Donald J. Bingle is a frequent contributor to short story anthologies in the science fiction, fantasy, horror, and comedy genres, including the DAW anthologies Time Twisters, If I Were an Evil Overlord, Furry Fantastic, Fantasy Gone Wrong, Slipstreams, All Hell Breaking Loose, Renaissance Faire, Sol’s Children, Historical Hauntings, Civil War Fantastic, and Earth, Wind, Fire, Water: Tales From the Eternal Archives #2. He is also the author of Forced Conversion, a science fiction novel set in the near future, when everyone can have heaven, any heaven they want, but some people don’t want to go. His latest novel, Greensword, is a darkly comedic eco-thriller about a group of misfit environmentalists who are about to save the world from global warming but don’t want to get caught doing it. He is cursed with a long commute to his day job as a securities attorney, but he is blessed with a lovely wife, Linda, and two rambunctious pooches: Mauka and Makai. Don can be reached at www.orphyte.com/donaldjbingle.
Yvonne Coats is originally from Dubois, Wyoming, a town where the wintering bighorn sheep outnumber the humans about ten to one. She now lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico, a city with more people than the entire state of Wyoming -lots less snow, though. She shares space with her smart spouse, Mike Collins, and their rotten cat, Magpie. Her stories have appeared in small-press magazines and in anthologies Treachery & Treason and Turn the Other Chick. Yvonne was shortlisted for the first James White Award in 2000. When not writing, she enjoys gardening, knitting, lifting weights, and trying to learn Japanese.
Keith R.A. DeCandido (www.decandido.net) first introduced the characters of Torin ban Wyvald and Danthres Tresyllione and the world of Cliff’s End in the 2004 novel Dragon Precinct. They’ve also appeared in the short stories “Getting the Chair” (Murder by Magic, 2004), “Crime of Passion” (Hear Them Roar, 2006), and “House Arrest” (Badass Faeries, 2007). Keith’s other short fiction can be found in Amazing Stories, Did You Say Chicks!?, Farscape: The Official Magazine, Furry Fantastic, 44 Clowns: 11 Stories of the 4 Clowns of the Apocalypse, The Town Drunk, Urban Nightmares, and various Doctor Who, Marvel Comics, and Star Trek anthologies. He’s also written a great deal of fiction in the media universes of Star Trek, World of Warcraft, Starcraft, Doctor Who, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Marvel Comics, Serenity, Farscape, Andromeda, and tons more. He lives in New York City.
“Ancestral Armor” is Kitsune and Asano’s fourth short fiction appearance (with other stories published in Battle Magic, Historical Hauntings (both available from DAW Books), and 100 Crafty Little Cat Crimes). John Helfers has published more than three dozen short stories in anthologies such as Millennium 3001, Liftport, Time Twisters, and Places to Be, People to Kill. His media tie-in fiction has appeared in anthologies for the Dragonlance® and Transformers® universes, among others. He also writes nonfiction, including a comprehensive history of the United States Navy and a critical look at the impact of culture on military operations in the collection of essays Beyond Shock and Awe, edited by Eric Haney. Recent novels include the YA illustrated novel Thunder Riders and Shadowrun: Aftershock, co-authored with Jean Rabe.
Belle Holder is a beginning author, yet quite good for a beginner, and she loves animals. She has a pet mouse, Lighting, whom she writes about a lot; and she hopes to become a lawyer, an agent, or a farmer who uses scientific research to grow incredibly good crops. “Another Exciting Adventure of Lightning Merriemouse-Jones” is her second published short story. She and her mother are members of Persephone, a women horror writers organization.
Nancy Holder has sold approximately eighty novels and more than two hundred short stories, articles, and essays. She is currently working on Athena Force: Disclosure, due out in August 2008. The Rose Bride, a fairy tale retelling, is out now.
An unreformed tomboy, Jane Lindskold came late to her appreciation of the magic of clothing. However, she is now a complete convert and can occasionally be glimpsed wearing satin and embroidery. She has written most of her eighteen novels and over fifty short stories while wearing battered jeans and T-shirts. Her most popular character, Firekeeper (the protagonist of six novels, beginning with Through Wolf’s Eyes), often wears very little and prefers not to wear shoes unless absolutely necessary. The characters in the stand-alone novels The Buried Pyramid and Child of a Rainless Year also have clothing issues. Lindskold is currently involved in a new series, one that has immersed her in an appreciation of Chinese lore… and clothing. You can get a look at her at her website, www.janelindskold.com.
Louise Marley is a recovering opera singer who now writes science fiction and fantasy full time and teaches a creative writing class at Bellevue Community College in Washington State. She is the winner of two Endeavour Awards, has been a Nebula, John W. Campbell, and Tiptree nominee, and was a Clarion ’93 graduate. Her work has been published by Ace, Viking, Puffin, Asimov’s, SciFiction, Talebones, and others.
Joe Masdon grew up in Macon, GA, and graduated from Oglethorpe University in Atlanta in 1988. He moved to North Carolina in 1995, pursuing a woman that he caught and married in 1996. He graduated from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 2004 with a Master’s Degree in accounting. He has managed to get two short stories published and is always glad to hear from Jean Rabe when she is working on a tight deadline. He and his wife Sherrie live in Elon, NC, with their two children, Jonathan and Robert.
Rebecca Moesta is the author of twenty-eight books and numerous short stories, including the award-winning Star Wars: Young Jedi Knights series and two original Titan A.E. novels, which she co-authored with husband Kevin J. Anderson, and a Buffy the Vampire Slayer novel, Little Things. With Anderson, she has written an original young-adult fantasy series, Crystal Doors, for Little, Brown. In comics, she has worked with Anderson on the hardcover Star Trek: The Next Generation graphic novel, The Gorn Crisis from Wild-storm and Grumpy Old Monsters from IDW. Moesta is the daughter of an English teacher and a nurse, from whom she learned, respectively, her love of words and her love of books. Moesta, who holds an MBA from Boston University, has taught every grade level from kindergarten through junior college and worked for seven years as a publications specialist and technical editor at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
Chris Pierson has been a writer since he was a kid up in Canada. He has written seven novels for the Dragonlance series: Spirit of the Wind, Dezra’s Quest, The Kingpriest trilogy (Chosen of the Gods, Divine Hammer, and Sacred Fire), and the Taladas trilogy (Blades of the Tiger, Trail of the Black Wyrm and Shadow of the Flame). In addition, he has been published in Dragon Magazine and in the anthologies The Dragons At War, Dragons of Chaos, Rebels & Tyrants, and Time Twisters. During the day Chris works as a game designer for Turbine, and has been involved in the Asheron’s Call series, Dungeons & Dragons Online: Stormreach, and Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar; he also writes and edits game material for Wizards of the Coast and Sovereign Press. He lives in Boston with his wife and fellow movie addict, Rebekah.