Contributing Authors

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Laura Abbott

Laura has always been fascinated with the Civil War, and has the towering piles of research books to prove it. In addition to running an unofficial Civil War lending library, she has written a post-Civil War espionage novel entitled The Bluecoat Affair. Currently, she is beginning work on the sequel to The Bluecoat Affair, and is completing a mainstream novel, Jonquil. A speech graduate from Northwestern University, Laura has worked in radio and television, written promotional and public relations materials, and has published a series of technical reports within the fields of urban planning and architecture. She lives in Evanston, Illinois, with her husband, Marc, and English cocker spaniel, Kalli. In her spare time, she enjoys landscaping and gardening, and works with the Chenny Troupe, an animal-assisted therapy organization in Chicago. Along with Kalli, a certified therapy dog, Laura volunteers for a program within which trained dogs work with teenage girls recovering from substance abuse.

Jean Adams

Jean Adams lives in Auckland, New Zealand, where she is a sub-editor for a newspaper group. She is the founder and president of Romance Writers of New Zealand. She has a passion for ancient Egypt and one day plans to write a full-scale Egyptian time-travel. The idea is percolating nicely. In the meantime, she is writing categories and single titles, including a romantic psychological thriller. She is passionate about romance (pardon the pun) both reading and writing.

Skip Adams

Mr. Adams thinks writing a bio is like going to confession, except instead of telling the bad stuff you have done you tell the good. He doesn't know which is more painful.

Skip Adams was born in 1945. He worked his way through college. He attended the University of Tennessee, the University of Georgia, Georgia Southern University, Memphis State University and Baptist College at Charleston earning a degree in Philosophy and World Literature. He labored as a copy writer and announcer for many radio and television stations. His work in cinematography got him exposure on NBC in The Nightly News and NBC general programming. He also participated in the writing and filming of documentaries for NBC and a local station in Knoxville, Tennessee. The arts have been his life. He played Blues with Lightnin Hopkins in Houston, Texas back in ’65, then went on to do a solo act for a few years in the “Coffee House Circuit.” He played in colleges and clubs around the country. Also, Skip displayed his wood sculpting in art shows around the country, winning several awards. He has also acted in and directed community theater productions around the South. He even attended the Memphis Art Academy because he never learned to draw and wondered if he had it in him. The jury is still out on that one. Skip taught English at the University of Bolivariana in Medellien, Colombia in the early ’70s and Special Education in the States. Teaching is, in his opinion, the nobelist of professions. “It takes a dedicated person to make learning exciting and fun.” He still teaches occasionally, but spends his time studying and writing. Skip also does volunteer work for Community Action Agencies in southeast Iowa and is on the board of directors. “I think we all should take time to help our communities. The government sure as hell is passing the buck.” He helps to develop communication systems and writes grant applications for state and federal programs. “When I jones to get published, I just write a story for some newspaper and that gives me my fix. I’m looking forward to getting my first fiction in print. Fiction is ever so much more fun to write, but far more intricate. I should have never studied Philosophy. Thinking is entirely overrated.” For hobbies, Skip fly fishes for trout all over the United States and Canada. He teaches children about aquatic insect life and tries to promote conservation. He plays guitar and sings with some local musicians. “We play everything from Bluegrass to BeBop. I listen to the jazz stuff when I write, or, listen to NPR.” He is a HAM radio operator and sails yachts. He lived on a 45 footer before ending up in Iowa. That should say something about his sanity. “I did happen to run into the best thing that ever happened in my life by coming north. I met the most wonderful woman in the world and promptly married her. Mama didn’t raise a total fool.”

Denise A. Agnew

In January 1999 Denise’s paranormal romance short story “Candle Glow” was bought by Romance and Beyond Magazine. From there the saga becomes even brighter. In April 1999 Denise’s time travel romance, Bridge Through The Mist, was accepted by electronic publisher Starlight Writer Publications. This year has been her breakthrough year with the acceptance of a total of four novels for publication. Denise’s inspiration for her novels comes from innumerable sources, but the fact she has lived in Colorado, Hawaii, and the United Kingdom has given her a lifetime of ideas. Her experiences with archaeology have crept into her novels, as well as numerous travels through England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. A trip to the Tower of London was her inspiration for Bridge Through The Mist. A lifetime interest in earthquakes, in particular the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake, was the inspiration for Love From The Ashes. She is currently writing a romantic suspense novel and outlining ideas for a romance set during Jack The Ripper’s London. Visit her home page at http://www.romfort.org/Agnew.html.

Steve Aman

Steve is an aspiring writer, as yet unpublished, but determined. He’s written since he was young, and remembers creating fiction in the second grade. “My world is hectic, but through my writing I can surface and shred away the insanity and slam it down on paper. It is a passion; the desire to create burns within me. I just want to do what I love. At twenty three, I am a father, a husband, a full-time worker, part-time student, and constant writer. I want dreams to be; I want to write forever.”

N. C. (NanC) Anderson

Born and raised in Des Moines, Iowa, N. C. Anderson now resides in the Sierra Nevada foothills in California, where she writes novels and short stories about romance and suspense, contemporary and historical. Having a supportive family, being surrounded by loving critters, and being an artist serve to nurture her passion for writing about love and emotional drama. Ms. Anderson is previously published in short fiction and non-fiction. Her first full-length novel, Fixation, is a June ’99 launch book for the “Deadly Kisses Line” of Starlight Writer Publications at http://www.starpublications.com/ along with numerous cover art productions.

Cynthia Appel

How would you feel if your husband took forty other women to be his brides—and told you that you had to go along with him, as it was a part of God’s plan? Would you believe him? How would you “fight back?” That was the inspiration for the novel The Prophet’s Wife, a fictional biography of Emma Hale Smith, the first (and only legal) wife of Joseph Smith, Jr. The complete text of the novel can be ordered from Xlibris Online. Besides The Prophet’s Wife, Cindy Appel has written several other novels that are awaiting representation, and has sold SF short stories to Singularities and Romance and Beyond. Her byline has appeared above numerous non-fiction articles in such diverse publications as The Lutheran Witness to Keystrokes to The “M” Word comedy e-zine. She was recently named a regular columnist to Right Road magazine and writes a weekly semi-humorous column at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram Online called “Every Day Is Mother’s Day.” Her current novel in progress is an historical/SF romance called The Rebel Heiress, which she hopes she can complete after her family’s forthcoming move to the St. Louis area. That is, if she doesn’t get crushed by the packing boxes towering over her computer...

Guilford Barton

Guilford Barton is a writer and residential architect. His stories have appeared in The Bridge, Shadow, Gotta Write Network, Twilight World, Mind’s Eye Fiction, The Royal Scribe, Twilight Times and The Belletrist Review. He currently resides with his wife and two sons in Lafayette, California.

Robin Bayne

Robin graduated from the College of Notre Dame of Maryland in 1995, after attending part time while pursuing a career in the mortgage industry. With weekends then free from homework, she put her spare time to good use by writing. With her husband’s help, she also edited and published a small press literary magazine for two years. Her articles and short stories have appeared in dozens of publications, some nationally. She’s currently V.P. of Maryland Romance Writers. Three of her romance novels will be released during 1999-2000, and she is busy working on her fourth. The Will Of Time, a time travel novel sending the heroine back to the Civil War, is now available. Visit Robin’s web site at http://nbayne.com/child.htm.

Jane Beckenham

Jane is a co-author of A Woman of Valor written under the pen name of Janelle Benham. She also writes under the pen name of Trish Sullivan for The Siren, a contemporary romance set in New Zealand. Jane is a member of the the Romance Writers of New Zealand and the romance writers internet group - Ozromance. A veteran world traveler, Jane presently works in the health industry.

Ellen Ben-Sefer

Ellen is a lecturer in nursing at the University of Technology, Sydney, Australia, and is currently a doctoral candidate. She writes time travel and contemporary fiction, primarily stories based in Scotland. She has been published in Between The Sheets, an anthology of the Romance Writers of Australia, past issues of Of Ages Past, and The Royal Scribe.

Janelle Benham

The name “Janelle Benham” is the pen name of writing team Ellen Ben-Sefer and Jane Beckenham. (See individual listings.)

Susanna Betzel

Susanna Betzel has been fascinated by the French Revolution since first reading A Tale of Two Cities at the age of ten or so. Her obsession with the period has led her (as an adult...) to writing A Far Better Rest, which is currently seeking a print publisher (Read an excerpt in our February, 1999 issue, still available in the “Archives”); Guillotine Songs, a novel-in-progress about the executioner of Paris during the Revolution; Courting the Red Widow, a play-in-progress; and Revolution’s Son, a drama which has been performed off-off-off Broadway and which took third place out of 600 script entries in the 1990 Writer’s Digest competition. She hopes soon to have Keystone of the Terror, her translation of the memoirs of the Parisian executioner, published by a university press. In her spare time, Susanna is a freelance copy editor/proofreader and a book dealer specializing in used/out-of-print/rare French and European history -- see her website, Tricolor Books, at https://www.angelfire.com/ny/tricolorbks.

Glenda Bixler

G. Ann Bixler is an independent editor and authors’ representative/owner of Ann’s Author Services, a contributing editor for the Rainbow’s End Publishing Company, Baden, Pennsylvania; the editor/agent for One Man’s Madness by Joseph Fortney; Enid Portnoy’s Make Their Days : Activities for Residents in Long-Term Care Facilities, hot-off-the press from Charles C. Thomas; and Reading Aloud Together which is already under contract for publication next year. G. Ann is also the Editor/Agent for Thomas T. Kemp for Angel Of Death, and the editor/Agent for Meredith Campbell-Risen’s new novel, Righteous Warriors. Ann is also a contributing book reviewer and Pet Stories columnist for The Sunspot and writes short stories and poetry under various pseudonyms. She’s published and has written many in-house manuals and contributed to trade magazines, including American School and University and online sites such as Tradeline, Inc., as a higher education facilities administrator at West Virginia University. Bixler is single, and is permitted to live with four cats—Baby, Honey, Keithie, and Tracey, in Morgantown, W.V., and is also a collector of feline memorabilia.

Charlotte Boyett-Compo

Charlee is the author of seventeen books, the first nine of which are the WindLegend Saga, soon to be released by Twilight Times Books. Married 33 years to her high school sweetheart, Tom, she is the mother of two grown sons, Pete and Mike, and the proud grandmother of Preston Alexander and Victoria Ashley. A native of Sarasota, Florida, she grew up in Colquitt and Albany, Georgia, and now lives in the Midwest. She is a proud member of Writer’s Club Romance Group, Romance Foretold, EPIC (the Electronically Published Internet Connection), WOmen for Literature, and the first author to be published by Twilight Times Books. Recently, she won Soliloquoy’s Fine Writers Online award. She is a member of Beta Sigma Phi, the HTML Writers Guild, and is the parish secretary of her local Catholic church. Her hobbies are writing, watching Canadian actor Eric McCormack do his magic, and collecting wicker bird baskets (she has over fifty duck, rooster, and chicken baskets). She is owned by six cats and one hall monitor Chow. Currently, she is at work on a new anthology. You can visit her homepage at http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Cafe/5496/.

Connie Briscoe

Connie Briscoe lives in Falls Church, Virginia. She is a descendant of the slaves on the Madison family plantation. You may already be familiar with this author of best sellers such as Big Girls Don’t Cry and Sisters & Lovers.

Meredith Campbell-Risen

No one was really surprised when Meredith became serious about writing a novel dealing with the Civil War. From Virginia, she had grown up with tales of ancestors who had fought and died in it. She had taught history and the era was her favorite. And, while an undergrad at Tennessee Temple and a graduate student at the University of Tennessee in Chattanooga, she had begun a novel about the Civil War. She hadn’t finished it, that was all. Hadn’t even looked at it, until the day while driving in Colorado the thought popped into her lazy writer’s brain to “finish that damn book.” During the interim years, she had studied poetry, fiction and nonfiction writing at San Diego State, and at UCLA, had started and participated in numerous writers’ groups and critique circles in Los Angeles, written Chorniks, a science fiction novella, and published several short stories, poems, and a series of “mystery dinner theatre plays” for birthday parties. She had also published a dissertation and several short pieces in her career fields of teaching, writing, and spiritual counseling. Now, here she was, teaching college composition and hearing herself tell the students “writers write.” And so, she commenced to dig out the yellowed pages of the unfinished novel, read it again, had a hearty laugh, and started over—older and a bit wiser, and immediately “obsessed.” The result of this has led Meredith and her husband into Civil War reenactment and caused her to collect an entire wall, floor to ceiling, of books about the Civil War. Righteous Warriors is the first book in a trilogy that carries a Federal cavalry officer and his sweetheart through the first two years of the Civil War in Missouri. And depending upon how one looks at it, the novel is either a romance with lots of warfare, or a war story with lots of romance. Regardless of the genre, Meredith has vowed that Righteous Warriors won’t be put on hold for another 25 years.

Kathee S. Card

C. Hope Clark

Cynthia Hope Clark—Hope poses as Administrative Manager by day with the Federal Government but reveals her true self by night as a freelance writer. Her writings include essays, book reviews, web site reviews, author interviews, nonfiction articles, and a novel in the works fictionally based on her fateful introduction to her husband, a Federal agent. She is a firm believer in writing everyday and submitting to publishers weekly to stay sharp and evolve in her passion.

Marcia Colpan

Marcia is a 42-year-old daycare provider. She has done fiction work for several fanfic sites including the CHIPS fanfiction site, where she is the submission’s editor, and the KMG-365 Emergency site. She had an article published as hard copy in Crochet World magazine and has several non-fiction articles published in hard copy and on the website of the Turquoise Butterfly Press, where she works as assistant editor and webmaster. She runs the slice-of-life humor list called "Attitudes" at Onelist. Other samples of her work can be found at the Ideamarketers site or her own site at www.angelfire.com/pa/colpan. When she’s not writing or running her business, she’s a distance education student at Penn State University working on her degree in Human Development. Her two children, Hope and Jonathan, are major influences in her life, along with her husband, Umit.

Angela Contino Donshes

Born in NYC’s “Little Italy,” Angela grew up and was schooled in “la bella Sicilia, ”as her grandfather used to say. (&3147;And where I left my heart.”) Her short story “Vendetta” (Of Ages Past : September 1999) is based on the Mafia vendetta murder of her uncle, in “Little Italy.” It made newspaper headlines...(the New York Times, for one, where she did most of my research). At present, Angela’ writing a screenplay...Sicilian Honor, Sicilian Pride. “Vendetta” is a scene(s) in the script.

K. A. Corlett

K. A. Corlett is a writer, poet, musician, editor and publisher who is currently disinterred in London, Ontario. When she’s not busy editing fine pieces of horror fiction for Bonetree online magazine or crooning Celtic eclectic tunes, she occasionally finds time for her day job as an office administrator. She is currently seeking a publisher for her first novel, Ever Your Servant, a dark urban satire. She also has an historical fantasy romance in the works with co-author J. Kirkwood. Making Southwestern Ontario safe for the underworld is a daunting task, which must be augmented by studies in Eastern Mysticism, world history, much sarcasm, and frequent trips to the Ottawa Valley to see what the trees are saying when they’re not choked senseless by petrol fumes.

Bernard Cornwell

Bernard Cornwell is the author of the highly acclaimed American Civil War series The Starbuck Chronicles: Rebel, Copperhead, and Battle Flag. A native of England, where he worked as a journalist in newspapers and television, Cornwell is now a resident of the United States and lives with his American wife in Cape Cod.

Stephanie Cowell

Stephanie Cowell, who lives in New York City, is the author of The Players—a novel of the young Shakespeare; Nicholas Cooke—actor, soldier, physician, priest; and The Physician of London—American Book Award. All are published by W.W. Norton in America and Piper Verlag in Germany. Stephanie’s web site is http://www.cowell-clay.com and you can e-mail her at stephanie@cowell-clay.com.

Deb Crockett

Deb Crockett, at age eight, wrote a sequel to Peter Rabbit, which her third-grade teacher thought was so good that she insisted Deb read it aloud to the class. The opportunity not only to write whatever her active imagination could conceive, but also to have an appreciative audience, ignited this author’s enthusiasm. She hasn’t stopped writing since. Deb writes mostly romances, all with strong elements of mystery, danger, and excitement, enough to satisfy the most insatiable reader. You can visit her homepage at https://www.angelfire.com/tn/shadylady/.

Claire Cross/Delacroix

A confessed romantic dreamer, USA Today bestselling author Claire Delacroix always wove stories in her mind. While working as a technical writer for a software company, she began to look for a book to lose herself in for a few hours in the evening. When Claire couldn’t find the right mix of elements, she decided to write that book herself and unwittingly started upon a new career. A year and a half and many rejections later, Claire sold her first medieval romance, Romance of the Rose. Affaire de Coeur magazine labelled Claire “a rising star” and Romance of the Rose “a deeply moving, slightly offbeat medieval romance...an out-of-the-ordinary work that sweeps the audience along.” Winner of the Colorado Romance Writers’ Award of Excellence and nominee for Romantic Times Career Achievement in Medieval Romance, Claire has over two million books in print. She continues to write medieval romances as a lead author for Dell, as well as contemporary romances under the name Claire Cross for Jove. Claire makes her home in Toronto, Canada, with her husband, far too many books, and a variety of undisciplined houseplants. She is an avid needleworker and often works out plot tangles while knitting intarsia sweaters. Claire travels as much as possible, rides her bicycle everywhere, and cooks with enthusiasm--as long as someone else washes the dishes! You can write to Claire at:

Claire Cross/Delacroix
P.O. Box 699, Station A
Toronto, Ontario
CANADA M5W 1G2

Or visit her homepage: Château Delacroix.

Sandy Cummins

Sandy Cummins is a freelance writer from Australia. Sandy does Book reviews for various e-publishers as well as Parenting and Homeschooling Columns. Her print credits are predominantly website reviews for Australian magazines. She also runs the Writers Exchange Community/Ezine. Her homepage is at http://start.at/writing and Writers Exchange is at http://go.to/writers-exchange.

Jamie Engle

Jamie is a freelance writer published in nonfiction, and founder of the E-Pub list and eBook Connections.com website. She edits eBC’s ePub Market Update, a biweekly e-newsletter with ePublisher tips and ePublishing industry information for writers. Jamie is a member of RWA’s DARA and From The Heart chapters, and guest columist for the VRW and WNTR chapter newsletters. You may contact her at jamie@ebookconnections.com.

Jud Evans

Jud Evans lives in the small village of Hesketh Bank, which is equidistant between Southport and Preston in Lancashire, England. He is happily married to Clare. “We both lost our previous partners through cancer. We’ve two boys: Cameron 2½ and Connor 6 months. My wife and I are both practising Beauty Therapists. We are both vegetarians. I have never tasted meat in my life. We practice privately and have a salon for that purpose built on to our home.” Jud also has another five children from his first marriage. He used to write a lot in youth. Mainly poetry. In his late twenties, he wrote a book, which was published in hardback and sold well. It was a history of the development of Tank Landing Craft, a rather esoteric subject, he admits. “It was mainly of interest to those who took part in the D-Day landings. I was so driven and ambitious in those days, I sacrificed my love of writing to pour all my energies into the establishment and maintenance of my various businesses. I had an art company, nightclubs, and a hotel in Turkey. I went to Liverpool University in my early 40s and studied linguistics. I speak Swedish. Now I have returned to my first love - writing.”

Yvette Viets Flaten

Yvette was born in Denver, Colorado, and grew up in an Air Force family, living in Nevada, North Dakota, and Washington State as well as France, England, and Spain. She holds a BA in Spanish and an MA in History from the University of Wisconsin—Eau Claire. She is the Director of Public Programs at the Chippewa Falls Museum of Industry and Technology. Yvette writes poetry as well as fiction and her poems have appeared in the Wisconsin Academy Review, Rag Mag, Sheila-na-gig, and Hurricane Alice, among others. Years of living overseas helped fire a natural love of history to the burning point. Yvette has written an historical novel about the Roman Twelfth Legion, entitled In the Talon of Eagles, and she has plans for a second novel about Sigurth, King of Norway. Interest in long narrative poetry lead to the writing of Chantfables, or storysongs, but with a modern twist: lyrical poems that tell a story without rhyme. Yvette lives in Eau Claire with her husband and son and daughter.

Pat H. Fredeman

Pat has published several non-fiction pieces, including memoirs, essays, and reviews, and over 30 poems in various literary journals, magazines, and e-zines. She has given poetry readings and taught creative writing courses. Club memberships include writing groups, such as Central Oklahoma Roundtable of Authors (CORA), Oklahoma City Writers, Inc., and the National League of American Pen Women, Norman, OK Branch, for which she has served as president and for which she is currently vice-president. She has lived in England, where she did research at the British Museum, and in Canada, where she earned an M.A. at the University of British Columbia. She has a B.A. and a Ph.D. (magna cum laude; in English Renaissance and American Literature) from the University of Oklahoma. Currently she teaches at a state college and continues to write. Her novel, Paradise Regained, is due for release in August 1999 with Gemini Books at http://www.LisaWrites.com.