AUTHOR BIOGRAPHIES

CW Blackwell writes crime fiction set in the Central Coast of California. He is a two-time Derringer Award winner and four-time nominee. CW is a member of International Thriller Writers and the Short Mystery Fiction Society. His debut short story collection, Whatever Kills the Pain, will appear Summer 2025 from Rock and Hard Place Press. Find him on Bluesky: @cwblackwell.bsky.social.

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Fleur Bradley has loved mysteries ever since she first picked up an Agatha Christie book at the age of eleven. She’s the author of Agatha-nominated middle-grade mysteries Daybreak on Raven Island and Midnight at the Barclay Hotel (Viking/PRH), and the Double Vision trilogy (Harper-Collins), as well as numerous non-fiction titles for the educational market. Fleur started her writing journey many years ago, writing short crime fiction, and still enjoys writing in the short form. Most recently, her work has appeared in the MWA anthology Super-Puzzletastic Mysteries, SCBWI’s The Haunted States of America (a story representing Colorado). How to Teach Yourself to Swim, originally published in Dark Yonder, was recently chosen for The Best Mystery Stories of the Year 2024 anthology. Fleur’s work has been nominated for the Agatha and Anthony Award and has won the Colorado Book Award and Colorado Authors League Book Award, among others. A reluctant reader herself, Fleur is also a literacy advocate and speaks at events on how to reach reluctant readers. Originally from the Netherlands, she now lives in a small cottage in the foothills of the Colorado Rockies where she fosters rescue animals. You can find Fleur online at ftbradley.com/.

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Vicki Hendricks is the author of noir novels Miami Purity, Iguana Love, Voluntary Madness, Sky Blues, and Edgar Award Finalist Cruel Poetry. Next, Fur People falls into the little- known category of animal-hoarder noir. Her unnatural short stories are collected in Florida Gothic Stories. Chez Usher, her newest novel, has been dubbed “gothic noir.” After years of scuba, sailing, skydiving, and other research, she now gets her adrenaline rushes by trapping cats for TNR.

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Jon Horn's writing has appeared in the New York Times Sunday Travel Section, Honeysuckle, Gallery, Crawdaddy, the recently published Brit anthology, Infernal Mysteries, the New Olympia Reader, and even more obscure venues. Benny the Booster & Chlamydia Jane is from Jon Horn's as-yet- unpublished Perp Street about NYC cops on and off-duty and other law breakers. He's lived or traveled on four continents and currently resides with his family in the state his license plate says is the Land of Enchantment.

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Sean Jacques was raised in the Missouri Ozarks, and now resides in southern California with his wife and two daughters. His debut novel, Doe Run, is available from Shotgun Honey Books, and his short stories, plays, and poems can be found in several crime and grit lit publications, including Starlite Pulp Review, Pulp Noir, Cowboy Jamboree, and Reckon Review. Find out more about him and his literary works @seanjacquesauthor.com.

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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.

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Susan R. Morritt is a writer, visual artist, and musician from Waterford, Ontario, Canada. Her work has appeared in numerous journals and anthologies including 34 Orchard Journal, Cosmic Horror Monthly, Does It Have Pockets, Third Estate Art Decapitate Journal, and is upcoming in Inflated Graveworm, and Rough Diamonds. She was short-listed for The Staunch Short Fiction Prize, long-listed for The Redbud Writing Project Coppice Prize, as well as others. Susan is a former racehorse trainer who earned her Diploma in Creative Writing and Fundamentals of Journalism while working full time with livestock.

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Gary Phillips is the son of a mechanic and a librarian with roots in the Texas Hill Country and the Mississippi Delta. He must keep writing to forestall his appointment at the crossroads. He’s written novels, short stories, comic books, and was a staff writer on FX’s Snowfall, about crack and the CIA in 1980s South Central. His latest novel Ash Dark as Night set against the 1965 Watts Riots, was named a best mystery last year by Parade magazine and Publishers Weekly. “Biff-Bam, The Magic Man” was inspired by Ice Cube’s “It Was a Good Day.”

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Jim Ruland is an old punk who lives by the sea. He is the author of the novels Make It Stop and Forest of Fortune and the short story collection Big Lonesome. He is also the LA Times bestselling author of Corporate Rock Sucks: The Rise & Fall of SST Records, which was named a Best Book of 2022 by Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, and Vanity Fair. Ruland is the co- author of Do What You Want with Bad Religion and My Damage with Keith Morris. Jim is a frequent contributor to Razorcake fanzine and the LA Times. He is a veteran of the US Navy and lives in San Diego.

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Robert Slentz-Kesler is a librarian whose fiction has appeared in Litro Magazine, the Blotter, the Rappahannock Review, the Font, All About Jazz, and the Brussels Review. When not voraciously seeking out and promoting banned books, he spends time drinking espresso and reading Scandinavian crime novels. He lives and writes in Durham, North Carolina. See more of his work at www.robert- slentzkesler.com.