Indie Know

Julia Goodwin is a New Adult Political Fantasy writer who writes novels like game of thrones but without the magic and the dragons. She is a stutterer who writes characters with a stutter. When she’s not writing you can find her auditioning for the musical theatre industry, reading or playing sims.

ALEXANDER grew up in the Metro Atlanta Area his entire life, moving from suburb to suburb, just on the outskirts of the city. He’s always had a passion for writing, even from a young age. He still lives on the cusp of Atlanta, with his husband and their pets. Alexander has penned five Young Adult novels, all revolving around the Atlanta area and enjoys bringing an underrepresented setting to life in imaginative and (sometimes) hilarious ways. When not crafting quality queer fiction, Alexander works for a local company in the service industry and enjoys running D&D campaigns for his friends.

Follow Alexander and his books: @alexunfiltered on X, AlexanderCEberhart on IG, and his website at www.alexanderceberhart.com

As a PR coach and publicist, Lilian is in the storytelling and relationship building business. She empowers authors to gain the confidence to push past limiting beliefs to learn how to build and launch successful PR campaigns.

Taylor Johnson lives in Austin, TX with her family and puppies. She has a Bachelor's degree in English and a Master's degree in Curriculum and Instruction. Taylor is obsessed with fantasy fiction, Greek mythology, reading stories and telling them.

Elizabeth Sophia Strauss (she/her) is a published essayist, poet, and playwright. She writes everything from political pieces to eclectic poetry, plays, and monologues. She has worked extensively as a producer and theatre-artist in New York City. A political and social justice activist. Co-Creator and Producer of the webinar series “Who Do We Have On Headset?” Elizabeth is a licensed Real Estate Advisor in New York City and the Founder & Producer of the Broadway Brokers Network. She has competed and coached golf professionally on Long Island and in New York City.

Dystopian Ink was started in May of 2020 as a group on Facebook for lovers of the dystopian fiction genre. It has since expanded to multiple social media platforms in order reach and connect with more dystopian fans. Readers, writers, and authors discuss this genre in-depth and share book recommendations. Our aim is to provide quality content, entertain, and continue the conversation about this genre as it relates to fiction.

Guests of Dystopian Ink on the podcast include:

Danielle Harrington is a high school chemistry teacher with a passion for the pen and a knack for storytelling. She got her undergraduate degree in Chemistry at Biola University, and although she's a hardcore science nerd, she's always been a lover of the arts.

She grew up acting and singing and has turned her love for drama into writing. Danielle lives vicariously through her characters and considers it great fun because she "gets to play all the parts".

Danielle lives in LA with her husband, Steven, and two cats, Moose and Turtle. She is working on a four book young adult dystopian fiction series, and she's beyond thrilled to be launching her debut novel, THE DISEASED ONES, through Acorn Publishing.

Skye Horn is the author of the best-selling YA Fantasy Romance series, Kingdoms of Faerie, who is obsessed with telling stories full of magic, myth, and legends. She lives in the mountains of California with her husband and two fur-babies, and enjoys the beautiful, quiet mountain escape for writing. Skye hopes to inspire a new generation of young writers to follow their dreams. Earlier this year, she completed the forth and final novel in her debut series, available on Amazon now!

S. Elizabeth Cook is a true romantic and poet native to Kentucky. Stumbling from coffee shop to tavern, to the edge of boulders and shorelines, she scribbles poems and haikus on napkins and forgotten scraps of paper. S. Elizabeth began her poetic journey by posting photographs of her works on social media, and continues a daily haiku project.

Bethany Stutsman lives in Arizona with her cats Indy and Sherlock. She lives for Halloween, enjoys watching scary movies and drinks a startling amount of coffee. Her passion for spooky tales started at a young age when her brothers would tell her ghost stories while they traveled across country in the family RV.
Her tales center on the monster in your closet and are sure leave you looking behind your shoulder.

Laura John is a contemporary romance author with a love for music. She lives in Alberta, Canada with her husband, two kids, and one loveable fur-baby. She loves karaoke, makeup, and of course a good glass of wine. She mixes her love of words with her love of music and hopes to transport you into a world you don't want to leave.

*Content Warning for Episode: There is very little mention or use of anything explicit within the episode itself, but due to the nature of this artist’s work, we felt it was best to include a content warning. Enjoy!*

Born in Nashville, Tennessee to a conservative, single-mother home, Vera's exposure to a limited worldview remained constant throughout his childhood. After settling in Cadiz, Kentucky where homophobic bullies, rich White kids, and right-wing Christian values surrounded him, he aspired to become an artist to explore his differences with such values. However, moving only 30 minutes away to pursue an undergraduate degree in drawing didn't provide much variety; instead, Murray State University equipped him with the confidence and competence to continue his pursuit as a professional artist. From there he was fortunate to travel to Barcelona, Spain where self-acceptance of his sexuality and achieving dreams came to fruition. Now, after obtaining his graduate degree in visual art and design, Vera's work is grounded in the pursuit of understanding desire through curiously exploring different methods of art making–ranging from drawing and silkscreening to archiving and collaging. The University of Nevada, Reno emboldened Vera to hone his voice as an artist to not only understand his own privilege but to question and challenge worldview perspectives.

Valena D'Angelis is an epic fantasy author who spends too much time world-building and making maps. In the real world, they are a cyber security researcher and D&D is their drug.

Eilidh Miller FSA Scot, has a BA in English and studied history as an undeclared minor to better inform her literature studies. A long-time historical reenactor, Eilidh loves research and educating the general public about historical events, as well as entertaining them with tidbits no one would believe if they weren't documented. She extends this same energy to her work, extensively researching the historical periods she includes in her writing to ensure that the information she presents is correct, even going so far as to travel internationally to access archives and scout locations.

Rebecca Caffery is a BA Politics graduate and enthusiast, who can always be found curled up reading somewhere when she isn’t working on a new novel idea. She grew up in Birmingham, UK, where she’s been writing since the age of fourteen. It wasn’t, however, until she moved to Canada for a year that she found her voice and passion writing again and was inspired to write Cherrington Academy.

Outside of the writing and reading world she is a Netflix addict and loves to watch anything with a heart wrenching romance plot, just like the books she writes. Cherrington Academy is her debut book.

Where else to find her?

Twitter – @BeckaWrites

AJ Mullican is the author of self-published bestseller Whispers of Death, a psychosexual supernatural thriller, and Abnormal, the first in a series of sci-fi/dystopian novels, published by RhetAskew Publishing. The second in the series, Escaping the Light, is due out March 23, 2021.

AJ is also a contributing author in the international bestsellers Hexes and Handcuffs: A Limited Edition Collection of Supernatural Prison Stories and Askew Ever After: A Contemporary Romance Collection and international and USA Today bestseller Wicked Souls: A Limited Edition Reverse Harem Romance Collection.

After dipping into romance, AJ threw herself into a collection of paranormal romance novellas, The Mage Asylum Trilogy: Palmore’s Home for Wayward Mages Paranormal Romance Collection. Her new paranormal romance series, Bargains Struck, a trilogy of standalone shared-universe reverse harem novels, is now live, with a follow-up trilogy due out in 2021 (now available for preorder!).

When not writing, AJ can be found fencing with live (though blunted) steel swords and participating in historical reenactment (pre-1600). Embroidery is her other passion (when she’s not writing), and she is nearly entirely self-taught from Pinterest tutorials. She lives in southern Arizona with her husband and two cats, Rory and River. AJ also enjoys dabbling in cosplay and can often be found at signings or conventions dressed up to display her nerdery for all to see–when there’s not a global pandemic to deal with, of course.

Tanya Ross was born and raised in San Diego County, her “happy place.” Although Southern California is a particular kind of paradise, she desires a world where everyone is kind, compassionate, and upbeat, which became one of the themes of her new novel, Rising Up. 

For thirty-two years she was an educator of English, history, AVID, and student leadership.  She loves teaching and kids, her students a daily inspiration. Her exit from the educational arena allowed her to indulge her hopes, dreams, and goals in what she taught for so many years--writing. This first novel begins her lifelong dream of writing meaningful novels for young adults. When she’s not creating new worlds, you can find her reading, spending time with her husband and two kids, or walking her golden retriever, Honey.

Brenna is a freelance editor and consultant who thrives in the area of helping fellow indie authors take their book to the next level. She loves working on stories because she believes in the power of words. Stories can change lives and create magic. Her goal in editing is to help authors maximize the impact of their writing in a positive way.

She believe in pursuing knowledge and education on an ongoing basis, and she strive for excellence in all of my services. She is a qualified professional editor with three years of experience in her own business, and also works with multiple editor teams to help authors achieve their goals. For example, she had the pleasure of helping an author become an Amazon bestseller.

JM Buckler has been featured in top media including ABC, NBC, and Fox. She is the award-winning author of Seeker of Time, Stillness of Time, and Passage of Time, young adult fantasy-fiction books which have received praise from the likes of Kirkus Reviews and which have been best-selling young adult books on Amazon. Game-changers in the young adult marketplace, Buckler’s novels combine electric storytelling with deep spiritual lessons and meaningful takeaway on how to cope with life’s hardships – addressing everything from betrayal and heartbreak, to violence and death.

Buckler offers writing-based programs to diverse audiences – teaching how to use the power of the pen to reshape and reclaim one’s life, as Buckler did when she began her own writing journey: After years of drifting through life, feeling insecure and lacking a sense of meaning or purpose – always trying to be the image and fill role that others held out for her – Buckler took a leap of faith and walked out on the person she was supposed to be, instead diving into the world of her imaginary characters. Through developing their lives, Buckler discovered that she cultivated her own – ultimately finding her calling and passion, transforming her reality, and emerging a grounded and confident young woman.