Nicole Givens Kurtz
A genre polymath who does crime, horror, and SFF, she brings a delightfully pulpy twist to everything she writes, whether it’s mashing up fantasy or science fiction with mystery or penning weird westerns. (Her website is here.) But if you give one book a shot…
Zig Zag Claybourne
An essayist and short story writer with an absolutely irrepressible sense of humor and a determination to have fun in spite of any slings and arrows the world might throw his way. (Here’s his website.) But if you’re going to read just one book…
Kyoko M.
She describes herself on her website as “if Liz Lemon and Chandler Bing had a baby and she was black, that’d be me.” She writes both urban fantasy and a wonderful mashup of fantasy and science fiction that involves dragons, which you can bet is what I’m about to recommend to you:
Maurice Broaddus
I’m most familiar with Maurice’s work as an editor; he was one of the team of three that edited People of Colo(u)r Destroy Horror and he edited an urban fantasy crime anthology called Streets of Shadows. (Here’s his website.) But he’s also one heck of a good writer of short stories, novellas, and books, and I will never be over… The four-book series this one starts is now complete.
Maquel A. Jacob
If you want your sci-fi to be space opera on the social side with just a touch of romance (and a little bit of gore), that’s where Maquel is a Jedi, though she has taken a detour with a book about Millennial vampires having a generational issues with their elders. (Her website is right here.) My favorite is:
Dustin R. Cummings
Dustin Cummings is a debut author at Shadow Spark Publishing. In his day job, he’s an assistant professor of surgery (per his website), which leaves me absolutely gobsmacked that he’s dived straight into such a massive sci-fi journey instead of dipping his toes in with short fiction like a lot of us have.
