Long Hidden: Speculative Fiction from the Margins of History (63 page)

Kemba Banton
, a writer of fiction, poetry and nonfiction, was born in Kingston, Jamaica in 1983. In 1989, she moved to the States to join her parents who had emigrated several years before her. Since then she has moved frequently between Jamaica and the States. Banton earned a BA in Anthropology at Columbia University. In 2007, she was a semi-finalist for a Fulbright grant in the creative arts field. In the same year, her short story “Zebra’s Trod” won a silver medal award in an annual Jamaican national creative writing competition hosted by the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission. She is a freelance writer for
Heart and Soul Magazine
and the co-founder and editor of TheNobantuProject.com. She is also pursuing an MFA in Creative Writing at Antioch University, Los Angeles. Banton currently resides in Georgia and is the mother of three children.

Sarah Pinsker
is a Baltimore-based singer, songwriter, and author. She has three albums on various indie labels and a fourth in production. Her short stories have been published in
Strange Horizons,
Asimov’s, Lightspeed, Fantasy & Science Fiction, and Daily Science Fiction,
among others, and she has stories forthcoming in several anthologies, including
The Future Embodied
and Crossed Genres’s
Fierce Family
.

Nnedi Okorafor
is a novelist of African-based science fiction, fantasy and magical realism. In a profile of Nnedi’s work titled “Weapons of Mass Creation”,
The New York Times
called Nnedi’s imagination “stunning”. Her novels include
Who Fears Death
(winner of the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel),
Akata Witch
(an Amazon.com Best Book of the Year),
Zahrah the Windseeker
(winner of the Wole Soyinka Prize for African Literature), and
The Shadow Speaker
(winner of the CBS Parallax Award). Her children’s book
Long Juju Man
is the winner of the Macmillan Writer’s Prize for Africa. Her short story collection
Kabu Kabu
was released in October 2013. Her forthcoming works include her science fiction novel
Lagoon
(scheduled for release in April 8, 2014) and her young adult novel
Akata Witch 2: Breaking Kola
(scheduled for release in 2015). Nnedi is a creative writing professor at Chicago State. Find her on Facebook, Twitter (@nnedi), and at nnedi.com.

Shanaé Brown
is a writer and blogger in NYC. This is her first published story and she’s currently hard at work on her first novel,
Naima
. She’s represented by Sara Camilli. You can find her most days on her blog,
becauseimwrite.net, or on Twitter @muzeness.

Nicolette Barischoff
‘s greatest achievement, prior to being published in this awesome anthology, is graduating
magna cum laude
from the Literature / Writing and Religious Studies programs at the University of California, San Diego (0.001 away from
summa
, goddamnit!). She is as skilled in the art of love as she is in the art of storytelling. Her smile powers the entire state of California. She lives with her husband and a multitude of faeries in a shoebox under the stairs. Call her Nicci. (Yes, her husband wrote this).

Lisa Bolekaja
is a recent graduate of the Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writer’s Workshop and was named an Octavia E. Butler Scholar by the Carl Brandon Society. She is an affiliate member of the Horror Writers Association, and an active member of both the Black Science Fiction Society and the Organization of Black Screenwriters. Her first published story, “The Saltwater African,” appeared in
Bloodchildren: Stories by
the Octavia E. Butler Scholars
, edited by Nisi Shawl. She’s currently adapting her horror screenplay
Skin
into a short story for wayward children.

Victor LaValle
is the author of one story collection and three novels. His most recent novel,
The Devil in Silver
, was a New York Times Notable Book of 2012. He has been the recipient of numerous awards including a Guggenheim Fellowship, an American Book Award, and the Key to Southeast Queens. He teaches creative writing in Columbia University’s MFA program.

Sabrina Vourvoulias
is the author of
Ink
(Crossed Genres, 2012), a speculative novel that draws on her memories of Guatemala’s armed internal conflict, and of the Latin@ experience in the United States. It was named to Latinidad’s Best Books of 2012. Her short stories have appeared in
Strange Horizons
; the anthologies
Fat Girl in a Strange Land
,
Menial: Skilled Labor in Science Fiction
, and
Crossed Genres Year Two
; and forthcoming in
GUD
magazine. Her poetry has appeared in
Graham House Review, Dappled Things, La Bloga’s Floricanto, Poets Respond to SB 1070,
and
Cabinet des Fées
, and forthcoming in
Bull Spec.
Sabrina is also the managing editor of Al Día News in Philadelphia, and was the editor of Al Día’s book
200 Years of Latino History in Philadelphia
(Temple University Press, 2012).

Rose Fox
is a compulsive magazine editor with a lifelong love of genre fiction. Credits include: reviews editor for
Publishers Weekly
, co-host of
Publishers Weekly
Radio, editor-at-large for
#24MAG
, and dissociative editor of the
Annals of Improbable Research
. They also provide freelance manuscript editing services to unpublished authors. In a few occasional moments of spare time, they help to run Readercon, an annual conference on speculative literature. Rose lives in Brooklyn, in a cozy apartment full of loving family, opinionated cats, and a great many books. You can find Rose on Twitter @rosefox or at copymancer.com.

Rose dedicates
Long Hidden
“to my parents, who gave me books edited by Terry Carr and Judith Merril, and smiled indulgently when I said that when I grew up I wanted to make anthologies.”

Daniel José Older
is a Brooklyn-based writer, editor and composer.
Salsa Nocturna
, Daniel’s debut ghost noir collection, was hailed as “striking and original” by
Publishers Weekly
. He facilitates workshops on storytelling, music, and anti-oppression organizing at public schools, community organizations, and universities and worked for ten years as a New York City paramedic. His short stories and essays have appeared in
Lightspeed
,
Salon
,
The New Haven Review
,
Tor.com
,
PANK
,
Strange Horizons
, and
Crossed Genres
among other publications. His forthcoming urban fantasy novel
The Half Resurrection Blues
, the first book of the Bone Street Rumba series, will be released by Penguin’s Roc imprint and as an audio book on Audible.com. You can find his thoughts on writing, read his ridiculous ambulance adventures, and hear music by his band, Ghost Star, at ghoststar.net and on Twitter: @djolder.

Daniel dedicates
Long Hidden
to Sheree Renée Thomas, who lit the way.