young female soldier in a world where women’s liberation happened a century early – and so, with twice as many brains working on hard problems, the Victorians invented rayguns and time travel. In addition to her debut novel Jeremiah Willstone and the Clockwork Time Machine, Jeremiah appears in a dozen other stories, including “Steampunk Fairy Chick” in the UnCONventional anthology.
Anthony is co-editor of the anthology Doorways to Extra Time and a co-founder of Thinking Ink Press, publisher of the steampunk anthologies Twelve Hours Later, Thirty Days Later and Some Time Later. He’s the artist of the webcomic fanu fiku and he’s co-author of the 24 Hour Comic Day Survival Guide. He’s participated in National Novel Writing Month and its related challenges over 20 times, recently cracking one million words written in Nano.
Anthony lives in San Jose with his wife and cats, but his heart will always belong in Atlanta. To learn more about Dakota Frost, visitfacebook.com/dakotafrost ordakotafrost.com; to learn more about Jeremiah Willstone, visitfacebook.com/jeremiahwillstone; to learn more about Anthony and his appearances, visit his blogdresan.com.
BJ Sikes
BJ Sikes is a 5’6″ ape descendant who is inordinately fond of a good strong cup of tea, Doc Marten boots, and fancy dress. She lives with two large cats, two small children and one editor-author. She is the author of the alternate history novel, The Archimedean Heart, a mix of fin-de-siecle artistes, royal roboticists, and revolutionaires. Her forthcoming novel, Escaping Andronicus, takes place in the Bahamas, circa 1908. BJ Sikes edited 12 Hours Later, 30 Days Later, and Some Time Later, a trilogy of alternate history short story anthologies featuring many of the Clockwork Alchemy authors, including herself. You can find her on Twitter @BJSikesAuthor or on her blog:https://bjsikesblog.wordpress.com/.
Dover Whitecliff
Dover Whitecliff was born in the shadow of Fujiyama, raised in the shadow of Olomana, and lives where she can see the shadow of Mt. Shasta if she squints and it’s a really clear day. She is a wild and woolly wordsmith, an analyst, and a jack-of-all-trades, but mostly a writer who has been telling stories since forever, and who won her first ten-speed as a fifth grader with a first-place entry into Honolulu Advertiser’s “Why Hawaii Isn’t Big Enough For Litter” contest. Her short stories in the anthologies Twelve Hours Later, Thirty Days Later, and Some Time Later are prequels to her upcoming solo novel The Superspy with the Clockwork Eye.
Kristin Baker
A landlocked pirate marooned in Boise, Idaho, Kristin Baker dreams of relocating to the Oregon Coast after the rest of her “steampunk horde” of six kids jump ship. Cobalt, her young adult steampunk novel, is the first of three adventures set in her steampunk world. Kristin is also a nail technician, so you might see tiny gears in her nails at Clockwork Alchemy! She loves the freedom of indie publishing, and can be found online at http://fairiesandpirates.wordpress.com and facebook.com/pirate.kristin
Laurel Anne Hill
Laurel Anne Hill—author and former underground storage tank operator—grew up in San Francisco, with more dreams of adventure than good sense or money. Her close brushes with death, love of family, respect for honor and belief in a higher power continue to influence her writing and her life. She has authored two award-winning novels: The Engine Woman’s Light (Sand Hill Review Press), a gripping spirits-meet-steampunk, coming-of-age heroic journey, and Heroes Arise
Laurel’s published short stories and nonfiction pieces total over forty. She has served as a program participant at many science fiction/fantasy conventions, including the World Science Fiction Con and World Fantasy Con. She’s the Literary Stage Manager for the annual San Mateo County Fair, a speaker, writing contest judge, and editor. And she’s even engineered a steam locomotive. For more about her, go to http://www.laurelannehill.com
Madeleine Holly-Rosing
A TV, feature film, comic book writer, and a novelist, Madeleine is the winner of the Sloan Fellowship for screenwriting, and the Gold Aurora and Bronze Telly for a PSA produced by Women In Film. She also won numerous awards while completing the UCLA MFA Program in Screenwriting. Having run a number of successful crowdfunding campaigns for her comic, Boston Metaphysical Society, Madeleine has guest lectured at Scriptwriters Network and Dreamworks Animation and published the book, Kickstarter for the Independent Creator.
Boston Metaphysical Society comic was nominated for BEST COMIC/GRAPHIC NOVEL at the 2014 GEEKIE AWARDS.
Other comic projects include the short story, “The Scout” which is part of The 4th Monkey anthology, “The Sanctuary” (The Edgar Allan Poe Chronicles anthology), “The Marriage Counselor” (The Cthulhu is Hard to Spell anthology) and the upcoming “The Airship Pirate” which will be part of The Rum Row anthology.
She also has an anthology of short stories and novellas called Boston Metaphysical Society: Prelude. The Boston Metaphysical Society short story, “Here Abide Monsters,” is part of the Some Time Later anthology from Thinking Ink publishers. The first Boston Metaphysical Society novel, A Storm of Secrets, was released in 2018.
Michael Schulkins
Michael Schulkins writes humor and science fiction novels full of phantasmagorical fun!
His new steampunk alternate history bestseller, Mark Twain on the Moon, brings the wit and wonder of Mark Twain’s travel writings to a whole new planet. This year he has been a guest author at BayCon, Writer of the Day on Reddit’s Fantasy community, and featured on the Steampunk Explorer and Alternate History Fiction websites. His other novels include the out-of-this-world political satires Up A Tree: A Jobs and Plunkitt Galactic Adventure, Beltway, and the comic crime capers Mother Lode and Sting Suite.
Michael was born and raised in California, and although he has checked out repeatedly, he has of course been unable to leave. He lives with the love of his life in a classic mid-century modern house in Silicon Valley.
Michael attended several universities and eventually emerged with two degrees in physics, one in music composition, and minors in math, political science, philosophy, and poker. He subsequently spent twenty years teaching physics, and now writes full time.
Website www.michaelschulkins.com
Michelle Lowe
Michelle E. Lowe is a Georgia born native who has spent most of her life near the Atlanta area before pulling up stakes and moving clear across the country with her husband, Ben, and her two daughters. History piques her interests, especially European history. She loves reading science-fiction and fantasy stories and enjoys old B horror and fun adventure films. She also gets a kick out of playing classic Atari video games and does oil painting as a hobby.
Michelle is a daydreamer and animal lover. She has two troublemaking cats, Nico and Max, and one very demanding guinea pig.
Her works include several published novels such as The Warning,Cherished Thief, Atlantic Pyramid, and children’s books, Poe’s Haunted House Tour, and The Hex Hunt series. Her latest published escapade is her steampunk/fantasy novels, titled Legacy (volume 1), Legacy-The Reunion, and Legacy-The Underground, the first three of a six-part series.
Mike Tierney
Michael Tierney writes steampunk-laced alternative historical fiction stories from his Victorian home in Silicon Valley. After writing technical and scientific publications for many years, he turned his sights to more imaginative genres. Trained as a chemist, he brings an appreciation of both science and history to his stories. He has written three books in the Airship Flamel Adventures series—The Secret Notebook of Michael Faraday, Mr. Darwin’s Dragon, and To Rule the Skies. Visit his blog at The Airship Flamel
Shelley Adina
Shelley Adina is the author of 24 novels published by Harlequin, Warner, and Hachette, and nearly two dozen more published by Moonshell Books, Inc., her own independent press. She writes steampunk as Shelley Adina; as Charlotte Henry, writes classic Regency romance; and as Adina Senft, writes Amish women’s fiction.
She holds an MFA in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University, and is currently at work on a PhD in Creative Writing at Lancaster University in the UK. She won RWA’s RITA Award® in 2005, and was a finalist in 2006. She appeared in the 2016 documentary film Love Between the Covers, is a popular speaker and convention panelist, and has been a guest on many podcasts, including Worldshapers and Realm of Books.
When she’s not writing, Shelley is usually quilting, sewing historical costumes, or enjoying the garden with her flock of rescued chickens.
Shelli Frew
Shelli Frew is an author, playwright, and circus performer in the San Francisco Bay Area. She has one published book under her belt, Time Sailors, a science fiction adventure novel. She is currently working on her second novel, a dystopian science fantasy story. She has written for several Epic Immersive theater productions, including Inferno Motel and Wonderland. She also writes and produces her own immersive experiences, most recently Speakeasy Storytelling, and The Gravermind Estate, the latter of which enjoyed a sold out first run. She is currently pioneering her own immersive production company, Mystic Ventures Collective, debuting in 2020.
Trevor Dutcher
Trevor is a practicing attorney who writes fiction. Or a novelist who funds his writing habit through the practice of law. You decide.