Author Night

Fantasy Fiction

Local authors Marguerite Sheffer, TQ Sims, Greta Hayer, and Amber Sanchez read fantasy fiction in a variety of styles. Look forward to psychic powers, fairy tales, ghosts, and other strangeness.

Marguerite (Maggie) Sheffer’s debut short story collection, The Man in the Banana Trees won the 2024 Iowa Short Fiction Award. It was named a “Best Debut Book of 2024” by Debutiful and a “Most Exciting Debut Story Collection” by Electric Literature. Her stories appear in The Cincinnati Review, BOMB, LitHub, Asimov’s Science Fiction, and Smokelong Quarterly, among other magazines. Her story “Tiger on My Roof” was a finalist for the 2024 Chautauqua Janus Prize, which awards emerging writers’ short fiction with “daring formal and aesthetic innovations that upset and reorder readers’ imaginations.” At Tulane University, she teaches courses in design thinking and speculative fiction as tools for social change. She is a founding member of Third Lantern Lit, a New Orleans writing collective.   

TQ Sims writes stories that center Queer characters in extraordinary situations. TQ’s story “The Ritual” was a finalist in competition at the Tennessee Williams and New Orleans Literary Festival in 2022. Their work has appeared in Louisiana Words, Beyond Queer Words, and The Queer and Trans Guide to Storms. They are the author of The Lovers Trilogy, including the books Godspeed, Lovers (2022); Lovers in Arms (2024); and End as Lovers (June, 2026).They live in New Orleans with their partner and a growing number of cats. 

Greta Hayer received her MFA at the University of New Orleans and her bachelor's degree in history from the College of Wooster, where she studied fairy tales and medieval medicine. Greta has worked for various literary magazines, such as Bayou Magazine and The Artful Dodge. She is currently seeking representation for her young adult fantasy novel and dark adult fairy tale novel. She lives in New Orleans with her husband and three alien cats. 

Amber Sanchez is a historical fiction writer whose work spans short stories, novels, poetry, and essays. Her writing is known for its rich, humanizing portrayals of characters often overlooked by history, illuminating their inner worlds with subtlety and compassion. While grounded in realism, Amber’s stories frequently brush against the strange and the supernatural, blurring the line between history and myth to reveal hidden truths about the human experience. Her debut novel, Fortune Valley, is out July 21st. 

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