Wes Browne

Wes Browne lives within the Kentucky River Basin in Madison County, Kentucky and is known for his ability to capture the spirit of Appalachian noir. He has practiced law as a criminal defense attorney, prosecutor, and public defender in Appalachia for over 24 years.

 

His 2020 debut Hillbilly Hustle was named one of Merriam-Webster's Best Lockdown Reads. His follow-up novel They All Fall the Same was named one of The Best Books of 2025 (So Far) by Book Riot, and one of 2025's Biggest Mysteries and Thrillers by Goodreads. When he’s not writing, he helps run his family's pizza shops. Learn more at wesbrowneauthor.com.

​

Jason Butkowski

Jay Butkowski is a writer of fiction, an eater of tacos, and an amateur pizzaiolo living and working in New Jersey. He founded and is managing editor for Rock and a Hard Place Press, an independent publisher of crime and dark fiction. His own writing has appeared in Shotgun Honey, Vautrin, Dark Yonder, Yellow Mama and Tough among other venues for noir and crime fiction. Outside of writing, he's a father of twin teenagers, a doting husband, and a middling pancake chef. You can follow along with his publishing misadventures at rockandahardplacemag.com.

​

Curtis Ippolito

Curtis Ippolito is an Anthony Award-and Derringer Award-winning writer. He is the author of Burying the Newspaper Man and Waves of Burden, available online and in bookstores. Learn more at curtisippolito.com.

​

Anna Kristiansen

Anna Elin Kristiansen writes out of Denmark, a short drive from Hamlet's haunting castle, where she lives with her husband and two daughters. In her fiction, she loves to explore the thin line between reality and sanity. Aside from Dark Yonder, her writing has appeared in the Delmarva Review, Straylight Magazine, The Kafka Protocol, Floyd County Moonshine, and other journals. Find her published work at annakristiansen.com.

​

Catherine Mainland 

Catherine Mainland is an educator and writer who moved to North Carolina from her native Scotland in 2001. Her short story "The Transplant" was published in The Literary Hatchet. She has also published essays about the man known as the worst poet in the English language ("McGonagall's Elephant" in BarBar) and working in retail ("The Five Stages of Going Out of Business" in Across the Margin). She lives in a swamp with her husband and an embarrassment of felines.

​

Mike McHone

Mike McHone's work has appeared in Dark Yonder, Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, Guilty, Rock and a Hard Place, the Anthony Award-nominated anthology Under the Thumb: Stories of Police Oppression edited by SA Cosby, and elsewhere. Visit him online at www.mikemchone.com, or find him on Instagram: @mike_mchone. 

​

Christopher Moore

Christopher Moore is a Northern Irish writer and a graduate of English from Queen's University Belfast. He also holds an M.A. in TV Fiction Writing from Glasgow Caledonian University.  Alongside a number of playwriting achievements, including being longlisted for the Bruntwood Prize in 2019, and shortlisted for the Bread and Roses Playwriting Award in 2024, he has had a number of short fiction pieces published in various magazines and anthologies.

​

Armand Rosamilia

Armand Rosamilia is a full-time crime thriller and horror author with over 200 releases to date. He loves coffee, bourbon and bourbon-flavored coffee. Check out his YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@ArmandRosamilia

​

Sandy Smith

Sandy Smith’s work has appeared in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Shotgun Honey, and Flash Fiction Magazine and has been nominated for Pushcart and Best of the Net prizes. She lives with her husband, dog, and cat in an otherwise empty nest in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

​

Rosalind Trotter

Rosalind Trotter is a retired social worker. She lives in Eugene, Oregon. She has published several genre short stories.

​