Natania Barron

Natania Barron is a word tinkerer with a lifelong love of the fantastic. She has a penchant for the speculative, and has written tales of invisible soul-eating birds, giant cephalopod goddesses, gunslinger girls, and killer kudzu, just to name a few. Her work has appeared in Weird Tales, EscapePod, Steampunk Tales, Crossed Genres, Bull Spec, and various anthologies. Her longer works run the gamut from Edwardian urban fantasy to tales of the rock and roll world. She is also the founder of The Outer Alliance, a group dedicated to queer advocacy in speculative fiction. She’s also an outspoken advocate for mental health rights, particularly pertaining to her son Liam, who has autism. She writes more on this subject at GlitterSquid.\n\nShe is a Took, a Slytherin, and likely a Tyrell, even if she is a bit jealous of the Greyjoy Kraken. She takes her whisky neat (and single malt), her wine dark and complex, and her coffee decaffeinated.\n\nWhen not venturing in imagined worlds, she can be found in North Carolina, where she lives with her family, two hounds, and an assortment of musical instruments.\n\nNatania holds a BA in English/Writing from Loyola University Maryland and an MA in English with a concentration in medieval literature from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. During the day she works as a Marketing Director in clinical research.\n\nShe’s also a mental health activists, especially regarding adolescent care. Inspired by her son Liam’s struggle through the school system as a child with high functioning autism and a variety of other challenges, she is an outspoken advocate. You can read more about her story at Medium.