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Robin
D. Owens has been writing longer than she cares to recall. Her fantasy/futuristic
romances finally found a home at Berkley with the issuance of HeartMate in December 2001.
She credits the "telepathic cat with attitude" in selling that book. Currently, she has one
domesticated cat and one feral, who is thinking about changing his mind on being wild in the
Colorado winter (canned food might also have something to do with this). She has secretly
admitted to having as many as six cats. Before purchasing her home, she shared apartments
with an innumerable parade of hamsters, and
included
one as a sidekick in her second Luna book, Sorceress of Faith.
Naturally, for the flying horses in Protector of the Flight, she had to do hands-on research
with horses, and enjoyed every minute!
She loves writing fantasy with romance or romance with fantasy, and particularly likes
adding quirky characters for comic relief and leaving little threads dangling from book to
book to see if readers pick up on them (usually, yes! Reader intelligence is awesome!).
She
is particularly proud of her Web site, which includes such pages as Worlds (character
interviews, cut scenes/chapters/characters, photos of places/things that have inspired her)
and Free Your Artist (motivational quote, artist exercise, affirmation and fun links). Her
Web site is updated monthly and has excerpts of all her work. Her monthly contest is for fun
items that usually tie into her books: jewelry, pet carriers, runes, etc.
Robin
loves hearing from readers, tries her best to respond to any questions and has been known to
take reader advice for her work
(eg., the mole in Heart Thief). Please e-mail her at
robin@robindowens.com.
She is profoundly thankful to be a recipient of the 2002 Romance Writers of America RITA®
Award (like the Oscar in her field) for HeartMate, the 2004 and 2005 PRISM Awards for Heart
Thief and Heart Duel, the 2003 Denver Area Science Fiction Association Golden Lungfish Award
for Writer of the Year and
the
2004 Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers' Writer of the Year Award. The Luna books continue to be
award winners and when she receives such news she’s been known to dance around bored
cats....
Jeanne C. Stein's
first novel, THE BECOMING, was a Barnes & Noble
national best seller for December 2006 as
well as a local bestseller in San Diego and Denver. It was published first by ImaJinn Books,
a small Colorado publisher, then picked up by Berkley. She lives now in Denver, but was
raised and educated in San Diego, which is the
setting for her contemporary vampire fantasy.
BLOOD DRIVE, the second in the Anna Strong series, was released by Berkley in June 2007
and WATCHER, the third, in December 2007. She also
has a story in an anthology entitled MANY BLOODY RETURNS, edited by Charlaine Harris and
Toni L.P. Kelner, which debuted at #30 on the NYT bestseller list in September 2007. She is
currently at work on books 4 and 5 of the Anna Strong Chronicles.
Lori Z. Scott
remembers three main things about growing up: laughter, prayer,
and Super Cat.
As a child,
Lori spent hours around the dinner table giggling at lame jokes, puns, and punch lines.
Laughter is still a vital part of her everyday life and her writing. (No joke!)
Prayer
played a key role in Lori’s life too. After all, with three boisterous sisters, talking to
God was about the only place she held a prayer of getting a word in edgewise.
Lori wrote
“The Adventures of Super Cat” in the margins of her high school science notebook. (She just
couldn’t leave her creative streak out of the equation.) This daydreaming/doodling
phenomenon has occurred several times throughout her life, but that information remains
strictly confidential.
It’s
no wonder laughter, prayer, and Super Cat all show up in Lori’s new children’s fiction
series. The first two titles—Meghan Rose on Stage!
and Meghan Rose Has Ants in Her Pants—are funny (she figures, if it
doesn’t amuse her, why write it?) and bursting with
energy. The main character, named after her own daughter, is a strong,
out-spoken first grader. Her best buddy Ryan and duck-loving pal Kayla help round out the
cast.
As a
speaker, teacher, and award-winning author, Lori Z. Scott has contributed to more than a
dozen books and published over fifty short stories, poems, puzzles, articles, and devotions
for children, teens, and adults. Her web site—www.MeghanRoseSeries.com—highlights
the Meghan Rose series. Meghan Rose All Dressed Up and Meghan Rose Has a
Secret will be released this April.
Elizabeth Zelvin is a New York City
psychotherapist whose debut mystery, Death
Will Get You Sober, is the latest turn in a lifelong path as a writer that has included
poetry, songs, and academic and professional materials on addictions and mental health.
After majoring in English in college, she spent two years in Côte d’Ivoire, West Africa,
where she taught English to French-speaking students. On her return, Liz found a job in
publishing and began writing poetry. Her work appeared in numerous journals and eventually
was published in two books, I Am the Daughter and Gifts and Secrets: Poems of the
Therapeutic Relationship.
Liz
returned to school for a master’s degree in social work and a credential in alcoholism
counseling. Her first clinical internship took her down to the Bowery, where her mystery
Death Will Get You Sober begins. Ten years later, she went back to the Bowery to
develop and run an outpatient program for homeless alcoholics and drug addicts.
In 2000, Liz left her day job to launch an online therapy website at
LZcybershrink.com and write Death Will Get You Sober. First in a series, it’s about a
recovering alcoholic whose formula for sobriety is, “Don’t drink, go to meetings, and
investigate a murder.”
A related short story, “Death Will Clean Your Closet,” has been
nominated for an
Agatha award for Best Short Story. Another story, “Death Will Tie Your Kangaroo Down,”
received an honorable mention in the first annual CrimeSpace Short Story Competition.
Sheila Lowe is a court-qualified forensic handwriting expert with more forty years of experience in the
field. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology and is the author of several
published books including Handwriting of the Famous & Infamous, and The Complete
Idiot’s Guide to Handwriting Analysis, as well as Sheila Lowe’s Handwriting
Analyzer software. Her new mystery novel, Poison Pen, received a starred review
in Publishers Weekly and introduces forensic handwriting expert, Claudia Rose, who
uses her handwriting analysis skills to help solve crimes.
As a handwriting expert, Sheila is often seen in the media analyzing celebrities,
presidential candidates, and people in high-profile criminal cases. She provides services
to corporate clients, mental health professionals, attorneys, private investigators and
staffing agencies, and many others.
After
award-winning author
Jordan Dane
sold her first 3-books in auction to Avon/HarperCollins in June 2006, her debut title "NO
ONE HEARD HER SCREAM" held more significance. Everyone heard her scream! And this went
double when she sold another 3-book series in May 2007 without having one book on the
shelves yet.
Ripped from the headlines, Jordan's gritty
suspense plots weave a tapestry of vivid settings, intrigue, and dark humor. Her first
back-to-back releases are planned for Apr, May and Jun 2008. Jordan and her husband
now
share their Oklahoma residence with an intelligent canine and two cats of highborn
lineage.
In spring 2008, take a front row seat to
suspense with Jordan Dane's NO ONE HEARD HER SCREAM, NO ONE LEFT TO TELL, & NO ONE LIVES
FOREVER.
Jordan was guest of honor at 7 virtual book tour stops sponsored by The Writer's
Chatroom. If you missed the tour, visit these links to catch up.
THE WRITER'S
CHATROOM
