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, 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 fifth edition of Podcasting for Dummies.
He enjoys a writer’s life in Virginia alongside Pip, and a truly mighty clowder of cats. Explore the works of Tee Morris, and his occasional geek rants, at TeeMorris.com.
Authors of Tales from the Archives
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
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/
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.
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 the Sun and West of 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. You can contact her by email at ktbryski@gmail.com, or send a message on Twitter to @ktbryski.
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.
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 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 FictionShe 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 Keeps, The Case of the Singing Sword, The Case of the Pitchers PendantHer 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.
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 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 Rossiwriter, 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.
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, Stargazers, Tales of the Scorned Lady, and Erotica 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.