Bio

Bethany (Benny) Loy, born and raised in the Pacific Northwest, is an author and freelance writer/journalist. If they aren’t cuddling their goofy lug of a dog, Goose, they are spending quality time with their Wonder Woman of a wife. They fell into professionally writing after going to “Burn’s Night” (An annual party celebrating the life of the Scottish poet Robert Burns) while enjoying plenty of whiskey and conversation about literature. There, an offer was made to submit a short story to the “Well It’s Your Cow” anthology, and Benny wrote “Audumlas Apple,” a bizarre tale of psychedelic mushrooms and a quest given by the primordial bovine provider Audumla. After the incredibly warm reception they experienced during the launch of the anthology, Benny realized that a writing career was possible. The day after the launch, Benny was offered a contract to write a novella for DragonDyne Publishing. The novella “Black Box Protocol” explores themes of grief and loss within the sci-fi/fantasy realm of DragonDyne’s tabletop role-playing game “NeverWhen.” Before finishing the novella, they found time to write a second short story, “The Outermost Sea,” for the Olympic Peninsula Authors Group’s third anthology. After riding a ferry from the city of Port Angeles in Washington State to Victoria, B.C., for inspiration, they weaved a modern-day Selkie story borrowing slightly from Celtic lore. After the completion of the novella, they contributed to the inaugural issue of the Nerves: The Analytical TTRPG Zine, which was Benny’s first published article. They pulled from their experience as the child of a desert pastor to write “How Imagination Was Demonized,” a piece explaining the Satanic Panic of the 80s/90s and how it affected the Dungeons and Dragons community. They expanded into journalism and regularly contributed to the historic Seattle Gay News. From June 2023 to March 2024 they took the helm as SGN's Editor in Chief, working diligently to ensure that the historic paper made it to it's 50th anniversary. Benny is continuing to broaden their horizons and expand their work; they can’t wait to see where this adventure takes them.