Poetry

14er Climber, Rocket Scientist, Published Novelist, Movie Connoisseur, and Amateur Photographer, Benjamin M. Weilert was born in Colorado in 1985. While he went to school for Mechanical Engineering (eventually earning a Master’s Degree), he has found science to be interesting enough to write fiction about it. He likes to classify his novels as “science fantasy,” wherein the science is real and (semi) accurate, but portrayed in a fantasy setting to make it accessible to non scientific readers. If you want stories that are surreptitiously educational, he’s your man. He currently lives in Colorado Springs and his most recent book is Fourteener Father, a memoir of climbing all of Colorado's 14,000-foot mountains with his dad.

I am a poet, novelist, and editor living in Colorado Springs. I will graduate from UCCS with my Bachelor's in English in December 2018. In my free time, I enjoy writing, reading, critiquing films and television shows, and going to the occasional concert. I live with my husband and two sons.

Carina Bissett is a writer, poet, and educator working primarily in the fields of dark fiction and fabulism. Her short fiction and poetry have been published in multiple journals and anthologies including Upon a Twice Time, Bitter Distillations: An Anthology of Poisonous Tales, Arterial Bloom, Gorgon: Stories of Emergence, Weird Dream Society, Hath No Fury, and the HWA Poetry Showcase Vol. V, VI, and VIII. She has also written stories set in shared worlds for RPGs at Green Ronin Publishing and Onyx Path Publishing. In addition to writing, she has edited several projects; the most recent is in the role as co-editor for Shadow Atlas: Dark Landscapes of the Americas.

As an educator, Carina has taught at Pikes Peak Community College, Glendale Community College, and Arizona State University. She also participated in the Colorado Writing Project and works with educators to develop writing instruction in college and secondary school classrooms. She currently offers workshops focused on story generation at The Storied Imaginarium. Her fiction has been nominated for the Sundress Publications Best of the Net Award and was a finalist for the Ron L. Hubbard Writers of the Future Awards. Her poetry has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and the Sundress Publications Best of the Net Award. In her editorial capacity, she’s received recognition as the Winner at the Colorado Book Awards 2022 (Anthology) and as a Finalist in the Fiction: Anthologies category of the 2022 International Book Award.

Jodi Cox is an American dieselpunk author born on April 10, 1979 in Union City, Indiana. She graduated from Simon Kenton High School in 1997. Later she went on to graduate with a BFA from the College of Mount Saint Joseph, now known as the University of Mount St. Joseph in Cincinnati, Ohio. After college, Jodi started writing for Citybeat magazine. Later she went on to become a pioneer in internet graphics and website development. After spending nearly ten years writing for everything from tax websites to poetry, Jodi began developing the world of the Nether After, unbeknownst to her that steampunk and dieselpunk was turning into a literary genre. Jodi enjoys all things speculative fiction, but has a pension for the weird and unusual. She describes herself as a comic book snob. She is often found with a stack of Japanese and American graphic novels in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other. She enjoys drawing and painting, as well as writing. Her hours not spent on writing are devoted to geeking out over new computer hardware, or the latest video games. She loves ripping into electronics to see how they work, as well as cooking and developing new recipes. As a writer Jodi has been writing steampunk, dieselpunk, and fantasy of all types. She has even dipped her toe into science fiction.

Cynthia Kuhn writes the Lila Maclean Academic Mysteries and Starlit Bookshop Mysteries. Her work has also appeared in McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern, Literary Mama, Copper Nickel, Prick of the Spindle, Mama PhD, Mystery Most Edible, Mystery Most Diabolical, and other publications. She is professor of English at Metropolitan State University of Denver.

The Colorado mountains serves as Elizabeth's inspiration for writing poetry and other inspirational works. She has been writing, speaking, singing, and inspiring people since the age of 8. Her heart's desire is to impact young and old alike to be their very best. The Pikes Peak Library District shows such total support for local writers that Elizabeth is inspired to reach out and touch those in the district whose lives have been altered by drug abuse or any other factors, and who are in need of encouragement.

Janna Vought is a poet, nonfiction, and fiction writer with more than 50 pieces published in various magazines and literary journals. She graduated from American Public University with a Bachelor's Degree in English and from Lindenwood University with an MFA in Creative Writing. She is an Association of Writing Professionals Intro Journals Project in Poetry nominee for 2013.

Janna lives in Peyton, Colorado, is married and the mother of two daughters, the eldest of whom suffers from chronic mental and developmental illness.

In 1956 we took a long journey from Washington, Pennsylvania to Colorado, to visit my brother at Lowry Air Base in Denver. We visited Colorado Springs and I fell in love with the area and Colorado. By 1969 I was teaching in Denver, and by 1981 a resident of Woodland Park, and in 1991 moved down to Colorado Springs. During some of those journey's I was a writer in Portland, Oregon, a volunteer fireman and EMT in Idledale, Colorado, and in the 1980s had my own film and video production company, Omega Films, here in the Pikes Peak region. In 1991, after moving down from Woodland Park to Colorado Springs, I ended my career as a filmmaker, wrote my novel, and started Aamstar Bookshop.

In 1997 I married Mary Francis, and moved my bookstore into her shop at Hooked on Books. Together we have five children and five grandchildren and continue our love for family, books, and art. I love all things Italian, including, gardening, cooking and wine making. I give numerous poetry readings and performances, and volunteer teach creative writing in Colorado prisons.

K.D. Huxman’s first love, after reading, was space. She wanted to be the first veterinarian astronaut. In college, she studied biology and was in Air Force ROTC. After college she became an Air Force officer. But rocketing to the stars was not to be. She married a fellow Air Force officer and settled into raising a family. But she never forgot her love of books or science. Many of her books have a science fiction or fantasy element. K.D. went on to earn an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College of Norwich University. Her first picture book is Dragon Talk. Her second picture book, Grizzelda Gorilla won an EPPY for Best Children’s/YA Ebook. Both picture books are from Dragonfly Publishing. She writes non-fiction for children at Apprentice Shop Books. After travelling around the country with the Air Force, K.D. settled in Colorado. On a clear night she enjoys looking up at the stars, dreaming, and writing.

Lois Beebe Hayna's obituary is available online here.