BenBella

Kelley Walters

Kelley Walters earned a double B.A. in technical writing and psychology from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, in 1989, and an M.A. in spirituality from Holy Names College in Oakland, Calif., in 1996. There she studied with well-known spiritual writers such as Matthew Fox, Carol Lee Flinders, Thomas Berry and Joanna Macy. She is a features writer for the alternative newsweekly Chattanooga Pulse, and sits on the Board of Directors of the Chattanooga Writers Guild. Kelley lives with her husband, Michael Kull, and their pets Coco, Clare and Grace, in Chattanooga, Tenn.

Farscape Forever

Stepping Through the Stargate

Logan Ward

Logan Ward has written for many magazines, including National Geographic Adventure, Men’s Journal, Popular Mechanics, Southern Accents and Cottage Living. He lives with his wife Heather and their children Luther and Eliot in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley.

See You in a Hundred Years

Ian Watson

Ian Watson has written SF full time for the past 30 years, from The Embedding (1973) to Mockymen (2003), in which aliens adopt human guises. Sometimes he himself adopts the guise of H. G. Wells at SF conventions, which exonerates him from any naughty conduct—see www.ianwatson.info. A year’s work with Stanley Kubrick in 1990 led to screen credit for screen story for “A.I. Artificial Intelligence,” subsequently directed by Steven Spielberg. Ian lives with a black cat in a tiny village in rural England. His tenth story collection, The Butterflies of Memory, is due in the fall 2005 from PS Publishing.

The War of the Worlds

Yaleen

Lawrence Watt-Evans

Lawrence Watt-Evans published his first novel The Lure of the Basilisk at age 24, and has since written more than 30 novels, more than 100 short stories, more than 150 published articles and contributed to several previous Smart Pop titles. He has been an active member of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America since 1982 and also belongs to Novelists Inc. He was a 1987 nominee for the Nebula Award for short story and a 1988 winner of the World Science Fiction Society’s Hugo Award for best short story. He has been a full-time writer and editor for more than 25 years, and has also worked as an instructor of Viable Paradise on Martha’s Vineyard, and at the Writer’s Center in Bethesda, Md.

Seven Seasons of Buffy

Finding Serenity

The Anthology at the End of the Universe

The War of the Worlds

Flirting with Pride & Prejudice

King Kong is Back!

Mapping the World of the Sorcerer's Apprentice

The Unauthorized X-Men

Boarding the Enterprise

James Bond in the 21st Century

Webslinger

Neptune Noir

Grey’s Anatomy 101

The Turtle Moves!

Len Wein

Len Wein is the co-creator of Wolverine and the New X-Men. He is a former editor in chief of Marvel Comics, Disney Comics and Top Cow Comics, as well as a senior editor at DC Comics. His previous work includes The All-New, All-Different X-Men Masterworks; The Untold Legend of Batman; and Wonder Woman: Gods and Mortals. He lives in Woodland Hills, Calif.

The Unauthorized X-Men

Robert Weinberg

Robert Weinberg lives in Oak Forest, Ill., a suburb of Chicago, and is the author of 16 novels, 15 nonfiction books and dozens of short stories. As an editor, he’s compiled over 150 anthologies. Bob’s a two-time winner of the World Fantasy Award and has won two Bram Stoker Awards, given by the Horror Writers Association, of which he is also a member. He’s perhaps the only horror writer ever to serve as the Grand Marshal of a rodeo parade.

The Unauthorized X-Men

Robert G. Weiner

Robert G. Weiner first became interested in Johnny Cash when he saw the Grateful Dead perform “Big River,” and he sought out the original version. He bought a tape of “Cash’s Greatest Hits,” which he quickly wore out. In 1986, on his way to a Public Image Limited concert in Dallas, he read Cash’s autobiography, Man in Black, and on the trip back, he read Cash’s novel about St. Paul, Man in White. He is co-author of The Grateful Dead and the Deadheads and editor of Perspectives on the Grateful Dead. Weiner’s articles about Lubbock and gospel music appear in West Texas Historical Journal and the East Texas Historical Journal. He published the article “Atomic Music: Country Conservatism: Folk Discontent” in On the Culture of the American South, edited by Dennis Hall, and the “Cowboy Songs in Nature” in The Cowboy Way, edited by Paul Carlson. He most recently has book chapters in The Gospel of Superheroes and Landscape of Hollywood Westerns. He has graduate degrees in history and information science and is currently a reference librarian at the Mahon Library in Lubbock, Texas. Special thanks go to Emily Smith; her work in interlibrary loans made this essay possible. Also, thanks to Texas Tech University staff. Currently, Weiner can be seen in the music documentary “Lubbock Lights”; see www.lubbock-lights.com for more information about this film. Weiner also wrote the Johnny Cash article featured in the Guide to United States Popular Culture, edited by Ray and Pat Browne.

Literary Cash

Nancy S. Weinfield, Ph.D.

Nancy S. Weinfield, Ph.D., is a developmental psychologist and an assistant professor in the department of psychology at the University of Virginia. She received her Ph.D. from the Institute of Child Development at the University of Minnesota in 1996. Her research focuses primarily on parent-child relationships, attachment and the strategies individuals use to cope with emotional pain, thus making her a natural fan of Joss Whedon’s work.

The Psychology of Joss Whedon

Howard Weinstein

Howard Weinstein sold his first story at age 19 (the animated “Star Trek” episode “The Pirates of Orion”). His fiction credits include six Star Trek novels, three “V” novels, 60 Trek comics and “Safe Harbors” in the Deep Space Nine: Tales of the Dominion War short story anthology. His nonfiction books include Puppy Kisses Are Good For The Soul & Other Important Lessons You & Your Dog Can Teach Each Other and a biography of New York Yankees baseball star Mickey Mantle. Howard has written articles and columns for the New York Times, Baltimore Sun, Newsday and Starlog Magazine.

Boarding the Enterprise

Kevin “Marshall J. Flinkman” Weisman

Kevin Weisman makes regular appearances on “Alias” as Marshall J. Flinkman and has also had recurring roles on “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” “Felicity” and “Roswell.” He is a founding member of the award-winning Buffalo Nights Theatre Company. He lives in Los Angeles.

Alias Assumed

Martha Wells

Martha Wells is the author of seven fantasy novels, including Wheel of the Infinite and the Nebula-nominated The Death of the Necromancer. Her most recent novels are a fantasy trilogy beginning with The Wizard Hunters and The Ships of Air. The last volume, The Gate of Gods, will be published by HarperCollins Eos in November 2005. She also has a media tie-in novel, Stargate Atlantis: Reliquary, coming out from Fandemonium in December 2005. She has sold short stories to Realms of Fantasy and Black Gate, and her books have been published in eight languages, including French, Spanish, German, Russian, Italian, Polish and Dutch.

Farscape Forever

Mapping the World of the Sorcerer's Apprentice

Sarah Wendell

Sarah Wendell is a transplanted Pittsburgher currently living in the New York metropolitan area. By day she’s mild-mannered and heavily caffeinated. By evening she dons her cranky costume, consumes yet more caffeine and becomes Smart Bitch Sarah of Smart Bitches, Trashy Books. The site specializes in reviewing romance novels, examining the history and future of the genre and bemoaning the enormous prevalence of bodacious pectorals adorning male cover models. Sarah has B.A.’s in English and Spanish from Columbia College of South Carolina. She is a member of the Romance Writers of America and a big, big fan of Fabio.

Grey’s Anatomy 101

Michelle Sagara West

Michelle Sagara West doesn’t watch much television these days because she’s still in mourning for “Firefly.” That said, she watches the DVDs on a semiregular basis and has traumatized other new viewers by forgetting to mention that the series was cancelled when she loans the set out. She can talk about “Firefly” for hours on end. And sometimes, she talks to the right people (see, editor). She is also a novelist who has eight published novels as Michelle West and four novels originally published as Michelle Sagara, which will be reprinted by BenBella Books, one every six months, starting in September 2005.

Seven Seasons of Buffy

Five Seasons of Angel

Finding Serenity

Chains of Darkness, Chains of Light

Scott Westerfeld

Scott Westerfeld is the author of five science fiction novels for adults and three sets of books for young adults, including Midnighters and Uglies. Born in Texas, Westerfeld splits his time between New York City and Sydney, Australia.

Seven Seasons of Buffy

Mind Rain

Ken Wharton

Ken Wharton is a physics professor at San Jose State University. He is also the author of the science fiction novel Divine Intervention, along with a handful of short stories. For his fiction, Ken has been a finalist for the John W. Campbell award for best new writer, the Philip K. Dick award and the Nebula award.

Navigating the Golden Compass

Star Wars on Trial

Serenity Found

Stephanie Whiteside

Stephanie Whiteside recently graduated from the George Washington University with a B.A. in political communication, where she learned the fine art of procrastination by watching “Gilmore Girls” and knitting when she should have been writing papers. Stephanie currently lives in Northern Virginia with her cats Fred and Padma, and spends her time watching more TV than is probably healthy, writing, and attempting to convince the government to give her a job. In the meantime, she teaches knitting and is cleverly disguised as a responsible adult.

Glenna Whitley

An award-winning investigative reporter, Glenna Whitley specializes in writing about crime and the legal system. A staff writer for the Dallas Observer since November 2003, she’s been executive editor and senior writer for D Magazine and a feature writer for the Dallas Morning News. Whitley’s freelance work has appeared in numerous magazines and newspapers, including Texas Monthly, Penthouse, Glamour, Redbook, Ladies Home Journal, More, New York Times, Town & Country and many more. She is co-author with B. G. Burkett of the acclaimed nonfiction book Stolen Valor about the Vietnam War, published in 1998. The subject of three segments for TV newsmagazine “20/20,” including one that won a CINE Award, Stolen Valor received the 2000 William E. Colby Award for writing on military affairs at Norwich University. The subject of hundreds of stories in magazines and newspapers, Stolen Valor is now in development as a TV series. Her story “Crazy White Mother,” published in the Dallas Observer, received the prestigious Texas Headliner’s Award for investigative journalism in 2003, her third such award. The judges said: “This is a remarkable example of hard-digging reporting on an elusive subject, delivered in a fast-moving narrative form that tells an amazing tale with color and clarity.” In addition, “Crazy White Mother” was a finalist for the 2003 Eugene S. Pulliam National Journalism Writing Award. Whitley’s story “Evil Eyes,” the saga of serial killer Coral Eugene Watts published in June 2003 by the Dallas Observer, was featured in an anthology of the best writing from alternative newspapers published by Penguin in 2005. Another story was included in D Magazine’s Dallas: The 30 Greatest Stories Ever Told, published September 2004. Whitley has received numerous awards for investigative reporting on criminal affairs from the Texas Bar Association, the Dallas Bar Association, the Dallas Press Club and the City and Regional Magazine Association. A graduate of Texas A&M University, Whitley lives in Dallas with her husband Peter and two sons, Eric and Andrew.

Halo Effect

Rick Whitten-Klaw

One of the more opinionated people in an industry of opinionated people, Rick Klaw is perhaps best known for the popular column “Geeks With Books” in SFSite. Geek Confidential: Echoes From the 21st Century, a collection of his critical essays, reviews and other observations was published in 2003 by MonkeyBrain, Inc. His writings have appeared in the Austin Chronicle, Weird Business, The Big Book of the Weird Wild West, Gangland, Michael Moorcock’s Multiverse, Science Fiction Weekly, Nova Express, Electric Velocipede, KongisKing.net, Conversations With Texas Writers and other venues. Klaw lives in Austin, Texas, with his wife, a cat and an enormous collection of books. He is a frequent guest at conventions, where he can be seen nattering on about apes and pop culture.

Farscape Forever

King Kong is Back!

Jack Williamson

Jack Williamson was born in Arizona Territory in 1908. He moved to New Mexico by covered wagon in 1915, and still lives there. A retired professor of English at Eastern New Mexico University in Portales, he still teaches a course there every spring semester. He has been publishing science fiction since 1929, with an output of 55 novels and many shorter works. His new novel, The Stonehenge Gate, is out this year. One section of it, “The Ultimate Earth,” won the Hugo and Nebula Awards. He has published H. G. Wells: Critic of Progress, an academic study of Wells’ early science fiction.

The War of the Worlds

Connie Willis

Connie Willis has won six Nebula and six Hugo Awards (more than any other science fiction writer) and the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for her first novel, Lincoln’s Dreams. Her novel Doomsday Book won both the Nebula and Hugo Awards, and her first short-story collection, Fire Watch, was a New York Times Notable Book. Connie was born on December 31, 1945, in Denver. She married physicist Courtney Willis in 1967 and has one daughter, Cordelia. They live in Greeley, Colo.

The War of the Worlds

Leah Wilson

Leah Wilson graduated from Duke University with a degree in culture and modern fiction and is currently senior editor at BenBella Books in Dallas. Leah is the editor of Perfectly Plum: Unauthorized Essays on the Life, Loves, and Other Disasters of Stephanie Plum, Trenton Bounty Hunter and the co-editor on Coffee at Luke’s: An Unauthorized Gilmore Girls Gabfest and Serenity Found: More Unauthorized Essays on Joss Whedon’s Firefly and Serenity.

Ardeur

Coffee at Luke’s: An Unauthorized Gilmore Girls Gabfest

Perfectly Plum

Serenity Found

Robert Charles Wilson

Robert Charles Wilson’s works include the Hugo Award nominees Darwinia and Blind Lake. His The Chronoliths received the John W. Campbell Memorial Award, and he has also won the Philip K. Dick Award and Canada’s Aurora Award; several of his novels have been New York Times Notable Books. His latest novel is Spin, in which the Earth itself is projected four billion years into the future.

The War of the Worlds

Lois Winston

Award-winning author Lois Winston is not a doctor, nor does she play one on TV. Instead, she writes humorous, cross-genre contemporary novels, often drawing upon her extensive experience as a consumer crafts designer for much of her source material. Her first book, Talk Gertie to Me, a combination chick-lit/hen-lit/romantic comedy with a touch of the paranormal, was released in 2006. She follows that up in 2007 with Love, Lies, and a Double Shot of Deception, a mom-lit romantic suspense. When not writing or designing, Lois can be found trudging through stacks of manuscripts as she hunts for diamonds in the slush piles for the Ashley Grayson Literary Agency. Visit Lois at www.loiswinston.com.

House Unauthorized

Jill Winters

A Phi Beta Kappa, summa cum laude graduate of Boston College with a degree in history, Jill Winters has taught women’s studies as well as numerous workshops for aspiring writers. She is the author of five novels, including Lime Ricky, Just Peachy, Raspberry Crush and Blushing Pink. Her books have topped the Barnes & Noble Bestseller Lists and Book Sense’s Top Ten and her debut novel, Plum Girl, was a finalist for the Dorothy Parker Award of Excellence. Jill has also contributed essays to the anthologies Flirting with Pride and Prejudice, Welcome to Wisteria Lane and Coffee at Luke’s. You can visit her online at www.jillwinters.com.

Coffee at Luke’s: An Unauthorized Gilmore Girls Gabfest

Flirting with Pride & Prejudice

House Unauthorized

Welcome to Wisteria Lane

Michael Wolff, Ph.D.

Michael Wolff, Ph.D., is currently a faculty member in the psychology department at Penn State University, where he teaches undergraduate and graduate psychology courses and is a staff psychologist at the Penn State Psychological Clinic. He received his B.S. from Penn State University, his master’s in counseling psychology from Antioch New England Graduate School and his Ph.D. in counseling psychology from Penn State University. His research interests include psychotherapy processes (alliance, relationship, therapist factors, etc.) and their impact on outcomes.

The Psychology of Joss Whedon

Brad Wolgast

Brad Wolgast (who received his Ph.D. from Temple University) learned the basics of group dynamics under the stress of the outdoors as a backpacking guide in New Mexico, and later across the country. He thought he had struck research gold when an adviser recommended he use a survival analysis for a research project. Not knowing this statistical method, he said, “No problem, I analyze that show every week. But how do we use that for a research project?” Well, now we know. Brad would like to thank the hardworking Daniel Strunk, Ph.D., without whom this wouldn’t have been written, and his two favorite “Survivor” fans, Henry and Claire.

The Psychology of Survivor

Naomi J. Wood

Naomi Wood was born and raised in Congo (formerly Zaire). After years of feeling apologetic about her taste in books, she suddenly has been caught up in the popular-culture vanguard, which astonishes her. She teaches children’s and adolescent literature and Victorian studies at Kansas State University, where she is an associate professor of English. She has published articles on a range of fantasy and magic realist authors including George MacDonald, Lucy Lane Clifford, Charles Kingsley, C. S. Lewis, Philip Pullman, Virginia Hamilton and others.

Navigating the Golden Compass

Revisiting Narnia

Rick Workman

Rick Workman is the criminalistics administrator for the Henderson, Nevada, Police Department. He manages the forensics laboratory, crime scene investigation section, and the evidence vault. He was previously a CSI with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. He has consulted for numerous “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” episodes, was featured in Court TV’s “Forensic Files” “Las Vegas CSU, Thrill Killings” and in Lyon TV’s series “The Real CSI,” in London, England. Rick is a retired US Air Force Officer. He served in Desert Storm as the F-117A stealth fighter commander for maintenance and served as a Defense Nuclear Agency technical inspector. Rick is tasked with funding and building a forensic science center (crime lab with evidence vault). Monitor the progress of the project at www.nevadacsi.com

Investigating CSI

Ann Wortham

Ann Wortham is a native Texan who currently resides in the humidity of central Florida, land of tourists, Mickey Mouse ears and inadequate roads. She has been a fan of Stargate since the original movie and a devotee of all things science fiction since childhood. She worked for 22 years in the computer industry for AT&T, Lucent Technologies and IBM while spending her free time traveling and dabbling in nature and celebrity photography. She has a passion for reading, writing and publishing, and regularly writes online articles and conducts celebrity interviews for the Web.

Stepping Through the Stargate

John C. Wright

John C. Wright is a retired attorney, newspaperman and newspaper editor. The spectacular unsuccess of these ventures drove him into science fiction writing. He presently works as a writer in Virginia, where he lives in fairytale-like happiness with his wife, the authoress L. Jagi Lamplighter, and their three children: Orville, Wilbur and Just Wright. His works include The Golden Age (2002), Last Guardian of Everness (2004) and Nebula Award finalist Orphans of Chaos. His authorized sequel to A. E. van Vogt’s World of Null-A is called Null-A Continuum. His short fiction has appeared in anthologies and magazines, including Year’s Best SF 3 (David Hartwell, Ed.), Year’s Best Science Fiction (Gardner Dozois, Ed.), Year’s Best Short Novels (Johnathan Strahan, Ed.), The Night Lands (Andy W. Robertson, Ed.), Absolute Magnitude and Asimov’s Science Fiction.

Finding Serenity

King Kong is Back!

Star Wars on Trial

Batman Unauthorized

Leigh Adams Wright

Pop culture devotee Leigh Adams Wright is often teased about the size of her purse but, curiously, no one ever complains when they need a Band-Aid or a nail file. See her previous work in other Smart Pop anthologies Finding Serenity, Alias Assumed and Totally Charmed.

Finding Serenity

Alias Assumed

Getting Lost

Totally Charmed