My personal fight against the hate swirling through SF/F continues with the highlighting of another good person who gives me optimism for the future of our genre: Maurice Broaddus.
If you don't know Maurice, then your genre world is flat-out sad and you should immediately correct this deficiency. Maurice has written a ton of fantasy and horror short stories (including the impressive steampunk novelette "Steppin' Razor" from the Feb. 2014Asimov's Science Fiction, which will be on my list of the year's best fiction). In addition, his Knights of Breton Court novel trilogy from Angry Robot is an imaginative reworking of the King Authur mythology into urban Indianapolis.
But Maurice's influence in the genre extends well beyond his fiction writing. You see, Maurice is also a connector, meaning he brings people together for the improvement of us all. We saw this in the award-nominated anthology Dark Faith, which he edited alongside Jerry Gordon. The anthology explored issues of religion and belief and brought together an amazing group of writers. And Mo*Con. I absolutely must mention Mo*Con, which is one of the most fun-filled and laid back cons I've ever attended. But Mo*Con also has a serious social justice mission at its core, a mission which is enhanced by the connections Maurice helps build among people.
Thank you, Maurice, for all you do to bring people together in our genre!
If you'd like to recommend someone as a SF/F good person, email me with their name and why you're nominating them. And don't forget to check out my previous good person picks, K. Tempest Bradford and Jim C. Hines.