Eva Papasoulioti is a Greek writer of speculative fiction and poetry. Her work has appeared in Uncanny, Strange Horizons, Solarpunk Magazine, Heartlines Spec, Radon Journal and elsewhere, and has been nominated for the Rhysling and Dwarf Stars Awards. She lives in Athens with her spouse and their two cats. You can find her on X/twitter and bluesky @epapasoulioti and on her blog plothopes.com.

James Parenti a Pennsylvania-based author and playwright. His short fiction was recently published by Dread Machine Magazine, and his plays May Violets Spring and How Much of Me is You have been produced by multiple theaters across the US. He lives outside Philadelphia with his spouse, an embarrassingly large fleet of guitars, and two creepy kitties named after gothic literary characters.

H.V. Patterson (she/her) is a speculative poet, fiction writer, and playwright living in Oklahoma. Poetry credits include ETTT, Star*Line, Small Wonders and anthologies from Sliced Up Press, Angry Gable Press, and Black Spot Books. Her poem "Mother; Microbes" was selected for the inaugural Brave New Weird anthology from Tenebrous Press. She’s a cofounder of Horns and Rattles Press, and you can find her on X: @ScaryShelley, Instagram: @hvpattersonwriter, or at hvpatterson.com.

Chukwuma-Eke Pacella, NGP Xv, is a Nigerian poet, a short story writer, an editor and a feminist. She is the winner of the Cradle poetry contest and joint winner of the FOW Poetry Contest. She is also a recipient of the 2022 Nigeria Prize for Teen Authors (Poetry) and a two-time finalist for the BKPW contest. Some of her works have appeared or are forthcoming on the Eunoia magazine, Brittle Paper, Synchronized Chaos Magazine, Last Leaves, Haven Spec, Cajun Mutt, Nixes Mate Review, Teen Lit Journal and elsewhere. She also have works on BPPC's anthologies, My rainbow books collection, Love portion anthology, Roses for cancer warriors, My Woven Poetry and others. She is a member of The HillTop Creative Arts Foundation and tweets @dancing_poet.

Leon Perniciaro is the editor of Haven Spec Magazine, an English PhD candidate at the University of Connecticut, and a member of the Game Design and Development faculty at Quinnipiac University. A citizen of the Choctaw-Apache Tribe of Ebarb and a New Orleanian, he now resides in New England, where he's terrified of both the climate crisis and the Great Filter. His academic research centers on the intersections of Indigeneity, race, and the environment, with a dissertation project shaping up around ideas of extraction and the various ways that settler society tries to claim Indigeneity for itself. Follow him on Bluesky @leonp.

Jessica Peter writes dark, haunted, and sometimes absurd short stories, novels, and poems. She lives in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. You can find her writing in LampLight Magazine, The NoSleep Podcast, and Brigid's Gate anthologies, among other places. You can find out more about her and her work at www.jessicapeter.net or @JessicaPeter1 on Twitter.

Marisca Pichette is a queer author based in Massachusetts, on Pocumtuck and Abenaki land. Find more of her work in Strange Horizons, Clarkesworld, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Fantasy Magazine, and others. Her Bram Stoker and Elgin Award-nominated poetry collection, Rivers in Your Skin, Sirens in Your Hair, is out now from Android Press. Find them on Twitter as @MariscaPichette, Instagram as @marisca_write, and Bluesky as @marisca.bsky.social.

Sandra Pope is an artist, author and in a previous chapter, was a high school teacher in California. She graduated from UCLA in fiction writing in 1972. In 2008, she penned GROWING UP WITHOUT THE GODDESS, a memoir about returning to North Carolina to discover her childhood abusers. For ten years, her pen fell silent. Then, during long walks through rural land debased by hog farms and abused by industrial farming, she listened to the land and honored its voice in poems. In 2021, Sandra's poem, “The Day After Christmas” was a finalist in the NC Poet Laureate Contest, judged by North Carolina's Poet Laureate.

• R L • powell is a neurodivergent writer who's lived through a lot—and also as queer as they come. When not scribbling mad words in a crooked house, he occasionally teaches rhetoric and critical theory to undergraduates. They didn't publish for a spell, but current work appears or is forthcoming in The Rumen, Impossible Archetype, Eunoia Review and elsewhere. He's not much for engaging in social media, but does have a website that they try to keep on top of: rl-powell.com.

Rajeev Prasad is a physician and writer whose stories appear in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Clarkesworld, and other fabulous magazines. He hopes you enjoyed reading this story. Follow him on twitter @rajeevwriter.