Milton Davis is an award winning Black Speculative fiction writer and owner of MVmedia, LLC, a publishing company specializing in Science Fiction and Fantasy based on African/African Diaspora history, culture and traditions. Milton is the author of thirty novels and short story collections: his most recent the Sword and Soul adventure Eda Blessed II. Milton is also a contributing author to Black Panther: Tales of Wakanda, published by Marvel and Titan Books and coauthor of Hadithi and the State of Black Speculative Fiction with Eugen Bacon. He is the editor and co-editor of ten anthologies; Terminus: Tales of the Black Fantastic from the ATL; Cyberfunk!; The City, Dark Universe and Dark Universe: The Bright Empire with Gene Peterson; Griots: A Sword and Soul Anthology and Griot: Sisters of the Spear, with Charles R. Saunders; The Ki Khanga Anthology, the Steamfunk! Anthology, and the Dieselfunk! anthology with Balogun Ojetade. Milton’s work had also been featured in Black Power: The Superhero Anthology and Rococoa published by Roaring Lions Productions; Skelos 2: The Journal of Weird Fiction and Dark Fantasy, Steampunk Writers Around the World published by Luna Press; Heroika: Dragoneaters published by First Perseid Press, Bass Reeves Frontier Marshal Volume Two, and Slay: Stories of the Vampire Noire. Milton Davis and Balogun Ojetade won the 2014 Urban Action Showcase Award for Best Script. Milton’s story ‘The Swarm’ was nominated for the 2017 British Science Fiction Association Award for Short Fiction and his story, Carnival, has been nominated for the 2020 British Science Fiction Association Award for Short Fiction. His story, The Monsters of Mena Ngai, appears in the Marvel Black Panther: Tales of Wakanda anthology. Milton is a 2022 recipient of the East Coast Black Age of Comics Convention Lifetime Pioneer Achievement Award.

• Tech Ops Director for too many conventions to list here.

• Chair of Atlanta Steampunk Expo

• 2016 Rebel winner

John G. Hartness is an author, publisher, and podcaster from Charlotte, NC. He is the author of multiple series, including the award-winning Quincy Harker, Demon Hunter series. He is also the publisher of Falstaff Books, and a member of the Authors & Dragons live play Dungeons & Dragons podcast. Find him online at www.johnhartness.com, www.falstaffbooks.com, and on Twitter @johnhartness.

Amanda Makepeace was born near Washington D.C. in 1976. She is an award winning fantasy and science fiction illustrator. Her career in art began more than a decade ago while living abroad in the UK. In recent years, Amanda has worked with independent authors, small publishers, and game companies. She has illustrated the covers for Hugo nominated fiction anthologies and numerous genre fiction. Her art has appeared in ENnie Award winning rpg games. Through her art, she explores the themes of nature, magic, fantasy, dark corners and even distant worlds.

In 2016, Amanda co-founded the Bird Whisperer Project with Melissa Gay, a monthly art challenge devoted to encouraging artists of all skill levels to have fun creating a piece of art based on a single reference photo of a bird. The project has attracted industry professionals, hobbyists, and children from around the world. In 2020, the Bird Whisperer Project was featured by the National Audubon Society for celebrating birds through art.

Amanda is a regular at Fantasy and SciFi conventions in the south and southeast. Her cover illustrations for Diabolical Plots won Chesley Awards in 2019 and 2020 for Best Cover of a Paperbook/eBook. In addition to running the Bird Whisperer Project, she is also a member and administrator of the Changeling Artist Collective, known for its successful art auctions and collaborative projects: Olde Fae and The Woven Path Tarot. Her art can be most recently seen in the new Hannibal Artbook, an officially licensed project from Printed in Blood.

When she's not in the studio, she can be found reconnecting with nature and the woods that inspired her as a child. http://amandamakepeace.com