Laurie J. Pahel is a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst in private practice in Chapel Hill, N.C., as well as an adjunct faculty member of the University of North Carolina in the department of psychiatry. She is also a mother of three children and has read aloud each Harry Potter book at least twice—so far.
Chuck Palahniuk is the New York Times-bestselling author of Choke and Fight Club. He lives in Vancouver, Wash.
After scraping by as a financial analyst, Karthik Panchanathan is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in anthropology at UCLA. His research investigates the role of reputation in the evolution of social behavior, inter-group psychology and the perfect pork stew recipe for his dog, Savannah.
Ariella Papa is the author of the novels On The Verge, Up & Out and Bundle of Joy? She is also a freelance television writer and producer. She lives in Brooklyn, N.Y., with her husband Mike and her dog Sophie. You can visit her online at www.ariellapapa.com.
Courtney Parker is a celebrity ghostwriter and author of Runnin’ Game. She lives in Los Angeles.
Nansook Park is a clinical and school psychologist and associate professor of psychology at the University of Rhode Island. She is interested in good character among children and youth and how it is related to well-being, family functioning, health and education.
Jennifer A. Parks is a professor in the Department of Philosophy at Loyola University in Chicago. Her areas of teaching and research interest include health-care ethics, disability theory, moral philosophy and feminist theory. She has published The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Understanding Ethics and a book on home health care entitled No Place Like Home? Feminist Ethics and Home Health Care. Parks has had articles appear in major academic journals such as the Hastings Center Report and Hypatia. She lives in Chicago with her husband, her year-and-a-half-old son and her pug dog named Oliver.
J. R. Parrish went from being a milkman to a multimillionaire. In 1974 he founded J. R. Parrish Inc., a commercial real estate company in Silicon Valley. He ran the company based on what his mentor Glenn Lay taught him—most important, that to succeed in life you must learn to effectively deal with people. J. R. spent the next 25 years studying and teaching his employees and brokers about human relations. The company grew to be a huge success and one of the premier real estate brokerage firms in Silicon Valley. J. R. retired in 1999. Today he and his wife Lisa live in Hawaii.
Christopher J. Patrick, Ph.D., is Hathaway Professor of Psychology and Director of Clinical Training at the University of Minnesota, where his teaching and research interests focus on emotional and cognitive aspects of crime, violence, antisocial personality and psychopathic behavior. He is a recipient of early scientific career awards from the American Psychological Association and the Society for Psychophysiological Research. His extracurricular pursuits include fiction reading and writing, cooking, softball, ocean surfing and guitar playing.
Deborah L. Patrick worked for years as a legal professional and elementary school teacher. In addition to being an avid fan of “24,” her passions include her daughter Sarah, decorating and home remodeling, horticulture, art, music, yoga and travel. This is her first published work.
Sarah K. Patrick is a freshman in high school and enjoys many activities such as swimming for her school team, listening to music and attending live concerts, surfing and painting. She also loves to write and is a previously published author.
Brett Chandler Patterson teaches theology and ethics at Anderson University in South Carolina. He studied at Furman University, Duke University and the University of Virginia. He has written several essays recently analyzing ethical themes in pop culture-responsibility in Spider-Man (published by BenBella), redemption in “Lost,” and the fight for social order in Batman: No Man’s Land. He is currently working on a book analyzing the fantasies of C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, Orson Scott Card and Gene Wolfe.
Joseph Pearce, writer in residence and associate professor of literature at Ave Maria University in Naples, Fla., is the author of Tolkien: Man and Myth and C. S. Lewis and the Catholic Church, both published by Ignatius Press. He is editor of the Saint Austin Review.
Loni Peristere was born in Natick, Mass. He graduated from UMASS Boston, then went to work for Joss Whedon as visual effects supervisor on “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” “Angel,” “Firefly” and “Serenity.” Loni co-founded the multi-award winning visual effects company Zoic Studios. He has won an Emmy, two VES awards, a Clio, a London International Advertising Award and a Gold Pencil. Loni recently turned his focus back to writing and is currently developing several projects.
Kayla Perrin lives in Southwestern Ontario. She has a B.A. in English and sociology and a B.Ed, having entertained the idea of becoming a teacher—but she always knew she wanted to be a writer. Teachers were being laid off in Toronto when Kayla graduated, so she pursued her first love of writing. She now has 26 published titles to her credit, including romance, mainstream and children’s fiction. She is a USA Today bestselling author and has won several awards, including twice winning a spot on the Romance Writers of America “Top Ten Favorite Books of the Year” list, a Career Achievement Award from Romantic Times Magazine and an Arts Acclaim Award from the city of Brampton. Kayla’s novel Sweet Honesty was optioned for a movie of the week. You can visit Kayla’s Web site at www.kaylaperrin.com.
Anne Perry is the bestselling author of several historical detective series, including the Thomas Pitt series and the William and Hester Monk series. She has also written two fantasies, Tathea and Come Armageddon. Visit Anne on the Web at www.anneperry.net.
Christopher Peterson is a social and clinical psychologist and professor of psychology at the University of Michigan. He has been studying character strengths and virtues and their positive outcomes on health, well-being and work. He is the author of A Primer in Positive Psychology (Oxford University Press, 2006).
Lee Pfeiffer is the author/co-author of numerous books about the cinema and is regarded as one of the foremost James Bond scholars. His book The Essential Bond: An Authorized Guide to the World of 007 (written with Dave Worrall) is the top selling Bond film book of all time. Pfeiffer is also the editor-in-chief of Cinema Retro magazine, dedicated to films of the 1960s and 1970s (www.cinemaretro.com). He resides in New Jersey.
Carly Phillips started her writing career with Harlequin Temptation in 1999 with Brazen, and she’s never strayed far from home! Carly has since published 25 books, including the New York Times bestsellers The Bachelor, Summer Lovin’ and Hot Item. An avid TV watcher and “Grey’s Anatomy” lover, Carly lives in Purchase, N.Y., with her husband, two daughters and a frisky soft-coated wheaten terrier who acts like their third child. Contact Carly at: P. O. Box 483, Purchase, NY 10577, or visit her cyber home at www.carlyphillips.com.
Rachel Pine is the author of The Twins of Tribeca (Miramax Books, 2005). She is currently director of marketing and communications for Doubledown Media, LLC, the publisher of Trader Monthly and other magazines. She is also a contributor to the Huffington Post. She lives in New York City and Southampton.
Sergio Pistoi started his career as a molecular biologist. Soon after he finished his Ph.D. in 1994, a radiation incident in his lab turned him into an evil science-writing superhero. He was an intern at Scientific American in New York and a stringer for Reuters Health. His credits include Scientific American, New Scientist, Nature and many Italian print and radio outlets. He is also a consultant for research planning and portfolio management. He is a member of the National Association of Science Writers, NASW and the European Union of Science Writer’s Associations. He hides in Tuscany, Italy, with a fake identity. He can be found at www.greedybrain.com.
David Pizarro is an assistant professor of psychology at Cornell University. His research interests include moral judgment and the influence of emotion on judgment.
Sharon L. Plotkin, M.S., is a native Floridian with a twin sister who works as a federal agent. She has been employed full time in law enforcement as a crime scene investigator for almost 12 years, for one of the larger police departments in Dade County, and is an adjunct professor who teaches in her field at several local colleges. She is soon to be married to a lieutenant at the same police department, with whom she shares two daughters and three stepdaughters (five teenage daughters in all). Her interests are reading, music, teaching and travel.
Carol Poole, M.A., is a psychotherapist practicing in Seattle. A graduate of Pacifica Graduate Institute in Carpinteria, Calif., she is fascinated by the way pop culture retells ancient myths and occasionally even comes up with new ones such as “Buffy.”
Alan J. Porter is a writer on various aspects of popular culture with a few books and a variety of articles published in magazine titles in the U.K., U.S., Canada, Europe and Australia. He knows way too much about the Batman and is the author of The Unauthorized Batman Collector’s Guide. He also founded Gotham Gazette—The Batman Magazine on the Web and the long-running Gotham Weekly News e-mail newsletter, which were published between 1997 and 2006. He is currently researching a full-length biography of Bob Kane and Bill Finger. Read more online at alanjporter.com.
Dr. Malcolm Potts is the Fred H. Bixby Professor of Population and Family Planning at the University of California, Berkeley. He grew up in England during World War II and went to Cambridge University. Trained as an obstetrician and a research scientist, he has worked internationally for four decades. Professor Potts led a medical team into Bangladesh immediately after the War of Liberation in 1972, and his work has taken him to many other war-torn places including Vietnam and Cambodia, Afghanistan, Egypt, the Gaza Strip, Liberia and Angola. He has had a lifelong interest in history and archaeology, and he has written widely on the evolution of human sexuality in primate behavior. Having been moved by the courage and saddened by the pain of warfare he has asked many times, why do human beings behave like this? And, is there a way wars and terrorism can be made less common? His most recent books are Queen Victoria’s Gene and Ever Since Adam and Eve: The Evolution of Human Sexuality.
Michael Prendergast is an attorney and lives in Jacksonville, Fla., with his wife and two children. He attended Catholic school in south Florida for eight years where he drove the sisters nuts with his constant fidgeting. Thankfully, he’s replaced that habit with text messaging from his cell phone.
Danielle Provenzano is a graduate student in the Ph.D. program in clinical psychology at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. She is interested in couple communication and processes. All who know her comment on the striking similarity between Danielle and Hermione, except for the bushy hair and prominent teeth.
Matthew Pustz is the author of Comic Book Culture: Fanboys and True Believers, published in 2000 by the University Press of Mississippi. He received his doctorate in American studies from the University of Iowa, and he has taught there and at Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He currently lives in the Boston area.
