AUTHOR BIOGRAPHIES

Tom Andes’ writing has appeared in Best American Mystery Stories 2012 and is forthcoming in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, and several dozen journals and other publications. He won the 2019 Gold Medal for Best Novel-in-Progress from the Pirate’s Alley Faulkner Society. His short stories have been finalists or placed in numerous contests and his book reviews have appeared widely. He is also a musician and has released two critically acclaimed EPs of original music. he received his BA in English from Loyola University New Orleans and an MFA in Fiction from San Francisco State University. He has held a variety of jobs, including installing fireplaces in the United Kingdom, working the front and the back of the house in the service industry, and teaching writing at San Francisco State University, the Academy of Art University, Northwest Arkansas Community College, the ADVANCE Camp for Young Scholars, and the New Orleans Writers Workshop, which he co-founded. he currently makes a living as a freelance editor and writer while moonlighting as a country singer. He lives in Albuquerque with his wife and their two cats.

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Colin Brightwell is a Kansas City, Missouri native. His work has appeared in Reckon Review, BULL, Flyover Country Literary Review, Guilty Crime Story Magazine, and past-ten. His debut collection, Nothing Good Ever Happens in a Flyover State, is forthcoming from Cowboy Jamboree in 2025. He is a graduate of the University of Mississippi’s MFA program in fiction.

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K.A. Burks, a retired educator, lives in Reno, Nevada. She started writing again during the pandemic lockdown after a 25-year hiatus. Her only other publishing credit came in January 2022 in The Chamber Magazine. When not writing, she enjoys the outdoors. photographing both the landscape and wildlife.

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James D.F. Hannah is the Shamus Award-winning author of the Henry Malone series, including the novels Behind the Wall of Sleep and Because the Night. His story No Man's Land was selected for Best American Mystery and Suspense 2022, edited by Steph Cha and Jess Walter. His short fiction has appeared in Playing Games, edited by Lawrence Block; Under the Thumb: Stories of Police Oppression, edited by S.A. Cosby; Trouble No More; Rock and a Hard Place; Shotgun Honey; Crossing Genres; and The Anthology of Appalachian Writers. He lives in Louisville, Kentucky, where all the bourbon is.

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Nick Kolakowski's recent novels include Hell of a Mess (Shotgun Honey) and Absolute Unit (Crystal Lake Publishing). His short fiction has appeared in Thuglit, Shotgun Honey, Dark Moon Digest, and various anthologies. He lives and writes in New York. You can find him on Twitter (@nkolakowski) and at nickkolakowski.com.

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Dana King is the author of the Penns River and Nick Forte series as well as the standalone Wild Bill and numerous short stories. His novels A Small Sacrifice and The Man in the Window were nominated for Shamus Awards by the Private Eye Writers of America. His short fiction has appeared in Thuglit; Mystery Tribune; Spinetingler Magazine; New Mystery Reader; A Twist of Noir; Mysterical-E; and Powder Burn Flash as well as the anthologies Blood, Guts, and Whiskey; The Eviction of Hope; The Black Car Business; Down to the River; Unloaded 2; and The Shamus Samples 2, among other publications.

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Barbara Kumari is a South Carolinian who describes herself as “a digital nomad fueled by stories, coffee, and the night.” Her short stories have appeared in several literary magazines and she has held a variety of academic and professional writing positions in the advertising, marketing, research, and tech industries. She holds an MS in psychology as well as an MS in family and human development.

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Ed Kurtz is the author of The Rib From Which I Remake the World, Nausea, The Forty-Two, and other novels. His short fiction has appeared in Thuglit, Needle, Shotgun Honey, and numerous other publications and anthologies including Best American Mystery Stories 2014 and Best Gay Stories. You can follow him online at:

·        Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100006943784020

·        Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Ed-Kurtz/e/B004UEU6WE/

·        Goodreads Author Page: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4748056.Ed_Kurtz

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BV Lawson’s short stories have appeared in dozens of publications, been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, won the Dillydoun Flash Fiction Prize, the Short Mystery Fiction Society Derringer, Noir Nation Golden Fedora, and Gemini Magazine Awards. She was also a contributor to the Anthony Award-winning Blood on the Bayou. Her poetry has appeared in Noir Riot, International Poetry Forum, Midwest Poetry Review, and more. Her Scott Drayco crime novels were chosen as a Featured Library Journal Pick and as finalists for the Shamus, Silver Falchion, Daphne, and Foreword Book Reviews Awards.

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Wolfgang Wright is the author of the comic novel Me and Gepe. His short work has appeared in numerous literary magazines, including Short Beasts, The Collidescope, and Waccamaw. He doesn’t tolerate gluten so well, quite enjoys watching British panel shows, and devotes a little time each day to contemplating the Tao. He lives in North Dakota.

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