Milton J. Davis is an acclaimed Black speculative fiction author and the founder of MVmedia, LLC, an independent publishing company based in Fayetteville, Georgia. Davis has penned over 30 novels and short story collections, including Changa’s Safari, Woman of the Woods, Amber and the Hidden City, Muscadine Wine, and Spacefunk!. His work spans genres such as sword-and-soul, science fiction, and fantasy. He has co-edited several influential anthologies, such as Griots: A Sword and Soul Anthology and Griots: Sisters of the Spear, alongside Charles R. Saunders.
Davis’s short stories have been featured in prestigious publications, including Black Panther: Tales of Wakanda, Slay: Stories of the Vampire Noire, and Obsidian: Literature in the African Diaspora. Davis cites James Baldwin for his precise and descriptive writing style and Frank Herbert for his meticulous world-building techniques. These influences are evident in Davis’s own works, which blend rich cultural narratives with imaginative storytelling.
Hugh “H.D.” Hunter is from Atlanta, Georgia. He’s the author of Torment: A Novella and Something Like Right, which won the 2025 BCALA Children and Youth Literary award for a debut novel. Hugh is also the winner of several international indie book awards for multicultural fiction. You can find his short fiction online in Porter House Review and The Meadowlark Review.
Hugh authored the Futureland series, including Battle for the Park, which was named a Georgia Center for the Book 2023 Book All Young Georgians Should Read and the 2023-2024 VAReads Chapter Book of the Year. Battle for the Park is also a 2024 selection for the CORE Excellence in Children’s Science Fiction Notable list and the 2025 Read Across America selection for the state of Georgia.
Hugh is committed to stories about Black kids and their many expansive worlds. Connect with Hugh on Instagram (@hdhunterbooks), or his website: https://hughhdhunter.com.
Van Jensen is an acclaimed novelist, screenwriter, and author of comic books and graphic novels. His debut novel, Godfall, is part of a trilogy published by Grand Central Publishing. Godfall is in development as a TV series with Academy Award-winner Ron Howard set to direct. Jensen began his writing career as a newspape crime reporter, then broke into comics as the writer of Pinocchio, Vampire Slayer trilogy of graphic novels. He also has created titles including ARCA (IDW), Two Dead (Gallery 13), and Cryptocracy (Dark Horse). Jensen has written titles including Superman, The Flash, Green Lantern Corps, and James Bond. He is known for character-centric storie with fresh and surprising takes on genre fiction.
Lo Patrick is a former lawyer and current novelist living in the suburbs of Atlanta. Her debut, The Floating Girls, earned a starred review from Publisher’s Weekly, was a finalist for the Townsend Prize for Fiction, and was a Reader’s Digest Editor’s Pick.
Kristine Rudolph writes upper middle grade, contemporary realism. She earned a B.A. in History and Religious Studies at Southern Methodist University, a J.D. from The University of Texas at Austin School of Law and a Graduate Certificate in Children’s Literature from Pennsylvania State University. Her middle grade novel, The Twin Stars and the Soccer Superstar, debuts in June 2026. A mom of three, she splits her time between Decatur, Georgia and Austin, Texas. In addition to her fiction, Kristine writes about motherhood in transition in her Becoming Selene series at kristinerudolph.com. Kristine is a Girl Scout leader and a CASA volunteer.
Bradley Sides is the author of two previous short story collections, Those Fantastic Lives and Crocodile Tears Didn’t Cause the Flood, a 2024 Book of the Year finalist at Southern Literary Review. His writing appears at, among other venues, Chapter 16, Electric Literature, LeVar Burton Reads, Los Angeles Review of Books, The Millions, The Rumpus, and Southern Review of Books, where he also serves as the host of “The Southern Summer Book Club.” He lives with his wife in Madison, Alabama, and teaches writing and literature at Calhoun Community College. His next book, The Volcano Keeper, hits bookstores this October.
Michael Wehunt has been a finalist for the Bram Stoker Award, multiple Shirley Jackson Awards, and the International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts’ Crawford Award. In Spain, his translated works have garnered nominations for the Premio Ignotus and Premio Amaltea, winning the latter. He haunts the woods of Decatur, Georgia, with his partner and their dog. Together, they hold the horrors at bay. Most recently, he is the author of the novels The October Film Haunt and Nightjars. Find him in the digital trees at www.michaelwehunt.com.
Chika Nina Unigwe (Enugu, 1974) is a Nigerian-born author and she writes in English and Dutch. In April 2014 she was selected for the Hay Festival’s Africa39 list of 39 Sub-Saharan African writers aged under 40 with potential and talent to define future trends in African literature. Previously based in Belgium, she now lives in the United States.
Her first novel, De Feniks, was published in Dutch in September 2005 and is the first book of fiction written by a Flemish author of African origin. Her second novel, Fata Morgana, was published in Dutch in 2008 and subsequently released in English.