Ellen Datlow - After - Nineteen Stories of Apocalypse and Dystopia

Sarah Rees Brennanwas born and raised in Ireland, by the sea, where her teachers valiantly tried to make her fluent in Irish (she wants you to know it’s not called Gaelic), but she chose to read books under her desk in class instead. She began working on her debut novel, The Demon’s Lexicon , while doing a Creative Writing MA and library work in Surrey, England. Since then she has returned to Ireland to write and use as a home base for future adventures. Her Irish is still woeful, but she feels the books under the desk were worth it. Her most recent books are The Demon’s Covenant and The Demon’s Surrender ; she also contributed to The Girl Who Was on Fire: Your Favorite Authors on Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games Trilogy . You’ll find her online at www.sarahreesbrennan.com.

Cecil Castellucciis the author of YA novels including First Day on Earth , Rose Sees Red , Beige , The Queen of Cool , and Boy Proof , and The Year of the Beasts (forthcoming). She has published a picture book, Grandma’s Gloves ; two graphic novels, The Plain Janes and Janes in Love (illustrated by Jim Rugg), and numerous short stories published in Strange Horizons , Teeth , The Eternal Kiss , Geektastic (which she coedited), and Interfictions 2 , among other places. Cecil also writes plays, operas, makes movies, does performance pieces, and occasionally rocks out. You’ll find more information on Cecil and her work at www.misscecil.com.

Carolyn Dunnis an American Indian writer of Cherokee, Muskogee Creek, and Seminole descent on her father’s side, and is Cajun, French Creole, and Tunica-Biloxi on her mother’s. Primarily a poet and a playwright, Carolyn began telling and writing stories at a very young age, being exposed to storytelling traditions from all aspects of her very Southern and very Western background. Her books for adult readers include Through the Eye of the Deer , Hozho: Walking in Beauty , and Outfoxing Coyote . She has also published YA short fiction in The Green Man , and a book for children, Coyote Speaks . Her plays have been produced all over the country, the most recent being The Frybread Queen . Carolyn and her family live in a redwood forest in California, where she’s at work on a dystopian novel related to the story in this anthology. To learn more about her books, plays, poetry, and music, visit her online at www.carolyndunn.com.

Carol Emshwillergrew up in Michigan and in France and now divides her time between New York and California. Her stories have appeared in literary and science fiction magazines for over forty years, and have been published in a number of critically acclaimed collections—most recently, The Collected Stories of Carol Emshwiller and In the Time of War & Master of the Road to Nowhere . Carol’s work has been honored with two Nebula Awards and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the World Fantasy Convention.

She’s also been the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts grant and two literary grants from New York State.

Jeffrey Fordis the author of the novels The Physiognomy , Memoranda , The Beyond , The Portrait of Mrs. Charbuque , The Girl in the Glass , and The Shadow Year ; and his short fiction has been published in three collections: The Fantasy Writer’s Assistant , The Empire of Ice Cream , and The Drowned Life . He has won the World Fantasy Award, the Nebula Award, the Edgar Allan Poe Award, and the Gran Prix de l’Imaginaire. Formerly a college teacher in New Jersey, Jeff now lives in Ohio with his wife and two sons, and writes full-time. You can learn more about his work at www.wellbuiltcity.com.

Steven Gouldis the author of the novels Jumper (which was made into a feature film), Wildside , Helm , Blind Waves , Reflex , Jumper: Griffin’s Story , 7th Sigma , and the upcoming Impulse . His story for this anthology is set in the early days of the metal bug infestation detailed in 7th Sigma . Steven is the recipient of the Hal Clement Young Adult Award for Science Fiction, and his short fiction has appeared on both the Hugo and Nebula ballots, but his favorite “honor” was being on the American Library Associations Top 100 Banned Books list 1990–1999. He lives in New Mexico with his wife, writer Laura J. Mixon, and their two daughters. His blog, An Unconvincing Narrative, can be found at http://eatourbrains.com/steve.

Nalo Hopkinsonwas born in Jamaica and has lived in Canada since 1977. She is the author of five novels ( Brown Girl in the Ring , Midnight Robber , The Salt Roads , The New Moon’s Arms , and The Chaos ), one story collection ( Skin Folk ), and has also edited several anthologies. She is a recipient of the Warner Aspect First Novel Award, the Ontario Arts Council Foundation Award for emerging writers, the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, the Locus Award for Best New Writer, the World Fantasy Award, the Sunburst Award for Canadian Literature of the Fantastic, the Aurora Award, the Gaylactic Spectrum Award, and her work received an Honorable Mention in Cuba’s Casa de las Americas literary prize. Visit Nalo online at www.nalohopkinson.com.

N. K. Jemisinis a Hugo and Nebula nominee for her debut novel The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms as well as for her short fiction, and has been published in such diverse venues as Postscripts , Clarkesworld , and the Escape Artists podcasts. “The Trojan Girl,” published in Weird Tales , was set in the same dystopian milieu as “Valedictorian”; and she is (slowly) working on a young adult novel also set there. Her fourth and fifth novels, The Killing Moon and The Shadowed Sun , will be published in mid-2012. She lives in Brooklyn, New York, and can be found online at nkjemisin.com.

Caitlín R. Kiernanis the author of several novels, including Low Red Moon , Daughter of Hounds , and The Red Tree , which was nominated for both the Shirley Jackson and World Fantasy awards. Her latest novel, The Drowning Girl: A Memoir , will be released by Penguin in 2012. Since 2000, her shorter tales of the weird, fantastic, and macabre have been collected in several volumes, including Tales of Pain and Wonder , From Weird and Distant Shores , To Charles Fort, With Love , Alabaster , A is for Alien , and The Ammonite Violin & Others. In 2012, Subterranean Press will release a retrospective of her early writing, Two Worlds and In Between: The Best of Caitlín R. Kiernan , vol. 1. She lives in Providence, Rhode Island, with her partner Kathryn. She is currently working on her next two novels, Blood Oranges and Blue Canary .

Matthew Kressel’s fiction has appeared in Clarkesworld magazine, Interzone , Beneath Ceaseless Skies , Electric Velocipede , Apex magazine, GUD magazine, and the anthologies The People of the Book , Naked City , and Steam-Powered: Lesbian Steampunk Stories , as well as other markets. He runs Senses Five Press, which publishes the magazine Sybil’s Garage and published the World Fantasy Award-winning Paper Cities: An Anthology of Urban Fantasy . He cohosts the long-running Fantastic Fiction at KGB reading series in Manhattan. And he has been a longtime member of the Altered Fluid writers group, where he regularly builds and shatters worlds. His Web site is www.matthewkressel.net.