BenBella

Mary Zambreno

Mary Frances Zambreno first became a friend of Narnia when her third grade teacher read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe out loud to the class—and then mentioned that there were six other books in the series. Since then, she has become a teacher herself, earned a doctorate in medieval literature and learned to read six languages (including English). Currently, she teaches at a college in the Chicago area. Her YA fantasy novel A Plague of Sorcerers was named to the ALA’s list of Best Books for Young Adults in 1992; its sequel, Journeyman Wizard, was a New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age in 1994.

Navigating the Golden Compass

Revisiting Narnia

Chris Zane

At age 45, Christopher J. Zane is already a twenty-nine-year veteran of the retail bicycle industry. His story includes getting a state tax ID number at age 12, buying his first bike shop at age 16, and building Zane’s Cycles into largest bicycle shop in Connecticut by the age of 30. Today, Zane’s Cycles is one of the largest retail bicycle stores in the nation.

Since 1985, Zane has been accumulating awards and accolades such as the BBB Award of Recognition for Customer Service/Outstanding Business Practices; one of “the 30 most influential people in the bicycle industry”; North America’s Best Bicycle Retailer, North American Bicyclist Magazine; Mass Mutual Blue Chip Enterprise Initiative Award; 2006 Customer First Award, Fast Company Magazine and the 2006 Connecticut “Retailer of the Year.” Zane’s Cycles currently holds the status of Trek Bicycle Co.’s largest dealer worldwide. Most recently, Chris was inducted into the Junior Achievement Business Leader Hall of Fame, named the 2008 Customer Champion, 1to1 magazine, and the 2009 CT Climate Change Leadership Award.

Zane’s cutting-edge marketing techniques have been used as case studies in more than a dozen college textbooks worldwide and has been the subject of several articles in publications such as The Harvard Business Review, Inc. magazine, the Associated Press, Fortune magazine, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, as well as being profiled in Alpha Dogs, a HarperCollins bestseller by Donna Fenn. Zane has served as Quinnipiac University’s Entrepreneur in Residence and he is frequently featured on WCBS’s, “The Wall Street Journal’s Small Business Report” with Joe Connolly.

A sought-after speaker, Zane has presented to individual companies and at numerous conferences: Yale University’s Business and Economic Forum; Quis 9 International Marketing Symposium; The Conference Board; Inc’s Annual Growing the Company Conference; Inc’s Annual CEO Symposium; WCBS Newsradio 88 Business Breakfast Forum, and ASU’s Compete Through Services Symposium, where he was the highest rated speaker. He is currently a board member of several organizations, including The Sachem Bank (IO) and ASU’s The Center for Services Leadership.

Reinventing the Wheel

Vivian Zayas, Ph.D.

Vivian Zayas, Ph.D., is an assistant professor in the psychology department at Cornell University. She completed her Ph.D. (2003) at the University of Washington, Seattle. Her research examines the cognitive-affective processes that regulate behaviors within close relationships and which may affect the quality of relationship functioning and an individual’s mental health. Her research approaches the study of the individual and his or her relationships from a multilevel interdisciplinary perspective that integrates the study of attachment processes, research on executive control and self-regulation, and methodology and theory from cognitive psychology and cognitive neuroscience.

The Psychology of Survivor

George Zebrowski

George Zebrowski’s more than 40 books include the Campbell Award winner for best novel of the year, Brute Orbits; the classic Macrolife and its companion Cave of Stars; various anthologies edited with Isaac Asimov, Gregory Benford, Jack Dann and Thomas N. Scortia; and the five volumes of the legendary Synergy series. His award-nominated short fiction has been collected in the Publishers Weekly-starred Swift Thoughts, in In the Distance, and Ahead in Time and in Black Pockets (Golden Gryphon). A new edition of Macrolife (with an introduction by Ian Watson and an afterword by the author) has been published by Pyr, a division of Prometheus Books.

The War of the Worlds

King Kong is Back!

Sarah Zettel

Sarah Zettel was born in Sacramento, Calif. Since then she has lived in 10 cities, four states, two countries and become an author of a dozen science fiction and fantasy books, a host of short stories and novellas, as well as a handful of essays about the pop culture in which she finds herself immersed. She lives in Michigan with husband Tim, son Alexander and cat Buffy the Vermin Slayer. When not writing, she drinks tea, gardens, practices tai chi and plays the fiddle, but not all at once.

Seven Seasons of Buffy

Flirting with Pride & Prejudice

Revisiting Narnia

Mapping the World of the Sorcerer's Apprentice

Welcome to Wisteria Lane

James Bond in the 21st Century

Peter Zheutlin

Peter Zheutlin is the author of Around the World on Two Wheels: Annie Londonderry’s Extraordinary Ride (Citadel Press, 2007) and the co-author, with Thomas B. Graboys, M.D., of Life in the Balance: A Physician’s Memoir of Life, Love and Loss with Parkinson’s Disease and Dementia (Union Square Press, 2008). He is also the co-author, with Robert P. Smith, of Riches Among the Ruins: Adventures in the Dark Corners of the Global Economy (Amacom, 2009). Mr. Zheutlin has also written for The Boston Globe, The Christian Science Monitor, The Los Angeles Times, The New England Quarterly and numerous other publications in the U.S. and abroad.

The Unofficial Mad Men Cookbook

David Zindell

After majoring in, at various times, philosophy, anthropology, linguistics and physics, David Zindell graduated in 1984 from the University of Colorado with a degree in mathematics. All this proved helpful in his turn toward writing science fiction, a literature which he had always read and loved. An early story, “Shanidar,” won first prize in the Writers of the Future contest. Neverness, a novel set in the same universe, was nominated for the Arthur C. Clarke Award for best novel published in England and also nominated for the Campbell Award. A successor trilogy, A Requiem for Homo Sapiens, came next. He is presently working on the fourth book of Ea Cycle, a Grail quest to end all Grail quests. It is an exploration of good and evil, as well as a statement as to the possibilities open to humankind.

The War of the Worlds

Lyle D. Zynda

Lyle Zynda received his Ph.D. in philosophy from Princeton University in 1995. After spending a year teaching at Caltech, he took up his current position in the philosophy department at Indiana University South Bend (IUSB), where he is now associate professor. Dr. Zynda specializes in philosophy of science, philosophy of mind, cognitive science, epistemology, metaphysics and logic. He has published articles in internationally renowned journals such as Synthese, Philosophy of Science and Philosophical Studies. He also periodically teaches a course at IUSB called “Philosophy, Science and Science Fiction.”

Boarding the Enterprise

Finding Serenity

Taking the Red Pill