Ellen Thompson McCloud was raised in the beautiful mountains of southern West Virginia in Logan County. The backdrop of mountainous terrain, clear streams, wildlife, and deep woods inspires her writing themes. An avid outdoors woman, Ellen enjoys everything that West Virginia has to offer in Mother Nature's playground. Ellen discovered her love of reading at a very young age. Fascinated by the classic works of Bram Stoker, Edgar Allen Poe, and Mary Shelley, she knew horror and dark genre was her passion. Today she explores every creaking door, shadow figure in the window, and all things that lurk in one's state of fear or dread. She loves horror movies, books, and writes to "comfort the disturbed people in her life . . . and make the comfortable people feel very disturbed." Having been published in several anthologies, Ellen has also cowritten two collections, which are Shadows and Mountains: Tales from the Dark Heart of Appalachia and Angels of Appalachia: Celestial Tales of Dark and Light. Future short stories are under consideration, and Ellen is currently working on a full-length horror novel. She lives in southern West Virginia with her family and a host of pets. Follow Ellen on Facebook, www.facebook.com/candyo121, or check out her website, ellenthompsonmccloud.com. Lesa Pascavis Smith lives in West Virginia and often draws inspiration for her stories from the Appalachian hills and hollows rich with mystery and intrigue. Lesa wrote her first ghost story at the tender age of seven and now gravitates toward the darker side of writing, often weaving spiritual and supernatural elements throughout the pages. Lesa's works have been featured in the Were-Traveler e-zine-"The Revenge of the Combine Killer," to be in the upcoming Redneck Zombies of Outer Space, edited by Jonathan Maberry-and she had stories featured in Bones I, II and III, edited by James Ward Kirk. Lesa's latest work, Unclaimed, is included in the Chilling Ghost Short Stories Gothic and Fantasy Series by Flame Tree Publishing, UK. It is scheduled for world-wide release in September, 2015. She has also co-written a collection of stories, Angels of Appalachia: a celestial collection of darkness and light. Want to see what else Lesa is up to? Visit her website, www.dyingtowrite.weebly.com or visit her on her Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/dyingtowrite
