Jonathan Maberry is a New York Times bestselling author, multiple Bram Stoker Award winner, and Marvel Comics writer. He’s the author of many novels, including Assassin’s Code, Dead of Night, Patient Zero, and Rot & Ruin.

His nonfiction books cover topics ranging from martial arts to zombie pop-culture. Jonathan continues to teach the celebrated Experimental Writing for Teens class, which he created.

He founded the Writers Coffeehouse and cofounded The Liars Club, and he is a frequent speaker at schools and libraries, as well as a keynote speaker and guest of honor at major writers’ and genre conferences. Jonathan lives in Del Mar, California, with his wife, Sara, and their son, Sam

An acclaimed ballet choreographer and opera director, Mark Morris was born on August 29, 1956, in Seattle, Washington. He formed the Mark Morris Dance Group (MMDG) in 1980 and has since created close to 150 works for the company. From 1988 to 1991, he was Director of Dance at the Theatre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels. In 1990, he founded the White Oak Dance Project with Mikhail Baryshnikov.

Michael Marshall Smith is a novelist and screenwriter. Only Forward, his groundbreaking first novel, won the Philip K. Dick and August Derleth Awards. Its critically acclaimed successors Spares and One Of Us were optioned by major Hollywood studios.

He has since written the internationally bestselling novels The Straw Men, The Lonely Dead and Blood of Angels, and his menacing thriller, The Intruders, was adapted as a major BBC television series. He lives in California with his wife, son and two cats.

Weston Ochse is called “one of the major horror authors of the 21st century” by the American Library Association.

Whether he’s writing horror, science fiction, or thrillers, Weston’s life skills and his more than thirty years in the military, traveling all over the world, has given him a unique perspective on the poignancy of the human condition, which he strives to embrace in all of his literary work.

Richard Chizmar fiction has appeared in dozens of publications including Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine.

He has won two World Fantasy Awards, four international Horror Guild Awards, and the HWA's Board of Trustee's Award.

His third short story collection, A Long December, was published to starred reviews and was featured in Entertainment Weekly.