Author Talk | Speculative Fiction Panel

About this event

Explore the worlds beyond the possible as visionary writers discuss how speculative fiction challenges reality, reimagines the future, and reveals new possibilities for our own world.

How do you build a fantastic world that feels real? Award-winning author and publisher Milton J. Davis discusses the fundamentals of world-building with three amazing authors, Jessica Cage, Gerald L. Coleman, and Dedren Snead and moderator Clinton R. Fluker, Ph.D. From fantasy, contemporary, and future fiction, they'll explore what makes a fantastic world capture the imagination of readers and listeners.

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Lead panelist Milton J. Davis is an acclaimed, award-winning Black speculative fiction author and the founder of MVmedia, LLC, an independent publishing company based in Fayetteville, Georgia. His work spans genres such as Afrofuturism, sword-and-soul, science fiction, and fantasy. Davis has penned over 30 novels and short story collections and edited/coedited 14 anthologies. His story “The Swarm” was nominated for the 2017 British Science Fiction Association Award for Short Fiction, and “Carnival” received a nomination for the same award in 2020. In 2022, Davis was honored with the East Coast Black Age of Comics Convention Pioneer Lifetime Achievement Award, recognizing his significant contributions to Black speculative fiction. In 2024, he received the ConCarolinas Polaris Award and the DeepSouth Con Phoenix Award for his contributions to Southern fandom.

Moderator Clinton R. Fluker , Ph.D., serves as the senior director of Culture, Community, and Partner Engagement for the Michael C. Carlos Museum, Emory University Libraries, and the Center for Digital Scholarship. In this capacity, he is responsible for developing initiatives that connect the university’s collecting institutions to the cultural and civic ecosystems of Atlanta. As a curator, Fluker’s recent exhibitions include Come Ruin or Rapture and A Haunting Between Us, both of which featured the work of contemporary artist La Vaughn Belle. His scholarly work complements his curatorial practice, as seen in his role as the co-editor of The Black Speculative Arts Movement (2019), a collection that contributes to the global scholarly discourse on Afrofuturism and the visual arts.

Fluker is also a visual artist and filmmaker. His most recent artwork is featured in the 2026 solo exhibition, His Dope Materials: Tools for a Restless Mind at Gallery 72 in Atlanta, GA. His 2024 short documentary, "Zorahead: The Life and Times of Valerie Boyd," earned a nomination at the 2024 Bronzelens Film Festival. Dr. Fluker holds a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy from Morehouse College and a Ph.D. in American Studies from Emory University.

Panelist Jessica Cage is an international award-winning and USA Today best-selling author. Born and raised in Chicago, IL, writing has always been a passion for her. She dabbles in a