Julie Beard is a former journalist who brings her reporting skills to her award-winning, bestselling novels. Imagine investigating weapons of the Middle Ages, or the importance of reputations in the Victorian era, as she did when writing Midnight Angel (Berkley Sensation, December 2003). Julie has been hailed for her ability to magically recreate the distant past. Now she's busy "world building" in the future. Julie was one of the launch authors for the Silhouette Bombshell series, a new line of romantic action/adventure novels. She debuted with Kiss of the Blue Dragon (August 2004) featuring 28-year-old Angel Baker, a certified retribution specialist who strives to see justice done in the year 2104. The sequel, Touch of the White Tiger, will be a September 2005 release. Julie was a reporter and a news writer before turning her writing skills to more creative venues. She worked as the night beat for KSDK-TV, covering everything from murders to visiting politicians to hometown parades. As a news writer at the Fox affiliate in Chicago, she wrote copy for the legendary news anchor Walter Jacobson and Robin Robinson. Julie also has given dozens of workshops and lectures around the country at community colleges, bookstores and writers conferences. She's conducted seminars and written articles about editing, writing, promotions and journalism. She wrote the popular "how-to" book, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Getting Your Romance Published. This comprehensive nonfiction title offers advice on everything from plotting and editing a novel to finding an agent and publisher. Julie graduated from Northwestern University's prestigious Medill School of Journalism with a master of science degree in journalism. She graduated with a B.F.A. in theatre arts from Stephens College. She lives with her husband, two children and two incorrigible basenjis in the Midwest. Sourced from: http://www.eharlequin.com/author.html...

USA Today bestselling author Elda Minger is a RITA finalist and has won numerous awards, including Romantic Times' Best American Romance. She is well known in the romance world for over two dozen romance novels, both series and historical, and numerous novellas. She is a popular speaker, and has given several very well received lectures at National Conferences and Universities. Elda lives in Los Angeles with her family, both two and four footed.

Okay, so I have to write a new bio because, well, life happens whether you want it to or not. And while I was at it, I decided to answer that question everyone asks me: How did you start writing? The only answer I have is To keep the voices in my head from driving me crazy. Now, you probably think those voices mean I am crazy, except for a couple things. When I write down what they're saying, they leave me alone. And they never tell me to kill or maim anyone. Both of those are definite pluses in my book. So, where do the voices come from? That's a toughie, so I'll start at the beginning. I'm the seventh of nine children, and we are not chips off the old block. We all possess distinct, unique personalities. In the summer my mom would send us outdoors until lunch time (for her own sanity, I'm sure) and we'd amuse ourselves in the woods behind our house, catching tadpoles, sneaking into the orchard next door, tormenting each other. We used to take picnic lunches and I remember this one time we put ants in my brother's mustard sandwich. Not those puny little sugar ants, either, big, fat black ones. Another time we buried his watch in the sand pile behind our house. He's still holding a grudge. Hey, we were kids before cable and video games, we had to find some way to amuse ourselves. So, the voices? Well, I turned out to be that kid who was painfully shy. I was only happy with my nose in a book (okay, and tormenting my brother, but it was my sister's idea, and really, he deserved it), and when I wasn't reading I made up stories in my head. If I'd had the courage and discipline to write them down I'd be the most prolific author ever. So, why didn't I? Life, that's why. Marriage, crafts, kids, crafts, gainful employment, crafts, divorce. And did I mention crafts? I've done it all, ceramics, knitting, macramé, origami, crocheting—I even sold a couple of original patterns. Yeah, I know, the voices weren't impressed either. The crafts didn't shut them up for long, so one day I exorcised them onto paper, and after writing at least a half dozen historicals, the you-sound-too-contemporary comments in all those rejection letters finally sank in and I tried my hand at writing contemporary romance. My first story, Happily Ever After, sold in exactly four days, followed by four more to the now discontinued Precious Gems series at Kensington Publishing. I wrote another four for Harlequin's American series, all nine under the name, Penny McCusker. And then the voices got sassy and took me into the world of life-or-death, car chases, gunfire, and sarcasm, and I'm happily chugging along in that vein as Penny McCall. I realize after all this rambling that I haven't exactly answered the question of where the voices come from, but hey, you'll just have to accept that they exist. I have.

New York Times and USA Today best-selling author Suzanne Forster is living proof of Shakespeare’s maxim that the uses of adversity are sweet. Suzanne’s writing career began by accident. Literally. A car accident ended her dreams for a career in clinical psychology. During her recovery, she began writing to fill the hours, and before she was well enough to return to graduate school, she’d sold her first book and launched a new career. Since then Suzanne has written more than thirty novels and been the recipient of countless awards, including The National Readers’ Choice Award for Shameless, her mainstream debut. She’s received recognition for outstanding sales from Waldenbooks and Bookrak, and her recent novel, Unfinished Business, was made into a movie for the Oxygen Network. Suzanne has a Master’s Degree in Writing Popular Fiction, and she teaches and lectures frequently. Her seminars on Women's Contemporary Fiction at UCLA and UC Riverside were rated outstanding, and her most requested workshop, "The High-Concept Synopsis," is based on personal experience. Her breakout novel, Shameless, sold on a synopsis that triggered a bidding war and garnered her a six-figure contract. Suzanne has received considerable media attention, including a feature segment on Extra, NBC's news and entertainment magazine, and an Emmy Award–winning "Special Report" on CBS Channel 23 News. Her many print appearances include the L.A. Times, the Philadelphia Inquirer, Redbook and Orange Coast Magazine

Eileen Wilks’ first book, a Silhouette Desire published in 1996, hit the USA Today Bestseller List and was nominated for Romantic Times' Best First Short Contemporary award. Since then, her books have appeared consistently on national bestseller lists. With thirty two books in print and novellas in nine anthologies, she has been a finalist in the prestigious Rita Awards three times, as well as receiving several nominations from Romantic Times, including one for Career Achievement in Series Romantic Suspense. Each book in her World of the Lupi series gains a larger audience. It was originally sold in the Romance section of bookstores, but more and more you will be able to find copies cross-shelved under Sci-Fi and Fantasy as the popularity of the series grows! Eileen has lived in the West Texas town of Midland, TX for over 30 years—three years as a young teen, and the remaining years since she moved back here as an adult. When she first started writing over 10 years ago, it hit her like the first drink for an alcoholic . . . or the first kiss for Romeo and Juliet. She came to writing romance in a roundabout way. Having read and loved science fiction for years, that’s where she first tried her hand when the writing bug bit. Somehow her stories always ended up having a strong romantic subplot, but she hadn’t read a romance since the early 80’s and didn’t think “those little books” were her kind of stories. But when a friend in her critique group began working on a romance novel, Wilks decided she needed to give the genre another try. She asked her friend to recommend some titles—and quicker than you can say “Jayne Ann Krentz,” she fell in love. The genre had been busy growing up while she wasn’t watching. These days, with romances comprising over 50% of the mass market books published in the U.S., there are romances to appeal to almost every taste—historicals, paranormals and contemporaries that range from romantic suspense to romantic comedy, from inspirational to sizzling. Eileen covered a lot of territory before coming home to Midland, having lived in Canada and Venezuela as well as twelve U.S. cities in five states. Profile taken from the author's site with her permission.

The author of over 40 consecutive New York Times bestsellers, JAYNE ANN KRENTZ writes romantic-suspense, often with a psychic and paranormal twist, in three different worlds: Contemporary (as Jayne Ann Krentz), historical (as Amanda Quick) and futuristic (as Jayne Castle). There are over 30 million copies of her books in print. She earned a B.A. in History from the University of California at Santa Cruz and went on to obtain a Masters degree in Library Science from San Jose State University in California. Before she began writing full time she worked as a librarian in both academic and corporate libraries. Ms. Krentz is married and lives with her husband, Frank, in Seattle, Washington. Pseudonyms: Jayne Ann Krentz Amanda Quick Stephanie James Jayne Bentley Jayne Taylor Amanda Glass

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information. New York Times Bestselling Author Deirdre Martin was six when she wrote her first "book,”a Peanuts parody. In addition to penning bad, maudlin poetry in junior high school and serving as the Arts Editor on her high school newspaper, she was also the Arts Editor at her college newspaper at the University of New York at Buffalo, where she earned her BA in English in 1985. While writing for the student newspaper there, she sold her first freelance magazine article and won a city wide play writing contest. Her play, Spin Cycle, about two lonely people at a laundromat, was subsequently performed in a theater space in downtown Buffalo. Ater graduating college, Deirdre worked at a series of trade magazines before landing a job at Soap Opera Digest. While she says it was fun working in a place where she got to watch TV all afternoon, she longed to branch out, and after two years, left to begin freelancing full time. Over the course of her twelve year freelance career, her work appeared in a wide variety of publications, including Seventeen, YM, McCall's, Fitness, New Woman, Bride's, Bridal Guide, Inside Sports, Woman's World, Modern Maturity, Islands, Newsday, and the New York Times. In 1998, her first non fiction book was published: Investing for Retirement (Avon). She also contributed to Lifescripts for Managers, Lifescripts for Employees, and Lifescripts for the Self Employed. (MacMillan, 1999). A fan of the romance genre and of soap opera ("If Dickens were alive today, he'd be writing for a soap," Deirdre maintains), she decided to try her own hand at writing a romance novel. The result, BODY CHECK, was published in March, 2003, followed by USA Today Bestseller FAIR PLAY in 2004, TOTAL RUSH in 2005, THE PENALTY BOX in 2006, and USA Today Bestseller CHASING STANLEY in 2008. 2008 also saw the publication of JUST A TASTE, which made The New York Times Bestseller List. Deirdre returned to the world of the Blades in 2009 with POWERPLAY. 2009 was also when she launched a new series, The Wild Hart Saga, centering around a large Irish American family who own a pub in Manhattan. The first book in the series, WITH A TWIST, was quickly followed by STRAIGHT UP in 2010, and there are plans for at least two more. But the New York Blades keep calling her back: her next book, ICEBREAKER, will be published in 2011. A resident of Ithaca, NY, Deirdre enjoys hiking and biking with her husband, Mark Levine, co author of the financial bestsellers, Die Broke and Live Rich. When not busy lavishing affection on her beloved Newfie, Rocky, she also enjoys reading, baking, listening to music, yoga, photography, and hanging out with her friends from acting class. She's had the same best friend since she was ten and adores the color purple.

Since first publishing in January 1996, Lori Foster has become a USA Today, Publisher’s Weekly and New York Times bestselling author. Lori has published through a variety of houses, including Kensington, St. Martin’s, Harlequin, Silhouette, Samhain, and Berkley/Jove. She is currently published with HQN. Lori hosts a very special annual “Reader & Author” event in West Chester, Ohio. Proceeds from the event have benefited many worthy causes, including the Hamilton County YWCA Battered Women’s Shelter, the Animal Adoption Foundation, The Conductive Learning Center for children with spina bifida and cerebral palsy, and The One Way Farm, Children’s Home. Each year Lori donates all proceeds from one book to charity. You can see the benefit romance books here: http://lorifoster.com/benefit-books/ Career Highlights •In 2001, Lori received the prestigious Romantic Times “Career Achievement Award” for Series Romantic Fantasy. •In 2002, Lori’s book Too Much Temptation was the top-selling romance title for Amazon books. •In 2003, Say No To Joe was the second “Bestselling Original Contemporary” romance title for Waldenbooks. •In 2004, Lori Foster was a clue in the New York Times crossword puzzle. •In 2004, The Secret Life of Bryan was the “Bestselling Original Contemporary” romance title for the BGI group. •In 2005, Lori received the prestigious Romantic Times “Career Achievement Award” for Contemporary Romance. •In 2006, Jude’s Law was the “Bestselling Romantic Comedy” romance title for the BGI group. •In 2007, Lori launched a new “urban fantasy” series under the name L.L. Foster. See more on her “dark side” at www.llfoster.com. •In 2007, Causing Havoc was among Amazon’s Top Ten Editor’s picks in Romance. •In 2008, Hard to Handle made #2 on The New York Times. •In 2009, Servant: The Acceptance was Amazon’s #1 Editors’ Pick in Romance. •In 2010, Lori was a clue in the USA Today Quick Cross puzzle.

AKA Jaelyn Conlee. Fayrene Preston was born in Texas, USA where she raised. Her high school years were straight out of the movie American Graffiti—good friends and that wonderful rock ‘n' roll. After high school, Fayrene attended college and earned an Associate degree in Business Administration. Almost immediately afterward the university, she married a Navy man and for the next five years they traveled back and forth across America several times and lived on both coasts. Although the marriage didn't last, she was blessed with two completely wonderful sons, both grown now, and the most beautiful little granddaughter you've ever seen in your life! She counts herself as very lucky. Books have always been an important part of her life, and now she gets to make her living by writing them. She can't think of anything to make one happier. She published her debut novel as Jaelyn Conlee in 1982, now continued writing as Fayrene Preston.