Check out our editors' 2025 playlist!

Professor Schummer is the author of Six Months in the Midwest, The Ballad of Two Sisters, and The Book of Orion. She is the director of the creative writing program at CSUP and faculty editor of Tempered Steel.

Professor Pluskota is an adjunct instructor at CSU Pueblo who teaches art and design classes. She managed the design team and oversaw the layout and creation of print and digital elements relating to Tempered Steel 2025.

James Rice hails from Southern Colorado by way of Texas and spends the vast majority of his life either sunk into English studies or perusing the great outdoors. His work, consisting of academic theory analysis and multi-genre creative writing, has most recently been featured in Tempered Steel and The Today Magazine.

Patience Gwardyak is a non-traditional student at Colorado State University-Pueblo who is pursuing a bachelor's degree in English with a minor in creative writing.

Ryn Pantoya is a senior at CSU Pueblo majoring in Psychology. She enjoys reading, attending concerts, and filmmaking with her friends. 

Colt Carroll is an aspiring author who is still trying to find his voice in a very loud room. He proudly published the suspenseful fiction "The Chaos Deceit."

Alexandria Macias is a Senior at CSU- Pueblo Majoring in English with a minor in Creative Writing. In 2022, she won the Vivian Rich Memorial Award for her piece "Till Forever Falls Apart" and was published in Tempered Steel's 2024 edition with her short story "Kill Your Friends" 

Rory Finley is a Creative Writing major at CSU Pueblo and an Arapahoe Community college alumni with aspirations of becoming a poet.

Marika Guthrie is an English/Creative Writing major and has works published in The Baltimore Review, The Rappahannock Review, Vortex, and Tempered Steel. A Pisces born in the year of the Iron Rooster, Marika's interests include literature, tequila, horses, and being her own worst enemy.   

Haley Newman is a writer and artist originally hailing from Northwest Arkansas. She can frequently be found darting between trees in the deep woods, as a series of blinking lights over the American southwest, or invading people's sleeping minds as a reappearing conceptual dream hoax.

Matthew Twigg is an English Major at CSU Pueblo. He primarily writes fantasy, historical fiction, and dabbles in poetry. Matthew draws inspiration from fairytales, myths, legends, historical events, and everything fantastical, then blends it into works that pays homage to each of them. His goal is to provide stories that men around the world can relate to and enjoy, free of any political bias or other agendas.

Camerron Martin is a senior at CSU-Pueblo majoring in Media and Entertainment. He spends most of his time balancing work, school, and personal life to avoid going insane. However, between the chaos and in the quiet moments, he enjoys spending his time in the mountains, where he can find truly peaceful moments to enjoy. He also enjoys spending time on his favorite hobbies or just sitting down and playing a couple of online games with his friends.   

Maranatha Rodriguez is an artist who is in her third year at CSU Pueblo. Her major is Media and Entertainment with an emphasis in journalism. She is interested in all art forms, including graphic design and layout.

Janaya Cox is a Dual bachelor's in marketing and management with a minor in creative writing at CSUP. Originally a baking and pastry major, she has shifted her passion to writing, but stresses over the occasional wedding cake she has been requested to make.