Seattle Noir

ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTORS

KATHLEEN ALCALÁ is the author of a story collection, Mrs. Vargas and the Dead Naturalist; three novels set in nineteenth-century Mexico: Spirits of the Ordinary, The Flower in the Skull, and Treasures in Heaven; and a collection of essays, The Desert Remembers My Name. A cofounder of and contributing editor to the Raven Chronicles, Alcalá has been a writer in residence at Seattle University and the University of New Mexico. She teaches in the Northwest Institute of Literary Arts on Whidbey Island.

CURT COLBERT is the author of the Jake Rossiter & Miss Jenkins mysteries, a series of hardboiled, private detective novels set in 1940s Seattle. The first book, Rat City, was nominated for a Shamus Award in 2001. A Seattle native, Colbert is also a poet and an avid history buff. He is currently finishing the fourth book in the series, Nowhere Town, as well as working on a present-day novel, All Along the Watchtower, featuring Rossiter’s son Matt as a Seattle-based PI.

R. BARRI FLOWERS is a best-selling, award-winning author of more than forty books, including the thrillers State’s Evidence, Persuasive Evidence, and Justice Served. He is the editor of the American Crime Writers League’s mystery anthology Murder Past, Murder Present and the recipient of the prestigious Wall of Fame Award from Michigan State University. He has appeared on the Biography Channel and Investigation Discovery. He lives in the Pacific Northwest.

G.M. FORD is the author of the six-book Leo Waterman series, which has been nominated for Shamus, Anthony, and Lefty awards. He also writes another series based on the disgraced reporter Frank Corso, and he recently completed his first nonseries novel, Nameless Night. Ford lives and works by the shores of the Pacific Ocean, and is a former creative writing instructor. He is married to mystery author Skye Moody.

PATRICIA HARRINGTON is a Derringer Award winner and her work has appeared in Woman’s Day and Mysterical-E. The author’s first mystery novel, Death Stalks the Khmer, had the distinction of being used as supplemental reading in university social work and intercultural communication classes.

THOMAS P. HOPP lived his earliest years in a West Seattle housing project. He draws on his European and Native American heritage to explore diverse themes in fiction. He studied molecular biology at the University of Washington, earned a PhD in biochemistry at Cornell Medical College in New York City, and helped found the biotechnology company, Immunex Corporation. His latest medical thriller is The Jihad Virus.

LOU KEMP’S writing has appeared in Eldritch Tales, Black October, and Pirate Writings, as well as several anthologies. One of her short stories received an honorable mention in The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror 2005 edited by Ellen Datlow. She has just completed a novel, Farm Hall.

BHARTI KIRCHNER writes novels, cookbooks, essays, short stories, and magazine articles. She is the author of eight books, including four critically acclaimed novels. Her first novel, Shiva Dancing, was chosen by Seattle Weekly as one of the top eighteen books by Seattle authors in the last twenty-five years. Bharti’s work has been translated into German, Dutch, Spanish, Thai, and other languages. Her story in this volume, “Promised Tulips,” is an excerpt from a novel-in-progress.

ROBERT LOPRESTI is enjoying his third decade in western Washington. His more than thirty published short stories include a Derringer Award winner and an Anthony Award nominee. His first novel, Such a Killing Crime, was published in 2005.

STEPHAN MAGCOSTA has worked as a contributing writer for the Stranger and guest film curator at the University of Washington’s Henry Art Gallery. He has read commentary on NPR and his writing has appeared in La Voz, the Raven Chronicles, and on numerous websites. He recently finished writing his first novel, Surrounded by Grey, an Aztec noir set in Seattle and pre-Colombian Mexico.

SKYE MOODY is the award-winning author of seven books of fiction, three books of nonfiction, several short stories, and a five-year newspaper column about New Orleans’ French Quarter for the Times-Picayune. Her latest nonfiction book, Washed Up: The Curious Journeys of Flotsam and Jetsam, was a “Washington Reads” selection in 2008. She has been a poet in residence at Tulane University and writer in residence at Seattle University. Moody is married to thriller writer G.M. Ford.

PAUL S. PIPER is a librarian at Western Washington University in Bellingham. His work has appeared in various literary journals, including the Bellingham Review, Manoa, Sulfur, and CutBank. Piper has four published books of poetry, and his writing has appeared in the books The New Montana Story, Tribute to Orpheus, and America Zen. He also coedited the books Father Nature and X-Stories: The Personal Side of Fragile X Syndrome.

BRIAN THORNTON’S short fiction short fiction has appeared in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, Shred of Evidence, and Bullet Magazine. He is also the author of several books of nonfiction, including 101 Things You Didn’t Know about Lincoln, and recently had a piece on Ross MacDonald published in the anthology A Hell of a Woman: An Anthology of Female Noir. A native Washingtonian, he lives in the Seattle area, and is Northwest Regional Chapter President for the Mystery Writers of America.

SIMON WOOD is the Anthony Award-winning author of Working Stiffs, Accidents Waiting to Happen, Paying the Piper, and We All Fall Down. A California transplant from England, he is a former racecar driver and a licensed pilot. He has published more than 150 short stories and articles. His stories have been included in “Best of ” anthologies and he’s a frequent contributor to Writer’s Digest. For more information, visit www.simonwood.net.