Gail Carriger
Ms. Carriger began writing in order to cope with being raised in obscurity by an ex-patriot Brit and an incurable curmudgeon. She escaped small town life and inadvertently acquired several degrees in Higher Learning. Ms. Carriger then traveled the historic cities of Europe, subsisting entirely on biscuits secreted in her handbag. She now resides in the Colonies, surrounded by a harem of Armenian lovers, where she insists on tea imported directly from London and cats that pee into toilets. She is fond of teeny tiny hats and tropical fruit.

www.gailcarriger.com

Ally Carter
Ally Carter spent several years writing (tremendously bad) screenplays before taking the lessons she’d learned telling those stories and turning her attention to novels instead. Today, she’s the New York Times Bestselling author of I'd Tell You I Love You But Then I'd Have to Kill You and Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy. She might have quit screenplays, but she hasn’t turned her back on Hollywood--her popular Gallagher Girls series has since been optioned by Walden Media and the producers of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and The Princess Diaries. She lives in the Midwest where she is hard at work on the next Gallagher Girls adventure as well as a new series for young adults.

www.allycarter.com

Sara Creasy
Sara Creasy grew up in a tumbling-down Victorian house in England, where she tapped out her first stories on a tiny blue typewriter. After moving to southeastern Australia as a teenager, her love of all things fantastical hooked her on science fiction. Meanwhile, in real life, a biology degree led to work as an editor in the educational publishing industry. She was associate editor of Australia’s science fiction and fantasy magazine Aurealis for several years, and her involvement with the SF community inspired her to write her first novel, Song of Scarabaeus. Marriage to an American resulted in a second intercontinental move, and she now lives in Arizona.

www.saracreasy.com

Megan Crewe
Megan Crewe lives in Toronto, Canada, with her husband and two cats. Her short stories have appeared in anthologies and magazines such as Brutarian Quarterly and On Spec. She has worked with children and teens for several years, in rec centers and schools, and as a private tutor for children with special needs. She recently earned her degree in psychology at York University. In her free time, she reads everything she can get her hands on, posts to her blog, and speculates about the ghost that may or may not be living under her bed.

www.megancrewe.com

Jana DeLeon
Jana was raised in southwest Louisiana among the bayous and the gators. Currently she resides in Dallas, Texas with three spoiled cats, three spoiled dogs and one spoiled husband. She is the VP of Finance for a privately held corporation.

www.janadeleon.com

Lucienne Diver
Lucienne Diver is a long-time book addict who went to work for Spectrum Literary Agency fifteen years ago to feed her habit. Recently, she traded in her high-rise for a lake view and now lives in Florida, where she works for The Knight Agency. Through various play-dates and in various coffee bars, on the backs of envelopes, carry-out bags and anything else within reach, including, sometimes, her checkbook, she's penned the serio-comic tale of what happens when a young fashionista goes from chic to eek.

www.luciennediver.com

Simone Elkeles
Simone Elkeles was a teen in the 80’s and still uses words like "grody" and "totally," but resists the urge to wear blue eye shadow. Her award-winning book How to Ruin a Summer Vacation placed #3 on the Teens’ Top Ten list by YALSA, a division of the American Library Association. Her novel Leaving Paradise was a Book Sense pick and How to Ruin my Teenage Life is an AJL Notable Book for Teen Readers.

Simone has a B.S. in Industrial Psychology from the University of Illinois and has a master’s degree in Industrial Relations from Loyola University-Chicago. She lives in the Midwest and loves spending her days writing books for teens.

www.simoneelkeles.com

Jamie Ford
Jamie Ford’s debut novel Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet was sold at auction to Ballantine and will be hitting shelves Spring/Summer 2009. The novel is based on his short story, I Am Chinese, which was a finalist in Glimmer Train's 2006 Short-Story Award for New Writers. He is an alumnus of the Squaw Valley Community of Writers and a survivor of Orson Scott Cards Literary Boot Camp. Having grown up near Seattle’s Chinatown, he now calls Montana home (where he’s on a never-ending quest to find decent dim sum).

www.jamieford.com

Janice Hardy
Janice Hardy is a voracious reader, which used to get her into a lot of trouble in school. Eventually, she figured out writing stories in class made it look like she was doing actual work, so her teachers left her alone. Since then, writing has worked out way better for her than algebra ever did. She now writes young adult fiction and no one ever tells her to cut it out and pay attention anymore. Her debut fantasy novel, The Shifter, is due out October 2009 from Balzer+Bray/Harper Collins. She lives in Georgia with her husband, four cats and one nervous freshwater eel.

www.janicehardy.com

Carolyn Jewel
Carolyn Jewel has been writing stories ever since she could scribble. Now that she's grown up (mostly) she writes historical and paranormal romance because she loves history and imagining the lives of people who lived in years past, and because she's fascinated by the loves and travails of the not-exactly-human in any time period. Carolyn lives in Northern California with her son, three cats, a border collie, several chickens, some sheep and various strays and other rescued critters. Ms. Jewel is also a Microsoft SQL Server Database Administrator who specializes in, uhm, administering MS SQL Server databases. It's not nearly as exciting as writing.

www.carolynjewel.com

Leslie Langtry
Leslie Langtry grew up in the small town of DeWitt, Iowa, where her teachers wrote, "Leslie spends too much time day-dreaming in class," on her report cards and kids wrote, "You are funny and really weird," in her yearbooks. For some idiotic reason, Leslie didn’t fulfill her dream of becoming a published author until much later. Instead she lived and worked in Lynchburg, Virginia; Springfield, Illinois; Delmar/Clinton, Iowa; and Rock Island, Illinois. Now she lives in the Quad Cities with her family. She divides her time between writing, her most excellent critique group and her perfectly behaved Girl Scout troop. Leslie is currently working on her next book.

www.leslielangtry.com

Marianne Mancusi
Marianne Mancusi is a multiple Emmy award-winning television producer and author of novels for adults and teens. She’s worked at television stations in Boston, San Diego, and Orlando and is a graduate of Boston University’s College of Communications. She recently left the local TV news world to become a segment producer for the nationally syndicated women’s lifestyle show, Better TV. When not writing or producing, she enjoys snowboarding, clubbing, 80s music, cosplay, and her favorite guilty pleasure—the World of Warcraft videogame.

www.mariannemancusi.com

Courtney Milan
Courtney Milan lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband, a marginally-trained dog, and an attack cat. Before she started writing books, Courtney experimented with numerous occupations. She has trained dogs, written legal briefs, sold newspaper subscriptions, and written computer programs. Having given up on actually being able to do any actual things, she’s taken to heart the axiom that “those who can’t, teach.” When she isn’t reading, writing, or sleeping, she can be found in the vicinity of a classroom. Courtney loves hearing from readers.

Paula Reed
Paula Reed is an English teacher at Columbine High School of Littleton, Colorado. After surviving the tragic shooting there, she, not unlike many students and teachers who were there that day, decided the time to pursue all of one's true passions is now. Paula's passions are teaching and writing.

www.paula-reed.com

Sarah Rees Brennan
Sarah Rees Brennan was born and raised in Ireland by the sea, where her teachers valiantly tried to make her fluent in Irish (she wants you to know it's not called Gaelic) but she chose to read books under her desk in class instead. After living briefly in New York and doing a Creative Writing MA and library work in Surrey, England, she has returned to Ireland to write. Her Irish is still woeful, but she feels the books under the desk were worth it.

www.sarahreesbrennan.com

Kim Reid
Kim Reid lives in the Denver area, but grew up in Atlanta and still calls it home. She attended Oglethorpe University and The George Washington University, where she studied national security policy because she wanted to work for the CIA. Kim has worked as a project manager and an IRS tax collector, but never did become a spy, which is fine because she believes writing is probably just as interesting and definitely not as dangerous.

www.kimreid.com

Kristina Riggle
Kristina Riggle lives and writes in Grand Rapids, Michigan, but she yearns for the picturesque towns along the Lake Michigan shore, such as Charlevoix, where she set her debut novel, Real Life and Liars. She graduated from Michigan State University with a journalism degree, and her career as a newspaper reporter took her from crime scenes to contentious local elections to a press conference with President Gerald Ford. Now, most of her time is dedicated to her family and her writing, which includes short stories in such places as Cimarron Review and Literary Mama, where she also serves as co-editor for fiction.

www.kristinariggle.net

Hank Phillippi Ryan
Award winning investigative reporter Hank Phillippi Ryan currently is on the air at Boston's NBC affiliate, where she's broken big stories for the past 22 years. Along with her 26 EMMYs, Hank has won dozens of other regional, national and international honors for her hard-hitting investigations. She's been a radio reporter, a legislative aide in the United States Senate, worked in Rolling Stone Magazine's Washington Bureau, and as news anchor and reporter in Indianapolis and Atlanta. She and her husband, a nationally-renowned criminal defense and civil rights attorney, live in a Boston suburb. Her first novel, PRIME TIME, won the Agatha Award for Best First Mystery, and was nominated for two RITA awards.

www.hankphillippiryan.com

Cheryl Sawyer
Cheryl Sawyer writes epic historical novels about strong characters who fall in love when their world is changing. Her first six novels have been published in several languages and countries, including the USA. The sixth (April 2006) is The Winter Prince, set during the English Civil War and peopled by real characters from the court of Charles I. Her career has been in teaching and publishing, and she is currently publishing manager of fiction and non-fiction lists for an international company. With master’s degrees in English and French literature and a readiness to travel for research, Cheryl Sawyer brings vivid accuracy to her evocation of history, and dramatic immediacy to the protagonists’ lives.

www.cherylsawyer.com

Lisa Shearin
Lisa currently works as the editor at an advertising agency. She has been a magazine editor and writer of corporate marketing materials of every description. Lisa enjoys singing, reading, writing novels, and fencing (foil and epee, as well as rapier & dagger dueling). She lives in North Carolina with her husband, one cat, two spoiled-rotten retired racing greyhounds, and a Jack Russell Terrier who rules them all.

www.lisashearin.com

Linnea Sinclair
A former news reporter and retired private detective, Linnea Sinclair has managed to use all her college degrees (journalism and criminology) but hasn't soothed the yearning in her soul to travel the galaxy. To that end, she has authored several science fiction romance novels, including Finders Keepers (RITA-Award finalist) and Gabriel's Ghost (RITA-Award winner), and An Accidental Goddess. Her 2007-2008 releases include The Down Home Zombie Blues and Shades of Dark. When not on duty with some intergalactic fleet, she can be found in Naples, Florida with her golf-loving husband, Robert Bernadino, and their two thoroughly spoiled cats, Daiquiri and Miss Doozy.

www.linneasinclair.com

Helen Stringer
The author, Helen Stringer, grew up in Liverpool, England, and currently lives in Los Angeles. While in Liverpool, she played in and then managed new wave rock band, The Room later shepherding their first US tour. She also edited local music paper MerseySound while researching the life of the Countess of Sefton through her late 19th century diaries for an exhibition on behalf of Merseyside County Museums.

After moving to the United States she studied film, winning several student film awards, including a student Emmy and the National Federation of Local Cable Programmers award for Best Entertainment Program for a Western version of A Christmas Carol, called A Fistful of Holly (subsequently bought by CBS), and was a Directing Fellow at the American Film Institute Center for Advanced Film and Television Studies, following which she worked as Director of Development for a Los Angeles television production company. She has also written for the food section of the Los Angeles Times and Victoria magazine and founded and edited the eclectic web magazine The Mediadrome.

www.helenstringer.net

Shanna Swendson
Shanna currently works as a freelance writer doing marketing and publicity materials for various local and international companies while devoting the bulk of her time to writing novels. In addition to reading and writing, Shanna enjoys doing in-depth analyses of television science fiction series, cooking and singing. She is single and lives in Irving, Texas, with her many pet plants, including a vicious attack bougainvillea and a Christmas cactus that has outlasted three homes, three jobs and three boyfriends, yet still faithfully blooms every Christmas and Easter.

www.shannaswendson.com

Brooke Taylor
Brooke Taylor writes Young Adult fiction from her home in the Oklahoma. When she’s not reading or writing, she enjoys horseback riding, going to the lake, and traveling. Her many overseas adventures include sky diving in New Zealand, scuba diving with sharks, sailing through hurricanes, and having her tent attacked by wild animals in the Mara game reserve in Africa. Due to parental concerns and current health insurance rates, Brooke has agreed to let her characters do most of the risk-taking from now on.

www.BrookeTaylorBooks.com

Sherry Thomas
Sherry arrived on American soil at age thirteen. Within a year, with whatever English she’d scraped together and her trusty English-Chinese dictionary by her side, she was already plowing her way through the 600-page behemoth historical romances of the day. The vocabulary she gleaned from those stories of unquenchable ardor propelled her to great successes on the SAT and the GRE and came in very handy when she turned to writing romances herself.

Sherry has a B.S. in economics from Louisiana State University and a master’s degree in accounting from the University of Texas at Austin. She lives in central Texas with her husband and two sons. When she’s not writing, she enjoys reading, playing computer games with her boys, and reading some more.

www.sherrythomas.com