Mar 3, 2024
Linda (L.V.) Ditchkus has written her whole life. But until eight years ago, her writing was either technical, scholarly, or in travel magazines. In 2015, she jumped into novel writing with both feet. After drafting her first chapter, which only amounted to a few hundred words, she realized she had plenty to learn. So she found a network of writing friends—many through RMFW—who gave her writing tips and pointed her toward writing resources like how-to books and classes. She’s grateful for her fantastic writing pals. Being a judge for the 2022 Self Published Science Fiction Competition and a 2023 youth writing competition has deepened her understanding of what makes books and stories stand out. Since her Sasquatch Series won First Place in the Colorado Authors League 2021 Book Awards for Sci-Fi and her short story was included in the last RMFW’s anthology (Bizarre Bazaar), Linda plans to stop calling herself a debut author. In addition to marketing the Sasquatch Series, she’s recently released the first book in her new series about two time-traveling women from the distant future working desperately to repopulate the world with men.Terrorist factions, a nefarious artificial intelligence, and their own government fight against them. While they struggle to save the unborn babies, the laws of time and space have their own imperatives, and saving everyone they love may be beyond their reach. When Linda’s not writing, she leads adventure travel trips for the Colorado Mountain Club and travels with her husband. She’s been to more than 100 countries and hiked or climbed in many of those. Linda and her husband live selfish lives (without plants or pets) above 7,000 feet in the Colorado Rockies.
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Paul Martz has been writing science fiction short stories for five years, though his love for sci fi began decades earlier. When he was six, he saw 2001: A Space Odyssey on the big screen, which lead him to a collection of Arthur C. Clarke’s short stories--and a lifelong insatiable appetite for mind-bending sci fi.
But his hobbies and interests extend far beyond the science fiction galaxy. He has authored books on programming and holds a data encryption patent. Like all true nerds, he runs his own web server. He recently learned to read braille and can solve a tactile Rubik’s Cube. He has traveled the world to view multiple total solar eclipses. He has a life-long interest in music. He has ripped his entire vinyl collection to MP3, recorded his own original digital compositions, and played drums since childhood. Currently, he’s teaching himself to play piano. Paul has been published in Uncharted Magazine. He lives in Erie Colorado with his wife and loyal cat.
Short stories included in FINGERS CROSSED, NO BRAKES:
Where the River Ends by J. Warren Weaver
Beyond Carbon by Rachel Delaney Craft
The Tamarisk Hunter by Paolo Bacigalupi
Our Sprinkler System by Lesley L. Smith
Rightsizing by Jeff Jaskot
Attack of the Third Planet by Collin Irish
Iphus by Laurel McHargue
Visited by a Crane by Rick Ginsberg
Sticka by Natasha Watts
The Cistern by Mark Stevens
Stokes the Happy by Cepa Onion
We’ll Always Have Peaches by Ryanne Glenn
A Blip in Time by Pat Stoltey
More about Paul Martz:
More about Linda Ditchkus:
Drum sound by Holy Ghost Party:
https://freesound.org/people/HolyGhostParty/sounds/71133/
Intro Music by Moby Gratis:
Outro Music by Dan-o-Songs: