Author: Erik Grove

Kagan Tumer is a science fiction author and professor of Robotics and AI. He attended seven schools in five cities in four countries, all before reaching high school, and is steadily moving west, from Virginia to Texas to California to Oregon. Along the way, Kagan worked as a food server, registrar’s office clerk, print shop copier, soccer referee, math tutor, and well logging analyst. He is a member of SFWA, has a Ph.D. in Computer Engineering, and spent nine years at NASA working on multi-robot coordination. When not writing, he studies AI ethics, teaches AI and robotics, consults for TV/movie AI projects, and mentors future scientists.

Find out more at https://kagantumer.com.

Julie Artz helps writers who are almost there across the finish line. She is an Author Accelerator-certified Founding Book Coach and a sought-after writing instructor and speaker. She regularly contributes to Jane Friedman and Writers Helping Writers, and has taught for SCBWI, AuthorsPublish, Jane Friedman, IWWG, and many local writing groups. A consummate social justice minded story geek, Julie lives by an enchanted river in Fort Collins, Colorado with her husband, two naughty furry familiars, and two college-aged children who occasionally manifest.

Find out more at https://julieartz.com.

Joy Lotus has a Masters of Arts in Clinical Counseling with over ten years of direct experience. She also has both Ganja Magic and A Poet’s Guide to Ireland available on Amazon. Her short story, “Park Ranger Cinderella,” was published with The Rapids. She spends her days wrangling her small children and drinking copious amounts of coffee.

She can be found on Instagram @joy_lotus_author and at https://joy-lotus.com/.

Jared Agard is the author and illustrator of the middle grade supernatural thriller, Dread Watch, published by Chicken Scratch books in 2021. The first book in his middle grade science fiction trilogy, Intergalactic Backpack, will be published in September 2026.

Jared is also an art and film teacher for high schoolers in the Beaverton School District in Oregon. Besides middle grade, Jared has also written many young adult books in the science fiction, fantasy, and horror genres as well as several screenplays. He is represented by Colleen Oefelein of MacGregor & Luedeke Literary.

Find out more at www.jaredagard.com.

Janée J. Baugher, MFA is the author of the only craft book of its kind, The Ekphrastic Writer: Creating Art-Influenced Poetry, Fiction and Nonfiction (McFarland, 2020), and she’s been a featured reader at the Library of Congress and on Seattle Channel TV. She’s a longtime assistant editor at Boulevard magazine (St. Louis) and lives in Seattle, where the Office of Arts & Culture awarded her a 2024-2025 CityArtist grant for a memoir project. For her third full-length poetry collection, she won Tupelo Press’s Dorset Prize for The Andrew Wyeth Chronicles (2026).

Find out more at JaneeBaugher.com.