Maggie Lynch is the author of 26+ published books, as well as numerous short stories and non-fiction articles. Her fiction tells stories of people making heroic choices one messy moment at a time. After careers in counseling, the software industry, academia, and worldwide educational consulting, Maggie chose to make her joy of writing a full-time job. She writes books where love and justice prevail in the end. Her fiction spans romance, suspense, fantasy and science fiction. Her non-fiction focuses on guiding authors to business success in their career through planning, distributing, and marketing their completed work.

Jody Wallace’s 30+ titles include sf/f romance, paranormal romance, and contemporary romance. Her fiction features diverse protagonists, action, adventure, and humor. Her readers frequently comment on her great characters, suspenseful stories, and intriguing and creative world building. When describing her methods, Jody says: “There are two sides to every story. I aim to tell the third. And I add cats regardless.” Outside of her fiction career, Jody has employed her Master’s Degree in Creative Writing to work as a college English instructor, technical documents editor, market analyst, web designer, and all around pain in the butt.

I grew up reading SFF, buying the biggest books I could with my chore money. While I loved the action, adventure, and exciting worlds, most of those stories were missing…kissing! Now I read and write paranormal romance and science fiction romance which I think mix the best of all worlds. I also write urban fantasy romance as Jessa Slade and sexy contemporary romance as Jenna Dales. I spend most of my time at my computer thinking about stories, in my garden thinking about stories, or walking my dog thinking about stories. Hmm, I think there’s a theme… 🙂

Short version: Sela Carsen is an award-winning author of paranormal and sci-fi romance—with or without sex and dead bodies. Your pick. She maintains a permanent nerd-on for fairytales and mythology, and openly hoards reference books about obscure folklore. Born a wanderer, she and her family have finally settled in the Midwest. Until they move again, at least. Long and rambly, but funnier version: In addition to writing, I’m a wife to a Darn Near Perfect Husband and mom to Two Great Kids. They used to be the Monkey children, but they seem to have settled down a bit. (That’s going to come back and bite me on the butt as soon as you read this!) I have a BA in French (utterly useless, but fun at parties) and another BA in Communication. While I was getting the Communication degree, I wrote for my alumni magazine, dipped my feet into advertising, took want ads at the local paper and even wrote obituaries. I was also a reporter at a small-town daily, but soon realized I didn’t have a true journalist’s instinct. After that, I was busy being married and having children, but when my youngest was about a year and half old, I was standing in the shower when a scene popped into my head. Why does that always happen when you’re in the shower and you can’t get a pen and paper? Anyway, I got the soap out of my eyes, dried off and headed straight for the computer where I wrote it all down. And boy, did it stink. Whew! I’d been reading romance novels for years so I figured I should be able to write one, right? Are you done laughing? Let me know when you’re finished. Ok, then. It took about twenty false starts and a work I now call The-Regency-That-Wouldn’t-Die before I finally got disgusted with myself and started writing this funny little scene in a Louisiana cemetery. That little scene became Not Quite Dead and it’s the first manuscript I ever finished. After much angst and rewriting on my part, I eventually sold it to Samhain Publishing, who released it in August 2006. Since then, I’ve placed several other stories, but that first one will always be special to me. I’m a member of Romance Writers Of America and can usually be found at the bar during national conferences.