Presenters and Faculty
for the 2025 Chanticleer Authors Conference
April 3 – 6, 2025 in Bellingham, WA
We are thrilled to announce our line-up of experts in marketing, book publicity, publishing, and advanced writing craft for the 2025 Chanticleer Authors Conference!
We will be updating this page with speaker and session info when confirmed.
Please check back often! All information subject to change.
J. D. BARKER- Int’l Bestselling Thriller Author
J.D. Barker is the New York Times and international best-selling author of numerous novels, including DRACUL and the wildly popular 4MK series. He is currently collaborating with James Patterson. His books have been translated into two dozen languages, sold in more than 150 countries, and optioned for both film and television. Barker resides in coastal New Hampshire with his wife, Dayna, and their daughter, Ember.
CHRISTINE FAIRCHILD – Author, Book Doctor, and Dialogue Expert
Christine Fairchild offers 35+ years experience as a writer, editor, and book doctor. She’s conducted celebrity interviews (XFiles, SciFiMall.com), edited for technical giants (Microsoft, Hitachi), and served as a marketing/readability specialist for consumer products (DHL, Cingular, AT&T). She now specializes in Suspense fiction and helps authors take their work, and their career, to the next level through her online workshops, classes at conferences and one-on-one book-doctoring of clients’ novels. She also writes suspense and historical fiction, so she understands the challenges authors face in their craft and the publishing industry.
BROOKE WARNER – CEO of She Writes Press and Writing Coach
Brooke Warner is publisher of She Writes Press and SparkPress, president of Warner Coaching Inc., and author of Write On, Sisters!, Green-light Your Book, What’s Your Book?, and three books on memoir. Brooke is a TEDx speaker, weekly podcaster (of “Write-minded” with co-host Grant Faulkner of NaNoWriMo), and publishes a weekly newsletter, Writerly Things, on Substack at brookewarner.substack.com. Brooke is the former Executive Editor of Seal Press and writes a regular column for Publishers Weekly.
KIM HORNSBY – USA Today Bestselling Author, Producer, and Screenwriter
Kim Hornsby is a USA Today Bestselling Author and Produced Screenwriter known for adapting her novels to screenplays. With 16 novels and as many screenplays Kim is also a movie producer, with Braving Rapids, a Family Adventure and Secret Life of My Other Wife, a Lifetime Thriller slated to release early ’25. Comfort & Joy starts filming for a Christmas ’25 release as well as Christmas in Crystal Creek. She teaches her method of adapting from book to film at conferences nationally including Chanticleer, the RWA and PNWA. Her Christmas Romance novels and Suspense Mystery novels have sold over half a million books and she’s thrilled write happy-ending stories for her readers.
A mother, dog owner, kayaker, painter, and avid adventurer, Kim loves to travel but when home she writes from a desk overlooking her forested acreage on an island off Seattle conjuring up entertainment with gutsy heroines amongst diverse and inclusive characters to represent real life.
REENITA MALHOTRA HORA – Podcaster & Broadcast Journalist & Contributor
Reenita Malhotra Hora is the CEO of Chapter by Episode Productions. She has years of experience growing organizations from startups to medium-sized businesses through storytelling, creative marketing and business strategy. Hora has also written seven books.
She has contributed to Reuters, the South China Morning Post family section, the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, CNN, Asian Investor, Times of India, Business Line, Bloomberg on-air news reporter, writer, and producer, Rolling Stone, and the Economic Times.
TIM FACCIOLA – Overall Grand Prize Award Winning Fantasy Author, Community Builder, and Author Coach
Tim Facciola is the multi-award winning author of the A Vengeful Realm trilogy. With blue ribbons for the Ozma Award for Fantasy Fiction and the Chanticleer International Best Book of 2023, he continues to write hopeful epic fantasy stories.
When he’s not writing his own stories, he serves a budding community of other fantasy writers as an author coach, helping them to plan, craft, and edit their stories so they can realize their publishing dreams.
JOHN DEDAKIS – News Editor, Writing Coach, and Editor
Award-winning novelist, writing coach, and manuscript editor John DeDakis (dee-DAY-kiss) is a former editor on CNN’s “The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer.” DeDakis is the author of six mystery-suspense-thriller novels. DeDakis, a former White House correspondent, regularly leads writing workshops at literary centers and writers’ conferences. He is also the host of the video podcast “One-to-One” on YouTube, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
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DIANE GARLAND – Your WorldKeeper – Continuity Senior Editor
Diane Garland and her editorial company Your WorldKeeper, specializes in the world of continuity. Multiple USA Today best-selling and award-winning authors in various genres rely on her system of cataloging and organizing the minutiae and rules of their story worlds. Growing up as an AF Brat, Diane traveled extensively as a child, which has fueled her passion for travel and reading. She graduated from Florida State University and is a life-long learner. She, along with her husband and two cats, have recently relocated to Columbus, Ohio from the Seattle, Washington area.
Join Diane at her sessions about the necessity, creation, and organization of a story bible along with pointers on maintaining and using it to take your author career to the next level.
GLEN DAHLGREN – Award Winning Author and Narrative Computer Game Writer
Glen Dahlgren is the award-winning author of the acclaimed young adult fantasy series, the Chronicles of Chaos, dubbed “what fantasy fiction should be” by New York Times bestselling author and fantasy legend Piers Anthony.
Books in this series won multiple Readers’ Favorite Gold Medals, American Fiction Awards, Independent Author Network Book of the Year Awards, and the Chanticleer Dante Rossetti Award.
Glen has also written, designed, directed, and produced critically-acclaimed, narrative-driven computer games for the last three decades. What’s more, he had the honor of creating original fantasy and science-fiction storylines that took established, world-class literary properties into interactive experiences. He collaborated with celebrated authors Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman (The Death Gate Cycle), Robert Jordan (The Wheel of Time – now a TV series from Amazon), Frederik Pohl (Heechee saga), Terry Brooks (Shannara), and Piers Anthony (Xanth) to bring their creations to the small screens. In addition, he crafted licensor-approved fiction for the Star Trek franchise as well as Stan Sakai’s epic graphic novel series, Usagi Yojimbo.
LISA SPICER – Producer, Editor, Writer
Lisa Spicer has worked in television, film, and video production for over 30 years as producer, writer, and editor. Starting in the documentary unit at KCTS/PBS Seattle, she worked there later on the Bill Nye the
Science Guy show, earning 3 Emmys. As an independent documentary producer, she has worked in Kenya, Mexico’s Lacandon rainforest, Northern Cheyenne and Lummi Indian reservations, Boulder, Seattle,
and Bellingham. Lisa has a BA in Broadcast Journalism and certificates in Filmmaking and Screenwriting (UW). Mid-career she earned an MA in Anthropology (WWU). Integrating anthropology into documentary, she
co-produced Homeless in Bellingham, an award-winning web series and documentary, and served as Consulting Anthropologist for the feature documentary, Cheech and Chong’s Last Movie. Recently
finishing an historical novel, Radio Smokva, she’s now writing about her back-to-the-land childhood and publishing a weekly series on Substack, Collective Effervescence: Research About the Counterculture.
JANET OAKLEY – Award-Winning Author and Historian, and Community Leader
J. L. Oakley writes historical fiction that spans the mid-19th century to WW II with characters standing up for something in their own time and place. She is an award-winning author and a recipient of the 2013 Bellingham Mayor’s Arts Award; the 2013 Chanticleer Grand Prize; the 2014 First Place Chaucer Award; an Everybody Reads and Bellingham. When not writing, she demonstrates 19th-century folkways in the schools and at San Juan Island National Park. She also has a cat who thinks she’s editing. Read pick and the 2015 WILLA Silver Award, Pulpwood Queen Book Club 2016 backlist pick for February 2016.
As a First in Category winner in the Goethe, Laramie, and Chatelaine Awards for Mist-chi-mas: A Novel of Captivity, the Chaucer Award for Timber Rose and The Jøssing Affair, the Hemingway Grand Prize Winner for The Quisling Factor and the OVERALL Grand Prize for her book, Tree Soldier.
STRIDER KLUSMAN – Award Winning Author and Host of the Author in the Headlights Podcast
An award winning, first place author of the Chanticleer International Book Awards, Strider began his writing career after twenty-five years as a fire fighter/EMT. The emotions and experiences of those calls carry themselves through every story, bringing true ‘been-there’ reality to the scenes.
With additional years as a business owner, general contractor, designer, wildland firefighter, big game guide, ski instructor, back packer and sword fighter, his wide range of knowledge is intricately woven throughout his stories.
To date, Strider has written YA (young adult), NA (New adult), and general fiction in the realm of: sci-fi western, light steampunk, dystopian (post apocalyptic), gaslight (early mechanism era) and just good fun reading.
M.C. BEELER – Kickstarter expert, Author, and Presenter
M.C. Beeler is a multi-genre author reigning from the good ole Midwest (go Bengals 🐅!). A proud Marquette University alumni, she enjoys spending her evenings spinning tales with talking animals and flying fairy-winged toads and whipping up bookish inspired cocktail recipes with whatever ingredients she can find on her bar cart.
Margaret enjoys sharing her experiences and has been seen speaking at a number of conferences across the country including, 20BooksVegas, Author Nation, and the Subscriptions for Authors Summit.
Tropetails: A Cocktail and Mocktail Recipe Book for Bookworms is her most recent release and award nominated work. She talks about her plans to develop this brand beyond the book in the upcoming podcast Beyond the Book by Michael Evans, which listeners can find here.
DAVID BEAUMIER – Communications and Marketing Manager at Chanticleer Book Reviews & Media and Literary Citizen
David has worked as an editor since 2013, and spent two years as the assistant publishing director at Village Books. His BA and MA in English both come from Western Washington University. He is proud to have worked for Chanticleer since 2020.
David’s focuses at Chanticleer are herding cats for the CIBAs, and managing Editorial Services, and running author events on The Roost! His favorite thing is being able to support authors in finding the services they need most to help their work thrive!
A writer in his own right, David tends to write fiction and poetry, specifically urban fantasy and modernized myths. His work has appeared in EWU’s Inroads, WWU’s Suffix, Whatcom Writes, Psaltery & Lyre, and Hamlit. He works as the the project manager for the biennial anthology The Writers’ Corner, and he now volunteers as an editor for HamLit. He has written reviews for Chanticleer Book Reviews, Village Books, and The Bellingham Review.
KIFFER BROWN – CEO and President of Chanticleer Int’l Book Awards
Kiffer is the founder of Chanticleer Book Reviews and International Writing Competitions, LLC. She also specializes in curating books with the potential to become fully actualized intellectual properties.
Her addiction is finding sparkling gems that will become tomorrow’s bestsellers. She is known for her instinct in picking winners. She also acts as an independent acquisitions editor for publishers and entertainment companies. Kiffer is known for her marketing talent and networking skills. She truly loves what she does and her passion shows!
Check back soon for more presenter and session announcements!
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Speakers and schedules are subject to change.
Please check back for most current listing.
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No refunds are available after Jan 30, 2024. However, credit for Chanticleer Services may be arranged. Please email KBrown@ChantiReviews.com for more information.