Authors
Molly Emmons
“Molly expertly puts the psychology of her big bad on stage in a way that gives it real bones and teeth and menace. Then she terrifies her readers with the imminent threat of our favorite characters’ failure to overcome it.”
—David Puerner
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Molly Emmons founded Northern California Novelists in 2006. The group has met weekly for chapter critique ever since. As a college instructor of creative writing, Molly has cherry-picked the top talent from her classes over the past fifteen years to invite into this exclusive group. A graduate of the University of California-Davis MA program in writing, Molly also founded and coordinates a creative writing conference at Butte College, WordSpring.
Working on her tenth novel, Molly is interested in finding good representation. Her website provides excerpts from her novels, written in a variety of genres including a range of fantasy styles, urban fantasy, YA, and supernatural thrillers.
Molly can be reached at: mollykemmons@gmail.com.
Brite Cheney
“Brite’s use of magic as a tool in his stories never feels false or forced. It’s there to shine a light on the distinctive and engaging people who travel through his worlds in search of their own identities.”
—Molly Emmons
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“The way Brite assembles his cast of characters and the relationships they build with each other always seems very genuine and real.”
—David Puerner
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Brite Cheney loves writing in every genre, from memoir to flash fiction to novel-length sci-fi and fantasy, with an emphasis on Urban Fantasy. He’s an avid RPG player and designer, a part-time blacksmith, prop maker, musician, and a thousand other hobbies. He has a degree in English Education and Creative Writing from California State University. Between all of that he has found the time to write three novels that focus on exploration of the character through fantastic worlds.
Christopher Busch
“His epic fantasy is on a par with Tad Williams and Mark Lawrence, with strong female characters and conflict that is rooted in long-buried secrets.”
—Molly Emmons
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“Master of weaving a descriptive narrative that imbues the magic of his worlds with depth of character.”
—David Puerner
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After six years abroad, treading jungles, deserts, and some of the greatest urban centers of the world, Christopher Busch developed a deep love for literature, the passion solidifying into a new goal: publication. Now he has returned to his home state to fulfill that desire, pursuing a bachelor's degree at California State University, Chico, in English Studies with a minor in Linguistics and Creative Writing. To do this, he cannot simply remain the passive reader he once was. He must become something else. He must become . . . a writer. And with the turn of a page, a new story begins.
Christopher’s day job is boring. He would much rather spend his time playing D&D, drinking coffee, and tending to his burgeoning house garden with his fiancée, Kaitie, and their enormous cat.
Liz Nelms Finefield
"The magical world where Sagaxo live undetected among us mere mortals is so fresh and intriguing that you won’t be able to help rereading the beautifully-written passages where characters discover and use their powers."
—Molly Emmons
“Fantastic storyteller...but she also has a gift for making me laugh out loud in the middle of a chapter about deep betrayal and loss, and that too is a kind of magic.”
—David Puerner
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Liz Nelms Finefield has ridden her motorcycle with a biker club, performed at Carnegie Hall and survived a train explosion--all useful life experiences for a writer.
She has completed her debut novel, Sagaxo Songs--an urban fantasy where music holds unsettling power. We follow Stella, a young woman with unusual talents, in her search for family--a search that reveals deadly secrets hidden from the wider world for centuries and that threaten to consume her today.
Currently, Liz is hard at work on the yet-to-be-named sequel to Sagaxo Songs.
Liz was born in Illinois and brought up in a series of Coast Guard cities across the country, the family finally settling in the suburbs of Sacramento, California. There she received a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from CSU, Sacramento and her Professional Engineer’s license a few years later.
A decent enough soprano, she performed with the Sacramento Choral Society for many years in venues across the globe. A devourer of books since the age of 3, she left her overlong technical career to write one of her own.
When not at her desk, she can be found either walking her dogs, or in the kitchen attempting to recreate, with mixed success, the fabulous meals that look so easy on Food TV.
Liz currently lives in Little Rock, Arkansas. She can be reached at lizfinefield@gmail.com.
David Ryan Puerner
"David’s stories portray a faith in humanity, with original characters who struggle to do good in the face of unrelenting, wholly believable evil. We want with all our hearts for his heroes to prevail, yet we cannot look away as danger and darkness encircle them. His plots will keep readers guessing and agonizing until the very end."
—Molly Emmons
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David Puerner is a writer and educator living in Phoenix, AZ with his wife, husky, and two cats. From California originally, David loves stories that are epic in scope but real in the way they deal with human emotion and needs. What fascinates David about narrative fiction is the way it transports and inspires. His favorite stories are the ones that stuck to his bones years after he put them down and he strives to bring that same excellence to his own work.
With a masters in teaching English to second language learners and a love for UFOs, wastelands, and speculative fiction, David’s always got a story to tell and the novel as a medium for telling his stories gives him a budget that Hollywood could never match.
David can be reached at drpuerner259@gmail.com.
Talia Segal
"Contemporary, exciting, and fast-paced, Talia’s fiction centers around strong female characters who manage to get themselves into and out of trouble as she stacks up the suspense."
—Molly Emmons
“Talia may be new to our group, but her love for her characters and the excitement she has for her stories shows loud and clear in her writing. It's infectious.”
—David Puerner
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The newest member of Northern California Novelists, Talia Segal is best known for writing fantasy fiction, and has a fashion blog with international readership (wildroma.wordpress.com). Her poem “The Underworld” was published in the feminist anthology Inanna’s Ascent, edited by Trista Hendren, Tamara Albanna, and Pat Daly.
Talia played roller derby under the name Riot Gere, and now writes novels, reads books and tarot cards, designs knitting patterns and websites, and obeys the directives of her cat. Her first two novels can be found for free at Patreon.com/taliasegal, and she is working on her third. Born and raised in Chico, California, she now lives in Atlanta, Georgia.
Sariah Torst
“If a strong lust for blood and gore wets your appetite, then Sariah whips up your kind of story like a Michelin star chef with a bone to pick.”
—David Puerner
“She embraces the spectrum of human sexuality with great care and respect. Her slow burn romances set in fantasy worlds, so skillfully depicted, will have you alternately biting your nails and cheering.”
—Molly Emmons
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Sariah Torst has a love for the upsetting and the comforting in the same breath. Her passion for writing began in high school when she wasn’t finding enough fanfictions that dove deep into characters’ emotional and physical journeys, and she took it upon herself to explore tragedy, trauma, and tentative love through her own writing. She joined Northern California Novelists when she was 18, and has now reached a point where she can’t imagine her life without it. When she’s not producing fanfic for Star Trek or working on her original novels, she’s likely to be drawing, performing orchestral percussion, or practicing taekwondo. Or, if she wants to embrace the trope of lazy millennial, then she’ll spend entire days playing video games and watching old wuxia or kung fu movies from the 70s and 80s.
Tim Hayes
“Tim’s characters always seem to embody the kind of philosophical debates that I love to mull over, so it’s nice to be able to mull with a story.”
—David Puerner
"Tim has a secret soft spot for people, nurturing their dreams even while he’s in the middle of snatching them away."
—Molly Emmons
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Tim Hayes has been a part of Northern California Novelist since 2013. Tim has a master’s degree in Creative Writing from California State University, Chico and he currently works as an associate faculty in the Butte College English Department. He spends his days grading, writing, and exploring worlds. He has always been passionate about RPG and has recently become involved in design in addition to being a player and DM. He has written three novels and is currently working on the sequel to the last. Tim’s worlds seem always on the brink of destruction with characters being thrust into difficult to impossible choices.
Tim lives in his hometown of Chico, California and continues to explore genres of alternate history, fantasy, and steampunk.
Leo Simpson
"Leo's vision of the afterlife is gripping from the first page."
—Talia Segal
"The sly humor of Christopher Moore and the emotional depth of Scott Lynch."
-- Molly Emmons
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For those who veer toward gallows humor and supernatural themes, Leo Simpson will happily drag you through hell and back. Developing a love for dark fantasy and bizarre horror from a young age, they began playing with these genres in fanfiction and short novels before working on their current duology. A CSU Chico psychology student who works full-time in finance, Leo's free time goes to writing the first of many projects to come. To them, each chapter is not just a completed project, but a chance to grow and expand their writing chops and dive deeper into the characters that keep them up at night.