Ryan North is the creator of the popular webcomic Dinosaur Comics, which has run for over two thousand issues using the exact same art and panel layout for each strip. A Kickstarter he launched for his book To Be or Not To Be, a choose-your-own-adventure-style version of Hamlet, raised well over half a million dollars, making it the most successful publishing-related Kickstarter ever. He also co-edited the short story anthology Machine of Death, which hit number one on Amazon.com the day of its release. A sequel, This is How You Die, is out now.

Chris Kluwe is an NFL punter who played eight seasons with the Minnesota Vikings. He made national headlines last year for a colorful, profanity-laden letter he wrote to Maryland state delegate Emmett C. Burns taking him to task for his opposition to gay marriage. Kluwe is also a hardcore geek who enjoys science fiction novels, video games, and pen-and-paper role-playing games. His new book, Beautifully Unique Sparkleponies, is a collection of highly opinionated essays on subjects ranging from football to humanity’s future in space.

Felicia Day is the creator and star of the hit web-series The Guild. She’s also appeared as an actress in the Joss Whedon short film Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, as well as on TV shows such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Supernatural. Her latest project is Geek and Sundry, a YouTube channel offering a wide range of geek-themed videos.

Melissa Marr is the author of the best-selling Wicked Lovely series, which has been optioned for film by Vince Vaughn. Her latest novel, The Arrivals, is about a group of strangers from throughout American history who find themselves transported to an alternate world that resembles the Wild West with monsters and magic.

Lauren Beukes is a South African author and filmmaker. Her novels include Zoo City and Moxyland. She also wrote a story arc for the graphic novel series Fairest, a spinoff of Bill Willingham’s Fables. Her latest novel, The Shining Girls, is about a time-traveling serial killer and has been optioned for TV by Leonardo DiCaprio’s production company Appian Way.

Annalee Newitz is the editor of io9, the internet’s most popular science fiction website. Her new book, Scatter, Adapt, and Remember, describes massive disasters throughout Earth’s history and explores how we might increase our chances of surviving the next one.

Rick Yancey is the author of popular young adult novels such as the Alfred Kropp series and the Monstrumologist series. His latest book, The 5th Wave, is the story of a teenage girl searching for her brother in the wake of a devastating alien attack. The book’s publisher, Penguin, is betting big that The 5th Wave has what it takes to become the next Hunger Games, and is giving the book a massive $750,000 marketing push. The 5th Wave has also been optioned for film by Sony Pictures with Tobey Maguire reportedly attached to the project.

Alaya Dawn Johnson is the author of The Spirit Binder series and the Zephyr Hollis series. Her latest novel, The Summer Prince, is set in Brazil, 400 years in the future, in a pyramid city where young men vie for the honor of being elected king for a year, after which they are ritualistically sacrificed. She attended Columbia University and lives in New York City. Visit her online at www.alayadawnjohnson.com.

Hugh Howey is a self-described “bum,” who for the past twenty years has bounced from job to job—computer repair, roofing, yacht captain, bookstore clerk. In his spare time he wrote science fiction, and after growing impatient with the long waits and uncertain rewards of traditional publishing, he began self-publishing his work on Amazon.com. Just a few years later, his post-apocalyptic novel Wool, typed out in a storage room during his lunch breaks at the bookstore, was earning him over $100,000 a month on Amazon, had secured him a six-figure book deal from Simon & Schuster, and had been optioned for film by Ridley Scott, director of Blade Runner and Alien.

Austin Grossman’s first novel, Soon I Will Be Invincible, was nominated for the John Sargent Sr. First Novel Prize, and his writing has appeared in Granta, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times. He is a video game design consultant for Arkane Studios, and he has written and designed for a number of critically acclaimed games, including Dishonored, Ultima Underworld II, System Shock, Trespasser, and Deus Ex. His second novel, You, came out from Mulholland Books earlier this year, and his short fiction has also appeared in John Joseph Adams’s anthologies Under the Moons of Mars and The Mad Scientist’s Guide to World Domination.