Fiction Guests of Honor 2024
Photo: Sam Sauter Photography
S. A. Cosby
Guest of Honor
S. A. Cosby is an award-winning writer from Southeastern Virginia. He is the author of the New York Times bestsellers ALL THE SINNERS BLEED and RAZORBLADE TEARS, and BLACKTOP WASTELAND, which won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, The Anthony, The Barry, The Macavity, the ITW novel of the year, was also a New York Times Notable Book, and was named a best book of the year by NPR, The Guardian, and Library Journal, among others.
He resides in Gloucester with an unruly cat named Flipper.
Photo by Jacob Smith
Ashley Flowers
Guest of Honor
Ashley Flowers is Founder and Chief Creative Officer of audiochuck, the award-winning, independent media and podcast production company. She is also the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller, ALL GOOD PEOPLE HERE.
Audiochuck is known for its standout content and storytelling across different genres, including true crime, fiction, comedy, and more. As CCO, she works with her team to create an overarching content strategy and vision for the network of shows and company growth. Ashley also hosts several audiochuck shows, including top-rated podcasts Crime Junkie, The Deck, and The Deck Investigates. At the core of the company and all its podcasts, Ashley and her team are committed to developing responsible true crime content.
Ashley is passionate about advocacy work and established the nonprofit Season of Justice in 2020 to provide financial resources in order to help solve cold cases.
Flowers was born and raised in Indiana, where she lives with her husband, her daughter, and their beloved dog, Chuck. She received a Bachelor of Science in Biological Services from Arizona State University.
Photo: Jeremy Cowart
Brad Thor
Guest of Honor
Brad Thor is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of now twenty-three thrillers, including RISING TIGER, BACKLASH (one of Suspense Magazine’s Best Books of the Year), SPYMASTER (declared by The Washington Times as “one of the all-time best thriller novels”), THE LAST PATRIOT (nominated best thriller of the year by the International Thriller Writers Association), BLOWBACK (one of the “Top 100 Killer Thrillers of All Time” by NPR), and THE LIONS OF LUCERNE.
Known for his innovative plots and extensive knowledge of intelligence, special operations, and terrorist communities, Brad has appeared on FOX News Channel, CNN, CNN Headline News, MSNBC, TheBlaze, ABC, CBS, NBC, and PBS to discuss terrorism and current events, as well as how closely his novels of international intrigue parallel the real threats facing the world today.
Thor was recruited into the Department of Homeland Security’s “Red Cell” program: an elite group of writers and artists commissioned to brainstorm terrorist scenarios for the U.S. government. “What I developed there stays there – that was the deal,” Thor states. “That said, the ideas I come up with for my novels are created in the same way the scenarios for the Red Cell Program are.”
To collect valuable research for his novels, Thor has traveled around the world, including a trip to Afghanistan where he shadowed a black ops team. “It was dangerous, but very exciting at the same time,” Thor says. “It also lends a tremendous amount of authenticity and detail to my thrillers that just wouldn’t have come through had I not been there to see and experience their world first-hand.”
Photo: Gemma Day Photography
Ruth Ware
Ruth Ware worked as a waitress, a bookseller, a teacher of English as a foreign language, and a press officer before settling down as a full-time writer.
She is the #1 New York Times and Globe and Mail bestselling author of IN A DARK, DARK WOOD; THE WOMAN IN CABIN 10; THE LYING GAME; THE DEATH OF MRS. WESTAWAY; THE TURN OF THE KEY; ONE BY ONE; THE IT GIRL and, most recently, ZERO DAYS.
Ruth lives with her family in Sussex, on the south coast of England.
