You’ve seen the Phoenix Fire blurbs, now it’s time to meet their authors!
Natalie Rivener
You already know me but, who knows, maybe you’ve never read my bio before…
If Natalie had been born a few odd centuries earlier, she would have been burned as a witch. Her nonconformity has branded her as not-a-sheep and she loves exploring new things without caring too much about what others may think.
She currently spends most of her time running after her two kids but she’s really a Jill of all trades…everything from sewing to pole dancing to painting to calligraphy to baking has taken up her time, but her favourite remains writing.
She lives with her husband, two children, cat and tarantula in a quiet part of Gauteng, South Africa.
Connect with Natalie Rivener:
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Natalie-Rivener-writer/103681193158365
Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/Siygrah
Smashwords:
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/TheRivener
Ann-Elize de Ridder
Ann-Elize de Ridder completed her BA Honours degree in 2005 at The University of Pretoria. She lives with her husband, dog and cat in Pretoria where they keep company with Pratchett, Gaiman, Coelho, King, Feist, Shakespeare and others. She is a teacher and a true believer in the unlimited potential of the human mind. Having the opportunity to work with learners with ASD has given her an interesting perspective on the human condition.
After a near brush with world domination, she decided to down scale to a quiet life of chaos and magic. Granted, that last part is not entirely accurate, but as a LARPER, imagination is the limit of possibility.
She is grateful to her mother who gave her a love for reading and introduced her to fantasy and horror writers from a young age, and to her husband who supports her reading habits.
This will be her first publication. It is dedicated to the people and the families of those on the Autistic spectrum. May they find their voices.
Richard T Wheeler
Richard T. Wheeler is the author of The Kobold who Breathed Fire in the Phoenix Fire anthology, Guardian Angel in the Flight of the Phoenix anthology and A Girl Called Storm in the STORM anthology of short stories, and the co-author for the Sanguinem Emere universe of Gaslight Vamp novels. Richard holds a BA Degree in English Language
and Literature (with a specialisation in Creative Writing), the content of which he disregards in the creative process. He aims to liberate writers from their day jobs at Dauntlesswriting.com.
Connect with Richard T Wheeler:
Websites:
http://www.richardtwheeler.com/
http://www.dauntlesswriting.com/
http://www.sanguinememere.com/
Smashwords:
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/RichardTWheeler
Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6456004.Richard_T_Wheeler
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/richardtwheelerauthor
Rob McShane
“Building a life is similar to writing a successful story,” Rob says. “The plot, characters and action must flow together and it takes a team effort. As with writing a story, you
cannot do it alone.”
He should know, he has lived several different lives shared with various characters, and written many stories on his journey: novels (The MageStaff), poetry (regularly on his blog, The Wayward Warrior, and published in several chapbooks), short stories, songs and music. Thrilled to be accepted as part of Phoenix Fire he has also been recently accepted by the AVBOB Poetry Competition and regularly finds success amongst his worldwide blog readership.
Connect with Rob McShane:
Website:
https://robmcshane.wordpress.com/
Smashwords:
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/robmcshane
Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/robmcshane
Carmen Dominique Taxer
As a South African writer, Carmen understands the complexities of the human spirit and the urge to escap
e the ravages of newsworthy stories of cruelty and injustice. She spent her childhood dreaming about suave, eloquent strangers that could change the world, that could sweep the filth away and leave a gleaming, beautiful darkness behind them.
A daydreaming gothling, Carmen has always found beauty in the dark and hope in horror. Romance and love, twisted into the struggles and grit of reality, are the core of humanity. But horror doesn’t have to be ugly. At the centre of the horror genre lies a kernel of hope that explores the intricacies of the human psyche and its power to overcome suffering. She writes Dark Romance, Horror, and Erotica, and what she and her co-author and long-suffering husband, Richard T. Wheeler, have coined as Gaslight Vamp – a look at vampires through a fictionalised Victorian setting, ruled by vampires.
Carmen uses vampires to give voice to the struggles and successes of humanity, painting a portrait of the world that is both dark and beautifully highlighted with love conquering death above all else.
Connect with Carmen Dominique Taxer:
Websites:
http://www.sanguinememere.com/
Smashwords:
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/CDTaxer
Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/Orionangel
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/richardtwheelerauthor
Ryhen E Knight
Ryhen E Knight was born in Pretoria, 
South Africa in 1976. He received his doctorate degree in engineering in 2003 and has been working in the field of engineering since 2003, to pay for his addictions: travelling and coffee.
An engineer by trade and a writer at heart, he has a passion for history, dragons and Lego. Short stories are one of his preferred writing formats, but he has dabbled in poetry and travel writing. The dream is to publish a series of fantasy novels from his cottage in Scotland. He and his wife have two young squires that resemble sons and they live happily ever after in Pretoria.
Connect with Ryhen E Knight:
Facebook:
https://facebook.com/RyhenEKnight
Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/14050160.Ryhen_E_Knight
Minki Pool
Minki was born in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1985. It soon became apparent that she was the artistic type, and she found an outlet for her creativity in music, art and writing. She is a graphic and website designer by day, and a writer, corsetiere, horn player, and maker of things by night. She currently lives in Cape Town where she spends most of her time reading anything she can lay her hands on. She enjoys yoga and miscellaneous musings over a good cup of tea.
Connect with Minki Pool:
Website:
http://www.minkipool.com/
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/minkipool/
Vittorio Leonardi
Born in Warrenton in the Northern Cape, South Africa and raised in Welkom in the Free State, Vittorio started his flights of fancy very early. A passion for Star Wars and a desire to be Luke Skywalker took him to study Drama at Pretoria Technikon, which naturally led him to becoming a full time stand-up comedian… Because you need something solid to fall back on.
In 2009, he began making thoughts into reality as the head writer on Last Say on Sunday – a political satire show ahead of its time but one step behind the censors. However, once TV-Land had him, they wouldn’t let him go as he has continued in this vein, writing for SABC 1’s local celebrity gossip show The Real Goboza since 2010; for children’s television on Let’s Get Quizzical and on sitcoms such as Thandeka’s Diary, Ses’Top La and Abo Mzala.
On the big screen, you can see him in award-winning sci-fi film District 9 as well as Death in the 48-Hour Film Project 2014 short Death’s (Man)date.
A full-time geek; when he’s not gaming, he co-hosts the GeekXP podcast Release the Geek and his own podcast Urbane Myths.
This will be his first short story… And about time too.
Connect with Vittorio Leonardi:
Website:
http://vittorio.sharp.fm/archives/heres_a_thought/
YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/user/GritPypeThin
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/VittorioLeo/
Twitter:
https://mobile.twitter.com/vittorioleo
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/vthejester/
Natalie Rivener 