At the age of ten, Jennifer Archer decided to become a writer. Then she grew up, became "sensible," and earned a business degree with a minor in accounting instead. After years of trying to maneuver through a confusing maze of debits and credits, she realized that, for her, accounting was no more sensible than becoming a sumo wrestler. She enrolled in a creative writing class and—five years later—sold her first novel. Since then, Jennifer has written many novels, novellas, and non-fiction works.
Jennifer's debut novel for teens, Through Her Eyes, was selected for the Texas Library Association's TAYSHAS list and for their first Spirit of Texas Reading Program for middle school students. Through Her Eyes was inspired in part by Jennifer's own childhood, during which she moved more than twenty times before the age of eleven. She has twice been a finalist for Romance Writers of America's Golden Heart award, and in 2006 was a finalist for the prestigious RITA Award and was nominated for a Romantic Times Bookclub Magazine Reviewer's Choice Award. She has taught creative writing and has presented numerous talks and workshops for educators, students, writers' organizations and bookstores.
RACHEL CAINERachel Caine is the New York Times, USA Today and internationally bestselling author of more than 30 novels, including the immensely popular Morganville Vampires series, the Weather Warden series, the Outcast Season series, and the Revivalist series. She recently completed a Kickstarter to turn her bestselling series, The Morganville Vampires, into a web series.
She has been honored with a Paranormal Pearl Award and an RT Booklovers Award, and was recently awarded a Career Achievement Award from Romantic Times. Her first young adult novel, Glass Houses, was chosen for the Texas Tayshas List in 2009.
Rachel has appeared as a guest at over 100 science fiction, fantasy, mystery and romance conventions and conferences over the past 20 years, including Dragon*Con, San Diego ComicCon, the World Fantasy Convention, and the World Science Fiction Convention. She has been featured in several national publications including People magazine,Entertainment Weekly, and Vanity Fair, and on international, national and local television and radio.
Rosemary is the author of several YA books, including The Splendor Falls, The Maggie Quin Girl VS. Evil Series, Texas Gothic, and Spirit & Dust. Rosemary lives in North Texas and has always loved to write, even when she should have been doing other things, like Algebra homework. She worked in theatre for years, but now uses those skills to write novels, which is a much better job, because she gets to work in her PJs all day and take afternoon breaks to play video games. Rosemary attends and speaks at many writer's conferences in the US.
Her latest book, SPIRIT AND DUST, was released in May of 2013 by Delacorte Books For Young Readers.
Lindsay Cummings is the 20-year-old author of THE MURDER COMPLEX, a YA futuristic thriller coming in 2014 from Greenwillow Books/HarperCollins. Lindsay deals with chronic fatigue, can’t get enough of her two pesky German Shepherds, and is currently trying to become like one of her book characters by training in Mixed Martial Arts. She's still waiting on her letter from Hogwarts--it was probably just lost in the mail. You can follow Lindsay on twitter@lindsaycwrites
TRACY DEEBS
Tracy Deebs collects books, English degrees and lipsticks and has been known to forget where—and sometimes who—she is when immersed in a great novel. At six she wrote her first short story—something with a rainbow and a prince—and at seven she forayed into the wonderful world of girls lit with her first Judy Blume novel. From the first page of that first book, she knew she’d found her life-long love. Now a writing professor at her local community college, Tracy writes YA novels that run the gamut from dark mermaids to kissing clubs to techno-Armageddon stories… and she still has a soft spot for Judy Blume.
TRINITY FAEGENTrinity Faegen wasn’t always a writer. She had an illustrious career as a Campus Cop in college, led many children astray as a camp counselor, and decorated Christmas trees for sweet, and notsosweet, little old ladies. Trinity lives, writes and ruins her hearing listening to metal on headphones in the outback of west Texas with her husband and a mean cat.
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As a longtime resident of the Texas Panhandle, Anita Grace Howard is accustomed to flat plains with sparse growths of shrubbery and spindly trees—not always the best terrain for inspiration. But she’ll be the first to admit this unobstructed horizon allows for some of the most breathtaking sunsets in the southwest.
When she began writing, this desire to find beauty in unlikely places started to seep onto the pages of her novels. In each story, she found herself utilizing the loveliness of the most simple human conditions and raw emotions to color her stories. Married and mother of two teens (as well as surrogate mom to two Labrador retrievers), Anita now divides her days between spending time with her family and plodding along or plotting on her next book. Anita is represented by Jenny Bent of the Bent Agency, and her debut YA fantasy, SPLINTERED, an eerie and whimsical Alice in Wonderland spin off, is out now, with the second book, UNHINGED, releasing January 2014 by Amulet.
C.C. Hunter is an award-winning writer, photo journalist, motivational speaker, and writing teacher. A native Alabamian, she now hangs her hat in Texas. Known for her humorous yet heartwarming stories, her books are laugh-out-loud entertainment that will keep you turning pages.
ELLIE JAMES
Ellie James believes in dreams, destiny, and possibility. A graduate of the LSU Manship School of Journalism, Ellie always had a tragic poem, tender story, or intriguing mystery for her friends, a trait that has continued as her fascination with danger, adventure, and the unexplained has grown.
Follow the chilling premonitions of teenage psychic Trinity Monsour as she settles into her new life in New Orleans. Look for her MIDNIGHT DRAGONFLY series from St. Martin's Griffin, SHATTERED DREAMS, BROKEN ILLUSIONS and FRAGILE DARKNESS.
Mary lives in Houston with her husband, three kids, two dogs, her daughter's pet rats, an Australian Bearded Dragon, and dozens of Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches. She has taught drama and playwriting in a large public high school and English in a private school.
Her YA paranormal, SHATTERED SOULS (Philomel/Penguin), is out now, with the sequel, FRAGILE SPIRITS, coming in January 2014. Her second novel, ASHES ON THE WAVES (Philomel/Penguin) is a modern Gothic YA based on Edgar Allan Poe's poem, "Annabel Lee".
Mari Mancusi used to wish she could become a vampire back in high school. But she ended up in another blood sucking profession --journalism -- instead. Today she works as a freelance TV producer and author of books for teens and adults. When not writing about creatures of the night, Mari enjoys traveling, cooking, goth clubbing, watching cheesy horror movies, and her favorite guilty pleasure--videogames. A graduate of Boston University and a two time Emmy Award winner, she lives in Austin, Texas with her husband Jacob, daughter Avalon, and their dog Mesquite.
Joy Preble is Texas girl who was born and raised in Chicago and a former high school teacher who now writes full time, which means she gets paid for making up stuff. Joy’s THE SWEET DEAD LIFE series (THE SWEET DEAD LIFE and the forthcoming THE A WORD (May 2014), both from Soho Press) is part of the new Soho Teen imprint. Kirkus hailed THE SWEET DEAD LIFE with “Hallelujah! A paranormal tale of angels…that breaks the mold.” She is also the author the DREAMING ANASTASIA series (Sourcebooks) that combines paranormal romance with Russian folklore. DREAMING ANASTASIA was nominated for a Cybil Award in the Teen Sci-Fi/Fantasy Category in 2009. It was named a Best Book for Children, Teen Category in 2009, and was featured in Justine Magazine. When she’s not writing, you can find Joy eating guacamole and battling her Bravo channel addiction.
Victoria Scott is a YA writer with a die-hard affection for dark and humorous books. Her work is represented by the fabulous Laurie McLean of Larsen-Pomada literary agency. She has a master’s degree in marketing, and is a member of the Writers’ League of Texas. Victoria is the author of THE COLLECTOR trilogy (Entangled Teen) and THE FIRE AND FLOOD trilogy (Scholastic). Victoria lives in Dallas with her husband, Ryan. When not writing, she can be found munching cotton candy and snuggling obese cats.
