Virtual Can*Con

Kim Abrahamse worked as a writer and copy editor for two decades before joining Firefly Creative as a Writing Coach Writing in 2020. She leads authentically and empathetically, relating deeply to all the ups and downs of the creative process. Kim is a self-professed “writing nerd” and is always eager to share the new theory she’s learning about plot structures, character building or revision techniques. She’s currently querying a YA science fiction novel and drafting a new one.

Krista D. Ball is apparently an award-winning author, something that shocked her mother who went to her grave believing it was a lie. After all, Krista writes lies for a living. Born and raised in Newfoundland, Canada, the quickest way to get on Krista’s nerves is to pronounce it NEW-Found-Lund. After obtaining a degree in British History, Krista needed to justify her student loans. Thirty books later, including the popular What Kings Ate and Wizards Drank: A Fantasy Lovers Food Guide, the loans are finally paid off, but now she’s not qualified to do anything else but write books. Expect more in the future. That wasn’t meant to sound like a threat.

Bendi Barrett is a fiction writer and narrative game designer based in Chicago. His work includes the Ignyte Award-nominated novella Empire of the Feast and several interactive novels published by Choice of Games. He is an associate editor of Baffling Magazine and elsewhere writes literary smut as Benji Bright. He can be found at benmakesstuff.com. 

Disco Barrington (he/they) is a British-Trinidadian, queer, trans, disabled author and content creator living in London, UK. His debut novella This Is How The World Ends will be released September 2026 by Nefarious Bat Press. He reviews diverse sci-fi and fantasy books as @discobooks on TikTok and BlueSky. 

Sharang Biswas has won two IGDN awards, four Ennie Awards, an IndieCade award, and a Golden Cobra award for roleplaying games, as well as the Brave New Weird Award for fiction. He has showcased interactive works at institutions such as The Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia, Pioneer Works in Brooklyn, the Toronto Reference Library, and The Museum of the Moving Image in Queens. He has worked on numerous TTRPGs including as Avatar: Legends, Pathfinder, Dungeons & Dragons, Vampire: The Masquerade, Spire: The City Must Fall, Moonlight on Roseville Beach, and Jiangshi: Blood on the Banquet Hall, as well as boardgames such as Holi: Festival of Color, Mad Science Foundation and Sea of Legends. Sharang has been invited as a Guest of Honour to Breakout Toronto, FlameCon in NYC, and RopeCon in Helsinki, and has additionally spoken at events such as GDC, PAX, MAGFest, Boston FIG, IndieCade, Games for Change, and more. His fiction and poetry has appeared in Lightspeed, Nightmare, Augur, Strange Horizons, and twice in the annual “We’re Here: The Best Queer Speculative Fiction”. He is the co-editor of Honey & Hot Wax: An Anthology of Erotic Art Games (Pelgrane Press) and the author of the novella The Iron Below Remembers (Neon Hemlock Press). Sharang currently teaches games at the NYU Game Center and Fordham University, and has previously taught at Dartmouth, Bard, and The New School.

C.L. Clark, dubbed the "Patron Saint of Sword Lesbians" by Reactor Magazine, is a BFA award-winning editor and the Nebula-nominated author of a few essays, several short stories, and a handful of books, including the Magic of the Lost trilogy (The Unbroken), the novella Fate's Bane, and the Arcane novel Ambessa: Chosen of the Wolf. When they’re not imagining the fall of empires, they’re trying not to throw their kettlebells through the walls. For essays and extras, head to their website, clclarkwrites.com.

Megan M. Davies-Ostrom is a Canadian author of horror and dark fantasy. Her short stories have appeared in Fantasy Magazine, Cosmic Horror Monthly, and anthologies such as Dark Waters and Bodies Full of Burning, and her debut novel, RISE FROM THESE DARK WATERS, comes out from Bad Hand Press October 2026. Megan lives in Ontario with her husband, daughter, and two (strange) cats, and when not writing, she enjoys hiking, watching horror movies, and playing board games.

David Demchuk is the author of novels The Bone Mother (2017, Sunburst Award winner, Shirley Jackson award nominee), RED X (2021, Aurora Award nominee) and most recently The Butcher's Daughter, 2025, co-written with debut author Corinne Leigh Clark. Born and raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba, he spent many years in Toronto, and is now living with his husband in a house by the sea in St. John's, Newfoundland.

Dominique Dickey is a speculative fiction writer and game designer. As the creative director of Sly Robot Games, they’ve created Plant Girl Game and Tomorrow on Revelation III. Their short fiction has appeared in venues including Fantasy Magazine, Lightspeed Magazine, and Nightmare Magazine. Their novella Redundancies & Potentials is now available from Neon Hemlock Press. They live in the DC area, where they’re always on the hunt for their next idea. You can keep up with their work at dominiquedickey.com.

Faye Gabriel (she/he|Mx.) is a writer, parent, sewist, and bard/barbarian multi-class from Baltimore, MD. Find her on AO3 @13th_blackbird; on Bluesky @faye-gabriel and at fayegabriel.com.

Jaym Gates is an editor, author, and artist living in the Seattle area with her partner, three large Shepherds, and an assortment of horses. She has worked in science fiction and fantasy publishing, tabletop and video games, in tech, and as a consultant in military and security sectors. Her game industry experience includes writing and editing for Gloomhaven products, Pathfinder, Firefly, Over the Edge, Oathsworn, Reign of Vampires, Blue Rose, Modern Age, Legacy of Mana, and Zorro: The Roleplaying Game, among many others. Her portfolio can be found at jaymgates.com, and she can be found on Threads, Bluesky, or Facebook.

Kate Heartfield is the author of several historical fantasy novels, including Mercutio (2026), in which Shakespeare's best character opens a rift to Faerie, and the Sunday Times bestseller The Embroidered Book (2022), about Marie Antoinette and her sister Maria Carolina. She has also written interactive fiction, and Assassin’s Creed novels. She has won the Aurora Award for Best Novel three times, co-won the Nebula award for game writing, and been shortlisted for the World Fantasy, Crawford, Locus, Sunburst, Scribe and Ottawa Book awards. Kate is a former journalist who lives in Ottawa, Canada with a black cat named Minerva.

Ada Hoffmann (they/them) is the author of the upcoming sci-fi novel IGNORE ALL PREVIOUS INSTRUCTIONS, as well as the OUTSIDE space opera trilogy and dozens of speculative short stories and poems.

Ada was diagnosed with autism at the age of 13 and is known for including #ownvoices queer and autistic characters in their work. Their former review series, Autistic Book Party, was a source of in-depth analysis of autistic characters and themes in speculative fiction.

Ada lives in eastern Ontario and teaches computer science at a major Canadian university. They share their home with a sweet-natured black cat named Ninja.

Ai Jiang is a Chinese-Canadian writer, Ignyte, Bram Stoker, and Nebula Award winner, and Hugo, Astounding, Locus, Aurora, and BFSA Award finalist from Changle, Fujian currently residing in Toronto, Ontario. Her work can be found in F&SF, The Dark, The Masters Review, among others. She is the recipient of Odyssey Workshop’s 2022 Fresh Voices Scholarship and the author of A Palace Near the Wind, Linghun and I AM AI. Find her on X (@AiJiang_), Insta (@ai.jian.g), and online (http://aijiang.ca). 

Brent Lambert is an author, editor, podcaster and lifetime nerd based out of San Diego. His work is focused on the Black and queer experience through a speculative lens. As a founding member of FIYAH Literary Magazine, he helped show the world the breadth of talent amongst Black SFF authors and turned that dedication alongside an amazing team into a Hugo Award. Currently, he has a novella A NECESSARY CHAOS out from Neon Hemlock and is part of the queer pulp SFF anthology I WANT THAT TWINK OBLITERATED and Black horror anthology ALL THESE SUNKEN SOULS.

Lee Mandelo (he/him) is a USA Today Bestselling writer, scholar, and editor whose work focuses on queer/trans and speculative fiction. His recent books include debut novel Summer Sons, a contemporary gay Southern gothic, as well as the novellas Feed Them Silence and The Woods All Black. An edited anthology, Amplitudes: Stories of Queer Futurity, was recently released by Erewhon Books. Mandelo's own short fiction, scholarship, and criticism can be read in publications including Reactor, Post45, Uncanny Magazine, and Capacious; he has also been a past nominee for various awards including the Lambda, Nebula, World Fantasy, Goodreads Choice, and Hugo. He holds a PhD in Gender Studies from the University of Kentucky and currently resides in Louisville. Further information, interviews, and sundry little posts about current media he's enjoying can be found at leemandelo.com or @leemandelo on socials.

Y.M. Pang spent her childhood pacing around her grandfather’s bedroom, telling him stories of magic, swords, and bears. Her fiction has appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, and Clarkesworld. She is a two-time Aurora Award winner and a member of the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA). Her debut short story collection, All the Broken Blades, was released in 2025. She dabbles in photography, moonlights as a submissions editor with TDotSpec, and often contemplates the merits of hermitism. Despite this, you can find her online at www.ympang.com

Kelly Robson is a Nebula Award winning writer of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror. She’s been a finalist for many of the major SFF awards, including the Astounding Award for Best New Writer. Her first short fiction collection Alias Space and Other Stories was published by Subterranean Press, and she has two books from Tordotcom Publishing, Gods, Monsters and the Lucky Peach and High Times in the Low Parliament. Kelly consults as a creative futurist for national and international organizations. She lives in downtown Toronto with her wife, writer A.M. Dellamonica.

Kaya Skovdatter (She/They) is a trans, disabled graduate of Clarion West (2014) with work published in Augur, Shimmer, and Strange Horizons, among other venues. Co-founder and co-editor of Anathema: Spec from the Margins for seven years, she's currently publisher of Huldra House (www.huldrahouse.com). Find her at kayaskovdatter.wordpress.com, and on Bluesky @gothgreenwitch.bsky.social.

A.D. Sui is a Ukrainian-born, internationally raised speculative writer, Nebula winner, and Aurora, and Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award finalist. They are the author of The Dragonfly Gambit (2024), The Iron Garden Sutra (2026), and more than two dozen short stories. A failed academic and retired fencer, they spend most days wrangling their two dogs and tending to their myriads of tropical plants. You can find them on most social media platforms as @thesuiway.

Michael R. Underwood (they/he) is an author and game designer from Bloomington, IN. Their books include space opera Annihilation Aria, the Ree Reyes Geekomancy books, and the Stabby Award finalist Genrenauts series. Mike was an Additional Designer on the Daggerheart RPG and is Lead Designer of the Dungeons of Drakkenheim Daggerheart Campaign Guide. They have been a bookseller, sales representative, and the North American Sales & Marketing Manager for Angry Robot Books. Mike lives in Baltimore with his wife, their dog, and an ever-growing library.

Deanna J. Valdez is proud Filipina Canadian. Her short fiction has appeared in Flash Fiction Online, AE's Unréal Anthology, and forthcoming in Pulp Literature. She's graduated from Odyssey Online's Scene and Sequel and Getting the Bigger Picture workshops as well as Futurescapes Large Manuscript Workshop. She's worked as a senior content marketer for 9 years. Her TikTok account @deannajvaldezwrites has a following of 18k, and she has an English Literature degree from McGill University. She currently lives in Montreal, Canada, and can often be found eating dim sum or running late to dance class. Despite all this, her greatest achievement to date has been convincing her other author friends to add more spice to their fantasy romances respectfully.

Izzy Wasserstein, queer and trans woman, is the author of two poetry collections, the short story collection All the Hometowns You Can’t Stay Away From (Neon Hemlock, 2022), the novella These Fragile Graces, This Fugitive Heart (Tachyon, 2024) and the fiction chapbook This Next Song is Called Punk Rock Valhalla (Neon Hemlock, 2025). She teaches writing and literature at a public university. and wants to hear about your D&D character.