Stephen lives and works as a sign maker in the UK. His interest in writing stories began in the nineties when he started writing for the school nursery his children attended. When teachers advised him to think seriously about taking it further, he took a crash course in evening classes to find out what he really wanted to write about. Many years ago he finished his first short horror story. He hasn’t written a child’s story since.
Thomas Owen (real name Gérald Bertot) (1910-2002) worked all his life in the management of the same flour-milling factory. He held a doctorate in criminology, and a side career in art criticism under the pseudonym Stéphane Rey. Spared service in World War II, he turned to writing mysteries for money, with the encouragement of Stanislas-André Steeman, a celebrated craftsman of Belgian noir. In TONIGHT AT EIGHT (from 1941), he introduced the police commissioner Thomas Owen—a character whose name he liked so much he later took it as his own when he embarked on what he has called his true calling, his career as a fantasist. An existential dread, one that Thomas Ligotti correctly identified (in a blurb where he name-checked Owen) as “the nightmare of being alive”, emanates from Owen’s oeuvre of several hundred stories – the best word for Owen’s fiction is unsettling. The 1984 volume THE DESOLATE PRESENCE draws from six of Owen’s seven major collections for its 22 tales, and was the only current English translation of Owen’s work available. Thomas is often credited with Jean Ray and Franz Hellens as a pillar of Belgium weird fiction and as part of the golden age of Belgium fantastique fiction. He wrote over 300 short stories in his lifetime, most being either fantasy or weird fiction.
Check out this article by his translator, Edward Gauvin, to find more of his fiction in english:
ZACHARY T. OWEN is the author of BEAUTIES IN THE DEEP and BURN DOWN THE HOUSE AND EVERYONE IN IT. His work has been featured in many print and online magazines. Sometimes he uses a pen name. He is a resident of Pennsylvania. He grew up on Sega Genesis and horror films.
John Jasper Owens’ writing can be found in several anthologies available through Amazon.com, including Day Terrors and the Mystery Times 10. He has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize for fiction.
John Jasper Owens says “if you like these stories, Google me or enter my full name in Amazon. I’m around, in bits and pieces. Do try my story “Lord Braugh’s Dessert” at Bard and Sages Quarterly.
Nicholas Ozment has tackled genre fiction, poetry, non-fiction, and even movie reviews! His story, “The Only Difference Between Men and Boys” aired on Every Day Fiction, and he is the author of Knight Terrors, The (Mis)Adventures of Smoke the Dragon.
Jon Padgett is a professional–though lapsed–ventriloquist who lives in New Orleans with his spouse, their daughter, and a rescue dog and cat. He is the Editor-In-Chief of Vastarien: A Literary Journal, a source of critical study and creative response to the work of Thomas Ligotti as well as associated authors and ideas. Padgett’s first short story collection, The Secret of Ventriloquism, was named the Best Fiction Book of 2016 by Rue Morgue Magazine.
He has work out or forthcoming in Weird Fiction Review, PseudoPod, Lovecraft eZine, Xnoybis, and the anthologies A Walk on the Weird Side, Wound of Wounds, Phantasm/Chimera, For Mortal Things Unsung, and Ashes and Entropy.
CHRISTA PAGLIEI lives in Brooklyn, New York where she writes and works in Television as a Producer’s assistant. Her work has appeared in Fictionvale, Strangelet Journal, InstaGatorZine, and more. When she’s not working she enjoys riding her bicycle, listening to Rock N’ Roll, haunting Flea Markets, and anything that’s a little creepy. Her first feature film Now/Here, on which she was was a co-screenwriter and producer, is set to premier at festivals this year. You can follow her on her webpage: ChristaPagliei.
Suzanne Palmer is a writer, artist, and professional linux administrator who lives in western Massachusetts. Previous work of hers has appeared in Asimov’s and Analog. Her story “Ten Poems for the Mossums, One for the Man” was a Eugie Award finalist, and her Clarkesworld story “The Secret Life of Bots” won the 2018 Hugo Award for Best Novelette.