Philippa (Pip) Ballantine
Born in Wellington, New Zealand, Philippa has always had her head in a book. For this she blames her father who thought Lord of the Rings was suitable bedtime reading for an eight year old. At the age of thirteen she began writing fantasy stories for herself.
She first earned a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature and Political Science and then a Bachelor of Applied Science in Library and Information Science. So soon enough she found herself working in the magical world of libraries where she stayed for over a decade
Her first professional sale was in 1997, and since then she has gone on to produce mostly novel length fiction. In 2006 she became New Zealand’s first podcast novelist, and she has voiced and produced Weaver’s Web, Chasing the Bard, Weather Child and Digital Magic as podiobooks. Her podcasts have won a Parsec, and a Sir Julius Vogel award.
Philippa is the author of the Books of the Order series, The Fragile Gods series,and the Shifted World series. She is the co-author of the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences series with Tee Morris. She writes and co-authors series, Verity Fitzroy and the Ministry Seven with Tee, as well as the non-ficiton title, Social Media for Writers.
When not writing or podcasting, Philippa loves reading, gardening, and whenever possible traveling. With her husband, Tee and her daughter, she is looked after by a mighty clowder of three cats. Find her online at pjballantine.com
Tee Morris
Tee Morris has been writing science fiction, fantasy, horror, and non-fiction for over a decade. His first novel, MOREVI: The Chronicles of Rafe & Askana, became the first novel to be podcast in its entirety, ushering in a new age for authors — podcasting. He went on with Evo Terra to write Podcasting for Dummies (as well as the 2nd Edition alongside Chuck Tomasi). His expertise reached deeper into social media when he penned on his own All a Twitter and Sams Teach Yourself Twitter in 10 Minutes.
In 2011, Tee returned to fiction with the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences series, penned with his wife, Pip Ballantine. The series and its short fiction podcast, Tales from the Archives, has won several awards including the 2014 Parsec Award for Best Science Fiction Anthology Podcast, the 2011 Airship Award for Best Steampunk Literature, and RT Reviews’ Choice Awards for Best Steampunk of 2014. In 2017, Tee & Pip released the sixth book in the series, Operation: Endgame, the new spin-off series, Verity Fitzroy and the Ministry Seven, and the unexpected novella of erotic ridiculousness and hidden messages from Ministry command, Countless Hues of Crimson.
And somewhere in the middle of all that, Tee and Pip released with Writer’s Digest the go-to, how-to book, Social Media for Writers. He reunited with Chuck Tomasi for the third edition of Podcasting for Dummies. Tee and Pip also host The Shared Desk, a podcast covering collaboration and other aspects of a writer’s lifestyle.
He enjoys a writer’s life in Virginia alongside Pip, his daughter, and three cats. Explore the works of Tee Morris, and his occasional geek rants, at TeeMorris.com.
Authors of Tales from the Archives: Volume the Fifth
Piper J Drake (also P J Schnyder)
Piper J. Drake is a bestselling author of romantic suspense and edgy contemporary romance, a frequent flyer, and day job road warrior. Wherever she goes, she enjoys tasting the world and embarking on foodie adventures. Dogs—and horses—have been known to spontaneously join her for a stroll and she enjoys pausing for a nice chat with cats of all sizes, from domestic to tiger size and beyond. Piper aspires to give her readers stories with a taste of the hard challenges in life, a breath of laughter, a broad range of strengths and weaknesses, the sweet taste of kisses, and the heat of excitement across multiple genres including science fiction and fantasy. Come join the adventure with her!
Authors of Tales from the Archives: Volume the Fourth
Michael Ventrella
Michael A. Ventrella’s fantasy novels Arch Enemies, The Axes of Evil, and Bloodsuckers: A Vampire Runs for President are available from Double Dragon. He is the editor of the Tales of Fortannis anthologies and co-editor of the Baker Street Irregulars anthologies along with New York Times Bestselling Author Jonathan Maberry. His short stories have appeared in various anthologies, including Rum and
Runestones, Dance Like a Monkey, the Heroes in Hell series, and the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences series.
Michael’s web page is www.MichaelAVentrella.com. He’s on Facebook and other social networks. In his spare time, he is an attorney.
Katharina Bordet
Born and bred Austrian, Katharina Bordet lives in Vienna with the Scot of her dreams. She’s a trained lawyer, passionate podcaster, all-round geek, writer and creative. Find out more about Katharina at bruadarach.at
Tim Dodge
Tim Dodge is a writer and podcaster living near Syracuse, New York. He is the author of two podcast novels, ACTS OF DESPERATION and PURGATORY. PURGATORY has also been published in print and ebook formats. He is the author of two other novels and several short stories. Tim is also the host of the podcast THE GEEK SIDE OF LIFE, an exploration of geek culture one podcast at a time. An avid reader, and devoted fan of the Boston Red Sox, New York Giants, and Syracuse Orange sports teams, he lives with his family and dog. Find out more about Tim at timdodgestories.com
Scott Roche
Some creatures feed on blood and revel in the screams of their prey. Scott only craves caffeine and the clacking of keys. He pay the bills doing the grunt work no one else wants to take, bringing dead electronics back to life and working arcane wonders with software. His true passion is hammering out words that become anything from tales that terrify to futuristic worlds of wonder. All that and turning three children into a private mercenary army make for a life filled with adventure. Find out more about Scott at scottroche.com
Lauren Harris
Lauren was raised by an impulsive furniture mover and an itinerant TV News professional in a string of homes up and down the East Coast of the United States. Eventually settling (sort of) in Raleigh, NC, Lauren befriended a band of whimsical nerds who found themselves de-facto beta readers for her scribblings.
After graduating from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, where she studied English and Classics, Lauren moved to Tokyo, Japan for three years. While there, she studied Japanese, taught English, and fell in love with the hot drink section in the vending machines.
Now, Lauren balances a day-job of Cardiac Ultrasound with her passion for writing and other creative persuits. She is the author of The Millroad Academy Exorcists novella series and an Assistant Editor at Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show. Her narration and voice acting can be heard on Audible.com, EscapePod, and various short fiction podcasts.
Keep up with Lauren on her twitter, her instagram or her website, www.laurenbharris.com.
Bryan Lincoln
Bryan is an audio producer and writer with a background in physics. In late 2016, he moved out to Los Angeles to turn his story telling “hobby” into a career. Now he works in both audiobooks and audio drama.
Having begun podcasting in 2009, Bryan produced numerous episodes of “The Fullcast Podcast” (about producing fiction stories with a full cast) and “My Epic Heals” (a World of Warcraft podcast) before transitioning into audio drama. He produced “Hidden Harbor Mysteries” in 2014 and is currently working on “Relative Worlds”, a science fiction audio drama that he wrote. He’s also involved in the production of “We’re Alive: Gold Rush”.
You can find his released audio at www.lincolnaudio.com and you can follow him @Audiolincoln on twitter.
Authors of Tales from the Archives: Volume the Third
Bill Blume
In 2001, Bill quit TV news and became a dispatcher for Henrico County Police. It was while training for his job as a dispatcher that one of the members of his training academy gifted him with the nickname “Wildcat.” The nickname stuck and in a convoluted chain of events that doesn’t warrant detail here, it later prompted him to create a photo webcomic called The Wildcat’s Lair.
Bill and his wife have both become heavily involved in James River Writers. He spent many years as a board member, and both he and his wife served as past chairs for the organization’s annual writers conference. In 2013, I was also honored to be named chair for the board of directors. He’s still on the board and very involved in JRW.
Find out more about Bill at http://www.billblume.net/
Jared Axelrod
Jared Axelrod is an author, an illustrator, and a world changer. Through out his eventful life he has also been a circus performer, a puppeteer, a graphic designer, a sculptor, a costume designer, a podcaster and quite a few other things that he’s lost track of but will no doubt remember when the situation calls for it. But that “author’ business, that seems to be one he keeps coming back to.
He is a founding member of the daily flash-fiction website 365 TOMORROWS, and the writer and producer of three science-fiction podcasts, the audio anthology series“The Voice Of Free Planet X,†and the serials “Aliens You Will Meet†and “Fables Of The Flying City.†The story started in “Fables Of The Flying City†is concluded in The Battle Of Blood & Ink, a graphic novel published by Tor. He is also the creator of several comics and short stories featuring the down-on-his-luck supervillain, Comrade Cockroach.
He is not domestic, he is a luxury, and in that sense, necessary. Find out more in his corner of the universe.
Stacia Kelly
Stacia D. Kelly is a paranormal/urban fantasy author who has been writing for over 25 years.
Her solo releases include Phyxe: Goddess of Fire (The Goddess Chronicles Book 1) and Clockwork Portal (Tale from the Archives Book 3). She is co-author with her husband on their Urban Samurai Series which include: Ichi (The Urban Samurai Book 1) and Ni: The Urban Samurai Series Book 2.
Stacia lives in Virginia with her husband, son and menagerie of four-legged family members.
Paul Ellis
Paul grew up in northern Alabama, in the crook of the Tennessee River, and moved to central Virginia in the late 70’s. He has worked in food service, retail, radio and television, and in IT, most recently as a systems team programmer. Paul’s life is kept exciting by his wife and three daughters. Other than that, he’s just this guy, you know? Find Paul at paulkellis.com
Nobilis Reed
Nobilis Reed has a dirty mind, and he’s not afraid to use it. His short stories and novellas have been published with Circlet Press, Forbidden Fiction, Logical Lust and Sizzler Editions. His podcast, Nobilis Erotica, presents erotic science fiction and fantasy stories to thousands of listeners every month; and he is the creative director of Quiver and Arch, LLC, producing erotic audio drama. You can find his website at nobiliserotica.com, and his podcast at nobilis.libsyn.com.
Suna Dasi
Nursing a love affair with science fiction and the macabre, and inspired by the works of Verne, Wells, Haggard, and Moorcock, Suna Dasi is an accomplished musician, model, and writer, considering her a direct product of the British Empire. It is Suna’s own diversity and desire to read something different that led her to creating Steampunk India, the Steampunk Chronicle’s Readers Choice for Best Multi-Cultural Steampunk for 2014. Her writing presents characters that are engaging, with a lively dollop of irreverence and some social commentary.
And fun. Fun is good.
Michael Spence
Michael Spence is an editor, writer, copyeditor, proofreader, and voice actor who has written and performed sketches for various podcasts, including those of Scott Sigler and J.C. Hutchins. He is coauthor, with Elisabeth Waters, of the Treasures of Albion stories; the latest of these is “A Drink of Deadly Wine,†in Sword and Sorceress 28 . Prior to his work for the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences, his most recent solo work was “The Music of the Spheres,†in the anthology Music of Darkover.
Michael has also narrated several audiobooks, including two novels by Marion Zimmer Bradley, House of Zeor by Jacqueline Lichtenberg, and most recently When the Carny Comes to Town and the forthcoming Any Port in a Storm, both mysteries by Elaine L. Orr.
K T Bryski
Born and raised in Toronto, Ontario, K.T. Bryski has always been a writer at heart, some of her earliest memories include pounding out stories on her father’s (then very cool, now very obsolete) computer.
Since then, she has written both prose and plays. Her playwriting includes Key of D Minor (2009), Dracula(2009), the libretto for East o’ the Sun and West o’ the Moon: A Children’s Opera (2014), and various scenes and monologues for Black Creek Pioneer Village, Toronto (2011). Her first novel, Hapax, was published by Dragon Moon Press October, 2012. It is also available as a free podcast.
K.T. received her Hon. B.A. in History from the University of Toronto. She is currently enrolled in the Stonecoast Masters of Fine Arts Program at University of Southern Maine. She is also working an internship at Imagine That! Studios and is a freelance editor at One Stop Writer Shop. You can contact her by email at ktbryski@gmail.com, or send a message on Twitter to @ktbryski.
Lisa-Anne Samuels
Lisa-Anne Samuels is a wanderer at heart. Born in Idar-Oberstein, Germany, she is proud to be the daughter of a family of “Wandering Jews.†Growing up in a military family and moving every few years made it hard to keep friends once boxes were packed, so books and stories took the role of companions until the Samuels family settled down.
Well, at least her parents did – Lisa-Anne kept moving.
After 17 different cities, at least five of them more than once, Lisa-Anne currently lives in Virginia where she writes SciFi, Fantasy, and all manner of other stories. She also builds Lego’s and plays games with her son and husband while attempting to avoid the vigorous tail wagging of the family dog, Macon.
Authors of Tales from the Archives: Volume the Second
Lewis Hoban
Lewis Hoban was born in a now-demolished hospital in Christchurch, New Zealand. He lives in a cold-in-the-winter part of his city, a few minutes away from his local library, which he visits regularly. In his spare time, he likes to sketch monstrous creatures and read books for hours on end. He also loves snow in all forms. He always wanted to become an author, trying to write several novels, all of which he lost interest in. Getting a short-story published at age fifteen is a big revelation for him. He can found on twitter as Archivist_0
Kreg Steppe
Kreg Steppe is a Husband and Father of one. He works as a Web Developer with interests in photography, art, and writing. Also a longtime podcaster with his friend Chuck Tomasi and together they curate the museum of tech-geekery they call the Technorama Podcast and they also worked together on the book, “Teach Yourself WordPress in 10 Minutesâ€. To find out more about Kreg visit spyndle.com or the Technorama Podcast.
Dan Rabarts
Dan is a writer of fantasy novels and speculative fiction, sometime narrator of podcasts (including stories for the Hugo award-winning StarShipSofa), occasional sailor of sailing things, and father of two wee miracles in a little house on a hill, under the southern sun.
You can find him on Twitter from time to time, and on Facebook now and then. He’d hang out there more often but really, he’s got writing to do.
Shaun Farrell
Shaun Farrell is the executive producer of Adventures in Scifi Publishing a Parsec Award winning podcast which brings the world interviews, reviews and news about speculative fiction. He has written articles for Strange Horizons, Clarksworld Magazine, and Far Sector SFFH. In addition to loving great literature, he is an aspiring novelist and actor. Shaun lives in Northern California with his wife and two children.
Doc Coleman
Doc Coleman is an emerging writer and voice actor whose work has been featured on the Every Photo Tells… podcast, and in the Steampunk Special Edition of Flagship magazine. He is currently working on a series of steampunk novels under the title The Adventures of Crackle and Bang. You can find out more about this series, and follow his latest projects at Swimming Cat Studios, and find all of his projects at DocColeman.com.
Alyson Grauer
Originally from Milwaukee, WI, Alyson Grauer is a writer and actor currently living, writing and performing in Chicago, IL. She has a smattering of short stories and two novels in re-writes, but this is her first professional sale of fiction. She is a staff writer for several blogs, including Doctor Fantastique’s Show of Wonders, and these days, she plays the ukulele whenever she has a scrap of free time. She can be found on Twitter @dreamstobecome.
Catherine Ford
Catherine Ford hails from Christchurch, New Zealand. She is a graduate of Whitireia Polytechnic’s Diploma in Publishing, the only such course in New Zealand. By day Catherine is a science editor, but she likes science fiction and loves fantasy. Most of all, she loves those special places where the two genres meet. Her blog can be found at http://catfordnz.blogspot.com/ and she twitters as martianscribe.
J R Murdock
J.R. Murdock is an avid reader of almost anything he can get his hands on. That being said, he also writes with near reckless abandon in any and every genre. His style is intended for pure entertainment. Over the years he’s written nine novels and over one hundred short stories. Only a few short stories have seen print (in actual print and on the web) so he’s decided to throw his hat into the podcasting arena with his novels V & A Shipping and Billy Barbarian. His Murdockian Tales is a podcast collection of short stories, all of these titles available at jrmurdock.com.
When not writing like a mad-man, J.R. Murdock does have a day job as a computer programmer and loves to spend time with his lovely wife and beautiful daughter.
J R Blackwell
J.R. Blackwell is a writer and photographer. Her essay “Evidence of a Baker†was published in the Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster in March 2006. Her stories have been published by Escape Pod Magazine, Aoife’s Kiss, Kaleidotrope, Bewildering Stories, Static Movement Magazine, EMG Magazine, HeavyGlow Magazine and in the first Podiobook anthology “Voices: New Media Fictionâ€. She is one of the founding members of 365tomorrows.com which produces a new piece of science fiction daily.
J.R. has produced the covers to the Anthology “Voices: New Media Fiction†and the novels “Playing for Keepsâ€, “The Case of the Singing Sword†and “The Case of the Pitchers Pendantâ€. Her photography has been featured in SubLit Magazine and Flames Rising Magazine. J.R. is the Creative Director at Galileo Games and holds a Masters of Liberal Arts from the University of Pennsylvania. She lives in Philadelphia with her husband, artist Jared Axelrod.
Authors of Tales from the Archives: Volume the First
O.M. Grey
O. M. Grey dreams of the dark streets of London and the decadent deeds that occur after sunset. She dons a tight corset, a fluffy bustle, and a teeny-tiny top hat for fantasy conventions where she enjoys meeting fans and participating on panels. Olivia prefers to live in the cobwebbed corners of her dark mind writing paranormal romance with a Steampunk twist.
Her premiere Steampunk Paranormal Romance novel, Avalon Revisited, remained on Amazon’s Top 40 Gothic Romance list for over four months. She also writes short stories, relationship articles, and angsty poetry.
Ms. Grey is represented by the fabulous Louise Fury of the L. Perkins Agency.
When she’s not writing, she’s reading, tending the garden, or drinking a hot cup of tea.
Nathan Lowell
Nathan Lowell has been a writer for more than forty years, and first entered the literary world by podcasting his novels. His sci-fi series, Trader’s Tales from The Golden Age of the Solar Clipper, grew from his long time fascination with space opera and his own experiences shipboard in the United States Coast Guard.
Dr. Nathan Lowell holds a Ph.D. in Educational Technology with specializations in Distance Education and Instructional Design. He also holds an M.A. in Educational Technology and a BS in Business Administration. He grew up on the south coast of Maine and is strongly rooted in the maritime heritage of the sea-farer. He served in the USCG from 1970 to 1975, seeing duty aboard a cutter on hurricane patrol in the North Atlantic and at a communications station in Kodiak, Alaska. He currently lives in the plains east of the Rocky Mountains with his wife and two daughters. He can be found online at nathanlowell.org
Val Griswold-Ford
When she’s not busily plundering ships for cargo, Valerie Griswold-Ford is a dark fantasy writer who dabbles in all sorts of things, from epic fantasy to horror to paranormal romance. Her first novel, Not Your Father’s Horseman, released by Dragon Moon Press, made ForeWord Magazine’s finalist list for the Best Fantasy novel of 2005 and started her popular Apocalypse Cycle. She has also published several short stories in anthologies and podthologies. including Philippa Ballantine’s Chronicles of the Order.
Val is also an accomplished editor, having worked on two of Dragon Moon’s Complete Guide to Writing Fantasy series, the anthology Rum and Runestones, and currently working on Spells and Swashbucklers. Find out more about her works and her podcast of not Your Father’s Horseman at vg-ford.com.
P.C. Haring
P.C. Haring made his debut as a writer and podcast novelist on 01/01/10 with Cybrosis. This Cyberpunk adventure met with a strongly favorable response that propelled it to number four on the Podiobooks.com top ten list when it was re-launched there that October. His audio fiction can also be heard in Scott Sigler’s “The Crypt: Book 1 — The Crew†and in Philippa Ballantine’s “Chronicles of the Order†anthology. Currently he is marketing Cybrosis to the publishing industry, working through edits and re-writes to the first installment of his upcoming Slipspace Trilogy, and writing the draft to the next project on his desk, tentatively titled ‘Hunter’
When he’s not writing and podcasting, P.C. Haring puts his Degree in Accounting and his MBA to good use as a staff accountant for a private company in suburban Chicago. He also works as both the Accountant and Interim publisher for Escape Artists Incorporated. There he helps to oversee the publication of Escape Pod, as well as it’s sister magazines Pseudopod and Pod Castle.
You can find out more about P.C. Haring and his work at — www.pcharing.net
Grant Stone
Grant Stone’s fiction has appeared in Shimmer , Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine and Semaphore and is forthcoming in Strange Horizons and The Thackery T. Lambshead Cabinet of Curiosities.
When not writing, he has been known to tinker in the engine room of the StarShipSofa and his fanzine, b0t
He lives in Auckland, New Zealand even though most of the opium and gambling dens are long gone.
Helen E. H. Madden
Helen E. H. Madden is a writer and graphic artist who quit her lucrative day job years ago to tell dirty stories for fun and profit. Her published works include Future Perfect: A Collection of Fantastic Erotica (published by Logical-Lust.com) and Demon By Day (published by Mojocastle Press). Her erotic stories have appeared in various anthologies, but lately Helen has been indulging her more sinister side with short stories like “Let Me Sleep†appearing in the “Chronicles of the Order†podcast.
Helen also draws The Adventures of Cynical Woman, a web comic about life as a stay-at-home mom and erotica writer.
When she’s not writing or drawing, Helen thinks about sex. A lot.
Jack Mangan
Jack Mangan is known by us (and those in the Deadpan community) as The Iron Man of Podcasting. Since 2005, Jack has been podcasting Jack Mangan’s Deadpan Podcast, a variety show that is heavy on the variety. He was also part of the podiobook vanguard on Podiobooks.com with Spherical Tomi: A Novel of Despair, a cyberpunk samurai’s tale. Jack’s short fiction has appeared in audio and in print in collections like The Amityville House of Pancakes and Podthology: The Pod Complex.
This is Jack’s first steampunk work.
Phil Rossi
Phil Rossi—writer, a musician, and an embracer of new media—has a passion for story-telling matched only by the pleasure he derives from keeping his fans awake at night. Crescent, Rossi’s debut novel, was originally released as a podcast in 2007 and has since led listeners into dark, twisted nightmares under titles such as Eden, Harvey, and Notes from the Vault. When he’s not podcasting or writing, Phil is a professional singer-songwriter. His unique brand of Alternative Country and Rock and Roll is alive and well in the music stylings of Ditched by Kate, their debut album Stumble now available on iTunes.
Phil lives outside of Washington, DC in Virginia with his wife, daughters, and menagerie of rescued animals. He believes the need for sleep is a myth.
Starla Huchton
Starla Huchton, one of the new voices of podcasting, released her first novel, The Dreamer’s Thread, as a full cast production beginning in August 2009. Her first foray into podcasting went on to become a finalist for the 2010 Parsec Awards. Since her debut, Starla’s voice has happened in other podcasts including Weiner Blut, Gypsy Audio’s Stargazers, Tales of the Scorned Lady, andErotica a la Carte. Her writing has also appeared in Erotica a la Carte podcast and the Farrago Anthology. Starla’s artistic endeavors continue into music as her dulcet tones have provided sweet crooning for various podcasts produced by Alex White, Koru Studios, and Imagine That Studios, as well as Second Life under her stage name, Phoebe Ann Theas. From beautiful Monterey, California, Starla pursues a degree in Graphic Design while gearing up for her next podcast project, Antigone’s Wrath.