Wednesday, January 13, 2021

Meet the Authors of Dark Matter: Artificial

Greetings all! I'm excited to be taking over as blog coordinator from Louise (Fundy Blue), who did a fabulous job last year as coordinator for the Insecure Writer's Support Group anthology, Voyagers: The Third Ghost, available on Amazon and more!

We're starting off the new year and new IWSG anthology buzz with some brief introductions of the authors featured in Dark Matter: Artificial. Come meet the 10 authors showcasing their talents through young adult to adult science fiction stories on topics ranging from artificial intelligence and deep space to alternative realities and dark matter secrets.

Stephanie Espinoza Villamor - Artificial

Stephanie is a librarian writer mom who lives with her husband and young son just outside Las Vegas. As a child she wrote her own books on dot matrix printer paper, and now works as a college eLearning Librarian. She writes stories inspired by her supportive family and Hispanic heritage, especially for middle grade and young adult readers.

 



C.D. Gallant-King - Space Folds and Broomsticks 

C.D. Gallant-King wrote his first story when he was five years old. He had to make his babysitter look up how to spell "extra-terrestrial." He now writes stories about un-heroic people doing generally hilarious things in horrifying worlds. He's a loving husband and proud father of two wonderful kids. He was born and raised in Newfoundland and currently resides in Ottawa, Ontario.


Kim Mannix - Rift 

Kim Mannix is a fiction writer, poet and journalist currently residing on Treaty 6 territory in Sherwood Park, Alberta. She has been published in several journals and anthologies in Canada and the U.S. and is a contributing editor of Watch Your Head, a climate crisis anthology. You can find her on Twitter, usually posting about kids, cats, music and creepy things.

 


Steph Wolmarans - The Utten Mission

Steph Wolmarans is an educator, mother, wife, gardener, beekeeper, and speculative fiction author. Steph has been creating galaxies since she visited Arrakis as a child. Now she envisions worlds, discovers new beings, and spends a lot of time exploring planet Earth with her husband and two small children.

 


Tara Tyler - Sentient

Tara Tyler has done everything from waitressing to rocket engineering. After moving all over the US, she now writes and teaches math in Ohio with her husband and one boy left in the nest. She has two novel series, Pop Travel (sci-fi detective thrillers) and Beast World (fantasy adventures), plus UnPrincess, a novella series where maidens save themselves.


Deniz Bevan - One to Another

Deniz Bevan has lived in Turkey, and her non-fiction work appeared in the trilingual newspaper Bizim Anadolu. Her short story was shortlisted for the Surrey (Canada) International Writers' Conference Storyteller's Award in 2013. Her contemporary romance, Summer Fire is out now with Carina Press.


 Charles Kowalski - Resident Alien

Charles Kowalski's contemporary thrillers, Mind Virus and The Devil's Son, have won prizes and nominations including the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers' Colorado Gold Award, the Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Award, and the Adventure Writers Grandmaster Award. He is also the author of the Japan-themed historical fantasy Simon Grey and the March of a Hundred Ghosts (Tokyo: Excalibur Books, 2019). When not writing, he teaches at the International Education Center at Tokai University, near Tokyo.

 

Olga Goldim - Nano Pursuit

Olga Godim is a writer and journalist from Vancouver, Canada. Both her children have already flown the nest. As a journalist, Olga focuses on the local arts and culture scene. As a fiction writer, she prefers speculative fiction. In the past few years, her fantasy and science fiction short stories have been published in magazines and anthologies. Her book SQUIRREL OF MAGIC is a collection of urban fantasy short stories. In 2015, her fantasy novel EAGLE EN GARDE won EPIC eBook Award.

 

Elizabeth Mueller - Resurgence

Award-winning author Elizabeth Mueller lives deep in the heart Texas surrounded by everyone she loves—including the characters who don’t stop talking in her head. While she enjoys homeschooling her kidlets, she thrives as a full-time writer of any genre that captures her heart.

 



Mark Alpert - Vera’s Last Voyage

Mark Alpert is a bestselling author of 10 sci-fi novels. He first heard of dark matter studying astrophysics at Princeton University, and learned more working at Scientific American. His first novel, FINAL THEORY (Simon & Schuster, 2008), was published in 24 languages and optioned for film. His YA novel, THE SIX (Sourcebooks, 2015), was nominated for several awards. His latest novel is SAINT JOAN OF NEW YORK: A NOVEL ABOUT GOD AND STRING THEORY.


You can learn even more about each of us, and how to reach or follow us online, through the blog's author page for Dark Matter: Artificial.


Coming on Wednesday,  January 20, 2021 . . .
Each of the authors in Dark Matter: Artificial will be posting over the coming weeks about how their anthology stories came to be.

I'm excited to be the one to kick off this series! I'm author Stephanie Espinoza Villamor, and I couldn't be more honored to have my story, "Artificial," chosen for the anthology's title and cover as winner of the 2020 Annual IWSG Anthology Contest. I can't wait to preview it for you all!

4 comments:

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Congratulations to all ten authors! Five new faces and five familiar ones.

L. Diane Wolfe said...

A wonderful bunch of authors to work with!

Fundy Blue said...

Well done, Stephanie! You caught the baton beautifully! This blog is dear to my heart, and I think you will do a great job as coordinator! And of course, congratulations to ten more talented IWSG authors. I'm thrilled to see Charles (from "Voyagers") back and other familiar faces, I'm am looking forward to learning more about the new authors.

Beth Schuck said...

What a wonderful group! So glad my friend and writing partner, Stephanie is part of this amazing collection of authors. Can’t wait to read the anthology.