Alphabetical by last name
Naomi Louise Jenkins
Growing up in the Welsh Valleys, Naomi Louise Jenkins was raised on Welsh folktales and songs. She spent her childhood searching for fairies, swimming in rivers and collecting blackberries. After university, she moved to Japan where her passion for stories grew and grew until she returned home to start a new journey.
Currently living in Canada with her husband and son, Naomi spends her time writing from her desk surrounded by art and plants. When she’s not writing, Naomi loves to dabble in any and all artistic endeavours, add a fourth language to her repertoire and daydream about owning a cottage in the countryside.
Mark Steensland
Mark Steensland first learned how to scare people at the age of four during a drive-in screening of Rosemary’s Baby. Although he was supposed to be asleep in the back of the family station wagon, he stayed awake, secretly listening. When the doctor on screen announced Rosemary’s due date as June 28th, he sat up and proudly exclaimed, “That’s my birthday!” giving his parents and siblings a shock from which they still have not recovered.
Over the years that followed, he became obsessed with Aurora monster models, Dark Shadows, Famous Monsters magazine, and Rod Serling’s Night Gallery. His first professional publication was as a film journalist, in Jim Steranko’s Prevue magazine. Numerous bylines followed in American Cinematographer, Millimeter, and Kamera. As a director, his short films (including Lovecraft’s Pillow, Dead@17, Peekers, The Ugly File, and The Weeping Woman) have played in festivals around the world and earned numerous awards. His first novel—Behind the Bookcase—was published in 2012 by Random House. His most recent book is In the Scrape, a novella co-written with James Newman. His most recent screenplay—Jakob’s Wife—just finished filming with Barbara Crampton, Larry Fessenden, and Bonnie Aarons. He currently lives in California with his wife and their three children.
Andrea Walker
Andrea was born and raised in Florida. She lived in a tiny cottage with her mother, brother, cousin, Auntie M and Dorothy (really) and had a witch, a ghoul, and monsters for neighbors (probably). As a child, she spent her weekends searching flea markets for Choose Your Own Adventure novels or anything frightening enough she’d skip chanting Bloody Mary in her bathroom mirror that night. By the age of 12, she had encountered at least two ghosts but is still disappointed Mary never showed her face.
As a grown-up (mostly), she worked at the Kennedy Space Center while earning her Bachelors in Creative Writing and Education, and accumulated dozens of unfinished manuscripts. She still feels lucky having seen so many Shuttle launches up close, though. It wasn’t until she graduated from college, got married, started a family, and moved to Japan that she began writing again. Andrea loves visiting new places and when she is not writing or reading about them, you can find her enjoying time with her family and eagerly planning their next adventure.