Rebecca Minor – CEO
becky@realmmakers.com
Becky Minor has a long history of bringing geeks together, whether that means serving as Drum Major of the marching band, starting a college Gaming Society, to founding the Realm Makers annual conference.
Besides directing the Realm Makers Conference with her husband Scott and amazing committee of volunteers, Becky occasionally writes fantasy novels of the sword and sorcery variety. She is the author of The Risen Age Archive and The Windrider Saga, along with several spinoff short stories set in the same story universe.
The Minor family makes their home about an hour outside Philadelphia, PA, where she’s staring wide-eyed at the transition from full-time mom to empty nester and cat herder. You can connect with Becky on Facebook, Twitter, and RebeccaPMinor.com
Scott Minor – COO
Scott Minor’s role in Realm Makers has grown over the years as the organization has expanded to provide services across many facets of the writing and publishing life.
Scott’s vision for the Realm Makers Bookstore began with running that aspect of the annual conference, but now involves taking books by our award-winning authors to live events across the country to help those books find new readers. He also oversees our pool of volunteers, providing direction and vision for the Realm Makers livestream, the membership program, and dedicated online community, The RealmSphere, while also handling the logistical aspects of the annual conference. He is truly a jack-of-all-trades whois always looking for new ways to solve the challenges Christian authors of speculative fiction face.
JJ Johnson- Marketing Director
JJ Johnson is the award-winning author of the Iggy & Oz series and the host of the podcast Geeky Dads Talk About Geeky Things. He enjoys coffee brewed with proper precision, diving into comic books and playing Magic: The Gathering with his kids. JJ resides in Edmond, Oklahoma.
Ralene Burke--Membership Director
membership@realmmakers.com
Conference Planning Committee:
Lauren H. Brandenburg – Conference Emcee
Lauren H. Brandenburg is an author and storyteller who happily blurs the lines between traditional genres in both middle grade and cozy fiction. She was longlisted for the People’s Book Prize in the United Kingdom and recipient of the ACFW Carol Award in contemporary fiction for The Death of Mungo Blackwell, as well as a two time Selah Award finalist. Lauren is a former junior high and high school English teacher who stepped away from her profession to raise and homeschool her two children. She currently lives with her husband and their two children in a lovely little town just south of Nashville, Tennessee where they cook, play games, and laugh a lot.
Kristen Stieffel - Registrar
registrar@realmmakers.com
Kristen Stieffel is a writer and freelance editor specializing in science fiction and fantasy. She provides a full range of editorial services and has worked on projects for both the general market and the Christian submarket. She is the author of Alara’s Call, a fantasy novel, and Tales of the Phoenix, a science fiction novella collection about a Martian airship crew.
Website: kristenstieffel.com. .
Bethany Kaczmarek – Faculty Coordinator
faculty@realmmakers.com
Bethany Kaczmarek loves to get lost in a good story. She’s been known to wear out books and highlight her favorite lines to go back to again and again. Even better? A fantastic story world and a voice that carries her along. These are a few of the many reasons she’s loved being involved with Realm Makers.
But for most of the year, Bethany is an author and a professional editor. An ACFW Editor of the Year finalist, Bethany has worked with writers all along the spectrum—from multi-published, award-winning authors to beginners. Though her debut novel, Strains of Silence (summer 2017) is merely a contemporary romance, she loves world-building and logs many wee-hours crafting a vastly different series—a medieval mythology and fairytale mashup.
She and her sister share an editing umbrella—A Little Red Ink—and they love editing fiction (especially spec-fic). Using her love for story and story worlds, she makes sure every thread is woven consistently throughout a manuscript—whatever the genre. Her goal is to help hard-working writers sound like gifted writers. Strangely enough, she believes a healthy dose of humor can make the revision process fun.
Ralene Burke – Volunteer Coordinator
volunteers@realmmakers.com
Stephanie Dooley – Online Experience Host
SL Dooley is just a girl looking for a never-ending story to go boldly through the wardrobe into another adventure. She’s the author of the Portal Slayer trilogy and numerous short stories. She lives in Texas where she collects old books and new journals.
Ronnell Gibson – Appointment Coordinator
appointments@realmmakers.com
Ronnell is an award-winning author specializing in contemporary stories with a sprinkling of the fantastical.
She is an editor for HAVOK Publishing and coordinator for her church’s food pantry. She has dubbed herself a font snob, a cupcake Jedi, and a Marvel geek. Though she loves to travel to foreign places, highest on her bucket list is to someday attend San Diego Comic Con.
Lisa Pickle - Appointments Assistant
Coming soon!