Staff

Diane Turnshek Diane Turnshek (Alpha Director and Founder) is an astronomer and a science fiction author whose short fiction has been published in Analog Magazine and elsewhere. She’s the Outreach Coordinator for the Physics Department at Carnegie Mellon University where she teaches astronomy. She also teaches at the University of Pittsburgh (“The Physics of Science Fiction” as well as astronomy). She’s a contributing author of Many Genres/One Craft, a 2011 award-winning book on writing. She has taught college writing classes, helped organize science fiction conferences, workshops and critiquing groups, and ran the 2007 SFWA Nebula Awards in NYC. Diane has four stellar sons and an out-of-this-world boyfriend.
John Schmid John Schmid is the Chief Administrator of the Alpha Workshop. In normal life John is a Systems Administrator for the University of Pittsburgh.
David Barr Kirtley David Barr Kirtley is the co-host of the Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy podcast on Wired.com. His short fiction appears in magazines such as Realms of Fantasy, Weird Tales, Lightspeed, and Intergalactic Medicine Show, on podcasts such as Escape Pod and Pseudopod, and in books such as The Living Dead, New Cthulhu, The Way of the Wizard, and The Dragon Done It. His story ”Save Me Plz” was picked by editor Rich Horton for the 2008 edition of the anthology series Fantasy: The Best of the Year.
Catherine Krahe Catherine Krahe’s fiction has appeared in Realms of Fantasy and Nature Futures. She recently received a Master’s degree in environmental engineering from the University of Iowa and plans to save the world by telling stories and planting trees.
Thomas Seay Thomas Seay’s fiction has appeared in Realms of Fantasy, Boys’ Life, Fantastic Stories, and various other publications. He received an MFA in creative writing from the University of Kansas, where also he served as volunteer coordinator for the Center for the Study of Science Fiction and built the AboutSF.com website. He lives in Washington, D.C. and works as a press secretary for a Congressional committee.
Sarah Brand Sarah Brand writes young adult science fiction and fantasy, and her first novel is currently being represented by Ammi-Joan Paquette of the Erin Murphy Literary Agency. By day, she does economic research at a health care consulting firm. She attended Alpha in 2006 and 2007.
Julie Holderman Julie Holderman is a YA writer based in upstate New York. She’s currently working on a companion book to the bestselling Tortall series by Tamora Pierce, due to be published by Random House in 2013. Julie started as an Alpha attendee herself, participating during the second and third years of the program’s existence first as a student then as student staff. One of her particular favorite activities is genrebending and mystery writing with fantastic or dark horror elements.
Seth Dickinson Seth Dickinson is a 2006/2007 Alpha alum, and since 2011, an Alpha instructor. His fiction has appeared in Beneath Ceaseless Skies and is forthcoming from Analog and Strange Horizons, and– in 2011–captured the top spot in the Dell Awards. He writes science fiction and fantasy, with a particular interest in gender and systems of oppression.
 Rachel Sobel Rachel Sobel writes software by day and fiction by night. Her work has appeared in Clarkesworld Magazine, and is forthcoming from GigaNotoSaurus. A recent graduate of the University of Washington, she will shortly be starting work as a software engineer at Google.