Pandora's Closet

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Kevin J. Anderson has more than twenty million books in print in thirty languages, including Dune novels written with Brian Herbert, Star Wars and X-Files novels, and a collaboration with Dean Koontz. He just finished the sixth book in his epic space opera, “The Saga of Seven Suns.” He and his wife, Rebecca Moesta, have written numerous bestselling and award-winning young adult novels. An avid hiker, Anderson dictates his fiction into a microcassette recorder. Research has taken him to the deserts of Morocco, the cloud forests of Ecuador, Inca ruins in the Andes, Maya temples in the Yucatán, the NORAD complex, NASAs Vehicle Assembly Building, a Minuteman III missile silo, the aircraft carrier Nimitz, the Pacific Stock Exchange, a plutonium plant at Los Alamos, and FBI Headquarters in Washington, DC. He also, occasionally, stays home and works on his manuscripts. Visit his websites at: www.wordfire.com and www.dunenovels.com.

Science Fiction/Fantasy author Linda P. Baker’s internationally published novels are The Irda and Tears of the Night Sky, with Nancy Varian Berberick. Her short fiction has been published in several anthologies, including Dragons of Krynn, The New Amazons, and Time Twisters. Linda credits her mother, Lena, and sister, Lisa, for the genesis of “The Opposite of Solid,” because they reinfected Linda and her husband, Larry, with the auction bug, begetting the question: “What if I bought something at an auction that…?”

Donald J. Bingle is a frequent contributor to short story anthologies in the science fiction, fantasy, horror, and comedy genres, including the DAW anthologies Time Twisters, If I Were an Evil Overlord, Furry Fantastic, Fantasy Gone Wrong, Slipstreams, All Hell Breaking Loose, Renaissance Faire, Sol’s Children, Historical Hauntings, Civil War Fantastic, and Earth, Wind, Fire, Water: Tales From the Eternal Archives #2. He is also the author of Forced Conversion, a science fiction novel set in the near future, when everyone can have heaven, any heaven they want, but some people don’t want to go. His latest novel, Greensword, is a darkly comedic eco-thriller about a group of misfit environmentalists who are about to save the world from global warming but don’t want to get caught doing it. He is cursed with a long commute to his day job as a securities attorney, but he is blessed with a lovely wife, Linda, and two rambunctious pooches: Mauka and Makai. Don can be reached at www.orphyte.com/donaldjbingle.

Yvonne Coats is originally from Dubois, Wyoming, a town where the wintering bighorn sheep outnumber the humans about ten to one. She now lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico, a city with more people than the entire state of Wyoming -lots less snow, though. She shares space with her smart spouse, Mike Collins, and their rotten cat, Magpie. Her stories have appeared in small-press magazines and in anthologies Treachery & Treason and Turn the Other Chick. Yvonne was shortlisted for the first James White Award in 2000. When not writing, she enjoys gardening, knitting, lifting weights, and trying to learn Japanese.

Keith R.A. DeCandido (www.decandido.net) first introduced the characters of Torin ban Wyvald and Danthres Tresyllione and the world of Cliff’s End in the 2004 novel Dragon Precinct. They’ve also appeared in the short stories “Getting the Chair” (Murder by Magic, 2004), “Crime of Passion” (Hear Them Roar, 2006), and “House Arrest” (Badass Faeries, 2007). Keith’s other short fiction can be found in Amazing Stories, Did You Say Chicks!?, Farscape: The Official Magazine, Furry Fantastic, 44 Clowns: 11 Stories of the 4 Clowns of the Apocalypse, The Town Drunk, Urban Nightmares, and various Doctor Who, Marvel Comics, and Star Trek anthologies. He’s also written a great deal of fiction in the media universes of Star Trek, World of Warcraft, Starcraft, Doctor Who, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Marvel Comics, Serenity, Farscape, Andromeda, and tons more. He lives in New York City.

“Ancestral Armor” is Kitsune and Asano’s fourth short fiction appearance (with other stories published in Battle Magic, Historical Hauntings (both available from DAW Books), and 100 Crafty Little Cat Crimes). John Helfers has published more than three dozen short stories in anthologies such as Millennium 3001, Liftport, Time Twisters, and Places to Be, People to Kill. His media tie-in fiction has appeared in anthologies for the Dragonlance® and Transformers® universes, among others. He also writes nonfiction, including a comprehensive history of the United States Navy and a critical look at the impact of culture on military operations in the collection of essays Beyond Shock and Awe, edited by Eric Haney. Recent novels include the YA illustrated novel Thunder Riders and Shadowrun: Aftershock, co-authored with Jean Rabe.

Belle Holder is a beginning author, yet quite good for a beginner, and she loves animals. She has a pet mouse, Lighting, whom she writes about a lot; and she hopes to become a lawyer, an agent, or a farmer who uses scientific research to grow incredibly good crops. “Another Exciting Adventure of Lightning Merriemouse-Jones” is her second published short story. She and her mother are members of Persephone, a women horror writers organization.

Nancy Holder has sold approximately eighty novels and more than two hundred short stories, articles, and essays. She is currently working on Athena Force: Disclosure, due out in August 2008. The Rose Bride, a fairy tale retelling, is out now.

An unreformed tomboy, Jane Lindskold came late to her appreciation of the magic of clothing. However, she is now a complete convert and can occasionally be glimpsed wearing satin and embroidery. She has written most of her eighteen novels and over fifty short stories while wearing battered jeans and T-shirts. Her most popular character, Firekeeper (the protagonist of six novels, beginning with Through Wolf’s Eyes), often wears very little and prefers not to wear shoes unless absolutely necessary. The characters in the stand-alone novels The Buried Pyramid and Child of a Rainless Year also have clothing issues. Lindskold is currently involved in a new series, one that has immersed her in an appreciation of Chinese lore… and clothing. You can get a look at her at her website, www.janelindskold.com.

Louise Marley is a recovering opera singer who now writes science fiction and fantasy full time and teaches a creative writing class at Bellevue Community College in Washington State. She is the winner of two Endeavour Awards, has been a Nebula, John W. Campbell, and Tiptree nominee, and was a Clarion ’93 graduate. Her work has been published by Ace, Viking, Puffin, Asimov’s, SciFiction, Talebones, and others.

Joe Masdon grew up in Macon, GA, and graduated from Oglethorpe University in Atlanta in 1988. He moved to North Carolina in 1995, pursuing a woman that he caught and married in 1996. He graduated from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 2004 with a Master’s Degree in accounting. He has managed to get two short stories published and is always glad to hear from Jean Rabe when she is working on a tight deadline. He and his wife Sherrie live in Elon, NC, with their two children, Jonathan and Robert.

Rebecca Moesta is the author of twenty-eight books and numerous short stories, including the award-winning Star Wars: Young Jedi Knights series and two original Titan A.E. novels, which she co-authored with husband Kevin J. Anderson, and a Buffy the Vampire Slayer novel, Little Things. With Anderson, she has written an original young-adult fantasy series, Crystal Doors, for Little, Brown. In comics, she has worked with Anderson on the hardcover Star Trek: The Next Generation graphic novel, The Gorn Crisis from Wild-storm and Grumpy Old Monsters from IDW. Moesta is the daughter of an English teacher and a nurse, from whom she learned, respectively, her love of words and her love of books. Moesta, who holds an MBA from Boston University, has taught every grade level from kindergarten through junior college and worked for seven years as a publications specialist and technical editor at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

Chris Pierson has been a writer since he was a kid up in Canada. He has written seven novels for the Dragonlance series: Spirit of the Wind, Dezra’s Quest, The Kingpriest trilogy (Chosen of the Gods, Divine Hammer, and Sacred Fire), and the Taladas trilogy (Blades of the Tiger, Trail of the Black Wyrm and Shadow of the Flame). In addition, he has been published in Dragon Magazine and in the anthologies The Dragons At War, Dragons of Chaos, Rebels & Tyrants, and Time Twisters. During the day Chris works as a game designer for Turbine, and has been involved in the Asheron’s Call series, Dungeons & Dragons Online: Stormreach, and Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar; he also writes and edits game material for Wizards of the Coast and Sovereign Press. He lives in Boston with his wife and fellow movie addict, Rebekah.

Judi Rohrig is just an Indiana housewife with a computer in her kitchen. Her fiction has been published in Masques V, Furry Fantastic, Dreaming of Angels, Extremes V, and Cemetery Dance Magazine, and her essays have been published in On Writing Horror, Personal Demons, and The Orbit #2. The former editor and publisher of Hellnotes was honored with a Bram Stoker Award in 2005 and the Richard Laymon Award in 2001. Visit her online: www.judirohrig.com.

Michael A. Stackpole is an award-winning author, game and computer game designer, and poet whose first novel, Warrior: En Garde, was published in 1988. Since then, he has written thirty-six other novels, including eight New York Times bestselling novels in the Star Wars® line, of which X-wing: Rogue Squadron and I, Jedi are the best known. Mike lives in Arizona and in his spare time spends early mornings at Starbucks, collects toy soldiers and old radio shows, plays indoor soccer, rides his bike and listens to Irish music in the finer pubs in the Phoenix area. His website is www.stormwolf.com.

Peter Schweighofer lives in Virginia, and is primarily known for his writing in role-playing games, including work done on the Star Wars® RPG, The World of Indiana Jones, and the Men in Black Roleplaying Game. His fiction also appears in such anthologies as Alien Abductions, Far Frontiers, and Historical Hauntings.

A. M. Strout was born in the Berkshire Hills, mere miles from writing heavyweights Nathaniel Hawthorne and Herman Melville, and currently lives in historic Jackson Heights, New York (where nothing paranormal ever really happens, he assures you). His first novel, Dead to Me, will be published by Ace in 2008. He is the cocreator of the faux folk musical Sneezin’ Jeff & Blue Raccoon: The Loose Gravel Tour (winner of the Best Storytelling Award at the First Annual New York International Fringe Festival). In his scant spare time, he is an always writer, a sometimes actor, sometimes musician, occasional RPGer, and the worlds most casual and controller-smashing video gamer. He currently works in the exciting world of publishing-and yes, it is as glamorous as it sounds.

Kelly Swails is a Clinical Laboratory Scientist by day and a writer by night. She and her husband, Ken, live in Illinois with three cats named Kahlua, Morgan, and Moonshine. She never wears earrings.

Elizabeth A. Vaughan is the author of Warprize, War-sworn, and Warlord, the three books that make up Chronicle of the Warlands. She believes that the only good movies are the ones with gratuitous magic, swords, or lasers. Not to mention dragons. At the present, she is owned by three incredibly spoiled cats and lives in the Northwest Territory, on the outskirts of the Black Swamp, along Mad Anthony’s Trail on the banks of the Maumee River.

Timothy Zahn has been writing science fiction for more than a quarter of a century. In that time he has published thirty novels, more than eighty short stories and novelettes, and four collections of short fiction. Best known for his eight Star Wars novels-the latest, Star Wars: Allegiance, was recently published-he is also the author of Night Train to Rigel and the young-adult Dragonback series. The Zahn family lives on the Oregon coast.

Sarah Zettel was born in Sacramento, California. Since then she has lived in ten cities, four states, and two countries. She started writing while still in high school and has never stopped. To date she has published twelve novels, as well as a series of short stories and opinion essays in a variety of genres. She currently lives with her family in Michigan. When not writing she gardens, plays fiddle, practices tai chi, and reads lots and lots of picture books to her son Alexander.