Columbus Metropolitan Library hosts engaging national authors for talks, readings and discussions.

Ask questions and live chat with the guests from your computer or mobile device.

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Three of Ohio’s most creative and dynamic writers of speculative fiction for this exciting panel.

The authors will discuss their current and back catalog of books, talk about being a writer based in Ohio and answer audience questions.

Panel is moderated by Jennifer Neruda from Columbus Metropolitan Library's Hilliard Branch.

📷Matt Betts is an author, poet and former radio personality.

His work includes science fiction novels including the critically recognized adventure Odd Men Out and its sequel Red Gear 9; an  urban fantasy Indelible Ink;  the giant monster vs. giant robot book The Shadow Beneath the Waves; and the cryptid horror tale White Anvil: Sasquatch Onslaught.

Matt’s poetry has been published in numerous venues, and his poem “Godzilla’s Better Half” was nominated for a Rhysling Award, the Science Fiction Poetry Association’s highest honor.

📷Leanna Renee Hieber is an actress, playwright and the author of 13 gothic, gaslamp fantasy novels for adults and teens including the Strangely Beautiful saga, the Magic Most Foul trilogy and #1 bestselling The Spectral City series.

She lectures on Gothic fiction and ghostly themes and her forthcoming book, A Haunted History of Invisible Women, focuses on haunted house and ghost stories centered on women's narratives.

Leanna tours the country in a one-woman theatrical presentation about the 19th century designer Clara Driscoll.

📷E.F. Schraeder is an ethicist, poet, and speculative fiction writer. Dr. Schraeder is the author of Liar: Memoir of a Haunting (2021) and Ghastly Tales of Gaiety and Greed: Unauthorized and Haunted Cedar Point (2020), and two poetry chapbooks.

A former philosophy professor, Schraeder holds an interdisciplinary Ph.D. emphasizing applied ethics. Schraeder’s current projects include a queer monster’s coming of age novella and a full-length manuscript of poems.

Speculative Fiction Superstars: Ohioana Book Festival