Candi Cooper-Towler, Editor

Candi Cooper-Towler was raised in the desert of Southern Nevada and now lives in the high desert of Colorado. She has been writing haiku seriously for about five years and finds the short form a perfect fit for her minimalist style.She is accompanied by her novelist husband as well as a horse, three cats, and a dog. She is a spectacularly fast reader.

Collette Fisher, Associate Editor

Collette Fisher grew up on a farm in eastern Iowa, got degrees from Michigan State University (German and math) and University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (library science). She worked in the library of the chancery office of the Archdiocese of Freiburg, Germany for 41 years, and lives with her husband in Titisee-Neustadt, Germany. She has published "Blue Sunset", inspired by Spoon River Anthology and The Martian Chronicles, electronically and has had stories published in Fiction River, Pulphouse, Penumbric Speculative Fiction, Alien Dimensions, 4 Star Stories, Fabula Argentea, The Lorelei Signal, Dark Horses, Wyldblood Magazine, and other magazines and anthologies.

Minta Monroe, Associate Editor

Minta Monroe writes darker fantasy, particularly involving the occult or supernatural. She is the author of The Mound Dwellers and several collections of short stories. In addition to fantasy, she writes science fiction and mystery under other pen names. Please visit her publisher at dmkregpublishing.com for more information about her work.

Bonnie Ramthun, Associate Editor

Bonnie Ramthun is a Colorado mom, wife, and novelist. Her novels for adults include the detective Eileen Reed mystery series of Ground Zero, Earthquake Games, and The Thirteenth Skull. Her middle grade mystery series includes The White Gates, Roscoe, and Haunted Waters. The White Gates, published by Random House, was a Junior Library Guild Premiere selection and a finalist for the Missouri Truman Award. She is a former chapter president of Mystery Writers of America, a member of Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers, and a former war gamer for the Department of Defense.

Lesley L. Smith, Editor

Lesley L. Smith has a Ph.D. in Elementary Particle Physics and is the author or coauthor of many scientific articles. She also has an M.F.A. in Creative Writing and her speculative short fiction has appeared in a variety of venues including Analog Science Fiction and Fact, Daily Science Fiction, numerous anthologies and Fiction River. She's published several science fiction series and novels, including The Quantum Cop Series, The Space Operetta Series, Kat Cubed, Temporal Dreams, and Conservation of Luck. Lesley is an active member of Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers and the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association.

Grayson Towler, Editor

Grayson Towler is the author of The Dragon Waking (Albert Whitman & Co., 2016), along with many published works of short fiction. He is an editor of speculative fiction for ElectricSpec magazine (electricspec.com), and is a marketing writer and editor of non-fiction for Sounds True. He is also an illustrator, and writes and illustrates the urban fantasy comic, Thunderstruck (talesfromthevault.com). He and his wife, Candi, live in a house owned by two relatively benevolent cats in Longmont, Colorado.

To learn more, visit graysontowler.com.

Chris Devlin, Copy Editor

Chris Devlin is a writer, blogger and copy editor. She runs Devlin Author Services, a full-service writer support agency. She's the Contest Chair for Rocky Mountain Fiction Writer's Colorado Gold contest and has years of experience as a copy editor and critique group moderator. Her Young Adult speculative fiction novel, St. Vitus Academy Book One: The Lazarus Rock, finaled in the Pikes Peak Contest 2012.

Nikki Baird, Emeritus Editor

Nikki Baird writes science fiction, fantasy, and horror, both long and short form. Her short horror story, "Devastation Mine" was published as part of the anthology Broken Links, Mended Lives, which was nominated for a Colorado Book Award. She has been a finalist in the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers' Colorado Gold contest for the two years in the Speculative Fiction category, and is a regular contributor to Littleton Writers Critique Group, an open critique group in southwest Denver. She is currently trying to place her second fantasy novel with a publisher.

Betsy Dornbusch, Emeritus Editor

Betsy Dornbusch lives with her family in Colorado. Her short fiction has appeared in print and online publications, including Spinetingler, Big Pulp, Sinister Tales, and Thuglit and the anthologies Deadly by the Dozen, Tasty Little Tales, UF Manifesto, and Neverland's Library. She wrote three books under a pseudonym with Whiskey Creek Press. The first book of her new urban fantasy series, Sentinel: Archive of Fire, was released by Whiskey Creek Press in 2011, under her own name. Her epic fantasy trilogy, Books of the Seven Eyes: Exile, Emissary, and Enemy launched in 2013. Besides writing speculative fiction, she enjoys snowboarding, going to punk rock concerts, and pretending to be a soccer mom. (Nobody's buying the soccer mom bit, though.) When reading for Electric Spec, she was on the lookout for dark twists of fate, character, and emotion.

Her online home is at http://betsydornbusch.com, better known as Sex Scenes at Starbucks.

David E. Hughes, Emeritus Editor

David E. Hughes has published numerous short stories in a variety of magazines. He's a co-founder and was co-editor of Electric Spec and a member of Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers. He's currently looking for a publisher for his third novel, an urban fantasy.

Lauren Slawson, Emeritus Associate Editor

Lauren Slawson is a world traveler who believes that sometimes the best vacation is a well-written book. She is a writer, reader, and editor, and before launching her own editorial business in 2018, she worked in the production and editorial departments at Sounds True Publishing for many years. She has worked with authors at every stage of success and enjoys helping them grow.

Thank you to Betsy, Dave and the rest of the Emeritus Electric Spec Editors!