Vastarien: A Literary Journal Vol. 3, Issue 1

Jon Padgett is the owner and operator of Grimscribe Press and is Co-Editor-In-Chief of the This Is Horror Award Winning publication, Vastarien: A Literary Journal, a source of critical study and creative response to the work of Thomas Ligotti. 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, and the anthologies Mannequin: Tales of Wood Made Flesh, Ashes & Entropy, 32 White Horses on a Vermillion Hill, Volume 2, A Walk on the Weird Side, Wound of Wounds, Phantasm/Chimera, and For Mortal Things Unsung. His recent novelette, The Broker of Nightmares, was published by Nightscape Press. Padgett's 20 Simple Steps to Ventriloquism has been published as an illustrated chapbook by Tallhat Press and as an LP (narrated by Padgett) by Cadabra Records. Late in 2019, Nightscape Press will release a deluxe, fully illustrated box set called Secret Gateways, which includes new, expanded editions of Padgett's The Secret of Ventriloquism, Matthew M. Bartlett's Gateways to Abomination, and a third collection entitled The Latham Fielding Liaison, with stories written in collaboration by the two authors. Padgett is a professional-though lapsed-ventriloquist who lives in New Orleans with his spouse, their daughter, and a rescue dog and cat.

Matt Cardin is a writer, editor, musician, and college professor and administrator living in North Texas. With a Ph.D. in leadership and a master's degree in religious studies, he focuses frequently on the intersection of religion, horror, art, and creativity. His books include the weird and cosmic horror fiction collections To Rouse Leviathan (2019), described by Thomas Ligotti as "a breviary of gruesome mysteries" that is "a worthy descendant of a distinguished line of supernatural horror"; Dark Awakenings (2010), which Publishers Weekly praised as a "thinking-man's book of the macabre" with "unusual philosophic depth"; Divinations of the Deep (2002), which launched the New Century Macabre fiction imprint for Ash-Tree Press. He also wrote the free ebook A Course in Demonic Creativity (2011). His editorial projects include Horror Literature through History: An Encyclopedia of the Stories That Speak to Our Deepest Fears (2017), Ghosts, Spirits, and Psychics: The Paranormal from Alchemy to Zombies (2015), and Mummies around the World: An Encyclopedia of Mummies in Religion, History, and Popular Culture (2014). In 2015 he received a World Fantasy Award nomination for editing Born to Fear: Interviews with Thomas Ligotti. He is also co-editor of the literary horror journal Vastarien.

Michael Cisco (born October 13, 1970) is an American writer, Deleuzian academic, teacher, and translator currently living in New York City. He is best known for his first novel, The Divinity Student, winner of the International Horror Guild Award for Best First Novel of 1999.