About Lynn Erickson Molly Swanton and Carla Peltonen were born in in Aspen, Colorado, U.S.A. on January 22 and September 12. In the late 60s, both newly returned from bumming around the world, they met in Aspen in the Red Onion, an Old West saloon. They were both new brides, wet behind the ears. It was several years later that they dreamed up Lynn Erickson, the pseudonym a combination of their husbands' names. They had read every romance put out in the early 70s and started saying, "We can do better than this." Well, they couldn't, but what the heck? The wrote two fat novels before we chanced onto an agent and made a sale. His first words to them: "The manuscript is flawed, but..." They published their first novel as Lynn Erickson in 1980. Their early books were historical romances, full of blood and guts and murder, then they turned to contemporary women's suspense. "We've set almost all of our books in Colorado, especially in Aspen, a town where the truth is usually stranger than fiction. Aspen is a character in our books, not just a setting. We love to drop inside jokes about the quirks and fancies of our hometown. The scenery truly is glorious, the mountains magnificent, the skiing and hiking and fishing and horseback riding legendary. We cover the arts, too - the world-renowned music festival, the shops full of museum-quality paintings and sculptures. Southwestern art is big, of course: paintings and pottery and Navajo rugs."

aka Alison Tyler Romance author Elise Title started writing romances as an escape from her job as a psychotherapist in men's and women's prisons. Though her romances are largely lighthearted and funny, she also writes dark thrillers as a way of dealing with her past job. She also published under the pseudonym Alison Tyler.

Barbara Keiler aka Ariel Berk, Thea Frederick, Judith Arnold Barbara Keiler was born on April 7th. She started telling stories before shecould write. She was four when her sister, Carolyn, stuffed a crayon intoher hand and taught her the alphabet, and she's been writing ever since. Barbara is a graduate of Smith College, where she learned to aim for thestars, and she received a master's degree in creative writing from BrownUniversity, where she took aim at a good-looking graduate student in thechemistry department and wound up marrying him. She says: "Before myhusband and I were married, I had a job in California and he was working onhis Ph.D. in Rhode Island. I became ill, and he hopped on a plane and flewacross the country to be with me. Neither of us had any money, but he saidhe simply couldn't concentrate on his research, knowing I was three thousandmiles away and facing a serious health problem all by myself. He stayed fortwo weeks, until I was pretty well recovered. That he would just drop whathe was doing, put his life on hold and race to my side told me how much heloved me. After that, I knew this was the man I wanted to marry." Barbara has received writing fellowships from the Shubert Foundation and theNational Endowment for the Arts, and has taught at colleges and universitiesaround the country. She has also written several plays that have beenprofessionally staged at regional theaters in San Francisco, Washington, D.C.,Connecticut and off-off-Broadway. Since her first romance novel's publication in 1983 as Ariel Berk. Shewrote one novel as Thea Frederick, and since 1985 she writes asJudith Arnold. Barbara has sold more than 70 novels, with eight millioncopies in print worldwide. She has recently signed a contract with MIRABooks. Her first MIRA novel will appear in 2001. She has received severalawards from Romantic Times Magazine, including awards for the Best HarlequinAmerican Romance of the Year, Best Harlequin Superromance of the Year, BestSeries Romantic Novel of the Year and a Lifetime Achievement Certificate ofMerit for Innovative Series Romance. She has also been a finalist for theGolden Medallion Award and the RITA Award for Romance Writer of America. Hernovel Barefoot in the Grass has appeared on the recommended reading listsdistributed by cancer support services at several hospitals. Barbara lives in a small town not far from Boston, Massachusetts, New England with her husband, two teenage sons, and a guinea pig named Wilbur. Her sister Carolyn died of breast cancer in 1998.