General Fiction

Vincent Burke III is a cultural anthropologist and fiction writer who specializes in queer storytelling. His degree in Cultural Anthropology comes from the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, where he began writing short horror fiction in 2016. Soon after having published his first story, The Remains of Adrian Hewitt, Vincent began formulating a plan for Flesh and Bone, a sprawling series that would encompass his studies, his love of reading, and his own tumultuous past. Growing up in a divided house, Vincent's experiences with abuse and survival ultimately led him into the United States Army where he started developing an understanding of his own queerness and spirituality. After briefly serving as a combat engineer, Vincent moved back to Colorado where he began pursuing his degree in Anthropology at UCCS. Now living safely and comfortably with his boyfriend, best friend, and their cat, Orpheus, he spends the day reading, writing, playing lacrosse and thinking of the next best American novel.

Bowen Gillings is an award-winning author writing to bring fun back to fiction. He has been featured in anthologies, periodicals, and podcasts. Bowen is a member of Pikes Peak Writers, Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers, and The League of Utah Writers. He's a former actor, financial advisor, personal trainer, defense contractor, and Army officer. He's been hiding among us for over a decade disguised as a park interpreter at Garden of the Gods Park. Bowen holds five martial arts black belts and hikes whenever he can. He loves travel, cooking, and a fine adult beverage. He lives in Colorado Springs with his wife and daughter.

James Schannep is a graduate of the United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) with a degree in English Literature and minor in General Engineering. After serving honorably, he left the service to write full time.

Susan Miura is an author, editor, and speaker as well as a former Chicago-area journalist and public relations professional. She believes book characters should reflect the world in which we live, and therefore includes characters of various ethnicities, abilities, and cultures in her novels. Her award-winning young adult books are clean fiction with suspense, danger, and touches of romance and humor. Susan also writes inspirational women’s fiction and has one children’s poetry book that features several of her wildlife photos. Hobbies include nature photography, hiking, baking, and reading. Susan recently moved to Colorado Springs from a Chicago suburb and loves the sunshine, mountains, and hiking opportunities.

Taylor Stanecek has spent most of his life in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He's currently a commercial property manager with a drive to write in his spare time. His passion for writing sparked in grade school with the help of a motivational teacher and has pushed him to continue to strive for creativity through short stories and poetry over the years, finally moving into fictional novels. Identifying as gay, Taylor has focused his first coming of age trilogy on LGBT culture.

Davyne spent her life traveling the world and has lived in Germany, Bolivia, Somalia, Afghanistan, Japan, Korea, Mexico, and the United States. She came to Colorado in 1993 and now writes from a cozy spot nestled at the base of the Pikes Peak in beautiful Colorado Springs. One of the settings in her book, Phantom Rising, is loosely based on Glen Eyrie Castle in Colorado Springs.

Christina Bergling has been writing since childhood. She has written a variety of styles. A blog from Iraq, software user guides for software, articles for a numismatist magazine. More than anything, she is a horror author. In college at University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, she pursued a professional writing degree and started publishing small scale.

It all began with “How to Kill Yourself Slowly.” Crystal Lake released her latest novel, Followers. Limitless Publishing published her novel The Rest Will Come. HellBound Books published her two novellas, Savages and The Waning. She co-wrote Screechers with Kevin J. Kennedy. She is also featured in numerous anthologies, including Collected Christmas Horror Shorts, Demonic Wildlife, Colorado’s Emerging Authors, and Graveyard Girls. Bergling was born and raised in Colorado Springs. She lives with her family in Colorado and spends her non-writing time working in IT, hiking mountains, dancing, and sucking all the marrow out of life.

K. L. Emanuelson is an Army veteran. She was a working cowgirl for many years, a horse trainer and a riding instructor. As a Beowulf scholar, she's presented at academic conferences and been published in the proceedings. She's entered the poetry, essay and short-short fiction divisions and won, at the Colorado Veterans Arts competitions, but now focuses upon writing her novels. She shares her ranch in the beautiful, historic Bijou Basin with her horses, dogs and cats. She's a historian with a focus upon pre-Viking early 6th century Scandinavia and the 19th century American West.

Alli Carter Close is a freelance journalist who lives in the shadow of Pikes Peak. She lives with her husband, two children and four dogs.

Lisa moved to Monument in 1990 with her husband and the Air Force. She has also lived in Illinois, Ohio, and Colombia, South America. She's been a computer mapper and editor, newspaper reporter and managing editor, teacher of English as a Second Language, and member of a Community Emergency Response Team (CERT). Now, she has learned to run a chainsaw and wood-chipper, and to do public speaking (even scarier) to promote wildfire risk reduction and emergency preparedness.