Comedy is serious business

Roanna Smith-Floyd
(formerly Roanna Flowers)

Roanna Smith-Floyd brings over 20 years of combined experience in communications, editing, and publishing to Cackle Books. As a magazine acquisitions and editor, she managed multiple magazine production streams for both national and regional titles. She is a proven communications professional and transparency champion. She is also a comedy author based in Austin, Texas. Her short story "The Bitches of Eastwick" was published Mixed Bag of Tricks, and she is the writer of three award-winning short films, one of which played in over 30 festivals world-wide including the Cannes Short Film Corner. Her debut novel, TOO MUCH HEAVEN, is due to release in 2026. She is a member of the Writers' League of Texas, the Austin Chapter of Women Who Submit, and a founding member of the Armadillo Authors Society. She has a B.A. in English Literature and Latin from the University of North Texas.

Joi Chevalier

Joi Chevalier is special advisor to the Cackle Books. Founder & CEO of The Cook's Nook, Chevalier is an experienced entrepreneur and proven leader with 20 years experience in setting vision and execution plans for online technologies that achieve business value and high user satisfaction. She is an Early Modern England scholar, chef, amateur astronomer, and writer who brings story, culture, and science together. She is developing two narrative nonfiction books: a YA exploration of astronomy, space science, and cultural inheritance, and a work on the food traditions of Black Catholics on the Texas Coast. She is a member of the Armadillo Authors Society and a long-time supporter and contributor of ArmadilloCon, the second longest running science fiction convention in Texas known for its emphasis on literary science fiction. She is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, with degrees in English Literature and Latin.

Heidi Asundi

Heidi Asundi is an editor with 19 years of experience. She started her career working in-house for textbooks and in the training industry, where she gained skills in production, design, project management, and editorial. Clients included National Geographic, Scholastic, Pearson, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Macmillan McGraw-Hill, and the American Society for Training & Development. Since starting as a freelancer, Heidi has edited an even wider range of material: business trade, healthcare management, healthcare compliance, statistics, and indie fiction, poetry, and nonfiction. She brings a keen editorial eye to proofreading, and a larger view of clients' goals to copy editing, developmental editing, and manuscript consultations. When she's not editing, she's writing in Austin, Texas. She brings her writerly awareness to her editing process, a sensibility that her clients find helpful.

Nancy Knight

Nancy Knight has more than 20 years of editing experience in fields including journalism, education, website development, marketing and book publishing. Knight has worked for companies including Tribune Publishing, Notre Dame University of Maryland, ReadWriteWeb, Penton and Endeavor Business Media. As a copy editor and proofreader in the publishing industry, she has worked on fiction and nonfiction works alike. Based in Austin, Texas, Knight writes speculative fiction and can be found online at nancyknight.net.