Brian U. Garrison, he/him, studied computer science and A.I. until he realized neuroscience and meat-brain intelligence were much more interesting. Now he writes poetry for children, adults, and grand adults. His chapbooks include New Yesterdays New Tomorrows (self-published) and Micropoetry for Microplanets (Space Cowboy Books). Wall art combining his words and visual art from collaborators can be found on Etsy. He lives under a tall, leafy tree in Portland, Oregon. Find him online at bugthewriter.com

Jamal Hodge is a Bram Stoker Award & Elgin Award finalist and a multi‑award‑winning filmmaker. His work explores the interplay between darkness and redemption. Hodge’s debut, The Dark Between the Twilight, placed 3rd in the full‑length book category of the 2025 Elgin Awards, while his poem “Colony” placed second in the 2022 Dwarf Stars. He has also been nominated for 3 Rhysling awards. Jamal served as editor of the debut anthology Bestiary of Blood: Modern Fables & Dark Tales, which made the BSFA long-list in 2024. His latest project, Everything Endless (2025), is a collaborative poetry collection with SFPA Grand Master Linda D. Addison that merges cosmic law with call‑and‑response revelations. 

Pedro Iniguez is a Mexican-American Bram Stoker, Elgin, and Dwarf Stars Award-winning science-fiction and horror writer from Los Angeles. He has also been a Rhysling finalist and Puschart Prize and Best of the Net nominee.

He is the author of MEXICANS ON THE MOON: SPECULATIVE POETRY FROM A POSSIBLE FUTURE, FEVER DREAMS OF A PARASITE, ECHOES AND EMBERS: SPECULATIVE STORIES, SYNTHETIC DAWNS & CRIMSON DUSKS, and the SF novel CONTROL THEORY.

Apart from leading writing workshops and speaking at several colleges, he has also been a sensitivity reader and has ghostwritten for award-winning apps and online clients.

Miguel O. Mitchell, PhD (he/his/him) is a Black speculative poet, SFF author, visual artist, and retired chemistry professor. His poems have appeared in Amazing Stories, Dreams & Nightmares, Eye to the Telescope, FIYAH, Sauúti Terrors anthology, Scarlet Dragonfly Journal, Scifaikuest, Space and Time, Star*Line, and the anthology Year’s Best African Speculative Fiction (2022). Two of his poems were nominated for the 2022 Rhysling Award in the Long Poem category. Miguel has also published two poetry collections, Surrealia (Gnashing Teeth Publishing, 2024) and Periodic Table of Alien Species (Elements 1-86) (Barnes & Noble Press, 2021). He is the Editor of the 2025 Dwarf Stars anthology, was Co-editor (with David C. Kopaska-Merkel) of the 2023 Dwarf Stars anthology, and is Editor-in-Chief and Publisher of SpecPoVerse: An International Journal of Speculative Poetry.

Katherine Quevedo was born and raised just outside of Portland, Oregon, where she works as an analyst and lives with her husband and two sons. She is the author of the Elgin Award-winning chapbook The Inca Weaver’s Tales (Sword & Kettle Press, 2024) and the fantasy novella Thrice Petrified (Of Metal and Magic Publishing, 2025). Her writing has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Rhysling Award and received an honorable mention in the Helen Schaible International Sonnet Contest. Her poems and stories have appeared in Asimov’s, Nightmare Magazine, Fireside Magazine, HWA Poetry Showcase, Apparition Lit, Heroic Fantasy Quarterly, The Sprawl Mag, Abyss & Apex, On Spec, Old Moon Quarterly, LatineLit, and elsewhere. When she isn’t writing, she enjoys watching movies, playing old-school video games, singing, belly dancing, and making spreadsheets. Find her at www.katherinequevedo.com.

Mahaila Smith (they/them) is a researcher, poet and editor based on the traditional territory of the Algonquin Anishinabeg in Ottawa, Ontario. They like long swims and learning about archaeological recoveries. Their novelette in verse, Seed Beetle,is available from Stelliform Press. You can find more of their work on their website: mahailasmith.ca.