J. C. O’Neill is an independent author of modern Gothic fantasy and historical romantic thrillers. She only began writing to amuse a relative following their cancer diagnosis, but a few chapters turned into two series of books. She has degrees in law and medicine and had the privilege of working for the National Health Service for thirty-two years. She lives, works and writes in Sheffield, but was born in Cumbria, so is a true Northerner. She has three kids, one dog, a Mr O’Neill and a fondness for McVitie’s Chocolate Digestives. She didn’t mean to write a modern Gothic fantasy trilogy; it wrote her.

Peter Fockema is an unapologetic history enthusiast who founded Blancart Press in 2026 as an engine through which to put historical fiction into print.

His debut novel, The Uncrowned Lion, is a historical political thriller set in the treacherous heart of fourteenth-century medieval England.

“Gentlemen, the inheritance of England is to play for.

England, 1376. The aging king, once the terror of the French, has lost his ability to govern and finds himself hidden from sight to live out his final years as a shameful secret. His son and heir, the famed Black Prince who was once England’s pride, is also at death’s door. The death of both the monarch and his heir would leave behind a ten-year old boy to be king – albeit a puppet one on strings.

The king’s other son, the Duke of Lancaster, is charged with running England whilst his father and brother wither – a task he has failed at abysmally. The kingdom’s borders lie undefended and enemy forces raid up and down the bankrupt country. Succumbing to his own avarice, the duke and his friends descend like crows upon a corpse to feast on the still-breathing body of England. Reeling from the fallout, Alfonse and his father, Henry Penenden, find themselves teetering on the edge of ruin. Enraged, they join a camp that’s filled with lords, bishops, and merchants that are all opposed to the Duke of Lancaster who seems determined to swallow England whole.”

“Jason Brown is a children’s author and illustrator based in the Oxfordshire area.

His love of science fiction, fantasy and cryptozoology has inspired both his written and illustrated work. His self-published children’s book, Carl Loft and the Oover Monster, was a successfully funded Kickstarter project and a revised, second edition of his book is now available in a selection of local independent book shops in and around Oxford. Jason also brings his characters to life through arts and crafts events, selling themed merchandise and running interactive reading and drawing sessions at schools, community centres and local markets.”

Maureen Chiana | Author & Founder of The Mindsight Academy

What if changing your life begins with changing the way you think?

Maureen Chiana is an author, neuroleadership facilitator and emotional intelligence specialist who brings together neuroscience, emotional intelligence and Scripture to help people renew their minds, overcome limiting beliefs and create lasting change. Her book, “Rewire Your Brain with Neuroscience and Scripture Every Day”, is a 366-day guide that explores the fascinating connection between the brain, our thoughts, emotions, behaviour and biblical principles for renewing the mind. Her newly released companion workbook takes readers from understanding to action. Through practical daily exercises and weekly reviews, readers learn to recognise unhelpful patterns, practise new responses, build healthier habits and track their progress. Designed to be used together, the books equip individuals, churches, book clubs and groups to pursue meaningful transformation through daily practice and shared accountability.

Meet Maureen at the Oxford Indie Book Fair, explore her books and discover how neuroscience and Scripture can transform the way you think, live and grow.

Steve Sheppard was born and grew up in Surrey before moving to Buckinghamshire and then to Oxfordshire, where he spent a quarter of a century living in an idiosyncratic village that was the affectionate inspiration for his fourth book, Lazytown. He now lives in Hampshire. He spent forty years starting to write books but not finishing them, until belatedly realising that the key is not to give up. The other thing he has since learned is that he should have become a celebrity before writing a book, as this would have made selling it much easier.

False Connections, Steve’s fifth book, was published in June and is the first to be written as a straight thriller and not primarily as a comedy although, don’t worry, there’s still quite a lot of humour in it. He hopes it will be the first of a series featuring feisty, funny but flawed ex-MI5 agent, Mel Milano. He also has three spy thrillers with laughs to his name, all published by Claret Press: A Very Important Teapot (2019), set in Australia, Bored to Death in the Baltics (2021), not set in Australia, and Poor Table Manners (2024), which takes place in Cape Town. These feature an initially fairly hapless hero, Dawson, and a considerably less hapless heroine, Lucy, together with varied supporting casts, most of whom are not who they claim to be. Steve’s fourth book (as mentioned above) is an out-and-out comedy-murder-mystery, Lazytown (2025).

Peter Tickler is an established writer of crime fiction, mostly set in and around Oxford. He has been much praised for the authenticity of his Oxford (‘a wonderful gift of creating geographically factual settings for his fictional characters’ – Oxford Times) as well as the pace of his stories (‘deliciously thrilling and wildly unpredictable’ – Oxford Today).

He studied classics at Keble College, and later settled with his wife and family in South Oxford. He worked in the IT dept of the Potato Marking Board in Between Towns Road, and from the computer room he looked down into the carpark of the Cowley police station. So it was inevitable that his irascible protagonist DI Susan Holden was based there. He loves setting his crimes in places he knows, and describes himself as ‘town, not gown’.

His latest (and 10th) crime story is Death in the Sea Pool, set in Bude where he has spent many off-season holidays. He insists that ‘sometimes I need a change of scene!’.

He is a member of the Crime Writers’ Association, and gives talks at festivals, libraries, U3As, Women’s Institutes and even at one of His Majesty’s Prisons. (They let him out eventually!).

His great-grandfather founded Tickler’s Jam Company, which supplied jam to the British troops and became a household name in the First World War. This was the inspiration for his novel The Tickler’s Jam Murders.

Peter Lovesey (winner of 3 CWA daggers) emailed him: “I was bamboozled by the solution to the puzzle. Bravo.”