Tod Goldberg is the New York Times bestselling author of sixteen books, including Only Way Out, which was a 2026 finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and the acclaimed Gangsterland quartet — Gangsterland, Gangster Nation, The Low Desert: Gangster Stories and Gangsters Don’t Die — which have been published in a dozen countries and have won or have been a finalist for the Hammett Prize, the Southwest Book of the Year, the Strand Critics Award, the Reading the West Award, the International Thriller of the Year and many more. His previous books include Living Dead Girl, also a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, The House of Secrets, which he wrote with Brad Meltzer, and the anthology Eight Very Bad Nights, a finalist for the Anthony Award. His short fiction appears widely and has twice been honored with selection in Best American Mystery & Suspense, while his nonfiction has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Alta, and USA Today, among countless others, and has been selected for Best American Essays, awarded five Nevada Press Association Awards, and received distinction from the American Society of Journalists & Authors. He has also sold film and television projects to CBS, Miramax, Amazon, and FX and is currently a producer on The Roman, which will debut on Netflix in 2027. Tod is a Professor of Creative Writing at the University of California, Riverside where he founded and directs the Low Residency MFA in Creative Writing & Writing for the Performing Arts. His next book, The Salton Sea, will be published by Counterpoint Press.

Gwendolyn Kiste is the four-time Bram Stoker Award-winning author of The Haunting of Velkwood, Everything Looks Better in Red, The Rust Maidens, Reluctant Immortals, Pretty Marys All in a Row, and In These Gilded, Ghostly Hearts. Her short fiction and nonfiction have appeared in outlets including Lit Hub, Nightmare, Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy, CrimeReads, Titan Books, The Lineup, and The Dark. She’s a Lambda Literary Award winner, and her fiction has also received the This Is Horror Award for Novel of the Year as well as nominations for the Shirley Jackson, Premios Kelvin, Ignotus, Dragon, and Ohio Book Awards. Originally from Ohio, she now resides on an abandoned horse farm outside of Pittsburgh with her husband, their excitable calico cat, and not nearly enough ghosts. Find her online at gwendolynkiste.com

J.W. Ocker is a nationally bestselling, Edgar-winning author of macabre travelogues, spooky kid’s books, and horror novels. His books include A Season with the Witch, Twelve Nights at Rotter House, The Black Slide, and The United States of Cryptids. Ocker lives in New Hampshire. Visit him at oddthingsiveseen.com.