Heroic Hearts

ABOUT THE AUTHORS AND EDITORS

Kelley Armstrong is the author of the Rockton thriller series and the Royal Guide to Monster Slaying middle-grade fantasy series. Past works include the Otherworld urban fantasy series, the Cainsville gothic mystery series, the Nadia Stafford thriller trilogy, the Darkest Powers & Darkness Rising teen paranormal series, and the Age of Legends teen fantasy series. The story in this volume is from Darkest Powers, about teen necromancer Chloe Saunders.

Annie Bellet is the USA Today bestselling author of the Twenty-Sided Sorceress, Six-Gun Shifters, and the Gryphonpike Chronicles series. An Alfie Award winner and former Hugo Finalist, she holds a BA in English and a BA in medieval studies and thus can speak a smattering of useful languages such as Anglo-Saxon and medieval Welsh. Her interests include rock climbing, reading, horseback riding, video games, comic books, tabletop RPGs, and many other nerdy pursuits. She lives in the Netherlands with her husband.

Anne Bishop lives with unicorns, dragons, and two shy parakeets. She is a New York Times bestselling author and the winner of multiple awards, including the RT Book Reviews 2013 Career Achievement Award for her fantasy fiction, the RT Book Reviews 2017 Career Achievement Award for her urban fantasy fiction, and the William L. Crawford Memorial Fantasy Award for the Black Jewels Trilogy. Her most recent novel is Crowbones, a cozy thriller set in the world of the Others. When she’s not writing, Anne enjoys gardening, reading, and music . . . and pondering how to get her imaginary friends into more trouble.

Patricia Briggs is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Mercy Thompson series and the Alpha and Omega series. She lives in the dry part of Washington state with her family and a small herd of horses.

Jennifer Brozek is an award-winning author, editor, and tie-in writer. A Secret Guide to Fighting Elder Gods, Never Let Me Sleep, and The Last Days of Salton Academy were finalists for the Bram Stoker Award. She was awarded the Scribe Award for best tie-in Young Adult novel for BattleTech: The Nellus Academy Incident. Her editing work has earned her nominations for the British Fantasy Award, the Bram Stoker Award, and the Hugo Award. “The Necessity of Pragmatic Magic” is Jennifer’s first return to Kendrick since The Karen Wilson Chronicles. Visit Jennifer’s worlds at jenniferbrozek.com.

Jim Butcher is the author of the Dresden Files, the Codex Alera, and a steampunk series, the Cinder Spires. His résumé includes a laundry list of skills that were useful a couple of centuries ago, and he plays guitar quite badly. An avid gamer, he plays tabletop games in varying systems, a variety of video games on PC and console, and LARPs whenever he can make time for it. Jim currently resides mostly inside his own head, but his head can generally be found in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado.

Charlaine Harris is a true daughter of the South. Born in Mississippi, she has lived in Tennessee, South Carolina, Arkansas, and Texas. Her career as a novelist began in 1981 with her first book, a conventional mystery. Since then, she’s written urban fantasy, science fiction, and horror. In addition to over thirty full-length books, she has written numerous short stories and three graphic novels in collaboration with Christopher Golden. She has featured on bestseller lists many times, and her works have been adapted for three (soon to be five) television shows. Charlaine now lives at the top of a cliff on the Brazos River with her husband and two rescue dogs. She has three children and two grandchildren.

Kevin Hearne is the New York Times bestselling author of the Iron Druid Chronicles, Ink & Sigil, and the Seven Kennings trilogy, and co-author of the Tales of Pell with Delilah S. Dawson. He likes dogs, fountain pens, and tacos, and will occasionally pretend to know something about hockey.

Nancy Holder is a New York Times award-winning author of over ninety novels and two hundred short stories, essays, and articles. She is the writer on Mary Shelley Presents, a comic book/graphic novel series from Kymera Press, an all-woman-owned-and-staffed comic book company. Mary Shelley Presents: Tales of the Supernatural has been nominated for Superior Achievement in a Graphic Novel by the Horror Writers Association. She is a Baker Street Irregular (“Beryl Garcia”). Her most recent publication is Sherlock Holmes of Baking Street (not a cookbook!), co-edited with Margie Deck. Find her @nancyholder on Twitter, on Facebook, and at nancyholder.com.

Kerrie L. Hughes is a paranormal girl in a way too normal world. She’s primarily known as an anthologist and short story writer but has recently ventured into novels. Cauldron: Tales from the Great Lakes Grimoire is her first series, featuring witches, wizards, shifters, dragons, spirits, and of course, the Fae. In her spare time she researches art, history, and psychology. She has been known to cast spells, read fortunes, and meet ghosts. She may even know a vampire or two.

Chloe Neill is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Captain Kit Brightling, Heirs of Chicagoland, Chicagoland Vampires, Devil’s Isle, and Dark Elite novels. She was born and raised in the South but now makes her home in the Midwest, where she lives with her gamer husband and their bosses/dogs, Baxter and Scout. Chloe is a voracious reader and obsessive Maker of Things; the crafting rotation currently involves baking and quilting. She believes she is exceedingly witty; her husband has been known to disagree.

R.R. Virdi is a two-time Dragon Award finalist and a Nebula Award finalist. He is the author of two urban fantasy series, the Grave Report and the Books of Winter. He has worked in the automotive industry as a mechanic and holds a deep love for American classics. As of August 2021, one of his short stories will be taken to the moon on the Peregrine Lunar Lander. The hardest challenge for him up to this point has been fooling most of society into believing he’s a completely sane member of the general public. He currently resides in Northern Virginia, where he wanders local hills in the dead of night while issuing challenges to fistfight the moon.