David A. Cherry took a long time deciding what he wanted to do in life before he finally settled on art. Through the mid 70’s he was happy being a lawyer. Then in 1976 his sister C.J. Cherryh asked him to come along to Kansas City’s WorldCon and he stumbled on the acres of art show panels. He had always liked art as a hobby but had never considered it as a career before.
            Over the next years Cherry taught himself to draw and paint. He accepted his first professional assignment in 1980 and finally quit his law practice in 1984 to be a full-time artist. He won two of ASFA’s Chesley Awards and has been nominated nine times for the Hugo for Best Artist over the years. Cherry has done covers and illustrations for the works of such authors as Stephen R. Donaldson, Poul Anderson, John Brunner, David Brin, Piers Anthony, William Shatner, L. Sprague de Camp, Lois McMaster Bujold, and, of course, his sister. Some of his independent work from 1988-89 while he was President of ASFA found its way into several major exhibitions including the Park Avenue Atrium in New York and the Delaware Art Museum. His last book project was in 2001 on a guide for Terry Brook’s Shannara series written by Teresa Patterson.
            During the mid 90’s Cherry switched from cover art to gaming art at the request of his friend Bill Fawcett for a new game called SHATTERED LIGHT. Cherry was happy with the decision because the pay was better and the industry is still young and enthusiastic enough to care about its art, unlike the current book publishers. He is now the Senior Concept Artist for Ensemble Studios, the developer of the real time strategy game Age of Empires.
            David A. Cherry’s website can be found at http://www.davidcherryart.com.

            Teresa Patterson co-authored THE WORLD OF ROBERT JORDAN’S THE WHEEL OF TIME with Robert Jordan and THE WORLD OF SHANNARA with Terry Brooks. She has also written various fantasy stories, including “The Gift” featured in THE TIME OF THE VAMPIRES, and non-fiction articles. She served two terms as President of the Association of Science Fiction and Fantasy Artists, an organization dedicated to promoting and educating artists and collectors.
            When not writing Patterson works as a balloon sculptor and show horse trainer. Before becoming a writer she organized SF conventions and art shows, earned a Master rating in costuming, worked as a movie extra in films and ran a jousting and horseback combat show.

            Dusty Rainbolt is an award-winning cat writer according to her answering machine. She’s the author of the humorous cat care books Cat Wrangling Made Easy: Maintaining Peace and Sanity in Your Multicat Home and Kittens For Dummies (yup, one of funny, yet useful Dummies books.) Her new book (fantasy or nonfiction-your call) Ghost Cats: Human Encounters with Feline Spirits recently won a Cat Writers’ Association Muse Medallion for Excellence. She’s also the author a science fiction novel, All the Marbles and co-author of the wildly successful Yard Dog Press chapbook, The Four Redheads of the
Apocalypse.  In her real job, Dusty writes pet product reviews for Catnip so she can get more free cat stuff. She also freelances for Cat Fancy, City + Country Pets, www.stickypaws.com and anyone whose checks don’t bounce.

            Dusty Rainbolt’s website can be found at  www.dustyrainbolt.com.

             Carole Nelson Douglas, the author of  50-some novels, moved to Texas to write fiction full-time after several years as an award-winning daily newspaper reporter and editor in St. Paul, Minnesota.

             She’s written some bestselling high fantasy novels in two series and a pair of SF thrillers, then took a few SF/F notions along when she moved into mystery writing.  The 20- book Midnight Louie mystery series features a hard-boiled Las Vegas PI whose part-time, first-furperson narration makes clear he’s Sam Spade with hairballs. CAT IN A RED HOT RAGE, set among the Red Hat Society ladies, arrives in paperback in March.  The next Louie hardcover, set at an eponymous Nevada brothel, CAT IN A SAPPHIRE SLIPPER, arrives in September, along with the reissue of Louie # 2, PUSSYFOOT, set at a stripper contest. A theme here?

             Carole’s return to outright fantasy after fifteen years was published in October ‘07: DANCING WITH WEREWOLVES, an apocalyptic dark urban fantasy featuring paranormal investigator Delilah Street in a Las Vegas from Hell was a hit: starred Publishers Weekly review, Nielsen Bookscan bestseller list, etc. Next in the series is BRIMSTONE KISS, October ‘08. Both are mass market paperbacks from Juno Books, an imprint of sf/f Wildside Press. A Delilah Street short story will be in Dana Stabenow’s anthology, POWERS OF DETECTION ll.

            CAT IN A QUICKSILVER CAPER won the Cat Writers’ Association (CWA) Best Novel award for 2007.
            Carole and her husband Sam, are kept as pets by four stray cats and a dog in Fort Worth.

            Carole Nelson Douglas’s websites are http://www.carolenelsondouglas.com and http://www.dancingwithwerewolves.com

David Lee Anderson is a science fiction and fantasy illustrator. He’s shown paintings at more than 350 convention art shows and has been the selected Artist Guest of Honor at twenty conventions. He’s done work for TOR Books and BAEN Books, Tomorrow SF Magazine, Isaac Asimov’s SF Magazine, Mayfair Games, Bethesda Softworks, Yard Dog Press and independent publishers. He directed the Art Programming tracks for LA Con II, the 1984 Worldcon, and the 1985 World Fantasy Con. He was President of the Association of Science Fiction and Fantasy Artists from 1990-92. He was an adjunct professor at Oklahoma City University teaching illustration from 1990-96, and taught comic illustration, for the Moore-Norman Technology Center 1994-1999 for adult classes, and comic art at their celebrated Summer Youth Academy 1998-present. He currently ships originals and prints to art shows all over the US and is a sought-after speaker, attending conventions that invite him as Toastmaster, Artist Guest of Honor or panelist. He’s been a Fan Guest of Honor on one occasion, and is proud to be chosen for any opportunity to entertain and/or educate fans of science fiction and fantasy illustration.

            David Lee Anderson’s website can be found at http://www.davidleeanderson.com.

            Known affectionately by her kids as “Indiana Mom”, student anthropologist Mel White has renounced the Dilbert-In-CubeLand existence of a computer programmer for a life of adventure, books, and lots and lots of homework. In addition to her current research on the PaleoIndian “White Shaman” site in South Texas, she authored a number of papers on Internet culture (including one on prank auctions on Ebay and another on hoaxes in cyberspace) and authored a chapter in the upcoming book, DIGITAL GAMING CULTURES (due out in 2006). White hasn’t given up on writing science fiction and fantasy or on drawing comic books, though. They’ve just been tabled until after graduation day.

            Richard D. Weber was formerly Special Agent in Charge of Dignitary Protection with the U.S. Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service. He protected the late Princess Diana and Prince Charles, the Secretary of State, The Prime Minister of Israel, and Saudi Arabia’s and Jordan’s ambassadors to name but a few. He’s a graduate of University of Wisconsin and a member of HWA and MWA.
            Weber currently resides in the DFW Metroplex where he has just completed a new novel, ELVIS AND ME, and is putting the finishing touches on his euro-thriller screenplay THE SAMPSON PROJECT. His current novel, PROTOCOL-17: A CONSPIRACY THRILLER, is a Bram Stoker Award recommended work and has enjoyed top-seller ranking. Another codebreaker book entitled THE VOYNICH MANUSCRIPT might be out later this year.
            Among other things, Weber has interviewed such notables as Doug Clegg and Tom Piccirilli for publication. He has edited and written for a new anthology, THE BLACK SPIRAL: TWISTED TALES OF TERROR. Some of his feature stories have appeared in BLACK OCTOBER and CTHULHU SEX 17 Vol.II with his latest offering, “Manhunter,” released in MIDNIGHT POSSE.

            Richard D. Weber’s website can be found at http://www.darkprotocols.com.

            Selina’s short fiction has appeared in several magazines and anthologies including Sword and Sorceress 16, three of the MZB Fantasy Mags, Turn the Other Chick, both of the newest Thieves World anthologies, and Anthology At the End of the Universe.  Look for her new story, “The Big Trash,” in the spring issue of HelixOnLine.            Her novels include Queen of Denial, Recycled, Chains of Freedom, Chains of Destruction, Strange Robby, The Host trilogy, Fire & Ice, Hammer Town, Reruns, and novellas entitled The Boatman and Material Things from YDP, and Bad Lands, a gonzo-mystery novel co-written with Laura J. Underwood from Five Star Mystery (Techno Books).            She has just signed contracts with Baen Books for the electronic release of all 5 of her Meisha Merlin titles plus the never-before-published Chains of Redemption, the third book in the Chains of Freedom series.  Through an arrangement with Baen, Yard Dog Press will be releasing a short run print edition of Chains of Redemption later this year.

            Sword Masters, Selina’s first full-length epic fantasy novel is due out in late February from Dragon Moon Publishing in Canada.

            You can contact Selina through her personal website www.selinarosen.com.

           Glenn Yeffeth is the editor of numerous science fiction/media anthologies, including the bestselling TAKING THE RED PILL: SCIENCE, PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION IN THE MATRIX and Finding Serenity: Anti-Heroes, Lost Shepherds and Space Hookers in Joss Whedon’s Firefly. He is also the CEO and publisher of BenBella Books, the fast-growing Dallas-based independent press.

            Glenn Yeffeth’s website can be found at http://www.benbellabooks.com.

            Martha Wells is the author of seven fantasy novels, including Wheel of the Infinite, City of Bones, The Element of Fire, and the Nebula-nominated The Death of the Necromancer. Her most recent novels are a fantasy trilogy: The Wizard Hunters, The Ships of Air, and The Gate of Gods, all currently out in paperback from HarperCollins Eos. She has had short stories in the magazines Realms of Fantasy, Black Gate, and Stargate Magazine, and in the Tsunami Relief anthology Elemental. She also has essays in the nonfiction anthologies Farscape Forever and Mapping the World of Harry Potter from BenBella Books. She has also written two media-tie-in novels, Stargate Atlantis: Reliquary and Stargate Atlantis: Entanglement. Her books have been published in eight languages, including French, Spanish, German, Russian, Polish, and Dutch.

            Martha Wells’s website can be found at http://www.marthawells.com.