Laura Purcell is a former bookseller living in Colchester, Essex with her husband and pet guinea pigs. She is the author of six novels, among them Gothic novel The Silent Companions, which was a Radio 2 and Zoe Ball ITV Book Club pick and The Shape of Darkness, winner of the inaugural Fingerprint Award for Historical Crime Book of the Year.

Her short story The Chillingham Chair was included in The Haunting Season anthology, which was an instant Sunday Times bestseller. She also wrote Roanoake Falls, a dramatic podcast for Realm, working with John Carpenter and Sandy King Carpenter.

Karen McGrath is a professor, author, scholar, and superhero wannabe who pursues tasks with verve, "pows," and "bams" without a cape. She has co-authored two books, The Millennial Mindset: Unraveling Fact from Fiction (2015) and Brew Your Business: The Ultimate Craft BeerPlaybook (2017); published analyses of marginalized groups in pop culture, including Archie Comics, Marvel Comics, and The Big Bang Theory; and, her latest publication, "Leveraging Esports in Higher Education" in Ryan Rogers' (Ed.) Understanding Esports: An Introduction to the Global Phenomenon (2019) demonstrates her interest in keeping up with higher education and generational trends. She sees much potential in Generation Z and hopes they continue to don their own capes to make a difference in a currently chaotic world.