Orson Scott Card is the author of the novels Ender's Game, Ender's Shadow, and Speaker for the Dead, which are widely read by adults and younger readers, and are increasingly used in schools. Besides these and other science fiction novels, Card writes contemporary fantasy (Magic Street, Enchantment, Lost Boys), biblical novels (Stone Tables, Rachel and Leah), the American frontier fantasy series The Tales of Alvin Maker (beginning with Seventh Son), poetry (An Open Book), and many plays and scripts. Card was born in Washington and grew up in California, Arizona, and Utah. He served a mission for the LDS Church in Brazil in the early 1970s. Besides his writing, he teaches occasional classes and workshops and directs plays. He recently began a long-term position as a professor of writing and literature at Southern Virginia University. Card currently lives in Greensboro, North Carolina, with his wife, Kristine Allen Card, and their youngest child, Zina Margaret. For further details, see the author's Wikipedia page. For an ordered list of the author's works, see Wikipedia's List of works by Orson Scott Card. http://us.macmillan.com/author/orsons...

Alexander C. Irvine is an American fantasist and science fiction writer. He also writes under the pseudonym Alex Irvine. He first gained attention with his novel A Scattering of Jades and the stories that would form the collection Unintended Consequences. He has also published the Grail quest novel One King, One Soldier, and the World War II-era historical fantasy The Narrows. In addition to his original works, Irvine has published Have Robot, Will Travel, a novel set in Isaac Asimov's positronic robot milieu; and Batman: Inferno, about the DC Comics superhero. His academic background includes an M.A. in English from the University of Maine and a PhD from the University of Denver. He is an assistant professor of English at the University of Maine. He also worked for a time as a reporter at the Portland Phoenix.

Librarian note: there is more than one author with this name Joe Casey is an American comic book writer. He has worked on titles such as Wildcats 3.0, Uncanny X-Men, The Intimates, Adventures of Superman, and G.I. Joe: America's Elite among others. As part of the comics creator group Man of Action Studios, Casey is one of the creators of the animated series Ben 10. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe\_Casey