Current Columnists
Finding
Balance, by Megan
Bostic
Megan Bostic is a writer of Middle Grade, Young Adult, and
Adult Fiction. She began writing her first novel, Dena
Powers: Superhero? about five years ago. Dena
Powers: Superhero? made the semifinals of the Amazon
Breakthrough Novel Award Contest. Megan is currently, along
with her agent, trying to get published. She has also
finished the second book in the series, Dena Powers:
The Trouble with Boys, and is about halfway through
writing the third. Visit her Web site at: http://www.myspace.com/meganthewriter
Zen & the Art
of Writing, by
Mark Fowler
Mark Fowler is an OB/GYN in the U.S. Navy and has served
since the first Reagan administration. His novel The
Called Ones was a semifinalist in the ABNA contest.
Running the
Gauntlet, by Ian
Thomas Healy
Ian Thomas Healy is the author of The Milkman. His
manuscript Deep Six: A Just Cause Novel was a Top
100 semi-finalist in the 2007 Amazon.com Breakthrough Novel
Award contest. He blogs regularly at http://ianthealy.blogspot.com and
http://popcornprinciple.blogspot.com.
He also produces a daily webcomic, The Adventures of the
S-Team, found at http://ianthealy.comicgen.com.
Contact him at ian@ianthealy.com or visit his Web site,
www.ianthealy.com for more
information.
In Our
Words, by Susanne
O’Leary
Susanne O’Leary was
trained as a fitness teacher and taught aerobics and
general fitness while on postings abroad and in
Ireland. She has published two books on health;
Look Great, Feel Great for Life and The
Life in Your Years. While writing her fitness
books, she discovered a love of writing and decided to
try her hand at fiction, drawing on her experiences as
the wife of a diplomat. Her first novel,
Diplomatic Incidents was published in 2001;
European Affairs followed in 2003. Susanne is
also the author of Fresh Powder (2006) and
Finding Margo (2007). Her manuscript
Where the Heart Is was recently an entrant in
the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award. Susanne has
finally been able to realize her childhood dream of
owning a horse, and she rides every morning in the
beautiful countryside of County Tipperary. Find out
more about Susanne and her writing at www.susanne-oleary.com
The Next
Step, by Julie
Ann Shapiro
Julie Ann Shapiro is a novelist and short
story author and is widely known for her magic realism
style prose. She has completed two novels the first
is Jen-Zen and the One Shoe Diaries, published by
SynergEbooks.com in December 2007. Her second novel,
Three Drop Pennies is a semifinalist in Amazon’s
Breakthrough Novel Contest. Julie is a Pushcart Nominee and
has published over seventy short stories, including the
story collection, Flashes of the Other World, published by
Pulp Bits in August 2006. The author is a recurring flash
fiction workshop leader at the Southern California Writers
Conference. Her Web site is: www.julieannshapiro.com
A Novel
Approach, by
Scotti Cohn
Scotti Cohn is a freelance writer and
copyeditor and the author of five nonfiction books
published by The Globe Pequot Press, with a sixth book
under contract. Her short stories have appeared in
magazines for middle-grade and teen readers. She recently
signed a contract with Sylvan Dell Publishing for a picture
book, to be published in 2009. Her unpublished novel
Sister To Dragons was a semifinalist in the Amazon
Breakthrough Novel Award competition. Her Web site is:
www.scotticohn.com
Zen & the Art
of Writing, by
Rebecca Crandell
Rebecca Crandell writes
non-fiction, fiction, and poetry, and owns a
home-based business specializing in editing. She has
studied ancient matrilineal societies especially in
the Mediterranean area, and has authored a speculative
fictional series based upon those cultures. An excerpt
from the fourth book in the series was a semifinalist
in the ABNA competition. Her website is www.the7thmoonchronicles.googlepages.com.
Featured Book
Review, by Leah
Davidson
After three abortive attempts at grad school
in three different fields, a two-year stint as a teacher of
freshman composition, grammar, and literature, eight years
substitute teaching in public schools, and eight more years
as a bookseller for a major big box retailer which shall
remain nameless, Leah Davidson has completed two novels in
her adult fantasy series, The Alliance Chronicles, OF
TWO MINDS and TRUE MINDS, both currently
under revision, and is working on a third, as yet untitled.
Leah reluctantly "moderates" a modestly popular online
critique and discussion group for writers of speculative
fiction when her schedule of writing, working for wages,
and caring for her family permits.
In Our
Words, by Jeff
Fielder
Jeff Fielder is
the author of Life
& Death. After
serving six years as a Russian Linguist in Military
Intelligence, Jeff earned his degree in Journalism from the
University of North Texas. Today he is a graphic designer
and freelance writer and photographer in Kansas City, Mo.
He is also the author of a non-fiction book,
Reflections: A Folklore
History of Lewisville, Texas. You can reach Jeff at
jfielder13@yahoo.com.
The Next
Step, by Tom
Maremaa
Tom Maremaa is the author of a half dozen novels, including
most recently, Soldiers of Orange, a semifinalist in the
ABNA competition. A graduate of Dartmouth College, he
studied languages, literature and philosophy at the
University of Zurich, Switzerland, and worked on his Ph.D
in comparative literature at the University of California,
Berkeley. He has worked as an editor, teacher of writing,
tennis professional, and software developer. He lives with
his wife in Silicon Valley, and travels widely to learn
about and understand as many cultures and languages as he
can. He can be reached at tom.maremaa@gmail.com