The Raven and the Writing Desk Creators & Guests

Chris Lester has been telling stories for about as long as he can remember, and credits a writing contest in elementary school for introducing him to his muse. Trained as a biologist at the University of California-Santa Cruz, he received his master's degree in 2004 and is now working as a microbiologist in Madison, Wisconsin.After years of writing for Internet mailing lists and a small circle of friends, in September 2007 Chris launched The Metamor City Podcast as a way of bringing his fiction to a broader audience. The show soon drew praise for its engaging characters, imaginative world-setting, and superior production values. Metamor City's first "season" ran from September 2007 to May 2009 and featured several short stories and novelettes and one full-length novel, MAKING THE CUT, which was presented as a full-cast audio production with music and sound effects. MAKING THE CUT won the 2009 Parsec Award for Outstanding Long-Form Audio Drama, and Metamor City's first season also garnered a 2008 Podcast Peer Award for superior audio production.In 2009-2011 Chris released three additional novellas on The Metamor City Podcast: "Whispers in the Wood", "Dreams of Change" (written by Nobilis Reed, and available in print as part of his QUICKSILVER BRIDGES anthology), and "A Lightbringer Carol." In March 2011 Chris ended the podcast in order to focus on completing the second full-length Metamor City novel, THINGS UNSEEN, which was published in 2013.In May 2015 Chris debuted a new weekly podcast, THE RAVEN & THE WRITING DESK, focusing on simple serialized storytelling and updates on his new writing endeavors. Since launching the new show, Chris has used it to air numerous short stories and three complete novels: THE THREE GRACES, THINGS UNSEEN (which won the 2017 Parsec Award for Best Podcast Novel), and THE LOST AND THE LEAST.Since returning to podcasting, Chris has published five additional books of his fiction: URBAN LEGENDS, MAKING THE CUT, DIVINE INTERVENTION, THE LOST AND THE LEAST, and HOMECOMING. His first collection of non-Metamor fiction, DISTANT REALMS, will be released in early 2020.

Gus Grappin is the author of the Deadly Studies series, Starsigns, Empeddigo, The Trials of Hallac, and Mere Acquaintances. They co-host the writing podcast THE MELTING POTCAST with Erin Kazmark. They dabble in running and cycling, cooking, voice acting, and making chainmaille art and accessories.

Scott Roche is an author, podcaster, and publisher. His work has been published in a number of anthologies. He's available for birthday parties, bar-mitzvahs, quinceaneras, and anywhere else cake is served.

Katie "K. T." Bryski is an author, playwright, and podcaster.Bryski's work has appeared in Deadlands, Lightspeed, Nightmare, and PodCastle, and in anthologies such as "Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy, 2021." She has created two audio dramas, "Coxwood History Fun Park" and "Six Stories, Told at Night."Bryski received her M.F.A. in Creative Writing from the University of Southern Maine.

Nathan Lowell is a science fiction writer mostly known for his The Golden Age of the Solar Clipper series. He is the host of the Quarter Share podcast.

While Star Wars and Star Trek seeded J. Daniel Sawyer’s passion for the unknown, his childhood in academia gave him a deep love of history and an obsession with how the future emerges from the past.This obsession led him through adventures in the film industry, the music industry, venture capital firms in the startup culture of Silicon Valley, and a career creating novels and audiobooks exploring the worlds that assemble themselves in his head.His travels with bohemians, burners, historians, theologians, and inventors led him eventually to a rural exile where he uses the quiet to write, walk on the beach, and manage a production company that brings innovative stories to the ears of audiences across the world.

Christiana Ellis is an award-winning writer and podcaster, currently living in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Her podcast novel, Nina Kimberly the Merciless, was both an inaugural nominee for the 2006 Parsec Award for Best Speculative Fiction: Long Form, as well as a finalist for a 2006 Podcast Peer Award. Nina Kimberly the Merciless is available in print from Dragon Moon Press.Christiana is also the writer, producer and star of Space Casey, (Seasons 1 and 2), an audiodrama miniseries which won the Gold Mark Time Award for Best Science Fiction Audio Production by the American Society for Science Fiction Audio and the 2008 Parsec Award for Best Science Fiction Audio Drama.In between major projects, Christiana is also the creator and talent of many other podcast productions including Talking About Survivor, Hey, Want to Watch a Movie? and Christiana’s Shallow Thoughts.

Abigail Hilton is a traveling nurse anesthetist. She has spent time in veterinary school, lived in Taiwan, and skinned rattlesnakes. Not in that order.

A fan of Science Fiction from an early age P.C. Haring has always been one of those who looked up at the night sky and wondered “what if…”P.C. Haring made his debut as a writer and podcast novelist on 01/01/10 with Cybrosis. This production met with a strongly favorable response that propelled it to number four on the Podiobooks Top Ten list when it was re-launched there that October. His audio fiction can also be heard in Scott Sigler’s The Crypt: Book 1 — The Crew and in Philippa Ballantine’s Chronicles of the Order anthology. His contribution for Tales from the Archives, co-produced by Philippa Ballantine and Tee Morris, won him the 2012 Parsec Award for Best Short Story. This momentum propelled P.C. Haring into publishing Cybrosis as well as his latest project, Slipspace: Harbinger independently.When he isn’t developing new projects for podcast and publication, P.C. Haring works as a corporate accountant in the Chicagoland area and as a husband to his beautiful wife.

Nobilis Reed is the creator, editor and host of the Nobilis Erotica podcast, the monthly anthology podcast of erotic science fiction and fantasy short stories.He is also the producer of This Kaiju Life, the weekly autobiographical story of an ordinary IT guy who works at an extraordinary company.