And the Contest Judges Are . . .

Maria E. Schneider, author of the Sedona O'Hala mysteries, Executive Lunch and Executive Retention. Maria Schneider grew up in New Mexico where the desert environment required that she embellish the landscape with her imagination. After working in the computer industry for twelve years, she decided technology moved too slowly, and again put her imagination to work, creating messes and then inventing characters to handle all the clean up. Her stories have appeared in Coyote Wild Magazine, Dunesteef.com, TownDrunkMag.com and ClonePod.org. She currently resides near Austin, Texas where she is working on an urban fantasy novel due out this year. Check out Maria's other works on her Amazon Author Page and read her fun blog, Bear Mountain Books.

Misha Crews, author of Homesong, which was a finalist for the Bronte Prize in Romantic Fiction, and the recently released, Still Waters. Misha Crews was born in Charlottesville, Virginia and has lived in and around DC all of her life. Raised in a family of book lovers, her mother first encouraged Misha to read by offering to pay her two cents per page of Hop on Pop, by Dr. Seuss. At first she was happy just to be raking in the cash, but before long she traded the pennies for the riches of the written word, and since that time she’s seldom been seen without a book in her hand, in front of her nose, or at the very least in her purse! You can learn more about Misha and read some of her short stories at her website, Misha Crews

Thank you to both Maria and Misha for agreeing to judge this latest short story contest. And don't forget that CONTEST DEADLINE: AUGUST 31st. Get your stories in today! See contest rules in yesterday's post.