Siamak Tundra Naficy, Ph.D., currently teaches classes in biological anthropology at Santa Monica College. His doctorate at UCLA explores the evolution of intelligence in dogs and wolves and what this work may say about the co-evolutionary processes that humans and dogs have shared. When he is not studying domestication and animal behavior, he makes a point of rescuing Siberian huskies from certain death.
Vera Nazarian immigrated to the USA from the former USSR as a kid, sold her first story at 17 and has been published in numerous anthologies and magazines, seen on Nebula Awards Ballots, honorably mentioned in Year’s Best volumes and translated into seven languages. A member of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, she made her novel debut with the critically acclaimed Dreams of the Compass Rose (Wildside Press, 2002), followed by Lords of Rainbow (Betancourt & Company, 2003). Look for her novella The Clock King and the Queen of the Hourglass with introduction by Charles de Lint from PS Publishing and her collection Salt of the Air with introduction by Gene Wolfe from Prime Books, 2005. Visit her Web site at www.veranazarian.com.
Sharlotte Neely, Ph.D., is an award-winning professor of anthropology at Northern Kentucky University. A native of Savannah, Ga., she holds degrees in anthropology from both Georgia State University in Atlanta and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is the author of the well-reviewed book Snowbird Cherokees and a consultant on the award-winning documentary film of the same title. Dr. Neely has a lifelong love of science fiction and is the author, as Sharlotte Donnelly, of Kasker, a novel of anthropological science fiction. She thinks Dune is the greatest SF novel of all time.
Aaron Thomas Nelson is a writer and editor living in El Dorado Hills, Calif., with his wife and four daughters. Along with his graphic novel Marlow, his comics Joe Doogan: Zombie Hunter and Kid Lightspeed and the Neutron Women are slated for publication. He has also edited two volumes of Arcana’s Dark Horrors Anthology. In 2005, he delivered a paper on Ultimate Spider-Man at Comic-Con in San Diego. When he has some spare time, Aaron enjoys running. Aaron is also found at www.aaronthomasnelson.com.
Carol J. Nemeroff, Ph.D., is associate professor of psychology at Arizona State University and director of the Mind-Body Health Lab. Since 1984 she has been researching the nature and impact of magical thinking in daily life. She is a tremendous fan of Harry Potter and would like to teach at Hogwarts someday.
Lindsay Nichols received her Bachelor of Arts degree at Florida Atlantic University, with majors in psychology and English and a minor in writing and rhetoric. She is currently working toward her M.A. degree in applied social psychology at Loyola University Chicago, where she also intends to earn a Ph.D. Future plans include working in academia, teaching and conducting research.
Larry Niven, author of The Integral Trees and Ringworld, has been the recipient of the Hugo, Nebula, Skylark and Locus awards. He lives in Los Angeles.
Amanda Nowlin-O’Banion’s writing draws not just on her imagination but on her myriad experiences of life “off the beaten path.” From rural Texas to New York City to the sparkling Alaskan tundra, Amanda has worked as a sailing instructor, served as a jack-of-all-trades in Denali and taught English inside a maximum security men’s prison. She has been pursued by bears, won first prize for her mayhaw jelly at the county fair and survived to tell about it. Humorous, provocative and genuine, Amanda’s essays, short stories and other writings reveal the changing landscape of Americana, and the human struggles that come as a result. Her novel-in-progress, The Greenest Grass, from which “The Walls, Texas” is excerpted, explores one young woman’s struggle as she challenges traditional land inheritance patterns and the labor division of her family’s ranch. In 2000, Joyce Carol Oates named Amanda the “¡TEX! Emerging Writer” in fiction, and she was nominated for Best New American Voices 2006. Her work has appeared in the Dallas Morning News, Conversely and will appear in the Summer 2006 issue of SHSR. Amanda has been an invited guest on National Public Radio affiliate KUHF’s program “Front Row” and at the Blaffer Gallery Girls Night Out exhibit. She holds an M.F.A. in creative writing from New York University and is currently a Ph.D candidate in literature and creative writing at the University of Houston, where she teaches. Amanda lives in Huntsville, Texas, with her husband Robert. Special thanks are extended to Robert O’Banion, Debbie and Bill Nowlin, and Ree and Daniel Belhumeur.
Jody Lynn Nye lists her main career activity as “spoiling cats.” She lives northwest of Chicago with two of the above and her husband, author and packager Bill Fawcett. She has published 30 books, including six contemporary fantasies, four SF novels, four novels in collaboration with Anne McCaffrey, including The Ship Who Won; edited a humorous anthology about mothers, Don’t Forget Your Spacesuit, Dear!; and written more than 80 short stories. Her latest books are Strong Arm Tactics, first in the Wolfe Pack series (Meisha Merlin Publishing), and Class Dis-Mythed, co-written with Robert Asprin.
