Aurora Awards

EILEEN BELL

E.C. Bell (Eileen) is the author of Haunting the Haunted, the sixth book in her award winning paranormal Marie Jenner Mystery series. Her short fiction includes the double Aurora Award winning fantasy anthology Women of the Apocalypse. She lives in Alberta, Canada, and when she’s not writing, she’s scouting out new locations for her upcoming novels, or renovating her round house where she lives with her husband and their two rescue dogs.

That’s right. Her house is round.  

You can find her online at www.eileenbell.com

JULIE CZERNEDA 

Since 1997, award-winning Canadian author/ former biologist Julie E. Czerneda has shared her curiosity about living things through her SF and fantasy novels, published by DAW Books. Her latest is the standalone fantasy, The Gossamer Mage (2019). Currently, Julie’s returned to her beloved character, Esen, in her Web Shifter’s Library series, featuring all the weird biology one could ask, with Mirage out Aug 2020 and Spectrum, spring 2021. Julie’s edited/co-edited award-winning anthologies of SF/F, including SFWA’s 2017 Nebula Award Showcase and the Clan Chronicles: Tales from Plexis, featuring stories by fans of her series. www.czerneda.com.

GUY GAVRIEL KAY

Guy Gavriel Kay has published fourteen novels, translated into 30 languages Before beginning his writing career, Kay was retained by the Estate of J.R.R. Tolkien to assist in the editorial construction of The Silmarillion. Kay is a multiple Aurora Prize nominee and winner, a multiple World Fantasy Award nominee, and won that award for Ysabel. He was awarded the International Goliardos Prize for his contributions to the literature of the fantastic and won the World Fantasy Award for Ysabel in 2008. Both Under Heaven and River of Stars won the Prix Elbakin in France for best foreign language speculative fiction work. In 2014 he was invested with the Order of Canada, the country’s highest civilian honour. In 2014, Kay was named to the Order of Canada, the country’s highest civilian honor.

DEREK KUNSKEN

After leaving molecular biology, Derek worked with street kids in Central America before finding himself in the Canadian foreign service. He now writes science fiction in Gatineau, Québec. His space opera novels The Quantum Magician and The Quantum Garden were published by Solaris Books. The first was a finalist for the Aurora, the Locus and the Chinese Nebula Awards. Solaris will also be releasing his “Godfather in the clouds of Venus” novel The House of Styx in ebook and audio in August, 2020 and in hardcover in April, 2021. His internet home is DerekKunsken.com.

FONDA LEE 

Fonda Lee is the author of the Green Bone Saga (Orbit), beginning with Jade City and continuing in Jade War and the forthcoming Jade Legacy. She is also the author of the young adult science fiction novels Zeroboxer (Flux), Exo and Cross Fire (Scholastic), and has written comics for Marvel. Fonda is a winner of the World Fantasy Award, a three-time winner of the Aurora Award, and a multiple finalist for the Nebula and Locus Awards. Fonda is a martial artist, foodie, and action movie aficionado. Born and raised in Calgary, she now resides in Portland, Oregon. You find Fonda online at www.fondalee.com and on Twitter @fondajlee.

SILVIA MORENO-GARCIA

Silvia Moreno-Garcia is the author of the novels Gods of Jade and Shadow, Mexican Gothic, Untamed Shore, and a bunch of other books. She has also edited several anthologies, including the World Fantasy Award-winning She Walks in Shadows (a.k.a. Cthulhu’s Daughters). She can be found at http://www.silviamoreno-garcia.com/blog/

KELLY ARMSTRONG

Kelley Armstrong is the author of the Rockton thriller series, standalone thrillers beginning with Wherever She Goes, and the Royal Guide to Monster Slaying middle-grade fantasy series. Past works include the Otherworld urban fantasy series, the Cainsville gothic mystery series, the Nadia Stafford thriller trilogy, the Darkest Powers & Darkness Rising teen paranormal series and the Age of Legends teen fantasy series.

SAMANTHA BEIKO 

Samantha Mary (S.M.) Beiko currently works in the Canadian publishing industry as a freelance editor, graphic designer, and consultant. Her first novel, The Lake and the Library, was nominated for the Manitoba Book Award for Best First Book, as well as the 2014 Aurora Award. Her next series, The Realms of Ancient, began with Scion of the Fox (ECW Press, 2017) and the sequels to follow are Children of the Bloodlands (2018) and The Brilliant Dark (2019). She is the co-editor of Gothic Tales of Haunted Love (Bedside Press, 2018), and her short fiction has been anthologized in Gush: Menstrual Manifestos of Our Times (Frontenac House, 2018) and Parallel Prairies: Stories (Enfield & Wizenty, 2018).

Samantha is also the co-host of The Business BFFs podcast with Clare C. Marshall–a podcast about making a career out of writing and creative freelancing.

MARTY CHAN

Marty Chan writes books for kids, plays for adults and tweets for fun. He’s worked in theatre, television, radio, and publishing. He’s best known in theatre for his thriller play The Bone House. He’s written 15 books that have been published with two more on the way. Demon Gate, his first book in the Ehrich Weisz Chronicles, was shortlisted for the Best YA Novel category of the Aurora Awards in 2016. Marty works and lives in Edmonton with his wife Michelle and their cat Buddy. 

SUSAN FOREST is an award-winning fiction editor, has published over 25 short stories (Analog, Asimov’s, BCS, & more), and has appeared at many international writing conventions. Four of her short stories were finalists for the Prix Aurora Award.  She served two terms as Secretary for the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (2012-2016) and has judged the Endeavor and Sunburst Awards. Susan grew up in a family of mountaineers and skiers, and she loves adventure. She also loves the big ideas found in SF/F, and finds fast-paced adventure stories a great place to explore how individuals grapple with complex moral decisions. Bursts of Fire, first book in her Addicted to Heaven series (followed by Flights of Marigold in August 2020), confronts issues of addiction in an epic fantasy world of intrigue and betrayal. More information on Bursts of Fire can be found at http://addictedtoheaven.com/

MJ LYONS

MJ Lyons (@queer_mikey) is a writer, bookstore professional and game maker. His debut novel, Murder at the World’s Fair, was published by Renaissance Press in 2019. He has also written for dozens of publications, including a five-year-long column with a colleague on lesser known LGBT history, History Boys. Other publishing credits include his short story, “To kill in a god,” in Clockwork Cairo: Steampunk Tales of Egypt, a chapbook of speculative fiction short stories, Temple of Cats, and a barrage of zines QUEER WEREWOLVES DESTROY CAPITALISM, The Painting of the Empty Bed: An Apocryphal Tale of C. Auguste Dupin, I Accidentally Wrote Gay Erotica With An Artificial Intelligence?!, and Borders. He manages the bookstore side of Glad Day Bookshop and lives in Toronto with his goblin of a cat.

Amal El-Mohtar 

This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone, Saga Press

is an award-winning author, academic, and critic. Her short story “Seasons of Glass and Iron” won the Hugo, Nebula, and Locus awards and was a finalist for the World Fantasy, Sturgeon, Aurora, and Eugie Awards in the same year. She is the author, with Max Gladstone, of This Is How You Lose the Time War, a queer epistolary spy vs spy love story, and The Honey Month, a collection of poetry and prose written to the taste of 28 different kinds of honey. Her short fiction is forthcoming in BAX 2020 and has appeared on Tor.comand in magazines such as Lightspeed, Strange Horizons, Fireside Magazine, and the Rubin Museum of Art’s Spiral, as well as in anthologies such as The Mythic Dream, The Djinn Falls in Love and Other Stories and The Starlit Wood: New Fairy Tales. She is the science fiction and fantasy columnist for the New York Times Book Review and teaches creative writing at the University of Ottawa. Find her online at amalelmohtar.com, on Twitter @tithenai and on Substack at amal.substack.com.

Maria Haskins

Clear as Quartz, Sharp as Flint by Maria Haskins, Augur Magazine, issue 2.1

Maria Haskins is a Swedish-Canadian writer and translator. She writes speculative fiction and currently lives just outside Vancouver with a husband, two kids, a snake, several birds, and a very large black dog.
Her work has been published in Augur Magazine, Black Static, Interzone, Black Library, Fireside, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Flash Fiction Online, Mythic Delirium, Shimmer, Cast of Wonders, and elsewhere. Find out more on her website, mariahaskins.com, or follow her on Twitter, @mariahaskins.

Kate Heartfield

Alice Payne Rides by Kate Heartfield, Tor.com Publishing

Kate Heartfield writes science fiction and fantasy, including the Aurora-winning novel Armed in Her Fashion and the Alice Payne novella duology, along with dozens of stories. She is the author of The Road to Canterbury and The Magician’s Workshop, both of which were shortlisted for the Nebula in game writing. Her next novel is The Embroidered Book, a historical fantasy coming in 2021. A former journalist, Kate lives in Ottawa, Canada. Her website is heartfieldfiction.com and she is on Twitter as @kateheartfield.

Y.M. Pang

Little Inn on the Jianghu by Y.M. Pang, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, September

Y.M. Pang spent her childhood pacing around her grandfather’s bedroom, telling him stories of magic, swords, and bears. Her work has appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Strange Horizons, and Clarkesworld, among other venues. She dabbles in photography and often contemplates the merits of hermitism. Despite this, you can find her online at www.ympang.com or on Twitter as @YMPangWriter.

Hayden Trenholm

Modigliani Paints the World by Hayden Trenholm, Neo-Opsis, Issue #30

Hayden Trenholm is an award-winning editor, playwright, novelist and short story writer. His first novel, A Circle of Birds, won the 3-Day Novel Writing competition; it was translated and published in French. His trilogy, The Steele Chronicles, were each nominated for an Aurora Award. Stealing Home, the third book, was a finalist for the Sunburst Award. Hayden has won five Aurora Awards – thrice for short fiction and twice for editing. He purchased Bundoran Press in 2012 and is its managing editor. He lives in Ottawa with his wife and fellow writer, Liz Westbrook-Trenholm.

Liz Westbrook-Trenholm

Blindside by Liz Westbrook-Trenholm, Amazing Stories, v. 77, issue no. 1, Fall

has  published or aired mainstream and speculative short fiction on radio, in magazines and in a number of Prix Aurora-winning or nominated anthologies, most recently in Shades Within Us (Laksa Media), Over the Rainbow (Exile Press), and Tesseracts 22 (Edge) and Amazing Stories (August 2019). Her story, Gone Flying, was long-listed for the Sunburst Award and won the Prix Aurora for best short form in 2018, and her story Critical Mass was nominated for a 2019 Aurora. A full list of her short fiction can be found at https://www.facebook.com/lizwestbrooktrenholmwriter/ . She lives in Ottawa, Canada with her husband, writer, editor and publisher, Hayden Trenholm.

MARGARET ATWOOD, whose work has been published in more than forty-five countries, is the author of more than fifty books of fiction, poetry, critical essays, and graphic novels. Her latest novel, The Testaments, is a co-winner of the 2019 Booker Prize.  It is the long-awaited sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale, now an award-winning TV series. Her other works of fiction include Cat’s Eye, finalist for the 1989 Booker Prize; Alias Grace, which won the Giller Prize in Canada and the Premio Mondello in Italy; The Blind Assassin, winner of the 2000 Booker Prize; The MaddAddam Trilogy; and Hag-Seed. She is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade, the Franz Kafka International Literary Prize, the PEN Center USA Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Los Angeles Times Innovator’s Award. She lives in Toronto.

Atwood, In a groundbreaking collaboration with Renee Nault, adapted the classic 1985 dystopian novel The Handmaid’s Tale, into a fully painted, 240 page graphic novel.

Samantha Mary (S.M.) Beiko currently works in the Canadian publishing industry as a freelance editor, graphic designer, and consultant. Her first novel, The Lake and the Library, was nominated for the Manitoba Book Award for Best First Book, as well as the 2014 Aurora Award. Her next series, The Realms of Ancient, began with Scion of the Fox (ECW Press, 2017) and the sequels to follow are Children of the Bloodlands (2018) and The Brilliant Dark (2019). She is the co-editor of Gothic Tales of Haunted Love (Bedside Press, 2018), and her short fiction has been anthologized in Gush: Menstrual Manifestos of Our Times (Frontenac House, 2018) and Parallel Prairies: Stories (Enfield & Wizenty, 2018). 

Samantha is also the co-host of The Business BFFs podcast with Clare C. Marshall–a podcast about making a career out of writing and creative freelancing.

KARI MAAREN

Kari Maaren is a wandering English professor who has turned grumpiness into an art form. She writes and performs geeky ukulele music about Batman, genre literature, and various types of monsters. She has an active YouTube channel and has produced two CDs, Beowulf Pulled My Arm Off and Everybody Hates Elves. She has a completed webcomic, West of Bathurst, and a continuing one, It Never Rains. Her first novel, the Andre Norton-nominated and Copper Cylinder-winning YA fantasy adventure Weave a Circle Round, was published by Tor in 2017. She has won Aurora Awards for her music (2013 and 2015) and comics (2015 and 2019).

Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas is an award-winning visual contemporary artist, author and professional speaker. His work has been seen in public spaces, museums, galleries and private collections across the globe. His large sculptural works are part of the public art collection of the Vancouver International Airport, City of Vancouver, City of Kamloops and University of British Columbia. Yahgulanaas’s publications include national bestsellers Flight of the Hummingbird and RED, a Haida Manga. When not writing or producing art, Yahgulanaas pulls from his 20 years of political experience in the Council of the Haida Nation and travels the world speaking to businesses, institutions and communities about social justice, community building, communication and change management.

Haida Manga blends North Pacific Indigenous iconographies and framelines with the graphic dynamism of Asian manga.

Exploring themes of identity, environmentalism and the human condition Yahgulanaas uses art and speaking opportunities to communicate a world view that while particular to Haida Gwaii – his ancestral North Pacific archipelago – is also relevant to a contemporary and internationally-engaged audience. 

RENEE NAULT

Renee Nault is a Canadian illustrator and graphic novelist who’s work has appeared in books, magazines and advertising worldwide. Nault is known for her vivid watercolour dreamscapes, where folklore and pop culture come together to create imagined narratives that are both appealing and disquieting. 

In a groundbreaking collaboration with Margaret Atwood, Nault adapted the classic 1985 dystopian novel The Handmaid’s Tale, into a fully painted, 240 page graphic novel. The book has been an instant success, a bestseller in Canada, the United States, and abroad, with several translations in the works for release in 2020.

Nault grew up in Vancouver and later Victoria. She attended Sheridan college in Ontario, completing a 4 year program in art and illustration. After living in many places and travelling extensively, she returned to Victoria where she now lives. She is influenced by early 20th century book illustrators, Art Nouveau, Japanese woodblock prints, and by contemporary fashion and film. 

COLE PAULS

No bio currently available.

DAVID CLINK

David Clink is the poetry editor (along with his sister, Carolyn) of Amazing Stories Magazine. His poem, “A sea monster tells his story” won the 2013 Aurora Award for Best Poem/Song. His poetry has appeared in over 50 journals, including Analog five times and Asimov’s three times. He has two speculative poetry collections, Monster, (published by Tightrope Books, 2010) and, The Role of Lightning in Evolution (Chizine Publications, 2016). His poetry has appeared in four Tesseracts anthologies, and in genre journals Star*Line; On Spec; and, Pulp Literature. His next genre poetry collection is arriving on Earth in 2021.

CLARA BLACKWOOD

Clara Blackwood is a poet and visual artist based in Toronto, Canada. She is the author of two poetry books, Subway Medusa (2007) and Forecast (2014), with Guernica Editions.

Blog at: <https://clarablackwood.wordpress.com/>

SWATI CHAVDA

Swati Chavda is an author, editor, map-artist, and a former neurosurgeon. After years of repairing people’s brains, in 2010 she left her thriving neurosurgery career to follow her passion to become a full-time writer.

She writes both fiction and non-fiction. Her self-help book Ignite: Beat Burnout & Rekindle Your Inner Fire is about ways to overcome burnout. She has also published two poetry books with digital art: Love at the Speed of Light and Footprints on the Sands of Time.

She also writes speculative fiction, where her characters tend to seek answers to questions ranging from “Is there life after death?” to “Should there be life before breakfast?” She uses too many commas, too few coffee breaks — and there’s a constant battle waging in her head between British and American spelling.

Websites:  www.swatichavda.com and www.thewritingvault.com

TYLER HAGEMANN

Tyler Hagemann is a writer and student based in Toronto, Ontario. He holds a BFA in Theatre from York University, and is currently studying psychology. 

FRANCINE LEWIS

Francine P. Lewis is a former team member with Toronto’s Art Bar Poetry Series. Her poetry has been published in magazines and anthologies including Eye to the Telescope, Amazing Stories Magazine, Rampike, and Tesseracts Fifteen: A Case of Quite Curious Tales. She has published two chapbooks, Eurydice Dreams (2009) and Interstellar Iconography (2018), finished one poetry collection and is working on a second. She has written a science fiction novel and is also working on a novella.

LYNNE SARGENT 

“Meat Puppets”, Polar Borealis #4

Lynne Sargent is a writer, aerialist, and philosophy PhD student currently studying at the University of Waterloo. She has a hub for her writing online at scribbledshadows.wordpress.com, along with maintaining a regular blog on popular philosophy at moralguillotines.wordpress.com. You can find more of her poetry existent or forthcoming through Strange Horizons, Dreams and Nightmares, and Wild Musette. She was also a 2018 Rhysling Nominee.

SORA

Sora is a World/Cel.c singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist whose soaring voice and poetic lyrics have garnered her international acclaim. She is known for her engaging stories, both mythic and modern and her haunting transcendent voice. Sora’s third album, Scorpion Moon, was nominated for a Canadian Folk Music Award in 2013.   

Links: www.soramusic.ca

JEN ALBERT

Jen Albert is an editor, writer, and former entomologist from Toronto. She is an editor at ECW Press, where she specializes in speculative fiction. Jen is also co-editor of fantasy fiction podcast PodCastle and co-chair of ephemera, a monthly reading series. Her editorial work has won and been nominated for numerous accolades, including the World Fantasy Award, the British Fantasy Award, and the Academy of Podcasters Award. You can find her on Twitter @jenralbert.

Jen Albert is an editor, writer, and former entomologist from Toronto. She is an editor at ECW Press, where she specializes in speculative fiction. Jen is also co-editor of fantasy fiction podcast PodCastle and co-chair of ephemera, a monthly reading series. Her editorial work has won and been nominated for numerous accolades, including the World Fantasy Award, the British Fantasy Award, and the Academy of Podcasters Award. You can find her on Twitter @jenralbert.

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CHERAE CLARK

Cherae Clark graduated from Indiana University’s creative writing MFA. She’s been a personal trainer, an English teacher, and an editor, and is some combination thereof as she travels the world. When she’s not writing or working, she’s learning languages, doing P90something, or reading about war and [post-]colonial history. Her short fiction has appeared in Beneath Ceaseless Skies, FIYAH, PodCastle, and Uncanny. You can follow her on Twitter @c_l_clark.

CAIT GORDON

Cait Gordon is a disability advocate who writes speculative fiction that celebrates the reality of diversity. She is the author of Life in the ’Cosm and The Stealth Lovers. Her short stories have appeared in Alice Unbound Beyond Wonderland  (Ed. Colleen Anderson, Exile Editions), We Shall Be Monsters (Ed. Derek Newman-Stille, Renaissance), and Space Opera Libretti (Eds. Brian McNett and Jennifer Lee Rossman). Cait also founded The Spoonie Authors Network and joined Talia C. Johnson to co-edit Nothing Without Us, a collection of 22 stories whose authors and protagonists identify as disabled, Deaf, neurodiverse, and/or they manage mental illness. You can connect with Cait at spoonieauthorsnetwork.blog, caitgordon.com, or on Twitter (@CaitGAuthor).

TALIA JOHNSON

Kohenet Talia Johnson is a Jewish ritual and service leader, writer, poet, sensitivity editor, public speaker, workshop facilitator,  educator, mentor, coach, and activist. She is a woman who is, in no particular order, an out queer autistic lesbian trans woman. Talia is Chair of the Board of Directors for Heartspark Press, a press run by and for trans women and assigned male at birth non-binary folk. She is part of the leadership team of Autistics for Autistics Ontario. She is co-editor of the Nothing Without Us anthology of own voices Disability fiction released in September 2019.  Talia is the first transgender woman to be ordained a Kohenet (Hebrew priestess) through the Kohenet Hebrew Priestess Institute receiving smicha in August 2019. Talia’s work as a Kohenet is directly related to her experience as a transgender woman and her academic studies. Her focus is on Judaism, queer/trans/LGBTQIA, and mental health. Her work in these areas bridge mental health, spirituality, and LGBTQIA+/queer/trans spaces, areas which are usually independent silos. She has been an activist in various ways for most of her life. Her first words were, apparently, “That’s not fair!”

Talia can be found online at:
Patreon, https://www.patreon.com/TaliaCJohnson
Talia’s website is https://taliacjohnson.ca
Twitter: @taliacjohnson
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Kohenet-Talia-C-Johnson-196101657119944/

KARL JOHANSON

Karl Johanson is the owner/editor of Neo-opsis Science Fiction Magazine, which has won two Aurora Awards, and a former editor of the four time Aurora winning magazine Under the Ozone Hole. Karl’s publication credits include work in Polar Boralis, On Spec magazine Perihelion, Sci Phi Journal, Monday Magazine, Stitches: The Magazine of Medical Humour, and the anthology Here Be Monsters: 7. As a writer / designer / tester of computer games, Karl has done work for North Star Games, Disney Interactive, and Sanctuary Woods Multimedia. Many of the games were science fiction or fantasy related. Karl does work as a movie / TV extra (including a recent episode of The Twilight Zone), and as a civilian actor for Canadian Forces training exercises.

RANYLT RICHILDIS

Ranylt Richildis is a writer, editor, and teacher based in Ottawa, Canada. Her short fiction has appeared or is forthcoming in SFF venues such as PodCastle and Strange Horizons, among others. In 2013, on a bit of a whim, she founded Lackington’s Magazine, which is now 20+ issues strong. She tweets @ranylt.

ROBERT RUNTE

Robert Runté is Senior Editor for EssentialEdits.ca and the former Senior Editor for Five Rivers Publishing. He was the official editor on ten of Dave Duncan’s sixty-five novels, one of Dave’s beta readers for many years before that, and is currently editing Dave’s remaining manuscripts for publication. Robert’s own fiction has appeared in a variety of venues, and three of his stories have been reprinted in ‘best of’ collections. A retired professor, Robert has three Aurora’s for his literary criticism and promotion of Canadian SF&F.

ALEXANDER DE POMPA

Alexander De Pompa is the Editor in Chief, Co-Founder, and Chief Operating Officer of Augur Magazine. He manages the issue production process and all corporate maintenance and tax-related responsibilities for Augur. He studied law at the University of Toronto and the University of Geneva, and looks forward to articling in the fall. An avid long-distance runner, he hopes to one day run an ultramarathon.

DIANE WALTON 

On Spec Magazine, The Copper Pig Writers Society

In 1989, a small group of Edmonton writers formed The Copper Pig Writers Society in order to fill a niche in Canada–a paying market for English SF, SF with a uniquely Canadian Perspective.

Our little quarterly journal, On Spec adheres to a strong mandate that has served us well over the years. We discover and showcase quality works by predominantly Canadian writers and artists, in the genre we call “Fantastic” literature. We foster the growth of emerging writers in this genre, by offering support and direction through constructive criticism, education, mentoring, and manuscript development. We try to publish as many new writers as possible, alongside works by established writers, and we also endeavour to support these writings with innovative cover art for every mind-bending and emotion-provoking issue!

THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY is an American superhero web television series based on the comic book series of the same name published by Dark Horse Comics. Created for Netflix by Steve Blackman and developed by Jeremy Slater, it revolves around a dysfunctional family of adopted sibling superheroes who reunite to solve the mystery of their father’s death and the threat of an impending apocalypse. The series is produced by Borderline Entertainment, Dark Horse Entertainment, and Universal Cable Productions.

Steve Blackman is a producer and writer, also known for Fargo(2014), Legion (2017) and Altered Carbon (2018).

MURDOCH MYSTERIES (Episode 10-18/Season 12 and Episode 1-9/Season 13)

In the 1890s, William Murdoch uses radical forensic techniques for the time, including fingerprinting and trace evidence, to solve some of the city’s most gruesome murders.

Peter Mitchell is the award winning showrunner for Murdoch Mysteries and producer of more than 47 episodes. He is known for Forever Knight (1992), The Campbells (1986), Cold Squad (1998) and Murdoch Mysteries (2008).  Peter’s motto is: “not assume there will be another season” so if they, the MM writers, have a good idea they should go ahead and do it.

Christina Jennings is the Chairman and CEO of Shaftesbury Films and the Executive Producer of Murdoch Mysteries.  Jennings established Shaftesbury in 1987 and has since built the company into a position of unique leadership and strength as one of Canada’s largest creators, producers and distributors of original content for television and multiple platforms.

KILLJOYS SEASON 3

Michelle Lovretta for Killjoys, Season 3, Temple Street Productions

In the Quad, a planetary system on the brink of a bloody interplanetary class war, a fun loving trio of bounty hunters attempt to remain impartial as they chase deadly warrants.

SHOWRUNNER: Michelle Lovretta

Michelle Lovretta is a television writer, developer and executive producer. She has worked as an executive producer on the Canadian drama series Instant Star and a producer on the American teen drama series The Secret Circle. Michelle is the creator of the Canadian supernatural fantasy series Lost Girl.

V Wars is an American science fiction horror web television series based on the eponymous novel series and graphic novels by Jonathan Maberry.   The series follows the story of the physician-scientist Dr. Luther Swann and his best friend Michael Fayne as they face the evolving crisis of a deadly outbreak that fractures society into opposing factions, potentially escalating to a future war between humans and vampires.

Glenn Davis is a writer and producer, known for John Woo’s Once a Thief (1996), Power Play (1998) and V-Wars (2019).

William Laurin, Writer: Once a Thief. Born in Montreal, in the same hospital and two weeks after his lifelong writing partner Glenn Davis, William Laurin was educated at Loyola College High School, Loyola College, and, briefly, at Queen’s University. He spent more than ten years as a sketch comedian in the Canadian group The Maroons (which also included Davis and fellow television …

SAMANTHA BEIKO 

Samantha M. Beiko, covers for Laksa Media

Samantha Mary (S.M.) Beiko currently works in the Canadian publishing industry as a freelance editor, graphic designer, and consultant. Her first novel, The Lake and the Library, was nominated for the Manitoba Book Award for Best First Book, as well as the 2014 Aurora Award. Her next series, The Realms of Ancient, began with Scion of the Fox (ECW Press, 2017) and the sequels to follow are Children of the Bloodlands (2018) and The Brilliant Dark (2019). She is the co-editor of Gothic Tales of Haunted Love (Bedside Press, 2018), and her short fiction has been anthologized in Gush: Menstrual Manifestos of Our Times (Frontenac House, 2018) and Parallel Prairies: Stories (Enfield & Wizenty, 2018).

Samantha is also the co-host of The Business BFFs podcast with Clare C. Marshall–a podcast about making a career out of writing and creative freelancing.

www.smbeiko.com

LYNNE TAYLOR FAHNESTALK

Lynne spent most of her childhood drawing dinosaurs and purple bunnies. Since then her work has appeared in national and international publications, she has created a comic strip for cows, produced a science fiction colouring book and The Really Silly Cartoon Book, and served as art director for three national magazines. She has also discussed composting toilets with Frank Herbert and penmanship with Harlan Ellison. 

Lynne is a professional illustrator, cartoonist, and sculptor. Her cartoons have appeared in numerous publications including Amazing Stories Magazine, On Spec Magazine, Polar Borealis Online Magazine, Fantasy and Science Fiction Magazine, Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Fantasy Magazine, and Science Fiction Review. She also creates one-of-a-kind robot sculptures from upcycled metal objects which have been described as 3-D cartoons and she likes that comparison

Lynne lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, with her wonderful husband and a house full of amazing things.

www.facebook.com/rivetofrobots

JAMES F. BEVERIDGE   

James started illustrating for On Spec Magazine in 1991. He began by contributing back & white drawings for the short stories and then creating covers. he was On Spec Co-Art Director for about a year during that time as well. His interest now is in the computer as an art tool which has led to working in game art (java based) and online web design. After several nominations he won the Aurora Award for Artistic Acheivement in 2002.

He has been adding novel covers and, tattoos, layout design, and now apps, to his portfolio and is currently working with publishers On Spec, Tyche, Five Rivers, as well as independent authors, and he looks forward to creating more art in 2021 and beyond.  

Website – http://www.jamesbeveridge.com
Facebook Art page –https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Art-of-James-F-Beveridge/216686498430789
Deviant Art – https://www.deviantart.com/jamesfbeveridge
Art Station – https://www.artstation.com/jimbeveridge

DAN O’DRISCOLL 

Dan O’Driscoll is a freelance illustrator based in Calgary, Alberta.  His early forays into art involved sketching dinosaurs in the margins of school exercise books, which garnered the predictable critical response.

Dan has always considered art a medium of exploration, allowing him to give visual form to his imaginary worlds and provide a means to share them with others.  Working in illustration has also allowed him to explore and interpret worlds that exist in the minds of other creatives, and to open a window on their stories.  The resulting works have been featured in magazines and on book covers in both Canada and the United States.

Dan’s published work can be viewed on his website at:

http://www.djostudio.com/pub.html

NATHAN FRECHETTE

Nathan Caro Fréchette is a queer transgender sequential artist, publisher, and author. He has published over a dozen short stories, both graphic and prose, as well as five novels, three graphic novels, and two works of nonfiction. He is the author of the online comic Some Assembly Required on Tapas. He has taught creative writing over a decade, and has a degree in Film Studies and another in Sequential Art. He was the founder and director of the French Canadian literary magazine Histoires à Boire Debout, an editor for the French Canadian graphic novel publisher Premières Lignes, and is a co-founder of the Ottawa-based publisher Renaissance. 

R. GRAEME CAMERON

NOTE: Graeme has been nominated for two works – writings for Amazing and writings for Polar Borealis

Graeme has been an active SF fan since 1968 to the point of winning two Aurora Awards and being inducted into the CSFFA Hall of Fame. Noted in the past for being a CUFF winner, his numerous fannish publications, his years presenting the Elron Awards, two decades moderating Writers workshops at VCON, his stand-up comic performance as “Moog the Magnificent [Martian],” not to mention his co-performance of “The Sex Life of Godzilla” lecture on numerous occasions, he is currently the editor of the clubzine for the B.C. SF Association, a columnist for Amazing Stories (since 2014), publisher and editor of Polar Borealis Magazine (since 2016), and a member of both FAPA and eAPA. Graeme firmly believes the whole point of being a fan of SF is to have as much fun as possible.

JEN DESMARAIS 

Co-founder of JenEric Designs, Jennifer Desmarais creates unique geeky crocheted items and posts twice a week on her blog, The Travelling TARDIS, which was nominated for the 2018 and 2019 Prix Aurora Awards. www.travellingtardis.com

She lives in Ottawa with her husband and their library of over 3000 books. They have a daughter Keladry (Sept 2016) and a son Adrien (June 2019).

RON FRIEDMAN 

RON S. FRIEDMAN is a science fiction writer and a blogger. His first novel, Typhoon Time, is an amazon.ca #1 bestseller in his category. 18 of his short stories have appeared in various magazines and anthologies, including Galaxy’s Edge, Daily Science Fiction, Neo-Opsis, Polar Borealis and Enigma Front.     

Ron believe in the synergy between science-fiction and science. He is a Quora most viewed author in Space Exploration and Planetary Science. His articles have attracted over two and a half million views, and were translated to French, Italian, Portuguese and Indonesian.

Ron is an alumni of the Launchpad Astronomy workshop: Improving Science Literacy through Words and Media. In his day job, Ron is a senior Information Technology analyst. 

Originally from Israel, Ron is living with his loving wife and two children in Calgary, Alberta. Ron is currently working on his second novel.

STEVE FAHNESTALK

Steve Fahnestalk was fortunate enough to immigrate to Canada while he still had some sanity left. His past misdeeds include starting fan groups and conventions, writing a column for Amazing Stories® in print in the 1980s and again in 2019-present, and publishing short stories and a YA novella. His nomination this time is because he’s been writing a fan column of reviews, history, opinion and whatever in Amazing Stories® online, 29 of them in 2019. (He started this column almost 7 years ago, for what that’s worth.) He’s currently living in Vancouver, and married to the Lovely and Talented Lynne Taylor Fahnestalk (also a nominee).

CHRISTINA VASILESKI

Christina Vasilevski is a reader, editor, and (somewhat reformed) tea junkie. By day she works as UX and marketing writer, and by night she runs Books & Tea (www.booksandtea.ca). She has previously read slush for Lightspeed Magazine and Electric Velocipede. She lives in Pickering with her husband, two spoiled cats, and an only-slightly-ridiculous amount of tea. Twitter: @cvasilevski  

Derek Künsken After leaving molecular biology, Derek worked with street kids in Central America before finding himself in the Canadian foreign service. He now writes science fiction in Gatineau, Québec. His space opera novels The Quantum Magician and The Quantum Garden were published by Solaris Books. The first was a finalist for the Aurora, the Locus and the Chinese Nebula Awards. Solaris will also be releasing his “Godfather in the clouds of Venus” novel The House of Styx in ebook and audio in August, 2020 and in hardcover in April, 2021. His internet home is DerekKunsken.com.

MarieBilodeau: is an SFF writer and oral storyteller. An event manager by trade, she first joined the Can*Con crew in 2014 to help solidify the con’s bottom line, and liked it so much that she accepted Derek Künsken’s offer to co-chair the con with him. She now proudly leads the corporate side and its amazing volunteers who take care of attendee experience and breaking kne…I mean, negotiating with vendors on behalf of the con and its community. Join the fun in our Facebook group, on Twitter (@canconSF), and online at www.can-con.org.

KT Bryski is a Canadian author and podcaster. She has stories in Lightspeed, Strange Horizons, and Apex (among others), and her audio dramas Coxwood History Fun Park and Six Stories, Told at Night are available wherever fine podcasts are found.

She’s won the Parsec and the Toronto Star Short Story Contest, and she has been shortlisted for the Sunburst Award. With editor Jen R. Albert, KT co-chairs ephemera, a speculative fiction reading series occurring monthly in Toronto.

KT is a graduate of the Stonecoast MFA in Creative Writing, and she is represented by Kim-Mei Kirtland of the Howard Morhaim Literary Agency.  When she’s not writing, KT can be found frolicking through Toronto, enjoying choral music and craft beer.

Brent Jans has always been a fan of fantasy and science fiction, reading Dunsany as a boy and discovering Dungeons & Dragons at the age of ten. Since then he has written for the tabletop roleplaying game hobby, worked as one of the editors for On Spec Magazine, and currently freelances as an editor of both RPGs and speculative fiction. When he began the Pure Speculation Festival in 2005, it was intended to give Edmonton a community driven celebration of science fiction and fantasy. And for fourteen years Pure Speculation did that, showcasing the best of the city’s nerd culture and bringing fans together to celebrate. The Pure Speculation Festival ran for the last time in 2019. 

You can find Brent in a few places on the web: he writes about tabletop games on his own site, Renaissance Gamer (https://renaissancegamer.ca/), as well as bi-weekly editorials over at The Rat Hole (http://therathole.ca/). You can keep up to date with his goings on by following him on Twitter at @DorklordCanada, and find out more about his ongoing long-term project, The Canadian Library of Roleplaying Games, by following @CanLibRPG.

Randy McCharles 

Randy McCharles, chair, When Words Collide, Calgary

RANDY MCCHARLES is a full-time author of speculative and crime fiction. He is the recipient of several Aurora Awards and in 2013 his short story Ghost-B-Gone Incorporated won the House of Anansi 7-day Ghost Story Contest. Randy’s most recent publications include the 2016 Aurora Award shortlisted novel Much Ado about Macbeth from Tyche Books, the short story Murder at the Mall from Coffin Hop Press, and the 2017 Aurora Award shortlisted novel The Day of the Demon.

In addition to writing, Randy organizes various events including the award-winning When Words Collide Festival for Readers and Writers. www.randymccharles.com

Sandra Wickham 

Sandra Wickham, chair, Creative Ink Festival, Burnaby, BC

Sandra Wickham lives in Vancouver, Canada with her husband and super powered son who has Down syndrome. Her friends call her a needle crafting aficionado, health guru and ninja-in-training. Sandra’s short stories have appeared in Evolve, Vampires of the New Undead, Evolve, Crossed Genres magazine, The Urban Green Man, Sirens, Equus, Luna Station Quarterly and more. She slush reads for Lightspeed Magazine and is the chair of the Creative Ink Festival for writers and readers.

http://www.sandrawickham.com

http://www.creativeinkfestival.com

http://www.nothingdown.org

Brandon Crilly 

Frequently at odds with the tiny robots who clean the bunker and laugh at him behind his back, Brandon Crilly has been previously published by Daily Science Fiction, Abyss & Apex, PULP Literature, On Spec, Electric Athenaeum and other markets. His first comic, “True Balance,” was published by Markosia Press in 2020 and is available on Comixology. He received an Honorable Mention in the 2016 Writer’s Digest Popular Fiction Awards, reviews fiction for BlackGate.com and serves as a Programming Lead for Can*Con in Ottawa. He denies that he is the Tony Stark to Evan May’s one-armed robotic helper and is sure that if he ever ventured outside the bunker, he would surely die. You can find Brandon at brandoncrilly.wordpress.com or on Twitter: @B_Crilly.

Evan May 

Now trapped in a hermetically sealed bunker and surrounded by technology he has no idea how to operate, Evan May is trying to find a sense of zen about it all.  Evan has been writing SFF since at least Grade 2, when he wrote about his own death in a space battle instead of doing math exercises.  Since then, Evan’s first two novels, The King in Darkness and Bonhomme Sept-Heures, have been published by Ottawa’s Renaissance Press, and he continues to create strange imaginary people and things.  Evan also blogs at emaymustgo.wordpress.com, commits Twitter @GiantTourtiere, and is the other Programming Lead for Can*Con, Ottawa’s annual conference for writers and readers of SF, fantasy, and horror.  Evan is pretty sure he shouldn’t have pressed that button a minute ago but is equally sure that Brandon will handle it.

DEREK NEWMAN-STILLE 

(they/them) is a queer, nonbinary, disabled activist, artist, academic, and editor. They teach at Trent University and research representations of disability in Canadian Speculative Fiction. Derek is the editor of the collections Over the Rainbow: Folk and Fairy Tales from the Margins (Exile) and We Shall Be Monsters (Renaissance Press). Derek runs the digital humanities hub Speculating Canada.

Karl Maaren 

Monthly Musical Performances at ChiSeries: Toronto

Kari Maaren is a wandering English professor who has turned grumpiness into an art form.  Her first novel, the Andre Norton-nominated YA fantasy adventure Weave a Circle Round, was published by Tor in the fall of 2017. She has a completed webcomic, West of Bathurst, and an active one, It Never Rains.  She writes and performs geeky ukulele music about Batman, genre literature, and various types of monsters, and she has produced three CDs, the solo albums Beowulf Pulled My Arm Off and Everybody Hates Elves and the compilation (with the band Copy Red Leader) Pirate Elves in Space. She has won Aurora Awards for her music (2013 and 2015) and comics (2015).

Joshua Pantalleresco writes stuff, and podcasts too.  His Just Joshing Podcast has been around for 5 years, featuring writers and other guests as they talk about life in general.  His first novel, the Cloud Diver comes out May 16th.  He writes a column for First Comics News, has had poetry published at Mirror World Publishing, and lives in Windsor Ontario.

ED WILLETT 

Edward Willett is the Aurora Award-winning author of more than sixty books of science fiction, fantasy, and non-fiction for readers of all ages. His latest novel is Master of the World, Book 2 in his Worldshapers series for DAW Books; Book 3, The Moonlit World, comes out in September. The Worldshapers series and The Worldshapers podcast (www.theworldshapers.com) began at roughly the same time. Shapers of Worlds, a Kickstarted anthology featuring new and reprinted work from some of the authors who were guests in the podcast’s first year will be out in late summer from Ed’s Shadowpaw Press (www.shadowpawpress.com). Ed won the Aurora for Best Long-Form Work in English for Marseguro (DAW) in 2009 and Best Fan Related Work Aurora for The Worldshapers podcast in 2019. He’s been shortlisted for other Aurora awards multiple times. He lives in Regina. His website is edwardwillett.com he’s also on Facebook @edward.willett and on Twitter @ewillett.