Alien Artifacts Read online

  GINI KOCH writes the fast, fresh and funny “Alien/Katherine ‘Kitty’ Katt” series for DAW Books, the “Necropolis Enforcement Files,” and the “Martian Alliance Chronicles” series, as well as many other novels, novellas, and short stories. As G.J. Koch she writes the “Alexander Outland” series and she’s made the most of multiple personality disorder by writing under a variety of other pen names as well, including Anita Ensal, Jemma Chase, A.E. Stanton, and J.C. Koch. She has stories featured in a variety of excellent anthologies, available now and upcoming, writing as Gini Koch, Anita Ensal, and J.C. Koch. www.ginikoch.com

  SF convention favorites SHARON LEE and STEVE MILLER have been writing SF and Fantasy together since the 1980s, with dozens of stories and several dozen novels to their joint credit. Steve was Founding Curator of Science Fiction at the University of Maryland’s SF Research Collection while Sharon is the only person to consecutively hold office as the Executive Director, Vice President, and President of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. Their newest Liaden Universe® novel, Alliance of Equals, is their twenty-fifth collaborative novel. Their awards include the Skylark, the Prism, & the Hal Clement Award. See http://www.korval.com.

  ANTHONY LOWE is an English Literature major from Turlock and La Grange, California presently grinding away towards his BA at Chabot College and (in a few months’ time) CSU East Bay. His first published work, “The Lonesome Dark,” can be found in the e-book version of Ragnarok Publications’ dark fantasy anthology, Blackguards: Tales of Assassins, Mercenaries, and Thieves. During lulls between classwork, he is given to gaming, movies, researching Old West history, and scouring local used bookstores for novels he should probably get around to reading at some point. He keeps a blog at: anthonymlowe.blogspot.com

  GAIL Z. MARTIN and LARRY N. MARTIN are the authors of the new Steampunk series “Iron and Blood: The Jake Desmet Adventures” and a series of related short stories: “The Storm & Fury Adventures.” Gail also writes epic and urban fantasy, with new books Shadow and Flame (Ascendant Kingdoms Saga), The Shadowed Path (Chronicles of the Necromancer) and Vendetta (Deadly Curiosities series).

  Find them at www.AscendantKingdoms.com,

  on Twitter @GailZMartin and @LNMartinauthor,

  onFacebook.com/WinterKingdoms,

  and at DisquietingVisions.com blog. Watch for short stories in anthologies Clockwork Universe: Steampunk vs. Aliens, The Weird Wild West, The Side of Good/The Side of Evil, Alien Artifacts, and Gaslight and Grimm.

  SEANAN MCGUIRE lives and works in the Pacific Northwest, where she attempts to keep her massive blue cats from eating people. She writes a lot of things, because otherwise she stops sleeping. Sleep is good. She is the author of quite a lot of books, and takes quite a lot of naps. Keep up with her on Twitter at @seananmcguire or at www.seananmcguire.com.

  JULIET E. MCKENNA is a British fantasy author living in the Cotswolds, UK. Loving history, myth and other worlds since she first learned to read, she has written fifteen epic fantasy novels, from The Thief’s Gamble which began “The Tales of Einarinn” in 1999, to Defiant Peaks concluding “The Hadrumal Crisis” trilogy. Exploring new opportunities in digital publishing, she’s re-issuing her backlist as well as bringing out original fiction. She also writes diverse shorter fiction, reviews for web and print magazines and promotes SF&Fantasy by blogging, attending conventions and teaching creative writing. Learn more about all of this at julietemckenna.com

  CORAL MOORE has always been the kind of girl who makes up stories. Fortunately, she never grew out of that. She writes character driven fiction, and enjoys conversations about genetics and microbiology as much as those about vampires and werewolves. She has an MFA in Writing from Albertus Magnus College and is an alum of Viable Paradise XVII. She has been or will be published by Evernight Publishing, Vitality Magazine and Diabolical Plots. She loves aquariums, rides a motorcycle, and thinks there is little better than a good cup of coffee.

  Find Coral online:

  Twitter: http://twitter.com/coralm

  Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/AuthorCoralMoore/

  Website: http://www.coralmoore.com/

  JULIE NOVAKOVA is a Czech author of science fiction, fantasy, and detective stories. She has published short fiction e.g. in Clarkesworld, Asimov’s, and Fantasy Scroll. Her work in Czech includes seven novels, an anthology and over thirty stories. She received the Encouragement Award of the European science fiction and fantasy society in 2013 and the Aeronautilus award for the best Czech short story of 2014. She also translates, writes nonfiction, and contributes to the Czech SF magazine XB-1. She is an evolutionary biologist by study and also takes a keen interest in planetary science.

  Twitter: @julianne_sf

  Facebook: fb.com/JulieNovakovaAuthor

  ANGELA PENROSE lives in Seattle with her husband, five computers, and some unknown number of books, which occupy most of the house. She writes in several genres, but SFF is her first love. Her recent short fiction has appeared in Loosed Upon the World, Recycled Pulp, and Crucible. Her story “The Rites of Zosimos,” published last year in Alchemy and Steam, has been chosen for The Year’s Best Crime and Mystery Short Fiction (2015). Angie blogs at http://angelapenrosewriter.blogspot.com/.

  A lifelong science fiction & fantasy fan, ANDRIJA POPOVIC is a native of the Washington DC metropolitan area. He grew up scouring bookshops & libraries for strange, beautiful and terrifying worlds hidden in dog-eared paperbacks and dusty hardbacks. These days, he works with associations and grassroots organizations, assisting them with on-line advocacy campaigns. Outside of his day job, he enjoys photography and writing haiku for his Twitter account, @Andrian6. He can also be found at his writing blog, Biomechanoid Blues

  (biomechanoidblues.wordpress.com)

  JAMES VAN PELT is a former high school English teacher and now full-time writer in western Colorado. His fiction has made appearances in most of the major science fiction and fantasy magazines. He’s been a finalist for a Nebula Award and been reprinted in many year’s best collections. Much of his short fiction has been gathered in four collections, including the latest, Flying in the Heart of the Lafayette Escadrille. His first Young Adult novel, Pandora’s Gun, was released from Fairwood Press in August of 2015. James blogs at

  http://www.jamesvanpelt.com and can be found on Facebook.

  About the Editors

  Patricia Bray is the author of a dozen novels, including Devlin’s Luck, which won the Compton Crook Award for the best first novel in the field of science fiction or fantasy. A multi-genre author whose career spans both epic fantasy and Regency romance, her books have been translated into Russian, German, Portuguese and Hebrew. She’s also crossed over to the dark side as the co-editor of After Hours: Tales from the Ur-Bar (DAW, March 2011) and The Modern Fae’s Guide to Surviving Humanity (DAW, March 2012), Clockwork Universe: Steampunk vs. Aliens (ZNB, June 2014) and Temporally Out of Order (ZNB, August 2015).

  Patricia lives in a New England college town, where she combines her writing with a full-time career in I/T. To offset the hours spent at a keyboard, she bikes, hikes, cross-country skis, snowshoes and has recently taken up the noble sport of curling. To find out more, visit her website at www.patriciabray.com.

  JOSHUA PALMATIER is a fantasy author with a PhD in mathematics. He currently teaches at SUNY Oneonta in upstate New York, while writing in his “spare” time, editing anthologies with fellow zombie and co-editor Patricia Bray, and founding the anthology-producing small press Zombies Need Brains LLC. His most recent fantasy novel Threading the Needle (July 2016) continues a new fantasy series begun in Shattering the Ley, although you can also find his “Throne of Amenkor” series and the “Well of Sorrows” series on the shelves. He is currently hard at work writing Reaping the Aurora, the third novel in the “Ley” series, and designing the kickstarter for the next Zombies Need Brains anthology project. You can find out more at www.joshuapalmatier.com or at the small press’ site www.zombiesneedbrains.com. Or fol
low him on Twitter as @bentateauthor or @ZNBLLC.

  Acknowledgments

  This anthology would not have been possible without the tremendous support of those who pledged during the Kickstarter. Everyone who contributed not only helped create this anthology, they also helped solidify the foundation of the small press Zombies Need Brains LLC, which I hope will be bringing SF&F themed anthologies to the reading public for years to come…as well as perhaps some select novels by leading authors, eventually. I want to thank each and every one of them for helping to bring this small dream into reality. Thank you, my zombie horde.

  The Zombie Horde: Danielle Ackley-McPhail, Carol J. Guess, J.R. Murdock, Brian Quirt, Greg Resnik, Emy Peters, Julia Haynie, Heather Fagan, Kristy K, Evenstar Deane, Andrija Popovic, Cheryl Preyer, Susan B, Evaristo Ramos, Jr., JP Frantz, Michael Skolnik, Joelle M Reizes, Lorena Dinger, Kathleen T Hanrahan, Derick Sweat, Sandra Ulbrich Almazan, Tony Finan, John P. Murphy, Sheryl R. Hayes, John McNabb, Fen Eatough, Megan Beauchemin, Karl Maurer, Al Batson, Lim Ivan, Teresa Carrigan, Sheryl Ehrlich, “Gorgeous” Gary Ehrlich, Diana Castillo, Keith E. Hartman, Duncan & Andrea Rittschof, Leah Webber, Claire Sims, Ruth Stuart, Sofie Bird, Halcyoncin, Jean Marie Ward, Jeff Gulosh, Henry Lopez, Kristine Smith, Sharon Stogner, John Sturkie, Tommy Lewis, Max Kaehn, Elaine Tindill-Rohr, Chris Loeffler, Kerry aka Trouble, John Sapienza, Kathleen Ferrando, Gary Phillips, Kathy Martin, Sally Novak Janin, Matt Keck, Lea Zane, Amanda Johnson, Holland Dougherty, Russell Ventimeglia, Roy Romasanta, Ed Ellis, Steve Lord, Terry Hazen, Nathan Hillstrom, David Hill, Fred Herman, Elizabeth McKinstry, Joanne B Burrows, Lisa Padol, Mia Kleve, Angie Hogencamp, Hisham El-Far, Eleanor Russell, Anthony R. Cardno, Sabrina Poulsen, Jenn & Drew Bernat, Patti Short, Christopher Mangum, Larisa LaBrant, Jenn Whitworth, Debbie Matsuura, Elizabeth Kite, Morgan S. Brilliant, Tina Noe-Good, Rosanne Girton, Juli, Wolf SilverOak, Marty Tool, Carey Williams, Jaime C., Chris Barili, Denise Murray, Matt B, Scott Raun, Dino Hicks, Darryl M. 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