BenBella

Daniel Barbour

Daniel Barbour is co-editor and maintainer of Halo.Bungie.Org’s Halo Story Page; he works as a writer and editor, spends an equal if not greater time hobbying at the same and is currently in the final, fatigued stumbles of an oft postponed philosophy and English double major. Barbour hails from Seven Persons, Alberta, and lives a life of contrasts: striving to learn the Means Simplistic, yet invariably turning his head to catch each flashing and zapping that electric modernity has to offer. Daniel and his wife, Renae, enjoy taking time to garden, make soap and (to an increasingly questionable extent) continue renovations in their (increasingly less decrepit) 1910 coal mansion.

Halo Effect

Mike W. Barr

Mike W. Barr has contributed to some of pop culture’s most enduring series, including Sherlock Holmes, Ellery Queen, Star Trek, Star Wars, Doc Savage, the Shadow and Batman. He’s also created some, including the comic book series Camelot 3000, Batman and the Outsiders, The Maze Agency and Mantra. In 2003 he published the Star Trek novel Gemini and is currently marketing two original fantasy novels. He has written numerous short stories; this fall his book on science fiction comic books of the Silver Age, The Silver Age Sci-Fi Companion, will be published by TwoMorrows. He lives in a house with too many cats and not enough books.

C.J. Barry

C. J. Barry is an award-winning author whose love of the paranormal began young, with science fiction novels and her brother’s comic books. An earthbound wife and mother of two, C. J. lives with her family and cat in a small town in upstate New York where she works as an information technology manager. She is a member of the Romance Writers of America, the Fantasy, Futuristic & Paranormal chapter and president of the Central New York Romance Writers. For more information, visit her Web site at www.cjbarry.com.

Totally Charmed

Bob Batchelor

Bob Batchelor is an award-winning writer and historian. He teaches public relations in the School of Mass Communications at the University of South Florida. A noted expert on American popular culture, he is the author or editor of the books: The 1900s (Greenwood Press, 2002), a history of the first decade of the 20th century from a popular culture perspective; editor of Basketball in America: From the Playgrounds to Jordan’s Game and Beyond (Haworth Press, 2005); co-author of a study on the development of consumer culture and marketing: Kotex, Kleenex, Huggies: Kimberly-Clark and the Consumer Revolution in American Business (The Ohio State University Press, 2004); and co-author of The 1980s (Greenwood Press, 2006). His fiction has appeared in The Pebble Lake Review. Bob has published more than 500 articles and essays in magazines, Web sites, and reference works, including the Dictionary of American History, Inside Business magazine and The American Prospect Online. His essays have appeared in newspapers in California, Tennessee and Delaware. Bob graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with degrees in history, philosophy and political science. He received an M.A. in history from Kent State University. He has taught history and nonfiction writing at Cleveland State University and Neumann College. Visit him online at www.bobbatchelor.com.

The Psychology of Survivor

Robert Batsell, Ph.D.

Robert Batsell, Ph.D., is originally from Brownsville, Texas. He earned bachelor’s degrees in biology and psychology from Southern Methodist University, and his Ph.D. in experimental psychology from Texas Christian University. Currently he is the Kurt D. Kaufman Associate Professor and Chair of Psychology at Kalamazoo College. He is a biopsychologist whose teaching interests include general psychology, experimental psychology, psychology of learning and biopsychology. His research focuses on the learning mechanisms that underlie food aversions in humans and nonhumans. He spends way too much of his time watching “Survivor” along with his 9-year-old son Evan. He is indebted to Karen Doyle, Dan Jacobson, Suzanne MacDonald and Andy Mozina for their feedback on his manuscript.

Stephen Baxter

Stephen Baxter was born in Liverpool, England, in 1957. He is a chartered engineer. He applied to become a cosmonaut in 1991—aiming for the guest slot on Mir eventually taken by Helen Sharman—but fell at an early hurdle. His first professionally published short story appeared in 1987, and his science fiction novels have been published in the U.K., the U.S. and many other countries. His most recent books include Exultant (Del Rey, 2005), part of a series called Destiny’s Children; and Time’s Eye (Del Rey, 2004), the first of a new collaborative series with Sir Arthur C. Clarke called A Time Odyssey.

The Science of Michael Crichton

The War of the Worlds

Peter Beagle

Peter S. Beagle is the author of The Last Unicorn, A Fine and Private Place and The Inkeeper’s Song among other works of fiction and nonfiction. He was born in New York City, now lives in Oakland, Calif., and has recently completed a new novel entitled Summerlong.

Five Seasons of Angel

Sandy Becker

Sandy Becker has been a practicing scientist for 27 years. The first 25 years were spent doing research in developmental biology at Wesleyan University in Connecticut. To supplement her income she moonlighted as a science journalist. Before discovering her true calling as a biologist she worked as a writer of civil service tests, a fifth-grade teacher, a folk singer and a mom. Since leaving Wesleyan she has worked for Advanced Cell Technology, a biotech company in Massachusetts, hoping to make something medically useful out of embryonic stem cells.

Melissa Beers

Melissa J. Beers is senior lecturer and Psychology 100 Program Director at Ohio State University, where she teaches several courses, including introductory social psychology, statistics and the teaching of psychology. She is also vice president of the Strategic Research Group (SRG), a research and consulting firm based in Columbus, Ohio, as well as a wife and a very proud mother of a 3-year-old son. She received her Ph.D. in experimental social psychology from Ohio University. Had she been privileged to attend Hogwarts, she would have hoped to be sorted into Ravenclaw.

The Psychology of Harry Potter

The Psychology of Survivor

James John Bell

In 1992 James John Bell left a four-year career in television news with ABC to support Native American sovereignty struggles with creative media strategies and award-winning documentary video-making. In 1996 he founded CounterMedia in Chicago to provide alternative media coverage of the Democratic National Convention, helping to lay the foundation for the Indy Media Center and today’s global independent media movement. James was the writer/director at the Chicago-based nonprofit public interest communications firm Sustain, where he managed advertising and public relations campaigns for critical environmental and social issues surrounding biotechnology, energy, land use and transportation for the Sierra Club, Rainforest Action Network, Earthjustice, Friends of the Earth and the Center for Food Safety, among others. His work has appeared in many publications, most notably the New York Times Magazine, the Washington Post and Communication Arts. James is currently an award-winning advocacy advertising writer and producer for print, television, radio and the Web for the nonprofit communications firm that he co-founded in 2003 called SmartMeme.com. His clients include national nonprofits, like Greenpeace and the Breast Cancer Fund, and SmartMeme now has offices and staff on the West Coast, East Coast, Midwest and Northwest. An avid gamer, hacker and writer, he continues to write about social issues and technology for a number of countercultural magazines and Web sites like Clamor, the Earth First! Journal and Verbicide, as well as mainstream science and technology publications, like the Futurist. He recently authored the afterword to the eco-sci-fi classic The Sheep Look Up by science fiction legend John Brunner, published by Benbella Books.

So Say We All

Raymond Benson

Between 1996 and 2002, Raymond Benson was commissioned by the James Bond literary copyright holders to take over writing the 007 novels. In total he penned and published worldwide six original 007 novels (including Zero Minus Ten and The Man with the Red Tattoo), three film novelizations, and three short stories. His classic encyclopedic work on the 007 phenomenon, The James Bond Bedside Companion, was first published in 1984 and was nominated for an Edgar Allan Poe Award by Mystery Writers of America for Best Biographical/Critical Work. Raymond has also written non-Bond novels: Face Blind (2003) and Evil Hours (2004). Using the pseudonym David Michaels, Raymond is also the author of the bestselling books Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell (2004) and its sequel Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell—Operation Barracuda (2005), both New York Times bestsellers. Raymond’s most recent original suspense novel is Sweetie’s Diamonds, published in 2006. www.raymondbenson.com

James Bond in the 21st Century

Bob Berman

Bob Berman is one of the best known and most widely read astronomers in the world. He’s Astronomy magazine’s “Strange Universe” columnist as well as Discover Magazine’s astronomy columnist since 1989, and is responsible for the astronomy section of the Old Farmers Almanac. He is perhaps uniquely able to translate complex scientific concepts into language that is understandable to the casual observer yet meaningful to the most advanced.

Biocentrism

Amy Berner

Freelance columnist Amy Berner is obsessed with television. Although she spends much of her time as an event planner, she pops up in various places with reviews and essays, primarily covering genre television. She has appeared in several Smart Pop anthologies, including Five Seasons of Angel, The Anthology at the End of the Universe, Alias Assumed, Farscape Forever and Getting Lost. She lives in San Diego.

Five Seasons of Angel

Abbie Bernstein

Abbie Bernstein: Writer G.O. Likeskill is a journalist currently taking a sabbatical at the world-famous Arkham Asylum. Visiting days are Tuesdays and Thursdays, which are connected by Wednesdays.

Five Seasons of Angel

Getting Lost

Bruce Bethke

Bruce Bethke was a regular contributor to Amazing Stories in the 1980s and 1990s, as well as to a wide variety of other magazines. A critically acclaimed and award-winning science fiction novelist, he takes strangely perverse pride in knowing that he once managed to convince the editor of Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine that his unabashed swashbuckling pirate story was in fact a science fiction story. Bethke can be contacted through his Web site, www.BruceBethke.com.

James Bond in the 21st Century

King Kong is Back!

Star Wars on Trial

Flirting with Pride & Prejudice

Jo Beverly

Jo Beverley is the bestselling author of 34 historical romance novels and 12 novellas, most set in and around the Regency period. She is a five-time winner of the RITA award, the top award in romance fiction, and a member of the RWA Hall of Fame for Regency romance. She is also on the RWA Honor Roll. To find out about all her work and her most recent publications, visit www.jobev.com/recent.html.

Jason Biro

Jason Biro has more than 12 years of lending experience. Unlike a typical corporate executive, Jason works hands-on with homeowners from all backgrounds. Jason is vice president/CFO of Team One Lending, a residential and commercial firm located in Wellington, Fla. He also conducts classes and training for local mortgage brokers. Jason is the exclusive mortgage expert for WFLX Fox 29 News. He lives with his wife in Lake Worth, Fla.

Saving Your American Dream

Robert Biswas-Diener

Robert Biswas-Diener is known as the “Indiana Jones” of positive psychology. His studies on culture and happiness have taken him to such far-flung places as Greenland, India, Kenya and Israel. He is also a career coach and is program director for Education and Learning for the Center for Applied Positive Psychology (CAPP). He lives in Portland, Ore.

The Psychology of Superheroes

Jake Black

Jake Black, a native of Orem, Utah, graduated from Brigham Young University with a degree in history. He has spent the last six years contributing to numerous “Smallville” projects, including short stories, DVD features, Web articles and comics. He has published licensed work on “Superman Returns,” WWE, Star Trek and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and has had essays in several academic publications. He is also a prolific comic book writer, having been published by DC, Marvel and several independent companies. Visit jakeblack.com for more.

Please Stop Laughing at Us…

Jodee Blanco

Survivor, expert and activist Jodee Blanco is one of the country’s pre-eminent voices on the subject of school bullying. She is the author of the New York Times bestseller Please Stop Laughing At Me … One Woman’s Inspirational Story. A chronicle of her years as the student outcast, the book inspired a movement inside the nation’s schools and is swiftly becoming an American classic. Referred to by many as “the anti-bullying bible,” it is required reading in hundreds of middle and high schools and numerous universities throughout the country. Please Stop Laughing at Me … has also been recognized as an essential resource by the National Crime Prevention Council, the Department of Health & Human Services, the National Association of Youth Courts, Special Olympics, the FCCLA (Future Community and Career Leaders of America), Teacher Magazine and hundreds of state and local organizations from the PTA and regional law enforcement coalitions to school safety groups. Blanco’s highly anticipated sequel, Please Stop Laughing at Us … One Survivor’s Extraordinary Quest to Prevent School Bullying, is written in response to the demand for more information from her core audience—teens, teachers, parents and other Adult Survivors of Peer Abuse like herself, who have come to know Blanco as the champion of their cause. It provides advice and solutions set against the backdrop of her dramatic personal and professional journey as the survivor who unexpectedly finds herself the country’s most sought-after anti-bullying activist.

In addition to her books, Blanco’s unprecedented approach to shifting the social dynamic of America’s schools is saving lives and making headlines throughout the United States. She’s presented It’s NOT Just Joking Around!™, her acclaimed anti-bullying program, to a combined audience of over 500,000 students, teachers and parents nationwide at the behest of such entities as the United States Department of the Interior, the United States Department of Justice, the National Catholic Educational Association, the Illinois Association of School Boards and scores of local school districts, many of whom are adopting her initiatives as part of their core bullying prevention curriculum. It’s NOT Just Joking Around!™ has also generated tens of thousands of dollars in grant awards for schools and organizations coast to coast.

Blanco has successfully intervened in numerous bullying-related attempted suicides and acts of student retaliation. She is a respected crisis management consultant and expert witness in the areas of school violence and peer abuse, and is frequently called upon by the media as an expert interview. Some of the outlets who have turned to her for commentary include Newsweek, CNN, NBC, FOX, “The John Walsh Show” and National Public Radio. She is also the resident authority on school bullying for Meredith Vieira’s popular parenting Web site CafeMom.com. Blanco’s life story has been featured in Parade, Teen Newsweek, Teen Guideposts, Hispanic, the Chicago Tribune, the St. Petersburg Times and hundreds of local daily newspapers across the United States and is part of a permanent exhibit at the Chicago National Historical Society.

A tireless advocate for the shunned and forgotten student, Blanco’s rare understanding of why kids abuse other kids comes from a deep personal place. From fifth grade through the end of high school, she was rejected and tormented by her peers simply for being different and knows firsthand what it’s like to contemplate retaliation. As an adult, she decided to go public with her story because she was frustrated by society’s misconceptions about the true cause of the school tragedies such as Columbine. Since the release of Please Stop Laughing At Me …, Blanco has committed her life to turning her pain into purpose. Inspired by the thousands of letters and requests she receives for help, she travels around the country sharing her story of forgiveness and triumph. One of the most sought-after keynote speakers and seminar presenters, Blanco’s anti-bullying initiatives are redefining the scope of possibilities for curbing suffering in our schools worldwide.

Blanco’s work has been published in Japanese, Danish and Arabic. She lives in the suburbs of Chicago with her husband and family where she is currently at work on a series of anti-bullying related fiction titles for young adults. For more information on Blanco’s anti-bullying work, visit her Web site at www.jodeeblanco.com. Information on her consulting company can be found at The Blanco Group.

Alex Bledsoe

Alex Bledsoe, author of The Sword-Edged Blonde (Night Shade, 2007), picked Batman as his favorite superhero around age 4, according to his mother. Except for those awful Schumacher years, he’s never regretted his choice.

Lawrence Block

Lawrence Block is the author of The Burglar in the Rye, Hit List, Hope to Die and Tanner on Ice. His articles and short stories have appeared in American Heritage, GQ, The New York Times, Playboy and Redbook. He is a Grand Master of the Mystery Writers of America and has won the Edgar, Japanese Maltese Falcon, Nero Wolfe and Shamus awards. He lives in New York City.

The Crazy Years

Paul Bloom

Paul Bloom is a professor of psychology at Yale University who does research on language and development. He is the author of Descartes’ Baby: How the Science of Child Development Explains What Makes Us Human.

The Science in Science Fiction

Robert Bly

Bob Bly is the author of more than 60 books including The Ultimate Unauthorized Star Trek Quiz Book (HarperCollins), Why You Should Never Beam Down in a Red Shirt (HarperCollins) and Comic Book Heroes: 1,001 Trivia Questions About America’s Favorite Superheroes (Carol Publishing Group). A science fiction fan since age 12, he has read more than 500 science fiction novels and stories, and seen dozens of science fiction films. Bob has sold short fiction to Galaxy science fiction magazine. Bob’s science credentials include a B.S. in chemical engineering and articles in such publications as Chemical Engineering, Chemical Engineering Progress and Science Books & Films. He has been a member of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers since 1979.

Peter J. Boettke

Peter J. Boettke is an economics professor at George Mason University and the author of several books on the history, collapse and transition from socialism in the former Soviet Union. His most recent books are Calculation and Coordination (Routledge, London, 2001) and The Economic Way of Thinking (Prentice Hall, 2002). Before joining the faculty at GMU, Boettke taught at New York University and was a National Fellow at the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace at Stanford University. Boettke earned his Ph.D. at George Mason University and his B.A. at Grove City College.

Taking the Red Pill

Samantha Bornemann

Samantha has written about film and television for Playboy.com, PopMatters.com and ShinyGun.com, the magazine she founded with fellow Northwestern grads in 2000. She lives in Chicago and is at work on a novel about Everygirls (and boys) grown up.

Neptune Noir

Mary Borsellino

Mary Borsellino lives in Australia and writes whatever and whenever she can. She’s contributed to a number of essay collections about comic books, and founded the Web site Girl-Wonder.org in 2006. As much as she adores spending her days putting words together into thoughts, she also enjoys being distracted as frequently as possible, so please feel free to drop her a line at mizmary@gmail.com any time.

The Ticket: Full Disclosure

Nick Bostrom

Dr. Nick Bostrom is a philosopher at Yale University. He founded the World Transhumanist Association in 1998 (with David Pearce) and is a frequent spokesperson and commentator in the media. Bostrom’s research interests are in philosophy of science probability theory, and the ethical and strategic implications of anticipated technologies (including AI, nanotech, genetics, etc.). He has a background in cosmology, computational neuroscience, mathematical logic, philosophy, artificial intelligence and stand-up comedy, and is the author of the book Anthropic Bias: Observation Selection Effects in Science and Philosophy (Routledge, New York, 2002).

Taking the Red Pill

Sharon Bowers

Sharon Bowers is an independent scholar who is interested in the intersections of gender, narrative and popular culture. She has presented at national and regional pop culture conferences on texts such as “ER,” “Fastlane” and “The L-Word.” The author of the novel Lucifer Rising and a contributor to the NYPD Blue anthology What Would Sipowicz Do?, she is currently working on a book-length examination of competitive discourses of sexuality in primetime television. As someone who considers herself a free-floating signifier, she admires Edie’s interrogative potential (if not her fashion sense) but wishes she had Bree’s proficiency with a handgun (not to mention a basket of her muffins).

What Would Sipowicz Do?

Welcome to Wisteria Lane

Scott Boyter

Scott Boyter is editor of the Dallas Sports Page. He resides in Dallas.

Gayle Brandeis

Gayle Brandeis is an award-winning author whose first book, Fruitflesh: Seeds of Inspiration for Women Who Write, has been adopted by writers worldwide. Gayle’s novel The Book of Dead Birds won Barbara Kingsolver’s Bellwether Prize for Fiction in Support of a Literature of Social Change in 2002, and was published by HarperCollins. Her poetry, fiction and essays have appeared in dozens of magazines and anthologies, including Salon.com, Nerve.com, Hip Mama and The Oy of Sex: Jewish Women Write Erotica. Gayle’s second novel, Self Storage, will be published by Ballantine in January 2007. Gayle, who was named a Writer Who Makes a Difference by The Writer Magazine, is writer-in-residence for the Mission Inn Foundation’s Family Voices Project, and teaches writing throughout Southern California. She lives in Riverside, Calif., with her husband and their two children.

Patricia Bray

Patricia Bray is the author of the award-winning fantasy Devlin’s Luck, which is the first novel in her bestselling Sword of Change trilogy. Patricia balances her writing with a full-time career as an IT project manager and claims credit for turning her coworkers into fellow “Farscape” fans. In 2006 she’ll launch a new fantasy series with the publication of The First Betrayal. For more information about her books and upcoming convention appearances visit her Web site at www.patriciabray.com.

Farscape Forever

Corey Bridges

Corey Bridges is co-founder and executive producer of Multiverse.

David Brin

David Brin’s bestselling SF novels have won Hugo, Nebula and other awards and have been translated into 20 languages. His 1989 thriller Earth foreshadowed global warming, cyberwarfare and the Web. A 1998 movie was loosely adapted from his Campbell Award winner The Postman, while Foundation’s Triumph brought a grand finale to Isaac Asimov’s famed Foundation universe. Kiln People portrays people using “home copiers” to be in two places at once. David’s nonfiction book The Transparent Society deals with openness, security and liberty in the future; it won the Freedom of Speech Award of the American Library Association.

Seven Seasons of Buffy

King Kong is Back!

Star Wars on Trial

Maurice Broaddus

Maurice Broaddus holds a Bachelor of Science degree in biology (with an undeclared major in English) from Purdue University and works as an environmental toxicologist. He has been involved in ministry work for well over a decade and is in the process of becoming a pastor and planting a church. His horror fiction has been published in numerous magazines and Web sites. His television reviews can be read at the Hollywood Jesus Web site (www.hollywoodjesus.com). He is married to the lovely Sally Jo and enjoys life with two sons, Reese and Malcolm. Learn more at www.MauriceBroaddus.com.

What Would Sipowicz Do?

Summer Brooks

Summer Brooks is an avid reader and writer of fantasy and science fiction, with a deep passion for good SF television and movies in general. That passion led her into the den of the Dragon Page Radio, a haven where she could likely live happily ever after. She started out as a book reviewer for the talk shows, but soon after experiencing the fun of live radio, she became an additional on-air voice for many of the Dragon Page talk shows and podcasts. A year and a half later, FarPoint Media was created as a parent umbrella for the growing number of shows Michael and Evo manage, and Summer is now producer and co-host for five of those shows. She handles the guest interview bookings for “Slice of SciFi,” “Cover to Cover,” and “With Class,” and is featured on “Slice of SciFi,” “The Babylon Podcast,” and “The Kick-Ass Mystic Ninjas” shows. In addition to reveling in many SF media venues, Summer is hard at work writing articles and novels, and she desires to write and produce a TV series or miniseries that leaves a mark on people. Summer is also a Web admin and novice designer and a licensed massage therapist, and has a small but happy client base for both endeavors. More info on the FarPoint Media shows can be found at farpointmedia.net.

So Say We All

Alan Brown, Ph.D.

Alan Brown, Ph.D., has been a professor of psychology at Southern Methodist University for the past 30 years. He has published more than 50 professional articles and four books in the area of human memory processes. He lives in Dallas.

Tiffany Lee Brown

Tiffany Lee Brown is a writer, performer and interdisciplinary artist based in Portland, Ore. She is the editor of 2GQ, the literature and media arm of the non-profit 2 Gyrlz Performative Arts, and is presently a guest editor for PLAZM magazine. Her work is published in periodicals such as Bookforum, Utne, Bust, Tin House and Art Access, and in anthologies including The Bust Guide to the New Girl Order, Gargoyle, Slow Trains, Northwest Edge and The Clear Cut Future. She has performed at the Portland Rose Festival, Wordstock, Burning Man, Performance Works NW, the Richard Foreman Festival, the Enteractive Language Festival, the Dark Arts Festival and others. She is currently collaborating with book artist Clare Carpenter on A Compendium of Miniatures, to be published by 2GQ in late 2006. Tiffany would like to thank Soapstone for offering her the wonderful residency at which she was able to finish this piece, and Bill Palmer for his invaluable insights. Tiffany welcomes online visitors at www.magdalen.com and at 2GQ.org.

Dr. Ian Browne

Dr. Ian Browne is the pseudonym for a well-known figure who, for reasons of security, must remain anonymous. A dashing, passionate figure, Dr. Browne has had a diverse career, including time as a jet fighter pilot, professional pool hustler and paid assassin. He spent many years in Japan mastering the ancient art of Bushido and has been rumored to have worked for a clandestine intelligence organization. Dr. Browne has been married to two, and soon three, of the world’s most beautiful women. A polymath, Dr. Browne is an expert in many fields, including the history of psychiatry. He divides his time between London and Los Angeles.

The Da Vinci Mole

David Bruce

David Bruce is a film critic with a background in both television and theology. He is founder of the popular hollywoodjesus.com, which views popular culture from a spiritual point of view. He has served as an administrator for NBC in California, received his Master of Divinity degree from North Park University Seminary in Chicago and has pastored three churches. He travels extensively, speaking at schools, conferences and churches. He currently resides with his family in southern Oregon.

What Would Sipowicz Do?

Karin Bruckner

Karin H. Bruckner, M.A., L.P.C., is a writer, researcher and licensed therapist with a master’s degree in psychology from Texas Woman’s University. Her interests center on gender, spirituality and the development of healthy paradigms for experiencing anger on a personal as well as a global level. She is the mother of three children and, along with her kiwi husband, currently enjoys a bi-continental lifestyle in the U.S. and New Zealand.

John Brunner

John Brunner was the author of dozens of science fiction novels, including Shockwave Rider and Stand on Zanzibar, winner of the Hugo Award.

The Sheep Look Up

Charlene Brusso

Charlene Brusso is a New England–based freelance writer and science fiction/fantasy author with a B.S. in physics and astronomy from the University of Rochester. She has written for BenBella Books’s Farscape Forever!, as well as an array of magazines and venues, from Amazon.com and Amazing Stories to Publishers Weekly and Playgirl. As Tastykakes are not available in her neck of the woods, she swears by chocolate clouds and Key lime cheesecake from Trader Joe’s.

Farscape Forever

Perfectly Plum

Ginjer Buchanan

Ginjer Buchanan, born in Pittsburgh long enough ago to remember the invention of television, moved to New York City to work in social services. She also freelanced for Pocket Books as consulting editor for the Star Trek novel program. In 1984, she was offered a full-time job as an editor at Ace Books. Her current title is senior executive editor and marketing director, Ace/Roc books. Her first novel, a “Highlander” tie-in titled White Silence, was published in February of 1999, and she had an essay in the third “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” episode guide.

Finding Serenity

David Bumbaugh

A graduate of Wilmington College in Ohio, David E. Bumbaugh is a Unitarian Universalist minister who has served congregations in the Midwest and the Northeast for 40 years. He is currently a professor of ministry at Meadville Lombard Theological School in Chicago since 1999. The author of two books, The Education of God (1994) and Unitarian Universalism: A Narrative History (2000), he has contributed articles to various journals, chapters for several books and poems to various publications.

Revisiting Narnia

Alafair Burke

Alafair Burke is an author and law professor. After graduating with distinction from Stanford Law School and serving as a deputy district attorney in Portland, Ore., she is now an associate professor at Hofstra Law School and frequently serves as a legal and trial commentator for radio and television programs. She lives in New York City and is the author of the Samantha Kincaid series of mystery novels (Judgment Calls, Missing Justice and Close Case). Her first stand-alone thriller, Dead Connection, will be published in July 2007. Alafair welcomes contact from readers at www.alafairburke.com.

Neptune Noir

Maggie Burns

Maggie Burns is an aspiring television writer and novelist living in Los Angeles. Educated at Oberlin College and Penn State University, she very nearly completed a Ph.D. in comparative literature, in the course of which she learned an awful lot of ancient, medieval and modern languages, as well as how to write for television. She has taught literature and writing at the University of Pennsylvania, Temple University and Willamette University. A lifelong musician and omnivorous reader, she writes incessantly, knits, quilts, repairs engines, watches a lot of quality television, works at a major studio and climbs Mt. Hollywood as often as possible.

Stepping Through the Stargate

Michael Burstein

Michael A. Burstein, winner of the 1997 Campbell Award for Best New Writer, has earned 10 Hugo nominations and two Nebula nominations for his short fiction. Burstein grew up in Forest Hills, Queens, but now lives with his wife Nomi in Brookline, Mass., where he is an elected town meeting member and library trustee. He has two degrees in physics and attended the Clarion Workshop. He taught science for many years and he currently edits science textbooks. More information on Burstein and his work, as well a link to his blog, can be found on his Web page, www.mabfan.com.

Boarding the Enterprise

Webslinger

Jim Butcher

Jim Butcher is a martial arts enthusiast with 15 years of experience in various styles, including Ryukyu Kempo, Tae Kwon Do, Gojo Shorei Ryu and a sprinkling of Kung Fu. He enjoys fencing, singing, bad science fiction movies and live-action gaming. He is the author of the Dresden Files series, which includes Storm Front, Fool Moon, Grave Peril, Summer Knight, Death Masks and Blood Rites, as well as the Codex Alera series. He lives in Missouri with his wife, son and a vicious guard dog.

Farscape Forever

Lorie Byrd

Lorie Byrd has been a big fan of television and a follower of politics her entire life. She graduated from N.C. State University in 1988 with a B.A. in political science. In April 2004, she became a contributor to Polipundit.com, a political blog, and in 2005 began writing at Townhall.com, where she is currently a weekly columnist. She also writes a monthly column for the Washington, D.C., edition of The Examiner where she is a member of the Blog Board of Contributors. She now blogs at Wizbangblog.com and at LorieByrd.com. Lorie lives with her husband and two daughters in North Carolina.

Jack Bauer for President

Mike Byrne

Mike Byrne is an assistant (but hopefully associate by the time you read this) professor of psychology at Rice University in Houston, though he grew up in Minneapolis. He has an advanced love-hate relationship with all forms of technology, particularly computers. Mike’s research is focused on computer simulation of human cognition and performance, in order to better understand how to design technology that more effectively meshes with human capabilities. When not working, Mike spends most of his time with his wife and two boys (ages 1 1/2 and 5 at the time of this writing), neither of whom will hopefully turn out too much like Bart.