[From the author's own website] I was born and raised in New England and I live in Massachusetts now, with my husband and benevolent feline overlords. Mine is a quiet, fairly ordinary life. I love that because it's what saves me from an overdeveloped sense of paranoia and a tendency to expect the worst. Combined with an eye for detail and a quirky take on life, these traits give me a vivid internal life, one that's sometimes a little nerve-wracking, but very useful for writing mystery and suspense. My interest in archaeology stems from childhood, where my interest in books and the opportunities I had to travel made me begin to think about cultural differences. The thing I like best about this work is that it is a real opportunity to try and resurrect individuals from the monolith of history. I've worked on prehistoric and historical sites in the U.S. and in Europe, and like to teach, in the field, in museums, in the classroom, and through writing. In my first book, Site Unseen, my protagonist Emma Fielding discovers that archaeologists are trained to ask the same questions that detectives ask: who, what, where, when, how, and why. When I started on these books, I realized that archaeology is also good training for writing because research, logic, and persistence are so important to both endeavors. Naturally, that training worked with the archaeology mysteries—and it also helped with my first short story, "The Lords of Misrule," a historical mystery which appeared in the anthology, Sugarplums and Scandal. But how has it worked when I've tackled subjects as seemingly diverse as werewolves ("The Night Things Changed" in Wolfsbane and Mistletoe and "Swing Shift" in Crimes By Moonlight) and noir ("Femme Sole," in Boston Noir)? Easy: it's all about getting into someone else's shoes and walking around for a while. Preferably, getting into (fictional) trouble while you do it. Asking "what if?" and thinking about how culture and subcultures—in addition to personality—shape behavior.

Amanda was born in Illinois, raised in Corpus Christi, lives in Dallas but her heart lies in London. Good thing she loves to travel. During the summer after second grade, she read every book in the young adult section of the library, much to the surprise of the local librarian. So she started making up her own stories and hasn’t stopped. She has a husband who fights crime, one dog who thinks he’s a real boy, and another who might be a fruit bat in disguise. She recently added a tiny human to the mix who is following in her mother’s footsteps of storytelling. Along with her BA in English & Psychology and her MA in Education, Amanda is a graduate of the SMU Creative Writing Program and now teaches other aspiring authors. She has delivered lectures at several writer conferences and loves discussing craft, character, and structure. Her current favorite: Stirring up Trouble with Romantic Subplots. She is represented by Kimberly Brower, of Brower Literary & Management.

I was born in New Mexico back in the fifties (she said vaguely), mingling with the aliens and the big bombs. My family settled in the northwest, where those rainy days led me to read constantly. I grew up with Nancy Drew, Anya Seton, Gene Stratton Porter, Charlotte Bronte, Thomas Hardy, anything to take me Far from the Madding Crowd!

Kim Falconer, also writing as A K Wilder, is a bestselling speculative fiction author with nine published novels. Her work is described as contemporary and ancient, dark and compelling, humorous, romantic, provocative, and supercharged with blockbuster action. Originally from California, she lives on the far eastern coast of Australia with a house full of kids, and one extraordinary spotted cat. Along with her author websitess, she runs Good Vibe Astrology, trains with a sword and has recently completed a Masters Degree. As an eternal student, she has studied everything from Jungian psychology to quantum physics theory and marine biology to socio-technology and web design. Her favourite pastimes, besides daydreaming, include meditation, yoga, organic gardening and weight training. Her novel writing is done in the early hours of the morning. Find out more at AKWilder.com, AvaSykes.com, The 11th House Blog and KimFalconer.com

Kerrelyn Sparks apparently has issues with reality. After writing more than a dozen books about vampires, she has now completely gone off the deep end and wound up on another planet. But how thrilling that she can share this magical new world with her readers! Although she is best known (so far) for the Love at Stake series, which has hit as high as number 5 on the New York Times list and 22 on the USA Today list, she hopes her readers will love The Embraced as much as they did her merry band of vamps and shifters. To learn more about her paranormal, historical, and upcoming out-of-this-world fantasy romances, please visit Kerrelyn on Facebook, Twitter, or her website at www.kerrelynsparks.com. Kerrelyn loves hearing from readers, even those who howl at the moon. Letters may be sent to P.O. Box 5512, Katy, TX 77491-5512. If you would like bookmarks and signed bookplates, please mail a Self-Addressed Stamped Envelope to her P.O. Box, and she will send those items to you.

Pamela Palmer is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Feral Warriors shape-shifter series, the Esri Series, and (coming in 2012) the Vamp City series. Raised in an Air Force family, Pamela lived in eleven different houses by the time she was fourteen. The two constants in her life—her family and her imagination. When her initial career goal of captaining starships didn't pan out, she turned to engineering, satisfying her desire for adventure with books and daydreams until finally succumbing to the need to create worlds of her own. Pamela now calls the suburbs of Washington, D.C. home. For excerpts, more about the books and characters, and fun contests, visit www.pamelapalmer.net.

Seattle native Mary Richardson Daheim has been fascinated by story-telling since early childhood. She first listened, then read, and finally began to write her own fiction when she was ten. A journalism major at the University of Washington, she was the first female editor of The Daily where she attracted national attention with her editorial stance against bigotry. After getting her B.A., she worked in newspapers and public relations, but in her spare time she tried her hand at novels. In 1983, Daheim’s first historical romance was published, followed by a half-dozen more before she switched genres to her original fictional love, mysteries. Just Desserts and Fowl Prey, the first books of thirty in the Bed-and-Breakfast series were released in 1991. A year later, the Emma Lord series made its debut with The Alpine Advocate. Daheim has also written several short stories for mystery anthologies and magazines. Married to professor emeritus and playwright David Daheim, the couple lives in Seattle and has three grown daughters. She has been an Agatha Award nominee, winner of the 2000 Pacific Northwest Writers Association Achievement Award, and her mysteries regularly make the USA Today bestseller list and the New York Times top thirty.

After working thirteen years as a registered nurse, four of which she felt like "Hot Lips Houlihan" while serving in the United States Air Force, Lori Avocato picked up a book and said, "Hm. I can write one of these." Yeah right! Oh, she wrote several all right—twenty-one to be exact—but getting them published proved to be another matter. Throughout the years, she realized it was not an easy task to write a book, much less a short, concise one. Oh how wrong Lori was! However, now as an award-winning author, Lori is multi-published with twenty-one books currently sold in which her humor lends itself to her comedic voice. She writes contemporary novels and often uses her military, medical, or a combination of both backgrounds in her plots. Recently Lori has found her niche writing her new series, The Pauline Sokol Mysteries. Her ex-RN character, Pauline Sokol, becomes a medical insurance fraud investigator. Now she is working on a new series called "Lethal in Lace." Yikes! Stay tuned for details. As an Air Force veteran, Lori belongs to RomVets and The Nathan Hale Chapter of Military Officers Association. As a writer, she belongs to The Author's Guild, Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, and Romance Writers of America along with several local chapters. Lori lives in the New England area, raising two sons (Heaven help her!), and, of course, continuing to write novels. She'd love to hear from you via email at LAvocato@​cox.net