2025 Adult Authors
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Xio Axelrod [ZEE-oh] is a USA Today Bestselling author of contemporary fiction and romance. Growing up in the music industry, Xio began her recording career at a young age. Her experiences bring a lyrical quality to her writing and vibrancy to her characters, offering a unique perspective that adds depth and authenticity to the worlds she creates. Xio’s award-winning novels have earned both critical acclaim and a passionate readership. Her Lillys series, including The Girl with Stars in Her Eyes and Girls with Bad Reputations, explores themes of love, loss, and self-discovery. When she isn’t behind the keyboard, Xio can be found behind the mic in a studio, writing songs or performing as her fictional band, The Lillys. A native of Philadelphia, Xio lives in complete denial of the last five minutes of Buffy with one very patient, full-time indoor husband and two part-time, supremely pampered outdoor cats.
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Jon McGoran is the author of eleven novels for adults and young adults, including his latest science fiction thriller, The Price of Everything, from Solaris Books, as well as the YA science fiction thrillers Spliced, Splintered, and Spiked, the science thrillers Drift, Deadout, and Dust Up, numerous short stories, and media tie-in books and stories for IP including The Blacklist, The X-Files, and Zombies vs Robots. He is also a developmental editor, ghostwriter, and teacher in Drexel University’s Creative Writing MFA program. He lives outside Philadelphia with his wife Elizabeth, a librarian. For more, visit his website or @JonMcGoran on social media.
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Nancy Reddy is the author of The Good Mother Myth. Her previous books include the poetry collection Pocket Universe and the anthology The Long Devotion: Poets Writing Motherhood, which she co-edited with Emily Pérez. Her essays have appeared in Slate, Poets & Writers, Romper, The Millions, and elsewhere. She teaches at Stockton University and lives in Collingswood with her family. She writes the newsletter Write More, Be Less Careful.
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Mike Sielski is the author of four books, including Magic in the Air: The Myth, the Mystery, and the Soul of the Slam Dunk and The Rise: Kobe Bryant and the Pursuit of Immortality. A co-host on Sports Radio 94 WIP, he has been a sports columnist for The Philadelphia Inquirer and Inquirer.com since 2013 and was formerly a reporter at The Wall Street Journal. His work has been anthologized in The Best American Sports Writing and The Year’s Best Sports Writing, and over his career he has been honored by the Associated Press Sports Editors, the Jenkins Medal for Excellence in Sportswriting, the Society of Professional Journalists, the National Association of Black Journalists, and the Order of the Sons and Daughters of Italy in America. He lives in Bucks County, Pa., with his wife and two sons.
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Daria Lavelle is an American fiction writer. Born in Kyiv, Ukraine, and raised in the New York metro area, her work explores themes of identity and belonging through magic and the uncanny. Her short stories have appeared in The Deadlands, Dread Machine, and elsewhere, and she holds degrees in writing from Princeton University and Sarah Lawrence College. She lives in New Jersey with her husband, children, and goldendoodle, all of whom love a great meal almost as much as she does.
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Peter E. Murphy was born in Wales and grew up in New York City. He is the author of more than books and chapbooks of poetry and prose, most recently, A Tipsy Fairy Tale: A Coming of Age Memoir of Alcohol and Redemption and You Too Were Once on Fire, Poems. His writing has appeared in Guernica, The Michigan Quarterly Review, The North American Review, Poetry Wales, Rattle, The Sun and elsewhere. The founder of Murphy Writing of Stockton University based in Atlantic City, he leads writing workshops around the US and in Europe.
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Jason Rekulak is the author of The Last One at the Wedding, an instant New York Times bestseller, Hidden Pictures, a national bestseller and winner of a Goodreads Choice Award, and The Impossible Fortress, a finalist for the Edgar Award. According to Publisher’s Weekly, “Rekulak’s characters feel real, and the unwavering pace will keep readers up all night. This should please the author's fans and win him new ones.” He is represented by Doug Stewart at Sterling Lord Literistic, and by Rich Green and Ellen Goldsmith-Vein at The Gotham Group. Jason lives in Philadelphia with his family.
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Tom McAllister is the author of two novels and two memoirs. His newest book is It All Felt Impossible: 42 Years in 42 Essays, published by Rose Metal Press. His most recent novel, How to Be Safe, was named one of the best books of 2018 by Washington Post and Kirkus Reviews. He has published dozens of short stories and essays in publications including The New York Times, The Sun, Epoch, HAD, Cincinnati Review, and more. He lives in New Jersey and teaches in the MFA Program at Rutgers-Camden.
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Jo Piazza is the international bestselling author of twelve books. Her newest novel, Everyone is Lying to You, arrives on shelves in July. "Readers will be drawn into the story by what feels like a backstage peek into the world of influencers and kept there by the fast pace and twisty plot,” writes Library Journal. Jo’s previous books include The Sicilian Inheritance and the Good Morning America Book Club pick We Are Not Like Them with Christine Pride. She’s also the host of the critically acclaimed Under the Influence podcast. Her work has been featured in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, among other publications. She lives in Philadelphia with her husband and three feral children.