Greg van Eekhout’s stories have appeared in places such as Year’s Best Science Fiction, Year’s Best Fantasy & Horror, Asimov’s Science Fiction, Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, and Realms of Fantasy. His debut novel, Norse Code, will be released in May 2009. Greg lives in San Diego and blogs at http://www.writingandsnacks.com.
Alastair Reynolds was born in Barry, South Wales, in 1966. After getting a Ph.D. in astronomy he moved to the Netherlands to work for the European Space Agency. He turned full-time writer in 2004. He and his wife have returned to South Wales, near Cardiff. His first fiction sale appeared in Interzone in 1990, and he published his first novel, Revelation Space, in 2000. Revelation Space was shortlisted for the BSFA and Clarke awards, and his second novel, Chasm City, went on to win the BSFA. Subsequent works include another six novels, of which the most recent are Pushing Ice (2005), The Prefect (2007), and the far-future space opera House of Suns (2008), as well as the linked novellas “Diamond Dogs,” “Turquoise Days” (2003), and two collections of short fiction, Galactic North and Zima Blue (2006). Forthcoming are stories in Galactic Empires and The Starry Rift. His story in Other Earths stems from a long fascination and love affair with the music of Ralph Vaughan Williams and his contemporaries.
Paul Park lives in Massachusetts with his family and occasionally teaches at Williams College. Since finishing four novels set in an alternate version of eastern Europe (the Roumania Quartet—A Princess of Roumania, The Tourmaline, The White Tyger, The Hidden World), he has been writing short fiction. “A Family History” came out of a fundraiser for the Clarion West workshops, during which he auctioned off on eBay certain elements of an as yet unwritten story—the theme, the title, the various locations, the characters, the genre, etc. The winners would provide these things, and he would write a story that incorporated them. “A Family History” is the result.
Lucius Shepard was born in Lynchburg, Virginia, grew up in Daytona Beach, Florida, and lives in Vancouver, Washington. His short fiction has won the Nebula Award, the Hugo Award, The International Horror Writers Award, the National Magazine Award, the Locus Award, the Theodore Sturgeon Award, and the World Fantasy Award. His latest works are a short novel, Softspoken, a career retrospective, The Best of Lucius Shepard, and Viator Plus, a collection of newer work from PS Publishing in Britain.
Benjamin Rosenbaum grew up in Arlington, Virginia. He wanted to be either a superhero, a scientist, or a writer. He didn’t want to be the kind of scientist who carefully studies and contemplates natural phenomena, however; he wanted to be the kind who builds giant ray guns. As for being a superhero, while he does have superpowers, he reports that they are not very impressive, and he could never design a costume to his liking. He therefore decided to be a writer. He says, “Typically, when you ask writers why they write, they look at you dourly and say, ‘I have to. I am driven to do so. If you do not absolutely have to write, spare yourself this misery.’ Not me. I don’t have to write. I write because I love it. I’m grateful for every minute I get to do it. It’s like being a superhero, but you don’t need a costume.”