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Edited and conceived by Davey Beauchamp, the Agency 32 and Mister
Adventure author, the anthology contains fiction by short story
author Eugie Foster; Gardner Dozois, former editor of Asimov's
Science Fiction and editor of "Year's Best Science Fiction"
collections; and many other talented writers, including Brian W.
Aldiss, author of "Helliconia Trilogy"; Stephen Euin Cobb, "Bones
Burnt Black"; Larry Niven, "RingWorld" and "Draco Tavern"; Nancy
Kress, "Probability" and "Beggars" trilogies; Joe Haldeman, "Forever
War" and "Worlds Trilogy"; Glenda Finkelstein, "The Edge of the
Universe"; and Tony Ruggiero, "Team of Darkness."
Contributors
Glenda Boozer has been writing bits and pieces for about
35 years but hasn't published other than a couple of poems.
She teaches online classes at Kaplan University, the University
of Phoenix Online and Axia College. Her degrees are in mathematics
and operations research.
She says that in case it makes any difference, the day on which
her story is based took place in Baton Rouge
Cathy Chandler, a native of the Gulf Coast, lives in
Mobile, Ala., with husband Dennis, a dog and a cat. She spent 4 1/2
years in college earning a degree she doesn't use, but she had a
good time doing it. When not traveling to the middle of nowhere on a
regular basis, she enjoys reading, collecting television shows,
drumming and tormenting weaker minds with her sharp wit and
intellect
Stephen Euin Cobb, author of "Bones Burnt Black" and
"Plague at Redhook," has been actively promoting his novels at
various cons in the Southeast for several years.
He has been a bank teller, a construction worker in a nuclear
facility, a computer programmer and a long-haul truck driver. Two of
his novels were written on a notebook computer while in the sleeper
of his 18-wheeled "big rig." These two novels have the distinction
of having been written in every state in the union except Hawaii,
Alaska, North Dakota and Vermont.
As a child he showed a special talent in art. Drawing during the
wrong classes got him in trouble a few times, but when he was a
teenager he won a scholarship to study at the world famous Art
Institute of Chicago -- not once, but twice. He felt honored and a
little overwhelmed to be taking art classes in the same building
that housed paintings by Rembrandt, van Gogh and Renoir.
Despite the attention it brought him, however, art was not his
true passion -- that was science. Even when very young, long before
he learned to read, he had his mother read him books, especially
books about dinosaurs. A decade before he learned the word, he
dreamed of being a paleontologist.
Later -- thanks to daily reruns of "Star Trek" as well as NASA's
widely televised lunar landings and a few dozen secondhand science
fiction books -- he developed a lifelong fascination with astronomy.
He considers himself to have become an amateur astronomer at the age
of 13, when, on a cold fall night in 1968, he propped his father's
little 30-power spotting telescope on the hood of the family Buick
and found his first planet. It was the ringed planet, Saturn. "It
looked cold and pale and very small," he says, "but it was clearly
another world -- an alien world."
During the ensuing years he has enjoyed many other interests:
chemistry, psychology, theoretical physics, computer programming,
the Internet and the list goes on; but he has always returned to
astronomy like an old friend. He sees it as foundational to all
other sciences since they all exist within its huge bounds.
For sample chapters of "Bones Burnt Black" and to follow the
author's ongoing book promotion adventures in both pictures and
words, visit www.SteveCobb.com.
Gardner Dozois was the editor of Asimov's Science Fiction
magazine for almost 20 years, and under his editorship, it won the
Locus Award as Best Magazine for an unprecedented 15 years in a row.
He also edits the annual anthology series "The Year's Best Science
Fiction," now up to its 22nd collection, and the series has won the
Locus Award for Best Anthology 16 times -- more than any other
anthology series in history. He's won the Hugo Award 15 times as the
year's best editor; won the Locus Award 30 times, including an
unprecedented 16 times in a row as best editor; and has won the
Nebula Award twice for his own short fiction.
He is the author or editor of more than a hundred books, the most
recent of which are "The Best of the Best: Twenty Years of The
Year's Best Science Fiction," "Galileo's Children: Tales of Science
vs. Superstition," a reissue of his novel "Strangers," and a new
collection of his own short fiction, "Morning Child and Other
Stories." He has been called both "the most imaginative editor in
science fiction," by The Village Voice, and "one of the finest
writers of short fiction in SF's history," by Locus Online.
Born in Salem, Mass., he has now lived for 34 years in
Philadelphia, Pa.
Richy Ferrell lives in Atlanta. He is an illustrator and
retoucher at LandMind Studios, a high-end retouching studio, based
in Detroit, that mainly services the automotive advertising
industry.
www.landmindstudios.com.
Glenda C. Finkelstein is a passionate, award-winning
writer of both fiction and nonfiction, incorporating her love of
history and exploration into the tapestry of her work. She loves
hiking, white-water rafting and swimming. She is also a trained
musician and enjoys singing. She is first and foremost a woman of
faith and family and lives in rural Florida with her husband,
children and two precocious cats.
www.glendas-books.com.
Eugie Foster is an active member of the Science Fiction
and Fantasy Writers of America, winner of
the Phobos Award, and has an master's degree in developmental
psychology. She shares her writing space in metro Atlanta, Ga., with
her husband, Matthew, and has been seen occasionally with a
brown-and-white skunk named Hobkin trotting at her heels. When asked
about her unusual companion, her reply is inevitably, "He likes
broccoli."
Her fiction runs the gamut from children's folk tales to science
fiction to erotic horror. She has sold over 60 stories, and her
publication credits include tales in Realms of Fantasy, The Third
Alternative, Cicada, Paradox, Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine,
Brigham-Young's Leading Edge, Cricket and the anthology "Hitting the
Skids in Pixeltown," edited by Orson Scott Card. Her works have been
translated into French, Hungarian, Polish and Greek. She is also the
managing editor and a fiction reviewer for the four-time
Hugo-nominated publication Tangent. For her complete bibliography
and current updates, visit
www.eugiefoster.com.
Joe Haldeman's earliest memory is of New Orleans. He and
his brother were in costume for the first Mardi Gras after the end
of World War II -- the future author, dressed as Mickey Mouse, being
pulled in a little red wagon by his brother, dressed as Donald Duck.
He sold his first story in 1969, while he was still in the Army,
post-Vietnam, and has been a constant writer ever since, with a
little time off for teaching. He's written about two dozen novels
and five collections of short stories and poetry, and his work
appears in about 20 languages, including Klingon, which he suspects
will generate letters he won't want to answer.
Since 1983, he and his wife, Gay, have spent the fall semester in
Cambridge, Mass., teaching at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
He is an adjunct associate professor in the Department of Writing
and Humanistic Studies.
His novels "The Forever War" and "Forever Peace" won both the
Nebula and Hugo awards; "Forever Peace" also won the John W.
Campbell Award, the first such "triple crown" since Pohl's
"Gateway," 22 years earlier. He has won several other Nebulas and
Hugos and three times the Rhysling Award for science fiction poetry,
as well as the World Fantasy Award. His latest novel, "Camouflage,"
won the James Tiptree Award for gender exploration.
He also paints and plays guitar, doing both as a devoted amateur,
and bicycles whenever the weather allows. He and his wife recently
bicycled across America -- 3,050 miles -- from Florida to
California. When he can, he seeks out dark skies for his 12-inch
telescope.
Anthony R. Karnowski, born in the shadow of the Smoky
Mountains, has studied English and jazz performance at the
University of Tennessee in Knoxville. He lives in a small town
outside Knoxville with his wife, Leslie, and their three dogs:
Ender, Petra and Arya.
www.anthonyrkarnowski.com.
Nancy Kress is the author of 24 books, most recently the
science fiction novels "Crossfire" and "Crucible," from Tor, and a
book on writing fiction, "Characters, Emotion and Viewpoint,"
published by Writers Digest Books. She has won three Nebulas, a Hugo
and a John W. Campbell Memorial Award, the last for her novel
"Probability Space." She also writes a column for Writers Digest
Magazine and frequently teaches fiction writing. She lives in
Rochester, N.Y., with a spoiled and high-strung toy poodle.
Tony Ruggiero has been publishing fiction since 1998. His
science fiction, fantasy, and horror stories and novels have
appeared in both print and electronic media.
His published novels include:
"Team of Darkness" -- The U.S. military has developed a new
weapon to be added to its arsenal -- the creatures known as
vampires. Ruggiero uses his naval experience to write this dark
fantasy thriller about vampires being used by the Navy Seals.
Groundbreaking and fast-paced, the novel is a characteristic mixture
of the vampire lore of Anne Rice and the clandestine secrets of the
military found in Tom Clancy novels.
"Aliens and Satanic Creatures Wanted: Humans Need Not Apply." --
Aliens, Satanic creatures and other alternate life forms have
gathered together to make a stand for literary fairness. Move over
pesky human… a change is coming. An anthology of short stories where
the center character is not human, the collection includes the
award-winning story "Lucky Lucifer's Car Emporium," as well as
"Electronic Bliss," "Invasion or Subversion," and "Going up?"
Ruggiero is also a contributing author to "The Fantasy Writers'
Companion," from Dragon Moon Press. The volume picks up where "The
Complete Guide to Writing Fantasy" leaves off. "The Fantasy Writers'
Companion" takes on more advanced topics of writing, such as
incorporating horror, incorporating mystery, developing a story in
your favorite RPG universe and exploring alternative cultures for
world building. His contribution is a chapter on the effective use
of horror in fantasy.
Coming in 2006 from Dragon Moon Press, Ruggiero's longtime
favorite of space opera adventure debuts in a two-book series: 1.
"Alien Deception: Nothing is as it appears… nothing." Your whole
life, you think you understand who and what you are, and then one
day you learn that it is all a lie. So what do you do? You have
lunch with the leading candidate for president of the United States
-- you and your alien friends. 2. "Alien Revelation: Death has many
meanings." For some death is an end, while for others it is a
beginning. Yet, for one human-alien hybrid, it is a way to have one
final chance to try and save his home, Earth, a son he has never
seen and find an enemy that just won't stay dead.
Ruggiero retired from the U.S. Navy in 2001 after 23 years of
service. He and his family currently reside in Suffolk, Va. While
continuing to write, he teaches at Old Dominion University and
Tidewater Community College in Norfolk, Va. Visit his Web page at
http://www.tonyruggiero.com.
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Earl Newton is an award-winning writer and filmmaker. At 24,
he already has a nationally recognized short film and several
feature screenplays to his name. He currently lives in Pensacola,
Fla., where he's finishing his bachelor's degree at the University
of West Florida and his fourth screenplay. You can follow his
exploits at SouthernRonin.com.
E-mail: en@southernronin.com.
Larry Niven: The Niven file
Born April 30, 1938, in Los Angeles, Calif., to Waldemar Van Cott
Niven and Lucy Estelle Doheny Niven (now Washington.)
Raised in Beverly Hills, Calif. Hawthorne Public School, Beverly
Hills; Cate School, Carpinteria.
California Institute of Technology, September 1956 to February
1958. Flunked out after discovering a bookstore jammed with used
science fiction magazines.
Honest employment: gas station attendant, summer 1960.
Graduated from Washburn University, Kansas, June 1962 with a
bachelor's degree in mathematics and a minor in psychology. Half the
university was scattered to the winds by a tornado a month after he
left. They later gave him an honorary doctorate in letters.
First story publication: "The Coldest Place", Worlds of If,
December 1964.
Met Marilyn Joyce Wisowaty at the Nycon World Science Fiction
Convention, 1967. Married Sept. 6, 1969. No children. They reside in
Chatsworth, Calif.
He has written fiction at every length, speculative articles,
speeches for high schools and colleges and conventions, television
scripts, political action in support of the conquest of space,
graphic novels, and a couple of comic book universes. He has
collaborated with a wide variety of writers.
His interests: science fiction conventions; role-playing games,
live and computer; AAAS meetings and other gatherings of people at
the cutting edges of science; comics; filk singing; yoga and other
approaches to longevity; hiking and racquetball; saving civilization
and making a little money; moving mankind into space by any means,
but particularly by making space endeavors attractive to commercial
interests.
In 1980 Jerry Pournelle talked Niven and his wife into hosting a
gathering of the top minds in the space industry in an attempt to
write a space program for the Reagan government, with goals,
timetables and costs. The Citizens Advisory Council for a National
Space Policy met four times during the Reagan administration, and
twice since, for harrowing three-day weekends. Attendees have
included spacecraft designers, businessmen, NASA personnel,
astronauts and lawyers. Adding science fiction writers turns out to
be stunningly effective, he says: "We can translate! We can force
these guys to speak English."
He reports that they have had some effect on the space program.
The Space Defense Initiative, or Star Wars, was drafted at his home
in Tarzana. In 1993 he watched the DC-X1 fly. It was a toy version
of a single-stage ground-to-orbit spacecraft, and the Citizens
Advisory Council generated it. The design lost out to the current
Skunk Works X-33, but the council caused the revival of the X
Program itself.
Niven grew up with dogs: keeshonds, the breed his mother raised
and shaped for 60 years. He lives with a cat and borrows dogs to
hike with. He has a passing acquaintance with raccoons and ferrets.
"Associating with nonhumans has certainly gained me insight into
alien intelligences," he says.
He has written on computers since 1978.
Awards: Hugos -- science fiction achievement awards -- for
"Neutron Star", 1966; "RingWorld," 1970; "Inconstant Moon", 1971;
"The Hole Man", 1974; and "The Borderland of Sol," 1975. Nebula for
Best Novel: "RingWorld," 1970. Ditmars, for Best International
Science Fiction, Australian, for "RingWorld," 1972, and "Protector,"
1974. Japanese awards for "RingWorld" and "Inconstant Moon," both
1979. Inkpot, 1979, from the San Diego Comic Convention.
On the stands: "Scatterbrain," a retrospective anthology
Forthcoming: "Burning Tower," with Jerry Pournelle; "Creation
Myth," with Brenda Cooper; "RingWorld's Child," "The Draco Tavern,"
21 ultra-short stories.
Other work clamors to be written, "as if I had the time," he
says. Greg Benford has challenged him to return to short stories,
and he has done that.
Jolie Simmons was born under an auspicious sign on Long
Island, in June of 1967. Guilty of an eclectic background, she
writes, designs, photographs, illustrates, prints, sings -- and
reads everything she can get her hands on. Having written her first
poem at the age of 4, she has been writing all her life and has
published a fair amount of poetry and short dark fiction, most
notably in Gravity and Stillwaters Journal. She has performed her
poetry at readings all over Atlanta, Ga., both solo and with The
Usual Suspects, and has had a hand in several anthologies with
Fahrenheit 452 Press, Newton's Baby Private Press and the Dark River
Writers.
The latest in a long tradition of late bloomers, she plans to
live a long life, as it may take a while for her to find time for
everything. She hopes to be catching a nap sometime soon.
To check out her visual work, see her portfolios at
http://public.fotki.com/Moonbird/.
Joshua Smith is a student in political science and history
at Troy University in Troy, Ala. He has been featured on CNN and Fox
News for his work with the Democratic Party, and currently works as
producer for Southern Ronin Productions. Currently, he is writing a
feature-length script titled "Working at Love," with many more
scripts in early development. E-mail:
joshua38@dfsi.net.
Toni Stauffer lives near Atlanta, Ga., with her husband
and children. Her stories have appeared in Small Bites, Flashshot:
Year One, Cyberpulp's Halloween Anthology 3.0 and Nevermore.
Daniel Waller was born in Rome, N.Y.; however, he calls
Auburn, Ala., his home. He has performed as a stage actor for many
years with such groups as Seaside Repertory Theatre, The Layman
Theatre and the Interborough Repertory Theatre of New York. He also
held a principal position with the Ayolowa West African Dance
Company. His passion for writing began at 17 years of age, when he
discovered poetry. E-mail:
dweller@southernronin.com.
Debbora A. Wiles describes her career as a three-headed
dragon. She has been published in almost every writing market there
is. She has worked as a newspaper reporter and photographer,
freelance writer for national magazines, has co-written scripts for
"Star Trek," has written stage plays, and done pieces for television
and radio. Her books include the children's book "The Adventures of
HB and Prize" and many science fiction novelettes that have appeared
in national magazines such as Watercolor Dreams, The Alchemy and
Lavender. Her current books include "The Secrets of Best Sellers: A
Workshop" and "Touch Healing for Plants, Animals and People." Her
full-length paranormal science fiction romance novel "The Soul
Bonder" is currently being marketed.
She is also an award-winning watercolor artist who has done
illustrations, maps and art for many books and magazines, like Avon
books, Serendipity magazine, Goldfish Society of America and
Realities Escape magazine. Her fat little dragonfly paintings are a
popular item at science fiction and fantasy convention art shows,
and she has sold prints all over the world on eBay. Her dragonflies
are currently being auditioned for two full-length children's
animated films in Hollywood.
When she is not doing writing or art, she works as publisher and
editor at Integrity Tech Publishing (IntegrityTech.com), where she
publishes and promotes writers online and in CD format. Her greatest
delight and passion is appearing at science fiction and fantasy
conventions, where she teaches young writers and artists how to get
their work published and where she also teaches basic metaphysics in
the esoteric arts.
She lives in Florida with her husband, Jack, to whom she has been
happily married for 34 years. She loves to hear from readers. E-mail
her at DebboraWil@aol.com.
Davey Beauchamp is an author who has no idea what he is
doing at any given moment, as he is being pulled in numerous
directions at once. He graduated from college with a bachelor's
degree in English, with emphasis in creative and professional
writing. While there, he learned he could write, and write
effectively, stirring emotions in his readers. However, he learned
nothing about the industry itself, especially in regard to getting
published, and in the end he had to teach himself. He has made
mistakes along the way, but he has also learned a great deal by
breaking the rules and being himself, which stands him apart from
other writers. With that being said, he still wouldn't recommend his
approach to everyone because it has hurt him as much as help him.
After college, he did write a book that was published, but he
considers it his college horror film because it was that bad. Next
he published the first book in his Agency 32 series, "Agency 32: The
Chelten Affair."
The next book in the series will be released by a brand-new
publisher who understands the energy and excitement the author
possesses. In addition, he has been writing original audio dramas
based on "Amazing Pulp Adventures, Starring Mister Adventure," a
young adult novel which is being shopped around at this time. The
audio dramas are being produced by Outcast Media. Just recently, he
was tapped to write various horror screenplays for both film and TV.
When Hurricane Katrina hit, he knew that he had to do something
to help. If you are reading this, you hold that endeavor in your
hands.
When he isn't writing or attending conventions promoting his
books and just having an amazingly fun time, he works as a
mild-mannered librarian in Wilmington, N.C.
To find out more about his projects and audio works, check out
Livejournal user name JackZodiac or
http://www.members.aol.com/daviddraven/.
Brian W. Aldiss has been writing and publishing for over
50 years and remains productive. This year, for instance, he has had
two books published.
"I am not into self-promotion," he says. "My main happiness lies
with my neighbors in Oxford, including a beloved lady; and in my
family, which now includes grandchildren. I have received many
awards, including being elected a Grand Master of Science Fiction,
and the queen's award of an O.B.E. for 'services to literature.'"
Grateful though he is for such recognition, he says it is wise to
recall a verse from the Bhagavad Gita:
"Set thy heart upon thy work, but never on its reward. Work not
for a reward: but never cease to do thy work."
[News release]
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