Alex Rath is a best-selling science fiction and post-apocalyptic novelist, currently residing in Columbia, South Carolina, with his wife and elite gymnast daughter. With works published in the Four Horsemen Universe, This Fallen World, and the Salvage Title universe, Rath now has spread out with his own Colonization Science Fiction with the Terran Space Project, starting with Seeds of Terra. By day, Rath is an IT professional and has been for more than 30+ years. He has worked as a programmer/developer, webmaster, information security specialist and solutions design specialist. He has worked for large companies such as AOL and TD Bank. This background allows him to incorporate some technical savvy into his stories, while his experience interacting with non-technical customers allows him to do so in a way that isn't confusing or 'too technical' for a layperson to understand. Having grown up in Goldsboro, North Carolina, close enough to Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, where his father was stationed to see F-4's and B-52's flying over on a regular basis, Rath grew up with a love of the military. That continues to his writing where he includes a military element to almost everything he writes, with a focus on getting it right.

The South Carolina Writers Association will host its annual conference, 2024 Storyfest, Sept. 27 through 29 in Columbia, featuring more than a dozen acclaimed authors, agents and editors.

The event, to be held at the DoubleTree by Hilton, will include talks and classes by writers from South Carolina, Georgia, California and New York, including Lynn Cullen, national bestselling author of “The Woman with a Cure” and “Mrs. Poe;” Grady Hendrix, screenwriter and author of “How to Sell a Haunted House” and “The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires;” and Tiffany Yates Martin, author of six novels and the how-to book “Intuitive Editing: A Creative and Practical Guide to Revising Your Writing.”

Other features of 2024 Storyfest will be masterclasses, free talks, panels and keynotes addresses, manuscript critiques, craft classes, and meetings with sought-after editors and agents, including Andrew Geyer, the award-winning author or co-author of 10 books and editor of SCWA’s literary journal, The Petigru Review.

Other speakers include award-winning South Carolina novelist and short story writer Scott Gould; Southern Indie Bookstore bestselling author Mindy Friddle; Columbia poet laureate Jennifer Bartell Boykin; New York Times noteworthy author Cinelle Barnes; military science fiction and post-apocalyptic writer Alex Rath; and screenwriter and producer Alan Roth, a winner of the prestigious Nicholl Fellowship Award in Screenwriting.

Some of the South’s top publishers also will attend, including Arcadia Publishing, Palmetto Publishing and the University of South Carolina Press.

Registration is open with early bird registration fees for the full three-day conference of $250 for members and $325 for nonmembers; those fees will increase by $30 on June 16, so register early to save! Student registration for the full conference is $140. A one-day ticket for SATURDAY SESSIONS ONLY is available for $195. Masterclasses, manuscript critiques and query pitches will be available for additional charges as add-ons to your registration. For full details go to 2024 Storyfest. If you are not a member of SCWA, join now to enjoy the member rate for Storyfest along with other SCWA benefits. Membership is $75 annually; go to Join Us. (Be sure to renew if you haven't already!)

The hotel rate is $169 (plus taxes and fees) for 1 king or 2 queen beds. For reservation information, go to the 2024 Storyfest main page.

Lisa Harrison (right) and Brenda Gardner will present the Author's Toolbox at 7 p.m. Oct. 18, on "How to Connect with Book Clubs and Readers."

Brenda Gardner and Lisa Harrison are co-hosts of the Friends and Fiction Official Book Club with Brenda and Lisa with more than 33,000 members on Facebook, as well as followers on Instagram and YouTube. From monthly book discussions with authors, the book club has grown to include quarterly Happy Hours with rockstar librarian Ron Block (also the Friends and Fiction podcast host), a reading challenge with monthly reading prompts, Saturday giveaways, pop-up author interviews, book events, and more.

How did two book lovers who didn’t know each other make this journey, and what tips do they have to help you market your book and connect with book clubs and readers? Join us for this Author’s Toolbox to find out!

Brenda Gardner has been a lover of books and libraries since childhood. She was a journalism undergraduate and worked in newspapers and freelance writing before shifting to public relations, grant writing, and local government administration. She has a Master of Public Administration and now works to improve the future workforce pipeline. She is a regular book festival attendee and has presented at the virtual Epigraph Literary Festival. You can follow her on Instagram @Brendabythebook.

Lisa Harrison is currently a marketing and social media professional, a correspondent for NiceGirlsTV, an actor and voiceover artist who received a BA in theatre arts from Georgia Southern University with a minor in Spanish. She enjoys attending book festivals, fan conventions and is a regular panelist at DragonCon for the Urban Fantasy, Horror, and American Science Fiction and Fantasy Media tracks. She is a member of the Atlanta Writers Club, the Broadleaf Writers Association and is currently writing her first novel. You can keep up with Lisa on Instagram @LisaGetsLit.

Anthea Sharp's Author's Toolbox, Nov. 12: Kickstarter for Authors: How Writers Can Find New Readers and Flourish With Crowdfunding

Anthea Sharp is the author of the USA Today bestselling Feyland series as well as several other series, lots of short fiction and the nonfiction book Kickstarter for Authors. A longtime indie author, and a Kickstarter platform pro, Sharp has successfully created nine book project campaigns on Kickstarter, funding nearly $100,000. She's excited about the possibilities Kickstarter opens up for authors and loves talking with other writers about how to build and launch a successful book campaign. In addition, she's the founder of the Kickstarter for Authors group on Facebook, which is generally regarded as the best place for writers to go to learn more about creating and running a book campaign on Kickstarter.