The Worldshapers Creators & Guests

Francis Paul Wilson is medical doctor and author of horror, adventure, medical thrillers, science fiction, and other genres of fiction. He is best known for his Repairman Jack series of young adult novels.Wilson has won the Prometheus Award, the Bram Stoker Award, the Inkpot Award from the San Diego ComiCon, and the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Horror Writers of America.

Marie Brennan is the pseudonym of Bryn Neuenschwander, an author of fantasy fiction.Previously, Brennan was an anthropologist and folklorist, and was pursuing her PhD at Indiana University Bloomington before she became a full-time writer.Brennan has published over sixty short stories and eleven books in the Victorian adventure series The Memoirs of Lady Trent, the Onyx Court series, and the Rook & Rose series, as well as two non-series novels. She wrote three non-fiction guides to world-building for writers. She is also a co-author of the books published under the pseudonym M. A. Carrick.

Dr. David Harris Ebenbach is a writer, teacher, and editor. Currently, he is an Assistant Director for Graduate and Faculty Programming at Georgetown University, where he also teaches Creative Writing.Ebenbach's work has appeared in Not One of Us, Asimov's Science Fiction, and Analog. He has published nine books of fiction, poetry, and non-fiction. His first science fiction novel, "How to Mars," was published in 2021.Ebenbach received his B.A. in Psychology from Oberlin College, his Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Wisconsin Madison, and his M.F.A. in Fiction from Vermont College of Fine Arts.

Lisa Renee Foiles Cloninger is an American actress, presenter, video game journalist, model and author, who first came to prominence as a cast member of the Nickelodeon series All That.

Kameron Hurley is an American science fiction & fantasy writer, winner of the Sydney J. Bounds Award for Best Newcomer, and Kitschies for Best Debut Novel in 2011.

Dr. R.B. Lemberg is an author, poet, and editor of speculative fiction. Previously, R.B. published under the name Rose Lemberg. Many of their stories are situated in the same world, LGBTQIA+-focused universe called Birdverse.Lemberg's work has appeared in Lightspeed, Strange Horizons, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Sisters of the Revolution and Uncanny Magazine. Their first novel, "The Four Profound Weaves," was published in 2020 and was a finalist for the 2021 World Fantasy, Nebula, Locus, and Ignyte awards for Best Novella.

Lavie Tidhar is a writer and columnist for The Washington Post.Tidhar's novel "Osama" won the 2012 World Fantasy Award for Best Novel, and his novel "Central Station" won the 2017 John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel. His writing has also appeared in Additional bylines have appeared in The Independent, Nature, SFX, io9, and The Vanuatu Daily Post.Tidhar grew up in an Israeli Kibbutz. He began to travel extensively from the age of 15.

"Kate Elliott" is the pseudonym of fantasy and science fiction writer Alis A. Rasmussen.Rasmussen's first novel, "The Labyrinth Gate," was published in 1988 under her own name. She published three more novels under her own name before switching to Kate Elliott.

David D. Levine is an author of science fiction.Levine's first novel, "Arabella of Mars," was published in 2016. He received the Hugo Award for Best Short Story in 2006 for his story "Tk'tk'tk".

Jeremy Szal is an author of dark science fiction and fantasy fiction. He describes his work as "spacepunk" or gothic space opera.Szal has published forty short stories. His first novel, "Stormblood," was published in 2020.Szal was the editor for StarShipSofa until 2020.Szal received his B.A. in Film Studies and Creative Writing from the University of New South Wales.

Carrie Vaughn is an American writer, author of the urban fantasy Kitty Norville series. She has published more than 60 short stories in science fiction and fantasy magazines as well as short story anthologies and internet magazines.

John Kessel is an author of science fiction and fantasy.

Australian writer who specializes in children's and young adult fantasy novels, notably the Old Kingdom, Seventh Tower and Keys to the Kingdom series.

Cat Rambo is a writer and editor, largely of science fiction and fantasy. She was co-editor of Fantasy Magazine from 2007 to 2011.Rambo's stories have appeared in Asimov's, Clarkesworld Magazine and Tor.com. In 2012, her story "Five Ways to Fall in Love on Planet Porcelain" was a Nebula Award finalist. Her first novel, "Beasts of Tabat," was published in 2015. She also writes articles about gaming, and has done technical writing for Microsoft and Security Dynamics.Rambo served two two-year terms as President of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America form following one year as Vice President.Rambo graduated from the Johns Hopkins Writing Seminars.

Helen Dale is an Australian writer and lawyer. She is best known for writing The Hand that Signed the Paper, a novel about a Ukrainian family who collaborated with the Nazis in The Holocaust, under the pseudonym Helen Demidenko.

Rebecca Roanhorse is a science fiction & fantasy writer, novelist, and author of the book Black Sun.

Mary Robinette Kowal is an American author and puppeteer, she is also the co-host of Writing Excuses Podcast.