Michi Trota

Michi Trota is a five-time Hugo Award winner, British Fantasy Award winner, and the first Filipina to win a Hugo Award. Michi is Editor-in-Chief of Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) and Senior Editor of Prism. She is also co-editor of the WisCon Chronicles Vol. 12 with Isabel Schechter (Aqueduct Press), has written for Chicago Magazine, and was the exhibit text writer for Worlds Beyond Here: Expanding the Universe of APA Science Fiction at the Wing Luke Museum in Seattle, WA. She’s been featured in publications like the 2016 Chicago Reader People Issue, Chicago Tribune, and The Guardian, and has spoken at the Adler Planetarium, the Chicago Humanities Festival, and on NPR about topics spanning feminism, media representation, and pop culture. Michi is a firespinner with the Raks Geek Fire+Bellydance troupe, past president of the Chicago Nerd Social Club Board of Organizers, and lives with her spouse and their two cats in Chicago.

Photo credit: Patricia Nightshade

Ali Trotta

Ali Trotta is a poet, writer, editor, word-nerd, and unapologetic coffee addict. Her poetry has been published in Uncanny, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Asimov’s, Small Wonders, The Deadlands, Fireside, Strange Horizons, Cicada, Nightmare, Mermaids Monthly, The Best of Uncanny Magazine (Subterranean Press), and several of the Rhysling Anthology compilations. Seven of her poems were Rhysling Award nominees. When she’s not writing, she’s usually cooking, baking, hugging an animal, or pretending to be a mermaid. She has a rescue cat named Thor, who is part Maine Coon and part Gremlin. You can sign up for her newsletter (https://buttondown.email/alwayscoffee) or follow her on Bluesky @alwayscoffee or Instagram @alwayscoffee7.

L. Tu

L. Tu was born in China and now lives on the US east coast.

A.M. Tuomala

A.M. Tuomala lives in western New York, somewhere between Niagara Gorge and the Eternal Flame. In addition to hiking those sublime landscapes, Tuomala enjoys researching the history of science, identifying local plants, and building new worlds. Tuomala’s most recent novel, The Map and the Territory, was released in December of 2022.

Joemario Umana

Joemario Umana, Swan XVII, is a Nigerian creative writer and a performance poet who considers himself a wildflower. His works have appeared in Prairie Schooner, Chestnut Review, Orange Blossom Review, Frontier Poetry, Uncanny Magazine, LOLWE, Strange Horizons, South Florida Poetry Journal, Ubwali Lit, ONE ART journal, Akpata Magazine, Poetry Sango-Ota, Poetry Column-NND, trampset, and elsewhere. He was shortlisted for the Kayode Aderinokun Poetry Prize and the Akachi Chukwuemeka Prize for literature, 2025. When life gives him a breathing space, he roams the streets of twitter as @JoemarioU38615.

The Uncanny Unicorn

The Uncanny Unicorn is FULL OF MYSTERY AND GOOD ADVICE!

Michael R. Underwood

Michael R. Underwood has circumnavigated the globe, danced the tango with legends, and knows why Tybalt cancels out Capo Ferro. He also rolls a mean d20.

He is the author several series, including the comedic fantasy Ree Reyes series (Geekomancy, Celebromancy, Attack of the Geek) and Genrenauts, a science fiction series in novellas. By day, he’s the North American Sales & Marketing Manager for Angry Robot Books.

Mike lives in Baltimore with his fiance and their ever–growing library. In his rapidly–vanishing free time, he studies historical martial arts and makes pizzas from scratch. He is a co–host on the Hugo–nominated Skiffy and Fanty Show.

Valerie Valdes

Valerie Valdes is a co-editor of Escape Pod as well as the author of the Chilling Effect trilogy and the space fantasy novel Where Peace Is Lost. Her short fiction and poetry have appeared in Uncanny Magazine, Nightmare Magazine, and several anthologies. She lives in Georgia with her husband, children and cats.

Catherynne M. Valente

Catherynne M. Valente is the internationally bestselling author of over forty works of science fiction, fantasy, and horror, including Space Opera, Fairyland, Deathless, Palimpsest, and Comfort Me With Apples. She is the winner of the Hugo, Nebula, Otherwise, Lambda, Locus, and Sturgeon Awards, among others. She lives on an island off the coast of Maine with her child and several unsettlingly clever animals.

Monica Valentinelli

Monica Valentinelli writes stories, games, essays, and reference books in her Midwestern studio. She’s a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Creative Writing program who now writes full-time. Monica’s original work has been published by small presses including Apex Book Company and Stone Skin Press. When she’s not obsessing about deadlines, she designs jewelry and dabbles in watercolors and acrylics. For more about Monica, visit booksofm.com.