Jonathan Maberry is a professional writer and writing teacher; since 1979 he’s sold more than 1,000 articles, eighteen nonfiction books, six novels, as well as numerous short stories, poetry, song lyrics, video scripts, and two plays. After nearly thirty years as a nonfiction writer, releasing titles such as VAMPIRE UNIVERSE and THE CRYPTOPEDIA: A DICTIONARY OF THE WEIRD, EERIE AND DOWNRIGHT BIZARRE, Jonathan’s first novel, GHOST ROAD BLUES (Pinnacle Books) was released in June 2006 and won the Bram Stoker Award for Best First Novel. This bestselling thriller kicked off a trilogy of supernatural suspense stories set in rural Pennsylvania. The series continued with DEAD MAN’S SONG, and concludes this year with BAD MOON RISING (May 8, 2008). Jonathan is the founder and executive director of Career Doctor for Writers, which provides classes, editorial services and mentoring for writers of all genres and levels of experience. With Joy Stocke, he co-founded the online literary journal, the Wild River Review, and he is a founding partner of Writer’s Corner USA, a writers education center in Doylestown, PA.
L.A. (Leslie) Banks - In 1992, Banks added another facet to her career, entering the publishing industry. She writes under the pseudonyms; L.A. Banks, Leslie Esdaile, Leslie E. Banks, Leslie Banks, and Leslie Esdaile Banks. She has won several business as well as literary awards, and has penned over 30 novels and 10 novellas in genres as diverse as romance, women’s fiction, crime suspense, and paranormal. She has contributed to magazines, newspaper columns, and has written commercial fiction for five major publishers simultaneously: St. Martin’s Press (NYC), Simon and Schuster (NYC), Kensington Publishing (NYC), BET/Arabesque (NYC), and Genesis Press (MS), now adding Parker Publishing to the list.
Banks’ writing career took a new twist in 2000 when she won the coveted contract with Paramount/Showtime in collaboration with Simon & Schuster/Pocketbooks to write a book series for the popular cable network television series, Soul Food. From there, Banks transitioned into another hot genre: the world of paranormal fiction, where she is currently penning a 12 book Vampire Huntress Legend series under the pen name, L.A. Banks, for St. Martin’s Press: Minion, (June 2003), The Awakening, (January 2004), The Hunted, (June 2004), and The Bitten, (January 2005), The Forbidden (July 2005), The Damned, released January 2006, and The Forsaken (July 2006), with additional titles following in 2007 and 2008. In addition, Banks was recently signed to a St. Martin’s Press inspired paranormal romance anthology, entitled, Stroke of Midnight, contributing with Sherrilyn Kenyon, Amanda Ashley, and Lori Handeland, which hit the New York Times Bestseller extended list in 2004. Her story within that anthology, "Make It Last Forever," tells of the back story of one of the key Guardians in her Vampire Huntress Legend series (Jack Rider), and how he joined the Guardian team. She has also contributed short stories to My Big Fat Paranormal Wedding, and Love At First Bite– both St. Martin’s speculative fiction anthologies. Look for a hot new werewolf series from Banks via St. Martin’s in 2007 as well. Book one of a new werewolf series, Bad Blood, is due in April 2008
She has also worked with other horror anthology collections, Dark Dreams I and Voices From The Other Side for Kensington Publishing. She is writing a series that is a novelization of the movie Scarface, including Scarface: The Beginning (2006) and Scarface: Point of No Return (2007).
Tim Esaias writes satire, speculative fiction, poetry, and essays. His work 
has appeared in over a dozen countries and fifteen languages. He has been a finalist for the British Science Fiction Award (1998) and the Rhysling Award (5 nominations, Third Place 1997), and he won the Asimov's Readers' Award for Poetry (2005). He is a member of the Pittsburgh Poetry Exchange, a Member Demeritus of the Wordwrights and a certified Rogue in Lair #1 of the Rascals, Rogues & Rapscallions. He teaches at Seton Hill University in their Masters Program for Writing Popular Fiction. He lives in Pittsburgh with his wife, who is a physician.
Lawrence B. Fox - Born in Bethlehem, PA, Larry graduated from Moravian Preparatory School, Muhlenberg College, and Villanova University School of Law. He has been engaged in the private practice of law as a member of the Northampton County Bar for 35 years, with a focus upon estate administration, municipal law, real estate, and corporate law. He has written four books of humorous essays, including THERE’S NO JUSTICE—JUST COURT COSTS, HAS MY LAWYER CALLED YET?, NO NOOSE IS GOOD NOOSE, and THE CONFUSED LAWYER’S FIELD GUIDE TO THE COURTHOUSE. Larry often lectures about humor in the practice of law, and how the writer may draft humorous short stories for inclusion in self-published books.
T.L. (Tracy) Higley is the author of a medical thriller, RETROVIRUS, and two archeological suspense novels, MARDUK’S TABLET and FALLEN FROM BABEL. Book one of her Seven Wonders series, SHADOW OF COLOSSUS, is due out in fall 2008.
Ann E. Michael is a poet, essayist, librettist and educator who lives in Eastern Pennsylvania. She holds an MFA in creative writing from Goddard College and is a rostered Artist-in-Education with the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. Her writing has appeared in numerous literary journals and in newspapers, family magazines, poetry anthologies, educational and academic publications as well as on radio. She has teaching experience with students from middle school through graduate school; in academic and workshop/seminar settings, she has instructed poetry, personal essay, memoir, radio commentary, creative writing and basic composition. Currently, she is the writing coordinator for the Academic Resources Center at DeSales University in Center Valley, PA. Ann E. Michael's chapbooks of poems include More than Shelter, (available from Spire Press), The Minor Fauna (available from Finishing Line Press), and Small Things Rise and Go (available from FootHills Publishing).
Katherine Ramsland h
as published 30 nonfiction books, 16 short stories, two novels, and more than four hundred articles. Her work has been translated into ten languages. She has a Ph.D. in philosophy and master’s degrees in forensic psychology and clinical psychology, and currently teaches forensic psychology at DeSales University. Among her books are biographies of authors Anne Rice and Dean Koontz, a book on local lore, BETHLEHEM GHOSTS, as well as many books on forensics, including THE CRIMINAL MIND: A WRITER’S GUIDE TO FORENSIC PSHYCHOLOGY, THE SCIENCE OF COLD CASE FILES, THE HUMAN PREDATOR, and THE CSI EFFECT. Her newest titles are INSIDE THE MINDS OF HEALTHCARE SERIAL KILLERS and BEATING THE DEVIL’S GAME: A HISTORY OF FORENSIC SCIENCE AND CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION. In addition to her books, Katherine writes editorials on breaking forensic cases for the Philadelphia Inquirer and a column on historical forensics for The Forensic Examiner, as well as feature articles and movie reviews for Court TV’s Crime Library, and has been consulted as an expert in the field of forensics by major media outlets.
Elvira Woodruff is the author of more than 20 books for children, many of them bringing colorful characters alive within historical settings for the middle grade reader. Her most recent title, FEARLESS, is an adventure-packed page-turner from Scholastic Books. She lives in Martin’s Creek, PA.
