The Death of All Things

by Faith Hunter

  Visit http://www.aliettedebodard.com or @aliettedb on twitter for more information.

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  ANDREW DUNLOP is a graduate of the University of Toronto, a tabletop gamer, and an avid reader and writer of fantasy fiction. He lives in Ontario with his extremely supportive girlfriend and a couple of house plants, works by day, and writes by night. He is probably not a superhero, but has never been photographed in the same room as Stupendous Man, so you may draw your own conclusions.

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  Award-winning and eight-time New York Times bestselling author CHRISTIE GOLDEN has written over fifty novels and several short stories in the fields of science fiction and fantasy. She has written in such franchises as Star Wars, Star Trek, World of Warcraft, StarCraft, Assassin’s Creed, as well as authoring her own books. Lady Death appears in Golden’s novel King’s Man and Thief, and Gillen Songespynner’s tale is told in Instrument of Fate. Golden was awarded the International Association of Media Tie-in Writers’ Faust Award 2017, conferring upon her the title of Grandmaster in acknowledgment of her contributions to the field.

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  JIM C. HINES is the author of twelve fantasy novels, including the Magic ex Libris series, the Princess series of fairy tale retellings, the humorous Goblin Quest trilogy, and the Fable Legends tie-in Blood of Heroes. His short fiction has appeared in more than 50 magazines and anthologies. He’s an active blogger about topics ranging from sexism and harassment to zombie-themed Christmas carols, and won the 2012 Hugo for Best Fan Writer. His next book, Terminal Alliance, comes out in November 2017. Jim lives in mid-Michigan with his family. You can find him at www.jimchines.com or on Twitter as @jimchines.

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  JASON M. HOUGH is the New York Times bestselling author of The Darwin Elevator, Zero World, Mass Effect: Nexus Uprising, and Injection Burn, plus a number of short stories including Turning Point: A Star Wars Story. He can be found online at www.jasonhough.com or on Twitter via @jasonmhough.

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  New York Times and USAToday bestselling author FAITH HUNTER was born in Louisiana and raised all over the south. She writes two contemporary Urban Fantasy series: the Jane Yellowrock series, featuring a Cherokee skinwalker who hunts rogue vampires, and the Soulwood series, featuring earth magic user Nell Ingram. Her Rogue Mage novels are a dark, post-apocalyptic, fantasy series featuring Thorn St. Croix, a stone mage. The role playing game based on the series, is ROGUE MAGE, RPG.

  www.faithhunter.net

  https://www.facebook.com/official.faith.hunter

  https://www.facebook.com/faith.hunter?fref=ts

  @hunterfaith

  http://www.yellowrocksecurities.com

  www.gwenhunter.com

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  AMANDA KESPOHL is a fantasy writer, attorney, and folklore enthusiast from Jacksonville Beach, Florida. Her short stories have been featured in Alien Abduction (Robot Cowgirl Press) and Sirens (World Weaver Press). She currently resides in Tallahassee with her beagle, Bailey. Check out her website at https://amandakespohl.wordpress.com/ or find her on Twitter at @amandakespohl.

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  K.M. LANEY has been writing since childhood. An avid RPG gamer, both tabletop and online, most of her previous work went into character backgrounds and scenarios for her friends and family. In college she studied mathematics and chemistry. She performed a variety of jobs, from opticianry to silicon wafer inspection to proofreading advertising copy. Special interests include archaeology, Star Wars, Star Trek, and music. She lives in Oregon with her husband, son, cats, and guitars. She currently runs a blog for writers, shortfictionweeklychallenge.tumblr.com

  She can be found at kmlaney.tumblr.com or on twitter @kmlaneywrites.

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  KATHRYN MCBRIDE has a deep familiarity with corporate shenanigans having spent years in tidy little cubicles underwhelming her superiors. Born and raised in San Francisco, she is currently enjoying the shores of Lake Michigan in St. Joseph with her partner and rescue pups. Discovering local breweries, making custom dice bags, and freaking out over current events occupies her free time. Kathryn’s short fiction has been previously featured in Bop Dead City and 200cc.

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  JULIET E. MCKENNA is a British fantasy author. Loving history, myth and other worlds, she has written fifteen epic fantasy novels, starting with The Thief’s Gamble which began The Tales of Einarinn. She writes diverse shorter fiction, from stories for themed anthologies such as Alien Artifacts and Fight Like A Girl to forays into dark fantasy and steampunk with Challoner, Murray and Balfour: Monster Hunters at Law. She reviews for web and print magazines and promotes SFFantasy by blogging on book trade issues, attending conventions and teaching creative writing. Visit julietemckenna.com for more or follow @JulietEMcKenna on Twitter.

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  VILLE MERILÄINEN is a university student from Joensuu, Finland. His short fiction has won the Writers of the Future award and has appeared in various journals, both online and in print. His musical fantasy novel, Ghost Notes, is available on Amazon. He can be found on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/vmerilainenauthor.

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  MACK MOYER is a writer from Philadelphia. His novel, Sketches of the Wigwam, is available on Amazon. He fancies himself a low-rent Bukowski, but will never admit it. You can find him on MackMoyer.com, plus Facebook and Twitter.

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  ANDREA MULLEN started out as a voracious reader of fantastic stories, so it was only a matter of time before she started writing them. This is her first short story in publication. She currently lives in the wilds of Central Pennsylvania, where she tends her vegetable garden, plays games with her friends, and works with rescued beagles. She can be reached online at amullen.tumblr.com, and on twitter @AndreaWrote.

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  KIYA NICOLL lives in New England with her human family, three cats, and a turtle, and on twitter at @kiya_nicoll, and blogs in the writerly way at the uncreatively named kiyanicoll.com. She commits words, art, and theology on a somewhat regular basis, in and around wondering if she ought to be committed. She was raised on stories and bleeds narrative, but she would not win a game of chess with Death, even though she can remember which way the little horse-shaped ones move.

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  JULIE PITZEL writes paranormal fiction from a geodesic dome south of Houston. She’s been involved in the Houston writing community for over twenty years serving on too many committees and various boards, including two years as president of a local Romance Writers of America Chapter. Julie collects eclectic jewelry and shows off her love of the macabre with more than sixty pairs of Halloween themed earrings. She lives with her husband and a pair of overly affectionate cats.

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  ANDRIJA POPOVIC is a native of the Washington DC metropolitan area. When he is not assisting grassroots advocacy organizations with their on-line campaigns he indulges in a bit of photography, spends entirely too much on books, and writes haiku for his Twitter account, @Andrian6. His stories have previously been published in Daily Science Fiction and the Zombies Need Brains LLC anthology ALIEN ARTIFACTS. He can also be found at his blog, Biomechanoid Blues (biomechanoidblues.wordpress.com)

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  A. MERC RUSTAD is a queer non-binary writer who lives in the Minnesota. Favorite things include: robots, dinosaurs, and monsters. Their stories have appeared in Lightspeed, Fireside, Apex, Uncanny, Shimmer, and other fine venues. Merc likes to play video games, watch movies, read comics, and wear awesome hats. You can find Merc on Twitter @Merc_Rustad,

  Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/mercrustad) or their website: http://amercrustad.com. Their debut short story collection, SO YOU WANT TO BE A ROBOT, is available from Lethe Press (May 2017).

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  KENDRA LEIGH SPEEDLING lives in Boston with her partner and a large gray cat with thumbs. Her short stories have appeared in Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Vitality Magazine, and Penumbra eMag. She also does writing and game design for the Pathfinder tabletop RPG. When not writing things, she enjoys reading, baking, playing a
wide variety of games, and yelling about history a lot. You can check out her website, klspeedling.com, or her Twitter @KendraLS for general musings, tales of shenanigans, and the occasional burst of wit.

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  FRAN WILDE is the author of the Andre Norton- and Compton Crook Award-winning, Nebula-nominated novel Updraft (Tor 2015), its sequels, Cloudbound (2016) and Horizon (2017), and the Nebula- and Hugo-nominated novelette The Jewel and Her Lapidary (Tor.com Publishing 2016). Her short stories appear in Asimov’s, Tor.com, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Shimmer, Nature, and the 2017 Year’s Best Dark Fantasy and Horror. She writes for publications including The Washington Post, Tor.com, Clarkesworld, iO9.com, and GeekMom.com. You can find her on twitter @fran_wilde, Facebook @franwildewrites and at franwilde.net

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  ABOUT THE EDITORS

  LAURA ANNE GILMAN is the Nebula- and Endeavor-award nominated author of the Devil’s West series, SILVER ON THE ROAD, THE COLD EYE, and the forthcoming RED WATERS RISING, as well as the short story collection DARKLY HUMAN, and other series this bio doesn’t have space for. Her recent short fiction has sold to Daily Science Fiction, Lightspeed, and the anthologies LAWLESS LANDS and WEIRD CALIFORNIA.

  A former New Yorker, she currently lives outside of Seattle with two cats and many deadlines. Information and updates can be found at www.lauraannegilman.net, or follow her on Twitter: @LAGilman

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  KAT RICHARDSON is the bestselling author of the Greywalker paranormal detective novels. She is also a freelance editor and the author of the science fiction police thriller Scattered Objects, coming from Pyr in late 2017 under the pseudonym K. R. Richardson. She lives in Western Washington, and is an accomplished feeder of crows.

  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 SFF 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: Asha Bardon, Simon Dick, Andrew Wilson, Sarah Cornell, J.R. Murdock, Kimberly Lloyd, Bruno Girin, Sharon Wood, Kari Maaren, Heidi Cykana, Nancy Lambert, Vicki Greer, Ash Marten, Diana Castillo, Brian Quirt, David A. Holden, Gabriel Sinclair, Jason M Hough, David Rippere, Kerry Ebanks, Stephanie Cranford, Stephen Goodrow, Kimba Wilson, Jakub Narêbski, Gia B., Tina Black, Christina Roberts, Erin Kenny, Ryan Poindexter, Pierre Gauthier, Phil Olynyk, Scott Drummond, Patrick Sarah Pilgrim, Alexander Gideon, Carolyn Petersen, Elizabeth Belden Handler, April Steenburgh, Aurora N., Marissa Lingen, Veronica, Millie Calistri-Yeh, Jean Marie Ward, Stephanie Cheshire, Christine Swendseid, Fred Herman, Sidney Whitaker, Teresa Carrigan, Jen Edwards, Fred and Mimi Bailey, Cyn Wise, Brenda Moon, Kristin Evenson Hirst, Juli, Jeffery Lawler, Andrew Kinstetter, Petter Wäss, Duncan and Andrea Rittschof, Nick W., Anders M. Ytterdahl, Michael Fedrowitz, Andy M., Susan Carlson, Cate Crowley, Kelly Crowell, Kerry aka Trouble, John Idlor, Claire Sims, Tibs, Steven desJardins, Sheryl R. Hayes, Anna Rudholm, Jake Woodworth, Chuck Hickson, Jill Chinchar, Andrija Popovic, David Bruns, Elyse M Grasso, RKBookman, Tamara Michelle Slaten, Miranda Floyd, Becky Allyn Johnson, dbschlosser, Samuel Kohner, Carol J. Guess, shadow cat, Patti Short, Don Larson, Zoe, Jenny Barber, Michele Hall, Jim and Darla Nault-Tait, Peter Donald, Mandy Stein, Shawna Jacques, M. E. Gibbs, Scott Raun, Chad Bowden, Mr. And Mrs. Smooth, Rachel Stuart, Sarah Brand, Michele Fry, Lauowolf, Eleanor Russell, Elise Power, Susan Oke, Michele Dainiak, Elizabeth Inglee-Richards, Cathy Green, Debra Stewart, Douglas Park, Kerri Regan, ANDREW AHN, David Hill, Stephen Ballentine, William Hughes, Atthis Arts LLC, Dina S Willner, Ashley R. Morton, James Conason, Jennifer McGaffey, E. Smith, Katherine Malloy, Lace, Leslie Gawne, Sidsel N. Pedersen, pophyn, Elaine (Lainey) Rothman, Lark Cunningham, Helen Cameron, Sachin Suchak, Niall Gordon, Robby Thrasher, Lennhoff Family, Chris Matosky, Jules Jones, Laura Sheana Taylor, Patrick Thomas, Fen Eatough, Jennifer Berk, Jaq Greenspon, Sontaran Empire, Kevin Winter, Marty Poling Tool, Peter Hansen, Cindy Cripps-Prawak, Alan and Morva, Kyrielle, Diana Ramos, SusanB, Matthew Markland, David Quist, Stephanie Lucas, Erin M. Evans, Tony Anjo, Keith Jones, Colleen R. Cahill, Pulp Literature Press, Steven Saus, Cheri Kannarr, Catherine Sharp, Gary Phillips, Tindra Tieren, Gina Jon Freed, Adora Hoose, Caryn Cameron, Todd V. Ehrenfels, Debbie Matsuura, Rachel Blackman, Jörg Tremmel, Pat Knuth, Simon Niklasson, Yoshio Kobayashi, Yankton Robins, Ferd Burfle, Carol Mammano, Karen Laage, Michael Bernardi, Mark Carter, Andrew Hatchell, Annie Mosity, Chris ‘Warcabbit’ Hare, Morgan S. Brilliant, Chrissie Jake Palmatier, Vespry family, Harvey Brinda, Brendan Lonehawk, Sheryl Ehrlich, Tom P. 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