A. Lou Alphin

Anita Alphin, a retired special education teacher, has been writing women's fiction as a hobby the last forty years. As a granny, the author wrote The Answer for her two grown sons, daughter-in-law, and three grandsons to tell of her life experiences on her journey to know Jesus.

A. M. Murray

Alison Murray is an Australian working in Tokyo, Japan. She became addicted to reading thrillers and mysteries at a young age and has devoured Ian Fleming’s James Bond novels and all the books in the ongoing series authorized by Ian Fleming Publications. Her list of favorite paperbacks and Kindle downloads has exploded to include most of the thriller and mystery genre authors to the present time. Lack of time subdued the desire to write her own thriller, but she decided to take charge of her aspirations and make it happen, a major life transition. With undergraduate and post-graduate degrees in science, education, and the Japanese language, she’s a former university lecturer and former freelance journalist in Japan for The Economist, New Scientist, other journals and magazines, and an online news service. Currently, her day job is working as the Executive Director of a large European advocacy organization in Japan for which she has written professionally for 18 years, producing everything from press releases to newspaper articles, reports, web copy and collateral. She spends her nights and weekends writing fiction. Alison Murray speaks, reads and writes Japanese, and her work, based in Tokyo, takes her frequently to Europe, giving her intimate familiarity with Japan and other locations in Clear Skies.

Aaron Michael Grant

Staff Sergeant Aaron Grant retired from the United States Marine Corps in 2008. He was commander of a local VFW and is commandant of a growing Marine Corps League detachment in his hometown in upstate New York. He is the author of Shaping the Colonies: Essays on Early American History and The Non-Commissioned Officer's War: Combined Action Doctrine that could have Saved Vietnam. He received his bachelor's degree in American history at Empire State and holds a master's degree in military history at Norwich University. He currently teaches American history using intellectual, economic, and military perspectives at John 15 Leah Homeschooling Group in Middlesex, NY. Mr. Grant resides in quiet upstate New York with his wife and children.

Adam J. Thompson

Adam J. Thompson, a US Air Force veteran, is driven by his enthusiasm for personal development. With roots in northern Maine, he spent two decades in the Air Force as a C-130 flight engineer and first sergeant. He holds a bachelor’s degree in strategic studies from Norwich University and a master’s in project management from Southern New Hampshire University. Today, Adam resides in northwest Florida with his wife and children, serving his community while also sharing his insights on enhancing human happiness through his writing.

Aileen S. Allsun

Aileen S. Allsun wrote Into the Temporal Mind while commuting from Northern Virginia. The two-hour commute gave her much time to think, so she wrote this story to give hope to those searching for contentment, and who live with day-to-day life challenges. She has worked in the engineering field for thirty-two years, volunteers for a mental health agency, and spends time cooking healthy recipes, as well as homemade fudge and ice cream. She stays active with the use of many popular workout programs, and enjoys camping with her husband in their teardrop RV. Aileen takes in nature by hiking, biking and kayaking, and lives with her husband of 12 years in Central Virginia.

Al Midgett

Al Midgett, a lifelong Virginia Beach local, stumbled on his true calling back in 1993 when his life took a scary turn with the birth of his dramatically premature son, Matthew. Al and his wife Marge, awed by the power of community love and support, decided to “give as good as they got,” and ever since Al has made philanthropy both his life… and his living. As the founder of The Noblemen, he recounts the stories, adventures, successes, setbacks and exciting plans for the organization’s future. Al lives on Sherwood Farms in Back Bay with his wife Marge – and countless critters! Normal to Noble is his first book.

Al Polson

Al Polson spent twenty-five years in Corporate America with a career growth to being a top executive with multiple Fortune 500 companies. He was responsible for large staffs of people and budgets. After that time, he started his own executive recruiting firm specializing in all salary hiring for the manufacturing industry all over the US and abroad. His company grew to one of the most successful in the industry. He and his company interviewed and worked with thousands of companies and interviewed thousands of job seekers. He has written and presented numerous training sessions on recruiting and hiring. He was an adjunct professor at the University of Virginia for many years. He received his bachelor's and master's degrees in business administration from the University of Richmond.

Al Sikes

Al Sikes draws insights from wide-ranging experiences that began in the Midwest and moved east to the power cities of Washington and New York. Sikes’ leadership helped shape the arc of twenty-first-century communication technologies from positions as Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission and then President of Hearst New Media. Sikes’ bold leadership at the FCC, eliminating barriers that blocked new technologies, helped lead to digital TV, radio and mobile phone services. He also began actions against Howard Stern that resulted in Stern wishing Sikes dead on his daily radio show. Sikes’ technology insights and his collaborations with technology pioneers were captured in his first book, Fast Forward. Beyond his work in business and government, Sikes draws on experiences chairing The Trinity Forum Board, tending a small apiary with his wife, Marty, and leading a growing jazz festival in his hometown of Easton, Maryland. While living and working in New York City, Sikes founded Read Alliance, which trains teenagers to tutor children with reading deficiencies. In 2004, the Manhattan Institute chose Sikes as one of eight winners of the Social Entrepreneurship Award. This award recognizes enterprising individuals who are helping Americans realize their full potential as citizens and members of society.

Alan E. Sparks

Alan E. Sparks is the award-winning author of Dreaming of Wolves, and has written articles about wolves for International Wolf Magazine and other publications. He has bachelor and master’s degrees in physics and engineering from the University of Maine and Stanford University, and has completed post-secondary courses in writing, philosophy, sociology, psychology, painting, acting, exercise physiology, and filmmaking. He worked for over twenty years developing advanced technologies for one of the leading research and development organizations in the world (Bell Telephone Laboratories), and has recently worked overseas as an English teacher and commercial actor. An avid walker, hiker, backcountry skier and animal tracker, Alan has lived, worked, and trekked extensively in the wilds of Central and Eastern Europe. He is a voracious reader and enjoys studying the natural and cultural histories of the places he visits. To supplement his indoor studies, he has completed courses in mountaineering with the Colorado Mountain Club, mountain ski touring/expedition leadership with the National Outdoor Leadership School, and winter ecology/animal tracking with renowned animal tracker Dr. James Halfpenny of A Naturalist’s World. He currently resides alternately in Boulder, Colorado; Portland, Maine; and Krakow, Poland.

Alan Wright

Alan is an award-winning college instructor with graduate degrees in psychology and education. As an undergrad, he studied fiction writing. He has an interest in the mental prisons people create within themselves.

Alexander Clark

Alexander Clark is a captain in the United States Army and previously worked as a volunteer EMT. Alex attended Norwich University as a member of the Corps of Cadets and helped establish an annual charity ruck march that contributes to the Andrew McKenna Scholarship Fund in honor of fallen Green Beret alumni. He graduated Norwich as a distinguished military graduate with a BA in international studies, then commissioned into the United States Army infantry as a second lieutenant. Alex completed Ranger and Airborne School and deployed to the Horn of Africa in support of Operation Enduring Freedom as a rifle platoon leader. He then served as a mortar platoon leader. Alex speaks French, Spanish, and Modern Standard Arabic and is currently stationed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.In his free time, Alex and his family own and operate a real-estate investing business founded in 2016.

Alexandra Georgas

Alexandra Georgas is an author, international speaker, and performing songwriter who has a heart for people with mental illnesses and their loved ones. A graduate of Second City in Chicago, Alexandra peppers her work with humor. Her CD The Real Deal contains original songs that tell stories of her life. Alexandra is a supporter of and speaker for the National Alliance on Mental Illness and a member of the Associate Board of Thresholds, an organization that provides stellar mental health services and housing in the Chicago area. She has a master’s degree from DePaul University and has spoken at technical conferences throughout the United States, Europe and South America.

Alfredo Botello

Alfredo Botello is a screenwriter who has worked on projects ranging from the indie Sundance Global short La Revolución De Iguodala to the studio tentpole Fast and Furious 9. He is a Fulbright Fellow in architecture and a Nicholl Fellow in screenwriting. In addition to screenplays, he has written for The San Francisco Examiner Magazine, Metropolis, Diablo, Surface, The Utne Reader, Style, The East Bay Express, and The Monthly. Botello also co-owns two dive bars in downtown Oakland, Radio Bar and the Ruby Room, and at home dotes on his two corgis, George and Dotty.

Alisse Lee Goldenberg

Alisse Lee Goldenberg is an award-winning author of children's literature, horror, and young adult paranormal romance and fantasy fiction. She is currently working on four series: The Sitnalta Series, The Children of Colonodona, The Dybbuk Scrolls, and The Bath Salts Journals (co-authored with An Tran). She has her bachelor of education, a fine arts degree, and has studied fantasy and folklore since she was a child. Alisse is also a screenwriter and playwright, creating the world of Jay & Shilo. She is currently living in Toronto with her husband, Brian, and their triplets, Joseph, Phillip, and Hailey.

Alysa Zalma

Dr. Zalma is a board-certified psychiatrist who received her MD from Tufts University School of Medicine. She completed her medical internship at Harvard Medical School and her residency in psychiatry at Oregon Health and Sciences University. Her areas of specialty include the psychoanalytic perspective on adoption, eating disorders, body image, trauma, depressive and anxiety spectrum disorders, and holistic approaches to mind-body and energy medicine. She is the director of the Surya Chandra Center, an Oregon-based day retreat center that promotes healing, health, and wellness through yoga, meditation, and energy medicine ceremony. She has been in private practice for over 20 years.

Alyssa DeRose

Alyssa DeRose-who is on a first-name basis with Jesus, the local garbage man, and her Lululemon sales representative-is mom to two young boys, Micah and Levi. She has spent the early years of her stay-at-home motherhood questioning her decision to give up her career, making more mistakes than most, and somehow-with the help of her husband and a skilled professional therapist-managing to find freedom in her new identity as a mother.

Amelia Duran-Stanton

Dr. Amelia Duran-Stanton was born in the Philippines. She is a colonel in the US Army and has served for over thirty-two years, which includes eight years enlisted, with deployments to Kosovo, Iraq, and Afghanistan, and twenty-four years as a PA (physician assistant /associate). She holds a PhD in postsecondary and adult education and a doctor of science in PA studies in orthopaedics. She is certified as a Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt with multiple awards and decorations. She has mentored, coached, sponsored, and taught several women over the years. She has published over 100 articles and presentations, with topics ranging from medicine, mentorship, and management.

Amy Rothenberg

Dr. Amy Rothenberg is a naturopathic doctor in practice since 1986. She authored The A Cappella Singer Who Lost Her Voice and Other Stories from Natural Medicine. Dr. Rothenberg was the longtime medical editor for the Institute of Natural Medicine. Her blog, FieldNotes from Natural Medicine, chronicles her work related to natural and integrative medicine. She was an early blogger for the Huffington Post. Her writing appears on Medium, Thrive Global, and Elephant Journal. She is often interviewed by members of the media for her perspective and thoughts on natural medicine. She holds a BA in biology from Antioch College and an ND degree from the National University of Natural Medicine in Portland, Oregon. She is the National Association of Naturopathic Physicians 2017 Physician of the Year. When not busy in the world of natural medicine, she enjoys the good life in Western, Massachusetts, with her husband and three adult children.

Andrea Revell

Dr. Andrea Revell is a thought leader, scholar, and author. She holds a PhD in environmental ethics and has lived and traveled all over the world researching and teaching sustainability and spirituality and encouraging systemic solutions to our planetary health problems. Using integrative medicine to resolve her own long-term autoimmune condition, Andrea trained in various alternative healing modalities and is now a certified meditation, breathwork, and spiritual life coach. She grew up in South Africa and New Zealand and currently lives in the United Kingdom with her husband and two children.

Andrew Bryan

Andrew Bryan was born and raised in Holywood just outside the city of Belfast, Ireland. After a passionate religious youth and studying divinity at Edinburgh University, Andrew’s curious nature drew him towards acting. Working the London audition rooms and film and TV sets for fifteen years gave Andrew the opportunity to star in hit shows such as Game of Thrones. Andrew then took creative control and began writing his own characters into TV scripts, but after two years, he decided that the best way to tell his story was through a fantasy novel series. Andrew lives in the Netherlands.

Andrew D. Welch

Andrew Welch is a Swedish-American writer, international speaker, and expert in the field of Microsoft business applications technology. Born in Arlington, Virginia, he spent ten years growing up in Berkeley Springs, West Virginia, before graduating from the College of William and Mary. In the years since he has provided software expertise to Fortune 500 organizations, served in the United States Coast Guard Auxiliary, and worked and written in the wine industry. A self-described "Bosnywashingtonian," he considers his family home in Provincetown, Massachusetts, to be his hometown, and spends considerable time each year in London, Stockholm, and Madrid.

Andrew King

After graduating from college, Andrew served in the Army and was stationed overseas as a field medic. Honorably discharged in 1963 with the rank of corporal, he received his PhD from Minnesota in 1968 and subsequently worked at Buffalo, University of Arizona, and LSU. Recently retired from LSU as chair of the Communication Department and holder of the Hopkins Chair of Communication and Rhetoric, Andrew King has written numerous articles and books on the area of communication and power, including Communication and Power (1987) and Postmodern Communication (1991). He also served as editor of the Southern Communication Journal, the QJS, and the KB Journal, and as vice president and president of the Kenneth Burke Society. In 2018 he published a novel, The World in Yellow Leaf. He is married and has three children and four grandchildren living in Mississippi, Louisiana, and Maryland.

Andy Chaleff

Andy Chaleff (1970-Present) is an American author born in Burbank, California. In 1990, Chaleff left the U.S. to escape the pain of his mother's death, who was killed by a drunk driver when he was 18-years-old. In 2018 Chaleff came out with his first book, "The Last Letter," which won several awards and was noted by Kirkus Reviews: "It's rare that a book succeeds at relating such an intimate, personal story while also clearly discussing psychological topics, such as projection, self-destruction, addiction, self-acceptance, and vulnerability." In his book, he chronicles his journey of healing after his mother's death and invites readers to write a "last letter" to someone special in their lives. The book gets its name from a letter that Chaleff wrote his mother that she received hours before her death. The book and his subsequent 3-month tour of the U.S. was covered widely in the news and media. In 2020, Chaleff released "The Wounded Healer," which is the story of his 3-month journey through the U.S. with a specific focus on uncovering radical self love. In this book he asks people to name the thing that is hardest to say and follow it with the stem "...and it's fu*king great!" He pays special attention to archetypes that are easy to relate with, from the perfectionist to the victimised. Chaleff is currently the Director of the Amsterdam's Welvaren training center and mentor and advisor to several non-profits, paying special attention to education and parenting. To learn more, visit www.andychaleff.com.

Angela Correll

Angela Correll lives on a farm in Central Kentucky with her husband, Jess. Her novels are Amazon bestsellers and have been adapted to the stage for sold-out audiences at the Pioneer Playhouse, Kentucky's oldest outdoor theater. She loves canning vegetables from her garden, exploring the Tuscan countryside, and spending time with her family.

Angie Klink

Angie Klink writes compelling stories of Americana and the hero’s journey. An author of twelve creative nonfiction books set in the heartland, Klink is a historian, biographer, essayist, scriptwriter, and copywriter with sixty-one American Advertising Federation ADDY Awards. She has written for Traces of Indiana and Midwestern History magazine, MS. Magazine, and the American Writers Museum. She was the scriptwriter for two documentaries narrated by actor Peter Coyote: the public education film Rise Above the Mark and Eternal Flame about Tom Kelly, a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame. In 2024, the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution honored Klink for her distinguished contribution to historic preservation, particularly the publishing of books. A six-time attendee of the Erma Bombeck Writers’ Workshop at the University of Dayton, Klink received an Honorable Mention in the Bombeck Writing Competition. She holds a BA in communication from Purdue University.

Ann E. Lowry

Ann Lowry, PhD, has spent her career dedicated to helping others navigate communication and resolve conflicts. She is fascinated with relationships, discord, and the intricacies of the human condition. Alongside her passion for fiction, she has contributed to academic journals, ghostwritten two nonfiction books, penned thought-provoking opinion pieces, crafted engaging content for online platforms, and analyzed and written on the federal management of disasters. She lives in Fort Collins, Colorado.

Annaliese Bischoff

Annaliese Bischoff is a Western Massachusetts artist and landscape architect. For the past decade, she has been collecting drawings and etchings of trees by Frank A. Waugh, founder of the Landscape Gardening Program at what is today the University of Massachusetts Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning. Annaliese received a bachelor’s degree in art from Brown University and a master’s in landscape architecture from the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry. She began her academic career at Kansas State University, where Waugh had studied a century earlier. She taught for forty years at the University of Massachusetts department that Waugh founded. Annaliese has received numerous awards and honors for her design work and has edited hundreds of articles in her field. She paints and makes prints, exhibiting her work in Massachusetts, Vermont, and New York.

Anne Brooker James

Anne Brooker James was born in Tampa, Florida, to pioneer families. She began writing when she was six and never stopped. She raised two daughters, worked as a journalist and food columnist, and opened the highly successful Anna's Deli on Siesta Key Beach, Florida. She and her husband, Robert Camp Ray, lived for a few years on Spring Island, near Beaufort, South Carolina, where the incredible beauty of the Lowcountry, the Gullah Geechee, and their culture spoke to her heart. After her husband's death, she began writing The Marsh Bird. She has enjoyed an interesting life and still thrives in nature. The Marsh Bird is her first novel.

Anne Matlack Evans

Anne Matlack Evans has published fiction in The Bennington Review, Eclipse, and Memoir and nonfiction in The Ruminator Review and the San Francisco Chronicle. She received an MA in comparative literature from the University of California, Berkeley, an MFA in fiction from the Bennington Writing Seminars, and a fellowship from the Vermont Studio Center. A professor of English and creative writing at Napa Valley College, she also directed the Napa Valley Writers’ Conference. She lives in Napa, California, where she teaches comparative literature and writing and enjoys playing the piano and walking her unruly Portuguese water dog.

Anthony Horton

Anthony Horton is an accomplished executive and writer and a seasoned wilderness trekker who has canoed, kayaked, and backpacked across four continents. His off-the-grid explorations ignited a passion to immortalize in writing the natural wonders he encountered.In the business world, Horton ultimately ascended to the role of CEO. Amid the demands of corporate life, the call of the written word remained steadfast, and over the years, he has penned many evocative short stories and tales. He is coauthor of "R U Ready for Y?" a business book that rethinks common strategies to leading a multigenerational workforce.

Anthony J. Mohr

ANTHONY J. MOHR served for twenty-six years as a judge on the Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles. He also sat as a judge pro tem on the California Court of Appeal. In January 2021, he became a fellow at the Advanced Leadership Initiative at Harvard University and is now a senior editor of the Harvard ALI Social Impact Review. His stories and essays have received five Pushcart Prize nominations. He has worked on the staffs of Evening Street Review, Fifth Wednesday Journal, Hippocampus Magazine, and Under the Sun.

Antonio D'Ambrosio

Antonio D’Ambrosio was the sort of kid who would fill a bag with library books week after week. At nineteen years old, he grew starved of entertainment during Army basic training and began writing the kind of books he was missing. His platoon-mates did all they could to help him squeeze out another chapter for them to read before lights-out. Seeing his friends’ faces light up while reading his work inspired him to entertain readers from then on. After seven years of planning and perfecting the Elderana Saga, Antonio D’Ambrosio is ready to share his stories, featuring an array of perspectives from diverse characters facing off against dark gods, betrayal, and the pitfalls of human nature.

Aphrodite Anagnost

Aphrodite Anagnost also writes as Frances Williams; her first novel is Memoir of a Death Angel. She’s been an actor and a horse trainer, and is now a country doctor and medical examiner in Virginia. She’s also an editor at Xenophon Press and a Rhode Island native. Her parents hosted Las Vegas acts there in their barn-turned-restaurant, the Country Inn. Passover is set in her 1923 home in Franktown sharing the neighborhood with a house so haunted that paranormal investigators decline to show up without a priest.

April V. Martin

Dr. April V. Martin was published in Who's Who Among American High School Students for maintaining a 4.0 GPA throughout high school. At the University of Maryland College Park, she was on the National Dean's List all four years and obtained a bachelor's degree in criminal justice and criminology, a master's degree and a doctorate degree in psychology. Dr. Martin has been employed with the Department of the Treasury for twenty years and is also in the real estate field. She has participated in several speaking panels on topics ranging from the mass shootings in Florida to self-care and has been featured on Fox 5 DC News, Fox 45 News Baltimore, and The Community Focus Show, hosted by 95.5's Guy Lambert. She has been interviewed by her college alumni organization on stress in the workplace as well as by the University of Maryland Black Alumni association for a "Terp Spotlight" on her life since graduation. Dr. Martin founded Achieving Mental Victory, Inc., a nonprofit mental health practice helping to combat the stigma against mental illness. She is married to her college sweetheart and they have three beautiful daughters.

Arnold B. Meshkov

Arnold B. Meshkov, MD, has been obsessed with the human heart his entire life, always wanting to save lives. A proud graduate of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, he trained at Temple University and Yale University to become a cardiologist and taught several generations of medical students first the science and then the art of medicine. After forty years as a cardiologist, he wants to share the history of his profession with others in order to empower them. He has written scientific articles in peer-reviewed journals and lectured extensively, but this is his first book.

Arthur J. Levy

Arthur J. Levy is a musician, physicist and writer. He has appeared in Carnegie Hall and played with the NYC All City Orchestra and other settings in New York. His writing includes: the book Trouble in Flatbush, A Year in the Life of a Boy in Brooklyn, two plays and many short stories published in a local magazine. His heritage is Russian and has a kinship to Russian history and music.

Ashley Elliott

Ashley Elliott was born and raised in the town of Conway, Arkansas, and was on track to live what was by all indications a traditional life. Then she became a crime victim when her father was murdered and, a month later, her mother raped and kidnapped, entangling her life for more than a decade with the criminal justice system. She has appeared on Primetime and the Oxygen Channel, recounting the events that transformed her life. She is a survivor. This is Ashley's first foray into the writing world. She is an avid hiker, athlete, and bodybuilder, living in Utah with her husband and children.

B. Lynn Goodwin

B. Lynn Goodwin owns WriterAdvice.com. She's written You Want Me to Do WHAT? Journaling for Caregivers, and Talent. Talent was short-listed for a Literary Lightbox Award and won a bronze medal in the Moonbeam Children's Book Awards and was a finalist for a Sarton Women's Book Award. She has been married for five years to her Craigslist sweetheart.

Bailey Herrington

Bailey Herrington hails from western Pennsylvania. After completing studies at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg, Herrington served congregations in Pennsylvania and West Virginia for twenty-four years. In addition to writing weekly sermons, Bailey created his "altar" ego, Pious Pete the Protestant Pope, for congregational newsletters. He has previously published three murder mysteries: What the Barber Knew, Dead to Rights, and Pack of Scoundrels. Bailey lives in Las Cruces, New Mexico, with his wife, Karen. He loves baseball, cooking, playing golf, reading, and visiting museums, national parks, and archeological sites.

Barbara K. McNally

Barbara McNally is the author of Unbridled: A Memoir, a member of San Diego Writers Ink, and an active blog contributor to the Huffington Post. A licensed physical therapist, she has helped people from all walks of life, including veterans, recover and regain their strength. This work also connected her with the spouses of wounded warriors and hearing their stories inspired her to launch the Barbara McNally Foundation, which is dedicated to offering workshops, seminars and scholarships that enhance the lives of women. The foundation also cosponsors Support, Purpose and Appreciation (SPA) Days for the spouses of wounded warriors, offering caregivers a much-needed day of relaxation and self-care.

Barbara Linsley

Barbara Linsley is an author who taught elementary school for thirty-three years in rural Upstate New York, traveling both in the United States and abroad any time there were vacation days. Summers were spent with her relatives in Traverse City, Michigan, or traveling the country, exploring its beauty and history. Being a teacher, her first two books were historical fiction. Dreams on the Oregon Trail is the winner of the WILLA Literary Award.

Barbara McLennan

Barbara McLennan has published five books and numerous magazine and journal articles on various political, economic and historical subjects. For two years, she contributed columns and articles on local customs and local history to NorthernNeck.com, a local online newspaper serving the Rappahannock region of Virginia. Currently she serves as docent at Jamestown Settlement, the living history museum that commemorates the founding of the first permanent English settlement in North America. There she provides lectures and information to visitors. Holding both Ph. D. and J.D. degrees, Barbara McLennan is a former professor, association executive and high-level official in the United States Departments of Commerce and Treasury.

Barry Hornig

Barry Hornig attended Boston University and graduated from Emerson College with a B.A. in 1963, after which he took part in Tim Leary’s LSD experiments at Harvard. A native of New York City, he has been able to combine his love of travel with his knowledge of Central Asian textiles and kilims, and he has traveled extensively through Afghanistan, pre-Taliban Pakistan, Spain, Morocco and South America. He was a real estate broker in New York City, then started a rug factory in the ancient city of Balkh, Afghanistan in the 1970s. An international collector of textiles and an authority on weavings and carpets from Central Asia and Europe, Barry currently divides his time between Santa Monica, California and San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. He has worked with top interior designers and has considerable clientele in the entertainment sector. A professional sports fisherman who is very concerned about our oceans, Barry is also obsessed with the paranormal―especially clairvoyance, mysticism, Sedona and UFOs. He has talked with space people, had visions in Masar-i-Sharif, been blessed by Muktananda and hugged by Ammachi.

Barry Jagoda

Barry Jagoda was television advisor to Governor Jimmy Carter and White House special assistant to the president. He was also an Emmy Award-winning writer and producer at NBC News and CBS News, including working with Walter Cronkite as producer for the Apollo 11 moon landing and for Watergate coverage. Jagoda is an authority on the transition from traditional media to the digital world that now challenges candidates, elected officials and international thought leaders. Barry Jagoda earned a BA in American studies at the University of Texas, Austin, and an MS from the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University. With Texas roots, and after many years in New York and Washington DC, Jagoda now lives in San Diego and continues to be a campaign media advisor and media publicist for high technology companies. He is also a contributing writer for TimesofSanDiego.com.

Barry L. Stoddard

Barry Stoddard was born in Montana and has lived in the Pacific Northwest for most of his life. He graduated from Whitman College and earned his doctorate from MIT. After further training at the University of California in Berkeley, he joined the faculty at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle, Washington, where he has run a research laboratory ever since. He has authored hundreds of research studies and serves as the senior editor of a scientific journal. Among the many adventures, working with Payload Systems and the Soviet and Russian space program remains at the very top of the list.Barry lives in Bellevue, Washington, with his wife, Amy, not far from his sons and their families.

Becky Frederick

Becky Frederick is a military veteran who served in locations around the globe as an aerospace medical technician and paramedic. Her time in service has afforded her several extraordinary opportunities, such as being a part of a medical team during a NASA launch and even being awarded Paramedic of the Year by the governor of Guam in 2016. Currently, Becky lives in San Antonio, a.k.a. Military City, USA, with her family. She is working on her PhD in health sciences and spends her spare time writing books to share her military and veteran experiences with families who are experiencing some of the changes and difficulties that her family has overcome together.

Ben LeBoutillier

Ben “LeBoot” LeBoutillier’s writings confront ambitious topics and challenge his audiences to grow at every encounter. His background in physics, medicine, education, and information have placed him in a unique intersection of some of the modern world’s biggest institutions, and positioned him to explore the requirements for meaningful change. In his current profession, Ben combines several data and programming disciplines to safely manage healthcare information for caretakers and researchers. He additionally hosts Stories of Symmetry to explore the meta themes and deeper meanings behind Christian faith.

Ben W. McClelland

Since 2011 Ben McClelland has been associated with Wildrose Kennels as an apprentice trainer and writer of the Wildrose blog. He has also worked extensively with adults and children who have received Diabetic Alert Dogs (DADs) from Wildrose. He is a Professor and Schillig Chair of English at the University of Mississippi, where he has taught courses in literature and writing for twenty-six years. He holds a Ph.D. in American Literature from Indiana University, where he wrote a dissertation on William Faulkner’s fiction. He also completed postdoctoral study at the University of Pittsburgh in composition and at Carnegie Mellon University in rhetoric. He developed professional credentials in nonfiction and life narrative writing by conducting research into the history, theory and current place of nonfiction prose in English studies. In addition to articles and editions, he has written two professional books and a nonfiction memoir, Soldier’s Son, which was published by the University Press of Mississippi in March 2004, as a Willie Morris Book in Memoir and Biography. Since 2004 he has offered undergraduate and graduate courses in nonfiction writing. His favorite pastime is hunting with his Wildrose Labs, Eider and Mac.

Benita Adams

TV- and radio-show personality Benita Adams has worked in media and communications for nearly thirty years and hosts the TV program The Second Act with Benita Adams, which gives women forty and older the tools to reinvent and transform themselves “to make the rest of your life the best of your life.” Adams has also taught at universities and colleges as a professor of broadcast, communications and English, and worked as a fashion model, professional voiceover artist, and talent for radio and TV commercials. She is a winner of the SunTrust Bank and Still Hope Foundation Entrepreneurial Excellence Award and The Southeastern Virginia Arts Award for Women in the Arts. Adams, a military mom who dotes on her adult children, has lived in Hampton Roads, Virginia, for more than two decades.

Benjamin Black

Benjamin Black loves to delve into the line between the physical and spiritual worlds. He read his first fantasy novel in eighth grade and has been addicted ever since. In 2010, after years as a failed clergyman, Benjamin's life radically changed when he encountered both faith and the supernatural, to which he has dedicated his life ever since. His encounters inspired The Exorcist Case Files. He currently lives with his wife in the eastern United States and is a sucker for a good story.

Benjamin H. Berkley

From as far back as he can remember, Benjamin Berkley has been fascinated by the law. Growing up in Long Beach, New York, his daily schedule revolved around grainy black-and-white reruns of Perry Mason who, with the help of Della Street, solved the most complicated crimes imaginable. It was therefore no surprise to his family and friends that Berkley chose law as his career path, now practicing for over forty years. In Defense of Guilt is Benjamin Berkley's second novel. He is also the author of four self-help books and is a contributing writer for the Huffington Post. Berkley lives in Southern California with his wife, Phyllis, and their cat, Riley. He has two grown children and is always bragging about his five amazing grandchildren.

Benjamin R. Warner

Ben Warner is an experienced military veteran with over twenty years of service in all facets of the US Army. 20 Year Letter: an Afghanistan Chronicle is his debut literary work, and its genesis was nearly two years in the making. The original intent of this collection of short stories was to leave a legacy for his growing family, but it soon morphed into something more. Ben is in the final assignment of his military career, serving as a command and General Staff College instructor, where he instructs, mentors, and develops the next generation of US Army field-grade officers.

Beth Dotson Brown

Beth Dotson Brown is an award-winning writer and debut novelist. She is the author of Yes! I Am Catholic, Mothers, Daughters and the Spaces in Between, and contributor to A Cup of Comfort for Breast Cancer Survivors, Scenes from the Common Wealth, and The Bandana Book. Her short stories have been published in literary magazines and have aired on the BBC. Beth earned her journalism degree at Ball State University. She is a member of the Author’s Guild and the Women’s Fiction Writers Association and also works with nonprofit organizations and mentors writers. She lives in a small Kentucky town where she enjoys family, friends, and cooking from the goodness of the garden.

Beth G. Valdez

Helene Zupanc and Beth Valdez met in graduate school at Northern Arizona University and became fast friends (both loving dogs, humor, counseling, and mantras!). They are both licensed professional counselors and have experience working in various mental health, educational, and therapeutic settings with diverse populations of clients. Beth earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology from Arizona State University and a master of education in counseling from Northern Arizona University. Beth enjoys traveling, eating, reading, laughing, and goofing around with her two kids, husband, and a semi-wild pack of dogs.

Betsy Ashton

Betsy Ashton writes about her experiences mentoring women throughout her professional consulting career. She used this experience in crafting her story about Mad Max Davies. She writes feature articles for Laker Weekly, part of Roanoke Times. She is also active in many writers' groups and clubs and is the First Vice President of the Virginia Writer’s Club.

Betty Fudge

Betty Fudge graduated from NC State University and has enjoyed a career in healthcare, sales, and consulting. Inspired by her childhood spent exploring the woods with a pack of neighborhood dogs by her side, she writes stories about adventure, friendships, and mysteries. Her debut middle-grade novel, Norm and Ginger Enter the Hidden, is the first book in the series and is based on stories she told her children when they were young. She loves a story that sparks imagination, has elements of danger, and involves animals. Her favorite place to find inspiration when writing is outdoors with a cup of hot Darjeeling tea and a pair of binoculars. She lives in Oxford, North Carolina, with her husband, Chip, and their English mastiff, Lilly. When their grown children, Kaitlyn and Jordan, come for visits their dog pack expands to include Harlow the standard poodle, Momo the mini-dachshund, and Vail the Saint Berdoodle. That's when things get really fun!

Bill Burkland

Long ago, Bill Burkland spent his misguided youth attending Mass at Our Lady of Fatima on Sunday mornings and catechism class on Monday afternoons. In both cases, he pretended to listen earnestly while his undisciplined mind wandered to thoughts of girls, football, horse racing, and vices that are too numerous to list here but have been fully disclosed in several epic-length confessional visits. Unfortunately, these and other bad habits have followed Bill into adulthood resulting in the writing of The Misconceived Conception of a Baby Named Jesus. Despite these shortcomings, Bill has somehow managed to stay married to his high-school sweetheart, Shawn, for over 40 years, and they have somehow managed to raise three wonderful kids, each with equally wonderful partners.Prior to writing the Misconceived Conception, Bill spent 18 years as a Senior Manager and Director at Amazon.com with assignments in the US, Luxembourg and the UK. He held leadership roles in Amazon's Retail, Kindle, B2B and Alexa organizations.

Bill Canady

William Canady graduated summa cum laude from Elmhurst University with a bachelor of science in business administration and received his MBA from the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business. He is a proud veteran of the United States Navy. Creator of the Profitable Growth Operating System®, Canady has over thirty years of experience as a global business executive in a variety of industries and markets focused on industrial and consumer products and services. As a leader, he aligns with key stakeholders to create a clear and compelling vision that rallies an organization to drive growth, control cost, and increase profitability. Canady currently serves as chief executive officer of two private equity–sponsored companies, OTC Industrial Technologies and Arrowhead Engineered Products.

Bill Eshelman

Bill Eshelman, graduated from the US Naval Academy and served 35 years as a Marine, retiring as a Major General in 1994. His career covered many different command and staff positions, but it was during his time as a military advisor to a South Vietnamese infantry battalion in combat that he recorded his actions and thoughts on an almost daily basis in letters written to his wife. These letters plus notes from his combat journal form the basis of his book written 50 years after his 1967-68 experience.

Bill Evans

Bill Evans has been VP/GM for television stations in Santa Barbara and Palm Springs for over twenty years. He ran affiliate networks for ABC, CBS, and FOX. Currently residing in Atascadero, California, Evans is an avid golfer and active in community events and charities, including celebrity events from the Frank Sinatra Celebrity Invitational to the Palm Springs Film Festival.

Bill George

Bill George was born in Glens Falls, New York. He received his undergraduate degree from Ithaca College and holds master’s degrees from the Ohio State University and the State University of New York at Albany. George is a member of the Ithaca College and the Glens Falls High School Athletic Halls of Fame. Prior to entering the coaching field, George spent three years as a special education teacher in Upstate New York. George served as an assistant football coach to Jim Butterfield at Ithaca, as well as at Princeton (1984) and the United States Military Academy Preparatory School (1987–89), and as a graduate assistant at Ohio State (1985–86). George retired in 2020 following twenty-one seasons as the head football coach at the US Coast Guard Academy. George resides in Salem, Connecticut, with his wife, Nancy, and daughter, Lila.

Bill Green

Bill Green is an author, and the Founder and CEO of The Crestar Group of Companies. Crestar is comprised of private equity, specialty finance, and real estate businesses. Bill is also the CEO of LendingOne, which was founded in 2014. LendingOne provides real estate bridge and rental loans for non-owner occupied real estate investors properties. Prior to forming Crestar, Mr. Green was with Interline Brands, founding the company in 1977. For twenty-five years he led Interline as its CEO from a small retail outlet to one of the largest industrial distribution companies in the country. Today, Interline Brands is owned by The Home Depot. Bill is a member of Young Presidents Organization and has served on numerous non-profit boards over the years. Currently, he serves on The Foundation Board of Trustees for The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

Bill Kavanagh

Bill Kavanagh is a licensed marriage and family therapist in Southern California. Prior to becoming a mental health professional, Bill spent his career writing scripts for major events, including several awards shows, Olympic Ceremonies, and the Walt Disney Company. He received his master's in clinical psychology from Antioch University Los Angeles after battling stage IV cancer. As a writer for Psychology Today, he addresses ideas that can transform trauma into happiness.

Bill Sheehan

A filmmaker since 1978 when he joined the crew of Michael Landon in Hollywood, Bill Sheehan has worked as a camera assistant, camera operator, and cinematographer on TV series, movies of the week, music videos, and feature films. He has also worked as a theatrical lighting designer, a pyrotechnic designer, and a production manager; and in local television, he has served as a commercial production manager, avid editor, and a promotions director. At the university level, he has served as a production manager, a filmmaker, and an audio/visual director for the Ohio State University, UCLA, Columbia University, and Harvard University. He wrote his first teleplay in 1981 for Father Murphy, a TV series, and published his first book in 2005, The Tale of Sonny Barlow. Currently he is writing young adult historical fiction and screenplays. Bill lives in New York City.

Bird Jones

BIRD JONES is an emerita of Elon University and an ethnographer by training. Her love of stories and story collecting has taken her from Appalachia to Central Asia. She has published widely in academic journals and presented at conferences. Her book And That's the Way of It: Life in a Maine Village became a popular read in Down East Magazine, was a best-book pick by independent bookstores along the coast, and was featured on Maine Public Radio. Together, Bird and Marshall wrote Hold Fast, a historical novel. Blue-Eyed Slave is their second collaboration.

Bitsy Yates

Bitsy Yates graduated with a bachelor's degree in English from Radford University in 2012. After establishing her love of teaching, Bitsy attended Christopher Newport University and graduated with her master of arts in teaching degree in 2014. Bitsy has been an educator for the past seven years, teaching sixth-grade English in Hampton Roads, Virginia. She resides in Suffolk with her husband and young daughter, Peighton.

Bob Circosta

Bob Circosta is TV’s original home shopping host and one of the individuals that helped create the multi-billion-dollar TV home shopping industry. Over the past thirty-seven years, Bob has logged over 25,000 hours of live selling on television, made over 75,000 separate product presentations and has, individually, sold over one billion dollars in merchandise. Bob was the first recipient of the HSN Legend Award for his contributions and lifetime achievements in the electronic retailing industry. Bob’s breakthrough strategies have been proven in the real world and featured on NBC’s Dateline, ABC’s Good Morning America, The Today Show, 20/20, USA Today and The Wall Street Journal. Today, Bob helps corporations, small businesses, entrepreneurs and people from all walks of life sell more of what they have. And now, Bob – and his team – are ready to super-charge your sales!

Bob Dorgan

BOB DORGAN attended Valley Forge Military Academy prior to enlisting in the US Navy in 1977, heeding the call: "It's not just a job, it's an adventure." Following Basic and Advanced Training, he spent the next three years forward deployed aboard the aircraft carrier USS Midway CV41. For service throughout the Indian Ocean, Arabian Sea, South China Sea, and Western Pacific, he received the Navy Unit Commendation, Navy Meritorious Unit Commendation, Navy "Battle E," and three Navy Expeditionary Medals. Following a brief time working in the San Diego shipbuilding industry, he transitioned into construction and building engineering. Bob lives with his family in Kentucky, operates a real estate business, conducts sales training seminars, and raises Black Angus cattle.

Bob Schueler

Bob Schueler is a past president of the Massachusetts Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association and former board member of USPRA. A well-known mental health program designer and administrator, he now writes novels set in that world. His first, The 25 Years, averaged 4.9-star reviews on Amazon. Second Chances, his second novel, follows on the first, and a further sequel is nearing completion. He has written short stories and blogs and has had seven letters to the editor published in the Boston Globe. He posts the occasional blog at www.bobschueler.com.

Bob Walker

Robert J. Walker was the third Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy (MCPON). He enlisted in the Navy in 1948 and was then promoted to Chief Petty Officer in 1956, then promoted to Master Chief in 1963. Walker was sworn in as the third MCPON on September 26, 1975. His awards and decorations include the Distinguished Service Medal, the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal, Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal, National Defense Service Medal (two awards), United Nations Korea Medal, Presidential Unit Citation (Korea), and 7 Service hash marks. Walker retired September 28, 1979. Since then he served as CEO with the CPO Scholarship Fund. In 1990, Robert J. Walker Hall, the home of Operations Specialist "A" School at Fleet Combat Training Center Atlantic, Dam Neck, Virginia was named for him. Robert Walker is married to Fran Walker; they have six children, Kathy, Linda, Robert Jr., Teri, Michael and Michelle; 12 grandchildren; and 10 great-grandchildren. MCPON Walker lives in Virginia Beach, Virginia on the Chesapeake Bay.

Bobby Thorne

Bobby Thorne developed a passion for the paranormal when he was a child. Growing up, his mother would tell ghost stories to him and his friends. With a background in scientific research and a knack for creative writing, he started contributing to multiple sports blogs while still in university. He lives in a yellow house at the end of a cul-de-sac and enjoys playing with his two dogs.

Brad Gates

Bradley Mason Gates is a retired Marine Corps lieutenant colonel. He has a BS in education and a MPA in public administration. During his career Brad participated in Operation Urgent Fury in Grenada, and later commanded the Marine Corps artillery force in Beirut, Lebanon. In 1985 Brad was presented the General John A. Lejeune Award for Inspirational Leadership. In 1987 he was the recipient of the George Washington Honor Medal from the Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge. In 1994, Brad completed ten years of survivor interviews, along with extensive publication research, and self-published The Last Great Banzai.

Brandon Currence

Brandon Currence grew up in Florida and North Carolina and received his master of architecture degree from North Carolina State University. He moved to Virginia Beach, Virginia, and has practiced architecture in Hampton Roads for over forty years. Brandon has been a life-long tennis, baseball, and softball player as well as a youth baseball coach for fifteen years. He has been the District 1 commissioner of Babe Ruth Leagues of Virginia since 2002. The Maine Consecration is the sequel to his first book, Looking for the Seams. He draws from over fifty years of experience in business, design, technology, and sports.

Brenda K. Massman

Brenda K. Massman is a debut author and former award-winning magazine editor/writer with Adams Publishing Group. She earned a bachelor of arts degree in English from the University of Illinois and held a career in the publishing industry for several years before moving into the realm of finance. Much of her free time is spent writing stories about female protagonists set in the mid-1900s, reading across genres, and being outdoors at any opportunity. Brenda resides in southeast Minnesota, where she raised her three children and now lives with her husband, Theodore.

Brenda Nicole Peña

Brenda Nicole Peña is a native Texan from San Antonio and has a passion for helping others. When she's not working or writing, she loves to hike, travel, and spend time with her family and friends.She is a first-generation college graduate-an alumna of the University of Texas at San Antonio and the University of Texas at Austin. She has a master's degree in public administration and a bachelor's degree in public relations. Three is her first novel.

Brett Gordon

Brett Gordon is a graduate of the University of Oregon. He resides in Southern California with his wife, sons, and three dogs. Sergeant at War is his first book, based on letters his father, Michael Gordon, wrote to his father during the Vietnam War between 1965 and 1968.

Brian A. Facemire

Brian A. Facemire has over fourteen years' experience as an international program leader of experiential study opportunities all over the world, from Yellowstone National Park to Borneo, as well as teaching government, world history, and politics. Brian has a master's degree in secondary history education from Old Dominion University and is currently working towards a second master's in classical archaeology at the University of Leicester. Brian has been selected for Teacher of Year as well as the Above and Beyond the Call awards and is a National Geographic Educator. Over the course of his career he has endeavored to instill a sense of adventure and travel in his students as a primary method to destroy ignorance. Brian formerly served on the executive board of the Virginia Gentlemen Foundation before being appointed by the Virginia Beach City Council to the Historical Review Board and is the proprietor of ExperientialStudy.com, LLC.

Brian Ellis

Brian Ellis earned his Bachelor's degree in Political Science from Pennsylvania State University and his Master's of Leadership Science from The Citadel Military College of South Carolina. He is a former soldier and paratrooper whose career spanned twenty-two years in the infantry, Signal Corps, and mostly airborne infantry or infantry enabler units, to include three deployments with the 82nd Airborne Division to Iraq, Afghanistan, and Hurricane Katrina. He served two more combat tours, in Iraq as a State Department police advisor and in Afghanistan as a member of the 42nd Military Police Group. Brian retired from active service in 2016 as a major. He currently works as an instructor and member of the commandant's staff at Virginia Military Institute. Brian divides his time between the suburbs of Washington, DC, with his family and working in Lexington, Virginia. Redemption is his first book.

Brian J. Morra

Brian J. Morra is a former U.S. intelligence officer and a retired senior aerospace executive. He helped lead the American intelligence team in Japan that uncovered the true story behind the Soviet Union's shootdown of Korean Airlines flight 007 in September 1983. He also served on the Air Staff at the Pentagon while on active duty. As an aerospace executive he worked on many important national security programs. Mr. Morra earned a BA from William and Mary, an MPA from the University of Oklahoma, an MA in National Security Studies from Georgetown University, and completed the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School.

Brian J. Robinson

Brian J .Robinson grew up in suburban NJ and was diagnosed with ADHD at six years old. He graduated from Tulane University with a Philosophy degree, where, as a contributor to the university periodical, he developed an early talent toward writing. His first published work, a short story entitled “Tabula Rasa” was featured on the cover of The Write Room, a literary magazine, in 2012. In 2016, he was interviewed by Fox 5 NY about an early edition of his ADHD memoir and his personal experience with Adderall addiction. Today, Brian has emerged as a successful entrepreneur and continues to be very outspoken about society’s miscomprehension about ADHD. He loves to travel, lift weights, talk philosophy at bars, and spend time with family and friends. He lives in NYC with his wife, Lindsey.

Brian Johnson

Brian Johnson, MD, is a psychoanalyst who has treated addicted people for fifty years. He has fifty-two articles about addiction, is commonly called for opinions to be covered in Syracuse Post-Standard, and is a frequent guest on his local public television station and radio.

Brian Lambert

Dr. Brian Lambert has been at the forefront of digital transformation, leveraging his deep expertise in technology and organizational performance through various phases of his career, from impactful leadership roles in the US military to pioneering sales enablement and AI strategies in digitally driven organizations. His PhD in organizational behavior, combined with hands-on experience in B2B technology, sales, and HR enablement, uniquely positions him to bridge the gap between strategy and execution in the digital age. Lambert’s journey reflects a commitment to driving growth, enhancing human capital, and reshaping organizational norms in the rapidly evolving digital landscape to compete in the AI age.

Brian Penn

Brian Penn is an award-winning novelist and screenwriter. He has a BS in psychology, which he finds useful while composing interesting and authentic characters. He currently resides in the Pacific Northwest with his wife and three children, who serve as his daily inspiration. When he isn’t writing you can find him spending time with his family, hitting the slopes, or shooting archery.

Brianna Penfold

Brianna and Matthew Penfold are a wife-and-husband writing team. The Intrepid Three: Animus Revealed is their debut book. This work is a labor of love enlightened by their lifelong faith journeys and diverse experiences in medicine, law, victim advocacy, crisis intervention, research, and children and youth mentorship. By day, and sometimes by night, Brianna is an attorney, and Matthew is a pediatrician. They currently reside in Virginia where they are having a blast raising their energetic toddler.

Brittany Raschdorf

Growing up, Brittany Raschdorf was always tethered to a book, only putting them down occasionally to play in the mud or roughhouse with her brother. She knew deep down she had a passion for words. The way the black jumped off the white and landed in her soul told her she would always love books – she would always read books. It was the creativity that called to her. Brittany has a creative drive and a propensity for research and discovery. If she isn’t creating art with her hands, she isn’t living up to her full potential. She tried cosmetology, painting houses, and restoring furniture. She even created organization out of chaos as a housekeeper. It wasn’t until she began to write that she truly came alive. And it wasn’t until she became a mother that she realized she had a story to tell.

Brooks Birdwell Yeager

Over three decades, Brooks Birdwell Yeager has led national campaigns for the American conservation community, negotiated global environmental treaties at the State Department, and advised the eight-nation Arctic Council. His publications include articles in Sierra and Audubon magazines and essays regarding environmental policy and politics. In his work travels to the Russian Far East, Brazil, South Africa, Jordan, and the circumpolar Arctic, he sampled and enjoyed local music, cuisine, and folkways to get a proper sense of each place. Brooks lives on Chincoteague Island on Virginia's Atlantic Coast. He is a man of catholic interests. When he's not writing, he likes to play guitar, watch birds, read philosophy and obscure books of history, cook, and listen to all kinds of music.

Brooks Yeager

Brooks Yeager's first novel, Chilly Winds, won the American fiction award for best adventure novel in 2021. Before trying his hand at fiction, Brooks campaigned for wildlife and wilderness, negotiated global environmental agreements at the State Department, and consulted on environmental issues with the World Bank and the Arctic Council. His conservation career took him all over the world, from Brazil and Mexico to South Africa and the Russian Far East. These days Brooks and his wife Cindy Shogan enjoy life on the island of Chincoteague, on the Atlantic coast of Virginia. When he's not writing, he likes to play guitar, watch birds, read philosophy and obscure books of history, and listen to all kinds of music.

Bruce Brittain

Bruce Joel Brittain was born in a Navy hospital in January 1946 as his father served out his enlistment. Every male member from the previous generation of Bruce’s family served in uniform during World War II, and Bruce’s formative years were replete with family stories of service and sacrifice. When the call to arms came to Bruce in 1969, he served three years of active duty in the US Army. Thanks to the GI Bill, Bruce then added an advanced business degree to his undergraduate degree in journalism. His career has included copy and speech writing, electronic and print media management, and market and marketing research design and execution. Bruce established a specialized research practice and became a sought-after conference speaker and interviewee for media outlets such as CNN, The Wall Street Journal, NPR, The New York Times, American Banker, and others. In 2005, Bruce walked away from corporate America to return to his writing roots. Bruce has published two other books: Marriage Roulette, a nonfiction booklet aimed at his children’s generation, and Brother Daniel’s Good New’s Revival, a historical novel.

Bruce K. Berger

Bruce K. Berger, PhD, professor emeritus, University of Alabama, is the author of Fragments: The Long Coming Home from Vietnam, winner of the 2021 Gold Medal for Best Poetry Book by the Military Writers Society of America. He served in the US Army from 1969 to 1971, including one year in Vietnam, where he worked in the Casualty Branch of the 101st Airborne Division in Phu Bai. He wrote hundreds of sympathy letters to grieving families back home for the loss of their soldier and sometimes helped Graves Registration gather fallen brothers to take them to the mortuary. He also authored In Our Dreams We Read (2012), which explores adult illiteracy in Alabama, and two academic books about communication leadership: Gaining Influence in Public Relations (2006) and Public Relations Leaders as Sensemakers (2014).

Bruce T. Jones

Bruce Jones grew up as a classic horror film fan. Fascinated by the legendary works by Lugosi, Karloff, and Chaney, it didn’t take long (only 45 years), for Jones to discover his knack for creating a modern classic. In his short career, Jones has been a feature author at Book Expo of America for the Horror Writers Association (2014 & 2015), and a faculty author for the Falkner Society’s literary conference, Words and Music (2015).

Bruno Hilgart

With more than three decades of experience in all levels of the restaurant and hospitality industries, Bruno Hilgart is a respected management and leadership expert. He spent many years as the face of one of the most successful quick-service restaurant franchises in the Chicago metropolitan area, managing thousands of team members along the way. Throughout his career, he has developed and refined a management philosophy centered around the development of people. Bruno frequently speaks on the importance of good leadership to audiences of all ages, from high school students to lawmakers in Washington, DC.

Bryant Lusk

Author of the Amazon best seller Osteoporosis & Osteopenia: Vitamin Therapy for Stronger Bones, Bryant Lusk spent four years in the United States Air Force, learning the true meaning of empowerment and pride. His desire to serve and protect others led him to write the initial installment of his health books. With a determination to treat debilitating conditions, Bryant's books have helped many. Born and raised in Chicago, he has led a successful and challenging career with the United States government despite the challenges of gang violence and poverty he faced in his youth. His skill in conducting technical research and analysis in aviation and aerospace technology is now being used to bring lifesaving information to the very public he has been entrusted to serve.

Buck Wyndham

Buck Wyndham graduated from college and joined the Air Force to fly his dream airplane, the A-10 Thunderbolt II also called the "Warthog." He became one of the very first pilots to take the mighty Warthog into battle, flying numerous missions during Operation Desert Storm. He went on to fly the T-38 Talon as an instructor, training new Air Force pilots. He is currently a captain for a major US airline, and also continues to fly privately-owned, surplus military jets as a test pilot and instructor. Buck has written articles for Warbirds, Classic Jet Journal, and Warbird Digest. A skilled photographer and videographer, he enjoys vintage aircraft, studying history, 3D printing, collecting tools, driving his rail speeder, and exploring ghost towns. He is working on his next book, a novel entitled Red Air.

Bud Ramey

Bud Ramey has completed a long career in health system marketing, communications and public affairs and has co-authored five nonfiction books on a range of healthcare and social issues. He has received numerous national awards for excellence in communications and humanitarian and community collaboration, including the Foster McGaw Prize from the American Hospital Association. He also received the Public Affairs Silver Anvil Award from the Public Relations Society of America, the industry’s most distinguished honor. Mr. Ramey lives in coastal Virginia and is a graduate of the Virginia Military Institute.

C. J. Foster

C.J. Foster enlisted in the military after graduating high school. After several tours of duty, C.J. went to medical school and became a physician. Returning to the military, C.J. spent the next few decades stationed throughout the world, including serving in both Iraq and Afghanistan, learning foreign languages and experiencing different cultures through medical engagements on multiple continents.

Caleb Durden

Caleb Durden works as an administrative assistant for a federal research unit. He served four years in the United States Navy as an avionics technician. Afterward, he graduated from the University of Mississippi with a bachelor's in business and a minor in English. The writer, in leisure, can be found rooting for Ole Miss sports, hitting shank shots on the golf course, and drinking martinis too fast. A golden retriever named Buoy sleeps underneath his work desk, rent-free.

Calvin Anthony Lang

Calvin Anthony Lang started out with the best intentions of writing a series of articles on this sex game, which many people around the country seem to be playing, even overseas. He hoped it would be his first commissioned exposé, but instead, he followed some unusual leads into a story much bigger than an article. Big enough for a book. This is the result of his discovery. Calvin lives in the Pacific Northwest, where he spends a lot of time on the water, whale-watching in particular—a passion of his. He does this whenever he’s not searching for ribbons.

Captain Larry Kenneth Hunter

Larry Hunter began his military service as an ROTC cadet in 1961 at Florence State College, now the University of North Alabama. Upon graduation, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the US Army, then completed Officer Basic Course at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. During his assignment at Fort Benning, Georgia, he received orders for First Air Cavalry Division, First Battalion, Twenty-First Artillery as a forward observer. Following a year's service in Vietnam, he was an instructor for two years at the US Army Artillery and Missile School at Fort Sill before returning to civilian life. He is retired after thirty years in management in the manufactured housing industry. Stories of his battles in Vietnam have been presented over the years by request from civic clubs, Veterans Day programs, the American Legion, schools and churches. Fire Mission! Fire Mission! is his first published work.

Carey Henry Keefe

Carey Henry Keefe has written one mystery thriller based on her twelve years as a medical practice administrator in Las Vegas. Her numerous personal essays have been produced on NPR-affiliated stations over the years. She attended the University of Richmond, in Richmond, Virginia, receiving a BS in business management. She and her husband have recently taken up residence in Suffolk, Virginia, where they are closer to the sea and four of their six grandchildren.

Carla Damron

Carla Damron is a social worker, advocate, and author whose last novel, The Stone Necklace (about grief and addiction), won the 2017 Women's Fiction Writers Association Star Award for Best Novel and was selected as the One Community Read for Columbia, South Carolina. Damron is also the author of the Caleb Knowles mystery novels and has published numerous short stories, essays, and op-eds.Damron holds an MSW and an MFA. Her careers as a social worker and writer are intricately intertwined; all of her novels explore social issues like addiction, homelessness, mental illness, and human trafficking. Damron volunteers with the League of Women Voters, Sisters in Crime, Palmetto Chapter (president), and Mutual Aid Midlands. She lives with her husband, Jim Hussey, and their large family of spoiled rescue animals.

Carol Ann Nix

Carol Ann Nix is a lawyer and former university professor in the United States and China. She taught undergraduate and graduate Chinese students in Beijing over a four-year period for Valparaiso University, Fanzhidu International Educational Information Consulting Co., Ltd., Graduate School of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), and at Peking University. She was a Visiting Expert who taught at the United Nation’s 91st International Training Course held in Tokyo, Japan sponsored by the United Nations Asia and Far East Institute (UNAFEI). Carol’s previously published works appear in a UNAFEI publication, a professional legal journal and at Amazon.com.

Carol Jeffers

Through her writing, Carol Jeffers blends creative nonfiction and fiction to more fully explore the human condition. Her first book-length manuscript, The Question of Empathy, is a semi-finalist in the 2017 Pirates' Alley William Faulkner Writing Competition (Walter Isaacson, judge). A Professor Emeritus of Art Education, her interest in empathic listening began in the classroom years ago when she and her university students explored works of art that served as personal metaphors. These experiences and related interactions with art, self, and others were the subjects of Carol's academic writing published in refereed journals, edited volumes and a single-author book (Spheres of Possibility: Linking Service-Learning and the Visual Arts) during her university career. More on Carol at www.CarolJeffersWriter.com

Carol Van Den Hende

Carol Van Den Hende is an author and Lone Star Writing Contest finalist who pens stories of resilience and hope. She's also a speaker, strategist, and serves on nonprofit boards. One secret to her good fortune? Her humorous husband, fun-loving twins, and rescue cat, who prove that love really does conquer all.

Caroline Goldberg Igra

Caroline Goldberg Igra is an author, an art historian, a competitive triathlete, and a mother. Her first novel, Count to a Thousand, was published in 2018. Her creative nonfiction has appeared in many literary journals, and she presently blogs for The Times of Israel. She has a doctorate in art history, taught at the University of Haifa, has published numerous articles in international periodicals, and has curated several art exhibitions in Israel, following earlier projects in the United States. The monograph she wrote on Polish artist J. D. Kirszenbaum was chosen as one of Slate Magazine's Best Books of 2013. Caroline is a native Philadelphian but currently lives in Tel Aviv, where she occupies herself with the English language (teaching, editing, advising). A devoted mother to her three children, she frequently explores the challenges and joys of that role in her writing.

Caroline Manuel

Dr. Caroline Manuel is an Amazon bestselling author, speaker and an internationally recognized psychiatrist and happiness expert. She has been interviewed as an expert on mental health and personal development on CBS, NBC and ABC and in USA Today and The Wall Street Journal. Her interview with CNN columnist Vanessa Van Petten was featured on CNBC, Morningstar.com, CBS’ MoneyWatch, The Boston Globe, the Miami Herald, MarketWatch and Yahoo! Finance.

Caroline Walsh

Caroline Walsh is a former CIA intelligence officer, Coast Guard veteran, and current PhD student in leadership studies at the University of San Diego. She works at USD's Military and Veteran Program office and is also a stand-up comedian and course instructor for the Armed Services Arts Partnership Comedy Bootcamp. Caroline enlisted in the Coast Guard after graduating college with a bachelor's degree in psychology, and earned her master's in Homeland Security from Pennsylvania State University in 2013 while active duty, writing her final paper on pandemic preparedness.

Carrie Scarborough Kinnard

Carrie Scarborough Kinnard is a true Southern redhead. Which means she's a little spicy. And a little sassy. She exhibits true Southern charm and hospitality that can be rather hard to find these days. Carrie writes like she talks. She is sometimes guilty of making up a word or two as she goes. You can bet, though, with Carrie, you're getting the real deal. She believes in God, high heels and lip gloss. The very things no strong woman sashaying through the happenings of life should ever be without. Carrie firmly believes there are others who have been right where she's been in life: needing a push, or even a big shove, from God to keep forging ahead, and wondering just how much more of life can be conquered with a little humor. After tackling unexpected infertility, then divorce and being single again, she never expected or really wanted to find love again. But God had other plans.

Carroll Savage

Carroll J. Savage grew up in a small town in inland South Carolina, dreaming of sailing to faraway places, but deprived of access to boats. He graduated from the University of the South and received advanced degrees from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and Harvard Law School, leading to a career as a practicing lawyer in Washington, D.C. When approaching age 50, with almost no sailing experience, he bought a forty-five-foot ketch, spent one summer’s weekends knocking around the Chesapeake Bay, impulsively headed offshore, and over the next decade sailed around the world. Though he began offshore sailing as a novice, he is now an expert in long-range cruising under sail.

Carter Taylor Seaton

West Virginia native Carter Taylor Seaton is a Marshall University graduate, a former marathoner and scuba diver, and the award-winning author of two novels, Father's Troubles, and amo, amas, amat . . . an unconventional love story, as well as non-fiction: Hippie Homesteaders: Arts, Music, and Living on the Land in West Virginia, and a biography of the late congressman Ken Hechler, The Rebel in the Red Jeep. Her children's book, Me and MaryAnn, is a collection of stories of her mischievous childhood. She has been a regular contributor to Huntington Quarterly Magazine and other regional magazines for over twenty years. Seaton is an oft sought-after speaker and workshop presenter as well as the host of both a cable television program, Chapters, which profiles authors, editors, and publishers, and a monthly literary event in Huntington, her hometown.

Cassidy Greenberg

Cassidy Greenberg is an author who is actively serving in the United States Navy as a nuclear operator. With many writers in her family, her interest in the craft came as no surprise. Throughout her childhood she also had a passion for ancient mythologies, and she has now combined those passions into something for everyone to enjoy. She, her husband, and her daughter currently live in Norfolk, Virginia, where she is stationed on the USS George Washington aircraft carrier.

Cathy Carroll

Cathy Carroll is the granddaughter of an entrepreneur who led a Fortune 500 company and the daughter of an entrepreneur. Following a twenty-year corporate career, she led a turnaround of her father's manufacturing business and encountered the distinctions between leadership in a corporate domain and leadership in a family business.In addition to an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and a BA from Boston College, Cathy earned her certificates in leadership coaching and executive facilitation at Georgetown University. She maintains a Professional Certified Coach (PCC) credential through the International Coaching Federation. She founded Legacy Onward, Inc. to support family business leaders through the complexities of family business leadership.

Charles E. Watson

Charles E. Watson, PhD, professor emeritus of management, Miami University, is the author of eight books on management, including the best-selling classic Management Development Through Training. He taught at the University of Illinois and held professorships at Temple, Miami, and Deakin University (Australia). Dr. Watson has extensive experience designing and conducting seminars for supervisory, middle, and top management personnel for numerous businesses and organizations. He has appeared on radio talk shows and has penned op-ed pieces for newspapers, newsletters, and magazines.

Charles Gibson

Charles Gibson has written for the inspirational book series God Allows U-Turns as well as for a Twin Cities newspaper. He has a long-standing interest in history, has spent many years researching the Middle Ages and the Crusades, and has traveled to the Languedoc region in France. He lives in Minnesota with his wife and sons.

Charles Gomez

Charles Gomez is an Emmy Award-winning journalist, investigative reporter, and playwright. He was the first Cuban-American hired as a CBS News correspondent and has covered wars and revolutions for two networks over three decades. He was the recipient of the Edward R. Murrow Award, the Sigma Delta Chi Society of Professional Journalists' national Mark of Excellence Award, and has interviewed, among others, Fidel Castro, Nicaraguan president Anastasio Somoza, Salvadoran president Jose Napolean Duarte, Jamaican president Edward Seaga, and Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos of the Philippines. He has worked as an NBC News West Coast correspondent and also as a reporter for WPLG-TV in Miami, WBBM-TV in Chicago, WWOR and WNBC in New York City. Gomez's plays Bang Bang Blues and Adios, Tropicana were named as the US entries in Joseph Papp's Public Theater Festival Latino. His play Esperanza was a semi-finalist in the Eugene O'Neill National Playwright's Conference.

Charles Messina

My father served as a PFC in the Marine Corps during WW2. His story begins in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in September 1941 with his enlistment in the Marine Corps, and ends in December 1942 at Guadalcanal when the 1st Marine Division was relieved by the Army. It takes the reader through boot camp, advanced training, a voyage to New Zealand for combat training, and into the jungles of Guadalcanal where they fought against the Japanese Empire.As his son, I made it my job to thoroughly research every detail of his story and to back it up with actual dates, facts, and statistics. The book is visually stimulating, entertaining, and educational at the same time. Readers will be moved by his story and gain a great deal of insight about one specific unit of the 1st Marine Division.

Charles Pither

Charles Pither trained as a physician and worked as a specialist in pain management for over thirty years. As well as scientific works he has always enjoyed creative writing, including poetry, short stories, and a novel. Having retired from clinical medicine he now has more time for his writing, with a regular travel blog and a recently completed second novel. Charles lives near Oxford in England.

Charles Strickler

Charles Strickler is a native Virginian. He graduated from Virginia Tech where he also met his future bride Mary. An entrepreneur with work experiences that range from the barnyard to the Board Room, Charles brings a unique perspective to his mysteries. Like many others, the only mystery that Charles does not like is Polycystic Kidney Disease. PKD is a genetic disease affecting 200,000 people per year. While there is no cure yet, the PKD Foundation continues to fund promising research to discover treatments that can slow the progression and eventually end PKD.

Charles W. Newhall III

Charles W. "Chuck" Newhall is a prolific writer, having written about his experiences in Vietnam, his beautiful gardens, and the history of venture capitalism. In this new book, Newhall shows us his whimsical side with the creation of a children's book about his late pug, Stanley.

Charlotte Bowyer

Inspired by her love of fantasy, Charlotte Bowyer finished writing her debut novel, His Frozen Fingertips, at the age of fifteen. A firm believer in freedom of expression and diversity, she attends Pride in London on an annual basis, and is a vocal feminist. She believes in the blurring of labels to encompass all types of relationships, and the human right to love indiscriminately. His Frozen Fingertips is a reflection of these beliefs.

Charlotte Kemp

Charlotte Kemp was Playboy’s “Miss December 1982” and Playboy’s cover model in October 1983. She also appeared in many ads and calendar photos for Playboy. She was the first Playmate ever given a license for “The Playboy Running Team” in 1993 and had ten Playmates on the team who successfully raised money for many charities. Her first book was For My Eyes Only, which includes poetry, prose and short stories. During her working years with Playboy, she was the first to hold the titles of “Miss Budweiser” and “The Best Breasts in the USA.” She has starred and appeared in several commercials and movies, including a top 25 B-Horror film of all time, Frankenhooker. She has appeared on Inside Edition, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and many radio shows all over the country. She has appeared in fourteen foreign editions of Playboy and lived for a time at the Playboy Mansion.

Cheryl and Micah Chavers

Cheryl and Micah Chavers have over 20 years' experience in Christian leadership, serving as advocates for strong healthy families. Having facilitated trainings and workshops in the United States and internationally, Cheryl and Micah desire to empower people to seek God and maximize their potential. With an eclectic background in human and community services, crisis counseling, disaster preparedness, music and radio, they have ministered to many people. Through their expertise and personal life challenges, they have developed practical tools to help others triumph and overcome adversity.

Cheryl Ross

Cheryl Ross is a nationally award-winning writer and book editor and the owner of Cheryl Ross Communications, a writing and editing company. She has worked with authors across the United States on award-winning books and bestsellers. Cheryl holds bachelor's and master's degrees in journalism from Northwestern University.

Cheryne Blom

Cheryne Blom has worked as a Self-Empowerment Coach and Mindfulness teacher for over a decade. She is passionate about helping you rediscover your unique strengths, virtues and purpose so that you can actualize your full potential and thrive. In 2009 Cheryne published her first book, Be Enthused-52 Weeks of Enthusiasm, which encapsulates the diversity of her message. Her blog, Be You Be True has had close to 500,000 views and her podcast Peace in My Pocket are enjoyed by over 50,000 people since 2017. Born in South Africa, raised in the United States and living now in Australia, Cheryne considers herself to be a biltong-burger-loving Ugg-boot fanatic. When she is not life-coaching, writing, course-creating, podcasting, speaking or meditating, Cheryne can be found with her three children and beloved boxer, Chester playing at a bayside beach with her feet immersed in water. Cheryne's personal mission is to inspire one million people to live courageous lives by the year 2022.

Christi Barrett

John Barrett, David Wheatley and Christi Barrett work together at Humanergy, a leadership development company with the mission to create a new kind of leader committed to the greater good and with the character, wisdom and competence to make a real difference in their teams, organizations and even the world. Over the past twenty-five years, the authors have worked with about 375 different organizations, training and coaching their leaders and teams and facilitating key transitions. John Barrett and David Wheatley previously authored 50 DOs for Everyday Leadership. Christi Barrett is the co-author of In Whose Best Interest: One Child's Odyssey, A Nation's Responsibility and Putting Connectedness, Continuity, Dignity and Opportunity to Work.

Christine A. Emery

Christine A. Emery has been entertaining children for over thirteen years. Storytelling, face painting, balloons, and magic are just some of the ways she spreads joy and laughter, always with an encouraging, positive message. She loves adventures and treasure hunts, but her most valuable treasure is her supportive and loving husband, Brian, and her four wonderful, amazing children, Joshua, Zachary, Kellie, and Josiah.

Christine M. Bacon, Ph.D.

Christine Bacon, Ph.D., holds three degrees in communication. Her doctoral dissertation merged marital humor with her own experience and her desire to teach individuals and couples how to build and nurture what Bacon calls Super Marriages. She is the wife of a retired Navy officer and a former life-skills educator at the Navy’s Fleet and Family Support Centers. Her expertise includes teaching couples and individuals to successfully manage conflict, anger and stress, and more than fourteen years’ experience leading premarital seminars with Catholic Charities USA. Bacon also runs CMB Communication, Inc., which focuses on strengthening relationships (intimate, familial and professional) by teaching effective communication skills. Her Super Couple seminars teach the science of extreme happiness in marriage. She hosts her own radio show, Breakfast with Bacon: The Relationship Doctor, broadcast from Hampton Roads, Virginia. Her articles have been featured in both Catholic Online and Designed to Flourish.

Christine Shields Corrigan

Christine Shields Corrigan, a two-time cancer survivor, wife, and mom, gives voice to the beautiful ordinary in her lyrical and practical essays. Her work about family, illness, writing, and resilient survivorship has appeared in The Brevity Blog, Dreamer's Creative Writing and Anthology, Grown & Flown, The Potato Soup Journal and Anthology, Purple Clover, Ravishly.com, Wildfire Magazine, and the Writer's Circle 2 Anthology. Corrigan's essay about how her cancer experiences helped her cope with the COVID-19 pandemic is included in (Her)orics: Women's Lived Experiences During the COVID-19 Pandemic. A graduate of Manhattan College and Fordham University School of Law, Chris teaches creative nonfiction writing for an adult education program, provides writing workshops for cancer support groups, and serves on the programming committee of the Morristown Festival of Books. She lives in Somerset County, New Jersey, with her family and devoted Cavalier King Charles spaniel.

Christopher Bowron

Christopher Bowron’s roots stretch back four generations in historic Niagara-on-the-Lake, voted the prettiest town in Canada. Christopher is the owner of a successful real estate brokerage, Niagara-on-the-Lake Realty. He has a bachelor of arts from Brock University and is a lover of wine and all sports including salt water fishing, which usually finds its way into his writing. Thrillers, mystery and historical fiction top his reading list. He and his wife Carmen have a second residence in southwest Florida where he has spent a good part of his life since childhood. Southwest Florida and the Everglades is the backdrop for his first novel, Devil in the Grass, published by Köehler Books, which in 2016 became a #1 Best Seller on Amazon.

Christopher Leibig

Christopher Leibig is a novelist and criminal defense lawyer who lives and works in Alexandria, Virginia. His first two published books, Saving Saddam (2008), and Montanamo (2010) were published by Artnik Books in London. Saving Saddam was released in 2014 in the United States under the title Black Rabbit. Chris also has several published short stories–"Secret Admirer" (The Cynic online magazine 2004) "Coldcocked" (Skyline magazine 2004), "Fly" (The Cynic online magazine 2009), "Intervention" (Traveller’s Playground Press 2014), and "Paradise City" (Traveller’s Playground Press 2014). Chris has also published numerous articles on criminal defense and related topics – including in The Huffington Post and The Examiner–and appeared as a legal expert regularly since 2009 in print and television media – including Fox News, CNN, The Washington Post, The New York Times, and Sports Illustrated. He and his colleagues regularly lecture at law schools throughout Europe and the Caribbean.

Christopher Michaud

Chris Michaud is a thirty-plus-year veteran of the real estate business as an investor, broker and industry insider with some lobbying experience at the state and national level. He’s a sought-after guest speaker and author. He was a past state REALTOR President-elect, an investor coach and trainer of the RealInvest Profit System.

Christopher W. Naughton

Christopher Naughton is a former prosecutor, civil litigation attorney, and multiple Emmy Award-winning host and executive producer of the constitutionally-based The American Law Journal. He has hosted New World Radio, addressing comparative belief systems. He writes on the intersection of history, law, and spirituality for Medium and Substack magazines and lives in Virginia Beach, Virginia, with Valerie, his beloved partner of over twenty years.

Chuck Downing

Chuck Downing is an author of a series of abstracts/commentary on articles of scientific interest for AccessExcellence.org. He has been writing stories since the early 1980s and won a “Teachers as Writers” competition and a short-story writing contest through Writer’s Digest. Both his masters thesis and his doctoral dissertation were finalists for “Outstanding Submission” in their respective years. He is author/editor of Making Connections, a four-textbook series of integrating science concepts from various disciplines around common themes; coauthor of an alternative laboratory manual for Advanced Placement Biology for People’s Education; designer/developer of six educational laboratory exercises for Science Kit and Ward’s Biological Companies; and designer/developer of biotechnology laboratory kits for Stratagene Cloning Systems. Chuck has a BS in Biology and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Science Education. He taught high school and university science courses for forty years. Over that span he was San Diego County Teacher of the Year, Christa McAuliffe Fellow, Fellow of the American Society of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, and Presidential Awardee for Excellence in Science Teaching.

Cindy DeFuria

Cindy Defuria has been an ELA elementary school teacher for over ten years. She enjoys the entire process of writing: pre, drafting, and revisions. She has designed and implemented a linear web that she likes to use in the classroom. Cindy has tried to instill her love of writing in her students and has had successes. Through trial and error, she learned that writing is a gift, it is how you approach it that makes it an art. This is her first book, and hopefully the start of many more to come.

Clay E. Novak

Clay Novak is a retired US Army infantry lieutenant colonel with twenty-five years of service and a combined five combat tours between Afghanistan and Iraq. He is a graduate of the US Army Ranger School, a master parachutist, and has been awarded the Bronze Star Medal three times for his service in combat. Also a lifelong recreational shooter and hunter, Clay has a wide range of experience and expertise with firearms of all types. He earned a bachelor's degree from Western Illinois University and a master's degree from Webster University.

Clay Jenkinson

Clay Jenkinson is a North Dakotan, a plainsman who has spent his life exploring the northern Great Plains. He is a frequent "talking head" in Ken Burns' documentary films, the creator of the Theodore Roosevelt Center at Dickinson State University, and the host of the nationally syndicated radio program and podcast, The Thomas Jefferson Hour. He studied at the University of Minnesota and Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar. This is his fourteenth book.

Clay S. Jenkinson

Clay Jenkinson is a public humanities scholar. His degrees are all in English. He has a BA from the University of Minnesota, and an MA from Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes and Danforth Scholar. He is the author of nine books-several on his beloved North Dakota, several on the Lewis and Clark Expedition, and two on Theodore Roosevelt. He has made four documentary films about Great Plains subjects. He has been in three of Ken Burns' documentary films and appeared on a range of television shows, including The Today Show, Politically Incorrect, and Fox and Friends. He is the creator of the Thomas Jefferson Hour, a weekly NPR radio program and podcast. He has won humanities scholar of the year awards in Kansas, Nevada, and North Dakota, and has received the National Humanities Medal for exemplary work in the public humanities. He is one of the founders of the modern Chautauqua movement and the founder of the Theodore Roosevelt Center at Dickinson State University in western North Dakota.

Clayton Bard Custead

Clay Custead lives in Gaithersburg, Maryland, where he is a financial executive for an IT firm. He has two boys from a previous marriage. From the Farm to Arlington is his first book.

Clyde Sutton

Clyde Sutton has been practicing Aikido for over thirty years. He holds a fourth-degree black belt and teaches Aikido at a dojo in Hamilton, New Zealand. He has worked in many fields, has a master’s degree in materials and process engineering, and currently is a schoolteacher.

Col. Brian Osterndorf

Brian Osterndorf (Colonel, US Army, Ret.) is a class of 1976 US Military Academy at West Point graduate. During his twenty-eight-year career, he served as a combat engineer officer in the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 7th Infantry and in the 1st and 3rd Armored Divisions. He also built railroads in Brazil, was an assistant professor of mathematics at West Point, obtained two master’s degrees, commanded the Army Corps of Engineers in New England, and led the Corps response team in New York City following the 9/11 attacks. After retiring from the Army, he had a number of other jobs, retired again, and got bored. So he wrote a book.

Col. David B. Rowland

Colonel Dave Rowland is a US Army infantry colonel with a variety of worldwide deployments, including multiple trips to Iraq and Afghanistan with Airborne, Ranger, and Stryker units. He has published several articles in AUSA's Army Magazine and the Washington Journal of Modern China. In 2019, the Army specially selected him to build, equip, train, and deploy one of the Army's newest organizations for their inaugural deployment to the Indo-Pacific region in less than two years.Dave and his wife, Amy, have four children, Zachary, Abigail, Isabelle, and Andrew.

Col. Kirk Warner (USA Ret.)

Col. Kirk Warner (USA, Ret.) is a partner and senior trial lawyer with Raleigh's largest law firm. He is the author of Zone of Action: A JAG's Journey Inside Operations Cobra II and Iraqi Freedom. He served in Iraq during major combat operations and the liberation and as deputy legal counsel to three Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He commanded units from company to brigade levels in the combat zone and stateside. Kirk and his wife Diane live in North Carolina with their yellow lab Wally.

Col. Rick Steinke (US Army RET)

Colonel (U.S. Army, Ret) Ralph Richard "Rick" Steinke is a lifelong public servant, dedicated to the security of the United States and its allies. His service includes twenty-eight years in the United States Army and thirteen years as a U.S. Department of Defense civilian. A former Harvard National Security Fellow, he most recently served as the Associate Dean at the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies, a German-American security cooperation partnership located in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. The Marshall Center's mission is to build international government capacity and networks to counter terrorism, transnational organized crime, cyber threats and other national security challenges. Colonel Steinke's personal interests include faith, family, fishing, snow skiing and travel.

Cole Mallette

Cole is a writer and a painter. He graduated from Notre Dame with an arts degree, majoring in political science and film, which he completed while winning two national championships in fencing.

Colman Conroy

Colman Conroy was born and raised in Noe Valley, a once working-class neighborhood in the heart of San Francisco. Twelve years of Catholic education spurred a love of reading and writing. While his work experience includes advertising management and nonprofit communication, he has spent the past few years teaching English and American history. Colman’s diverse life experiences and love of San Francisco are evident in each character he creates. Colman continues to live in Noe Valley. No Special Hurry is his first novel.

Corey Ohayon

COREY OHAYON is an attorney who wishes he’d stayed in art school. As the father of three precious children, and a certified jedi master, he knows a thing or two about monsters. His earlier artworks are prominently displayed in such prestigious locations as above the pullout couch in the guest room in his parents’ home.

CSM Daniel L. Pinion

Command Sergeant Major (R) Daniel L. Pinion is a military veteran of the Cold War, Operation Joint Endeavor (Bosnia-Herzegovina), a short stint in Afghanistan, and multiple tours in Operation Iraqi Freedom. He served in numerous infantry, armor, and cavalry leadership positions, including division reconnaissance, armor and infantry battalions, and cavalry squadrons. CSM (R) Pinion led in combat in every noncommissioned officer rank from sergeant to sergeant major during his twenty-eight-year career. Born in Ohio, raised in Andover, New Jersey, CSM (R) Pinion now calls Virginia home while serving as a deputy G-3/5/7 as a Department of the Army civilian. Welcome to military life!

D. K. Yamashiro

As a teen, D. K. Yamashiro survived falling four hundred feet from a ridge in Hawaii, suffering severe brain injuries. Years of recovery involved a camel ride at the Pyramids of Giza, swimming in the Mediterranean Sea, hiking up Masada, sledding down the Great Wall of China, exploring underground caves in the Black Hills, and speaking to crowds in East Africa and Brazilian favelas. A master’s at Harvard and summer studies at Oxford preceded a PhD with research on childhood traumas of American presidents. Yamashiro resides in Brookline, Massachusetts, and is an affiliate at MIT.

D. W. Saur

D. W. Saur holds degrees from Emory and Henry College, East Tennessee State University, and the University of Southern Mississippi. In addition, Saur received his teaching certification from Roanoke College and is currently a middle school social studies teacher. Saur's first children's book, Metal Like Me, deals with bullying. Dark Days is Saur's fantasy debut and was written in part to give his students and other young adult readers a heroine that goes against traditional norms of young adult works. Saur is a member of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators.

D.A. Spruzen

D.A. Spruzen is the author of three works of fiction and a short collection of poems; her short stories and poems have appeared in many journals and anthologies, both online and print. She earned an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Queens University of Charlotte, and teaches creative writing in Northern Virginia when she is not seeking her own muse. In another life she served as Manager of Publications for a defense contractor. She served for ten years on the board of an organization that provides residential services for the intellectually disabled and has extensive experience with the prejudice and ignorant attitudes suffered by those with such challenges. She learned first-hand that acceptance and understanding, not to mention exposure to the good things our world has to offer, are crucial to the enjoyment of a rich and fulfilling life.

D.J. Lutz

Drawing from his experience as a cook and bartender at one of the largest country western honky-tonk bars on the east coast, D.J. Lutz started his writing career by publishing humorous recipes in his WordPress blog, Exploding Potatoes. Now he has stories published in the World Unknown Review and in the mystery anthology, 50 Shades of Cabernet. D.J. writes everything from culinary cozy mysteries to dystopian thrillers, and is a member of the Mystery Writers of America. D.J.'s debut novel, The Apple Pie Alibi, is the first of a three-part series.

D.W. Rawlings

David W. Rawlings is an author and mental health advocate who served the Kansas City, Missouri Police Department in a variety of assignments for twenty-five years. He worked as a tactical response officer, internal affairs investigator, media relations officer, and hostage negotiator. He appeared weekly in televised Crime Stoppers commercials. After retiring from the KCPD in 2006 he went on to serve in the mental health-substance abuse industry. David earned an associate of arts from Johnson County Community College in Overland Park, Kansas and a bachelor degree in political science & personnel administration from the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas.

Dale L. Clayton

Dale is a professor of biology who has focused his research on circadian rhythms. He has been published in Science, Journal of Lepidoptera, and the Journal of Animal Behavior. He was awarded a grant for marine biology research while at the Walla Walla University Marine Biology Station. He has led field biology programs to Honduras, Puerto Rico, Hawaii, and Florida. Dale is also a skilled writer and wood-craftsman. His memoir, Killmaster Kids, is in its final draft.

Dallas Woodburn

DALLAS WOODBURN'S debut novel, The Best Week That Never Happened, was the grand prize winner of the Dante Rossetti Book Award for young adult fiction. She is also the author of the novel Thanks, Carissa, For Ruining My Life and the linked-story collection Woman, Running Late, in a Dress. A former John Steinbeck Fellow in creative writing, her work has been honored with the Cypress & Pine Short Fiction Award, the international Glass Woman Prize, and four Pushcart Prize nominations. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband and daughter.

Dan Bozung

Dan Bozung grew up in Southern Indiana and Western Michigan. He enlisted in the United States Navy at age seventeen and joined a family tradition of naval service dating to World War I. Upon graduation from the US Naval Academy in 1997, he became a Navy pilot, and flew missions throughout Asia and the Middle East in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Since leaving active duty in 2005, Dan has worked as an unskilled construction laborer, public sector consultant, speech writer, supply chain performance engineer, corporate spokesperson and media advisor, strategic marketing consultant, assistant vice president of mechanical operations for a railroad, vice president of industrial filtration sales, and as the general manager of a midsize manufacturing business. Dan holds an MBA from Harvard. He and his family live in Kansas City, Missouri.

Dan Hoffler

Dan Hoffler is a commercial real estate magnate whose Virginia Beach, Virginia company, Armada Hoffler, has built marquee office towers, hotels, and retail hubs in major cities along the East Coast. He is an outdoor enthusiast and marksman who has hunted big game on five continents. A graduate of Campbell University in North Carolina, Dan has served as a director on several state and private boards, including The Shaw Group, a Fortune 500 company. Dan has four children and lives on Virginia’s Eastern Shore with his wife, Valerie.

Dan Pelino

Dan Pelino is an innovator, thought leader and author. Pelino is a regular contributor to the discussion on healthcare, citizen-based services and Smarter Cities, having appeared on CNN, Bloomberg, the BBC and other media outlets. He serves as a moderator and host to the current healthcare debate and is an adjunct professor lecturing on leadership at his alma mater Western Kentucky University. He serves on numerous private and public boards, and worked for IBM for thirty-six years leading its global healthcare and life sciences business for ten years. Pelino concluded his career with IBM as the general manager of the global government, healthcare, education, and life sciences business.

Daniel Espinola

DANIEL ESPINOLA is a millennial author who noticed the uptick in the use of internet memes in society and decided to say something. His scientific training (a BS in biotechnology from the University of Massachusetts Lowell and eight years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry) qualifies him to parse through scientific studies and translate them for the general public. When he isn't writing, Daniel enjoys working out, traveling to new countries, and reading nonfiction.

Daniel Krause

Dan Krause has written eight books in a period that began with an academic career. His master’s thesis on nursing homes was published as a research monograph. After leaving the academic world, he began writing for a more general audience, and his first mystery novel, A Memo From Harvey, won an award as the best new mystery novel.

Daniel Misdea

Dan Misdea created Joe while he was drawing in a notebook one morning before work and instantly felt a connection with the character. In 2015, he started posting comics, doodles and stories of Joe on Instagram (@bcb_comics) and eventually completed The Book of Joe. Dan graduated from Penn State University with a degree in economics and now lives in Hoboken, NJ.

Daniel Ochalek

Daniel Ochalek is an emerging author. His works include poetry, short stories, and fiction. After his youth and medical training in the Midwest, he established a surgical practice in his hometown. Daniel has recently relocated to Northern California. This distance has allowed a fresh view of those years of privileged doctor–patient relationships and has provided a rich source of characters and ideas for writing about life, death, beauty—people.

Daniel Paisner

DANIEL PAISNER is the author or co-author of more than seventy books. As a ghostwriter, he has written more than fifty books in collaboration with athletes, actors, politicians, business leaders, and ordinary individuals with extraordinary stories to tell. Seventeen of his collaborations have reached The New York Times best-seller list. The author of three previous novels-A Single Happened Thing, Mourning Wood, and Obit-he is also the host of the popular podcast As Told To: The Ghostwriting Podcast. A graduate of Tufts University, with a master's degree in journalism from Boston University, he lives on Long Island and in Park City, Utah, where he enjoys skiing, hiking, kayaking, grandparenting, and aging gracefully.

Danielle Koehler

Danielle Koehler is a USA-born designer, illustrator, and author living in southern Chile. She has created websites, book covers, and other design materials for clients around the world. As a traditional artist, she has created watercolor and colored pencil illustrations for books and card games. After moving to southern Chile and witnessing firsthand "la magia del sur," Danielle began illustrating local wildlife, which became the inspiration for her debut novel The Other Forest.You can find free coloring pages and other art activities on her website: www.daniellekoehler.com

Darin Gibby

Darin Gibby is the author of The Vintage Club and Why Has America Stopped Inventing? He is also an internationally renowned patent attorney and has been featured in a wide variety of publications as well as TV and radio shows, including The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Leonard Lopate show, Yahoo! Finance, and To the Best of Our Knowledge.

Darrell Laurant

Darrell Laurant spent forty-one years as a newspaper reporter and columnist, and now devotes his time to other writing projects. Centered on a weekly newspaper in Southside Virginia, The Kudzu Kid is a byproduct of this experience. He has published two other books (Even Here and A City Unto Itself), three column compilations, and well over 150 freelance articles.

David Brown Jr.

David Brown, Jr. is a former senior leader in financial and professional services who earned a B.S. in finance from the University of Delaware and an Executive MBA from Villanova University. He has also completed post-graduate coursework in organizational leadership and organizational dynamics. While continuing his career leading in financial services, David now helps transform other senior leaders by integrating the wisdom from his personal experience with his professional knowledge to create a unique coaching experience. His coaching approach is designed to engage leaders in understanding how the merging of the personal and professional self is the only way leaders can become completely authentic, and discover their own “leadership truth.” David’s methodology also teaches that a leader’s holistic view of self is directly reflected in their view of the world, which defines their ability to connect with others and drive both personal and business performance.

David Carrier

A lover of life and experiences, David Carrier has traveled extensively around the U.S., studying faiths from Christianity to Zen Buddhism, trying each one on for the perfect fit. He became a practitioner of Religious Science, completed Practitioner Studies in The Journey, Thought Field Therapy, and is an ordained minister in The Beloved Community. This thirst for understanding is what led him to Nancy, who would give him his greatest lessons on the meanings of living and dying. After being raised in New England, Carrier took advice from a high school teacher telling him, “If you never go anywhere else, you’ll never know if this is where you most want to live.” David lives in the Dallas Fort Worth area in Texas, and is currently working on his second book, Life After Death: a cancer survivor’s story.

David Davis

David Davis has published poetry, magazine features, and scholarly articles. He has had seventeen plays produced, including productions in New York and Hollywood. He earned a BS degree in physics, a BA in drama and history, an MA in theatre, and a PhD in communication. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild, Merely Writers Playwrights, and Atlanta Writers Group. He has worked as a physics and math teacher, actor, head of three college theatre programs, technical writer, editor, and health communications specialist. He currently lives near Atlanta, GA, with his wife, Kathy, and has one daughter, Elizabeth.

David Goldenkranz

David Goldenkranz is a diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice (DEIJ) activist, facilitator, and consultant dedicated to dismantling white supremacy. He has spent years researching and reflecting on internalized white superiority and toxic masculinity, and his past career as an educator reaffirmed his commitment to social justice. David now works at a non-profit, leads workshops and racial affinity groups within organizations, and is often a guest speaker on podcasts and panels. When he's not working or writing, David is gardening or dancing with his wife and daughter. Visit him at davidgoldenkranz.com.

David Hoy PhD

Dr. David Hoy is a Psychologist and Professional Coach from Minnesota who started a counseling and coaching practice in 1997 that has grown to include 85 employees serving families and children in the twin cities metropolitan area. He is author of Getting into A Good College May Not Be as Hard as You Think and has been featured in the Minneapolis, St. Paul Magazine on numerous occasions as a teen mental health consultant. Through his research and experience, he has developed a practical, actionable mental fitness coaching framework for parents to use with children to help them thrive. David currently resides in Plymouth with his wife of 34 years, his son, his cat “Goldy” and the newest addition to the family, their puppy “Lewey.” He has two daughters who have married and reside in Minnesota as well.

David Patneaude

David Patneaude is the popular author of nine novels and one collection of stories for young (and not so young) readers. His first novel, Someone Was Watching, was published in 1993. It went on to be named to eight state young readers’ lists and win awards in South Dakota and Utah. It was the runner-up to The Giver for the 1995-96 Rebecca Caudill Award in Illinois. The Texas Library Association named it to its ten-year “Best of the Best” Texas Lone Star Reading List in 2005. It became an audio book and was published in Germany, France, and the Netherlands. In 2002 Dreamchaser Entertainment produced it as a movie of the same name. David’s other books have been nominated to dozens of young readers’ lists and have been recognized by various organizations and reviewers. They’ve been honored by the New York Public Library, the Society of School Librarians International, the Winnetka (Illinois) Public Library’s “One Book, Two Villages” program, the Seattle and King County Public Libraries’ “Global Reading Challenge” programs, and the Washington State Public Library. Over the years, he’s visited hundreds of schools and appeared at numerous conferences for both young readers and friends of young readers to talk about writing and reading and his books. When he’s not at a school or library or conference, or in a coffee shop writing, or out on the trail thinking about writing, he’s home in Woodinville, Washington with his wife Judy, a middle school librarian. Fast Backward is his tenth novel.

David R. York

David R. York is an attorney, CPA, and managing partner of York Howell & Guymon, named an Inc. 5000 Fastest-Growing Company. He has co-authored two nonfiction books (Entrusted: Building a Legacy That Lasts and Riveted: 44 Values that Change the World), given a Ted Talk, and is a frequent national speaker. More information can be found at www.davidryork.com

David Ryback

David Ryback, PhD, is a social scientist, an international consultant to heads of corporations and educational institutions, and the author of eight books and over sixty professional articles. At the University of Vienna, he completed research on the evolution of trust and then began writing The Big Split. He is also a book critic for many publications, including Psychology Today and Speaker, the national magazine of the National Speakers Association, of which he has been a long-standing member, including board involvement over the years.

David Starbuck Smith

David S. Smith is an expert in anatomy and body mechanics and has been helping people cure their chronic muscle and joint pain for over 20 years. He started one of the first Egoscue Method™ franchised clinics in the United States in 2004 and regularly consults with top college and professional athletes in all sports including the NFL, WTA and the ATP. David was also a highly nationally ranked junior tennis player earning him an athletic scholarship on the UC Berkeley tennis team. He continues to compete in USTA league and national tournaments in his age group and has become an established speaker for conventions, sports teams and successful companies around the country.

David Vermont

David B. Vermont is an attorney who practices in Alexandria, Virginia. An accomplished litigator, he transitioned from writing legal briefs to writing about religion when he was asked to author a series of articles explaining the Catholic faith on the popular blog 52 Prayers. He now regularly writes about his faith as the leader of an online Bible study group. The Last Confession of Judas Iscariot is his first foray into fiction. He lives with his wife and four children in Alexandria.

David W. Price

Dr. David W. Price has a PhD in history from the University of North London, a master's degree in theology from Wheaton College Graduate School, and a bachelor's degree in pastoral ministry from North Central University. As an adjunct professor, he teaches history for Eastern Florida State College as well as Southwestern Assemblies of God University. He has studied and written on the relationship of Puritan theology to the 1692 Salem witchcraft trials for nearly two decades. He has authored and presented papers on seventeenth-century witchcraft at universities in the United States and Europe. Dr. Price currently serves as a senior pastor, presents a weekly radio program, and has made television appearances. David, and his wife, LuAnn, have been married for thirty-nine years and have two adult children. They live in Titusville, Florida.

David Wheatley

John Barrett, David Wheatley and Christi Barrett work together at Humanergy, a leadership development company with the mission to create a new kind of leader committed to the greater good and with the character, wisdom and competence to make a real difference in their teams, organizations and even the world. Over the past twenty-five years, the authors have worked with about 375 different organizations, training and coaching their leaders and teams and facilitating key transitions. John Barrett and David Wheatley previously authored 50 DOs for Everyday Leadership. Christi Barrett is the co-author of In Whose Best Interest: One Child's Odyssey, A Nation's Responsibility and Putting Connectedness, Continuity, Dignity and Opportunity to Work.

Dean Cycon

Dean Cycon is an author, international lawyer, and pioneering social entrepreneur. His first novel, Finding Home (Hungary, 1945), received a gold medal from the Independent Press Awards, was a finalist for the Goethe Late Fiction Award, and was the grand prize winner in the International Cinematic Book Competition. His narrative nonfiction book, Javatrekker: Dispatches from the World of Fair Trade Coffee, received a Publishers Weekly starred review and a gold medal from the Independent Publishers Association. He was the host of two PBS specials, Traveling in the 1970’s and Coffee-The Drink that Changed America, and has appeared on the Today Show, Rick Steves’ Europe, and NPR’s Living on Earth.

Dean Johnson

Dean Johnson's career in advertising began as an intern at an ad agency upon graduation from high school in 1950. He worked at the agency while attending art school at night where he studied design. During six years of evening school on the GI Bill he focused on Business and Marketing. During his 60+year business career, 40 years were spent operating his own successful ad agency.

Dean Robertson

Prior to taking up writing with various essays and her debut book, Dean Robertson was a school teacher, retiring in 2006. After suffering a bad fall in 2013, Dean ended up convalescing at the Lydia Roper Home. There she met the amazing women who inspired her to teach them about the Bible. Soon it became clear that she was the student, and so the journey of the book began.

Debbie Russell

Debbie Russell is a lawyer turned writer. She spent twenty-five years as an assistant county attorney in Minneapolis, prosecuting numerous high-profile cases and fighting off several nervous breakdowns. At age fifty-five, Debbie took early retirement, giving up a full pension for the freedom of time. She now spends that precious time writing, restoring her property to native prairie and wetlands, and training her rambunctious retrievers.

Deborah Hufford

Deborah Hufford is an award-winning writer and magazine editor with stories in the New York Times, New York Times Magazine, Connoisseur, Better Homes & Gardens, San Francisco Chronicle, many other titles. She is internationally known for her popular historical blog, Notes from the Frontier, with more than 100,000 readers, including many Native followers, history scholars and schoolteachers who use the blog posts as teaching lessons in in their classrooms. She also served as publisher of The Writer’s Handbook and The Writer Magazine imprint. She has a Master’s degree from the University of Iowa where she taught Writer’s Workshop students at the Center for the Book. She has also taught graduate writing and publishing courses at Northwestern University and Marquette University. She grew up an Iowa farm girl with horses and all kinds of critters and was a rodeo queen. She has volunteered extensively with the Chief Joseph Foundation (CJF) and brought in $300,000 in new grants for the Foundation’s youth programs. A portion of sales from Blood to Rubies goes to CJF youth programs. After 30 years of work on her debut novel while battling kidney disease, then a heart attack, then end-stage kidney failure, she signed with a publisher the same day her husband was approved as her kidney donor! Now, several months after her successful kidney transplant, Blood to Rubies is finally being published with wonderful literary reviews. Miracles DO happen!

Deborah Serra

Deborah Serra was a recipient of the Hawthornden Literary Fellowship and a semifinalist for the Faulkner-Wisdom Creative Writing Award. She has been published in several literary magazines and is an editor with the ethics and short story magazine After Dinner Conversation. She has been nominated for the O. Henry Prize. Deborah has two previously published books, Primal (a thriller) and 2 Broads Abroad (a humorous travel memoir). On assignment, she has written ten TV films and numerous episodes and spent two years on staff. She has worked for Showtime, CBS, NBC, Sony, Fox, and Lifetime. She is a member of WGA, DG, and PEN USA.

Deeton Charles

Deeton Charles has been creative writing since she was a young child. Participating in her Junior High Newspaper and Journalism staff, as well as writing for talent shows, and literary contests while growing up. Deeton has used her talent for written expression to reach out and bring light upon current events, human issues, and awareness of diversity, mental illness, abuse, addiction, disabilities, and the overall human condition. She has used her abilities to promote unity, solidarity, compassion, and humanity to the masses. Deeton is lover of all Creation she is culturally diverse and has spent many years assisting with the healing of humanity, as well as Earth and its inhabitants. She has spent most of her adult life as a Horticulturist, designing gardens, landscapes, and floral arrangements. She has also been successful as a performing artist, singer, and model. Showing that no matter your age, size, shape, or choice of self expression that you can make your dreams flourish and accomplish your goals. She has a flair for life, and hunger for knowledge, this Novel is her first publication and was inspired by her desire to empower and unite humanity. By finding a way to tell a story that encompasses many cultural myths, religions, and beliefs, she hopes to bring people together from all walks of life for one exciting experience.

Deirdre Thurston

Deirdre Thurston has been an observer of people her whole life. A mother, wife, sister, daughter, friend and confidante, she’s ever intrigued by the unfolding of everyday events and the subtle ripples they create in the lives of ordinary people. Sifting through the debris of quotidian angst, Deirdre excavates and dusts off the funny side, in the process curating collections that any onlooker can enjoy.

Della Barbato

Della Barbato has over 15 years of experience in education and professional communication; including middle school science teacher, education training and professional workshops. She started her own environmental education company called Earth Voice in 2011, which delivers tailored, interactive Earth Programs to youth and adult audiences. In 2014, Della was awarded a travel grant to Cambodia where she co-facilitated zero waste and recycling workshops to youth and adults in a community-based ecotourism village called Chi Phat. A Forbes online article was written about her and the work she did there. Della has traveled to twenty-six countries, most recently to Africa to go on safari and visit an elephant orphanage. She has a Bachelors and Masters of Science from Texas A&M University.

Denise McGowan Tracy

Denise McGowan Tracy was born in a magical place called Chicago, in a time before cell phones, when tablets were made of paper. She lives a fairy-tale life that includes spending time with wonderfully talented people who can sing, act, dance and tell stories. And, of course, some villains and plot twists. Many of these talented people are her very good friends, so Denise spends countless hours in theaters watching make-believe come to life. When she is not attending theater or performing on a cabaret stage, she is producing events and entertainment, including the stage adaptation of this book, Eleanor's Very Merry Christmas Wish: The Musical. She is currently living happily ever after with her husband, Ed, in their castle along Lake Michigan where they watch the moon and stars and make their wishes every night.

Denise Summers

Denise Summers has written several short stories for her friends and family over the years and received widespread encouragement from her loved ones to publish a book. As a romantic comedy junkie who devours books, movies, and TV shows like a carb addict in a bakery, she grew tired of shows going glutton-free and missing the special ingredient that makes an epic romance. To fulfil those cravings, she set out to write a romance herself. An Immortal Sacrifice is her debut novel.

Dennis John Woods

Dennis Woods was deployed in combat for every President from Reagan to Obama, amassing over 57 months in battle. Black Flag Journals was written using a series of nine battle journals that bore witness to his actions in America’s longest war. His military career has taken him from the Island of Grenada to the Middle East. Woods is also an inventor of devices that are chronicled in Black Flag Journals. These included the use of training munitions in combat to reduce civilian death and collateral damage, and the first use of thermal optics on artillery weapons to increase American crew safety. The author lives with his wife in Virginia, where he continues to innovate and invent new devices and techniques preparing for future wars.

Destiny Jennifer Ringgold

Destiny Jennifer Ringgold obtained a BA from Northern Arizona University after starting her college experience at Virginia Military Institute as part of the second class of women, which she expounded upon in her first book, The New Cadet: A Young Woman’s Journey in a Man’s World. This gave her the background to tell her father’s unique story of his cadet years at his alma mater, the United States Military Academy at West Point. Destiny is a mother and a full-time private music teacher who has a passion for writing, music, running, and spirituality. Contact Destiny at choosingtheharderright@gmail.com or through her author website, www.choosingtheharderright.com.

Dev Friedlander

Dev Friedlander grew up in Atlanta, GA where she received a Bachelor of Social Work degree at Georgia State University. She has a growing following of her blog, Swimming Upstream, which focuses on life as dyslexic writer. Recently she had a short flash fiction piece published in the Fabulist Magazine on Medium.com and an article, "The Purse that Became a Thief" published in Hamodia Inyan Magazine, an international print magazine. She currently resides with her husband and three daughters in central Israel where she works and volunteers with elderly clients and spends every spare moment writing.

Dewayne Hart

Dewayne Hart is the business owner of a cybersecurity consulting firm called Secure Managed Instructional Systems (SEMAIS) and serves as a cybersecurity enthusiast and technology leader. Before embarking upon his career in the commercial IT world, Mr. Hart served twenty years in the United States Navy, during which he led numerous information security efforts.After retiring from the US Navy, he worked as a cybersecurity consultant and served as a security compliance leader of information, network, and cybersecurity for the US government and the private sector. His knowledge and skillsets later transitioned into business ownership. Dewayne also hosts a podcast called The Chief of Cybersecurity, which he dedicates to workforce development, security best practices, and relevant topics that affect cybersecurity ecosystems. As part of his professional education, he has earned a Masters of Science in Information Assurance from the University of Maryland; and numerous industry-recognized certifications such as the CISSP, CAP, CEH, CNDA, ITIL, Net+, and Sec+.

Diana Miller

Diana D. Miller read the story Helen O’Loy by Lester del Rey as a child and fell in love with science fiction. She has traveled the world as a Naval twenty-year Navy careerist. After leaving the military and retiring from the corporate world she began following her lifelong passion of science fiction and began writing it.

Diane Carey

New York Times bestselling author Diane Carey has published over fifty books, both fiction and nonfiction, including the bestselling Star Trek series. She has written multiple articles, columns, case studies and essays, and has appeared on several TV and radio programs on a wide range of subjects. She has also done considerable public speaking, including seminars about helping stray pets without getting hurt or getting stuck with keeping them permanently, instead finding new homes for them so the household is free to help the next one that comes along.

Diane Danvers Simmons

Diane Danvers Simmons is a born-and-raised Brit who moved to America in her late twenties for business and success. After an accomplished career as a senior vice president at Saatchi & Saatchi Advertising and then Omnicom Media in London, New York, and LA, she became a mother. Drawing from her advertising and marketing skills, Chopra center teachings, and life experiences, Diane transitioned her skills into female-empowerment activism through speaking engagements, workshops, writing (published online articles), film, online communities, and mentorship in the USA and globally. Embarking on a personal journey to write My Mother Next Door, she was further inspired to create and host a new podcast series with her millennial daughter called Mothers and Daughters Unfiltered (the title says it all), launched Jan 2020, at www.mothersanddaughtersunfiltered.com.

Dianne C. Braley

A raw, gritty New Englander, Dianne C. Braley, is a registered nurse and freelance writer. Dianne and her family, both human, furry, and feathered, are firmly planted in a small town north of Boston, not far enough away to lose her city edge. After falling in love with Martha's Vineyard on a weekend visit as a girl, she returns every summer, reigniting her passion for writing in the magical place that inspired it.

Dimitrios P. Naskos

Dimitrios P. Naskos was born and lives in Thessaloniki, Greece. An accomplished academic, his educational background includes master’s degrees in musicology, cultural studies, semiotics, and creative writing. He works as a music teacher in a private school and teaches poetry and songwriting in the creative writing graduate program at the esteemed University of Western Macedonia. Dimitrios works as a book editor, runs courses on literary theory, and has been writing and performing music compositions for years. He has appeared several times on Greek television to discuss his books and previously authored Rabbit Man, a YA fairy tale, and What the Weather Has Saved, a collection of poems. He is currently working on a novel.

Doc Jacobs

Doc Jacobs is a retired US Navy corpsman who served eight years until being grievously injured in Iraq while serving with 3/7 (Marines), for which he was awarded the Bronze Star with Valor for his actions in combat. He has dedicated his time out of the Navy to serving his community, service members, and people with disabilities. From Doc's tryouts with several Major League Baseball teams as an amputee to completing over twenty world marathons in the same condition, perseverance and integrity are points of pride for him. Doc Jacobs has also been awarded the Purple Heart and the Tommy Lasorda Veteran of the Year Award, received a personal letter from the forty-third president of the United States, a personal invite to the White House to meet the forty-fourth president of the United States, and been honored by Doc Jacobs Day in San Diego (November 17) and soon with a Gary Sinise Foundation smart home.

Dominic Pistritto

Dominic Pistritto loves to create worlds from words. First published in his high school magazine, the Bear Scratch, in 2017, he was published again in Tidewater Community College's eighteenth and nineteenth volume of Channel Marker. Growing up in the golden age of the cinematic superhero, he became fascinated by the idea of the superhuman. With his debut novel he tells his very own classic tale of the superhero from a more realistic point of view.

Don Carr

Don Carr brings to this manuscript over fifteen years of investigating and writing about America's worst polluters, from the gas fields of North Dakota to the "Dead Zone" in the Gulf of Mexico. Don has written for Politico, Sierra Magazine, the Washington City Paper, the Huffington Post, Grist, Civil Eats, and the Food and Environment Reporting Network and appeared on Fox News, the CBS Evening News, Bloomberg TV, and NPR. He's also been a senior communications and policy advisor for the Environmental Working Group, and a senior communications manager at the Environmental Defense Fund.

Don Dickson

Raised in Brooklyn, New York, during the Depression, Don Dickson attended Princeton University on the GI Bill and had a twenty-five-year career as a marketing executive. The loss of his job, a crippling heart attack, and the death of his daughter landed him in Pomfret, Connecticut, starting a new chapter with his wife, Georganna.

Donna Bearden

Donna Bearden has worked as a writer/editor in human service organizations related to education, health, psychology, and aging. With a bachelor's degree in journalism and a doctorate in psychology, her interest has always been in the stories underneath the stories: what motivates us, how do we learn, what unconscious assumptions keep us stuck. She has journaled since high school, experimenting with many different approaches, learning something new from each one. Previous publications include The Texas Sampler; The Turtle's Sourcebook; 1,2,3, My Computer and Me; A Bit of Logo Magic; Mandala Messages: Do Not Fear Your Potential; numerous articles and papers, and a few award-winning photographs. She lives in Loveland, Colorado, with her husband, and enjoys hiking, photography, and creating mandala art.

Donna Keel Armer

Donna Keel Armer's first trip to Italy in 1995 compelled her to return over and over. She fell in love with the place: the mystery, the magic, the music, the martyrs, and the marvelous food. She hoped one day she'd share these treasures with the rest of the world. Donna graduated cum laude with a double major in psychology and social sciences with graduate studies in theology. Donna has published numerous articles, along with her photography, on travel, food, human interest, and home and garden in South Carolina magazines, and teamed up with the Order of the Sons of Italy in Columbia, SC, to produce Bella Cucina Italiana, a cookbook featuring her photography. She was president of a hospitality business she and her husband created in Southwest Georgia. They now live in Beaufort, SC, where she volunteers at the Pat Conroy Literary Center and Hunting Island State Park.

Doris Pariso

Doris Pariso recently retired from her job as a teacher. She has self-published two children's books: Survivor Tree and Willie Wants a Star. In retirement, she has further pursued her lifelong passion for writing. Run! Katie! is her debut novel. She also keeps a blog on her travels at dorispariso.com. She is currently working on her second novel.

Doug Pilley

Born in Norfolk General Hospital and reared in Princess Anne County, Doug Pilley graduated cum laude from the College of William and Mary and received an M.A. from Old Dominion University. He was awarded a CityArts Grant in 1985 from the NEA and the City of Norfolk to do poetry performances around town. He has published poetry in the Anthology of Poems by Member Poets, Poetry Society of Virginia and short stories in In Good Company, An Anthology of Short Fiction by Virginia Writers and publications like Portland Magazine. And he has done several art projects with photographer Glen McClure, including A Random Portrait of Virginia. Tales from the Multiverse is his first book of short stories.

Doug Weiss

Doug Weiss lives in the Tidewater region of Virginia in a charming but aging beach cottage occupied by hundreds of spirits that inhabit his bookshelves and a cat who does not live there but appears irregularly with proprietary demands for chunky peanut butter and the occasional saucer of milk. Doug has spent much of his life in radio and television as a producer, a senior executive in public media, and as a producer of internet content. He was responsible for web development for one of the country's leading consumer facing web sites and has studied social media and the use of online media in fostering relationship for over two decades. Doug's writing career began in college with a poetry scholarship to the prestigious Aspen' Writer's Workshop and has since included several works on technology, psychology and love. When he is not writing-he can usually be found hiking, sailing or sitting on the beach- book in hand and a glass of wine nearby.

Doug Williams

Doug Williams is a playwright, author, and award-winning screenwriter and filmmaker. He is a former journalist, served as press secretary in the US Senate, and has overseen communications in the public and private sectors. His script based on the life of Barbara Jordan, Black Star Rising, has been honored in competitions worldwide—winning twelve best screenplay awards—and is being developed for a feature film. His previous books include a novel, Nowhere Man, and a nonfiction book cowritten with a federal whistleblower, A Sacred Duty, which is also in development for a film. He currently resides in Houston, Texas, with his wife Donna McKenzie.

Douglas Keane

Douglas Keane, a thirty-year veteran of fine dining, is a Michelin-starred, James Beard Award– and Top Chef Masters–winning chef/owner of the groundbreaking Cyrus restaurant in Sonoma County, California. After attending Cornell University’s prestigious School of Hotel Administration and learning his craft in the best kitchens in New York City, Chef Keane moved west to further his career and follow his dreams. Using his observant nature and analytical brain, he envisioned a better way forward for the restaurant industry, and in 2022 that idea turned into proof of concept. He lives in Sonoma County, just a few minutes’ walk from Cyrus.

Dr. Aaron Smith

Dr. Aaron L. Smith has been in education for eighteen years, serving middle, high and college students as a teacher, assistant principal, principal, program director and adjunct professor. His experiences as a math teacher launched his journey into leading-edge STEM education. He has received the Crystal Star Award from the National Dropout Prevention Center. Denbigh High School Aviation Academy has been honored several times by the prestigious Society of Manufactured Engineers. The school has received awards from the Virginia Department of Education. The Aviation Academy is listed in the Virginia Living Magazine as a Top 100 School in the state. Dr. Smith received the 2014 ING Unsung Hero award. He also had two graduates earn the prestigious Gates Millennial Scholar during his tenure.

Dr. Andrea D. Sullivan

Dr. Andrea D. Sullivan was the first African American to receive a PhD in sociology/criminology from the University of Pennsylvania and the first to receive a degree in naturopathic medicine from Bastyr University. She is a licensed naturopathic physician with thirty-six years of experience, a founding member of the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians, and was appointed by the mayor of Washington, DC, to serve on the Board of Medicine. She has also received an honorary doctor of science degree from Sonoran University. A dynamic and inspiring lecturer, author, and TV and radio guest, she is passionate about exposing the effects of racism and sexism on the health and well-being of our society.

Dr. Anthony H Bruder

Dr. Anthony Bruder is a Psychotherapist who is licensed as a Professional Counselor, LPC, and Marriage and Family Therapist, LMFT; and owns and works at Bruder Counseling Center with seven other therapists. He is a graduate of Purdue University. He worked at Mount St. Vincent University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada and Norfolk State University where he served for 25 years in the Department of Family and Consumer Services and in the Political Science Department teaching Critical Thinking courses. He's also been a high school teacher, dean of students, athletic director, and an explorer scout leader in Massachusetts. Dr. Tony is an artist, a writer, a prior dance instructor for Arthur Murray Studios, a poet, a blogger, and a Great Grandfather!

Dr. Charles Parker

Dr. Charles Parker is a writer, (Deep Recovery, ADHD Medication Rules, CorePsych Blog), a neuroscientist certified for SPECT brain imaging, and a practicing child and adult psychiatrist with more than forty-three years of experience in clinical practice. From psychoanalysis to psychopharmacology, Parker brings a unique perspective and passion to the changes that must be made in the current diagnostic and treatment protocols for psychiatric conditions in general, and ADHD most specifically. He knows the territory not only from direct experience with active practice clients, but from those many years, since ’96, lecturing to medical colleagues on the science and applications of psychotropic meds for several pharma companies. His cutting-edge interest in the dramatic advances in molecular and cellular physiology associated with effective brain function teach professionals and clients at every level about cognitive and emotional imbalance. Parker’s mission is compelling and persuasive: brain science translation into common sense packages for everyday use. His CorePsych Blog has won numerous ADHD writing awards over the years, and set new standards for the diagnosis and treatment of executive function disorders. Dr. Parker works and lives in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

Dr. Kathryn Haber

Dr. Kathryn Haber is a clinical psychologist and has been a practicing organizational psychologist for over twenty years, helping leaders become their best selves personally and professionally. Today, she is the executive coach for Ball Aerospace in Broomfield, Colorado, providing insights through coaching and weekly articles on topics related to leadership, mindfulness, stress, gratitude, resiliency, and other pertinent life issues. Kathryn is on the board of Wings of Hope for Pancreatic Cancer Research, which partners with the scientists and oncologists at the University of Colorado's Anschutz Medical Center to keep abreast of the innovative research they are conducting to fight pancreatic cancer-the disease that took her mother, father, and brother's lives. She has also been a co-facilitator for a support group for cancer patients and survivors at Saint Joseph Hospital in Denver, CO.

Dr. M. L. Matthews

Dr. Marcus Matthews is an educator, speaker and author who holds a doctorate in higher and adult education, a master's in teaching, instruction, and curriculum leadership, and a bachelor's degree in journalism. Matthews' Response to Instruction and Intervention for Behavior (RTI2-B) Team facilitated a 26 percent decrease in out-of-school suspensions in 2019 while Matthews was a middle school dean of students in Memphis.

Dr. Muteba Mukendi

Dr. Muteba Mukendi is a senior manager at a global consulting firm where he spends his time helping his clients solve their most pressing challenges. As a second-generation American, he spent most of his formative years growing up in both the US and different countries in Africa. His travels, which include time spent in Liberia, Senegal, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Guinea Bissau, Switzerland, and Brazil have given him insights into leadership and its intersection with culture and strategy. He holds a doctorate in strategic leadership from Regent University, a master's in business administration from Howard University, and a bachelor's in economics from the University of Maryland. His focus on global leadership over the last 15 years has equipped him with the prerequisite know-how as a leadership expert.

Dr. Robert J. Craig

Robert J. Craig. Ph.D., ABPP, is a licensed and board-certified clinical psychologist who attained fellow status in the American Psychological Association and in the Society for Personality Assessment, where he was the recipient of the Martin Mayman Award for “distinguished contributions to the literature of personality assessment.” He has published ten academic books, contributed over one hundred scientific papers in peer-reviewed journals and served as Consulting Editor to the Journal of Personality Assessment as well as to journals in psychology, psychiatry and substance abuse. He served as the Director of the Drug Abuse Treatment Program at the VA Medical Center (Chicago) and worked for eight years at a state public mental hospital. He has taught doctoral students (part-time) for forty years and has chaired and presented at multiple workshops and symposia.

Dr. Ronald F. Levant

Dr. Ronald F. Levant is professor emeritus of psychology at the University of Akron and past president of the American Psychological Association (APA). Dr. Levant is one of the key people responsible for creating the new field of the psychology of men and masculinities, and his work led to the phrase “toxic masculinity.” The Elsevier-Stanford University database ranks him among the top 2 percent of scientists in the world.

Dr. Stephen R. Pickard

Dr. Pickard currently serves as an adjunct professor at Gardner-Webb University in the School of Education. He has served over thirty years in service to the public schools of North Carolina as a teacher’s assistant, classroom teacher and administrator. In addition, he has served as a trainer for the North Carolina Teacher Academy, a North Carolina Consultant in the areas of curriculum and leadership, and a National Board Examiner for the National Council Accreditation for Teacher Education now referred to as CAEP or the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation. His first professional publication was in Education Vol. 30, No.2 Winter 2009.

Dr. Tom Tsao

Dr. Tom Tsao is a board certified psychiatrist who continues to practice in Virginia Beach at Atlantic Psychiatric Services, a practice he founded in 1982. Over the years, he has taught and supervised students, interns and residents from the doctoral program at Regent University and the Eastern Virginia Medical School where he was a member of the founding faculty (1973). In 2006, Dr. Tsao was honored by the American Psychiatric Association when he was elevated to the status of Distinguished Life Fellow “in recognition” of his “significant contributions to Psychiatry.” His body of work spans decades from the sixties to the present. Dr. Tsao feels truly lucky and blessed to have shared stretches of life’s highway with so many thousands of his “kids,” as he likes to call them, to witness and believe that he, in some small way, helped them grow up to be happier and emotionally healthier adults. His work is intended to be his “gift” to all those who want to better understand their children, themselves and relationships.

Drew Nickell

Author Drew Nickell has written editorials and feature articles which have appeared in the Washington Post, the Richmond Times-Dispatch, the (now defunct) Richmond News-Leader, the Baltimore Sun, The Hill’s Congress Blog, collegiate newspapers and many online media sites. Most of the essays appear on his site, http://www.drewnickell.com, which has been read in fifty countries on six continents since its launch for public consumption in September of 2015. His essays deal with political commentary, social commentary and occasionally, sports. Nickell earned a bachelor of science degree in communications-journalism at James Madison University in 1981, He has enjoyed an interest in national politics since the age of ten, and a love of writing since the age of fourteen, thanks to the encouragement he received from his seventh-grade English teacher. He is a native of Richmond, Virginia, and currently lives and works in Virginia Beach.

Duane Redford

Duane Redford is a fly fishing guide from Colorado, a sought after speaker, signature fly tyer for Montana Fly Company, Pro Staff lead for 8 Rivers Fly Rods, and author of The Fly Fishers’ Playbook, A Systematic Approach to Nymphing, First and Second Editions. He can also be heard on Ask About Fly Fishing Internet Radio discussing fly fishing in an archived presentation. As a retired teacher and coach, Duane has a unique, observational and systematic approach to the river that he has used as the basis of his guiding and writing for dozens of years. This mental and physical approach, derived from guiding countless days on highly pressured, technical waters, has been refined over time, and is easily understood. When he’s not guiding, Duane spends his time teaching fly fishing classes, tying flies, blogging, speaking across the country, and writing. When he’s not teaching, writing or guiding, you’ll find him on the river.

E. A. Coe

E. A. Coe is F. Coe Sherrard, a former United States Navy aviator and career business executive, who is retired and lives in Edinburg, Virginia. A graduate of Western Maryland College (now McDaniel College), Coe flew carrier-based logistical support aircraft during the latter years of the Vietnam Conflict, and airborne early warning aircraft as a naval reservist until he retired as a commander in 1991. He was a senior executive in two entertainment companies, including Spirit Cruises and Herschend Family Entertainment (manager of the Dollywood Theme Park). Married to Jean since 1971, Coe has three children and six grandchildren. His website is www.eacoe.online.

E. L. Smith

E. L. Smith was born and raised in South Bend, Indiana. After attending college at Indiana University, Bloomington, Smith drove to Los Angeles in hopes of igniting a career in music. Ultimately, he befriended and worked with a multiplatinum music producer and many other talented musicians, but the secular music industry hype was not all that it was cracked up to be. So Smith tried his hand at writing, which has given him true satisfaction. He is currently married with four children.

Ed Tracy

Ed Tracy is an award-winning broadcast veteran, writer, editor, and host of Conversations with Ed Tracy, a Chicago-based cultural series of thoughtful and engaging discussions with authors, performing artists and other arts-based leaders. Tracy was the founding executive director, and later president and CEO, of the Pritzker Military Library in Chicago that received the 2009 National Medal for Museum and Library Services and was recognized five times by the Webby Awards for outstanding programming, including Pritzker Military Presents and Medal of Honor with Ed Tracy. A recipient of a Chicago Midwest Regional Emmy Award and the Norwich University Board of Fellows Service Medallion, Tracy is a graduate of the University of Vermont with a bachelor of arts degree in theater and communications, and a member of the American Theatre Critics Association, the National Press Club, and the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP). Gorilla in the Room and Other Stories is his first book. Review platform: PicksInSix(R) Website: conversationswithedtracy.com

Ed Zier

Ed Zier is a prominent authority on the financial information services industry and is recognized for his sales and marketing leadership. As the chief operating officer of Baseline, he helped the entrepreneurial success grow from three million to over fifty million dollars in annual revenue in less than ten years. He also jointly led his Baseline colleagues through the rebuilding effort after sustaining complete devastation at the World Trade Center on 9/11. After leaving Baseline in 2004, he spent many years running his own consultancy to help emerging financial information firms realize their potential. Mr. Zier earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Notre Dame, and his MBA from New York University's Stern School of Business. Today, Ed and his wife live in Naples, Florida.

Edward O.M. Barry

Edward Orrick McDonnell Barry is a successful telecom executive and entrepreneur. His love of reading and history has led him to write his first book, Admiral Eddie: The Story of America's Greatest Naval Aviator. Although the author was born only weeks before his grandfather's death, his knowledge and expertise on the main character was gained through family stories, archives and articles about his subject, Admiral E. O. McDonnell. Edward Barry currently resides in Denver with his wife Renee, where they enjoy gardening, fishing and white-water rafting and travel.

Edward W. Beal

Edward W "Ted" Beal is a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Georgetown University School of Medicine, a Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, Diplomate of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology and served as a Captain in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War. War Stories From the Forgotten Soldiers is the culmination of almost eight years of experience and over 5,000 interviews working with returning soldiers. He is the coauthor of Adult Children of Divorce and coeditor of The Failure of Nerve as well as numerous academic papers and book chapters. His popular press writings appear in the Washington Post, The CPF Quarterly and in Pulse, Voices from the Heart of Medicine, an online magazine.

Elaine Holt M.D.

Elaine Holt, MD is a board certified Internist practicing in Ridgewood, New Jersey. She believes that a strong doctor-patient relationship is the foundation of the practice of medicine. Dr. Holt does what she loves and loves what she does as she operates her solo Internal Medicine practice serving her local community.

Eleanor McCallie Cooper

Eleanor McCallie Cooper is drawn by her deep Southern roots to write stories that have been hidden or forgotten. She chronicles families on the edge of traumatic historical events portending personal and social turmoil, and previously co-authored Grace: An American Woman's Forty Years in China, 1934-74 with William Liu. Eleanor earned a doctorate in education from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga with a focus on community learning and leadership. Her work as a community coach focuses on civic engagement and community-wide visioning. Eleanor lived in Japan for two years and has traveled in Korea, China, India, and many European countries. She lived in New York and San Francisco before returning to her hometown of Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Elise Anne Marie

Elise Anne Marie is a debut novelist in Köehler Books’ Emerging Author Program. She has studied writing in secondary and post-secondary creative writing classes. She was taught by a published and award-winning author, Ron Rozelle.

Elizabeth H. Cottrell

Elizabeth's circuitous career has taken her from published leprosy researcher to stay-at-home mother, to community activist and leader serving on nonprofit and corporate boards, to ham radio operator, to freelance writer/editor and blogger at Heartspoken.com. Above all, she is a connector and encourager whose expertise and passion for note writing is coming at just the right time to a world made keenly aware by pandemic that we humans are hardwired for connection. What better way to connect when we're forced to stay apart physically? Elizabeth is the right person at the right time to help readers find their own heartspoken voice and learn to harness this powerful tool for nurturing their most precious relationships.

Elizabeth Jarrett Andrew

Elizabeth Jarrett Andrew is the author of Swinging on the Garden Gate, Writing the Sacred Journey: The Art and Practice of Spiritual Memoir, and On the Threshold: Home, Hardwood and Holiness.

Elizabeth Leon

Elizabeth Leon is a Catholic wife and mother from Ashburn, Virginia. She has been a leader in ministry and faith formation for more than twenty-five years and inspires others to fi nd freedom and healing in Christ through her speaking and writing. Her gift is her willingness to be vulnerable and love with a heart wide open despite the brokenness of divorce, adultery, death, and abuse. She and her husband, Ralph, are the parents of ten children-five of hers, four of his, and their son, John Paul Raphael, who died in 2018.

Ellen Nichols

Ellen Nichols grew up in the American Deep South, but with a spirit of adventure, she went up to Toronto, Canada, for graduate school, and stayed fifty years. No, she wasn't a slow student; she just ended up getting married, raising a family, and building a successful career in charitable fundraising. She has been writing for a living for years, but always for someone else. Her grant proposals, direct-marketing letters, and especially her thank-you letters are legend. Her persuasive writing skills raised millions of dollars. Those Canadians loved her tales about her Southern life so much, she decided to write them down and they became Remember Whose Little Girl You Are. Recently, she moved back down south near Pensacola and is now writing about all her Canadian adventures.

Ellen Sherman

Ellen Sherman is the author of two previous novels, Monkeys on the Bed and Just the Facts, which was a finalist for several awards, including the 2016 National Indie Excellence Awards (General Fiction) and 2016 Next Generation Indie Book Awards (General Fiction and Second Novel). Her essays have appeared in Writer's Digest, Manhattan Book Review, New Jersey Newsroom, Family, and Parent Guide. She received her MFA from the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop and has worked as a journalist, teacher, editor, and training coordinator for volunteer literacy tutors.

Ellena A. Vollmer

Ellena Aislynn Vollmer, a sixteen-year-old girl from North Carolina, was fascinated with books and writing. She was a natural nurturer and giver of nonjudgmental ears. After her diagnosisof terminal brain cancer, Ellena's dream of becoming an author came into being with the help of the Make-A-Wish Foundation and Koehler Books Publishing.Coconut and Charles was written when Ellena was only eight years old. She wanted to help find a cure and help children with this aggressive cancer that took her life just seven weeks after her diagnosis. A portion of the funds from this book will go to the Ellena Vollmer Foundation.

Emily H. Keefer

Emerging author Emily H. Keefer has written for the Journal Newspaper in Martinsburg, West Virginia, as a local columnist and is currently one of their full-time staff reporters. She has published over 250 bylined articles and written several feature sections in Around the Panhandle Magazine and Country Connections/Jefferson Magazine. Her first published article detailed her experience in the famous town of Odessa, Texas, home of the book and film Friday Night Lights. Soon to receive her bachelor of arts in English and a minor in education from Shepherd University, Keefer belongs to Sigma Tau Delta, an international English honors society; and Kappa Delta Pi, an international honors society in education. Keefer is a lover of reading, adventuring, and enjoying her life with her husband, Tyler, her dog, and her family in the mountains and on the rivers of West Virginia. Keefer hopes to continue to write simply to relate and inspire.

Emmanuel Ngwainmbi

After teaching in a number of universities in Africa, Asia and the U.S. and publishing scholarly books and articles in communication for several decades, Emmanuel K. Ngwainmbi has been consulting on communication and social change for the UN and lecturing abroad on multicultural understanding. He has published three novels, a young adult reader, and five books of poetry. He also serves on the editorial board of five refereed journals, including the Journal of Development and Communication Studies, GSTF Journal on Media and Communication, and Journal of Intercultural Disciplines. Inspired by his readers, Emmanuel writes romance and cross-cultural issues that range from slapstick humor to the candid. His interests include soccer, all kinds of music, traveling abroad and enjoying exotic food and places. He is active in several international organizations that help give others the opportunity to improve their lives.

Endy Wright

Endy Wright received his undergraduate degree in English literature from Grinnell College and his juris doctorate from the University of New Hampshire School of Law. Before becoming an attorney, he was a counselor for abused and neglected children in New Hampshire and a cross-community worker in Belfast, Northern Ireland. He was also previously a research assistant in the House of Commons in London, England. As a trial attorney, he discovered that writing was a useful outlet for the stress that came along with his profession. His first book was a collection of short stories, entitled The Garden Plot Diaries. The Omicron Six is his first novel.

Erik D. Weiss

Erik D. Weiss is an author with experiences in both history/literature and science, having written Tea and Chivalry, The Prisoner of Chillon and Scattered Short Stories, as well as journal articles on Cold War ballistic missile deployment concepts and medical advances during the American Civil War. A medical doctor by training, Erik D. Weiss now merges his scientific and humanistic experiences to create an inquisitive and adventuresome work that will entice the minds of readers of the humanities.

Erin Nieto

Erin Nieto lives in Champaign, Illinois, with her husband, two sons, and a small menagerie of cats. Like Erwin and Eleanor, she prefers a hike through nature over a tea party any old day. Follow @erinnieto on Instagram or visit www.esnieto.com.

Esme Seraifiel

Esme Seraifiel is a writer and a doula providing non-medical support to women and their partners before, during and after childbirth, as well as helping the elderly through the death process. Doulas answer questions, provide emotional support, and help women with a safe and satisfying experience. Esme worked in neighborhoods with some of the highest infant mortality rates in the nation. Obtaining a bachelor of science in nutrition from City University of NY, her interest was and continues to be with women’s health. As a certified Angel Therapist, Esme performs non-denominational spiritual healing, working with guardian angels and archangels to heal and harmonize every aspect of a mother’s life. Angel Therapy helps a mother to receive Divine Guidance from the Creator.

Esther Ruth Blair

Esther Blair has been a writer for nearly a decade, during which time she owned her own business as a freelance writer and editor, writing for newspapers, magazines, and businesses. A graduate from Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, Esther received her degree in English literature and currently works in higher education at Regent University as a digital marketing specialist. She is originally from Oxford, England, and moved to America in 1994 where she bounced around from Kansas to Oklahoma to Virginia and now lives in the wild and wonderful state of West Virginia with her husband and son. In addition to her passion for writing, Esther likes to experiment with many different art mediums-her very messy office is proof of that.

Eunice Boeve

Eunice Boeve has authored nine historical fiction books, articles for Montana Magazine, and children's stories for various publications and organizations. Her books have won recognition by the Kansas Author's Coffin Award, Kansas Reading Circle Books, Kansas Notable Books, and the governor of Kansas. In 2016, she received local recognition for her writing and was named Fort Bissell person of the year.A stay-at-home parent while her children were young, she then worked as a speech paraprofessional in a school for special needs children and then in the family funeral home. She started a library based around the subject of death and dying at the funeral home and helped bereaved families and individuals choose books that best suited their needs. She retired with her husband in 1999.

Eva Kras

Born of Danish immigrants and raised on a farm in Canada, Eva Kras learned the value of confidence gained from hard work at an early age. After attending university to become a teacher and teaching for two years, Eva returned to university to earn her MBA. She rose through the ranks of Hudson’s Bay Company to become their first female senior executive before moving to Latin America, where she learned the language and taught English at the British Institute while providing private classes to business executives in Mexico. These experiences led to years of travel and teaching at universities in different countries. Eva gained a deeper understanding of the cultural differences between Latin America and the USA, inspiring her to write several books before she eventually returned to Canada, where she has been writing ever since.

F. J. Fitzgerald

F. J. Fitzgerald is a self-described country boy, growing up in rural Southeast Minnesota. After high school, at the peak of the Vietnam War, he enlisted in the Marine Corps. Eight months into his combat tour, he was seriously wounded and medevac'd, then honorably discharged after several months in the hospital. He graduated from college with a degree in natural resources, owned and operated a resort near the Boundary Waters Canoe Wilderness Area in Northern Minnesota, and ultimately worked for the Nature Conservancy and Minnesota Land Trust. Retired and still living on the lake with his wife Heather, he enjoys fishing, hunting, kayaking, snowshoeing, nature photography, camping, trail cameras, and still loves winter near the Canadian border.

Feather Schwartz Foster

Feather Schwartz Foster is an author and historian by avocation, specializing in the First Ladies between Martha Washington and Mamie Eisenhower. She has published four books, has been a guest on NPR-Radio stations, and is featured on C-SPAN’s series on the First Ladies. She has a substantive Presidential Library of more than 1,500 books, and has made more than 300 presentations, programs and lectures. She has been an instructor at the Christopher Wren Society (the adult ed arm of William & Mary) and the adult ed wing of Christopher Newport University.

Felix Dominicci

Felix Blanco Dominicci was born on a coffee plantation in Puerto Rico. Orphaned as a young boy, he later moved to New York City, where he attended high school and later enlisted in the U.S. Navy, proudly serving for 30 years, and rising to the rank of Chief Warrant Officer 4. Married as a young sailor to his first grade sweetheart, He and his wife, Raquel, together raised four children by balancing his 30 year naval career with their own desires of family, faith and love.

Fionn Mac Meldrum

Fionn Mac Meldrum was born and raised in Cork, Ireland. His passion for storytelling stems from a childhood immersed in Irish folklore and Celtic mythology, along with the Victorian classics. The Shadow of Banshee Hill is his debut novel. He is currently working on its follow-up, The Doldrums of the Damned. He lives in New England with his wife, daughter, two dogs, cat, and his ever-growing vinyl collection.

Francis G. Bitterly

Francis G. Bitterly, CFP®, leads a wealth management team for a major Wall St. investment bank based in Red Bank New Jersey as a Managing Director, Wealth advisor and Senior Portfolio management Director. Since graduating from Rutgers University in New Jersey in 1985 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Management, Fran has spent the last 32 years committed to helping his clients make wise and well informed decisions about their money to help enable them to achieve all that is most important to them. Fran has been recognized five times by Barron’s magazine as one of the nation’s top financial advisors. Fran’s passion is the study of comparative religions. He and his wife Lisa have three daughters and live in Rumson, NJ and Santa Barbara, California.

Frank Dibartolomeo

Frank DiBartolomeo is an award-winning speaker, speaking coach, and a Professional Member of the National Speakers Association (NSA). He has developed and honed his extensive public speaking abilities over his forty-year career, both in military service (retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel) and as a US Government contractor influencing military, US Government, and industry leaders in their national security decisions. In 2002, he was awarded Toastmasters International's highest individual award: Distinguished Toastmaster. In 2007, Frank started DiBartolomeo Consulting International (DCI), LLC. The DCI mission is to help technical professionals to inspire, motivate, and influence their colleagues and other technical professionals through improving their presentation skills, communication, and personal presence. Frank can be reached at frank@speakleadandsucceed.com.

Frank McDonough

Frank McDonough held senior executive positions in four U.S. government organizations: the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, the Department of the Navy, the Department of the Treasury, and the General Services Administration (GSA). In addition, he worked in management positions with IBM. Also, he represented the U.S. in international discussions with the G 8-Government Online Working Council, OECD, World Bank, the International Council for Technology in Public Administration (ICA), and other World Forums. He has spoken more than 300 times on technology issues in government. From 2009 to the present, he has worked on contract for the University of Texas in Mexico City, teaching graduate students about managing advanced technologies in the near future.

Fred Helms

Fred L. Helms, Ed.D., has over twenty years of experience as an organ donation and transplant coordinator. He is board-certified, with a doctorate in counseling and a master's degree in education. He coordinated the organ and tissue donation process and leads donor family support groups as well as transplant patient support groups. He has made numerous public appearances on local television and radio and has been interviewed many times for newspaper articles concerning issues in organ donation. Dr. Helms is on two national boards regarding ethical issues in organ donation and transplantation.

Fred Tribuzzo

Fred Tribuzzo has been published in Flying magazine. He is a literary agent and is involved with shaping and launching writing careers. Fred has flown aircraft from the J3 Cub to the fastest corporate jet ever made—the Citation Ten. He also flew internationally for eight years on a corporate Boeing Business Jet (a corporate 737) for the Columbus-based Netjets company. On two separate tours of duty Fred played electric bass for the Numbers Band from northeastern Ohio, performing on four of the band’s CDs. Tribuzzo received a fellowship in 1987 from the Ohio Arts Council for piano, oboe and string compositions.

Frederic Petrovsky

Frederic Petrovsky's first novel, Frank, was published by AOL Time Warner in 2001 and won the imprint's inaugural Readers' Choice award. His novels include The Immigrant, Don't be Cruel, The Clinton Diaries, and Escape from Yesterday. He has also written a book of poetry, If Only for Love. His work has appeared in Midstream, Arrive, and The Ritz-Carlton Magazine. He holds an MFA in creative writing from the University of Arizona. Petrovsky is a native of Memphis, Tennessee, and currently lives in Arizona.

G. Eldon Smith

Gary Eldon Smith is a third-generation native of Colorado. Colorado history was his favorite subject in school, where he also drew and sold cartoons as a hobby. Gary published one children’s short story, two articles in the op-ed page of the Rocky Mountain News, and several letters to the editor. He has a Master of Public Administration Degree and wrote multiple-choice test questions for the Colorado Department of Personnel for hiring and promotional civil service tests.

G. William Weatherly

Captain George William Jackson (a.k.a. G. William Weatherly) grew up in Huntington, New York. After graduating (with honors) from the University of Wisconsin, he was commissioned an Ensign in June 1969. In the course of a 30 year career, he achieved exceptional credentials in nuclear power, being assigned to the pre-commissioning units of two submarines to oversee the testing of the nuclear engineering plants and training of the initial crews. He commanded three different submarines, USS Shark (SSN-591), USS Billfish (SSN-676) and PCU Rhode Island (SSBN740). Between 1977 and 1980, he served on Admiral Rickover’s staff in Washington, DC. From 1994 until July of 1999, he was a Professor of Operations, held the Lockwood Chair of Undersea Warfare and was Chairman of the Joint Military Operations Department at the U.S. Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island. There he oversaw and coordinated the efforts of 38 other professors and certified the Joint Professional Military Education of over two thousand midgrade and senior officers. He is a member of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers (a global organization) and over a dozen other professional and veteran groups.

Gabby King

Gabby King is a healthy and motivated college student. She is an English major at Virginia Commonwealth University. Gabby is an excellent writer and artist. She is the co-author of Finding Your Fit. Gabby hopes that this book will inspire parents and children learn about healthy living and and thinking.

Gail Buckley

Gail Buckley has a BS from Cornell University and has been working in the information-publishing and marketing business for almost thirty years as a private-label content provider. She has also written several books, presentations, and reports documenting her experience raising and teaching her autistic daughter, Meaghan. Her first book, Funny Wiring, talks about coming to grips with the diagnosis of autism. The Meaghan Report is a penetrating look inside the autistic mind, and The Story of Autism traces the developmental progression of the syndrome from the first neurological glitch onward.

Galen Peterson

Galen Peterson is a West Pointer who went on to lead a tank platoon in combat in Iraq and later commanded a tank company. The M1A2 Abrams tank became his warrior's chariot and leading soldiers his passion. During two deployments to Iraq, he was involved in some of the heaviest fighting of the war in Sadr City in 2008. In 2009, Galen was invited back to West Point as a guest lecturer to General Frank's Battle Command and Officership class. Suffering from the effects of a brain injury sustained in Iraq, he was medically retired. Not ready to give up serving, Galen started a new career as a police officer in Colorado and currently still serves in the Denver Metro area. He finds inner peace by spending time with his family, fishing, camping, biking, and model railroading.

Garry McDaniel

Garry McDaniel is an award-winning professor of leadership and human resource management and author of five books on the topics of leadership and strategy, mediating conflict, coaching and team-building, and life balance. His book The Dog's Guide to Your Happiness was selected as one of the top ten books to read in 2017 by Live Happy magazine. His articles have been published in the Academy of Business Research, The Journal of Business and Technology, and Advances in Interdisciplinary Studies of Work Teams. Garry led the global leadership and succession-planning programs for a global technology giant, and is a frequent speaker at conferences and workshops domestically as well in Europe, Poland, Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Estonia, and Kazakhstan. He is an executive board member for the International Coaches Union and provides consultation and training to organizations on conflict management, creating a culture of coaching, and leadership development.

Gary Edgington

Gary Edgington is a forty-year law enforcement veteran, and son of a police officer killed in the line of duty in 1979. While a counterterrorism task force commander for the California Department of Justice, Gary was embedded for nine years with the Los Angeles FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force; Gary also served as a counterterrorism/law enforcement advisor with the US Army in Iraq; on the Guantanamo terrorist detainee cases; with the Long Beach Police Department's Office of Counter Terrorism; and the US Special Operations Command. Gary has received recognition from the FBI, the US Attorney's Office, the California attorney general, and the Los Angeles Regional Office where he was named Special Agent of the Year. Gary's interests include spending time with his family, American and medieval history, world travel, and fly-fishing. Gary is married to TV executive Lisa Kridos, and the couple have two adult children and reside in North Carolina.

Gary Simonds

Lifetime soccer fanatic and neurosurgeon Gary Simonds retired from medicine and now writes, teaches undergraduates and medical students, produces educational materials, and gives frequent talks and seminars. He has written three nonfiction books and a novel, has been featured in related articles, interviews, and podcasts, and is a regular blog contributor to Psychology Today. Gary lives in a log cabin in Black Mountain, North Carolina, where he enjoys playing his banjo and hanging with his wife, Cindy, and his border collie, Hamish.

Gene Loving

Gene Loving began his career as an on-air personality in his hometown of Richmond, Virginia in 1958. During the early 1960's his interviews with the Beatles were syndicated across the United States and other countries.Loving also co-founded Max Media Properties, which was sold to publicly traded Sinclair of Baltimore in 1998. Gene started TVX Broadcast Group, which was later sold to Paramount Pictures in 1991, and also founded and developed Hampton Roads Wireless. He has received prestigious awards and recognition from broadcast and advertising trade associations. He is also a director on the board of New Dominion Pictures, following similar positions at ATO Pictures, Metro Information Services, and Monarch Bank. Gene is a former director of Operation Smile, an international children's health organization, and served on the boards of Sentara Health Care and the Virginia Marine Science Museum. He has been a member of various committees of Spring Branch Community Church. Loving is currently chairman and CEO of Max Media LLC, a Virginia Beach company that owns and operates television, radio, and alternative media. He resides in Virginia Beach with his wife, Angela, and two Shih Tzu dogs, Bella and Cuddles.

George Saiz

George Saiz enjoys sharing leadership strategies from his experience as a medical device executive with Johnson & Johnson, Zimmer-Biomet, DJO Global, and MicroAire. Combined with the best practices he observed as president and CEO of the Association for Manufacturing Excellence, he's convinced of the importance of including people in all business equations. As a writer, keynote speaker, and coach, he now promotes enterprise excellence through a people-centric culture to the next generation of business leaders.He resides in Carlsbad, California, with his wife and their latest addition, a goldendoodle puppy, and enjoys golfing and walks on the beach.

George W. Kohn

Colonel George W. Kohn, USAF (Ret.) flew the US Air Force's F-4s from Danang Air Base, Vietnam, in 1970. He completed 201 combat missions and was awarded the air medal and the distinguished flying cross with two oak leaf clusters. He is a graduate of the USAF Air War College, the University of Wisconsin with a master of science degree in cartography, and the University of Southern California Flying Safety program. He published The Scientific Method in Mishap Investigation, which was distributed worldwide in the USAF safety officer publication. A former commander of the 440th Airlift Wing in the Air Force Reserve and an airline pilot, he retired from flying in 2003. He has given numerous presentations on military and farming topics. George and his wife, Sandy, started West Star Organics in 1993, a successful certified organic greenhouse business that grows and markets bedding plants throughout the Midwest. Located near Madison, Wisconsin, it is now owned and operated by their son. Vector to Destiny is George's first book, but it will not be his last.

Georgios Andritsos

Georgios Andritsos was born in Thessaloniki, Greece. He has worked as a driver, bartender, DJ, and manager in trendy bar and restaurants in Scandinavia, England, Tenerife, and Spain. In 2007, his book A Little More Than Just Drinks & Cocktails won best book in the world at the London Book Fair. He received his master's degree in creative writing from Bath Spa University in 2013. He has organized creative writing seminars in Norway, England, Spain, and Greece, written two volumes of poetry titled Stop and Listen, and published a collection of short stories, This is not America (or is it?), in Greece. He edited the literary treatise And the Nobel Prize in Literature goes to . . . Bob Dylan? by Dimitrios P. Naskos, published in Greece by Diavlos, and is now translating it into American English. He is currently finishing his first novel, Dark Paths.

Gerald J Nebeker

Gerald J Nebeker, PhD, DBH has thirty years of CEO experience with a multistate organization employing thousands of people. He has two doctoral degrees, one in management of nonprofit organizations and the other in behavioral health. He taught college courses in entrepreneurial management and leader and team dynamics for over seventeen years.

Gigi Gaggero

CHEF GIGI is recognized nationally as an expert in culinary education. She specializes in children and families to help increase nutritional awareness and help take some of the stress out of being a busy-aware parent. Co-author of Learning with Little Lulu Lemon, a fun-fi lled activity book for kids from ages three to ten, Chef Gigi is not only a pioneer in children’s culinary education, she is also the former academic director who authored and implemented the famed French culinary school Le Cordon Bleu’s Hospitality and Restaurant Management course at the California Culinary Academy. Chef Gigi simultaneously founded Kids Culinary Adventures with her then six and eight-year-old daughters. KCA was a professional culinary school built by kids, for kids, inducting her as a pioneer in children’s culinary education. Gigi has appeared in a variety of media outlets, including Radio Disney and local San Francisco Bay Area television broadcasts like NBC’s The View from the Bay and CBS’s Eye on the Bay. Today, Gigi continues to advocate healthy food and time-saving techniques through writing, public speaking, and coaching families to shop, prep, cook and eat better!

Ginny Whitelaw

Dr. Ginny Whitelaw is the founder and CEO of the Institute for Zen Leadership. A Zen master in Rinzai Zen, she combines deep, physical training with a rich scientific background, senior leadership experience at NASA, and over twenty-five years coaching and developing leaders. She is the author of four books, including The Zen Leader and Move to Greatness. She co-developed the FEBI®, which measures four patterns in the nervous system connecting mind, body and behaviors, and trains practitioners worldwide. Dr. Whitelaw has coached and trained leaders worldwide in such companies as: Merck, Novartis, JNJ, HP, T Rowe Price, and Hillrom. During her ten years at NASA, she became the deputy manager for integrating the International Space Station, for which she received NASA's Exceptional Service Medal. She holds a PhD in biophysics, a BS in physics, and a fifth-degree black belt in Aikido.

Glenda Pettey

Glenda Pettey is the co-author with her late husband of their autobiography, Heaven is Real One Man’s Journey to Heaven and Back (1998). From Ron’s brush with death during brain surgery in 1982 and throughout the eighteen years of the book’s circulation, the couple has encouraged thousands through print, television, radio and speaking to audiences across America and Canada. Now, Glenda releases the sequel, Heaven is Real The Rest of the Story, which compiles Part 1 from 1998 and Part 2 from 2016. Glenda has degrees in English and counseling with a teaching background. She has published articles in several magazines in print and online. Their story is featured in Modern Day Miracles, Chapter 21, by Amazon bestselling author, Allison Restagno. Glenda, along with her husband Ron, were guests on Sid Roth’s It’s Supernatural!, “100 Huntley Street” in Canada, and Houston Celebration, Daystar, along with local TV and radio. The 700 Club filmed the reenactment of the miraculous return of Ron’s memory in 1994. In addition to church and ministry events, Glenda and Ron most enjoyed sharing their story on a state university campus which included lively Q and A sessions. Glenda speaks to women’s groups, conferences and churches, articulating the good news of the gospel with many insights from their life-story. Prepare to stretch as you embrace “with God, nothing is impossible.” Heaven is Real The Rest of the Story could read as fiction if not for the many who knew Ron personally and contribute their own narratives. You will want to read, reread and share The Rest of the Story with its timeless message of Heaven and spiritual truths.

Glenn R. Miller

Glenn R. Miller launched his professional career by working on television soap operas and game shows on the back lots of NBC Burbank. He holds a master's degree from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism and has served as a CBS-affiliate news producer, public television producer, and creative director at production agencies within the Twin Cities. He and his wife live in Minneapolis and are the parents of two grown sons.

Grace Virtue

Grace Virtue is a keen scholar of the humanities and social justice advocate from Silver Spring, Maryland, and Manchester, Jamaica. She earned her doctorate and master’s degree from Howard University and her bachelor’s in journalism and social science from the University of the West Indies, Mona. Across disciplines and professional endeavors, the thread that binds her work and aspirations is the quest for dignity and justice for marginalized peoples.

Greg Fields

Greg Fields has established a reputation as an articulate voice of the human condition. He has won recognition for his written work in presenting the plight of marginalized young people through his tenure at the Global Fund for Children, and is the co-author with Maya Ajmera of Invisible Children: Reimagining International Development from the Grassroots, published by Palgrave Macmillan in July 2016. He has had articles published in the Harvard International Review, as well as numerous periodicals, including The Washington Post and the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. He has presented at and participated in numerous symposia, including Stanford University's Global Philanthropy Forum, The Conrad Hilton Humanitarian Award seminar, the Synergos Institute's University for a Night at the United Nations, the International AIDS Conference and the European Foundation Centre's general assembly. He has also been an invited participant at the Salzburg Seminar in Austria. Since 2009 he has been President and Senior Advisor of Philanthropy Directions International, a philanthropic consulting firm in Northern Virginia. His fluid yet precise style has caught the eye of other writers, including Pat Conroy, who offered a jacket quote for Arc of the Comet shortly before his passing in March 2016, and Fergal Keane, award-winning journalist for the BBC.

Gregory Erich Phillips

GREGORY ERICH PHILLIPS tells aspirational stories through strong, relatable characters that transcend time and place. His debut novel, Love of Finished Years, won the grand prize in the prestigious Chanticleer Reviews international writing competition. Living in Seattle, WA, Gregory is also an accomplished tango dancer and musician.

Gregory Funderburk

Greg Funderburk is a pastoral care minister and a lawyer. He's written for and spoken at over a hundred funerals and memorial services, presenting the essence of people's lives, comforting their families with words of redemption and hope following loss. As an attorney he's crafted arguments for those in need of a defense following episodes of chaos, error, and disaster. The Mourning Wave is his first novel.

Guillermo Kopp

Guillermo Kopp drives complex digital transformation programs at Microsoft, and his career spans over thirty years in the financial services industry. Guillermo previously served as the executive director of TowerGroup, sixteen years as international staff at Citigroup, and as the corporate CIO of Aerolineas Argentinas, as well as in the International Air Transport Association in Switzerland. He earned an MS in project management from George Washington University and a computer science degree from the University of Buenos Aires. He is a native of Argentina and became a US citizen in 2003.

H. B. Barker

Holly B Barker was born in the small country town of East Eden, NY, number ten in a family of twelve. A graduate of creative writing courses, the love of animals, grandchildren, and a quote from the courts, "Laws are not for children," all weaved her in a direction to her debut novel, Two-Gether. With her husband of thirty-four years and their cat Oscar, she lives near the small town of Titusville, Pa.

H. Bruce Rinker PhD

Dr. H. Bruce Rinker is an ecologist, educator, and explorer. His publications include Forest Canopies (2004 Elsevier Press) and Gaia in Turmoil (2010 MIT Press) and a number of technical and popular articles on science, religion, and culture. His scientific interests include biodepletion, climate change, environmental contaminants, tropical systems, and the history of science. Other passions are theology, Western and Eastern philosophy, and indigenous spirituality. Bruce is an ex-Franciscan friar. He lives in Staunton, VA, a small city nestled in the famous Shenandoah Valley near Washington DC, Charlottesville, Richmond, and his hometown of Winchester.

Hani Spiro Fakhouri

Hani Spiro Fakhouri graduated from Lebanese American University and the American University of Beirut. Living in a war-torn country and working for twenty-eight years in accountancy and financial analysis exposed him to large doses of stress. Realizing early on the detrimental impact of stress on his mental and physical health, he decided to seek the necessary knowledge and tools that would help him manage and control stress at its source.

Hank Landau

After spending his youth messing about in canoes and rowboats, Hank Landau attended the US Coast Guard Academy and served as an officer in the US Army during the Vietnam War. His post-military professional career includes a PhD in civil/environmental engineering, forty years of consulting and teaching, and volunteer work as chair of a Washington State science advisory board and in groups promoting human rights and the environment.Hank has given many talks about his voyage and has been featured in five newspaper articles. He speaks and writes about social justice and climate change and has served numerous times as an expert witness on environmental matters.Hank and his wife live in the Pacific Northwest. They have three adult children and five grandchildren.

Harriet Cannon

Harriet Cannon is a writer with roots in South Carolina. As a psychotherapist, she served as a consultant to the Boeing Company, international schools, and worked for the US State Department in Chile. Harriet is co-author of Mixed Blessings: A Guide to Multicultural and Multiethnic Relationships. Exiled South is her debut novel. Harriet and her husband live on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington and have two grown children.

Harris Kern

Harris Kern is the author of over forty books, and one of the world’s leading personal and organization performance mentors. His passion is to help people excel in their professional and personal life by developing their self-discipline skills to combat the top issues: severe procrastination, poor time management, ineffective goal management, lack of focus, lack of sense of urgency and lack of motivation. He also helps individuals improve their leadership and EQ skills (communication, relationship management and interpersonal). Mr. Kern is recognized as the foremost authority on providing practical guidance for solving management issues and challenges. He has devoted over thirty years to helping professionals build competitive organizations. His client list reads like a who’s who of American and international business: Standard and Poor’s, GE, The Weather Channel, News Corporation, Hong Kong Air Cargo Terminal (HACTL), among dozens of other Fortune500 and Global 2,000 companies. Mr. Kern is the founder and driving force behind the Enterprise Computing Institute (www.harriskern.com) and the bestselling series of Information Technology (IT) books published by Prentice Hall/Pearson (www.disciplinementor.com, www.disciplinetheorganization.com).

Harry Mack

Harry Mack is the author of two books, as well as magazine articles, a monthly newspaper column with a run of seven years and many short stories. He serves as the newsletter editor and publisher for a local nonprofit organization. Whether working as a factory worker, or heading up the CIA team that publishes the President’s Daily Intelligence Briefing (PDB), Mack has been there and done that more than most people. He has lived in several metro areas in the U.S. and overseas before retiring to Central Kentucky.

Harry Rubin

Harold (Harry) Rubin was born in Warren, Ohio, in 1943. He graduated from Youngstown University in 1965 with a business degree and set off to charge into the business world. By October Harry realized that there would be no job offers until his military service was satisfied. Drafted into the United States Army on Christmas Eve 1965, he had boots on the ground in Vietnam as an infantry paratrooper by August 1966. The things he saw, did, and learned there are the basis for his first novel. Now in his seventy-eighth year of life after a successful business career, when asked where he grew up, he always says Vietnam.

Harvey Martin

Harvey Martin is a coach, author, entrepreneur, and podcast host. He has coached and consulted athletes, business executives, and organizations in human performance since 2012. Harvey has spoken and led workshops with Fortune 100 and Fortune 500 companies on how to optimize human performance and is currently the human performance coach for the San Francisco Giants. He is the author of Breathe, Focus, Excel: Exercises, Techniques, and Strategies for Optimal Athletic Performance and has a master’s degree from Minnesota State, Mankato.

Harvey Schwartz

Harvey Schwartz is an author, a lawyer, and a former newspaper reporter. He was one of Boston’s top civil rights lawyers for more than thirty years, with hundreds of cases in state and federal courts, including two civil rights cases before the United States Supreme Court. Mr. Schwartz represented two Saudi Arabian men in federal court in Washington, DC. This experience at Guantanamo Bay inspired him to write Never Again. He was an award-winning investigative reporter for Gannett newspapers in Rochester and Utica, New York. He graduated from the Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University. For the past seven summers Mr. Schwartz and his wife, Sandra, have lived on their ninety-two-year-old Dutch canal barge, cruising the rivers and canals of France. He wrote a book about this experience, On a Barge in France. During the winter he builds small wooden rowing and sailing boats at Marshview Boatworks in Ipswich, Massachusetts.

Heather Weidner

Heather Weidner is an author of stories appearing in the anthologies Virginia is for Mysteries, and Virginia is for Mysteries Volume II. She is President of Sisters in Crime – Central Virginia, and a member of Guppies and Lethal Ladies Write. Heather earned her B.A. in English from Virginia Wesleyan College and her M.A. in American literature from the University of Richmond. Through the years, she has been a technical writer, editor, college professor, software tester and IT manager. Heather has been a mystery fan since she first experienced Scooby Doo and Nancy Drew. She lives in Central Virginia with her husband and a pair of Jack Russell terriers. Secret Lives and Private Eyes is her debut novel.

Heidi Marble

Heidi Marble is a domestically adopted person and has an internationally acclaimed podcast focusing on issues surrounding adoption. Since publishing her first book, Waiting for Wings—A Women’s Metamorphosis Through Cancer, she has given over 150 keynote addresses. She has been featured on CBS’s Bay Area Sunday and ABC’s Sacramento and Co., among other shows and publications. Heidi established a charitable organization that partnered with multiple hospitals and the fashion industry. Those endeavors created the opportunity for her to sit on two hospital boards: Providence Hospital in Portland, Oregon, and the NorthBay Medical Center in Vacaville, California. Her advocacy work now extends into the adoption community where she hopes to help reshape the narrative.

Helen Dela'houssaye, Ph.D.

Dr. Helen Dela’houssaye, Ph.D. resides in Houston, Texas with her family. She is a sought after transformational speaker and life coach, financial business strategist who has many notable awards and accolades to her credit. She is lovingly known has the Marketplace Minister and strives to deliver real strategies for business and personal growth. Her faith, tenacity, passion, and dedication to the success of others is what motivates Dr. Helen to share her story of tragedy to triumph. In hopes that it catapults one to live their dreams ON and WITH purpose unapologetically. Her daily mantra is “See it... Believe it... And you shall Receive it”!

Helene Ann Zupanc

Helene Zupanc and Beth Valdez met in graduate school at Northern Arizona University and became fast friends (both loving dogs, humor, counseling, and mantras!). They are both licensed professional counselors and have experience working in various mental health, educational, and therapeutic settings with diverse populations of clients. Helene earned her bachelor’s degree in special education and her master of education in counseling from Northern Arizona University. She loves reading all types of books, humor, country music, yoga, sewing, and theater. She loves spending time outdoors with her husband, son, and rescue dogs.

Heloisa Prieto

Dr. Heloisa Prieto is one of Brazil's most celebrated children and YA authors. She has sold over two million books in her native country. Her Mano series of YA novels inspired the Time Warner movie The Best Things in the World. She recently published 1,002 Ghosts, and her book Viajantes do Vento was selected for the PNLD Public Book-Purchasing Programme, the biggest of its kind in the world. She has spent a lifetime researching myths and legends-both ancient and modern-and organizing and curating collections of cross-cultural interest. She has created and organized numerous creative writing workshops for children, teenagers, and adults. Heloisa also has a PhD in French literature (University of São Paulo) and a master's degree in semiotics (Catholic University of São Paulo).

Henry G. Brinton

Henry G. Brinton is an author and a Presbyterian pastor who has written on religion and culture for The New York Times, The Washington Post, USA Today, and Huffington Post. A frequent speaker at workshops and conferences, he is the author or co-author of five books including The Welcoming Congregation: Roots and Fruits of Christian Hospitality. His interfaith work and appreciation for the wisdom of the ancient world began on an archaeological dig in the Galilee region of Israel.

Hillary Sigrist

Hillary Sigrist is an award-winning author, former military wife, mother of three, and child of God. Married to a special operations solider throughout the course of this decade's Middle Eastern conflicts, she developed a passion for helping her fellow patriot wives, both former and present. Her first book Warrior Wife: Overcoming the Unique Struggles of a Military Marriage, was published in 2015, and has won multiple awards and received numerous 5 star reviews. After her husband separated from active duty, they moved to raise their family under the western skies of the Sierra Mountains.

Hillary Wells

Hillary Wells (Ken's niece) is a writer, comedian, and producer who rose from the bayous of South Louisiana to the Los Angeles comedy scene. These days she resides in New Orleans where, in between comedy gigs and cooking up gumbo, she works in the state's burgeoning filmmaking industry. This is her first novel.

Hillery R. Schanck

Hillery Schanck is a financial advisor, a husband, a father, a lacrosse coach, and a 7 on the enneagram. But behind all of that, he is simply a follower of Jesus. As a Christian leader and teacher, Hillery became inspired to research and explore the various ways that Advent has been practiced over the centuries. Among the ancient practices, he discovered a fascinating new pathway to God . . . using the music and Scripture from Handel's Messiah as a daily devotion. He wrote this devotional to enable others to easily participate in this unique experience. He is married to Karen and together they have two children.

Holly Curby

Holly Curby is a contributing writer to the devotional magazine Journey and has been interviewed by the New York Times, local network affiliates, and the Salt Lake Tribune, among others. Holly has received the Inspirational Award from the Chick-fil-A Foundation and served in many areas of ministry. Her twenty-five-plus years in marketing, a master's degree in leadership and management, and serving in executive leadership roles have provided a platform for her to provide leadership coaching and host Holly's Highlights podcast. She currently serves as the director of community and culture at two Chick-fil-A franchises in Utah. Holly enjoys being with her family, traveling, and showing love and encouragement to those she meets.

Holly Mayes

Holly Mayes, a native of Michigan, has shared her passion for writing in a variety of genres, having self-published a young adult science fiction series, GEMS, a romance novel, Fade to Black, and a romance anthology, Mistaken, with two other female authors. Her short stories have been featured in Motherwell Magazine and Lansing’s Community College’s Washington Square Review. She earned a bachelor of arts in professional communications from Siena Heights University in 2016 and works as a communications representative. She enjoys reading, writing, photography, and spending time with her family, including her three grandchildren.

Howard Prager

Howard Prager is president of Advance Learning Group, and an author, speaker, executive coach, and leadership consultant who strengthens people and organizations through insightful leadership and management programs. With extensive experience in F500 companies, consulting, and executive education, Howard's work with small businesses, nonprofits, and large organizations has earned him eight professional awards. Howard brings his diverse talents and perspectives as an association leader, tuba player, and sports writer to all his work. He is an active volunteer, facilitator, and mentor in higher education, professional associations, and youth organizations.

Hoyt A. Byrum

Hoyt Byrum is a retired Presbyterian pastor and the founder of the 3-G Coaching ministry. He has a bachelor's degree from Western Michigan University, master's degrees from the University of Michigan and Princeton Theological Seminary, and a doctor of ministry degree from Reformed Theological Seminary. He is a master life coach and derives his greatest pleasure from mentoring others in living the 3-G lifestyle. He is an avid golfer, but many of his friends suggest that he take up bowling.

Ike Rigell

Ike Rigell is a Marine Veteran of World War II. After honorably fighting for his country at the battles of Iwo Jima, Midway, Saipan, and Tinian, Ike went on to earn a degree from one of the top engineering schools in the country, Georgia Tech. After graduation, he went to work for the Army Ballistic Missile Agency (ABMA), which was later transferred to NASA in 1960. At NASA, Ike was an original member of the launch team at Cape Canaveral, FL. He was a member of the launch team for the Free World's first satellite, Explorer I (1958), the Free World's first man in space (1961), Chief Engineer and Deputy Director for all Apollo Space Program launches (12 men walked on the surface of the moon), Skylab, the United States first laboratory in space, and Director of Launch Operations for the Apollo-Soyuz launch in 1975 (a joint U.S. and Russian rendezvous in space). After his time at NASA, he worked for ten more years in the space program for United Technologies and retired as the Vice President of USBI, Florida Operations. Ike and his wife, Kathryn, live in Titusville, FL.

Ina D'Aleo

Ina D’Aleo is an early childhood special education teacher who has been working in the schooling field since 2007. She has her master's in early childhood and special education. She lives in New York City with her son Alex.

Irwin Epstein

Irwin Epstein, PhD, is a professor emeritus of the City University of New York and has enjoyed an award-winning international career as a health and mental health educator and researcher on topics ranging from neonatal abnormality in the UK to "good death" in Hong Kong. Irwin became a Fulbright senior scholar at the University of Wales (Cardiff) at thirty and has authored several research texts and innumerable journal articles too boring to describe. A onetime single father who raised two writers, he has been married to a courageous cancer-battler for thirty years.

Isaac Samuel Miller

Isaac Samuel Miller is the author of Just Get Up: And Manifest Your Inner Genius and he has a collaborative book entitled, Experts & Influencers: The Leadership Edition. When Isaac turned 11 he was determined to provide for his sick mom and to escape poverty, so he set out on a journey to fight his way to success. Eventually this led to Isaac becoming an entrepreneur at 17 years of age. Isaac has over 13 years of experience as an entrepreneur and he works as a licensed strength & conditioning fitness trainer, sales coach, and a motivational speaker. Isaac has a bachelor's degree in therapeutic recreation & leisure studies along with a minor in physical education. Isaac is an active member in his community, he gives his time freely through preaching and delivering various bible discourses as a Minister. Isaac is a spoken word artist and he inspires people internationally with his spoken word piece entitled, Self-Belief. Isaac loves to inspire people and he invites the world to listen to his podcast entitled, JustGetUpWithIsaac for daily inspiration.

J. A. Collie

J. A. Collie is an emerging author in the science fiction and romantic suspense genres. She has authored Staking the Claim and The Corporation: Call Me Anytime. Collie writes stories that reflect her successful information technology career and love of suspense. Grays of Novart is her debut science fiction novel and the first book of the series. She lives and works in The Bahamas.

J. A. V. Simson

After more than three decades as an active biomedical scientist, Jo Anne Valentine Simson, PhD, now focuses on another love: cultural exploration and writing. Currently, she is collecting impressions and perceptions-jotted in notebooks over a busy lifetime-that form the bones of books about human life and culture. The self-help health-care guide, The Bewildered Patient's Whole-Body Health Guide represents nearly a decade of writing for the lay public on how the body functions. Other recent publications include both nonfiction-Korea, Are You at Peace and Russia Revisited-and fiction-Speaking with Strangers and Laboratory Notebook. Dr. Simson's professional activities included teaching medical students, graduate students, and undergraduates, as well as independent research as an author on some sixty publications in the biomedical literature. She received a Fogarty International Fellowship (1987-88) for research at the Biozentrum in Basel, Switzerland. She also was one of several contemporary scientists featured in a Smithsonian exhibition, Science in American Life (1994-2011).

J. F. Mims

J. F. Mims, MEd, feels qualified to write The Book of Acts from a Layperson's Perspective because of his lifelong Christian faith. He is a Christian layperson active in his local United Methodist church, leading small-group adult Bible study and Sunday school classes. Relying on his training in education and his background as a technical writer and college instructor, he authored The Book of Acts from a Layperson's Perspective as his Christian witnessing, encouraging others to read and explore the Bible, especially the book of Acts, in order to develop and expand their own faith in God.

J. Stanion

Writing has allowed J. Stanion to express her feelings through the depths of depression and unrequited love, to exchange joyful poems with her father over a lifetime, to succeed at being named a National Board Certified teacher of science, and to research and complete the application of her family farm for listing on the National Register of Historic Places (McPhail Angus Farm). Most recently, it has allowed her to publish her first novel, a story of tragedy and triumph that begged to be told. www.jstanion.com

J.C. Sasser

J.C. Sasser started her professional career at age twelve, working as a dishwasher, waitress, and cook at a truck stop off Georgia’s I-16. Over her life, she has worked as an envelope licker, tortoise tagger, lifeguard, Senate page, model, editor, water-polo coach, marine biologist, plant grower, software consultant, and 6-Sigma Black Belt. Gradle Bird, was a short list finalist in the 2015 William Faulkner-William Wisdom novel competition, and her other writing credits include the short story and screenplay, The Pigeon Catcher (Ceiba Productions 2002). She lives in an old barn on Edisto Island, SC with her husband, Thomas, along with their two sons, T.C. and Robert Esten, and two dogs, Cro and Blue Moon June. Gradle Bird is her first novel.

J.J. Partridge

J.J. Partridge’s distinguished career practicing law provides experience with Providence’s high times and lowlifes. An astute observer of academia, politics, politicians and pool, his novels illuminate academic sensibilities and campus foibles, political turf wars and ethnic tensions, civic sleaziness, gaming’s relationship with Native Americans, and particularly the murky world of the sport of pool, both amateur and professional. Carom Shot and Straight Pool are the original titles in the Algy Temple mysteries; Scratched continues the series.

J.R. Sharp

J.R. Sharp perfected his writing skills during his nearly thirty-two years of naval service by updating complex correspondence, writing and contributing to countless naval manuals and instructions. He is a retired Mustang Naval Officer (Commander) who served and lived in Europe, Middle East, South America and the Caribbean. Sharp holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Southern Illinois University and an Engineering Degree from Florida State College in Jacksonville, Florida. Feeding the Enemy is his debut book and he is currently working on his next book.

Jack Lucci

Jack Lucci is an American writer who knows the depths and the heights of liberation. Jack has lived in sprawling cities and the Italian countryside, taking his introspection with him wherever he goes. Jack Lucci writes on Jacklucci. com for The Separation Naturalist. Loving & Leaving is his first book.

Jack V. O. Kennard

John Kennard is the son of 2nd Ranger Battalion lieutenant Frank L. Kennard, whose letters are the subject of D-Day Journal. Kennard was commissioned a lieutenant in the US Army Armor Corps. He served in Germany, rose to captain and went to Vietnam in 1970. In Vietnam, Captain Kennard was a special security officer (SSO) working for five general officers managing their back-channel messages, also known as "Eyes Only" messages. Kennard attended Blair Academy and earned a BA from the University of Virginia. After military service, Kennard earned a master's in business administration from the Darden School at the University of Virginia. John Kennard is retired from Brown-Forman Corporation where he was senior vice president and global brand director for Jack Daniel's Tennessee Whiskey. Kennard has been adjunct assistant professor at the Owen School of Business at Vanderbilt University and distinguished executive in residence at the McIntire School of Commerce at the University of Virginia. Kennard serves as an expert witness in intellectual property matters. Kennard lives on Amelia Island, FL, and in Southern Pines, NC, with his wife, Linda.

Jacob Andrew Emrey

Jacob Emrey grew up in the Valley of the Moon in Northern California. After high school he joined the Marines and served four years as part of the security battalion for Marine One. After his service ended, he went off to college to get his degree in history and a high school teaching credential. Since then he has worked in Ukraine, Kuwait, and China as well as the United States. Through it all, writing has been his passion. His most recent work, Millennium Stone, was awarded Editor's Choice by iUniverse and was received with praise. Now Jacob has moved into the realm of adult fantasy fiction, combining his unique experience as an international history teacher with powerful storytelling.

Jake Stehman

Jake Stehman is a debut author who was born right outside of Reading, Pennsylvania. An unfortunate layoff during the pandemic drove him to write, a passion he never knew he had. Jake has a bachelor’s degree from Lebanon Valley College where he studied business and has returned to the talent acquisition field when he is not writing. Jake is a lover of all sports and enjoys watching movies whenever he can. He currently resides in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, with his wife and two beautiful young children.

James A Davison

James Davison is the author of two previous books, the nuclear thriller Trinity 3.11 and a fictional memoir of the oldest man alive, I Am Lazarus. Davison draws inspiration from his years as a journalist, a public information officer in the federal government, and in law enforcement, which gives his books a visceral realism. A native of Louisiana, he is an accomplished cook, a musician, an avid fly fisherman, and competitive powerlifter. He and his wife live and work in Virginia.

James A. Hill

Jim Hill spent 30 years in the marketing communications industry, first as the founder and CEO of New York-based Redspring Communications, then as a C-level executive at agencies working with national brands on content strategy and development. He earned a Bachelor's degree in English Composition from DePauw University, a Master's degree in English Language and Literature from the University of Virginia, and completed graduate studies at Middlebury's Bread Loaf School of English in Vermont and Lincoln College, Oxford. He was diagnosed with Stage 3 prostate cancer in late 2017, just six months after leaving marketing to indulge his passion for writing poetry and nonfiction. Midpoint is his first book-length work.

James B Lockhart III

James B. Lockhart III graduated from Yale and became an officer on a nuclear ballistic missile submarine. After graduating from Harvard Business School, he worked in senior financial positions in leading companies in the US and Europe. He ran the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, then worked as an investment banker, senior vice president of a reinsurance company, and co-founder of a risk management company. He served as COO of Social Security under George W. Bush and became the regulator of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Federal Home Loan Banks, also serving on the TARP Oversight Board. He became vice chairman of Wilbur Ross's private equity firm and now serves as a senior fellow at the Bipartisan Policy Center.

James Ballard

James Ballard intimately knows the subject matter he explores in Poisoned Jungle. His tour as a medic in Vietnam's Mekong Delta altered the course of his life. War has consequences, and he has not only lived with them, but spent a lifetime examining the impact of Vietnam on his and other veterans' lives. In that regard, Poisoned Jungle, the author's first novel, is a work fifty years in the making. In his author's note, Ballard writes, "The impact of war is not only transformational on the human psyche-but ongoing." Retired from beekeeping, the author is free to pursue his passion for literature, reading and writing it. He has other works in progress and continues to write every day. For more information visit james-ballard.net.

James Cooley

James Cooley is the author of My Path, The Book of Knowledge, Your Pathway to Enlightenment, and president and CEO of the JC Cooley Foundation-Options & Opportunities: The Choice Program. He has also written and produced several plays and was the director, producer and hosts of Cooley's Fitness Tips, a television show that provided fitness tips and insight for United States Navy active duty and retired veterans to maintain military fitness readiness.

James D. Nealon

JAMES D. NEALON is a retired foreign service officer whose ten overseas postings included US ambassador to Honduras. He grew up in Northern Virginia, steeped in Civil War history. While in college at Brown University he discovered Irish history and the Fenians, and went on to study Irish history in graduate school at Boston College. He has published and lectured extensively about foreign policy and immigration. He lives in Exeter, New Hampshire, with his wife, Kristin. They have four adult children.

James F. Ross YNC, USN (Ret.)

James Ross is a first-time author who, after many years, decided it was time to write his memoir. He has had a multitude of experiences beginning with his youth in the coalfields of West Virginia, service in the Navy, family experiences and finally, retirement.

James J. Messina

My father served as a PFC in the Marine Corps during WW2. His story begins in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in September 1941 with his enlistment in the Marine Corps, and ends in December 1942 at Guadalcanal when the 1st Marine Division was relieved by the Army. It takes the reader through boot camp, advanced training, a voyage to New Zealand for combat training, and into the jungles of Guadalcanal where they fought against the Japanese Empire.As his son, I made it my job to thoroughly research every detail of his story and to back it up with actual dates, facts, and statistics. The book is visually stimulating, entertaining, and educational at the same time. Readers will be moved by his story and gain a great deal of insight about one specific unit of the 1st Marine Division.

James K. Swisher

Dr. James K. Swisher, a retired senior high school principal, was awarded the Jefferson Davis Medal by the United Daughters of the Confederacy and in 2000 received the Virginia State Library Book of the Year Award. He has had three books published, to include The Revolutionary War in the Southern Back Country; Prince of Edisto, Brigadier General Micah Jenkins; and Warrior in Gray, General Robert Rodes of Lee's Army. He was a Virginia Society of the Book Nominee and published numerous articles in national publications, including America's Civil War, Confederate Veteran, Military Heritage, and Military History. He earned both his Master's and Doctoral Degrees from the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, and he was a member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans and Sons of the American Revolution. He served on the Lynchburg Museum Board and the Lynchburg Civil War Roundtable. Dr. Swisher died in 2009 prior to having the opportunity to publish this, his latest work. Daniel Morgan: An Inexplicable Hero is being published posthumously in his memory.

James M. Roberts

James M. Roberts wanted to prove that you don’t need to be a college scholar or a perfect writer to put your heart on paper even when it is hurting the most. James’s experiences have inspired him to tell his story in order to reach young readers suffering from insecurity, sadness, and addiction. Not only did James drop out of high school, but he also stumbled into deep depression early in his adolescent life. Although he had been an all-star athlete, he was far from happy. He ended up making regrettable choices in order to feel a sense of belonging and worth, especially following his parents’ separation. Through it all, James knew that one day he was going to share his “misery” with the world. He struggled through life’s lessons and finally put himself through college to earn a business degree and currently has a successful career in sales. James finished his first rough draft at twenty-five while in college. Five years later he erased all 200,000 words and started from scratch. He currently resides in Woburn, Massachusetts, where he continues to thrive and develop his writing. “Don’t judge me based on my past errors; judge me based on my growth from them.”—James Roberts

James Masciarelli

James Masciarelli is a writer, entrepreneur, and storyteller with deep experience of the human condition from his work with individuals, families, and organizations in crisis, growth and change. Writing and use of story enabled him to move ideas through organizations in his social work, human resource, and business career. His creative fiction focuses on stories of change and transformation by the sea. He majored in psychology and classical literature at College of the Holy Cross, with advanced graduate study in clinical psychology, and holds an MBA from Babson College. He resides in Naples, Florida and his homeport, Gloucester, Massachusetts with his creative wife and twin beagles.

James Nash

James Nash studied theology at the Catholic University of America, where he received a PhD in theology and taught full-time until 1994. He contributed to Introducing the Catechism of the Catholic Church, ed. Berard L. Marthaler, and has published articles in several theological journals. After a career in journalism, in 2014 he began serving with other volunteers at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle to provide unhoused guests with food and clothing. Beginning in 2017, Dr. Nash has worked as an advocate with the Way Home to Campaign to end chronic homelessness in the nation's capital.

James Terminiello

To make money, James Terminiello spent forty-plus years in marketing, public relations, and communications. To salve his soul in a family wracked by Alzheimer's, autism, and dementia, he has authored six books and contributed to a compilation of film reviews, Seen That, Now What. He has also written more than 150 columns for the Philadelphia Inquirer, Courier Post, and other publications, and blogs on subjects ranging from the Charlie Hebdo massacre in Paris to Victorian Christmases. He has been married to Tara for thirty-seven years. His son, Alex, suffers from autism, and he has a daughter, Gillian.

James Washington

James A. Washington is a former professional, collegiate, and playground basketball player, and a first-time author born and raised in Harlem, New York. A graduate of the High School of Music and Art, Washington has a unique blend of personal and professional skills not often captured in a writer or author. As a high-performing athlete, he's experienced the joy of pure competition as well as values predicated upon the dedication, sacrifice, and discipline required to become exceptional in his sport. As an artist, he has received a formal education in graphic design and has used his creative passion as a perfect counterbalance to his athletic life. James has written several articles for publication for The New Pittsburgh Courier and in various industry circles. He is currently a contractor at NASA where he has worked for the last fifteen years.

Jan Capps

Jan Capps has been a public health advocate for immigrants, farmworkers, domestic violence victims, and people of color in the US, Guatemala, and Mexico for over thirty years, focusing on building local capacity and health equity. During her two stints living in Guatemala, she organized and trained community health workers and midwives, managed a medical clinic, and studied the Maya Tz’utujil language. She has presented, trained, and written for national audiences. Her greatest joy and most humbling experiences have been being a mother and watching her glorious daughter grow and launch into the world. Jan splits her time between Seattle, Washington, and North Carolina.

Jan Moberg

Jan Moberg is a lifelong writer and presenter with careers in hospital chaplaincy, ethics, and patient advocacy. Jan compiled relevant medical choices linked to spiritual beliefs in Treatment Choices of the World's Most Prevalent Religions, supplied to nursing staff during her tenure as a hospital chaplain. Profound interactions with patients, families, and hospital staff are compassionately recounted in her first book, Chaplain's Walk: The Spiritual Side of Medicine.Jan has an MA in ministry leadership and a BS in religion. She completed a residency in clinical pastoral education (CPE), is certified in clinical ethics and CPSP (College of Pastoral Supervision and Psychotherapy), and has trained in critical intervention stress management (CISM) and the existential and spiritual impact of trauma. She attended Erlanger Nursing School and served six years in the US Navy, earning the Navy Service Commendation Medal for service in the Pentagon during the Lebanon crisis.

Jan Wojcik

Jan Wojcik grew up on Long Island Sound in East Norwalk, Connecticut. He spent eight years as a Jesuit seminarian before leaving the Church in 1970. He holds degrees from Boston College and Yale University and spent his career teaching at Purdue and Clarkson Universities, winning five teaching awards. His publications include books on the Bible as literature, farming ethics, medical ethics, and a translation of Horace’s Odes, in addition to numerous essays. Today he resides in Upstate New York and concentrates on gardening, astronomy, and winning fishing tournaments.

Janet Lee Berg

Janet Berg earned a master's degree in creative writing at Stony Brook University, where she was mentored by many published professors such as Ursula Hegi (Stones From the River) and Frank McCourt (Angela's Ashes). Employed as a journalist by Dan's Papers of the Hamptons (and Manhattan) for twelve years, Ms. Berg was afforded the opportunity to interview numerous celebrities, including actress Isabella Rosellini, and one of her favorites, Linda Ronstadt. She also wrote a parody of the Hamptons titled Glitz of the Hamptons, which Pulitzer cartoonist, playwright and screenwriter Jules Feiffer endorsed as a beautifully told and somehow resonating story. Berg's work has been featured in numerous newspapers and magazines on Long Island, NY, and the Post & Courier, Charleston, SC, and interviewed on twenty-five radio shows nationwide, and local television. Her debut novel, Rembrandt's Shadow, received a glowing critique in Historical Novels Review magazine, and she published a children's picture book called Kitti, the Cargo Ship to inspire empathy and kindness.

Janis Owens

Janis Owens is an award-winning novelist, memoirist, folklorist and storyteller. She is a native of North Florida and graduated from the University of Florida, where she was a student in Harry Crews' creative writing workshop. She is the author of four novels, My Brother Michael, Myra Sims, The Schooling of Claybird Catts, American Ghost, and a memoir cookbook, The Cracker Kitchen. She lives with her husband in rural North Florida and is working on her next novel.

Janna Herron

Janna Herron is a diligent music therapy and English student at Texas Woman’s University who has dedicated her writing to making ordinary voices heard. Throughout her life, she has juggled various activities in church, school, and the community, striving to gain a better understanding of all people and to make a difference.

Jason Angell

Jason Angell is a former US Marine captain with over ten years of active service, as both an enlisted and commissioned officer. During his career, Jason participated in three combat deployments to Iraq, including the initial 2003 invasion, going on to fight in the Rumaila oil fields, Baghdad, Ramadi, and Al Hit. He earned his bachelor’s degree from California State University, Fullerton, in 2000 and a master’s from the University of Houston in 2015. He is currently the head of global security for a large US-based shipping classification company. Jason lives with his wife and children on a farm in Texas.

Jean D. Francis

Jean served successfully for eighteen years in various government agencies-until her stellar career came to a screeching halt. Naked Truth is the riveting true story of one woman's experiences with discrimination, racism, and unlawful retaliation from the government entity meant to watch over and protect the people. After seven years of suffering under widespread corruption, lies, and mismanagement, Jean uses this deeply painful and personal experience to help motivate, empower, and inspire others who seek justice, are committed to ending systemic racism, and are determined to speak truth to power.

Jeffery L. Deal

Jeffery Deal is a physician, anthropologist, inventor, and renowned speaker. His work as a tropical medicine specialist has taken him to South Sudan during its wars, Liberia during the Ebola pandemic, and dozens of other developing countries. He earned a master of arts in anthropology from the University of South Carolina and a doctorate of medicine from the Medical University of South Carolina. While a US naval officer, he completed a residency at Walter Reed Medical Center and later earned a diploma from the London School of Tropical Medicine as well as a fellowship in the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine. Dr. Deal has contributed to numerous professional journals and newspapers and has published two novels, Toccoa: Dark Secrets of a Small Georgia Town and The Mark, as well as an ethnography of the Dinka of South Sudan, A Land at the Centre of the World.

Jeffrey Blount

Jeffrey Blount is the author of Almost Snow White, winner of the 2013 USA Best Book Awards and Hating Heidi Foster, winner of the 2013 Readers Favorite Book Award for YA literature. He has been a contributor to HuffPost, published op-eds in The Washington Post, TheGrio.com and other publications. He has also written scripts for films and interactives that are now on display in the Smithsonian Museum of African American History and Culture, the Muhammad Ali Center, the Newseum, America I AM: The African American Imprint" at the National Constitution Center, The Museum at Bethel Woods, at the site of the 1969 Woodstock Music and Arts Fair, and others. These projects have won Cine Golden Eagle Awards, Muse Awards and a Thea Award.

Jeffrey K Schmoll

Jeffrey K Schmoll spent his childhood amid the tumbleweeds of Bakersfield before earning advanced academic degrees in engineering and embarking on a global journey across four continents with his wife and two children. From Scotland to Australia, along with the closer-to-home locales of Texas and Louisiana, each place left a lasting impact. Living in Angola was transformative, fostering a love for its people and offering a new perspective on Africa. Jeffrey has transitioned to a life of global travel, community service, competitive tennis, jewelry making, and Bible study, relishing each day's new adventure. leadership.

Jenna Zark

Jenna Zark is an award-winning author and playwright. Her columns for TC Jewfolk were the basis for Crooked Lines and frequently went viral at sites around the country. Zark is also the author of two middle-grade books, The Beat on Ruby's Street and Fool's Errand, released by Dragon Moon Press. Both books achieved top-50 ranking in Amazon's Children and Historical Fiction category several times. The Beat on Ruby's Street won first prize from Wishing Shelf awards in the UK and was a finalist for the Minnesota Author's Project. Zark's play A Body of Water was published by Dramatists Play Service, produced at Circle Repertory Company in New York, and chosen by the National Foundation for Jewish Culture as a play that "breaks new ground." To learn more, visit jennazark.com.

Jennifer E. Hassel

Jennifer E. Hassel was a lawyer who became a registered nurse after living through her husband's terminal illness, their mutual suffering, and her own grief. Writing from firsthand experience, she has been published in The Philadelphia Lawyer, Joyful Life Magazine, The Sun, and her hometown newspaper, Lancaster LNP. She won her nursing school graduating class's Portfolio Award for her series of essays relating to the profession and practice of nursing. Badass Grief is her first book.

Jennifer Florax

Jennifer Florax has a bachelor's degree in management, completed later in life while married with two children and working a full-time job. Jennifer's writing is based on life experience and her desire to share the lessons she has learned to save others a little pain and shave some time off the learning curve. Previous work includes Survival Guide for the Working World: What School Doesn't Teach You.

Jennifer Parker

Jennifer is the founder of Autism Advocates of Indiana and The Alex and Ali Foundation. She also serves on the Hypoplastic Left Heart Committee at Riley Hospital for Children. Jennifer Parker is a stay-at-home mom (who is rarely home) to five children, three of whom have significant special needs. She and her husband Andy live in Greenwood, Indiana. When she is home, she is often refereeing fights between Boaz the Doberman service dog and Coco the cat. The cat normally wins.

Jennifer Shupert

Jennifer B. Shupert has been an attorney since 2003 and has used her degree in family studies and child development, with a minor in psychology, from Oklahoma Christian University as well as her juris doctorate from Regent University School of Law to specialize in family law. In 2022, Jennifer was appointed as a judge for the Virginia Beach Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court. She has been a speaker on various topics related to family law and has been active in multiple professional organizations. She was selected as a Top Lawyer of Coastal Virginia from 2018 to 2022 and as a Super Lawyer from 2019 to 2022. Jennifer is married and has two children.

Jenny Ruden

Jenny Ruden has published short stories and essays in Nerve, Salon, Eclectica Magazine, Literary Mama and High Desert Journal. She won an Orlando award for creative nonfiction, was named a finalist in Glimmer Train’s short fiction contest, and has been nominated for the Pushcart prize two years in a row. She has worked with teenagers for over ten years as a teacher of reading, writing and GED, and has an M.F.A. in fiction from the University of Oregon. She lives with her husband, two daughters, two basset hounds and a cat in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Jeremy R. Moss

Jeremy R. Moss is a lawyer and lobbyist living in Alexandria, Virginia. An emerging author and freelance historian, Jeremy's research is focused on piracy and early colonial maritime history. When not working or writing, Jeremy is a family man and can be found telling stories of adventure and buried treasure to his three young sons. This is Jeremy's first book.

Jessica Barrows Beebe

Jessica Barrows Beebe is a former journalist, editor, and national TV news producer. She helped produce a daily live broadcast covering campaign politics and news out of the White House, Congress, and Supreme Court. Most recently, she fundraised for a Bay Area educational nonprofit. She has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Virginia. Jessica has three children and her happy place is with her husband in Midcoast Maine in summer. Her brother thinks he’s the funny one, but clearly he’s wrong.

Jessica Noelle

Jessica Noelle has worked as a lifestyle journalist in a small town in Northern California. Her writings now center on the compelling themes of love, family, and tragedy. She studied English at San Francisco State University and spends most of her time with her husband and two babies at their idyllic farmhouse in the foothills of California. She loves to work in the shade of a palm tree on the beach, however, and uses her many travels to inspire her writing. Her words are at times comic, sensual, complex, and transportive.

Jill Dubin (Illustrator)

Jill Dubin's whimsical art has appeared in over 40 children's books, including Over on a Mountain, Seeds Grow, and I Can Cooperate! She graduated from Pratt Institute and currently lives with her family in Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

Jim Gulledge

Jim Gulledge earned an AB in Christian education from Pfeiffer University, an MA in English from Clemson University, and a DMin in theological studies from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. He has participated in the Adult Development Institute at Harvard University, the Fulbright German Administrators Exchange Program, and the C. S Lewis Summer Residence program in Oxford, England. Gulledge is the author of A Poor Man’s Supper, a novella included in the North Carolina Collection at UNC-Chapel Hill and the W. L. Eury Appalachian Collection at Appalachian State University. A lifelong resident of the Carolinas, Jim and his wife, Linda, enjoy visiting with their four children and son-in-law and daily life with their miniature schnauzer, Luka.

Jim Smith

Jim Smith has spent his life on ballfields and basketball courts. From his childhood in eastern North Carolina to his college days at East Carolina University and throughout his public teaching career, baseball has been his passion. Now retired from both officiating and assigning an amazing 55,000 games, he shares his poignant and humorous stories with others who share his love of sports.

Jim Zervanos

Jim Zervanos is the author of the novel LOVE Park. His award-winning short stories and essays have been published in numerous literary journals, magazines, and anthologies. He completed the Narrative Medicine Workshop at Columbia University and is a graduate of the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College and Bucknell University, where he won the William Bucknell Prize for English and was an Academic All-American baseball player. He teaches at a high school in the suburbs of Philadelphia, where he lives with his wife and two sons and has risen in the baseball pantheon as coach of two Little League teams.

Jo Ellen Layne

Jo Ellen Layne is the author of the novel Laughter at Dawn as well as a short story, “Seasons,” and the article “American Family.” She based this novel on her thirty-seven years of experience in the mental health field as a social worker, and she has drawn on her knowledge of psychological disorders as a basis for her creative works. Her short story, “Seasons,” about a long-distance relationship, placed in an international literary competition in 1988. She also published “American Family” in Woman’s World about her personal experience of placing her mother in a nursing home.

Joan E. Childs

Joan E. Childs, LCSW has been a psychotherapist since 1978. She is a clinical social worker, specializing in couple’s therapy, codependency, inner child work, original pain work, and second-stage recovery. Joan was the first affiliate of the John Bradshaw Center in the United States. She is a certified master practitioner for neuro-linguistic programming, EMDR master practitioner, grief counselor, hypnotherapist, PAIRS leader, life coach, and inspirational speaker. Joan is the author of The Myth of the Maiden: On Being a Woman and Why Did She Jump? My Daughter’s Battle with Bipolar Disorder, which is presently in preproduction for a film. Joan has authored hundreds of blogs at www.joanechilds.com and magazines, such as The Huffington Post. She has appeared on national radio and television programs, including The Oprah Winfrey Show.

Joan Hicks Boone

Joan Hicks Boone is an author and speaker from Burnsville, Minnesota. Joan is a former registered nurse who practiced in a variety of settings in the Twin Cities area for over 32 years. In her memoir, The Best Girl, Joan takes readers through the experience of growing up in a family struggling with alcoholism, domestic violence, neglect, and other dysfunctions. Throughout the book, readers will see and feel what Joan saw and felt as a toddler, young child and adolescent—and how, through it all, she holds out hope that by being The Best Girl, she can make her father be healed and her mother smile. Joan is currently working on her second book, The Choicemaker, a sequel to The Best Girl. For more information about Joan, visit her website at www.joanhicksboone.com.

Joanne P. McCallie

Joanne P. McCallie is an author and elite-level NCAA Basketball coach. She received a BA from Northwestern University and an MBA from Auburn University, and has coached at Maine, Michigan State, and Duke, making National Coach of the Year 2005, and winning numerous championships at all three schools. She is the only coach in history to win Coach of the Year in four different conferences. An advocate for mental health and melanoma, she is also a wife, and mom of two, Maddie and Jack. She has extensive media experience, on radio shows and podcasts, and has provided color commentary for four years in the WNBA. She previously published Choice, Not Chance: Rules for Building a Fierce Competitor.

Joe Ciccone

Joe Ciccone is an author and entrepreneur of several businesses. He developed a personal relationship with God in his early twenties, but tribulations in his life helped him realize that he was not living a Godly life. After he was diagnosed with cancer and his faith in God was tested, he was led to share God’s gift of faith through the written word. He is happily married with three grown children.

Joe Coccaro

Joe Coccaro has been writing and editing professionally since graduating from Syracuse University, where he earned a master's degree from the prestigious S.I. Newhouse School of Communications. In his more than thirty years as a professional journalist, Joe has won scores of state, regional, and national awards as both a writer and editor. He has worked for major newspapers in New York State, New Jersey, and Virginia. For the past six years, Joe has been a book editor and book writer, currently serving as executive editor and vice president of Koehler Books. Joe has edited more than 200 works of fiction and nonfiction, dozens of which have won literary awards. He has ghostwritten several titles and coauthored three books. Woo-Woo is Joe's first novel published under his name.

Joe Dicianno

Joe Dicianno has held leadership roles in the construction, restaurant/fine dining, military, and corporate healthcare settings. He has a bachelor's degree in business and management, a master's in business administration, and a PhD in instructional management and leadership. Joe has published articles on a variety of leadership topics and enjoys working on the front lines while also helping others with their leadership through teaching, workshops, training, assessments, coaching, and research.

Joe Palmer

Joe Palmer is an award-winning former newspaper reporter and longtime columnist, whose folksy column, Cup of Joe, ran for ten years in the Fernandina Beach News-Leader with a large and enthusiastic following. He's written investigative reporting and feature stories for the Bradenton Herald, Macon Telegraph and News and the Florida Times-Union. A Navy veteran and medical corpsman, he went on to work as a surgeon's assistant at St. Vincent's Medical in Jacksonville, while attending college for this BA from the University of North Florida. He parlayed his investigative experience into a twenty-year career as an investigator for the Federal Public Defender's Office. A sailor, he got the idea for his debut novel while working on an antique sailboat that he and his wife painstakingly restored.

Joe Sipher

Joe Sipher started his career as a rudderless English major fired from his first job for incompetence. Through perseverance and a willingness to learn, this once aimless twenty-two-year-old navigated a dramatic turnaround and carved out a remarkable career. First, he helped two nascent start-ups grow into multibillion-dollar public companies. More recently, he founded two profitable mobile app companies. His thirty-year career spans product management, product design, technical management, and marketing. Joe holds twenty-six patents related to mobile technology and user experience. His journey from failure to success exemplifies the transformative power of facing setbacks and embracing learning opportunities.

Joe Svoboda

Joe Svoboda has completed a thirty-eight-year career as a petroleum exploration geologist/geophysicist. He has published and presented several technical articles to his peers and was a past chairman of the Fort Worth, Texas chapter of the Society of Independent Professional Earth Scientists. He enjoys tennis, hiking, and fishing. He and his wife divide their time between Washington and Florida.

Joel Block PhD

Joel Block, PhD, a clinical psychologist specializing in treating couples, is a diplomate of the American Board of Professional Psychology and an assistant clinical professor of psychology/psychiatry at the Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell. He is a senior psychologist on the staff of the Northwell Health System and a fellow of the American Psychological Association. Dr. Block has written more than twenty books on love and sex, and has had several TV appearances, including national morning news shows. Dr. Block lives in Huntington, New York.

John Agostinelli

John Agostinelli has over twenty-five years' experience in banking and real estate industries, having worked at the FDIC examining the causes of bank failure and managing foreclosures in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island. He is also a real estate investor, builds speculation home and rehabilitates properties which helps communities to recover from the blight and regression caused by distressed properties. He is a guest speaker, author, real estate expert witness and real estate investment coach.

John Barrett

John Barrett, David Wheatley and Christi Barrett work together at Humanergy, a leadership development company with the mission to create a new kind of leader committed to the greater good and with the character, wisdom and competence to make a real difference in their teams, organizations and even the world. Over the past twenty-five years, the authors have worked with about 375 different organizations, training and coaching their leaders and teams and facilitating key transitions. John Barrett and David Wheatley previously authored 50 DOs for Everyday Leadership. Christi Barrett is the co-author of In Whose Best Interest: One Child's Odyssey, A Nation's Responsibility and Putting Connectedness, Continuity, Dignity and Opportunity to Work.

John Carenen

John Carenen is a writer with a keen eye for both serious and humorous work. His by-line columns in the Morganton (North Carolina) News-Herald and the Clinton (South Carolina) Chronicle established his reputation for self-effacing humor, with one column reprinted in Reader's Digest. Other RD credits include "Shagger!" which won a First Person Award. The National Institute of Mental Health published Son-up, Son-down, his novelized treatment of a successful group home approach, the Teaching-Family Model. He has been a key presenter at a number of Teaching-Family Model national conferences and, more recently, a panelist several times over in Killer Nashville Conferences, including a Claymore Award at the 2019 conference. He has also published pieces in The Sign, McCall's, and Dynamic Years, and his Thomas O'Shea trilogy (Signs of Struggle, A Far Gone Night, and The Face on the Other Side) drew accolades from established authors. Ron Rash, Wendy Tyson, and William Kent Kreuger, among others, have praised his work.

John Dickson

John Dickson has selected excerpts from his father’s weekly letters to his children. John has previously written two books: Berkshire County’s Industrial Heritage (Arcadia Press, 2017) and History Shock: When History Collides with Foreign Relations (University Press of Kansas, 2021).

John E. Ward

With more than a decade of study, experimentation, understanding, and effective golf coaching based on Percy Boomer's teachings in On Learning Golf, John Ward is arguably the world's foremost expert and teacher of Boomer's golf-swing principles. A golf professional with more than forty years in the business, John has played golf since the age of nine and has experience as golf equipment manufacturer, equipment technician, golf caddie, and more than thirty years coaching thousands of golfers from beginners to advanced, including professionals. As a competitor, John has played in the US Senior Open. John's approach to golf is "Hit it, chase it, and have fun."

John Fergusson

A former director for Reinhard Bonnke and founder of JF Ministries, John Fergusson has witnessed millions come to Christ. His nonfiction books include Authority, Holy Fire, and Heal the Sick, commended as biblical, insightful, and clear. His first novel, Flies in a Window, was shortlisted for the Athanatos Christian Fiction prize. He spent five years researching King Solomon’s Deadly Legacy, including two trips to Israel. He and his wife live in Auckland, New Zealand.

John H. Nebeker

John H. Nebeker has worked in the financial services industry for nearly two decades. He has earned multiple postgraduate degrees and received numerous industry awards for his accomplishments. John specializes in implementing unique but time-tested strategies for wealth creation, protection, and proliferation.

John Hinman

John Hinman graduated from Edinboro University with a degree in education and taught middle school students for almost thirty years. He wrote his first novel, True Heroes of Gettysburg, to instill an interest in the Civil War in his students. As a native of Erie, Pennsylvania, John noticed that Strong Vincent, one of the main contributors to the Union victory at Gettysburg, had not been adequately portrayed in novels or historical accounts of the battle. This inspired him to write Strong Vincent: A Call to Glory in celebration of this important figure. John enjoys reading, volunteer work, and spending time with his wife.

John J. Jessop

John J. Jessop, Ph.D., Pharmacology, expert in the pharmacology and toxicology of drugs, biopharmaceuticals and toxins, spent twenty years with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and another twenty years on the industry side (drug company and pharmaceutical consultant). He now applies this considerable experience and expertise to the writing of murder mysteries. Dr. Jessop has hit his stride with PLEASURIA: Take as Directed, a comedy murder mystery in which he goes for laugh-out-loud comedy, exploring the potential for a humorous side to drug development. He started his fiction writing career with two dark murder mysteries, Guardian Angel: Unforgiven, including a serial killer using exotic toxins and a bioterrorism agent as murder weapons, and Guardian Angel: Indoctrination, with a cult leader with a fondness for poisonous snakes, which he published on Amazon. His interests include boating, fishing, sports cars and reading novels by Robert B. Parker and J.A. Jance, and he enjoys reruns of old movies with the comedy of Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner and actors such as Gene Wilder and Steve Martin.

John Koehler

John Köehler is the author of seven books and is the publisher at Köehler Books Publishing. He is an award-winning graphic designer and was the director of Young Life Capernaum in Hampton Roads, a ministry for kids with disabilities. John is the 1991 Boomerang World Champ and coached the U.S. Team to a World Championship in 2002. John is married to his beautiful Patty and father to the awesome Kimmi and Danielle, grandfather to Eli and Lilli.

John Kralik

John Kralik worked for thirty years as an attorney in Los Angeles. He was a partner in the international law firm of Hughes Hubbard & Reed, was counsel to a large corporation, and started his own law firm. For the last ten years, he has been a judge of the Los Angeles Superior Court. His previous book, A Simple Act of Gratitude, was a New York Times bestseller. He has appeared on Good Morning America, CBS Sunday Morning, CBS Evening News, and CBS This Morning, as well as numerous radio programs including NPR.

John M. Millar

John M. Millar grew up in Central Pennsylvania and graduated from Cornell University in 1966. He served in the US Army from 1966 to 1969; graduated from Officer Candidate School in July 1967; served as a first lieutenant with the First Infantry Division in Vietnam in 1968 and 1969; and received two Bronze Stars, an Air Medal, and a Commendation Medal from the US Army. From the Vietnam government, Millar received the Vietnamese Honor Medal and the Vietnamese Gallantry Cross for joint operations. He graduated with an MBA from the Darden Graduate Business School, University of Virginia, in 1972. For the past forty-five years, he has served in senior executive positions in department stores, regional mall REITs, and mixed-use town center-development industries. The Wars Among the Paines is his first novel.

John R. Gerdy

Dr. John R. Gerdy serves as founder and executive director of Music for Everyone (MusicForEveryone.org), a nonprofit dedicated to cultivating the power of music as an educational and community-building tool in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. John was an All-American basketball player for Davidson College and played a year professionally. He formerly served at the NCAA and as associate commissioner of the Southeastern Conference and has written extensively on the educational and economic exploitation of the Black athlete.

John Racoosin

John Racoosin is a westerner transplanted to the Virginia Peninsula, where he lives with his wife, Juliet, and, periodically, children and dogs. A retired Navy frogman and civil servant, John only belatedly felt compelled to write of his grandfather, the subject of his book. While family lore surrounding the mild-mannered patriarch hinted at the depth of his significance, only five years' research revealed the full story of one of America's unsung World War II heroes. Combat Engineer is Racoosin's first work.

John Reger

John Reger is an award-winning writer who has published five books, including Slices and Quotable Wooden. His work has appeared in Lexus Magazine, The Orange County Register, Associated Press, San Diego Magazine, and Reuters. He has traveled to every one of the fifty states, forty-eight of them on a motorcycle. He has been the subject of interviews on KNBR San Francisco, KNWQ Palm Springs, CA, and WFLF Orlando, FL.

John Schnatter

John H. “Papa John” Schnatter developed an entrepreneurial spirit and a passion for making pizzas while growing up in Jeffersonville, Indiana. So after saving his father’s bankrupt tavern at the age of 22, he knocked down a broom closet in the back of the bar. Then he installed a used oven and began delivering pizza pies made with his personal recipe around town. Just over thirty years later, Papa John’s is an international restaurant powerhouse, with 5,000 stores worldwide and $3.7 billion in system-wide sales. More importantly, John Schnatter insists on always using better ingredients to make better pizzas—pizzas that millions of people worldwide know and love.

John Schwartz

John Schwartz followed a career in international trade and economic development in Geneva at the United Nations, in Washington D.C. at the World Bank and as an international consultant traveling worldwide. He resides as a writer in Virginia, and is married with two children and two grandchildren.

John T. Wagner

John Wagner is a senior vice president with Young Life and has been David’s dad for the last seventeen years. He has watched his son grow and struggle. David has taught him more than he can ever talk about or write in a book about what it means to follow Jesus, but he has made the attempt to capture a small piece of that. John has a B.A. from Wake Forest University and an M.Div. from Fuller Seminary. He has been on Young Life staff for thirty-three years and is currently located in New York City with his beautiful wife, Gae, and their three kids, Michael (24), Jessi (22), and David (17). John Wagner is also an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (PC-USA).

John Thomas Hoffman

Colonel John T. Hoffman, USA, Retired, entered the Army in 1969, upon graduating from Georgetown University, and served in South Vietnam in 1971-72 as a combat helicopter pilot, flying a variety of aircraft. During his career, he served many assignments on active duty and in the North Carolina National Guard, including anti-terrorism, intelligence, civil-military, and command positions. Col. Hoffman retired in 2000. After the events of September 11, 2001, Col. Hoffman accepted a position in the National Infrastructure Protection Center within the FBI and later within the US Department of Homeland Security where he helped reduce risks to our critical national infrastructures from terrorism, cyberattack, and natural disasters.

John Warley

John Warley is the award-winning author of seven books. His bestselling novel, A Southern Girl, was praised by Pat Conroy as "stylish as a novel by John Irving and as tightly written as one by John Grisham." His history of his undergraduate alma mater, Stand Forever, Yielding Never: The Citadel in the 21st Century, led to his selection to write both the inscription for the college's war memorial and "The Citadel at War," a narrative history of the wars and conflicts in which Citadel alumni have made the ultimate sacrifice. NPR selected his essay "Lingering at the Doors" for publication in This I Believe on Fatherhood. A graduate of the University of Virginia School of Law, he drew on decades of experience practicing law in writing A Jury of One.

John William Patton

John is a dynamic public speaker who implores his audiences to make small, meaningful lifestyle changes through the paradigm of "practical practice." He presents at public health forums, leads national public service campaigns, and has designed cutting-edge health initiatives. Before becoming the executive director of the ProVention Health Foundation and serving as the director of communications for the National Association of Chronic Disease Directors (NACDD), he worked for CBS, PBS and NBC. He is a published newspaper, magazine and online journalist and hosts health podcasts and webinars. John graduated from the University of Delaware and then from the National Journalism Center in Washington, DC. He lives in Atlanta, Georgia, with five health-minded kids and is married to a Peruvian designer who fuels his mission to transform the health of the public.

Johnson Chong

Johnson Chong is a native New Yorker and international yogi, meditation teacher and Self-Mastery Guide. He founded Sagehouse based in Singapore with the intention to help people re-connect the mind, body and spirit. He is also the creator of Exodus Retreats, where he leads transformational retreats to sacred places around the world. As a professionally trained actor and perpetual student of esoteric wisdom, he integrates his love of storytelling to empower life changing shifts in consciousness through his speaking engagements and group coaching. Johnson runs a holistic self-mastery podcast, Sage Sapien and offers guided meditation audios and online and live coaching programs. Sage Sapien: From Karma to Dharma is his first book.

Jon Howe

Jon Howe grew up along the Gulf Coast of Florida. A few years after college, he moved to the Pacific Northwest, got his captain’s license, taught sailing for five years, managed a fleet of charter boats for ten, and sold boats for fifteen. In between, he raced to Hawaii, skippered charters, and delivered yachts. When he retired, he sold his house to buy the boat he would live aboard for fourteen years. He sailed around Central America to Florida, down the West Indies to Colombia and Panama, out to Hawaii, and then back to the Pacific Northwest. He now lives with his beloved on San Juan Island, near his family.

Jon Robinson

Jon Robinson is an award-winning author and journalist whose work has appeared across ESPN, Sports Illustrated, and IGN.com. He has written eight books, including Rumble Road, The Attitude Era, NXT: The Future is Now, and Creating the Mania. His book The Ultimate Warrior: A Life Lived Forever won the IBPA Benjamin Franklin Award for Best Biography.

Jorge Leiner

Jorge Leiner escribió su primer cuento a los 17 años. Desde temprana edad mostró una inclinación hacia la belleza de las palabras y un interés especial por la verdad que existe en el método científico. Fue ese interés el que lo llevó a graduarse en ingeniería años después, pero sin perder de vista su pasión por los libros y las letras. Esta combinación de características aparentemente disímiles, sembró la semilla que se convertiría eventualmente en AL MARGEN DEL DESTINO, su primera novela. Su curiosidad casi crónica, y su deseo imperioso por conocer otros lugares y otras culturas lo ha llevado a viajar de manera constante, teniendo siempre presente el amor por su hogar, en la Ciudad de México.

Jose Mercado Ventura

Jose Mercado Ventura is a student majoring in biology and computer and information science. When he is not studying or working, he loves to learn new skills and further his knowledge of other sciences and math. He also loves the arts and writes songs for and plays guitar and piano. And he writes whenever there is a spark of inspiration for a new story.

Joseph Goldenberg

Joseph Goldenberg is an enthusiastic eleven-year-old with a fascination with rats, baseball, and basketball (the order is likely to change on any given day). This is his first book, and he is excited to share it with the world! He dreams of being an MLB player, and having a house filled with pets.

Joseph N. Teti

Joseph Teti is a veteran of both US military and US government special operations units. He is a former Force Recon Marine, Army Special Forces "Green Beret", and a former operator in a highly classified government counter-terrorist unit. A former stockbroker and highly seasoned entrepreneur, he has taken years of lessons learned, hard knocks and successes as a businessman, staggering personal loss and the fame and stresses of a TV celebrity, to craft Lone Operator into a survival manual for the 21st century.

Joseph Rector

Joseph Rector has written for Adirondack Life magazine and is an internationally published landscape photographer. He spends his free time climbing and re climbing the Adirondack high peaks that he loves. He is married and has two teenage daughters.

Joseph Seechack

Joseph Seechack worked in television for decades before retiring and committing to his new passion: writing. He is an author who likes to find the funny in the true and to write himself into a corner and then write his way out of it. He has been blessed with the ability to see through other people's eyes and write their stories. He previously wrote the short story "To Catch a Thief," which was included in the Writers of Tomorrow anthology in May 2021.

Joshua Fagan

Joshua Fagan is an eight-time award-winning writer who has been active in the film, television, and production industry since 2014. Earning his bachelor’s degree in media production at Ryerson University, Joshua has been both behind and in front of the camera. His professional résumé includes on-set credits with Disney, the American Heroes Channel, TD Bank, A&W, Endbridge Energy, and more.

Joshua Karsh

JOSHUA KARSH is an entrepreneur and has worked in politics for longer than he cares to remember. He has written extensively over the years, but it has rarely been in his own name. A red-head himself, the most challenging and rewarding aspect of his life has been raising three beautiful red-headed daughters, which may or may not have been the inspiration for his first book.

Josiah Posey

Josiah Posey is a young Christian author from Lockport, Illinois. When not creating stories, he enjoys writing songs, making music, and spending time with his family.

Josie Olsvig

Josie is a new Southern author who lives outside Charleston, South Carolina. Previously, Josie was an attorney and social worker who spent her career addressing child abuse, domestic violence, and sexual assault. Her call to service was spurred by growing up in poverty in the inner city, experiencing hardship, strife, and violence. Josie worked for nearly thirty years as a public servant and advocate. In the twilight of her career, Josie served on a statewide committee to combat human trafficking in her home state of Ohio. After moving to the South, she became deeply interested in the Gullah culture and race-based slavery. Leveraging her legal research skills, she interviewed Gullah slave descendants, conducted site visits, and researched archival records. Her first book, Growing Up Gullah in the Lowcountry, is a children's picture book about the Gullah culture, heirs' property, and the history of Charleston. Gullah Tears is Josie's debut historical fiction novel, the first in a series.

Jozef Opdeweegh

Jozef j Opdeweegh is an international C-suite executive with experience that spans the Atlantic and an outlook to match. Born to a family of educators in Belgium, Jozef graduated from the University of Hasselt and holds a master's in business administration, applied economics, business engineering, and quantitative techniques. Drawing on over twenty years' experience in developing companies in North America, the UK, and mainland Europe, he's an author and thought leader on the critical relationship between the values we live by and value we create. In a career that has included spells in global logistics, industrial real estate and e-commerce, he has served as CEO for Premier Farnell PLC, Neovia, Americold Realty Trust, and Syncreon. His multinational perspective includes professional assignments in North America, South America, Europe, Asia, and Oceania.Opdeweegh is fluent in English, Dutch, and German, and has a working command of French together with a love of their wine. He currently resides in Miami with his wife, Jacqueline Miguel, and is the proud father of six children.

Juana-Catalina Rodriguez

Juana-Catalina is a serial intrapreneur and entrepreneur. She had developed multiple innovation projects in several industries, including fast-moving consumer goods, retail, financial services, mobile retail, cloud storage, digital identities, digital transformation, and social innovation across Asia-Pacific, Europe, Latin America, and North America.She is a startup advisor, author, and founder of JnC Nova. This company helps startups, intrapreneurs, and other innovators accelerate their development and grow their businesses by streamlining their innovation processes. Juana-Catalina is an executive coach for the Stanford GSB Seed-Stanford Institute for Innovation in Developing Economies and Stanford GSB LEAD for global executives and entrepreneurs.

Judge Roy Sparkman

Judge Roy Sparkman was a district judge in Texas and tried many felony (including capital murder), civil, and family law cases. As a practicing attorney, Judge Sparkman's interest in religious liberty peaked when he represented a pastor subpoenaed as a witness for a deposition and trial testimony based on the pastor's sermon attacking books in the children's section of the public library as being contrary to the Bible. Judge Sparkman has served as a deacon in his local church, as an executive committee officer for the Southern Baptist Convention, as a director and member of the executive committee for the State Bar of Texas, and served twelve years as a trustee for the Wichita Falls, Texas, School District (including president for seven years). A Pastor's Pit is Judge Sparkman's first book.

Judy Gruen

Judy Gruen is the author of The Skeptic and the Rabbi: Falling in Love with Faith and several other books. Her essays and book reviews appear regularly in the Jewish Journal, and her work has also appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Chicago Tribune, Aish.com, Jewish Action, Boston Globe, and the New York Daily News. Judy has also edited several books on Judaism. She earned her master’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University and lives in Los Angeles with her husband, Jeff.

Julianne Haycox

Julianne Haycox is an author and photographer. She is the author of Be Still and Know, a book of her nature photography paired with inspirational and thought-provoking quotes. In her spare time, she is often outdoors gardening or simply communing with the natural world. Julianne lives in Virginia Beach, Virginia, with her husband and daughter. She graduated from Old Dominion University where her love of writing was ignited.

Julie MacNeil

Julie MacNeil is a popular speaker, author, world traveler, and Alpha-1 Antitrypsin advocate who lives in the heart of the Rocky Mountains. Always up for adventure, she has had over 60 jobs throughout her varied career. She is now the owner of MacNeil Financial Services, and was the number one selling agent in Utah from 2005-2013 in an agency of over 100.

Julie Scolnik

Julie Scolnik is a concert flutist and the founding artistic director of Mistral Music, a chamber music series that since 1997 has been known for its virtuosic artists and imaginative programming and the personal rapport she establishes with audiences. She lives in Boston with her husband, physicist Michael Brower, and her two cats, Daphne and Chloë. They have two adult children, Sophie and Sasha Scolnik-Brower, also musicians.

Julie Tate-Libby

Julie Tate-Libby is an anthropologist from the Pacific Northwest. She is an adjunct instructor of sociology and anthropology at Wenatchee Valley College and has published several academic works on amenity migration, the power of place, and sacred mountains. She has also dabbled in creative non-fiction, drawing from her experiences in the Himalayas and Southeast Asia. Her writing has appeared in Cirque Literary Journal, and her poem Fire Summer was published on the Washington State Poet Laureate website.

June Dixon

June Dixon has enjoyed an extensive and highly successful career as a writer, actor and producer/director in radio and television, particularly in South Africa, where she wrote and starred in hundreds of acclaimed radio and TV productions. These include comedy series such as The Loudspeaker Show, Dr. Livingstone – I Presume? and Stop the Tape – I Want Get Off! She also co-wrote and played a leading role in the movie Fraud! and adapted O. Henry’s short story “The Gift of the Magi” into a television musical. Excerpts from some of these can be seen or heard in podcasts at the website she shares with her husband and writing partner.

K. T. Barnett

K. T. Barnett writes fiction with an interest in romance, the supernatural, and historical buildings, places, and things. K. T. has traveled extensively around the Northwest, developing characters based on people met along the way. The sights, sounds, and settings for these stories are based on experiences journeying through the cities, country, and wilderness of Oregon. When not working on writing, K. T. is out cruising country roads in Oregon's Willamette Valley looking for old buildings to explore and local places to eat.

K. Todd Holt

K. Todd Holt is a former pastor of twenty-two years and president/owner of Kenneth Todd Holt Consulting. He received a doctor of ministry degree from Samford University, Beeson School of Divinity. He and his wife, Carol, have two grown children, Mason and Chelsea. He continues to speak and teach in order to help people and organizations reach their God-given potential through Christ.

Karen J. Clayton

Karen is a sociologist and social worker who teaches in universities, presents to social service agencies, libraries, and bookstores, and works in hospitals, hospice, and for the American Cancer Society. She is the author of Demystifying Hospice: Inside the Stories of Patients and Caregivers and has presented to the American Academy of Religion and Society of Biblical Literature about Easter celebrations in the Philippines.

Karen Marginot

Karen Marginot spent extensive time in her teens and early twenties exploring the edges of alcohol and street drugs and became clean and sober in 1985. She lives a sober life and enjoys multiple careers serving over thirty years with nonprofits, public-sector agencies, and global tech companies. She is currently a certified leadership, career, and wellness coach, author, and speaker.

Karen Ruben

Karen Ruben worked in family entertainment for over twenty-five years, primarily in marketing and promotions for Warner Bros., Disney, and Nickelodeon. As vice president of partnership marketing for Warner Bros. promotions agency, she managed tie-in promotions for the studio's Theatrical and Home Video divisions where she developed a keen insight into stories for the middle-grade market. RUFF Riders is her first book.

Karen Spears Zacharias

Karen Spears Zacharias is an award-winning author of numerous books, both fiction and nonfiction. A former crime beat reporter, she has taught journalism at Central Washington University, and her work has been featured on NPR, CNN, and Good Morning America. Her op-eds have appeared in The Washington Post and The New York Times. A Gold-Star daughter, Karen divides her time between her home in Deschutes County, Oregon, and her hometown of Columbus, Georgia. For more information check out karenzach.com.

Karma Kitaj

Karma Kitaj, PhD, has been in the listening business for decades. As an astute listener, she works with trauma survivors as a psychotherapist and with Baby Boomers as a life coach, making her ear a splendid instrument for "hearing" the voices of her characters. She parlayed her skill into researching and writing about high-achieving women in 2 books: Women Who Could... and Did, Lives of 26 Exemplary Artists and Scientists and Women Riders Who Could... and Did, Life Stories of Top Level Equestriennes. She authored a blog and articles for online publications, such as the Huffington Post. She contributed a chapter on creativity to Live Smart After 50! The Experts Guide to Life Planning for Uncertain Times. Kitaj has hosted a TV show she created, called "New Adventures As We Age" where she interviewed 100+ people over age 50. These are all archived on YouTube and Vimeo.

Karola M. Schuette

Karola M. Schuette, from Offenbach, Germany, brought her early skills as a legal secretary and interpreter to her venture as an author, but it was her life experience during the Depression and Hitler years of World War II that informed her distinctive, insightful voice. Crossing to this country as a war bride in 1947 and becoming an American citizen expanded her horizons and intensified her perceptions of both the new world she entered and the old one she left behind. In her capacity as a customer service representative and notary at a Connecticut bank she wrote articles of historic and local interest for the bank's publication and started her own book club. She was engaged as a community leader, historical researcher, hospitality coordinator, security manager, beekeeper, and singer, and advanced humanitarian causes throughout her life.

Kate Hallock

Kate Hallock lives in Peachtree City, Georgia, where she drives a golf cart everywhere, usually with at least one of her three daughters in tow, sometimes her husband, and occasionally their scruffy dog. She spends most of her free time inventing worlds and characters and writing about them. Luckily, she can do a lot of it in her head as she carpools, cleans, swims laps at the gym, and matches socks. You can connect with her at www.katehallock.com or on social media: @katehallockwrites.

Kate Hasbrouk

Kate Hasbrouck has been writing and creating stories for as long as she can remember. She had written several stories by the time she was a teen, but Homecoming was the first full manuscript she had ever written with the intention of sharing it with other people. She attended Houghton College, where she honed her skills to receive her bachelor’s degree with a dual-major in writing and psychology. She lives in Florida with her husband, a youth pastor at a local church, where she spends time writing, ministering to teens, and enjoying the life God has given her. Homecoming is the first book in a trilogy.

Kate McGaughey

Growing up with a lifelong fear of fire, she used that inspiration to weave her first book, Feel the Heat. With daily access to medical drama via her doctor-husband, she introduced her second book, Hear the Bells. A lover of travel, food and wines, Kate McGaugheys followed her career to the Far East, Middle East and Africa. Her connection to Chapel Hill dates to her work in the field of higher education and her position at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where she worked for six terrific years—becoming a true Tar Heel fan! Kate lives in Virginia Beach, Virginia, with her husband and two golden retrievers. She is working on a five-book series about a character named Lucy Irving.

Kathleen Covens

Kathleen Covens is a first-time author. She gravitated toward early childhood education and was certified in the state of Texas as a teacher. After graduating from college, Kathleen married and had her first child, Shelly, who became brain damaged at thirteen months old. At the age of six, Shelly was placed in a permanent facility. Her sudden and lifelong disability made Kathleen realize how much we take for granted. Kathleen did not return to teaching until her second daughter, Katie, was nine years old. Her goal each year was to make a significant difference in the lives of children. After retiring, Kathleen felt compelled to share her experience and wisdom.

Kathleen Reid

Kathleen Reid is the author of two works of fiction, Paris Match and A Page Out of Life. Her books have been featured in USA Today, Good Housekeeping and Southern Living Magazine; she has appeared on ABC-TV and Virginia This Morning as well as Lite 98 Radio. An art enthusiast, she has written for VCUarts and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. Kathleen is also a wife, mom to two girls, avid runner, yoga wannabe, interior design lover, HGTV addict and wayfarer who lives in Richmond, Virginia. Please visit www.KathleenReid.com for more information.

Kathryn Pincus

Kathryn Pincus honed her writing skills in her law practice, presenting complex factual and legal matters in clear, compelling and persuasive writings. Long Hill Home is her debut novel, and another novel and a collection of short stories are in the works. She was raised in the New York metropolitan area, received her undergraduate degree (B.A., Magna Cum Laude) from the University of Delaware, and her law degree (J.D.) from the Georgetown University Law Center. Since her “early retirement” from the practice of law, she has filled her days taking care of a busy household and family, supporting numerous charitable and community causes and writing fiction. When not engaged in all the above, Kate enjoys running, biking, traveling, reading, cooking, watching her sons compete in sports and summering at the Jersey Shore.

Katie Andraski

Katie Andraski worked for several years as a publicist in Christian publishing where she convinced editors at Newsweek, The New York Times, Publishers Weekly, Moody and Christianity Today to publicize her company and authors. She has an M.F.A. from the University of Arkansas. Her collection of poetry, When the Plow Cuts, was published in 1988 by Thorntree Press. She currently teaches composition at Northern Illinois University. She lives on a farm with her husband Bruce, two dogs, two horses, a flock of chickens and one not-so-feral cat.

Katie Ogeyi Odey

Katie Ogeyi Odey is a mother, a teacher, an adjunct professor, and an author. She was born in Nigeria, and she moved to the United States in the early part of 1990. She lived in Durham, New Hampshire in the mid 90s. While in New Hampshire, she created a storytelling program for children and shared her knowledge of African folklore, literature, and culture through storytelling and workshops. In 1998 she won an excellence award from Greensboro Community Television in North Carolina for the production of Moonlight Tales. She currently resides in Montgomery County, Maryland, where she works as an 8th Grade English teacher for Montgomery County Public Schools. She ran a school newspaper and had an opportunity to teach journalism. Her involvement with the News Papers in Education, NIE, through the Washington Post has created opportunities for her students get involved with current events. During the 2012 Election season, her Sixth-grade students wrote letters to the Washington Post Kidspost and shared their opinions about the negative ads by presidential candidates, Governor Romney and President Obama. Their article was published on November 6, 2012. She is an adjunct professor at Montgomery College. In 2013 she was nominated by the Montgomery College Reading coordinators and recognized for her outstanding work as an Adjunct Faculty. Bouquet of Dandelions is her third novel.

Katrina Mackrides

Katrina Mackrides retired from the retail industry as a top-ranked district manager after over forty years. During the COVID lockdown, she began to write, inspired by her dreams. Her first book, The Salty Swan, was created around a reoccurring dream. Katrina is a lifetime fitness enthusiast and has been a professional group-exercise instructor for over thirty-eight years. She is a native Floridian and is married, with two adult children. She enjoys traveling, reading, exercise, and adventure.

Katrina Shawver

Katrina Shawver wrote hundreds of newspaper columns over eleven years for The Arizona Republic, holds a B.A. from the University of Arizona in English/Political Science and has excelled at the School of Trial and Error. In addition to a variety of previous careers in software support, the paralegal profession, tax preparation, and answering phones for a forensic psychiatrist, she has presented at the community college level on Poland Under Hitler and Stalin. She lives in Phoenix, Arizona with her husband and still wishes sweet potato fries counted as a vegetable. Visit her website katrinashawver.com where she blogs regularly. This is her first book.

Keith Deel

Keith Deel’s Fluidus is his debut collection of poetry that spans more than thirty years of writing. He has written lyrics for songs, including "Big World" on the album To a Man. Keith Deel earned his B.S. in history from Lee University and a M.A. in Biblical studies and church history from Regent University. He has taught both history and the Bible at the high school and college levels. He lives in Virginia Beach, Virginia with his wife Letha Holland-Deel and their four children.

Keith Fechtman

Keith Fechtman is a writer, runner, and family man. He is a veteran living in the Indianapolis, Indiana area. He wants to help people become more positive about life and learn about the struggles of dyslexia.

Kellie R. Emery

Kellie R. Emery is a graphic designer and illustrator of four books. She has an obsession with shiny lights and loves to paint on both faces and canvases. One day, Kellie plans on moving to Ireland with her polar bear friend, Toulouse, where they will make cookies and cheesecakes.

Kelly J. Galvin

Kelly J. Galvin is a retired US Army Signal Corps captain with over twenty years of service, both enlisted and as a commissioned officer. He holds a master's certificate in healthcare administration and retired as a manager of healthcare information systems. He self-published two books and relocated in 2004 to Arizona where he volunteers in the community. The Army recalled him back to active duty in 2009 and deployed him to Iraq as part of the surge of forces strategy.

Kelly Lang

KELLY LANG is active in several associations and advocacy organizations as a speaker, published author in several magazines, and subject-matter expert.

Kelly Rabenstein

Doctor Kelly is a licensed counseling psychologist. She earned a master of science in applied developmental psychology from the University of Pittsburgh, a master of arts in counseling psychology at Boston College, and a doctor of counseling psychology at Chatham University. Her focus is on relationships between people and the ability (or inability) of individuals to deeply connect through interpersonal communication.Doctor Kelly has worked in a wide range of clinical settings and as a consultant for companies who want to improve productivity through increased communication. Her writing has appeared in academic journals, magazines, online news sources, and more. She makes appearances as a mental health expert in the media, such as The Doctors TV show, Bustle, Mic, Thrive, and PopSugar. She teaches at the City University of New York as well as Purdue University.She lives in Charleston, SC, with her daughters, a golden retriever, and her familiar, a black kitty named Friend.For more information go to www.kellydoc.com.

Kelly Sokol

Kelly Sokol's debut novel, The Unprotected, was named one of Book Riot's 100 Must-Read Books on Pregnancy, Childbirth, and Mothering. Her work has appeared in publications, including Alpinist, The Manifest-Station, and ConnotationPress, and has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Kelly was awarded a National Parks Artist's residency in 2018. She serves on the board of directors for the Muse Writers Center in Norfolk, Virginia, where she also teaches fiction writing. She received her MFA from Goddard College.

Ken Cavazzoni

Ken Cavazzoni is a baseball lifer. Upon graduating from Columbia University, he was selected by the Cincinnati Reds in the fifteenth round of the 1991 Major League Baseball amateur draft. After a brief stint as a professional player, he continued his involvement in the game as a coach, instructor, evaluator, and travel baseball organization president. Immortal combines his political science background and ardent patriotism with an array of baseball interactions and observations. Currently, he lives at the New Jersey shore with his wife and three children.

Ken Coulson

Ken Coulson traveled the globe in a fast-paced, over-the-top career with Wall Street's biggest banks before an epiphany during the financial crisis set him on a path of sustainability and music. He has written and released over 100 songs, many in support of climate action. Ken founded the sustainability think tank Future Bright and writes on Medium on mindfulness and the art of here and now. The Arsonist is his debut novel.

Ken Wells

Ken Wells grew up with one foot in the Louisiana swamps, the second of six sons of an alligator-hunting father and a gumbo-cooking mother. A longtime writer for The Wall Street Journal, he's authored five novels of the Cajun bayous, including the coming-of-age classic, Meely LaBauve. He divides his time between Chicago and a log cabin in the wilds of Maine.

Kenneth Kann

Kenneth Kann helped his father live and die with the dread disease ALS. At age thirty-five, in 1979, he was a UC Berkeley history teacher when his father was diagnosed with ALS. After his father died, he enrolled in law school, became a successful litigation attorney, and later became a director of the government agency that administers the California court system. He is the author of two popular history books: Comrades and Chicken Ranchers, the Story of a California Jewish Community and Joe Rapoport, the Life of a Jewish Radical.

Kenneth M. Wheeler

Kenneth M. Wheeler is a lifelong writer and editor. His career highlights include time as an award-winning journalist and a communications practitioner, teacher and workshop leader. A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of North Carolina, he is editor of the international textbook Effective Communication: A Local Government Guide, and has served as a communications consultant in Bulgaria and Indonesia for the U. S. Agency for International Development. Wheeler is an avid reader of mysteries, histories and biographies, and—like most journalists—has always dreamed of writing a novel.

Keshawn A. Spence

Keshawn Antonio Spence is a Senior Chief in the United States Navy and a graduate of the Senior Enlisted Academy. He attended Saint Leo University and graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Criminal Justice and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) Degree with a concentration in Human Resources Administration. After growing up without a stable household and absent parents, he was able to embark on a successful Navy career and rise to the rank of Senior Chief while helping enlisted Sailors and Officers succeed in mission accomplishment and achieving their personal and professional goals. He and his wife have 3 children.

Kevin Dellicker

Kevin is married to Susan and father to the same three boys. He has degrees in history, environmental management, public administration and military science, and is working on a master of divinity in global studies. Kevin is the owner of a successful technology company and former policy advisor to the governor of Pennsylvania. He is a veteran of the National Guard with twenty-four years of part-time service as an Army infantry soldier and Air Force intelligence officer. He has deployed four times for the Global War on Terrorism with the 193rd Special Operations Wing.

Kevin E. Hatt

Kevin E. Hatt is the author of the Haszard series of narratives. His interest in writing began at school, and he carried it on into his twenties, writing for fun. He wrote the first two Haszard stories in the late eighties, but shelved the project until 2009, when he revived and updated it, going on to write seventeen stories. Since friends received the stories well, Kevin published the first five books, and after good reviews is furthering the project. In 1984 he commenced his training as an operating department practitioner, rising to the height of deputy head, before leaving the profession in 1999 to pursue his other love, that of art. Kevin worked as an art consultant, demonstrator, teacher, retailer and framer, but returned to the medical profession in 2010. His main passions are cricket, running, humor, ale and curries. He lives with his wife of twenty-five years and his twenty-three-year-old daughter. Kevin has never been to Ipswich. Or Scunthorpe.

Kimberley La Farge Berlin

Kimberley La Farge Berlin, LCSW, CSAC, MAC, SAP, CCTP, is an integrative psychotherapist and level 3 IFS practitioner specializing in addiction and trauma. She has provided expert clinical, consulting, and training services worldwide for twenty-plus years. Her approach is grounded in spiritual traditions, merging ancient wisdom with modern neuroscience. Kimberley’s own journey inspired her decades of research, writing, and presentations at regional, national, and international conferences. Kimberley is a former professional dancer and an avid photographer, chef, and gardener. She lives in Leesburg, Virginia, with her husband and four loveable, mischievous rescue dogs.

Kimberly King

Kimberly King is a mom, kindergarten teacher, and speaker. King holds a Master of Science degree in Early Childhood Education from Wheelock College. She is the author of I Said No!, a best-selling children's book on sexual-abuse prevention, and When Your Parents Divorce, a kid-to-kid guide to dealing with divorce. King is a certified sexual abuse prevention facilitator with Darkness2Light. Her work has been featured on many notable blog sites including: Modern Mom, PopSugar, Protect Young Minds, The Mama Bear Effect, Dads Divorce, and U.S World News & Report.The inspiration to write this kid-to-kid guide was found with the help of her daughter. Please visit her at: www.kimberlykingbooks.com

Kip Langton

Kip Langton is widely recognized for his creative achievements as a novelist and an advertising creative. His success as a novelist includes his Amazon bestseller, Hell of Hosanna. As for advertising, Kip has won or been shortlisted for over forty creative awards, including the Cannes Lion for Innovation, New York Festivals, Innovation by Design-Fast Company, London International Awards, W3 Award, Clio Award, The Shorty Social Good Award, Epica Award, and Communication Arts Award of Excellence. He is a versatile writer who works across genres and has held a variety of creative positions for some of the most famous agencies in the world. Kip lives in New York City.

Kristan Shimpi

Kristan Shimpi lives outside of Charleston, South Carolina, with her husband of over twenty years. They recently became empty nesters when both of their children headed to college.After earning a PhD in curriculum and instruction, Kristan codeveloped an academic support skills curriculum at the Duke Child and Family Study Center.More recently, Kristan published a book about teaching problem-solving skills to young girls. Her special interests include helping parents manage challenging home and school behaviors and teaching girls of all ages self-awareness and self-advocacy skills.Smooch served as her loyal executive assistant for almost seven years.

Kristin Hammoud

Kris Hammoud is an author and clinical nurse specialist in adult psychiatry. After graduating from Emory University with an MSN in psychiatry and family practice, she has been treating patients with a wide range of psychiatric illnesses since 1999. She has worked for Veterans Affairs and in private practice and community health clinics, specializing in trauma, mood disorders, anxiety disorders, addiction, and other psychiatric illnesses. Sitting with hundreds of clients, each with a unique life journey, has culminated in her understanding of people's ability to adapt and find resilience in the lived experience. She shares this knowledge and imparts therapeutic insights into Anna's journey of evolution in What Is Wrong with Me?

L. V. Bell

L.V. Bell resides in the small multi college town of Terre Haute, Indiana, known for being home of Larry Bird's collegiate basketball career at Indiana State University. She and her husband live on seventeen acres with their two dogs and the last three home dwellers of their seven children. L.V. Bell ironically did not enjoy reading books as a youth but loved writing stories and poems from a very young age. However her love for writing was put on the back burner as her family grew and time was spent transporting one child or the other from one sporting event to another. It wasn't until her early thirties, when her mother gifted her a Kindle for Christmas, that she began to discover her own love of reading and therein rekindled her passion for writing (pun intended). With the continual encouragement from her children and the support of her husband a myriad of ideas and stories began to form. Finally after years of contemplation she wrote her first manuscript, Tiptoeing Through Tulips, which is book one of a duet series and hopefully just the first of many published works by L.V. Bell.

L.J. Litton

Laurie Jo Litton is an accomplished international public speaker, writer and scuba diving enthusiast.

Larry Allen Lindsey

A retired naval officer and Vietnam veteran, Lindsey did his undergraduate studies at Princeton and his master's work at Kent State. He was stationed overseas in Spain, Guam and Okinawa, and served tours of duty with both the Seabees and the Marines. He served on the worst riding ship in the Navy, a World War II LST–the same ship that landed his father at Normandy–and also the best riding ship, a modern aircraft carrier. He currently resides in San Diego.

Larry Kokkelenberg

Lawrence Kokkelenberg and Regan Miller have had the privilege of consulting with hundreds of organizations, looking at their cultures, design, leadership, work processes, success, and failures; providing organizational, cultural, and employee assessment; and making recommendations for organizational improvements. In addition, they have designed, developed, and delivered numerous training programs to over 200,000 individuals in both public and in-house programs. Dr. Kokkelenberg has authored numerous articles, produced an audiotape series on management, and was named one of the top small-business consultants by Independent Business Magazine. Both authors have engaged in speaking events in the OD community, including serving as plenary panel members of the OD Network conference in 2018.

Larry Rogers

Larry Rogers learned the rudiments of microneurosurgery under the tutelage of his subject, Professor Gazi Yasargil, while visiting Switzerland as a fourth-year resident from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas. His undergraduate degree was from Davidson College and he graduated from the Duke Medical School. Ultimately he practiced microneurosurgery in Charlotte, North Carolina for twenty-seven years. He has authored or co-authored four additional books, three of which are about microneurosurgery, including a novel set in the 1980s. He is married to a wonderful lady and has produced six adult children, including three daughters (an obstetrician-gynecologist, a major-league baseball writer, and one who has produced two special grandsons) plus three sons (a college professor and two computer entrepreneurs, one of whom has produced two beautiful, precious daughters, the other is deceased, but his memory remains very special indeed). In the fall, his day job is coaching high school football players.

Laura Ruth

Laura Ruth, MSc, Dip SW, has served others in the UK and around the globe. She has worked as a missionary, chaplain, itinerant minister, humanitarian aid worker, motivational speaker, and as a registered social worker in child protection and mental health. Laura is also an artist, a keen amateur photographer, and a mother.

Lauren Kristen Roberts

Lauren Roberts is a recovering elementary school teacher. She writes books about stubbornly independent women whose lives have spun out of their control, helping them land safely on their feet. After moving from city to city all her life, she settled in Northern Virginia with her husband, three kids, and their rescue dog, Thor-who is, ironically, afraid of thunder. Gemini Divided is her debut novel.

Laurinel Owen

Laurinel Owen enjoys an international career as a cellist and journalist. She has published over 130 articles in Strings Magazine, The Strad, and Muso on topics related to cello technique, soloist, luthier and music school profiles, concert, festival, and record reviews. She also has been on “assignment” in France, Germany, Russia, England, Italy, the Czech Republic, China, South Africa, and throughout the United States. Her book Bowed Arts, a biography of cellist Bernard Greenhouse, was published in German and English in 2001.

Layla Lynn

Layla Lynn was born in a small town in southwestern Illinois. She holds a BA in English from UCLA and an MA in English literature from California State University, Los Angeles. She taught high school English and drama in Los Angeles in the early 2000s. Layla began practicing Reiki and other energy work modalities in 2019, after discovering and realizing the healing powers of Reiki following a cancer diagnosis. She is now a Reiki master and teacher and an advanced Akashic record reading practitioner. She was introduced to the concept of intuitive writing while studying Reiki and has found it transformative in her life as well as in the lives of many of her clients. Layla currently owns and operates Awaken Reiki and Healing Center in Belleville, IL, where she resides with her son and her two dogs, Jack and Ozzy. For more information on Layla's energy work, please check out her website at www.awakenreikiandhealingcenter.com.

Leonard H. Orr

Leonard H. Orr has written for The Village Voice, The New York Times, and other publications. A graduate of Swarthmore College, he has also been an editor and investment manager, where for many years he witnessed the greed and entitlement his novel portrays.

Les Carroll

Les Carroll grew up in South Carolina, served in the Air Force and Air National Guard for twenty-eight years, and retired in 2013. He served two tours in Afghanistan and one tour at the Air Force Mortuary Affairs Operations Center at Dover Air Force Base. This Troubled Ground was created out of those experiences. He is an award-winning military and civilian journalist and acclaimed documentary filmmaker. His documentary Bringing the Fallen Home aired nationally in 2014. He wrote and published three books in the mid-1990s.

Les Lo Baugh

Les Lo Baugh Jr. is a former Army officer, an international energy attorney, and former senior officer and general counsel of several large companies. He has advised the Pentagon, State Department, Department of Energy, etc., spoken and published internationally on energy and legal matters, been an expert witness at the US Congress, and served multiple times as an independent observer at GTMO Camp Justice hearings involving terrorists. He received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Red Nations International Film Festival, is president of the Hiawatha Institute for Indigenous Knowledge, a Distinguished Fellow of Northeastern University, and a member of the Pacific Council on International Policy.

Leslie K. Simmons

Leslie K. Simmons writes about extraordinary people at the center of crucial turning points in American history. She is particularly fascinated by outliers and the lesser known (but no less incredible) stories that slip through history’s cracks. After decades of research, she followed a path marked by serendipities to the true story of John and Sarah Ridge and her debut novel, Red Clay, Running Waters.

Leslie Truex

Leslie Truex is an ideaphoric writer, speaker, entrepreneur, social worker, fitness instructor and mom, trying to do it all from the comfort of her home. She is the author of several books, including The Work-At-Home Success Bible and Jobs Online: How to Find and Get Hired to a Work-At-Home Job. She freelance writes about working at home, telecommuting, small business, writing, parenting and fitness. Her articles have appeared on Entrepreneur.com, Yahoo! Small Business, Livestrong and more. She speaks and teaches courses on freelance writing, publishing and platform building and has appeared on The Daily Buzz, CNN.com, Woman’s World, Redbook and Today’s Parent. Her alter ego is a fiction writer with a self-published mystery series and a three-book deal with a traditional publisher.

Leslie Zinberg

Leslie Zinberg has co-written two successful parenting books, The Pink and Blue Baby Pages, and The Pink and Blue Toddler Pages. Both books were featured in national publicity campaigns, with appearances on The Today Show, QVC, and local television and radio segments across the country. Leslie is the co-founder of the grandparent website, www.grandparentslink.com.

Letitia E. Hart

Letitia (Tish) E. Hart shares her passion for caring for and supporting others following the unexpected diagnosis and death of her husband in 2015. After enduring a heartbreaking and life-changing period and speaking with others who dealt with difficult adversities, she has firsthand knowledge of the struggles those in and after a crisis may experience. Tish has devoted her time to raising a family in Richmond, Virginia, and volunteering in the community. She has served a six-year term in her church in the area of caregiving, with four years in a leadership position.

Linda and Charlie Bloom

Married for fifty years, Linda and Charlie have served as psychotherapists, seminar leaders, and marriage counselors since 1975. They both have master's degrees in clinical social work and have lectured, led seminars, and provided consultation at universities and learning institutes throughout the United States as well as internationally. Their organization, Bloomwork, is dedicated to promoting healthy, fulfilling, and successful relationships for individuals, couples, and organizations.They have written and published four books, Happily Ever After . . . and 39 Other Myths about Love: Breaking Through to the Relationship of Your Dreams, Secrets of Great Marriages: Real Stories from Real Couples about Lasting Love, That Which Doesn't Kill Us: How One Couple Became Stronger in the Broken Places, and 101 Things I Wish I Knew When I Got Married: Simple Lessons to Make Love Last, which has been translated into several languages and distributed worldwide, selling over 100,000 copies.

Linda Kolsky

Linda Kolsky lives with her husband in New Mexico where the desert and sacred places called out to them. Prior to this move, the author and her husband called the San Francisco Bay Area their home for fifty years. Calling upon her decades-long passion for the metaphysical and spirituality for help, Linda shares what she discovered in her search for meaning after the untimely death of her son in Heavenly Hindsights: How One Mother Found Meaning in Life after the Death of Her Child.

Linda Lee Henderson

Linda Henderson grew up in Hunterdon County, New Jersey, where she developed a love of reading and raced go-karts and built tree houses with her three brothers. She received her master's degree in education from the College of William and Mary and taught elementary school in Biloxi and Columbus, Mississippi, before moving to Bangkok, Thailand, where she taught in the International School; then she taught and worked as an administrator in the International Schools of Sao Paulo, Brazil, and Caracas, Venezuela. After returning stateside, Linda switched career paths and has worked in real estate for thirty years. Linda's love and devotion to her family has always been her first priority. When she finally recognized her son was addicted to prescription drugs she felt compelled to share her story about the unraveling of his life. After moving to Hilton Head, South Carolina, she took on the task of trying to make sense of how and why this happened. When she is not writing, selling real estate, or doing crafts with her granddaughters, Linda pretends to be good at tennis and golf and enjoys many new friendships.

Linda Oatman High

Linda Oatman High is the author of more than twenty-five books for children and teens, with many of her books winning awards and honors. Linda's writing awards include the 2017 Ross Legal Fiction writing contest from the American Bar Association, as well as the prestigious 2012 international short list of six for the Sunday Times EFG Short Story Award. Linda holds an MFA in writing from Vermont College, and she is also a journalist/ playwright/poet.

Linda Santavicca

Born in Brooklyn, raised on Long Island, and dwelt in a tiny apartment in Manhattan for 34 years, Linda is the quintessential native New Yorker. Yet, through the years, she has lived in far-off remote places such as Madagascar, Hawaii, and Switzerland. After globetrotting the planet, she moved back into Manhattan to pursue a career as an actress in the performing arts. In time, Linda swapped out the stage for an office out of Wall Street where she worked in marketing and communications. In time, her personal life took an unexpected turn when she got married and moved to Pittsburgh where she continues to write business documents for professional clients and is back in the performing arts. Since relocating to Pittsburgh, Linda has performed with the Pittsburgh Irish Classical Theatre (PICT), has served on the board for the SAG-AFTRA’s Ohio-Pittsburgh Local, is a member of SAG-AFTRA’s National Communications Committee and is an alternate contributing editor for the SAG-AFTRA Industry magazine. While in New York, she appeared in Off-Broadway as well as multiple Off-Off-Broadway productions and regional theater. Yet, closest to her heart was the production of Gridlock, a five-act comedy review she wrote, produced, and performed at the West Bank Café. She has been featured in numerous commercials, film, and television series. Most noted credits are Saturday Night Live, All My Children, Law and Order, and New Jack City. During 2020 when the world came to a standstill, Linda came up with an idea, Pressing Beyond, a podcast to give hope. The podcast highlights personal stories of how people have pressed beyond unyielding obstacles to reach their calling and live out their true purpose. It has been uploaded in unprecedented numbers and continues to expand. Linda holds a BA in Theatre from Hunter College and an MA in Corporate Communications from Fordham University. She is working on her next book and when not at her desk, she is either training for her next marathon or snow skiing in some far-off destination. She and her husband live in Western Pennsylvania. www.lindasantavicca.com

Lisa Blakely

Lisa Blakely graduated Tulane University with a degree in communications and later received her master's in mental health and marriage and family therapy from Barry University. She has practiced as a psychotherapist for over twenty years, working with clients on a wide range of issues, including NPD and narcissistic abuse. Lisa currently lives in Florida with her family. She loves to travel, exercise, and cook cuisines from around the world. Her most important commitment is helping others recognize and escape narcissistic abuse.

Lisa M. Wayman

Lisa M. Wayman is a Ph.D. nurse who has published multiple works of nonfiction including chapters in Creativity and Madness: Psychological Studies of Art and Artists (Volume 2) and The art of grief: The use of expressive arts in a grief support group. Lisa’s nonfiction work uses prose, poetry and visual art to explore resilience in the context of the death of her twelve-year-old son. Lisa employed her more than 20 years of nursing experience and her personal experience of resilience to develop the multifaceted characters in her first work of fiction, Longing for Home.

Lisa Palmer

Lisa Palmer is an entrepreneur with a passion for business. She created the Mogul Group, which includes Mogul Matchmakers, Mogul Private Office, and Mogul Vision, a TV and video production company. Mogul Matchmakers helps people turn their life around with dating and relationship advice as well as matchmaking.

Liza Treviño

Liza Treviño’s an author whose time as a Hollywood Jane-of-all-trades has given her an insider’s view to a world most only see from the outside, providing the inspiration for her to create a new breed of Latina heroine. In pursuit of adventure and a Ph.D., Liza moved to Los Angeles where she racked up quite a collection of Hollywood jobs, including script girl, producer assistant and production assistant. These experiences, along with her formative years spent on the I-35 highway connecting San Antonio, Austin and Dallas, combine to let her conjure a new kind of Hollywood rags-to-riches story.

Lloyd Philip Johnson

Lloyd Johnson is the author of Living Stones, Cry of Hope and Uprooting the Olive Tree, published by Köehler Books in 2013 to 2016. He is a retired surgeon who turned to fiction writing to share his special interest in the Middle East. Johnson is a member of a Seattle writing group, and blogs regularly on Israel and Palestine. He is a clinical professor emeritus at the University of Washington in the Department of Surgery, fellow in the American College of Surgeons, and past president of the Seattle Surgical Society. He authored 26 scientific articles in peer-reviewed journals and texts. Johnson has worked and traveled extensively overseas, including Asia, Africa and the Middle East, and served for six years as volunteer executive director and board member of a humanitarian NGO in Central Asia. The author lives with his wife Marianne in Edmonds, Washington where they enjoy their adult children and grandchildren.

Lon Wagner

Lon Wagner is a former journalist whose editors twice nominated his work for the Pulitzer Prize, including once for a fourteen-part series about the 1855 yellow fever epidemic. His other distinctions include multiple national feature writing awards, Virginia Press Association awards, and National Motorsports Writer of the Year. He graduated the University of Delaware with a degree in English and journalism and obtained a master’s of science degree in applied linguistics from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. He has three daughters and lives in Roanoke, Virginia, where he enjoys daily hikes in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Lori Pappas

Lori Pappas is a humanitarian and survivor of a traumatic childhood who learned to leverage the power of self-reflection and redefine her core beliefs. She has had a positive impact on tens of thousands of lives, earning the moniker of the “wise woman” of South Omo, Ethiopia. She is also a national award-winning entrepreneur who has mentored hundreds of employees and thousands of customers. Lori’s brainchild, the Wise Woman Sisterhood, an online haven on Facebook and Instagram, is a vibrant community where women converge to ignite inner wisdom, navigate distinct journeys, and turn challenges into golden opportunities.

Lori Pino

Lori Pino is a holistic life coach, healing artist, and social justice advocate from the San Francisco Bay Area. She co-authored an article in the Journal of Chiropractic Education about a day-labor service-learning program she cofounded and is a contributing author of Collective Wisdom: Powerful Stories and Practical Advice for Achieving Success. Haight Words is her first book. Pino was raised in a military family. Following her studies at West Point, the University of California at Davis, and other colleges, she earned a BA in behavioral science and a master's in counseling psychology. She worked in the field of education for more than thirty years, most recently as an investigator with the US Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights, and as a college counselor. Her rich and varied experiences inform her current work as a holistic life coach, Reiki practitioner, and traditional Hispanic folk healer. Learn more at Lori-Pino.com.

Lori R. Hodges

Lori Hodges began her career as a firefighter and a paramedic and later worked at both the local and state levels in emergency management. She holds a bachelor’s degree in emergency management and planning, a master’s degree in security studies, a master’s degree in political science and public policy, and is completing a PhD in business strategy and innovation. Lori has published multiple articles in industry journals and magazines on emergency management, leadership, chaos theory, and lessons learned from disaster. She is also the author of the historical fiction novel Sweet Twisted Pine, an award finalist in Western fiction.

Lori R. Sackler

Lori R. Sackler is a financial advisor, senior vice president and senior investment management consultant at Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, where she leads the Sackler Group. Sackler, with her team, advises a select group of individuals and families on financial security, lifestyle and legacy concerns. Sackler is a certified financial planner, certified investment management analyst, and non-practicing certified public accountant. She is also the creator and former host of the radio show The M Word on WOR in New York City and author of The M Word: The Money Talk Every Family Needs to Have About Wealth and Their Financial Future (McGraw-Hill Education, 2013, updated 2016) and The M Word Journal (2016).

Lou Fabian

Lou Fabian is based in his native Philadelphia and has co-authored two books: A Guide to Humans and My Baseball Story. His professional background is in digital consulting, but in 2016 he started a nonprofit in Bolivia. The thirteen months he spent in La Paz were a gift. While living abroad, he not only gained perspective into Latin American culture but also went through a personal transformation. He wants to share these stories and, ultimately, what he’s learned from his experience to help others through difficult times in their own lives.

Lou Hammond

Lou Hammond has officiated football games for over fifty years in sandlot, high school, college, flag, semipro, arena, the Canadian Football League, and the National Football League. During his career, he served on the board of directors for various leagues and conferences. He currently works game-day functions in the booth for the NCAA and NFL. In addition to his many awards, he was elected to the Minor League Football Hall of Fame in 1998.

Lt Col Joseph F Tallon

Joseph F. Tallon is a retired US Army lieutenant colonel who served from 1969 to 2007. Trained as a composite Army aviator in rotary and fixed-wing aircraft, he flew the OV-1 Mohawk during Vietnam, transitioning to Army intelligence after the war. A selection of his awards and decorations during his military service includes the Purple Heart, the Meritorious Service Medal, the Air Medal (2x), the Army Commendation Medal, the Vietnam Cross of Gallantry, the Vietnam Wounded in Action Medal, and the Vietnam Campaign Medal. Upon completion of a master's degree in education and supervision at The Citadel in 1981, Joe taught high school social studies. Retired from teaching, he has been an active volunteer and fundraiser for the local chapter of the Disabled American Veterans. Joe has been married to his wife, Martha Anne, for fifty years and has two sons and six grandchildren.

Lt. Col. John C. Hedley (Ret.)

John Hedley's Army career included a combat tour in Vietnam, a company command in the 3rd US Infantry, the Old Guard, a college ROTC instructor, a liaison to the Japanese Joint Chiefs of Staff, several other command and staff positions, and being inspector general for an infantry division and major installation. His combat awards include the Silver Star, the Bronze Star with "V" and two oak leaf clusters, the Air Medal, the Army Commendation Medal with "V", and the Combat Infantryman's Badge. He has previously published Saddle Up! The Story of a Red Scarf about the young men he was privileged to lead in Vietnam. He worked for a major US company in Japan for ten years. He has been a featured guest speaker for several years. He holds a master's degree in Asian History from Georgia State University. John has been married to his wife, Margie, for forty-one years, and they have three grown children. John and his family lived in Japan for a total of thirteen years.

Lt. Louis J. Forster

Louis J. Forster was a lieutenant in the US Army Signal Corps assigned to work in the China-Burma-India Theater during World War II.

Luke Bencie

For nearly twenty years, Luke Bencie has traveled to over 130 countries on behalf of the US Government on matters pertaining national security and intelligence. He currently serves as Managing Director of Security Management International, a global intelligence advisory firm, whose clients include Fortune 500 companies, celebrities, the USG, and foreign governments. He is the author of the books Among Enemies: Counter-Espionage for the Business Traveler and Global Security Consulting: How to Build a Thriving Practice. He is a popular speaker on the international lecture circuit, has been interviewed for numerous news outlets (both on TV and in print) and has also written dozens of articles for magazines such as Harvard Business Review, Foreign Affairs, Business Insider, and the Journal of Counterterrorism and Homeland Defense.

Luke Prater

Luke Prater lived an idyllic childhood in the beautiful, antebellum town of Newnan, Georgia, in the 1980s and '90s. He earned a degree in journalism from the University of Georgia in Athens, and later a degree in electrical engineering from Kennesaw State. He worked in Atlanta as an engineer until 2020, when he joined his wife, Sophia, in self-employment and they moved north. Luke enjoys Mexican food, reading and writing sci-fi and fantasy, hiking and identifying trees, and long mornings sipping coffee on his deck overlooking the North Georgia Mountains.

Lyn Barrett

Lyn is an author and facilitator of writers' workshops and memoir classes for people with dissociative disorders. Her free eBook, DID Unpacked: A Parable, is available on her website. She has been interviewed by public radio stations and podcasts around the country and by Safe Communities Survivors' Voices series. A retired teacher, school principal, and pastor, Lyn was diagnosed with multiple personality disorder in 1992 while she was climbing up the career ladder. After considerable therapeutic work, she now lives a happily integrated life with her husband in the Adirondacks. You can connect with Lyn on her website at www.lynbarrett.com.

Lynn Haraldson

Lynn Haraldson is a freelance writer, blogger, and award-winning former columnist and lifestyles editor. Her first book, Common Ground: Writings on Family, Change, Loss & Resilience, is a memoir combining essays of her past work. Her blog Lynn's Weigh was featured in People magazine. She was subsequently a guest on Today, Entertainment Tonight, Oprah, CNN, and 60 Minutes Australia.She received a BA in English at age thirty-eight, and an MA in literature and composition at fifty-five. She has served as a writing mentor for the Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop and at Pine Grove, where she was editor of the inmate-written newsletter, The Grove.A Minnesota native and grandmother of four, Lynn lives in rural western Pennsylvania with her partner and her dog, Zuzu, an optimistic Frenchie mix. More information and her blog can be found at www.lynnharaldson.com.

Lynn Seldon

Graduate of Virginia Military Institute and Army veteran Lynn Seldon is a longtime writer with more than 500 magazine and newspaper credits, including USA Today, The Atlanta Journal- Constitution, TrailBlazer, airline inflights, several AAA publications, and dozens more.He is the author or coauthor of six nonfiction books, and his first novel, Virginia's Ring, was hailed by Pat Conroy as "a triumph and a tour de force." Lynn lives in Beaufort, South Carolina, with fellow writer and wife Cele Seldon.

Lynn Yvonne Moon

Lynn Yvonne Moon wrote the Ten Rules About Monsters for her grandchildren who are now grown. But these rules are still in effect today. She is the author of the bestselling women’s murder mystery series, The Agency, with four books in print. Her new young adult series, Journey’s Travels; Reflection, was released in 2015 and can be found in high schools across the country. Lynn holds an M.F.A. in creative writing from Lindenwood University and an M.P.A. from Troy State University.

M. E. Johnson

M. E. (Mark) Johnson is a retired colonel of the United States Army. An Iraq War veteran, he received the Bronze Star for his service in Baghdad and often writes of the trauma suffered by combat veterans. Mark also served as a superior court judge over a veterans treatment court for eight years, putting him on the front lines of the battle to heal the post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury, addiction, and military sexual trauma from which so many veterans suffer. Now retired from the bench, Mark has earned a master’s of fine arts in creative writing from the University of California, Riverside. In his spare time, he enjoys helping veterans, serving on the boards of veteran charities, rescuing dogs, and traveling with his family.

M. E. Nordstrom

Michael E. Nordstrom entered parenthood just like any other father, except for one major difference. He was over fifty years old. This is Michael's debut book. He holds an MBA from Purdue University and lives in Indiana with his wife and two children.

Madelaine Claire Weiss

Madelaine Claire Weiss, LICSW, MBA, BCC, is a licensed psychotherapist and board-certified executive, career, and life coach. She is a former group mental health practice administrative director, a corporate chief organizational development officer, and associate director of the Anatomical Gift Program at Harvard Medical School where she spoke before the Joint Committee on the Status of Women. As a corporate trainer, Madelaine designed and delivered programs for such diverse organizations as Harvard Medical School, Legal Services Corporation, and AARP. She has been featured on NBC, Fox TV, Bold TV, on a variety of podcasts as guest expert, including Major, Lindsey, & Africa's Erasing the Stigma; has written for Thrive Global, Authority Magazine's Editors List, UpJourney, My Perfect Financial Advisor; and has conducted webinars for organizations, including the American Bar Association, Harvard Law School Association-MA, and MedSense via GenieCast. Madelaine is a chapter co-author in the Handbook of Stressful Transitions Across the Lifespan.

Madelyn Rohrer

Madelyn Rohrer is a professional storyteller and author of seven books, including Hobie the Christmas Spider and Shoes in the River and two novellas. Many of her short stories have been chosen for inclusion in writers guild anthologies. Madelyn was a contributing editor for the Positive Points column of the Jonesborough Herald & Tribune newspaper for many years, plus a freelance writer of marketing packages within Ballad Health. She is the recipient of the Ann S. Eady Award of the Antique Automobile Club of America as well as being the first female president of two AACA regions. She is an avid historian, teacher, public speaker, and a workshop presenter for churches, businesses, and storytelling and writers' groups.

Madison C. Brightwell

Madison C. Brightwell is an author and a licensed MFT with a doctorate in psychology. She has been working as a therapist for fifteen years, before which she worked as a professional actress and in film and TV development. She has written four other novels and three self-help books in the field of psychology. Since moving to Asheville, North Carolina, from her native Britain, Madison has become inspired by the history of this land, originally inhabited by the Cherokee. She draws on many of her experiences helping clients with trauma, addiction, and chronic pain.

Magali Jeger

MAGALI JEGER is a debut novelist, playwright, actor, and theatre maker. She is currently living in London where two of her stage plays have been performed. Furthermore, she has been working as a freelance ghostwriter and published a variety of business and lifestyle blogs. Magali is a recent graduate of the University of Essex, where she completed a Bachelor's degree at East 15 Acting School. She has always had a passion for storytelling and completed her very first book when she was only eight years old. The story of her great-grandmother, Hanna, will be her first published novel.

Maggie King

Maggie King is the author of Murder at the Book Group, A Hazel Rose Book Group Mystery; she also wrote the short stories “A Not So Genteel Murder” and “Reunion in Shockoe Slip” for the Virginia is for Mysteries anthologies. Murder at the Book Group received favorable reviews from BeachCrafters Books, Booklist, Harriet Klausner, Publisher’s Weekly, Suspense Magazine, and many blogs. Maggie has been a guest and interviewee on Cyrus Webb’s Conversations Book Club as well as on a number of blogs, including Dru’s Musings, International Thriller Writers, Mystery Fanfare and Shelf Pleasure. A lifelong love of reading, especially mysteries, led Maggie to participate in many of book groups. There she observed the full range of human behavior, with passionate readers often clashing with other passionate readers, giving Maggie the idea to write a series of murder mysteries focusing on book groups. Maggie lives in Richmond, Virginia with her husband, Glen, and two indulged cats. Murder at the Moonshine Inn is her second novel in the Hazel Rose Book Group series.

Maia Evrigenis

Maia Evrigenis is a writer from Sacramento, California. Her flash fiction piece "Sanitize" from Neon Jane was selected for the Best Small Fictions 2021 Anthology published by Sonder Press. She was a Stories on Stage winner for the 2020 writing contest in Northern California and is featured in the anthology Twenty Twenty: A Stories on Stage Sacramento Anthology. Her writing has been published in Necessary Fiction, The Black Fork Review, Arkana Literary Journal, The Sacramento News and Review, and The Sacramento Bee. Maia received her MFA in creative writing from CalArts and BS in applied psychology from New York University.

Major General Peter J. Gravett

Major General Peter J. Gravett, (US Army, Retired) is the first-ever Black division commander in the Army National Guard and the former Secretary for the California Department of Veteran Affairs. He began his military career by enlisting in the then segregated California National Guard. He has commanded at every level from platoon to mechanized infantry division. He holds a master’s degree from the University of Southern California and executive diplomas from the University of Virginia and Harvard University, and is graduate of the FBI National Academy, as well as the Army War College. General Gravett and his wife, a retired Army National Guard Colonel, reside on the Palos Verdes Peninsula of Southern California where they enjoy the cool breezes of the Pacific Ocean.

Marc Renson

Marc Renson is the award-winning author of the memoir Is the Coffee Fresh? He holds a degree in culinary arts and is the chef/entrepreneur of Ambition Coffee & Eatery in Schenectady, New York. Marc loves food, music, and Hollywood and has invited all of that into his restaurant. Above all else, Marc considers himself to be an artist and loves to create. When not at Ambition he spends his time with his husband at their home in Key Largo, Florida.

Marcelo Antinori

Marcelo Antinori worked as an expert in economic development projects for the World Bank and other international organizations and is known for his novels published in Portuguese, Spanish, and English: Os Enfrentantes, Brazil, 1979; Labirinto de Mariana, Brazil, 1989; El Último Vuelo del Condor, Panama, 2013; O Hungaro que partiu sem avisar, Brazil 2014; A Noiva de Paraty, Brazil 2018; The Bride of Paraty, USA, 2018; and Fiona Dares to Disturb, USA, 2020.

Marci Wolff Ober

Marci Wolff Ober, LMFT, is a licensed marriage and family therapist who for thirty years has worked with a wide variety of clients, in roles ranging from family therapist to clinical director of a major psychiatric hospital, and is also a certified yoga teacher. For the past twenty years she has concentrated her efforts on her private practice while raising her family in northern New Jersey. Marci and her daughter, Courtney, founded the KrazyGirl Project in 2020, whose mission is to bust mental health stigma and provide effective mental wellness strategies, free of charge, worldwide.

Marco van den Berg Scholten

Marco van den Berg Scholten is the former head coach of the Dutch national basketball team. He was a professional basketball coach in the Netherlands and Germany as well as in European Cup leagues from 1988 until 2021. He is a multiple-championship winner and the first Dutch basketball coach to work in Germany’s highest league, the Bundesliga. He studied journalism and history at the university of his hometown of Groningen and has always been a writer. He previously published No Prima Donnas, a textbook on his coaching philosophy, and written numerous columns in national newspapers and media outlets. In Search of Achilles is his debut novel.

Marcus Kirsch

A Royal College of Art alumni and ex-MIT Media Lab Europe researcher, Marcus Kirsch has worked as a transformation, service design, and innovation specialist for over twenty years. With project experience for companies like British Telecom, GlaxoSmithKline, Kraft, McDonald's, Nationwide, Nissan, Science Museum, P&G, Telekom Italia, and many others, he believes that we need a new narrative, mindset, and way of working to align ourselves with what society needs today. When Marcus is not hard at work, he is a mediocre indoor climber, movie nerd, and maker. He currently resides in London, UK. The Wicked Company is Marcus's first book.

Margaret Philbrick

Margaret Philbrick is an author, gardener and teacher who desires to plant seeds in hearts. Margaret has a B.A. in English Literature from Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas and a master's in teaching from National Louis University. She teaches writing and literature to children and teens at The Greenhouse School and HSU, both of which provide supplemental classical education to the home-school community. She is actively involved in the fulfillment of God’s vision at Church of the Resurrection and the Redbud Writers' Guild where she serves on the board of both organizations. Her first book, Back to the Manger, is a holiday gift book she created with her mother, an oil painter. You can find Margaret in her garden digging in the dirt or writing poetry.

Margo Reilly

Margo Reilly is an author and personal empowerment mentor. She spent twenty-five years in public education. Her first memoir, When the Apple Falls Far from the Tree, outlines a lifetime of adversity and the tools she used to make it to the other side. From growing up in a chaotic house of violence to cancer recovery, weight loss surgery, a newly sober lifestyle, and a spiritual awakening, Margo felt compelled to share the “gifts” she discovered along her path of personal growth. She has recently completed a life coach course and soon hopes to be assisting others with their own transformational journeys. Her blog site is justbeingjill.com.

Margo Weinstein

Margo Weinstein is a traveler, intrepid adventurer, class-action lawyer, and single mom. Educated at Yale College and Northwestern University School of Law, she became a partner in a multinational law firm, but that did not stop her from traveling to over eighty countries, moving with her young son to Shanghai and Bali, and discovering how to combine wanderlust and motherhood. For now, she lives with her son in a high-rise in downtown Chicago, anticipating her next move. Jalan-Jalan: A Journey of Wanderlust and Motherhood is her first book.

Maria A. Cunha Carty

Maria A. Cunha Carty, the daughter of Ana and Miguel S. Cunha, was born in Beira, Sao Jorge, Azores Islands, Portugal. In 1960 she and her five sisters joined their parents, who immigrated to California in 1958. Maria holds a BA in Spanish from San Francisco State University, an MA in Spanish from the University of California Berkeley, and an MA in Applied Linguistics from Northeastern Illinois University. She is a contributing author to The Holy Ghost Festas: A Historic Perspective of the Portuguese in California. Maria is the author of I.E.S. of San Jose: A Century of Devotion to the Holy Spirit and Community Service. She also researched the role of “queens,” in Holy Spirit celebrations, a tradition not found in the Azores but introduced by Portuguese Holy Spirit societies in California. Her original research led to new insights that may explain the roots of this cross-cultural, American inspired practice in California and now in other states. Maria and her husband of forty-seven years, Larry J. Carty, live in the Central Valley Region of California, in Oakdale.

Maria C. Palmer

Maria Costanzo Palmer is an author and grant writer. Growing up as the oldest child of an award-winning restaurateur, Maria unexpectedly became a daughter of the incarcerated. This experience ignited an interest in working for Get on the Bus, a nonprofit dedicated to uniting children with their incarcerated parents. A former host on L.A. Talk Radio, Maria was recently featured on Food and Beverage Magazine Live and has made a number of media appearances. You can find Maria on FB and IG @joecostanzoprimadonna and on Twitter @mariacpalmer. For more information, visit www.mariacpalmer.com.

Marie Newman

Marie Newman is a former congresswoman, nonprofit CEO, serial entrepreneur, author, and social justice activist. Newman is known for building movements. She has been frequently interviewed on MSNBC, CNN, Fox, NBC, ABC, CBS, and PBS. Newman is a sought-after speaker by national organizations and universities on women’s rights, gun reform, entrepreneurship, LGBTQ+ rights, and economic equity.

Marie Scott

Marie Scott is an author, speaker, and wellness coach for widows and widowers. After she lost her beloved firefighter husband of thirty years to cancer, Marie began a quest to discover the potential of functional medicine to heal her body, mind, and spirit.

Marilyn Gansel, PsyD

Marilyn Gansel, an applied sports psychologist and positive performance coach, helps individuals discover the confidence to stand up, speak out, and take control of their lives. Marilyn's journey has led her to discover the authentic truth about herself and her values, strengths, and inner longings. She challenges people in every life phase to unleash powerful, destructive thoughts and feelings and turn obstacles into opportunities and possibilities. She is available for workshops and seminars as well as one-on-one or group coaching.

Marilyn Horowitz

Marilyn Ida Horowitz is a producer, writing coach and award-winning professor of screenwriting at New York University. From her books on her trademarked writing system—now standard reading at NYU—to her appearances at Screenwriters World and The Great American Screenwriting Conference & PitchFest, Marilyn has guided the careers of literally hundreds of writers. She is currently featured in the Now Write! Screenwriting Anthology (Tarcher/Penguin) and in the upcoming The Expert Success Solution (Morgan James). Her production credits include And Then Came Love (2007), starring Vanessa Williams.

Marilyn Laken

Marilyn Laken, PhD, RN, has published over 100 research articles and chapters, testified before Congress, and was interviewed on radio and television on topics related to health and access to health care. She currently lives in a continuing care retirement community in Asheville, North Carolina, to be free of the responsibilities of home ownership and to learn firsthand about the biology and culture of aging. 

Marilyn Wentz

Marilyn Bay Wentz grew up on a family farm in northern Colorado, near the land homesteaded by her great-great-grandparents. With a degree in journalism, she has written hundreds of news releases and feature stories for her clients and employers, which include Saatchi & Saatchi Advertising Taiwan, the National Farmers Union and the National Bison Association. In addition to operating Prairie Natural Lamb, she currently is editor of two agricultural publications: Bison World and Open Pastures. She and her family live on the eastern plains of Colorado.

Mario Busacca

Mario Busacca is the owner of KeyStone Strategies, a leadership consulting firm that specializes in helping people reach their full potential through an understanding of leadership skills. His over thirty-five years with NASA provide him with insight into teams and relationships. As a former religious skeptic, he brings the perspective of the unbeliever to this work. Mario is a quiet, well-mannered person-when he's asleep. The remainder of the time, he is busy teaching Improv, writing and learning the fine art of cooking.

Mario Rutledge

Mario Rutledge is an American writer born in Columbia, South Carolina. He graduated from the Los Angeles Film School in 2009 and served a term in the United States Navy shortly after. He continued his education by obtaining his bachelor's degree from Ashford University. This is his debut novel.

Mark Dowson

Mark Dowson's own inspiration to write the trilogy of books has come from his knowledge and experience gained in carrying out his own personal wind energy research at a masters of science degree level. The story's foundation is based on his own factual research dissertation and has transformed and expanded upon these facts to create an exciting fictional mystery thriller. Mark has published a wind research article for Amida recruitment based on his wind research. Mark has worked on some of the most prestigious renewable power generation projects in the UK as a practicing commercial manager for the past 15 years which substantiates his factual research being valid and reliable.

Mark E. Greene

Mark E. Greene is an award-winning author with an offbeat sense of humor and a sharp eye for the absurd. A speeding lobster boat plowing through a flotilla of helpless sea kayakers sparked his interest in the rough-and-tumble world of Maine lobstermen and became the driving concept for Lobster Wars. His first novel, Cutthroat, grew out of a sense of impending doom when he was convinced that a Montana fishing guide was going to kill him. Mark has also written travel articles and equipment reviews for Outdoor Sports Magazine. When Mark is not writing, he and his family are pursuing all manner of self-propelled outdoor sports, providing content for his podcast: Mark in the Wild.

Mark E. Haskins

Mark Haskins is the Landmark Communications Professor Emeritus of Business Administration at the University of Virginia’s internationally ranked Darden Graduate School of Business. He has taught thousands of future managers (MBA students) and practicing managers from around the world. He has authored (or coauthored) numerous articles in such journals as People & Strategy, Strategic HR Review, Journal of Management Development, Organizational Development & Learning, and Strategic Finance. He is the author of The Secret Language of Financial Reports. He is coauthor of Teaching Management: A Field Guide for Professors, Consultants, and Corporate Trainers. Without a doubt, he is most proud of his family—a son, a daughter, and seven granddaughters. He resides in the rolling hills of central Virginia with his wife of many years.

Mark F. Mahoney

Mark F. Mahoney was raised in the deserts of Southern California, spending most of his time outdoors where he developed his love of firearms and all things wild. He married young and joined the Navy, which trained him in electronics and sharpened his marksmanship skills. After six years active duty, Mark transferred to the Navy Reserves and moved his young family to Alaska. Alaska introduced a whole new level of the outdoors to Mark. He hunted, fished, boated and explored the wilds of the great state. Mark was recalled to active duty shortly after 9/11 and again in 2007 and 2008 to serve in Iraq. After the surge, he took on a new challenge and wrote the first draft of Rhunken Chronicles: Tongass. Mark retired from the military as a chief electronics technician, and still lives in Juneau, Alaska.

Mark Gunther

Mark Gunther has been many things in his life—student, hippie, cook, husband, carpenter, father, dancer, administrator, musician, entrepreneur, athlete. He has worked in staff or board roles in small businesses and nonprofit organizations for forty years. In 1997 his daughter Eva was killed by a drunk driver. In response, he and his wife started the Eva Gunther Foundation as Eva’s legacy, giving to girls and girls programs. Mark received an MFA in Creative Writing in December of 2015 and since then has been published in several literary journals and other publications. Without Jenny is his first novel.

Mark J. Brandenburg

Mark J. Brandenburg grew up in Mansfield, Texas, with a passion for reading, American history, and football. After graduating from Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas, he was sworn in as a police officer for the Olathe Police Department, where he served for five years. For the past twenty years, Mark has served as a special agent for the US Secret Service with numerous assignments, including the protection of the president of the United States. Mark resides in Virginia with his wife of twenty-one years and their son, Will, who routinely beats him at golf.

Mark Lynch

Former editorial cartoonist for the national newspaper, ‘The Australian’. Author of ten cartooning books, HarperCollins publishing the most recent three. His cartoons have appeared in such publications as, The Washington Post, Readers Digest, The Saturday Evening Post and newspapers in Australia, USA, South Africa, Canada, NZ, Germany, United Kingdom and Sweden. Mark Lynch has won 54 national and international cartooning awards including National cartoon of the year (twice) and a prestigious ‘Stanley’ award for Australia’s best single gag cartoonist. He has had two exhibitions, solely of his cartoons in Coffs Harbour city, NSW. Lynch has appeared on numerous TV, radio programs, (channel 9, 7,10,2 and SBS in Australia and ABC radio.) as well as the print media promoting his books and cartoons. He has been an Australian National serviceman, (3rd Cavalry regiment) a flight attendant, (QANTAS Airways) Restaurateur, (Paddington NSW) Songwriter, (collaboration with Keith Potger from ‘The Seekers’) Commercial/industrial real estate owner, husband to Jennifer Lynch, father to Patrick and Jack Lynch. He is a keen surfer and Rugby Union fan.

Mark M. Bell

A lifetime desire to glean and separate essential truths from misconceptions has led to Mark M. Bell's research of sciences, socio-political ideologies, philosophies, and history, thus affording him the opportunity to write his current work. Mr. Bell holds a MSed from St John's University, is a published lyricist-musician, and has appeared on radio and TV discussing human and animal rights and leadership. He currently lives in New York.

Mark Mansfield

Mark Mansfield and his wife were professional foster parents for over five years, taking in teenagers who had been either abused or on remand from court. This gave them experience within the court and social services system in the UK. Their success and failures with multiple teenagers, plus five of their own, have helped Mansfield understand the trials of young adults.

Mark Rosenthal

Mark Rosenthal is a lifelong resident of Tampa, Florida, with an open mind and heart for new experiences. His background is in construction and real estate, and he has an affinity for military history. Mark and his wife, Deborah, have been active in the Tampa Bay community entertaining and hosting the military for the last fourteen years.

Mark Sabbas

Mark Sabbas was born in Katonah, New York, and has always felt drawn to the transcendent, receiving his degree in philosophy from Bucknell University with an interest in metaphysics. Mark writes about the intersection of science and spirituality on his website, nothingtodoubt.org. He also mentors for the Aramis Creative Learning Center and has coauthored several books in the Divinely Guided Children series, which have been made into a cartoon animation. Mark lives in Pineville, North Carolina, with his wife, Stephanie, and two dogs. He hopes to travel the world and one day the greater galaxy as we look toward a better future.

Mark Sievewright

Mark Sievewright is a renowned financial services industry thought leader and consultant with more than thirty-five years of experience gained in senior leadership positions at HSBC, MasterCard International, Payment Systems Inc., TowerGroup and Fiserv. Mark established his own advisory firm in 2017 and works closely with credit unions and technology firms on business and technology strategy. In 2010 he was merited the prestigious Ambassador Award by the World Council of Credit Unions. Mark is a native of Wales, UK, and became a US citizen in 2012.

Marsha Rene, with Cheryl Ross

Marsha Rene is a Reiki Master and licensed massage therapist whose hands have helped hundreds of people in her holistic healing center on Long Island, New York. She struggled with active drug addiction for more than a decade before finally getting clean. In the midst of the US's current drug addiction and opioid crisis, she wondered how she could help many thousands of others dealing with addiction. This book, her first, is her answer. • • • Cheryl Ross is a nationally award-winning writer and book editor and the owner of Cheryl Ross Communications, a writing and editing company. She has worked with authors across the United States on award-winning books and bestsellers. Cheryl holds bachelor's and master's degrees in journalism from Northwestern University.

Marsha Temlock

Marsha Temlock is the author of Your Child’s Divorce: What to Expect . . . What You Can Do and the YA novel, The Exile. She has appeared on the Today Show and was featured in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Miami Herald, and other major publications, and interviewed on dozens of radio talk shows. She holds a master of arts in English from NYU and a master of arts in organizational psychology from Columbia University. She taught literature and writing at Fairfield University, Sacred Heart University, and Norwalk Community College. Her interests include theater, literature, travel, and (of course) mah jongg.

Marshall Highet

MARSHALL HIGHET has previously published several novels and a short story: Spare Parts, a YA science-fiction novel based on real science; Modified, chapters of which were serially published in Realm, a science-fiction and fantasy literature magazine; and "Fetch," a short story that will appear in Skelos, a science-fiction and dark fantasy fiction publication. Marshall also wrote the foreword to the republished novels of Helen MacInnes, an espionage writer of the 1950s, '60s, and '70s.

Martha L. Thompson

Martha Thompson is an author, whose first book, THE OXYGEN MASK RULE: How My Battle With Anorexia Taught Me to Survive, was a Finalist in the Women's Issues category of the 2012 International Book Awards. Martha is a graduate of the Juilliard School of Drama, and worked as an actor for twenty years with a variety of companies, including John Houseman's Acting Company and Joseph Papp's Public Theatre in New York, as well as many regional theatre companies. She also appeared in national commercials and sit-coms. When illness forced her to retire from acting, she found inspiration from her dog Gus to explore animal related career options. This led her to the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Association, where she became the Coordinator of Volunteer Programs, and was responsible for writing and editing a weekly newsletter called "ZOONOOZ." Martha lives in Los Angeles with her husband, 3 dogs, 5 quail and 4 turtles.

Martin Robert Grossman

Martin Robert Grossman served six years in the US Army Special Forces from 1965 to 1971, including three tours in Vietnam. He has written three best-selling children's books: Oscar the Otter, Pigs of Lake Hood, and Totems of Seldovia; and two adult fiction books, Club Saigon and War Crimes. Martin has a degree in journalism from Los Angeles City College, a BA from Whittier College, and is a former war correspondent for the LA Herald Examiner. He is also a retired construction engineer with the State of Alaska Department of Transportation & Public Facilities and an author in residence at several Alaska libraries.

Mary DeJong

Mary DeJong is a high school English teacher in Denver, Colorado, and she writes stories during her plan periods. After graduating high school in West Fargo, North Dakota, Mary received her bachelor's degree in English Education at Minot State University in 2015. While she has been writing throughout her life, this is Mary's first published work. She lives with her husband who keeps her company exploring used bookstores, discovering new hiking trails in the Rocky Mountains, and supporting the Denver Nuggets.

Mary Elizabeth Ames

Mary Elizabeth Ames is an author. Her previous novels in the Homo transformans series include Homo transformans: The Origin and Nature of the Species; H'Ilgraith, a silver medalist in the IBPA Benjamin Franklin Awards and gold medalist in the Feathered Quill Awards; and Raephela. Ms. Ames has a master of science degree in biology. She incorporates the science of biology and genetics into her narratives to imbue them with a sense of realism and to provide an understanding of how genes function.

Mary K. Savarese

Born in Brooklyn, New York, Mary K. Savarese has a business degree in accounting from City University, NY, and has worked in insurance and financing. Mary has spent thirteen years as a religious education teacher and has lived and worked in New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. For the past decade, Mary has served as a Eucharistic minister at her Catholic church, bringing the Eucharist to community nursing homes. After raising a family in Connecticut, she currently resides in Florida, where she plans to continue in her ministry.

Mary R. Arno

Mary R. Arno is an award-winning author and journalist who has worked at newspapers across the southern United States, from Los Angeles to New Orleans to Orlando, with a couple of others in between. As a reporter and editor, she covered everything from murders and refinery explosions on the police beat to small-town politics to national political conventions and campaigns. At the Los Angeles Times, she was part of teams awarded Pulitzer Prizes for covering the L.A. riots in 1992 and the Northridge earthquake in 1994. A native of New Orleans, she lives on a farm in upstate New York with her husband and the youngest three of her four children, spending as much time as possible in the city of her birth.

Matt Barrows

Matt Barrows is a reporter who has covered the San Francisco 49ers for more than two decades for The Athletic and the Sacramento Bee. He spent two years in South Carolina with the Hilton Head Island Packet, where he won an award for environmental reporting. He has a bachelor’s degree in English literature from the University of Virginia and a master’s in journalism from Northwestern University. An avid birder and amazing uncle, Matt thinks his older sister is bossy and sends too many early-morning texts.

Matthew A Tallon

Matthew A. Tallon is a former US Army transportation officer who served primarily in overseas duty assignments for five years and completed his active-duty commitment as a captain. Matt is a graduate of Duke University with a bachelor's degree in history and a teaching certification. After completion of his military service, Matt returned to Durham Public Schools to teach high school US history and civics. After graduating from Harvard with a master's degree in education policy and management, Matt currently serves as the senior project manager for the Public Education Leadership Project, a joint education initiative between the Harvard Business School and Harvard Graduate School of Education. Matt has been married to his wife, Lindsay, for the past twenty years and has three sons.

Matthew Penfold

Brianna and Matthew Penfold are a wife-and-husband writing team. The Intrepid Three: Animus Revealed is their debut book. This work is a labor of love enlightened by their lifelong faith journeys and diverse experiences in medicine, law, victim advocacy, crisis intervention, research, and children and youth mentorship. By day, and sometimes by night, Brianna is an attorney, and Matthew is a pediatrician. They currently reside in Virginia where they are having a blast raising their energetic toddler.

Matthew Schwartz

Matthew Schwartz has told approximately 10,000 stories on television stations across the country for four decades. He has won more than 200 awards, including four New York Emmys and four regional Edward R. Murrow Awards for Investigative Reporting. Some of Matthew's most memorable stories include an interview with the "Son of Sam" serial killer David Berkowitz; the trials of mobster John Gotti; reports on the 9/11 attacks from Ground Zero; the crash two months later of American Airlines Flight 587 in Queens, NY; the bombing of Pam Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland; and hundreds of reports on corruption, fraud, and government waste.

Mattison M. Casaus

Mattison Casaus is a current college writing instructor originally from El Paso, Texas. She graduated from New Mexico State University with an English and creative writing degree and has a doctorate in adult education. She has recently published a short story and poetry. When she is not writing or teaching, she is enjoying the desert weather, baking, reading, or spending time with family.

Maurice Woods

Maurice Woods is a passionate executive with broad experience in delivering social and economic impact. Having gained over twenty-five years of success in entrepreneurial, for-profit and nonprofit organizations, he has evolved into a high-integrity leader known for acting quickly and boldly to link strategy, operations and people processes to drive performance-based results that help build high-performing organizations. He has co-authored multiple whitepapers and thought-leadership case studies including, Business and Information Technology Discipline-Closing the Execution Gap, Developing an eMarket Participant Adoption Program that Delivers, and Focus on Retail: Applying Automatic Identification to Improve Product Availability at the Retail Shelf. He received his MBA from Northwestern University-The Kellogg Graduate School of Management.

Mayling Elizabeth Simpson

Mayling Simpson is a cultural anthropologist who has conducted original research in Ireland, Iran, the Philippines, and Serbia on public health issues and served as a senior technical officer to the World Health Organization. Her previous published works include A Paper Life: Belgrade's Roma in the Underworld of Waste Scavenging and Recycling; Ecological Sanitation; and Mrs. Nickle Pickle, winner of an Aspen Times short story contest. She earned her PhD in anthropology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and her BA in biology from Longwood University in Farmville, Va.

Mazzi Wampamba

Mazzi Wampamba is the author of two children’s books in the Kingdom of the South series, The Long Journey and The Train Journey. She has also published a book of poems, Like an Ocean, Poems in Prose. She lives in Northern Virginia.

McPatti Langston

McPatti Langston is a dynamic author whose storytelling is rooted in resilience and hope, drawing inspiration from her experiences growing up in East Los Angeles. Her latest work, while not autobiographical, reflects the complexities of poverty and violence she witnessed. Now residing in Georgia, McPatti thrives as a public speaker, yoga instructor, singer, and professional organizer. Her multifaceted background and dedication to uplifting others shine through in her writing, making her stories compelling and relatable.

Meaghan Buckley

Meaghan Buckley is an autism expert who has lived with the disorder for thirty-six years. She is the inspiration for the character Anna in Impossible Dream. She has given presentations at Boston University and Leslie College and at the 2019 AutCom Conference. Meaghan lived at home until she turned twenty-one. She now lives in a group home with four young men with autism.

Megan Rockey

In addition to writing fiction, Megan Rockey spends most of her time singing as well as participating in her high school’s annual plays and musicals. Outside of school, she is a model, singer, actress and martial artist in Taekwondo.

Meisha Camm

Mesh Cam has written the following titles: Hidden Intentions (Part 1 and Part 2), Mistress and You Got to Pay to Play. Her novellas The Pact, Greed and Torch have been featured in the popular book series Around The Way Girls. In the summer of 2007, her books were highlighted in the SORMAG Online Book Tour. In 2008, she was interviewed by radio host, Chris Caliente on 103 JAMZ. Brewer Archives is her eighth book.

Melanie Bragg

Melanie Bragg is the author of HIPAA for the General Practitioner, published by the ABA Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Division. Her upcoming book Defining Moments: Insights Into the Lawyer’s Soul will be published by the American Bar Association Flagship Division. Melanie is the Chair of the Book Publications Board of the American Bar Association Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Division. She is a lawyer/mediator practicing general civil law, who has devoted her life to the representation of children, the elderly and mentally disadvantaged people. In 1994 Bragg formed Legal Insight, Inc. and in 2012, she launched Success for all Seasons, a coaching/speaking business.

Melinda Rainey Thompson

Melinda Rainey Thompson is the best-selling author of SWAG: Southern Women Aging Gracefully, The SWAG Life, I've Had It Up To Here With Teenagers, and I Love You-Now Hush. This Southern writer, humorist, and mother of three has been a staple on the ladies-who-lunch speaking circuit for the past decade. She teaches writing at Birmingham-Southern College, freelances for magazines, and speaks to all manner of gala, conference, fundraiser, luncheon, and dinner attendees around the country. She sees herself as a spokesperson for her people: women, mothers, Southerners, and writers of every genre from grocery lists to Great American Novels.

Meredith O'Brien

Meredith is not good enough. She is always searching for something outside of herself to make her whole. She escapes into her obsession with body, weight, and shape. Her mind constantly races. Is her stomach flat enough? Everyone is looking at her, judging. She cannot eat for the rest of the day. Inside, she is empty. Meredith has suffered from anorexia since the age of thirteen, and at the age of thirty-five, she entered a partial hospitalization program. Now fully recovered, Meredith shares her honest, complicated, and at times heart-wrenching recovery journey to give hope to those who are suffering. If you have that little glimmer of hope underneath all the pain of your eating disorder, this book is for you. "Anorexia brings me down, controls me, suffocates me, consumes me. It zaps away any small piece of joy, or happiness or sense of worth. I have these rare occasions where I think There must be more. I want more. I deserve more. I have a brief surge of energy to conquer this disease and think that my whole life is going to change for the better and then seconds later I feel fat and disgusting and the anxiety within me is nearly impossible to tolerate. The disease wins . . ." but Meredith continues to fight and reaches full recovery. A brand-new chapter of her life begins.

Meredith Wesley

Unassuming and peaceable by nature, Meredith Wesley was introduced to the surrealistic world of manipulation in the course of her life journey. Struggling to live under the shadow of control for nearly two decades, she made it her ambition to study the dynamics in a systematic way and uncover the lies behind them. She now lives with her family on a small farm, dearly treasuring the freedom they have bitterly struggled to regain.

Michael A. Almond

Michael A. Almond, a retired attorney, was raised in the small town of Pilot Mountain in the Piedmont foothills of North Carolina. He received his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and was a Fulbright Scholar in political science at the University of Mannheim, Germany. During his years as an international business lawyer, he was awarded the prestigious Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany for "outstanding commitment in fostering relations between the United States and the Federal Republic of Germany." An avid reader and student of Southern history and literature, he currently lives on a farm with his wife, Helen Ruth, in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. The Tannery is his debut novel. www.michaelalmondbooks.com

Michael A. Sisti

Michael A. Sisti is an author, branding and marketing consultant, and serial entrepreneur, having founded over twenty-five companies since age eleven. An International Book Award winner for his debut novel, Executive Crumple Zone, he has published five other novels, three humor books, and a popular self-help book. He recently co-authored a pilot for a TV drama series, and he provides design, editing, and production advice for several other authors.

Michael B. Kitz-Miller

Michael B. Kitz-Miller was born on the Eastern Shore of Maryland and moved six times throughout western Maryland, and central Pennsylvania by the time he was eleven. His father quit Montgomery Wards as a manager and moved the family back to Salisbury, Maryland, when Michael entered the fifth grade. After graduating from high school, he attended the teacher’s college in Salisbury for one year before transferring to Gettysburg College on scholarships, grants and loans as a member of the college’s famous a capella choir that toured annually. Lack of funds forced him to withdraw in his senior year, and with the draft looming he enlisted in the Army and left after three distinguished years with numerous commendations as a sergeant E-5 paratrooper and Recondo with the famous 101st Airborne Division. He then completed a bachelor of music degree from the University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland. Michael then spent eleven years with the Rand McNally College Publishing Company, leaving as the western sales manager based in Northern California. He has worked in sales and management with such companies as ITT Information Systems, Dictaphone Corporation, AST Research, the Branch Group and AIG. He is a 3M certified fiber optics technician and held both real estate and insurance licenses. He has published two books – Your Basic Peddler, a non-fiction work on sales, marketing and sales management in 2007 and Paratrooper: My life with the 101st Airborne Division, a memoir of his time with the famous Screaming Eagles that included his parachuting into Iran during the little-known Operation Delawar in 1964. Additionally, the author has published numerous articles in military and association magazines on miscellaneous military topics regarding training exercises, training schools such as Airborne and Recondo School, and on topics such as just war theory and our current rules of engagement. He is currently retired, living with his wife, Stephanie K. Staab, on the Eastern Shore of Maryland.

Michael Claibourne

Michael Claibourne graduated from Oberlin College with a B.A. in English Literature in 1990. After studying Japanese for several years in Tokyo, he worked in software development for a while in Los Angeles, first at Disney Interactive and then at DreamWorks Feature Animation. Finding writing far more rewarding than the world of software engineering, he has switched to writing full-time.

Michael Coccari

MICHAEL COCCARI has spent more than three decades teaching English, first in Osaka, Japan, and then in a public high school in California's Central Valley. His proudest professional achievement is helping adolescents, the majority of whom were studying English as a second language, find their voices and develop their competency as writers, deepen their humanity and values through the study of literature, and discover life directions. Cancer Fight, his memoir detailing his wife's courageous seven-year battle against stage 4 breast cancer and his experience as caregiver, was a subject on the Daily Spark show hosted by Dr. Angela Chester; a segment on an affiliate of CBS Newsin Bakersfield, CA; and an article in Tehachapi News. It's Good to Say Thank You is his second memoir.

Michael David Ries

Dr. Michael Ries is a world renowned orthopaedic surgeon. He has presented over 600 invited lectures at regional, national, and international orthopaedic educational conferences, and published over 200 peer reviewed journal articles and 50 book chapters on topics related to total hip and knee replacement. Dr. Ries is also an inventor on 45 US patents for hip and knee replacement devices.

Michael Devendorf

Michael Devendorf aspires to surprise and provoke the reader by intertwining contrasting emotions within stories that defy strict categorization. In addition to writing, he is a passionate animal welfare advocate. He and his husband and their dogs split their time between Dallas, Texas, and northern Wisconsin.

Michael G. Charles

Dr. Michael Charles has practiced family medicine for over thirty years. He has written and published healthcare-related articles, including "Memoir of a Doctor's Bag" and "Candy Striped Pajamas." His article "Somewhere Over the ALT Key" describing the challenges and triumphs of the transition to electronic medical records was an award winner in Medical Economics journal's national physician writing contest in 2011. Dr. Charles has presented at national conferences on healthcare quality, provider wellness, and the opioid crisis. He lives in Virginia Beach, Virginia, with his wife, Kelly; three children, Ryan, Caroline, and Jack; and a Maltipoo named Skippy.

Michael Gellert

Michael Gellert is a Jungian analyst practicing in Los Angeles. He was formerly director of training at the C. G. Jung Institute of Los Angeles and a humanities professor at Vanier College, Montreal. He managed an employee assistance program for the City of New York and has been a mental health consultant for the University of Southern California and Time magazine. He studied with Marshall McLuhan at the University of Toronto and has lived in Japan, where he trained with a Zen master. Lecturing widely on psychology, religion, and contemporary culture, he is the author of Modern Mysticism, The Way of the Small, The Divine Mind, America's Identity Crisis (the latter two each winning a Nautilus Book Award), and Far From This Land. His website is www.michaelgellert.com.

Michael H. Moskowitz

Michael H. Moskowitz, MD, MPH is a board certified physician in both Psychiatry and Pain Medicine. He is the co-author of the Neuroplastic Transformation Workbook (ISDN#: 92-W8PZ-LIIY) and the neuroplastix.com website. The Neuroplastic Transformation Workbook has been sold in over 50 countries around the world. The website is the #1 searched website in the world on Neuroplastic Treatment. The author has articles published in multiple peer reviewed medical journals and several peer reviewed textbook chapters. Dr. Moskowitz was an Assistant Professor of Pain Medicine in the Anesthesiology Department of University of California Medical Center, Davis for 12 years, where he taught courses on the Neuroplasticity of Pain and on Medical Cannabis for the treatment of pain, He has also taught about Medical Cannabis at University of California, San Francisco annual Spine Conferences, The American Academy of Pain Medicine annual national conferences and Walter Reed Army Hospital at the Military and VA Annual International Pain Skills Conference. He is a also a practicing physician at Bay Area Pain Medical Associates in San Rafael, California in the San Francisco Bay Area, where he treats many of his persistent pain patients with medical cannabis.

Michael J. Coffino

Michael Coffino has authored or co-authored nine books (memoir and sports) since 2015, after he downshifted from almost four decades as a trial attorney and twenty-five years as a high school basketball coach, two dynamic careers he pursued in parallel. He also was a legal writing coach while practicing law. He still dabbles in the law and has a private investigation business as well, but mostly devotes himself to writing. Michael grew up in the Bronx, in its Mott Haven and Highbridge neighborhoods. He served in the US Army from 1968 to 1970 and earned a BS in education from the City University of New York and a JD from the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law. Michael plays guitar, holds a black belt in karate, is a workout junkie, plays pickle ball, and hikes regularly in the hills and mountains of California and Colorado. Truth Is in the House is his debut work of fiction.

Michael J. Cooper

Michael J. Cooper emigrated to Israel in 1966 and lived in Jerusalem during the last year the city was divided between Israel and Jordan. He graduated from Tel Aviv University Medical School, and after a forty-year career as a pediatric cardiologist in Northern California, he continues to do volunteer missions serving Palestinian children who lack access to care. Wages of Empire won the 2022 CIBA Rossetti Award for YA fiction, along with first-place honors for the 2022 CIBA Hemingway Award for wartime historical fiction. His other historical fiction novels include Foxes in the Vineyard, set in 1948 Jerusalem, which won the 2011 Indie Publishing Contest grand prize, and The Rabbi’s Knight, set in the Holy Land in 1290. He lives in Northern California with his wife and a spoiled-rotten cat. His three adult children occasionally drop by.

Michael L. Miller

Before earning a master's degree in journalism from the University of South Carolina in 1984, Michael L. Miller was a construction worker, bellhop, surfer, shoe salesman, tennis bum, and record-store clerk, to name a few. He poured his life experiences into an eighteen-year career at The State newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, and accumulated numerous awards from the South Carolina Press Association. His feature stories were syndicated nationally. He published Hootie: How the Blowfish put Pop back into Pop Rock in 1997, and was awarded a 2007 South Carolina Fiction prize for his short story "The Lamp," leading to the publication of his first short-story collection, Lonesome Pines. He was instrumental in founding the arts advocacy group One Columbia in his hometown and launching a citywide reading initiative called One Book, One Community. The Hip Shot is his first novel.

Michael Lang

MICHAEL LANG has written articles, guides, and manuals in the fi elds of transportation and the chemical industry and has been a featured speaker and presenter in various professional organizations, also serving on the board of a credit union. Kelly graduated from American University, and Michael earned his degree from the University of Maryland. They live with their daughters, Olivia and Anya, while their eldest daughter, Hannah, resides in Washington, DC.

Michael M. Van Ness

Michael M. Van Ness was born into a military family. Raised in Washington DC and educated at the Landon School for Boys, Yale College, and the University of Virginia School of Medicine, he joined the Navy, served aboard USS Sylvania out of Norfolk, and was on staff at Bethesda Naval Hospital for eight years before founding a successful gastroenterology practice in Canton, Ohio. He has co-authored two medical texts and many medical articles. He always knew his grandfather's story but never its true importance. Interviews with his grandfather's hometown newspaper, the Parkersburg Iowa Eclipse News-Review, and his own Canton Repository helped clarify its significance. Major General Anderson is honored periodically during ceremonies by the people of Roermond, Netherlands, a city liberated by his troops on March 1st, 1945. His uniforms are currently on display in the Ohio Military Museum at the Military Aviation Museum in Green, Ohio.

Michael Miller

Michael Miller was born in a small town in New Jersey similar to Fayetteville, NY. He played baseball, delivered the daily newspaper, and tramped through the woods. Through small town life, he learned to respect people regardless of their backgrounds and appreciate the gifts each person brought to the world. Miller continues to get great joy from his family, exploring the outdoors, and his volunteer community service.

Michael P. Fisher

Michael P. Fisher, for four decades, raised a family and served his country. Now retired from two careers, he has ventured into the unfamiliar world of writing. Living a nomadic life on four continents, he's begun telling the stories and the details of his life and travels. The intent is to connect with the people he loves and entertain those who read his work.

Michael S. Fenster, M.D.

Michael S. Fenster, M.D., FACC, FSCA&I, PEMBA; known to friends and fans simply as “Dr. Mike,” is America’s culinary interventionalist. He is a board-certified interventional cardiologist and professional chef. He currently holds faculty cross appointments at The University of Montana College of Health Professions and Biomedical Sciences as well as The Missoula College Culinary Arts Program of the Department of Business Technology. In addition to his clinical practice, he hosts a weekly national radio show, Code Delicious with Dr. Mike, on RadioMD with podcasts available there, on iheart radio and on iTunes. He currently serves the national spokesperson for the Food as Therapy program for those suffering from neuroendocrine tumors (NETs). He has appeared as an expert guest on many national radio and television programs; including The Doctors, and Fox National News, where he serves as a national contributor. He has taught and explored the relationship between food and health through international workshops, seminars, lectures and cooking demonstrations. He currently writes a regular column for Psychology Today and has authored several books; Eating Well, Living Better: A Grassroots Gourmet Guide to Good Health and Great Food (Littlefield and Roman, 2012) and The Fallacy of The Calorie: Why the Modern Western Diet is Killing Us and How to Stop It (Köehler Books, 2014). Ancient Eats: Age-Old Wisdom for Modern Health (Volume I: The Greeks and Vikings) is his latest endeavor. He spends his free time between wandering the beautiful Montana mountains and the Florida Gulf; where he passively pursues his dream of a simple pirate’s life. He can be found on Twitter as @WCWD, Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/whatscookingwithdoc and at www.cardiochef.com. He can be reached at info@cardiochef.com.

Michael Seabaugh

Dr. Michael Seabaugh is a clinical psychologist who lives in Santa Barbara, California. He's also a journalist who has written many newspaper columns and magazine articles over the years. An abiding interest in the complex stories of human struggle, conflict, and redemption has always guided his professional endeavors. After years of listening to these stories, he now turns to telling them through the artifice of fiction, for as Picasso said: "Art is the lie that enables us to realize the truth."

Michael Shandler

Award-winning author, life coach, and organization development consultant, Dr. Michael Shandler’s boyhood in a dysfunctional family during the apartheid era in South Africa provided powerful grist for his transformational personal journey. Michael is the coauthor with Nina Shandler of four books, including The Marriage and Family Book: A Spiritual Guide, and Ways of Being Together. Shandler is a former principal and partner at Arthur D. Little and holds a master’s in counseling and a doctorate in leadership and group studies from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA. Michael lives in western Massachusetts, where he continues writing, coaching, cycling, and being a husband, a dad, and a grandpa of five incredible grandchildren.

Michael Simone

Michael Simone is the founding and senior pastor of Spring Branch Community Church, a megachurch with nearly 3,000 members in Virginia Beach, Virginia. His first ministry assignment, in 1972, was working with street kids, in East Harlem, New York. He teaches religious studies at Saint Leo University, South Hampton Roads Center. Michael is also Chaplain at the Virginia Beach Psychiatric Center. His doctoral work is on marriage and family. He wrote the study guide for Couples Who Pray and has been a keynote speaker for The Fall Festival of Marriage. Michael loves baseball and played on the Field of Dreams movie site, Dyersville, Iowa. His passion is bringing faith and life together through speaking and writing. Spring Branch is a member of the Willow Creek Association and is a premier host site for the Global Leadership Summit. The author lives and works with his wife, Gail, in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

Michael Witt

Michael Witt is a retired lawyer whose grandfather emigrated from Germany to America in the 1920s. His grandfather taught him to have a passion for German art and culture. Michael has a bachelor degree from Cornell University and a law degree from Rutgers University. He is an astronomy junkie whose bucket list includes traveling into outer space.

Michael Zitron

Michael David Zitron redefines water's role in our economy with a conversational approach and a science nonfiction appeal. He is a graduate of Old Dominion University with an emphasis in international business and Latin American affairs. Zitron worked undercover inside US public utilities, he traded physical commodities globally, and sat at the round table with the heads of the world's largest corporations. He timed the stock market in conjunction with the earth's climate, and his discoveries are startling. Zitron believes the US must lead the world as a beacon for new water policies. Electrified with purpose, he etched a cause in Waconomics (a.k.a. water economics) and founded the 501c3, Water M. Mission. Zitron is seeking out global citizens to join him and be water's voice.

Michelle Wishner

Michelle Wishner is currently an assistant principal at the middle school level. She has over fifteen years of experience in education, working at all levels from grades TK to 12. She lives in Southern California with her husband and two daughters. Ever the Same is her debut novel, created in her spare time and while watching her eldest daughter play softball.

Miguel A. Rivera Jr.

Miguel Angel Rivera, Jr., was born in Newark, New Jersey, to Puerto Rican American parents. His mother fueled his love of reading and science fiction early on by introducing him to comic books. A Rutgers alumni and criminal justice major, he served twenty-seven years in various law enforcement capacities before retiring as a police lieutenant. Now a writer, in his spare time he enjoys martial arts, having earned a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu. His favorite authors include Stephen King, J. R. R. Tolkien, Tom Clancy, Jerry B. Jenkins, and the legendary Stan Lee.

Mike Adams

My domain of expertise lies in advising CEOs on how to scale and grow their business-I have clients all over the globe giving me exposure to a broad set of market and business conditions but also plenty of 'lingo' to draw from! I published a business book in 2015, The Intrepid CEO-How Bold Leaders Future-proof Sales & Drive Profit-which I crowd-funded and successfully reached the funding goal in the first day. This is a great platform to build from. Additionally, I get to speak at conferences on business and sales adding to my brand position in market. As a consultant I am surrounded by peers using nonsensical, business rhetoric constantly . . . this book is a good self-effacing jibe.

Mike Frosolono

Mike Frosolono previously authored two non-scientific books: Beyond Duty, a novel based upon the premise that duty performed in the absence of love becomes a cruel taskmaster, and Thoroughly Biased Opinions, an edited collection of the newspaper columns Mike wrote over the course of nine years for the Franklin County Citizen, a weekly newspaper published in Northeast Georgia. He is a lifelong professing member of the Christian Community of Believers who has facilitated adult Sunday School classes and youth groups, and held many administrative positions in local congregations, including current service as a Certified Lay Speaker. He received an undergraduate degree with a full double-major in biology and chemistry from LaGrange College, and an earned doctorate in biochemistry from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Mike has twenty years' subsequent experience each in basic academic biomedical research and in clinical research within the pharmaceutical industry, which produced more than 125 articles in the scientific literature and several new pharmaceutical products.

Mike Herron

Mike Herron is the son and grandson of renowned adventurers, and an accomplished big game hunter and worldwide angler. He is also a founding member of one of the top rugby clubs in America, the Norfolk City Blues, and he continues to play actively with the Cardinals R.F.C., the top masters club in the United States. Herron is a media executive and lives with his wife in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

Mike McLaughlin

Mike McLaughlin writes fiction and nonfiction. His short stories have appeared in The Wrath-Bearing Tree, October Hill, and The Metaworker. His historical features have run in American Veteran, WWII History, and American Heritage. He is a graduate of Fairfield University with a degree in English writing. Mike lives in Boston, an excellent place for any writer to keep a low profile and get real work done.

Miles McCarthy

Born in Texas in 1992, Miles McCarthy is an American author. In 2000, he moved to Austin where he attended The University of Texas, before spending time in both Edinburgh, Scotland and New York, New York. In his professional career, Miles has held positions in investment technology, valuation and transaction advisory, and legal services. While his locale and occupation have shifted over the years, one thing hasn’t: his writing. McCarthy considers the craft second-nature, viewing authorship as a form of genuine introspection. McCarthy currently resides in Austin where he also runs an inspirational feed on Instagram (@aseriesoftheories).

Miranda Faye Dillon

Miranda Faye Dillon graduated from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York, with a degree in creative writing and a minor in cinema studies. Her short fiction piece, Leaves, was published by the Saturday Evening Post while she was in college. She works as an editor in Virginia Beach and enjoys writing short stories and screenplays, watching old films, and traveling the world.

Misty J Moreton

Misty J Moreton is a professional party entrepreneur, alcohol enthusiast, and nicotine connoisseur. She lives in Southern California in the country with some eclectic roommates, her preteen prodigal savant, 13 chickens, 2 dogs, and a tortoise. She ranks in the top 10 Jugador de Genio blackjack players, turned down a full ride scholarship in billiards, has been called the black widow of electronics, is known to multi-task up to 14 different activities to half-completion, and is incredibly well-read in topics such as polygamy, Munchausen by proxy, and forensic pathology. She is a political junkie and a self taught gourmet cook. In addition to writing The Alcohol Memoirs, her bradycardian, high-tech press releases have been published by The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Bangladeshi News, and The Hindustan Times, as well as some other high profile publications. She runs a blog for her contributors and subscribers and a 24/7 Twitter account. She is currently working on the 6th book in The Alcohol Memoirs series and will be accepting international submissions from other countries famous for alcohol consumption, such as Australia, Scotland, and Ireland.

Monique Taylor

Monique Taylor is an avid researcher who focuses on little-known areas of history. She holds a BA in English literature, an MA in history, and a JD in law. Monique was previously a college-level history instructor. Her father’s stories about his time as a combat glider pilot piqued her interest in the glider program of WWII. She has been engaged in public speaking on a number of subjects, most recently at the National Glider Pilots reunion. While not writing, Monique enjoys hiking with her husband on their ranch.

Ms. Karen Pollard

Karen Pollard is an exciting new author, that lends 20 years of experience in the pre-school area of education. While observing the struggles and challenges of learning to read, she began to develop her own style of teaching. Ms. Karen made up ridiculous sentences, interactive games, and vibrant characters that the students loved to remember! She quickly became known as the "Silly Goose Teacher". Through her "So Silly" style, coupled with alliteration and memorization, her student's progress was obvious and consistently amazing. Learning became fun, so the foundation was built for them to succeed in their learning experiences.

My Haley

Growing up under her grandmother’s watchful, wise tutelage, My Lewis Haley spent her early childhood in South Charleston, West Virginia, before her parents moved the family to Columbus, Ohio. While working on her doctorate in communications at Ohio State University, My was inspired by a speech the author Alex Haley delivered on campus. After receiving her Ph.D., she set out on her next goal: to work with the renowned author. Impressed by My’s drive and talent, Haley gave her a major assignment—to assist him in writing the remaining two-thirds of a book that was long overdue to his publisher. In a matter of months, they completed the work and that book, Roots, catapulted Alex Haley to international fame. My and Alex married in 1977, and over the years collaborated on many of his projects, including the miniseries Roots: The Next Generation. After Alex’s death, My Haley immersed herself in writing pieces based upon growing up with her grandmother and writing screenplays for feature film and TV.

Nancy Stroer

Nancy Stroer holds degrees from Cornell and Boston University, and served as an Army maintenance officer in the beer-soaked trenches of post-Cold War Germany. Her work has appeared in Stars and Stripes, Soldiers magazine, Hallaren Lit Mag, the Wrath-Bearing Tree, and Things We Carry Still, an anthology of military writing from Middle West Press. In addition to writing, Nancy is a teacher and trainer and an adjunct faculty member of the Ellyn Satter Institute, a 503(c) not-for-profit organization that helps individuals and families develop a more joyful relationship to food and their bodies. Playing Army is her first novel.

Natacha Belair

Natacha Belair is the Award-Winning Author behind the A Stellar Purpose series; a unique and thought-provoking narrative that uses fantasy to address real-life topics such as animal rights, environmental care, and positive social change. In these novels, Natacha masterfully intertwines memorable characters with colourful backdrops and mind-boggling theories—delivering captivating, sci-fi-filled adventures set in inspirational storylines. Raised in a French-Canadian household entertained by American fiction, Natacha longed to share her debut title with her unilingual loved ones. Lux&Nox granted her wish when they published Mission céleste. When she’s not writing, or chatting with her fans, Natacha enjoys spending warm days outdoors with her husband, two teenage daughters and her fur babies.

Nathan Aguinaga

Nathan Aguinaga is a retired master sergeant who served twenty years in the US Army. He is also the author of a three-part series, which includes Division: Life on Ardennes Street, Roster Number Five Zero, and Wake Up: You’re Having Another Nightmare. After the series he wrote One Term: A Current-Day Political Assassination and Connie Armstrong: The Life Story of a Functional Alcoholic. He lives in northwest Ohio with his wife.

Nathan Gould

Nathan Gould is a veteran of the United States Army, a retired police officer, a stay-at-home dad, and an author. An Iraq War veteran, he retired from policing after having a PTSD episode while on duty. He has written poetry and short stories from a young age and has self-published two children's books: Mr. Mom's 1st day of School and A Mole Named Cole Dug a Hole. Nathan loves Jesus, chess, CrossFit, a steaming mug of coffee, and making foot-in-his-mouth sarcastic remarks. He spends his days loving his three kids and wife in the great state of North Carolina with their boxer-pit mix, Cookie.

Neil P. McNulty

Neil McNulty is a nationally renowned executive recruiter who has spent decades serving some of the highest-level leaders in American business. He is America's leading authority for his sector of military personnel transitioning to civilian careers. He began his recruiting career with Management Recruiters International (MRI), eventually leading three award-winning offices. Later, he founded MMG Leaders. Neil also served disabled military veterans and marginalized populations through nonprofit executive leadership roles. He has delivered keynote, expert panel, and commencement addresses, authored four books about job hunting and employment, and served twenty years as an infantry officer in the United States Marine Corps. He and his wife, Mary Beth, are the proud parents of three adult children, and in his free time, Neil enjoys spending time with family, outdoor sports, and playing piano.

Nelson R. Gomm

Nelson R. Gomm is a military avionics consultant with over 30 years writing and analyzing technical documents for the Department of Defense. His first novel, "Overhead Assets" (Feb 2019) was largely based on experience working on a Black Program for the DoD as well as experience working for the U.S. Army Security Agency (Army division of the NSA) during the Vietnam War.

Nick Cidado

Nick Cidado is an established strength and conditioning coach who has a passion for preparing athletes to perform at their greatest potential. He has worked with thousands of athletes over the course of his career, ranging from professionals down to the youth levels. In his current role at Boston College, he has been a part of multiple championships and has coached numerous nationally recognized, award-winning athletes. Certified through the National Strength and Conditioning Association, he has earned multiple master’s degrees that include exercise and sport science, as well as leadership and administration. Before Boston College, he coached at Harvard University and various other private-sector performance centers. He and his family currently reside in Boston, Massachusetts.

Nick Desjardins

Nick Desjardins grew up an army brat, bouncing around the South. As a teenager he started collecting books and records, and when college came, he couldn't quite figure out what to do. The depression probably didn't help. Leaving behind a mostly finished degree, he took to traveling and menial labor jobs, typing away on a beat-up laptop any chance he could get. He's had short fiction published in A Literation, The Underground Literary Journal, Pique Magazine, and Human Parts. He's served as fiction editor for A Literation, as well as content reader for the Birch Gang Review. He spends far too much time trying to figure out the musical preferences of his two dogs and hanging around dive bars.

Nick Holmberg

Nick Holmberg grew up in Northern California. He earned a master's at the City College of New York, where his studies of Latinx magic realist and African-American literatures began. While working as an educator in South Korea, Illinois, Texas, and Iowa, Nick developed his debut novel, The Emergent.

Nicolas Gattig

A former Tokyo resident now living in the San Francisco Bay Area, Nicolas Gattig is ideally positioned to portray both places with insight, empathy, and humor. Gattig has published short stories, essays, and poetry in numerous journals and anthologies, including Asia Literary Review, the Express Tribune, the San Francisco Chronicle, and Foreign Literary Journal. He is a contributing writer at the Japan Times, where he writes travel essays and book reviews.

Nicole S. Kluemper

Nicole (Taus) Kluemper, Ph.D. is a clinical psychologist at a small community clinic in San Diego, California. She earned her undergraduate degree in psychology from the University of San Diego, and her doctorate degree in clinical psychology from Alliant International University. Dr. Kluemper is a published author of an article in a peer reviewed journal, and lives just outside of San Diego with Gary, her husband of twelve years, and their two dogs, Shelbee and Simon. This is her first book.

Nigel W.D. Mumford

The Rev. Nigel Mumford is the author of four books and the founder of By His Wounds, Inc. He is a former Royal Marine Commando Drill Instructor with eight years in the Corps. In 1991, he dedicated his life to the healing ministry after his sister was dramatically cured of dystonia through prayer. He was the director of healing for the Albany Diocese for ten years, and previously directed the Oratory of the Little Way, Connecticut. He taught healing ministry as an adjunct professor at six theological colleges, he also has presented the ministry at many churches and cathedrals around the world. He was invited to present the healing ministry to war zone veterans at the Pentagon. His other books are, Hand to Hand From Combat to Healing, The Forgotten Touch: More Stories of Healing, and After the Trauma the Battle Begins: Post Trauma Healing. He is a regular contributor to Sharing Magazine for the Order of St. Luke. His ministry has been featured on TBN with a news article on The Welcome Home Initiative, a healing program for war zone veterans. The author was born and raised in England and now resides in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

Noelle Hipke

Noelle Hipke is a composer of written and visual creative artistry, giving humans a fresh perspective to see and feel the invisible and heal on a global level. She has been practicing yoga since the age of fourteen and in 2017 became a breathwork guide to assist others reaching enlightenment. Since 2005 she has worked as a seniors real estate specialist with a special focus on the elderly shifting into retirement.She has authored detailed engineering proposals, websites, social media content, print newsletters, email campaigns, graphic art, and poetry. Noelle created HipKey TV as a social media outlet in 2008. She has been featured on several radio shows nationwide.

Noretta Willig

Noretta Willig, after graduation from Ohio University, began her career in journalism as an editor for PPG Industries magazines. Later, she chose to teach, obtaining a master's degree from the University of Pittsburgh. For 33 years, she taught American and English literature in a suburban Pittsburgh high school. In retirement, she traveled throughout the 50 states and to many foreign countries, including the battlefields of France.

Omar Tyree

Omar Tyree, a New York Times bestselling author and a 2006 Phillis Wheatley Literary Award-winner for Body of Work in Fiction, has been cited in 2009 by the City Council of Philadelphia for his work in literacy, and has published 18 books with 2 million copies sold worldwide. With a degree in print journalism from Howard University in 1991, Tyree has been recognized as one of the most renowned contemporary writers in America. He is also an informed and passionate speaker on various community-related and intellectual topics. Now entering the world of literacy programs, business seminars and feature filmmaking, Tyree is a tireless creator and visionary of few limitations.

Ophera Davis

Dr. Ophera A. Davis is an author, independent scholar, and twenty-year affiliate faculty member who has taught in African studies and psychology departments at colleges in Boston. She earned a bachelor's and master's degree from an HBCU, Jackson State University, and her PhD is from Saint Louis University. Dr. Davis's first article on Hurricane Katrina survivors was published in the Harvard Journal of Public Policy. Professor Davis has given talks on Hurricane Katrina survivors internationally at Oxford University, and in China, Australia, and Africa. Dr. Davis grew up in the Mississippi Delta, one of the poorest areas in America.

Otis L Lee Jr

Otis L. Lee, Jr., is a retired attorney, formerly a member of both the Pennsylvania and Virginia Bar. He formerly served on the faculties of several Midwestern and East Coast universities and as a former director, coordinator and contributing author to the Howard University School Of Business 1980 project to revise and edit the U.S. Department of Commerce manual entitled Local Economic Development Corporation, Legal and Financial Guidelines. Lee is also the author of the memoir From South Boston to Cambridge, The Making of One Philadelphia Lawyer. Lee's career has included assignments with the Harris Trust and Savings Bank in Chicago, Illinois as a trust new business solicitor, panel executive for the panel on product liability for the United States Chamber of Commerce and as an advanced underwriting consultant for the Mid-Atlantic Region for the New York Life Insurance Company.

Palmer Hartl

As a writer of management training courses, articles on the change in the U.S. employment paradigm in the post-downsizing era, and countless sermons, the Rev. Palmer Hartl strives to help his reader take the conceptual and make it practical. Using his unique skills and experience as a writer, minister, pastoral psychotherapist, business consultant and corporate senior manager, he is called on frequently to teach and consult with for-profit and not-for-profit organizations. His frequent goal is to help managers get the most work done while treating their people with dignity and care. In his ongoing church work, Mr. Hartl seeks to connect the Gospel message to issues people wrestle with in their contemporary lives.

Pam Siegel MPH MFT

Pam Siegel MPH, MFT is a licensed marriage family therapist in private practice in West Los Angeles. She is a certified mindfulness therapist and implements meditation and other mindfulness tools to help her clients with a variety of issues. She is actively involved in the mindfulness and yoga community and has her own daily practice and website, www.pamsiegel.com.

Pamela Dolores Bastien

Pamela Bastien is retired from a career in the office arena, and is a non-combat veteran serving four years in the US Navy as a hospital corpsman, and seventeen years in the Minnesota Army National Guard. This is her first published novel. She and her husband spent many years in Naples, Florida, managing condominiums. Her husband was a Vietnam combat veteran and died in 2015 from exposure to Agent Orange in Vietnam. She now spends time traveling and spending time with her three children and seven grandchildren. She also volunteers for the Brainerd International Speedway and for the Veterans.

Pamela Hamilton

Pamela Hamilton is a writer and consultant who has worked with notable figures in business, US intelligence, music, and the arts, and has covered some of the most significant events of the twenty-first century. For more than a decade she was a producer for NBC News, and she was a producer on the award-winning documentary Grateful Dawg. Based in Manhattan, she serves on the board of the Society of Professional Journalists' Deadline Club and on the advisory board of the Art Deco Society of New York.

Pamula Floyd

Pamula Floyd has a master's in journalism, a bachelor's in English, and is pursuing a PhD in communications. She is a caregiver for her son and spends her time fighting for the rights of those with special needs, especially the physically challenged. She writes about mental health and has a happy home of rescue dogs, which her husband of thirty years happily agrees to. She loves being a grandmother. And she seeks sound advice from her other son, who she claims should write his own book.

Patrick Clark

Patrick Clark holds an undergraduate degree in Journalism from the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee and a Master of Arts degree in National Security and Strategic Studies from the U.S. Naval War College. He is a retired U. S. Navy Commander whose active duty military career included four at-sea assignments as well as tours of duty on the U.S. Joint Staff and a diplomatic assignment to Saudi Arabia. He has recently reignited the passion for writing that drove him to his studies in writing and has published two short stories in an anthology titled, By The Bay, Stories of East Beach. His stories were titled Boneyard and the Town Hall Incident. A third short story titled Dead Drop was included in the By The Bay II anthology published in April 2017. The Monroe Decision is Patrick’s debut novel.

Paul Bailey

Paul Bailey began his writing career in the fifth grade when he won a class competition for a story about Martians getting measles. Forty years and a lifetime in Walmart management later, he published Homecoming on Amazon. Paul is an avid runner, recently completing half marathons in all fifty states. He graduated from the University of Missouri, currently lives in Illinois with his wife of thirty years, and raises Maltese puppies.

Paul Clancy

Paul Clancy has been a journalist for over forty years. Part of that time was in Washington where he covered national politics and wrote biographies about Watergate Chairman Sam Ervin and House Speaker Tip O’Neill. He worked for The Charlotte Observer, USA Today and The Washington Star. When the Star folded in 1981, Clancy founded a weekly newspaper, The Reston Connection, which expanded into a small chain of Fairfax County weeklies that survives today. In 1993, Clancy moved to Norfolk and became editor of Calypso Log, the magazine of the Cousteau Society. He wrote extensively for the magazine, from coral reefs in the Florida Keys to crushing poverty in Haiti. He traveled with Jacques Cousteau to Madagascar and wrote about conditions there. In the mid-nineties, Clancy went to work for The Virginian-Pilot, covering water-related issues–sailing adventures, diving, sunken treasure and sunken ships, to mention a few. His coverage of the excavation of the turret of the ironclad ship Monitor led to his writing Ironclad: The Epic Battle, Calamitous Loss, and Historic Recovery of the USS Monitor. In 2007, he began writing Our Stories, a weekly column on local history for the newspaper. He touched on the history of just about everything, from the first settlement at Jamestown to the last burlesque house in Norfolk, from naval heroes to prize fighters. Recently, History Press published Hampton Roads Chronicles, a collection of these columns. He has also written Historic Hampton Roads: Where America Began. Paul Clancy works and lives in Norfolk Virginia with his wife, Barbara.

Paul H. Grundy M.D.

Paul Grundy, M.D., MPH, FACOEM, FACPM, currently serves as IBM’s global director of healthcare transformation and is a member of the IBM Industry Academy. He attended medical school at the University of California, San Francisco, completed his residency training in preventive medicine and a postdoctoral fellowship in occupational health in the international environment, both at Johns Hopkins. Dr. Grundy also earned a master’s degree in public health at the University of California, Berkeley. He is a member of the National Academy of Science’s Institute of Medicine, Chair of Health Policy for the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) and an adjunct professor at the University of Utah Department of Family and Preventive Medicine. In 2014, Dr. Grundy was named as ambassador for Healthcare DENMARK, a role in which he shares best practices from the Danish healthcare system with U.S. and international physicians. Prior to his career at IBM, Dr. Grundy was a medical officer and flight surgeon in the U.S. Air Force and served in the U.S. Department of State, where he advised ambassadors on healthcare programs for diplomatic posts. He received the Department of State Superior Honor Award for efforts related to the HIV/AIDS crisis in sub-Saharan Africa. Dr. Grundy also served as Chief medical officer for the Adventist Health System, Pennsylvania, and is currently president of the Patient-Centered Care Collaborative, a not-for-profit advocacy group committed to advancing an effective health system built on a strong foundation of primary care and the patient-centered medical home. Dr. Grundy is widely known as “the godfather of the medical home.” You can follow Dr. Grundy on Twitter at @Paul_PCPCC. “Dr. Paul Grundy may be the most knowledgeable person in the United States regarding the state of our country’s healthcare.” —Craig Jones, M.D., Executive Director, Vermont Blueprint for Health

Paul Kuypers

Paul Kuypers has always been intrigued and fascinated with the spiritual world. He started his spiritual journey with tarot cards. Later in life he felt he needed to grow further and undertook his first Reiki level 1 course and continued to become the great Reiki master teacher he is now. He has always had the urge to write, and previously published Healing Messages from Above, a collection of messages he has received for the purposes of sharing positivity with the world.

Paul R. Paradise

Paul R. Paradise has authored numerous books and articles and been interviewed on the radio for his expertise with trademark counterfeiting, called “the business crime of the 21st century,” by the FBI. The Counterfeit Detective is based in part on a book excerpt of real-life investigator David Woods that appeared in PI Magazine and later in his book Trademark Counterfeiting, Product Piracy, and the Billion Dollar Threat to the U.S. Economy, as well as a short story that was awarded Honorable Mention in the 2008 Writers' Digest Fiction Competition. The author began his career as staff writer for T.F.H. Publications and later branched out into law enforcement with articles published in Electronics Now, Police, Law & Order and PI Magazine.

Paul Rutter

Paul has managed and guided some of the largest and most luxurious cruise ships in the world, taking him to speak on stages all over the globe where living with his customers, clients, and co-workers was a way of life. His time on the high seas has taught him that approaching customer service with the intent to exceed his customer's expectations, rather than just meet them, higher levels of customer satisfaction, retention, loyalty, and repeat business can be experienced.

Paul S. Teague

Paul S. Teague retired as a major from the U.S. Army after twenty-six years of service. Commissioned as a second lieutenant of infantry, he finished his career as an intelligence officer. Paul had four operational deployments to Haiti, Bosnia, and Kosovo. He also had six combat deployments to Somalia and the Middle East. Paul holds a master's degree in history and is currently completing a second master's degree in strategic leadership. Paul works as a military analyst, designing scenarios for U.S. Army training exercises in Europe.

Paul Schienberg, PhD

Paul Schienberg got his doctorate in clinical psychology from the CSPP/LA. He interned at UCLA/NPI and the Free Foundation. Over the past thirty-five years, he has taught at Redlands University, The New School University, Mount Sinai Medical Center, and The Eastern Group Psychotherapy Society. He is the publisher of Psyched Online (www.psychedonline.com) which is dedicated to helping professional and amateur athletes improve their athletic performance. Dr. Schienberg offers speaking engagements and workshops to amateur and professional athletes.

Paul Travers

Paul Travers, a prior Marine Corps officer, park ranger, security analyst, and ballpark tour guide, has written numerous books, including the bestseller Eyewitness to Infamy: An Oral History of Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941. In 2009, he through-hiked the Appalachian Trail as a fundraiser for veterans with Alzheimer’s disease. His most recent book, Dancing with the Mountains: Alzheimer’s, Angels, and the Appalachian Trail, chronicles that adventure.

Paula D. Henry

Paula Henry holds a pharmacy degree from the Ohio State University and practiced as a registered pharmacist for many years in Ohio and California. A series of health problems in herself and her animals led to exploration of more natural ways to assist the body in healing, instead of just covering up symptoms. She currently operates a biofeedback/bio-resonance device to help people and animals regain their health. Paula enjoys educating people about the barriers to good health that are not talked about in mainstream medicine. She also shares ideas on how to allow vibrant health to be restored to both people and animals. She has a website, pauladhenry.com, where she shares information freely with the public. She lives in Cape Charles, Virginia, along with her dog and horse.

Pearl Gifty Alimo

Pearl "Gifty" Alimo is married to her high school sweetheart, who has served the United States Navy since 2008. Together, they have three wonderful children. Pearl and her family have lived on different bases throughout the United States and in Japan. Pearl is the founder of Greight Foundation, dedicated to mentoring girls from harsh backgrounds to pursue their education and career goals in life. She has been the voice and advocate for children and youth on global platforms such as the United Nations and One Young World. Since 2011, she has worked with military child and youth programs as a caregiver, programs lead, and currently as a training and curriculum specialist. She also leads a team of career coaches and training consultants at Greight Company, LLC, a career consulting firm that offers career support services and programs to individuals, teams, and agencies. Pearl Alimo holds a bachelor's degree in French and linguistics from the University of Ghana-Legon and a master's degree in education from Michigan State University. She enjoys reading different genres of books, writing, traveling, spending time with her family, and eating sushi.

Penny Haw

Longtime journalist, columnist, and latter-day author Penny Haw has written for many leading South African newspapers and magazines for more than three decades. Her children's book, Nicko; The Tale of a Vervet Monkey on an African Farm, was published in 2017 and is now included in school curricula. The Wilderness Between Us is her debut novel for adults, again expounding her love for animals and the outdoors.

Perry J. Hohman

Perry J. Hohman is an emerging writer and speaker who promotes the ideal of helping people enjoy more rewarding lives by trusting God in day to day living. Perry is the Chief Financial Officer of a large, family run real estate investment and financing business. He serves as a board member on several charitable organizations as well as church and community action committees. Perry is the recipient of numerous leadership awards recognizing his volunteer spirit. Married 33 years, he and his wife, Theresa, are graduates of the University of Notre Dame, have five children, and reside in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

Perry Miller

Perry Miller is a physician with a PhD in computer science. For many years, he was a Professor of Anesthesiology at Yale medical school and director of Yale's Center for Medical Informatics, exploring the creative use of computers in medicine. He has always enjoyed writing but until recently only published articles and books about research in computers and medicine. He is particularly excited to be writing fiction and hopes that he brings a strong feeling of authenticity to the merging of these two fields. He and his wife live in the Boston area, close to their children and grandchildren.

Peter B. Anderson M.D.

Dr. Anderson completed his M.D. at the University of Virginia School of Medicine and his residency training at Riverside Regional Medical Center in Newport News, Virginia. He maintained a large primary care practice for thirty years, which became the first in the state of Virginia to be recognized and accredited by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) as a medical home. While in practice, Dr. Anderson also served as clinical assistant professor of family medicine at the University of Virginia School of Medicine and Assistant Professor of Clinical Family and Community Medicine at Eastern Virginia Medical School. After retiring from active practice, he founded and now leads Team Care Medicine™, a healthcare consulting and training company. Using a model of inside-the-exam-room care that serves to both redesign traditional workflow patterns and elevate staff responsibilities, Dr. Anderson has helped over 300 physician practices, as well as U.S. Department of Defense Military Health primary care clinics, transform their practices. The author of three books, including The Familiar Physician, which focuses on the patient-physician bond and the patient-centered medical home as key elements of primary care medicine and health reform, Dr. Anderson is also a frequent national speaker and media contributor on family practice and primary care issues. To learn more about Dr. Anderson and his work, visit teamcaremedicine.com or follow @thefamiliarphys on Twitter. “I spent several days with Dr. Anderson and his team to see this innovative practice style firsthand. I quickly became convinced that this was how primary care, and primary care physicians, could survive….” —Kevin Hopkins, M.D. Cleveland Clinic Family Practice Management

Peter Bragino

I AM HUMAN Our Shared Humanity The reason for this book's existence is to share my unique journey as an artist with you-to connect what was real for me with what is real to you on your journey. Foundations, life lessons, art-all coming together to bring me to where I am today. Wisdom is better shared-and community is built on creating more, becoming more, together. My greatest joy is in seeing others inspired to connect deeper to their own sacred journey in life. I want you to understand that no matter where you are in your life, you have the ability to connect deeper with your purpose and start walking that path towards your personal truth. I hope this book was a testament to you that all things are possible if you listen to your heart and dedicate yourself to your own growth. LET'S STAY CONNECTED Visit my website www.bragino.com and join me on this sacred path by becoming a part of my tribe. Together we'll walk increasingly closer to our highest truth and our most authentic selves. Commissions contact@bragino.com Social Media @bragino

Peter Harmon

Peter L. Harmon is a screenwriter and producer, He lives in Los Angeles with his wife Ashlea, their son Christian and their pug Summer. He studied electronic media and film as well as creative writing at Towson University in Baltimore. He also spent the best summers of his life working and playing at the Cheverly Swim and Racquet Club, the pool where the idea for The Happenstances did its first cannonball.

Peter Linkow

Peter Linkow is the founder and chief executive of Lead Diversity, which provides consulting, research, and content development on diversity, equity, and inclusion strategy and leadership. He was previously president of WFD Consulting, a global diversity and work-life consultancy, and CEO of two organizations serving people with cognitive and mental disabilities. For the past twenty-five years, Peter has consulted, written, and spoken globally on business strategy, change management, and diversity, equity, and inclusion strategy. He received his MBA from Harvard Business School as well as graduate degrees in educational policy and psychology from Harvard and Indiana Universities respectively. Peter earned his BA from DePauw University.

Ph.D. Paul K. Woods

Paul applies his professional experience in analyzing, improving, and assessing organizational performance to helping guide you in improving your golf swing. Paul adds his passion for golf and admiration for Percy Boomer with John's to offer you More On Learning Golf.

Phil M. Cohen

Phil M. Cohen's passion for storytelling emerges from his love of reading fiction and his commitment to the Jewish tradition. Through his education, he's learned how to create and interpret stories; how to grapple with philosophical questions; and how to write fiction. From his rabbinic work, he's gained insight into the world. From realms unknown and a bit scary, Phil M. Cohen continues to discover his creative imagination. He is the author of nearly twenty published stories, dozens of articles and papers, and of the eBook Lucky 13. He blogs for The Times of Israel, as well as at his website, philmcohen.com, where he interviews authors and other literary figures. He writes flash fiction and short stories, as well as all the things clergy write. Nick Bones Underground is the first of a trilogy.

Philip Barbara

Pushcart Prize-nominated author Philip Barbara’s literary fiction focuses on social issues. His novella, The Hartford Atonement, is about a billionaire using wealth to bring about gun reform. In the short story The Church, adapted into a radio play by an NPR affiliate, a sandwich maker at a kosher cafeteria near the UN overhears Middle East negotiations. In Dreams Exchanged, an immigration agent finishes off what industrial automation started, eliminating jobs, and The Buzzing shows why Canada geese migrate more easily than humans. As a journalist for 30 years at Reuters, he helped cover mass murders from Columbine to Sandy Hook. He was an editor at Aviation Week & Space Technology and a staff writer for the Bergen Record, where he shared national awards for public service reporting. He earned a Bachelor’s at Fordham University and a Master’s at the City University of New York’s Brooklyn campus.

Philip Graubart

Philip Graubart is the author of the award-winning novels Planet of the Jews and Silwan, along with several other books. He’s published essays, short stories, and op-eds in numerous publications, including Forward, Tikkun, Moment, The Jerusalem Post, Times of Israel, and The Jerusalem Report. He is a rabbi and writer living in San Diego. He's served pulpits in Massachusetts and California and also served in leadership positions at the Shalom Hartman Institute, the National Yiddish Book Center, and the San Diego Jewish Academy, where he now teaches. He’s published eight books, including five novels.

Philip Russotti

Mr. Russotti had a ten-year relationship with his late wife, Susan, that helped him discover what was needed to make a relationship work successfully, following two prior marriages that ended in divorce. His forty-year career as a distinguished trial lawyer in New York, specializing in medical malpractice cases, fostered his ability to research. After Susan passed away in 2017, Mr. Russotti applied those abilities and his life experience to the subject of love and relationships to write this book. Today, Mr. Russotti is the senior partner of an eighty-person Manhattan law firm and has been named a super lawyer in New York every year since the award was created. The New York Law Journal named him to the New York Medical Malpractice Hall of Fame in 2014.

Puja Shah

Puja Shah is a philanthropist and visionary poet who shares her voice through written and spoken word, guided meditations, and teaching. Born in Queens, New York, to immigrant parents, she defied teachers who questioned her English skills by winning countless poetry and short story awards in her youth. As an avid reader, she spent her teen years exploring New York City for poetry slams and book readings. The blend of East and West has always fascinated her, so she holds a graduate degree in dental medicine from Tufts University as well as over a dozen trainings in various forms of yoga, meditation, and ancient wisdom. For My Sister is her first novel.

R. Barbara Gitenstein

R. Barbara Gitenstein is the author of numerous articles on Jewish American literature and academic administration, the monograph Apocalyptic Messianism and Jewish-American Poetry, several op-eds for the higher education press, and Experience Is the Angled Road: Memoir of an Academic. Although originally, she wanted to be a prima donna at the Metropolitan Opera Company, her second-choice career took off after receiving her bachelor of arts from Duke University and PhD from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. After fifteen years as a full-time professor, she served as provost and executive vice president at Drake University and president of The College of New Jersey.

R. Douglas Hackney

R. Douglas Hackney is a native Virginian. Born in the Tidewater area, he then lived in Richmond, earning degrees from the University of Richmond and Virginia Commonwealth University in addition to three years' study at Union Presbyterian Seminary. As a vocational rehabilitation counselor he relocated to Charlottesville and then to the Shenandoah Valley, obtaining a master of divinity degree at Eastern Mennonite Seminary in Harrisonburg. Though this is his first full-length novel, he has written a humorous monthly column in an agency newsletter, short stories and poems in school publications, an album of original songs, and, most recently, a musical in final stages of production. His work experience ranges from grocery clerk to carpentry, grape vineyard management to ministry, truck driver to advertising. Married with five children, much of his time is spent cutting firewood for their valley home, playing and singing folk music, hiking, camping, canoeing and other outdoor activities. A restored 1933 Dodge is sometimes driven on tours and in parades. Please visit https://doughackney.com for more information.

​R. Paul Vuolle

R. Paul Vuolle has an MSc. degree from one of top universities in the world, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich (ETH Zürich). He looks back at a long and successful corporate career in different global corporations up to Executive Vice President position and since he has been a start-up, industrial and consulting entrepreneur advising SMEs in Europe as well as Stock Listed companies in highly challenging business situations. He was also the only European author writing for the Industry Week magazine in the USA. He has been a key note speaker in a business conference in USA.

R. Peter Mooz

R. Peter Mooz, PhD, has taught at the universities of Pennsylvania, Delaware, Vermont, Texas, Virginia, and Mary Washington, and Virginia Commonwealth University. He served as director at the Bowdoin College Museum of Art and trustee of the Ogonquit Museum of Art, the Maine Consortium of Museums, and the Brunswick Historical Society. He went on to become director of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, securing the acquisition of Paul Mellon's Equestrian Collection and seventy impressionist works by van Gogh, Degas, Monet, and others, as well as Sydney and Francis Lewis's famous collection of pop art, minimalist art, and postmodern works heralded by Time Magazine as one of the 100 best collections in the United States. Dr. Mooz served on the boards of the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts, was a founding trustee of the Institute of Museum Services, and was appointed commissioner of the American Association of Museums' National Accreditation Program. Dr. Mooz has contributed to two other books, American Painting to 1776: A Reappraisal and The Genius of American Painting. He has viewed thousands of works of arts in museums across the United States, Europe, Australia, Japan and China, and he has had the pleasure to dine with Queen Elizabeth II and Coretta King, lunch with Jackie Kennedy Onasis, and attend events with Andy Warhol, Tom Wolfe, and Elizabeth Taylor. His passion for art, in particular the history of American art, has culminated in this book before you, his crowning achievement.

R. Scott Boyer

Scott Boyer is the author of the Bobby Ether series-the groundbreaking YA adventure series that blurs the lines between contemporary fantasy and spiritual fiction. Graduating from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley in 1996, his writing combines a business-like focus with his passion for volunteering with kids and love of fantasy to craft entertaining yet provocative stories. His debut novel, Bobby Ether and the Academy, received 5 stars from Clarion Foreword, 4.5 stars from IndieReader, and was called "An intriguing debut adventure...with a cliffhanger ending" by Kirkus Review.

R. T. Lund

R. T. Lund is a lawyer and former business leader with a diverse background that includes teaching English in a federal prison and volunteering as a small claims court judge. He has presented and written on a variety of legal and business topics but, regrettably, delayed the joy and gratification of writing fiction until his sixties.

Rachael Brooks

Rachael Brooks is a first-time author who currently lives in Raleigh, North Carolina, with her husband and two children. She graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with both a Masters of Accounting and an Undergraduate Business degree. She is a former tax accountant who is now a stay-at-home mom. Rachael is a sexual assault survivor and has had an active role in the Survivor Speaker's Bureau at a local non-profit organization since 2013. Immediately impacted by the #MeToo movement in 2017, Rachael set out on her own personal mission to make her story known and join the thousands of courageous women and men who have also come forward to share their stories of survival and hope.

Rachael Rose Steil

Rachael Rose Steil graduated in 2015 from Aquinas College with a bachelor of arts in English. She is a level 1 USA track-and-field certified coach and is currently the assistant coach at Grandville High School. She has published articles about running and eating disorders in Michigan Runner magazine and is a speaker and advocate. Steil is a recipient of the Spirit and Outstanding Runner award for the Aquinas College cross-country team and has received sixth place All-American accolades in cross country, as well as seventh place in the NAIA track nationals. Yet her greatest achievement was not breaking a physical barrier, but a mental one.

Rachel Biale

Rachel Biale is a clinical social worker and has been counseling parents of young children for over thirty-five years. She trained at Yeshiva University's School of Social Work in New York, and at Cedar Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, in clinical social work, family therapy and parenting counseling. She worked at Jewish Family & Children's Services in Berkeley, California, where she also has a private practice in parenting counseling. She is a mother and grandmother. Rachel is also the author of Growing Up Below Sea Level: A Kibbutz Childhood (Spring 2020) and the award-winning Women and Jewish Law (1984).

Rachel Stone

Rachel Stone writes stories of hope and redemption, often set against vibrant Canadian backdrops. Her writing placed first in the 2022 OBOA Writing Contest and has appeared in international literary and visual arts magazines, journals and blogs. Rachel holds degrees in psychology and industrial relations, and once worked seven summers at a flower market. She is an active member of the Women’s Fiction Writers’ Association and the proud co-founder of a community initiative supporting new and newly-immigrated families in need. She lives near Toronto with her family and on weekends you’ll find her along the shore of Georgian Bay, belting nineties pop rock off-key from her paddleboard. The Blue Iris is her first novel.

Randi Lee Beers

Randi has a passion for adventure and science. She has a bachelor of science degree in engineering, and she is a mother of four children, two dogs, one cat and many fish. She has gone on many adventures with her family. She also enjoys experiencing adventure through reading and video games. Randi discovered that writing adventure stories is just as enjoyable as experiencing them firsthand.

Randi T. Sachs

Randi Toler Sachs has a B.A. in journalism from NYU and an M.F.A. in creative writing, fiction, from Southern New Hampshire University. Her first novel, Different is Nice, is available through Amazon. She is also the author of several published books on management. Randi became interested in the special-needs population when she worked at Nassau AHRC in Brookville, New York. She grew up on Long Island, and lived there with her husband Danny and their sons. She and Danny now live in Virginia Beach with their dog Zac. She also teaches writing at Virginia Wesleyan College.

Randy Susan Meyers

Randy Susan Meyers is the internationally bestselling author of five novels. Though her books explore domestic drama, societal issues, and cultural nuances—informed by her years working with community and governmental agencies—she gained the most insight into family and other politics during four years bartending in a small Boston neighborhood pub.

Rani St. Pucchi

Rani St. Pucchi, a trendsetting fashion designer whose expertise has been recognized in such media outlets as Entertainment Tonight, Harper’s Bazaar, Town and Country, Bride’s, Cosmopolitan Bride, Martha Stewart Weddings and The Knot, works to help women define the style that flatters them most—no matter what their age or stage of life, or what their body type is.

Ray Carson Russell

In his native Tuscumbia, Alabama, Ray Carson Russell learned early to confront and ameliorate problems with humor and to stand on principle regardless of the consequences. The former has served him well; the latter sometimes not, but both have enlivened his writing. He has worked in Germany as lecturer and administrator for American colleges and universities associated with the US military. Ray is also a translator, trumpeter and actor. Leading study tours and speaking on cruise ships, he has traveled in fifty-six countries, including as a National Geographic historian. His academic essays have appeared in the Journal for Peace & Justice Studies, the Atlantic Quarterly, et al, and his culture and travel writing in various magazines and internet sites.

Ray Collins

Ray Collins grew up in the Midwest. An Army combat veteran, he attended Yale and Princeton, earning an MPA, a mid-career fellowship, and a PhD in public affairs. He was a nonresident fellow at Yale's Zigler Center for Child Development and Social Policy. He was a Japanese language and East Asia specialist with the Department of State and later worked in the poverty program. He's written publications focused on Head Start, child care, and policy toward children and families. Recently, he's written on white supremacy's resurgence and the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol. He currently lives with his wife, Betty Ann, in Vienna, Virginia, and enjoys spending time with family (four children plus offspring), working out at the Fairfax County rec center, and looking forward to future trips to Hawaii.

Ray Stukes Jr.

Ray Stukes Jr. is the everyday man in search of joy, peace of mind, and life's silver linings amid a seemingly endless supply of difficult and unpredictable life circumstances. He is a proud son, brother, husband, and father. As a magna cum laude psychology graduate, he has discovered the mind's power to successfully navigate life's challenges through looking inward.

Raymond Hutson

Receiving his MFA in creative writing from Queens College at Charlotte in 2006, Raymond Hutson has spent the last ten years of his medical practice caring for veterans in eastern Washington state. A board-certified internist with an undergraduate degree in psychology, his career as a physician has granted him a privileged view into the human condition for over thirty years. His short stories and poems have appeared in Red Fez, Cirque, Open Road Review, Whitefish Review, and the February 2018 Short Story America Anthology. His coming of age novel, Topeka, ma’shuge, won the first place Next Generation Indie Book Award for fiction in 2015. Raymond lives with his wife, Sheryl, in Spokane WA, where he writes and practices medicine.

Rebecca Dwight Bruff

Rebecca Dwight Bruff is the author of the award-winning debut novel, Trouble the Water, published June 2019, and the non-fiction book, Loving the World with God, published 2014. Bruff earned her bachelors degree in education at Texas A&M University and master and doctorate degrees in theology, both from Southern Methodist University. In 2017, she was a scholarship recipient for the prestigious Key West Literary Seminar. She volunteers at the Pat Conroy Literary Center in Beaufort, South Carolina. She’s published non-fiction, plays a little tennis, travels when she can, and loves life in the lowcountry with her husband and an exuberant golden retriever. www.rebeccabruff.com

Reesha Goral

Reesha Goral is a young novelist who resides in Virginia with her husband and son. Although The Servant Boy is her first novel, it had its first debut in Istanbul, Turkey where it was translated in Turkish and published under the Turkish title Uşak. her many visits to Pakistan deeply inspired The Servant Boy, especially when she engaged with an unsheltered woman, “People are dying of hunger every year. They are people with bare necessities who have to instead improvise, with barely any. And that only makes them living, lifeless people.” Her various other personal experiences, research, and imagination assembled the rest of the novel.

Regan Miller

Lawrence Kokkelenberg and Regan Miller have had the privilege of consulting with hundreds of organizations, looking at their cultures, design, leadership, work processes, success, and failures; providing organizational, cultural, and employee assessment; and making recommendations for organizational improvements. In addition, they have designed, developed, and delivered numerous training programs to over 200,000 individuals in both public and in-house programs. Dr. Kokkelenberg has authored numerous articles, produced an audiotape series on management, and was named one of the top small-business consultants by Independent Business Magazine. Both authors have engaged in speaking events in the OD community, including serving as plenary panel members of the OD Network conference in 2018.

Regina Marscheider

For the past thirty years, Regina has used her talents in puppetry and the performing arts to fight child sexual abuse, an epidemic that 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 6 boys will have experienced by the time they are 18 years of age. A survivor of child sexual abuse, Regina has heeded to a call to help children protect themselves, but only found the ability to tell openly share her story in the past few years with family and close friends, and most recently in national news segment that appeared on Fox News - Beyond the Dream. It is Regina's life and soul mission to bring Simon and his mission critical education to as many children as possible, throughout the United States and the world.

Reiny Pierson

Reiny Pierson holds a doctorate in English education from Old Dominion University and is a retired educator and administrator after thirty years in Virginia Beach. She is the recipient of the Virginia Technology Teacher of the Year award from IBM and Technology & Learning Magazine. Her article, “The Influence of Brain Hemisphericity on the Composing Process of Twelfth Graders,” was published in the Tapestry of Knowledge, for which she received an award for Excellence in Research from the Virginia Beach City Public Schools. In addition, her poem, “The Gift,” was published in Virginia Writing, Longwood University. She was the editor for a collection of teacher writings published by The Tidewater Virginia Writing Project, at Old Dominion University. She lives in Virginia Beach with her husband. They have has three children and three grandchildren.

Rich Schiesser

Rich Schiesser is the bestselling author of the first and second editions of IT (Information Technology) Systems Management. The highly acclaimed second edition serves multiple purposes as a technical handbook, management reference guide and college textbook in use at over twenty universities worldwide. He also co-authored the bestselling IT Production Services. For over three years he wrote a weekly blog at InformIT.com covering a variety of IT management topics. He has presented IT management papers at dozens of prestigious conferences across the globe, often serving as a keynote speaker. Shattered Hearts will be his fourth book and his first work of fiction.

Richard Cacioppe

Richard Cacioppe is a 1962 graduate of the US Military Academy at West Point. Commissioned in the infantry, he served in a number of assignments after Airborne and Ranger training, including two tours of duty in Vietnam, and held leadership positions ranging from platoon leader to battalion commander during his twenty-six-year active duty and National Guard military career. He is the author of two books and several articles published in Army magazine. He was president and CEO of several small and mid-sized companies in northern Indiana where he also taught business courses at Indiana University at South Bend.He and his wife have three daughters, nine grandchildren, and six great grandchildren. He lives with his wife and Yorkie in Naples, Florida.

Richard Donald Groves

Richard "Dick" Groves is retired from a thirty-eight-year career in private practice dentistry and is a lifelong football fan with a passion for writing crime suspense and mystery. A member of the New Hampshire Writer's Project and critique group and the New England Crime Bake, he also enjoys writing short stories and flash fiction. He is a graduate of Northeastern University and the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Dentistry and served six years in the Navy Dental Corps. Post-retirement, he participated in two humanitarian missions to the Pacific on board Navy ships and two "Missions of Mercy" to Appalachia, providing much-needed dental treatment to these areas.

Richard J. Smith, Ph.D.

Dr. Richard J. Smith is Professor Emeritus at University of Wisconsin, Madison and recipient of a Distinguished Teaching Award from that university. He is author or co-author of five college textbooks and various curriculum materials that contain his original poetry, essays and short stories. He also has published numerous articles in professional journals for teachers and school administrators. His latest book, published in 2016, Life After Eighty, is his personal perspective on living well and staying happy while growing older. Richard and his wife live in Bradenton, Florida, at Westminster Towers and Shores, a retirement community where he is a featured writer for the community newspaper.

Richard LaMotte

Richard LaMotte grew up in Portsmouth, Virginia, the son of an Episcopal minister, and is currently a marketing executive. When not photographing waterfowl, eagles, and sunsets, he is often beachcombing and writing. His first book, Pure Sea Glass, earned first place in Writer's Digest's thirteenth annual Self-Publishing Book Awards and was featured in Parade magazine, Coastal Living, Martha Stewart Living, Smithsonian Magazine, The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Boston Globe, as well as many local publications. Guest appearances on the Martha Stewart Show and NPR station WYPR inspired his sequel, The Lure of Sea Glass. After college he settled in Chestertown on Maryland's Eastern Shore, where he lives with his wife, Stephanie, a talented musician, composer, and writer.

Richard McMaster

Richard McMaster is the author of three novels: Voyage of Life, Shadow in the Night and Aaron’s War; and two screen plays, The Attic and Ticket to Heaven. Before embarking on a writing career, he was a health care executive, heading up three different startup companies, one of which ranked fifth largest of its kind in the United States. He is a native Iowan blessed to have lived twenty years in beautiful Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, and now in Arizona since 2006. His reading interests range widely, from classics and contemporary fiction to non-fiction, science, psychology and biography. His favorite author is Ivan Doig. He has a special interest in the World War II time period, human behavior, psychology, and physics.

Richard Scott Sacks

RICHARD SCOTT SACKS holds master’s degrees from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) and National War College. He is an accomplished US diplomat with decades of experience on five continents. Living, traveling, and working in twenty African countries prior to government service, Mr. Sacks has also reported for the Miami Herald from Asunción, Paraguay, for the Associated Press from Detroit, Michigan, and for The Middlesex News from Framingham, Massachusetts. His nonfiction study coauthored with SAIS professor Riordan Roett, Paraguay: The Personalist Legacy, was named Outstanding Academic Book by Choice magazine. Drinking from the Stream is his first novel.

Rick Hoppe

Rick Hoppe was born to a normal middle-class family in the foothills of the Ozark Mountains, west of St. Louis, Missouri. He joined the US Army as an infantryman in 1975 and transferred to Military Intelligence as a counterintelligence agent in 1982. He worked in the counterintelligence field from 1982 to 2015, with the Army, various contractors, Multi-National Force-Iraq, US Forces-Afghanistan, and Defense Intelligence Agency. In 2015 he moved home to Texas and worked as an independent consultant until 2020, when he put work on hold to provide full-time care for his wife until her passing in January 2021. In May 2021 he began working as a remote marketing consultant for a government contractor firm. Along the way, he has lived a remarkable life, accepted that he was born a warrior, and is proud of his service. He is an up-and-coming artist, selected as a Texas Distinguished Artist Veteran in 2020 and 2021, and regularly attends and exhibits in art shows throughout Texas. He is currently finding out what the second part of his life looks like and anticipating the discovery of who Rick 2.0 will be.

Rick Pullen

Career journalist Rick Pullen was an investigative reporter before becoming a magazine editor and publisher. His journalism career includes two magazine startups and more than 70 awards for writing and design. He is a member of the Folio 100-the 100 most influential people in magazine publishing-and runner up for editor of the year. Although disgruntled subjects of his investigations often accused him of writing fiction, Rick never attempted it until 2011 when he began writing his first political thriller, Naked Ambition. Published in 2016, Naked Ambition became an instant Amazon bestseller. He followed that up with a serial, The Apprentice, in late 2017.

Rick Spees

RICK SPEES has spent over forty years in Washington serving on the staff of the US Senate and as an attorney and lobbyist. He understands all the aspects of lobbying, from the positive to the sleazy. He previously wrote a biographical chapter on his mentor Paul Laxalt; Man of Political Independence, in the book The Maverick Spirit: Building the New Nevada. Rick enjoys international travel, biking, and swimming.

Rick Steinke

Ralph R. "Rick" Steinke is the author of Next Mission: US Defense Attaché to France, a memoir selected as a finalist for the Indie Excellence Awards and which earned honorable mention for the Readers' Favorites Book Awards. He has spent a lifetime in US national security roles, including twenty-eight years in the US Army and fourteen in the US Department of Defense. Steinke's official duties have taken him to over thirty countries on the Eurasian landmass, including Afghanistan. He holds master's degrees in West European studies and diplomacy from Indiana and Norwich Universities, respectively, as well as post-graduation certificates in national and international security affairs from Harvard and Stanford Universities. His personal passions include faith, family, fly-fishing, and travel. Major Jake Fortina is his first novel.

Rick Taylor

Author Rick Taylor grew up in the East End of Pittsburgh and graduated from Denison University, where he majored in English with an emphasis on writing. He authored several short stories before and after transitioning to writing legal briefs following his graduation from Pitt Law School. But the writing bug never left him. His poetry has been featured in Eureka, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, The California Quarterly, and Good News, a local Shepherdstown newspaper, and he has published several collections, including Never Alone in a Cemetery, Headstone in the Headlights, and Musings Under a Buckboard. In 2005, his poem "Foxfire" was awarded third place in the 2005 Penn Writers Poetry Contest. Curse of the Klondike is his first full-length novel.

Rita Mace Walston

Rita Mace Walston was born and raised in Michigan. After moving four times in five years without staying in the same time zone, she and her family settled in rural Northern Virginia. She lives on a small homestead with her husband, two dogs, one cat, three beehives, and thirteen chickens. Rita loves experimenting in the kitchen with ingredients from her gardens as well as from foraging. She is also an avid reader, and her first novel, Paper & Ink, Flesh & Blood, was published in June 2020. Rita is a graduate of the Queens University MFA program in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Rob Clark

Rob Clark is a professional speaker and the author of Flynndini Lives, a children's book, and Smiling in the Cube, a motivational business book. He has over twenty-five years of direct sales experience and has become one of the leading authorities on resilience in the workplace. Rob has been the subject of numerous articles and podcasts, and his weekly blog, The Resilient Worker, has reached thousands of readers over the past five years. Rob lives just outside Washington, DC, with his beautiful wife, Jennifer, his four wonderful children, Justin, Riley, Courtney, and Cassidy, and his amazing dog, Parker.

Rob Curnock

A graduate of Baylor University, Rob Curnock is a former television journalist and anchor who, among other accomplishments, won a prestigious UPI Best News Series national award for reporting. Outside of the broadcast world, he was an autoworker for General Motors, started a successful video business, ran for Congress, invented a tech product, and manufactured wind generators. Rob has also rediscovered his talent and desire for communicating through the written word. He previously published the nonfiction book Dead Man Running.

Robert A. Saul MD

Dr. Robert Saul was born in Chicago, Illinois, and later moved to Colorado. A graduate of Colorado College and the University of Colorado School of Medicine, he completed pediatric training at Duke University Medical Center and genetic training at the Greenwood Genetic Center. He is currently professor of pediatrics at Prisma Health Children's Hospital-Upstate and the University of South Carolina School of Medicine in Greenville, SC. He is widely recognized as an expert in pediatrics and genetics and has published over 100 articles. In his over forty years in medicine, Dr. Saul's advocacy on the behalf of children has led him to write three other books: My Children's Children: Raising Young Citizens in the Age Of Columbine, All About Children (illustrated by Jan Yalich Betts), and Thinking Developmentally: Nurturing Wellness in Childhood to Promote Lifelong Health (co-authored with Dr. Andy Garner).

Robert L. Forster

Editing and context of Lt. Forster’s letters was provided by Robert L. Forster, his son and the author of Mariantonia: The Lifetime Journey of a Peace Corps Volunteer. Robert graduated from the University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire, with degrees in business and sociology, after which he served for two years as a Peace Corps volunteer in Honduras, Central America. He spent forty years working with a nonprofit assisting migrant and seasonal farmworkers in Wisconsin.

Robert Lofthouse

Robert E. Lofthouse has for four decades managed projects as an IT professional nationally and internationally while serving the business planning and delivery needs of enterprise IT projects for the nonprofit, commercial business, and government sectors.His initial professional writing experience covers more than fifty years and includes sports articles published in local and regional media from Pennsylvania to Kansas and Missouri. Honor through Sacrifice is his first publication in book form, prompted by his love of history and keen desire to extend the legacy of his subject. Rob knew Gordon because their mothers were sisters, so this story is personal.

Robert M. Saunders

Robert Saunders is a retired US Navy officer with thirty years of active duty experience in six warships and a variety of stateside and international shore-duty stations. Robert's military career began as an enlisted sailor where he advanced through the ranks and ultimately earned an officer's commission. The adventures experienced and diverse people met during his various deployments helped form the basis for this novel. Robert earned a bachelor's degree from Excelsior University and a graduate degree from the University of Oklahoma. He lives in Westminster, Colorado, with his wife, Sandy, and has seven children, two of whom are adopted.

Robert N. Uniszkiewicz

A Naval Officer and Physician who focuses on Public Health, Rob “Dr. U” Uniszkiewicz’s career has provided endless opportunities to meet and care for people from all walks of life. He hopes his experiences as a physician allow for his unique perspective to be an example for others who are on a search to see what they’re made of. The author lives in Chesapeake, Virginia, with his wife, Jenn, and two wonderful children, Nolan and Sophie.

Robert P. Arthur

Robert P. Arthur has published drama, fiction, and poetry. He’s won awards in all three genres. He grew up in a Virginia town not far from mythical Zebulon, and is a professor in the M.F.A. creative writing program at Wilkes University. He lives in Virginia Beach.

Robert Steven Goldstein

Robert Steven Goldstein retired from his job as a healthcare information executive at age fifty-six and has been writing novels ever since. His first novel, The Swami Deheftner, about problems that ensue when ancient magic and mysticism manifest in the twenty-first century, has developed a small cult following in India. Enemy Queen, a sexual comedy of manners, was published in 2020. His most recent novel is Cat's Whisker, about the perceived rift between science and spirituality-an excerpt from Cat's Whisker, entitled "An Old Dog," was featured in the fall 2018 edition of Leaping Clear, a literary journal. Robert lives in San Francisco with Sandy, his wife of thirty-three years, and Cali, a fearless, lovable Akita/cattle dog. Robert has practiced yoga, meditation, and vegetarianism for over fifty years.

Roberta Kehle

Roberta Lunsford Kehle is a published author and three-time finalist in the Pacific Northwest Writers Association annual competition. She is a former elementary teacher, teaches writing classes and has been a board member of both the Pacific Northwest Writers and the Seattle Pacific/NCWA writing conferences. In addition to The Covered Bet, Kehle has published 70X7 And Beyond, endorsed by the late Chuck Colson, and the award-winning The Blooming of the Flame Tree. She is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers’ Association, Northwest Christian Writers Association, and Society of Children’s Book Writers. Roberta and her pilot husband live in the Seattle suburbs, where she has drawn on some of her experiences in float and land planes for The Covered Bet.

Robot G.

As far as Robot G, . . . Well let's let just say that through his intergalactic adventures, he has learned that children from all galaxies have something in common . . . They all love to laugh! And laughing they did, when he would go to see Ms. Karen's class at school and teach her students the Robot Dance! Ms. Karen and Robot G recognized something special was happening in that classroom and wanted to share it with the rest of the world . . . and beyond. And that is how It's So Silly I Can Read It began.

Rocky Atkinson

Patrick was a professional artist working exclusively with Grand Image in Seattle, WA until his passing in 2012 at the age of thirty-three. His artwork was sold at Pottery Barn, Ballard Designs, Ethan Allen, and is in private and corporate collections through the USA. It's also in hotels (The Sir Francis Drake in San Francisco), on luxury yachts, in exclusive department stores (Nordstrom's), and in major hospitals, the film industry, and fine restaurants everywhere. His artwork is available through Grand Image. ____________________________  Rocky Atkinson, father of contemporary artist Patrick Atkinson, retired to the coast of North Carolina after a successful 40 year career as an insurance executive in Charlotte, NC. He cofounded two benefit consulting firms that were acquired, one by a major insurance company and the other by an international brokerage conglomerate. Upon the death of his son in 2012, he has devoted much time to working with men suffering from the disease of addiction and is currently Chairman of the Board of a Christ based recovery facility in Brunswick County, NC. He has written on the horrors of addiction for area newspapers and has spoken to churches and civic clubs about the opioid epidemic. The Road to Recovery was inspired by the life and art of his son and most of the writings reflect what Patrick might have said had he lived and the others come from 5 years in the trenches with those suffering from the disease of addiction.

Rodney H. Dixon

Rodney H. Dixon is the creator of the underground album Merc the Master of Seven and the manuscript "The Cosmic Billionaires Club." His creative works are well known amongst celebrities and royalty. He is followed by thousands of people worldwide on social media for his insightful posts regarding a myriad of topics, such as business, social justice, politics, and religion. He is known as a street-legend basketball player. He left the game of hoops to work with the legendary musician Prince, and superhero characters he has created were endorsed by the late Stan Lee. News media considers his billion-dollar lawsuit against Prince controversial and bizarre. DNA testing links his ancestry to Rameses III, an ancient Egyptian pharaoh.

Roger M. Hughes

Roger M. Hughes honed his storytelling skills during his decades as a successful trial attorney while prevailing for his clients in hundreds of jury trials. As the son of a Marine, Mr. Hughes grew up traveling the world, attending fourteen different schools before launching his undergraduate education at the American University of Cairo in Egypt. His unique childhood and his father's remarkable life inspired Mr. Hughes to write That Which Cannot Be Denied as a legacy for his family and future generations.

Roger Newman

Roger Newman is the author of a series of medical thrillers, Occam’s Razor, Two Drifters, and What Becomes, and the historical fiction novel Will O’ the Wisp: Madness, War, and Recompense. Dr. Newman is a professor of obstetrics and gynecology, specializing in the care of women with multiple gestations. He has authored almost two hundred scientific papers, a dozen book chapters, and the award-winning and bestselling When You’re Expecting Twins, Triplets, or Quads; Fourth Edition. He served as the national president of the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine and was voted by his peers as one of the “Best Doctors in America” for thirty consecutive years. He and his wife, Diane, live on the Ashley River in Charleston, South Carolina.

Rolf Wicks

Rolf Edwin Wicks has a bachelor's degree in psychology from Oberlin College and a master's in social administration from Case Western Reserve University. He worked for twenty years as a social worker and program administrator. He taught psychology at Cuyahoga Community College for six years, and for the last four years has participated in a creative writing group that meets monthly at the Wick Poetry Center at Kent State University. In college, he was a group leader for summer and fall camping trips. Currently his outdoor activities include gardening and composting. He lives in Akron, Ohio, with his wife, Heather, his semiferal cat, Cleo, and the neighborhood groundhogs.

Ron McManus

Ron McManus’s debut work, Libido’s Twist, won a Writer’s Digest award in genre fiction and his follow-up work, The Drone Enigma, received critical acclaim. A former naval officer, he was global vice-president of R&D quality and regulatory compliance for GlaxoSmithKline and lived and worked in London for several years. Prior to entering the pharmaceutical industry, he was director of program integrity at the North Carolina Medical Peer Review Foundation, where he established the state’s first Medicaid fraud investigation unit. Ron and his wife Mildred live in Virginia Beach, Virginia, on the shore of the Chesapeake Bay.

Rona Simmons

Rona Simmons has authored historical fiction and nonfiction. Both A Gathering of Men and The Other Veterans of World War II: Stories from Behind the Front Lines shed light on little-known aspects of the Second World War. She is the daughter of a WWII fighter pilot and wife of a US Navy pilot and is proud to honor veterans and their stories through her work. Her articles and interviews have appeared in regional and national literary journals and in online and print magazines and newspapers.

Ronald Belfort

Ronald Belfort is a Brooklyn, New York native and an active duty member of the United States Armed Forces. For almost two decades he lived in San Diego, California where he penned his fiction novel, Brooklyn Girl. Much of his work is rooted in his personal experiences, challenges and Brooklyn upbringing. When not writing, he can be found painting portraits and abstract works of art, obsessing over motorcycles or watching home improvement shows. He attended the University of La Verne, California, and graduated with a master’s in business. Today, he lives and works in Kapolei, Hawaii, with his wife and two-year-old twins. While he enjoys island life, he often misses the fast pace and diverse neighborhoods back in Brooklyn.

Ronald Paul Hill

Ron Hill, author of Pearls along the Path: Lessons for Living a Life with Passion, and Surviving in a Material World: The Lived Experience of People in Poverty, holds the visiting Lindner-Gambal Professorship in Business Ethics, George Washington University School of Business. He is globally recognized for his unique and engaging style of presentation on issues that include professional ethics, compassionate leadership, and intergenerational management. He has been named one of the most prolific and influential authors in the field of marketing, having penned over 200 articles, review papers, and books that examine business ethics, public policy, and basic human rights. His recent awards include: 2012 Williams-Qualls-Spratlen Multicultural Mentoring Award of Excellence, 2012 Villanova University Outstanding Faculty Research Award, 2010 Pollay Prize for Excellence in the Study of Marketing in the Public Interest, 2013 AMA Marketing and Society Special Interest Group Lifetime Achievement Award, 2013 Alan N. Nash Distinguished Doctoral Graduate Award, and Villanova School of Business 2104 McDonough Family Faculty Award for Research Excellence. His 2014 article won the Journal of Public Policy & Marketing Thomas Kinnear Award in 2016, his 2015 Journal of Consumer Affairs article won the best paper award in 2016, and his 2015 Journal of Macromarketing article also won the best paper award for 2016.

Rosalyn Sheehy

Rosalyn is an Irish lawyer with a bee in her bonnet. Rosalyn's first book on bulimia, Loopy Loo, an autobiographical storey poem on how she beat bulimia was published in 2016. Rosalyn aims to shed some sunlight on a taboo topic, helping sufferers open up and get professional help. Rosalyn knows recovery is accompanied with a shed load of shame and awkwardness. Food Fight Club, based on the premise of the movie, is the ultimate rule book on recovery! The whole world doesn't need to know about your recovery, just a select, fun, few. We do not talk about Food Fight Club! Support groups are anonymous. Seeking help doesn't need to be terrifying once you become a fierce fighter. 20 graphic illustrated rules are to be followed meticulously, and Rosalyn promises powerful results. Once the sufferer adopts an active, rather than passive role and pulls the bull by the horns, they find the beauty and bliss of recovery. Food Fight Club also contains very useful worksheets at the back. If you suffer from Bulimia or know someone that does, you need this book!

Roxi Hewertson

Roxi Bahar Hewertson is the author of two other books, Lead Like It Matters… Because It Does (2014), which has received outstanding reviews, and How to Build a Space Station: A Parable About Values at Work, (2002). She has been published in Forbes, Entrepreneur Magazine, Chief Learning Officer, Business News Daily, and Inc., to name just a few. Roxi presented a TEDx called “Our Ripple Effect” and will be hosting her own AskRoxi radio show in 2015 on RockStarWorldwide.com. She has a master's degree from Cornell University and served as adjunct faculty at Cornell’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations. She was also the Director of Administration, Facilities and Finance. She is a seasoned leader, author, motivational speaker, executive coach and teacher. Roxi also loves being a mom, wife and grandmother.

Roy Taylor

Roy Taylor’s childhood veered into unknown territory when his family moved to the Alaskan frontier before it became a state. For the last decade, he has been writing his wilderness stories, some of which have been published in anthologies. Now retired from a forty-year career as a vascular surgeon, he enjoys hiking, gardening, cooking, and keeping up with his grandchildren.

Royce Murcherson

Royce Murcherson holds a Ph.D. in English specializing in rhetoric, composition, and comparative literature. Currently, she is a professor of English in Dallas, Texas. Having taught for seventeen years, her teaching areas are American and African-American literature, creative writing, composition, business writing and visual rhetoric. Her interests include the literary genre of magical realism, Eastern philosophy and Jungian psychology. Royce will be a guest writer on the fundamentals of creative writing for the online publication, On Purpose Magazine. Prior to teaching literature and writing, Royce spent several years in the business world and has recently published an instructional book, The Guide to Persuasive Business Writing: A New Model that Gets Results. Royce is also a guest writer on business writing and workplace etiquette for BOSS, a business and office systems support resource at Richland College.

Russell Heath

Russell Heath hitchhiked to Alaska in his teens. He has climbed mountains, snowshoed frozen rivers, and shared campfires with friendly whiskey-jacks. He writes with a deep love of the north country.

Ruthie Robbins

Ruthie Robbins is an award-winning educator who worked for the Montour School District in the suburbs of Pittsburgh, PA, and for Johns Hopkins University Talent Development Secondary. Ruthie grew up in "The Rocks" but now teaches English Language Arts and music in Buffalo, New York. Best known as co-creator of a popular interdisciplinary unit for Pittsburgh's Kennywood Park, Ruthie is currently working on other books and is preparing to launch The Writing Factory Online, a comprehensive writing program for middle schools.

Ryan Gausman

Ryan Gausman received a bachelor of arts degree in business administration and economics from Seattle Pacific University, and enrolled in graduate studies at the University of Puget Sound. Afterward, he was employed by Nordstrom Inc., eventually becoming regional operations manager for Southern California, working directly with the Nordstrom family and other executive officers who instilled in him a lifelong passion for excellence and an insatiable curiosity regarding how people respond to excellent leadership. Since then he has worked and held leadership positions in various environments, he's been a hunting camp cook, a wilderness hunting guide and mule packer, church associate pastor, law enforcement officer, coroner, has owned and operated three retail businesses, and is currently an independent fly fishing guide. Ryan has published various articles in industry-related periodicals, including Loss Prevention and Air Beat magazines. He has also written for local outdoor publications. He has presented to industry groups on multiple occasions, and has been a guest on several radio station talk shows.

Ryan Lindner

Ryan Lindner is a personal development specialist who has worked as a behavioral coach for clients and top organizations all over the world. After two sudden, unexplained cardiac arrests at a young age, he began to explore different perspectives, learning to prioritize his own energy and time, and assisted clients to do the same. Ryan enjoys his time with his family and animals, and finds peace near his favorite spots by the beach.

Ryan M. Chukuske

Ryan M. Chukuske is the author of two running/motivational books, 100 Miles of Thought: Finding Success Through Failure and Into the Darkness: A Runner’s Revenge. His books have received acclaimed reviews in Snowshoe Magazine, the St. Paul Pioneer Press, Minnesota Distance Runner Magazine, and the Tracy Headlight Herald. His books and running adventures have been featured on Good Morning America, Runner’s World Online, Fox News Mankato, Like a Bigfoot podcast, Training for Ultra podcast, and multiple radio stations across the country. Bigfoot 200: Because, You Know, Why the #@&% Not is his third book.

S. D. Nicholson

Samuel David Nicholson, 23, is an emerging author with a focused genre of adventure and fantasy. Growing up as a child, he exercised his vivid imagination, creating adventure games for his friends and family. Sam went back to these roots in his first novel, Mischief and Mayhem, the first book of a series to come in The Faerlands Chronicles. He graduated from Florida State University in 2017 and moved to Virginia Beach, where his imagination took hold once more and led him to pursue turning an idea into his first book.

S. J. Cunningham

With nearly two decades of experience as a professional communicator spanning all facets of the energy industry, S. J. Cunningham has had plenty of time to hone her writing craft and observe human behavior. In her debut novel, All This Was Mission, she puts this power of observation to good use, crafting a story that examines the difficulty of the human journey, the power of self-reflection and self-forgiveness, and the overwhelming beauty of the journey of life, which we all have the privilege to travel. Cunningham holds an MA in fiction and a BA in English literature from Seton Hill University in Greensburg, Pennsylvania. She is the proud mom of three amazing children who fill her with joy, laughter, and appreciation each day.

S.E. Valenti

Sharon E. Valenti has a master of science degree from Oakland University and was married to her Sicilian husband for over thirty years. Although she has many published articles in professional medical journals and magazines, five years ago, she decided to change the direction of her career to full-time novelist. Deliver Us from Honor is her first full-length novel.

Sairung Wright

Sairung is from Bangkok, Thailand, where she worked as an executive administrative assistant. She is bilingual in Thai and English and holds a bachelor’s degree in business English. Sairung, a lifelong horror fan, introduced Alan to the genre. Both are also fans of fantasy, adventure, and science fiction.

Sallie Swor

Sallie Stamps Swor is the author of the popular cookbook, You’re Grown – Now You Can Cook. The original project began as a request from her son who was moving into an apartment and wanted a book of his favorite recipes. When his friends tasted these delicious dishes they all wanted copies of You’re Grown – Now You Can Cook. Sallie’s friends wanted copies as well, and so this cookbook was born. The author is fortunate to have had a career working with high school students and young adults as a high school counselor and college consultant. In creating this collection of recipes, she is able to use her experience with students, clients, her son, and his friends as a way to write in a voice that makes sense to a novice cook while relating to anyone like Sallie who loves food and entertaining. This has led to a regular spot cooking on the local CBS affiliate morning show, teaching classes at the popular Monteagle Assembly retreat, demonstrations and classes at local markets and CSAs, lecturing at book clubs, supper clubs, study groups, and garden clubs. Sallie uses her talents to provide food for fundraisers and volunteer events, and donates books and cooking classes to charitable organizations. For Sallie, cooking has been a passion, obsession and creative outlet since she was a young girl. Currently she runs a blog for anyone who loves to cook and enjoys hearing from her readers.

Sally Mayes

Northcott Mayes is an award-winning author of primarily historical fiction. She has also written plays for her school, where she is an English teacher. As part of her interest in history, she is currently working on renovating her home, built in 1900, in southern Virginia Beach, where she lives with her family.

Samuel G. Tooma

Samuel Tooma worked for the Navy as a civilian physical oceanographer for over thirty-six years. In that time, he worked on submarines; Navy aircraft; Navy, Coast Guard, and civilian ships; and spent time in scientific camps on the Arctic Ocean ice pack. He spent two years as the environmental science advisor on the staff of the commander of the submarine forces in the Pacific (COMSUBPAC), after which he was awarded the Meritorious Civilian Service medal by Admiral Austin Scott. Samuel also worked as an editor for technical publications for the Naval Oceanographic Office for over two years and has published six scientific papers in peer-reviewed journals, nine papers in other technical publications, one trade magazine article, and numerous papers printed in the proceedings of technical symposia.

Sarah Alserhaid

Sarah Alserhaid has a bachelor's and a master's degree in biochemistry. She works as a scientist and lab manager, seeking to understand the triggers of preterm birth. She is a researcher by trade, speculative fiction author by passion, and lifelong daydreamer by nature. Raised within a Saudi-American household, Sarah learned early on the duality of norms and standards that often coexist in multicultural spaces and communities.

Sarah Elkins

Sarah Elkins is an expert communicator, storyteller, connector, successful podcast host, sought-after and engaging keynote speaker, and Gallup-certified strengths coach. Sarah's many years in public service at the local, state and federal levels of government, and her work in a variety of industries, including hospitality, retail, and music, have contributed to her success as a storytelling and communication coach, performer, writer, and speaker with Elkins Consulting. Her innate ability to help others reveal the personal stories that contribute to their damaging internal messages and relationship challenges is truly remarkable.

Scott Gould

Scott Gould's previous book, Strangers to Temptation-a linked story collection the Atlanta Journal Constitution called "a compulsive read" and Foreword Reviews dubbed "funny, often poignant, and not easily forgotten"-was published by Hub City Press in 2017. His fiction and nonfiction have appeared in Kenyon Review, New Stories from the South, Black Warrior Review, Carolina Quarterly, Pithead Chapel, Garden & Gun, New Ohio Review, The Bitter Southerner, and Crazyhorse among others. He is a two-time winner of the SC Arts Commission's Individual Artist Fellowship in Prose and the SC Academy of Authors Fiction Fellowship. He lives in Sans Souci, South Carolina and teaches creative writing at the SC Governor's School for the Arts & Humanities.

Scott Porter

Lieutenant Colonel Scott A. Porter (USA, Ret.) is a disabled combat veteran experienced in tank, airborne, and Ranger operations throughout multiple conflicts. He has earned a reputation of selfless service and mentorship while on active duty and as an associate professor in the US Army's Command and General Staff College. He has been published numerous times in peer-reviewed periodicals and chapters in history books. Awarded eleven writing awards, he was also selected as the Army's civilian educator of the year in 2013. While serving as a trustee at the National World War One Museum and Liberty Memorial in Kansas City, he was a main speaker on Memorial Day to thousands of people. He has also given historical presentations at various symposiums at over twenty other universities and historical groups. A recipient of the Army's Legion of Merit, he is committed to lifelong learning and service by sharing his experiences through fiction and nonfiction literature and presentations.

Scott Spreier

SCOTT SPREIER is a writer and business consultant. A former journalist, he worked for The Miami Herald and The Kansas City Star. His writing has appeared in a number of publications, including Harvard Business Review. He co-wrote two nonfiction works: Senior Leadership Teams, and People, Performance and Pay. A native of western Kansas, he now lives in Dallas, Texas. Resurrecting St. John the Rancher is his first work of fiction.

Sean Bernatowicz

Sean Bernatowicz is an emerging author from rural West Virginia. In college, he obtained a degree in psychology and was working on another in biochemistry when his mother passed away unexpectedly. He decided to transform the world in her honor. Working in emergency services has also fostered a true ambition of changing hearts. His ultimate aspiration is to start a charity and inspire with the written word.

Sean Cohen

Sean David Cohen is a contributing writer for NaturalNews.com, where over 150 of his articles have been published on subjects ranging from chemicals in foods to natural remedies to strategies for quitting the smoking addiction. He has appeared on the Hampton Roads talk shows to present his unique strategies. Cohen has written two novels and a book called 14 & Out, which will be published by Köehler Books in December, 2013. He appears on blog talk radio monthly to expose GMO (genetically modified organisms/food) and teaches a smoking cessation class in his hometown. He has a bachelor of arts degree in journalism with a focus on mass communication, and a master’s degree in education from the University of Georgia.

Sergei Shishkin

Sergei Shishkin has an unusual biography. He earned his PhD in Economics from the Moscow State Institute of International Relations in the former Soviet Union. He then worked as Market Analyst with the Soviet Ministry of Foreign Trade. Then his career took a sudden turn and he became an auditor with the Soviet Ministry of Finance. In 1982 he was selected to work for the United Nations Secretariat where his career in internal audit spanned twenty-two years. Upon retirement in 2007, he began to write on global economics and his audit experience in both Soviet government civil service and the UN. His first book, Economics for the Non-economist, was published in 2016.

Seth Michael Stone

Dr. Seth Stone is the co-founder and principal consultant of SBS Strategic Innovations, LLC, an organizational consultancy designed to help leaders uncover latent potential and thrive in the global marketplace using the components of innovation. Previously, Dr. Stone worked in higher education administration, where he devised customized training programs for organizations across the United States, to help address some of their most difficult organizational challenges. Prior to that, he spent numerous years in the financial services industry in various capacities of investment banking and asset management. He holds a doctorate in strategic leadership from Regent University, as well as an M.B.A. from Regent and a bachelor of science in management and business from Skidmore College. Dr. Stone resides in New York and enjoys travel, spending time with family and friends and a good round of golf.

Shalini Damodaran

Shalini Damodaran is an author, writing coach and teacher educator. She was a junior college English literature teacher for many years before becoming a teacher educator at the English Language Institute of Singapore (Ministry of Education). She is currently pursuing accreditation as a mindfulness teacher, and exploring the impact of mindfulness and meditation on journaling and story-telling because she believes in its therapeutic and healing effects.

Sharna Fabiano

Sharna Fabiano is an internationally recognized tango artist. Over the course of her twenty-year dance career she toured over a dozen countries, designed partner-based movement courses for undergraduates, and founded a nonprofit tango school in Washington, DC. She is an outspoken advocate for the study of both leading and following roles independent of gender, a training practice that builds empathy, inclusion, and creativity. Sharna brings her deep understanding of the leader/follower dynamic in social dance into the professional sphere with original coaching programs that help professionals and teams collaborate more successfully. Sharna earned her MFA in dance from UCLA and lives in Los Angeles.

Sharon DeBartolo Carmack

Sharon DeBartolo Carmack is a Certified Genealogist® with an MFA in creative nonfiction writing. She received a certificate in demonstrating mediumship and an advanced academic diploma from the Spiritualists' National Union in the UK. Sharon is the author of twenty-six books, including the best-selling guides Organizing Your Family History Search; A Genealogist's Guide to Discovering Your Female Ancestors; Your Guide to Cemetery Research; You Can Write Your Family History; Tell It Short: A Guide to Writing Your Family History in Brief; and the recent biography, In Search of Maria B. Hayden: The American Medium Who Brought Spiritualism to the U.K. Her work has appeared in almost every major genealogical journal, as well as Brevity, Creative Nonfiction, Portland Review, Hippocampus Magazine, Phoebe: A Journal of Literature and Art, Steinbeck Review, and Literary Hub, to name a few.

Sharon Krasny

Sharon Krasny has worked as an educator for over sixteen years in Virginia and abroad teaching in both Hungary and the Czech Republic. She discovered a love of oral history from the people's enthusiasm in retelling their knowledge of old. As an English teacher, she has spent years encouraging students to take risks, look closely at the smallest details, and determine hidden meaning found within the text. Her own writing reflects these values. Sharon lives and writes in Northern Virginia with her husband, Prokop, and their rescue pets: Labrador Rupert and cat Bonnie.

Sharon Paskoff

Sharon Paskoff walked many paths of grief in search for hope when hope was hard to find. The shifting quicksand of a health diagnosis and her mother’s slow decline kept grief personal and painful, a daily battle for finding the light. Paskoff attended the University of Georgia and earned a BS in psychology from Georgia State University. In 1978, she opened Intown Exercise Studio, where she taught exercise classes in the friendly Atlanta Virginia Highland neighborhood. Sharon has been a community volunteer at Our House and the Midtown Assistance Center and is the cofounder (with her son) of the B. Snacks Foundation. She lives in Atlanta with her husband and husky mix, Margo, and enjoys reading, fishing, and playing tennis as a part-time resident of the low country of South Carolina. Sharon Paskoff is the author of Easy Etiquette Sample Thank You Notes and Sympathy Cards.

Shaun Belding

Shaun Belding is CEO of The Belding Group of Companies, an award-winning company that has helped organizations create outstanding customer experience, dynamic leaders and engaging workplaces for over 25 years. Shaun is author of five previous books, published internationally in 12 languages. He is recognized as a leading global expert on customer service, service recovery, employee performance and building positive workplaces.

Sheldon Schmitt

Bush Blues is Sheldon Schmitt's first book and is based on his twenty-plus years working in Alaska as a police officer, as well as fisherman and other jobs out in the bush. He recently retired as the chief of police in Sitka, Alaska. Schmitt graduated from Minnesota State University in 1993 with a BS in criminal justice and later received his masters of justice administration from the University of Alaska. He also completed the FBI National Academy at Quantico. "I cut my teeth as a cop working out in the villages. I have a real love for the people and the life out on the edge."

Shelia Kirkbride, MS

As founder and executive director of the Warrior Research Foundation, Ms. Shelia Kirkbride is responsible for developing and implementing innovative programs and services and for providing advocacy and support programs to veterans and their family members. To maintain high organizational standards and to best serve the foundation's clients, Mrs. Kirkbride assesses and monitors the program objectives and maintains transparency with the public and those served by the foundation. She also oversees and coordinates budgeting and financial management. In addition to her work with the foundation, Ms. Kirkbride has held many roles with the various organizations that she has founded or co-founded. She founded AIC Corporation, which provides effective solutions for the transporting and monitoring of blood, vaccines, organs, and medical-support products. Further, as a founder of Natural Health Solutions, she represented a diverse team of health professionals, with more than forty years of experience, who share a passion for disease prevention and wellness. Ms. Kirkbride co-founded ACSS Transitions and is a partner at WomanPlace, LLC, for which her focus is to create workshops and programs that provide pre- and post-natal wellness for mothers and mothers-to-be. She also offers her expertise in the development of women's physical, emotional, and mental health through education, programs, and personal services. With members of ACSS Transitions, she co-authored 9 Months In ~ 9 Months Out, a reference guide for mothers by mothers. The book provides answers to common questions, information, and suggestions for the first month of pregnancy through nine months after giving birth. Ms. Kirkbride currently owns Principle Health Group, which provides clients, both men and women, with an individualized approach to their health and wellness. The organization's wellness services are comprehensive and take into consideration multiple aspects of personal functioning, including physiology, psychology, and performance. Specialized testing is used to identify clients' micronutrient deficiencies and genetic variations that could have an impact on their optimal wellness. The resulting information provides clients with the knowledge needed to make empowered decisions about the best way to approach their wellness goals and to achieve positive long-term results. Ms. Kirkbride comes from a family with a long history of military service, including her father and grandfather. She also has been a military spouse for over twenty years and, as a result, understands the diverse needs of the military family member. She graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor's degree in psychology from Campbell University and a master's in rehabilitation counseling from East Carolina University.

Shelley Mickle

Shelley Fraser Mickle is an award-winning novelist and NPR commentator, whose family history (everyone in her family was named after Robert E. Lee) led her to the lifelong belief that one day she would write a Civil War novel. Shelley’s debut novel was a New York Times Notable Book; her second became a CBS/Hallmark Channel movie; and her third became a suicide prevention tool in high schools, winning the 2006 Florida Governor’s Award for suicide prevention in an educational setting. She was invited to be a commentator for NPR’s Morning Edition in 2000. Her radio essays can be heard at NPR.org. She is also the author of the children’s classic, Barbaro, America’s Horse.

Shirley Nesbit Sellers

Shirley Nesbit Sellers was born Shirley Mann Smith in 1926 in Norfolk, Virginia. A retired Norfolk public schoolteacher, she holds B.S. and M.S. degrees from Old Dominion University. Her poetry has been widely published in The Poetry Society of Vir­ginia’s anthologies and she has won many awards in the Society’s yearly contests and in the Norfolk Chrysler Museum’s Irene Leach Memorial Contests, and others. A chapbook, Where the Gulls Nest, Norfolk Poems, was published by Road Publishers, Painter, Virginia, and her 1993 manuscript of poetry, <em?Winds from the Bay, was awarded second place in the 1997 National Federation of State Poetry Societies Manuscript Contest. Her short stories have also been published. She has been an active storyteller for children throughout her life. Just Across the Sound is her first novel. She has two living children (and one deceased), five grandchildren and one great-grandchild. She resides in Norfolk where she remains active in writing.

Sid Anandkumar

Sid is an author and a registered physical therapist working in private practice in British Columbia, Canada. He gave a TEDx talk titled Low back pain-myths vs facts in 2018 and is the recipient of the 2019 Physiotherapy Association of British Columbia award of excellence for clinical contribution. Sid passed his master's program in India in 2013 with a gold medal and distinction and has published many research articles in international peer-reviewed journals. In his free time, Sid loves to run, hike, paint, sing classical Indian music, write poetry, and laze in bed with a book. www.physiobysid.com

Simone Yemm

Simone spent more than three decades teaching and performing the flute before transitioning into writing and editing by completing a master's in journalism and working with a mentor. A cacophony of life circumstance, combined with chronic sleep deprivation, impacted Simone's mental health through depression, anxiety, and disordered eating. Her mental health crumbled, culminating in three psychiatric inpatient admissions, and she is now wading through the recovery.Simone is married to a very devoted man. Together they've brought into this world three incredible young men. Stalked by Demons, Guarded by Angels: The Girl with the Eating Disorder is her first book.

Sixtus Z. Atabong

Sixtus Z. Atabong, PA-C, is a practicing neurosurgery Physician Assistant. He is also the President and Founder of Purpose Medical Mission, a nonprofit organization that focuses on developing sustainable healthcare infrastructures and services in developing countries. He is a recipient of numerous local and national awards for his leadership and humanitarian work around the world. Sixtus and his wife, Kyu Mee, have two young boys and live in Lubbock, Texas.

Sonee Singh

SONEE SINGH is a cross-cultural seeker of deep knowing. She is of Indian descent, born in Mexico, raised in Colombia, and resides in the United States. Sonee writes stories of self-discovery to encourage people to accept themselves and live life on their own terms. The mystical and spiritual are integral in her storytelling, as is her multicultural background. When not traveling, reading, or writing, she indulges in meditation, yoga, and aromatherapy. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in biology and society, a Master of Management in hospitality from Cornell University, and a Master of Science in complementary alternative medicine from American College of Healthcare Sciences. She is currently pursuing a Doctor of Divinity from the University of Metaphysical Sciences. Sonee has published a collection of poetry, Embody, and has been published in two anthologies: Blessing the Page and The Colours of Me. She has multiple articles published in Elephant Journal.

Stacey Crew

Stacey Crew is a certified health coach and organizing expert based in Denver, Colorado, who helps individuals achieve balance and a better quality of life through the Mind Body Kitchen approach. She is also the Amazon best-selling author of The Organized Mom: Simplify Life for You and Baby, One Step at a Time.