New York Times and USA Today best-selling author Heather Graham, who also writes under the penname of Shannon Drake, majored in theater arts at the University of South Florida. After a stint of several years in dinner theater, and bartending, she stayed home after the birth of her third child and began to write, working on short horror stories and romances.She sold her first book, When Next We Love, in 1982 and since then, she has written more than one hundred novels and novellas including romantic suspense, historical romance, vampire fiction, time travel, occult, and Christmas holiday fare.
She wrote the launch books for Dell's Ecstasy Supreme line, Silhouette's Shadows, and for Harlequin's mainstream fiction imprint, Mira Books.
Heather was a founding member of the Florida Romance Writers chapter of RWA and, since 1999, has hosted the Romantic Times Vampire Ball, with all revenues going directly to children's charities.
Many of her books have been published in foreign languages, and she has been honored with awards from Waldenbooks, B. Dalton, Georgia Romance Writers, Affaire de Coeur, Romantic Times, and others. Heather has had books selected for the Doubleday Book Club and the Literary Guild, and has been quoted, interviewed, or featured in The Nation, Redbook, People, and USA Today and appeared on local television and Entertainment Tonight.
Her latest book, There Be Dragons, is set for publication in Sept. 2009 by Medallion and makes a good holiday read.
There Be Dragons begins when the book's heroine Marina tragically loses her parents, and she is left alone in the hands of the one responsible - the devious sorceress, Geovana. Greedy for power, Geovana arranges for the girl to marry her evil son, even though Marina is in love with someone else. As Christmas day approaches, the girl is faced with the terrible choice to either save her land and her people or follow her heart and believe in the magic of Christmas and true love.
This holiday tale also includes an audio CD of original Christmas songs by the author as well as several classic carols.
Michael Haskins spent five years as the business editor/writer for the daily Key West Citizen and then another five years as the city's public information officer. His first book, CHASIN' THE WIND, has sold out of its first printing and its sequel, FREE RANGE INSTITUTION, is at the publishers. He is currently writing the third in his Mad Mick Murphy Mystery series, CAR WASH BLUES.
