Mark Spencer

Mark Spencer is the author of the novels An Untimely Frost, Ghost Walking, The Masked Demon, The Weary Motel (Omaha Prize for the Novel, Faulkner Award for the Novel), and Love and Reruns in Adams County; the best-selling nonfiction novel A Haunted Love Story: the Ghosts of the Allen House; as well as the short-story collections Wedlock, Spying on Lovers (Bradshaw Book Award), and Trespassers.

His short stories and articles have appeared in a wide variety of national and international magazines. He has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize eight times and has received four Special Mentions in Pushcart Prize: Best of the Small Presses. He also won the St. Andrews Press Short Fiction Prize. Trespassers, Mark’s most recent short-story collection, was a finalist in four national book competitions: the Serena McDonald Kennedy Award, the G.S. Sharat Chandra Prize for Short Fiction, the A.E. Coppard Long Fiction Prize, and the Quarterly West Novella Competition.

After earning his B.A. in English Literature at the University of Cincinnati, Mark earned his M.F.A. in Creative Writing at Bowling Green State University and did Ph.D. work at Oklahoma State University.

Mark is a professor of English and Creative Writing in the MFA program and Associate Vice Chancellor in Academic Affairs at the University of Arkansas at Monticello. Several times, Mark has been named to Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers.

G. Miki Hayden

G. Miki Hayden’s two latest novels are Rescued and Re-Live, out in 2023, both literary fiction with strong plot and character elements and powerful openings. Hayden also recently sold four novels for electronic serialization, while her first novel in print, Pacific Empire (an alternate history), won a rave in the NYTimes and was on that paper’s Summer Reading List. The sequel, New Pacific, was in print in 2004. Other novels of Hayden’s in print are By Reason of Insanity (a mystery), Question Woman & Howling Sky (a post-apocalyptic novel set in the West), Strings (a middle-grade fantasy), and The Heroine’s Journey (a YA fantasy set in the Middle Ages and our own time). She has had many short stories published, including in Alfred Hitchcock and Ellery Queen and in three Mystery Writers of America anthologies (winning an Edgar for one). She has also published in science fiction and romance genres. Miki has two writing instructionals in print—Writing the Mystery in its third edition and The Naked Writer, a style guide, also in its third edition. She has taught at Writer’s DigestUniversity online for more than twenty years.

John DeChancie

John DeChancie is the author of two dozen books, both fiction and nonfiction. His novels in the science fiction and fantasy genres have been attracting a wide readership for more than fifteen years, and over a million copies of his books have seen print, many in foreign languages. His humorous fantasy series, beginning with Castle Perilous, became a best seller for Berkley/Ace. Booklist described John’s novel MagicNet (William Morrow) as “a welcome sigh of comic relief…shamelessly droll, literate, and thoroughly entertaining. Magicnet is the fantasy genre’s whimsical answer to Neuromancer.” John’s other science fiction novels include From Prussia With Love (Prima Publishing), Masterminds of Falkenstein (Prima Publishing) and Innerverse (Avon), as well as his anthology of original fantasy short stories co-edited with Martin Greenberg—Castle Fantastic (DAW Books)

In addition to science fiction and fantasy, John also writes horror and nonfiction; his articles “A Fresh Look at This Island Earth” and “A Tribute to Rocketship X-M” can be found in Cult Movies). His short fiction has appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction and in numerous original anthologies, including Spell Fantastic (edited by Martin H. Greenberg and Larry Segriff, DAW Books) and, most recently I, Alien edited by Mike Resnick (DAW Books), which contains John’s short story “The Loaves and the Fishes.”

His book Other States of Being: Sixteen Short Abductions, is a collection of stories, reprinted from various magazines and original paperback anthologies, that all explore the theme of the alien (offered as a print-on-demand title by Pulpless.com, Inc.). His latest book is a small press short story collection A Little Gray Book of Alien Stories published by Borderlands Press, Maryland.

John’s novel Witchblade: Talons was republished by iBooks (Simon and Shuster), and the entire Castle Perilous series and the Starrigger trilogy were recently published in translation in Russia.

Terri Valentine

The writing career of romance novelist Terri Valentine is truly a Cinderella story. An avid reader all of her life, she began writing her first historical romance in the summer of 1985 on an old Smith-Corona manual typewriter. Of course it had several keys that stuck, and invariably every time she made even minor changes the entire manuscript had to be completely retyped. In spite of such adversities, she believed in herself and finished that first valiant effort, and then went on to revise her manuscript several times before satisfied.

One year later, Terri submitted Sea Dream to publishers. After several rejections, good ones she was later to learn by the standards of the industry, she went on to sell her book. Since then, she has been under steady contract. To date, she has ten romance novels and a Christmas short story in publication. Sweet Paradise was nominated for Best Romance Adventure by Romantic Times in 1992. Louisiana Caress received a coveted K.I.S.S (Knight in Shining Silver) Award from Romantic Times in 1993. Sands of Time (1993), her first time travel romance, is set in the Middle East. In 1995, Storm Dancer was a single release title from Zebra, followed in 1997 by the release of Paradise Promised. At present she is under contract for two more historicals, and she is currently working on a high-concept romantic novel that her agent anxiously awaits. She has also written a screenplay that is in production rewrites.

Terri Valentine is WDU’s critique editor for children’s picture books. Customers have been extremely pleased with the feedback provided by Terri. Terri said, “Good fiction writing is good fiction writing. Through my experience, I’m able to ‘see’ what works in a novel as well as a picture book.”

“Most valuable to me is the unstinted assistance and shared knowledge given to me by other writers throughout my career. I would never published if it had not been for the help of one such writer who offered support and encouragement from start to finish of that first manuscript.” Following in her mentor footsteps, she has eagerly critiqued manuscripts and helped other beginning novelists learn the taxing craft of writing, many of whom have gone on to publish.