Worldbuilding Deep Dive Moderators Announced + Final Panel Schedule!

The official schedule for Infinite Horizons Storycrafting Sessions: Worldbuilding Deep Dive is here! Plus, meet the moderators and some of our awesome panelists! Remember, the event is February 20th!

Moderators

Dianna Gunn

Moderator of: Building Fictional Religions: Mythology and Ritual

Dianna Gunn is a freelance SEO writer, digital marketing consultant, indie author, podcast producer, and about 18 other things. She is dedicated to helping other indie authors navigate the complex world of business and marketing. To accomplish this, she published her first workbook, Branding for Fiction Authors, in 2019.

In 2021, Gunn launched the Author Marketing Club, a 100% free educational initiative for authors overwhelmed by marketing. She is also the founder of the Weeknight Writers group and main event organizer.

You can buy Dianna Gunn’s workbooks for authors and her first novel, Moonshadow’s Guardian on her Ko-fi store. Moonshadow’s Guardian is also available everywhere ebooks are sold.

Jade Benjamin

Moderator of: Hard vs Soft vs Hybrid: Creating Interesting and Effective Magic Systems and Conlang Development: Enriching Your Worldbuilding with New Words

Jade Benjamin is a Canadian writer and editor who is fiercely in love with language, words, and magical worlds. After acquiring a double undergraduate degree in English (and Environmental Sciences), a Postgraduate Certificate in Book Publishing, and interning as an Editorial Assistant at Fitzhenry and Whiteside Ltd. (Markham, Ontario) she discovered that finding a permanent paid position in Canadian traditional publishing was easier said than done. 

Jade now works as a freelance editor, fitting work for independent author clients around her 9-5 expenses-paying job. She has a penchant for collecting interesting names and a fondness for projects that expand her knowledge of story structure and use of evocative language. 

When she isn’t working, writing, or editing, Jade can be found reading, keeping up with an inordinate number of podcasts, adopting furry family members and contributing to Weeknight Writers events. 

Cait Gordon

Moderator of: Accessibility in Worldbuilding: Understanding How Disabled People Move Through Your World

Cait (pronounced like ‘cat’) Gordon is a Canadian disability advocate who writes speculative fiction that celebrates the reality of diversity. Originally from Verdun, Québec, Cait worked for over two decades as a technical writer, then channelled her love for words into storytelling.

She is the author of the humorous space adventures Life in the ’Cosm and The Stealth Lovers.

Her short stories appear in Alice Unbound Beyond Wonderland  (Ed. Colleen Anderson), We Shall Be Monsters (Ed. Derek Newman-Stille), and Stargazers: Microtales from the Cosmos (Eds. Paul Jarvey and Erin MacNab). The Hilltop Gathering from We Shall Be Monsters features a disabled protagonist and was discussed at a symposium about Frankenstein at Carleton University.

In 2016, Cait founded The Spoonie Authors Network to connect with writers in the disability community. Her desire to find better disabled and autistic representation in fiction prompted Cait to co-edit Nothing Without Us with Talia C. Johnson. The multi-genre anthology features authors and protagonists who are disabled, Deaf, neurodiverse, and/or they manage mental illness. Nothing Without Us was included in the syllabus of a disability studies course at Trent University and earned a 2020 Prix Aurora Award nomination.

Mato J. Steger

Moderator of: Elections vs Thrones: Writing Power, Class, and Government in Speculative Fiction

Mato J. Steger is an openly out and proud Queer and Anishinaabe (North American Indigenous) fantasy and sci-fi writer, who can’t resist making everything he touches a romance. He is proudly represented by Hannah VanVels of BelCastro Literary Agency.

Website: www.fantasyandcoffee.com
Twitter: www.twitter.com/jm_steger
Instagram: www.instagram.com/jm.steger

Steve Savage

Moderator of We Don’t Take Imperial Credits: Developing Economics, Currency and Trade in Speculative Fiction

Steve Savage writes extensively on how people can leverage their creativity in a variety of ways.  He’s most well known for the Way With World series of Worldbuidling books, an ever-growing collection of guides to coach people on creating fictional settings.  The series is currently at seventeen books and counting.

He is also writes the Avenoth series, about the adventures and misadventures of people in a solar system of sorcery, super-science, internet-using gods, and interplanetary demons.  The first book, A Bridge To The Quiet Planet was released in 2018, with the sequel, A School Of Many Futures arriving this year.

Find him at Steve’s website or his press site. He also maintains the random tools site Seventh Sanctum.

Look forward to more panelist announcements in the coming weeks!

Panel Schedule

All panels are on February 20th; all times are in EST.

10AM – 11AM: Building Fictional Religions: Mythology and Ritual – Sign up here!

11:30AM – 12:30PM: Accessibility in Worldbuilding: Understanding How Disabled Characters Move Through Your World – Sign Up Here!

1PM – 2PM: Hard vs Soft vs Hybrid: Creating Interesting and Effective Magic Systems – Sign Up Here!

2:30 – 3:30PM: Elections vs Thrones: Writing Class, Government and Power in Speculative Fiction – Sign Up Here!

4 – 5PM: We Don’t Take Imperial Credits: Developing Economics, Currency and Trade in Speculative Fiction – Sign Up Here!

5:30PM – 6:30PM: Conlang Development: Enriching Your Worldbuilding with New Words – Sign Up Here!

This event is 100% free, but you can support future events by leaving a tip on Ko-Fi. This money will be used to pay for hosting, marketing, and improved equipment.