Who We Are
ITW Debut Authors Origins …
Way back when, in 2006 to be exact, there was a group of authors facing the release of their debut novels. One of them, Jason Pinter, put out a call for fellow debut crime writers to join him. Soon he had a band of merry murderers, dubbed Killer Year.
Their goal? To see each other through their debut year, to help promote each other, to forge new connections, and to try to have some fun along the way.
I met the Killer Year group at ThrillerFest in
It was a fantastic success. Killer Year members have received nominations for awards, accolades from national press, film deals, foreign rights, and now, under the editorial guidance of Lee Child, have an anthology due to be released.
Lee went to the ITW Board and proposed a long-term continuation of an ITW Debut Author Program. One that all ITW debuts could participate in, sharing knowledge with their published fellow members.
And thus, I present to you, the first group of ITW Debut Authors … Let The Thrill Begin!
CJ Lyons
Drue Allen, THE COST OF LOVE, March 2010
Drue Allen likes to remote camp in the rugged mountains along the southwestern Texas border, kayak at the coast, and backpack through the more secluded areas of Montana, Washington, Colorado, and New Mexico. All of which provide great research opportunities. Her romantic thriller, THE COST OF LOVE, is set in the dusty town of Roswell, New Mexico--and yes, she's been there. Allen has received twenty-eight awards from the Romance Writers of America. She holds a BA and MA in English, and teaches at the collegiate level. Currently living in the Texas hill country with her husband, several cats, and a large herd of deer, you can visit her at http://www.drueallen.com/.
Mike Angley, CHILD FINDER, June 2009
Following an amazing and dangerous 25-year career as a Special Agent with the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, Colonel Mike Angley decided it was time to put his experiences as a criminal investigator, and counterintelligence and counterterrorism operator to work writing fiction. CHILD FINDER's Major Patrick O'Donnell, an OSI Special Agent, is a tough-as-nails investigator who discovers he has a unique psychic gift. He is recruited into a TOP SECRET black world community, overseen by the FBI, which leverages his skills to solve child abductions. He proves himself particularly gifted at this important endeavor, but he soon discovers this black world has an even darker underbelly when those close to him begin to die mysteriously. To make matters more complicated, the government has other plans for his psychic skills...after all, it is October 2001, and there is a War on Terror underway! He must find abducted children, hunt for terrorists, and solve the murders that occurred because of his work...but most significantly, he must protect his own family who have become trapped and threatened in a twisted web of government intrigue. Read more about CHILD FINDER (TotalRecall Publications, Inc.) and the trilogy, as well as Mike Angley's biography, at: www.childfinder.us
Sibylle Barrasso, DARK WATERS, August, 2008
Sibylle Barrasso traded the sunny skies of California for the harsh Boston winters to work for Bain & Company. Her career in high tech became the basis for DARK WATERS, a mystery about a prominent university professor, the nation's foremost AIDS expert, whose lifeless body washes up on the banks of the Charles. When his diminutive widow is arrested for murder, the result is a media frenzy. Macy Adams is the private eye the young widow hires to save her from spending a life sentence in prison. During Macy's investigation, she discovers a shocking secret from the professor's past that puts her own life in jeopardy. Sibylle Barrasso received an award from Sue Grafton for the sequel to DARK WATERS at the Santa Barbara Writers Conference, and was twice a finalist in the St. Martin's Press Best First Private Eye Novel contest.
Jennie Bentley, FATAL FIXER-UPPER, November, 2008
A career as a professional renovator and REALTOR® has given debut author Jennie Bentley plenty of fodder for her new series of Do-It-Yourself Home Renovation Mysteries from Penguin/Putnam. She has stumbled over dead bodies - those of birds, cockroaches, and the occasional rat - unearthed hidden treasure - gorgeous tile floors hidden under ugly vinyl, pristine footed bathtubs covered over with drywall - and had personal experience with just how dangerous renovating a house can be (she and her husband have come close to killing each other on many occasions while renovating the eight houses the family has owned in the past eight years). FATAL FIXER-UPPER, the first book in the DIY-series, will be released by Berkley Prime Crime in November, 2008. For more information, please visit http://www.jenniebentley.com.
Ryan Brown, PLAY DEAD, May 2010
As an actor Ryan Brown has held contract roles on the CBS daytime dramas, The Young and the Restless and Guiding Light. He has also appeared on Law and Order: SVU, and starred in two feature films for Lifetime Television. His first novel, Play Dead, a comic supernatural thriller, will be published in May of 2010, and his short story, Jeepers Peepers, will soon appear in ITW's Young Adult Anthology.
PLAY DEAD - When a ruthless prank from a cross-town rival befalls an entire high school football team, star quarterback, Cole Logan, is left with more than just a thirst for revenge. His town has been brought to its knees. The sheriff suspects him of an unspeakable crime. And his teammates are suffering a horrific and inexplicable transformation. In a small Texas town where performance-enhancing drugs run rampant, and where teenage athletes are revered for victory and tortured for defeat, Cole has only forty-eight hours until the final whistle blows. Who will live or die? Who will be saved or damned? Only the scoreboard will tell.
Gino Brogdon, DEMONS IN THE CRAWLSPACE, June 2009
Gino Brogdon is a former trial judge and is currently an accomplished trial attorney in Atlanta. During his near decade on the bench, Gino presided over the most gruesome, complex criminal cases as well as a number of civil cases of national significance. Known as a tough, law and order judge, Gino had the reputation of a careful listener and a student of the trial process. Gino handled and presided over many cases which share the content of his books. Murder, child molestation, satanic ritual abuse, public corruption and fatal domestic violence are just a few of the compelling legal subject matters that have become an integral part of Gino's arsenal as a writer. These experiences have served to fuel his creative fires and shape the compelling stories which Gino lays to paper in remarkable fashion. Readers of Gino's books will surely experience a variety of emotions and feelings. All who step into Frank Salvato's world will agree that Gino has found his calling as a fiction storyteller.
Gino is a legal scholar in his own right. He has published numerous legal papers and articles and recently authored a chapter in a leading psychology textbook. Gino is an international lecturer and a highly sought-after television and radio legal analyst on a variety of high visibility criminal cases.
Many have described Gino as a true renaissance man. An avid acrylic painter, Gino has displayed and sold his artwork throughout Atlanta. Some of his paintings will appear on the cover of Gino's novels. He has also published poetry, written music and enjoys jazz and playing his saxophone. Gino Brogdon is an Ohio native, the youngest of eleven children and the father of three sons.
DEMONS IN THE CRAWLSPACE will be published by TotalRecall Publications, Inc. in July 2009.
Carla Buckley, OUT OF THIN AIR, March 2010
Carla Buckley's debut novel, OUT OF THIN AIR, about an avian influenza pandemic, will be released by Bantam Dell in March 2010. Pursuing a career in graphics art and then one in brand management, Carla decided to stay home following the birth of her first child. No longer racing to meetings or filling out budget reports, she was able to turn to her original love--writing. Fourteen years and seven novels later, she finally got The Call from her literary agent informing her that her latest novel had been accepted in a two-book deal. Currently, she has sold rights to both German and UK publishers, and has a film agent beating the bushes in Hollywood. Carla holds a BA from Oberlin College and an MBA from The Wharton School of Business.
Pamela Callow, DAMAGED, July 2010
Pamela Callow is the author of a new legal biomedical thriller series set in Halifax. The first two books will be released by MIRA Books in July and August of 2010. The series debuts struggling thirty-something lawyer Neve Lange whose career-making case becomes deadly as she uncovers a scam that rocks the foundations of biomedical research -- and puts her in the path of a dementing killer. Prior to making writing a career, Pamela worked as a strategy consultant for an international consulting firm. She is a member of the Nova Scotia Bar, and has an undergraduate degree in English Literature and a Master's degree in Public Administration. Pamela lives in Nova Scotia, along with her husband, two children and a mischievous pug named Peaches. She loves to go for walks (unlike her dog), drink coffee (but her stomach doesn't), and can be spotted avidly cheering on her kids at their soccer and basketball games.
Rebecca Cantrell, A TRACE OF SMOKE, Summer, 2009
Rebecca Cantrell has a two book deal from Tor/Forge for a mystery series set in
Kate Carlisle, HOMICIDE IN HARDCOVER, October, 2009
Kate Carlisle's debut novel, HOMICIDE IN HARDCOVER, the first book in the Bibliophile Mystery series, will be released by NAL in February 2009. A lifelong love of old books and an appreciation of the art of bookbinding led Kate to create the Bibliophile Mysteries, featuring rare book expert Brooklyn Wainwright, whose bookbinding and restoration skills invariably uncover old secrets, treachery and murder. In HOMICIDE IN HARDCOVER, a priceless--and supposedly cursed--copy of Goethe's FAUST draws Brooklyn into a murder investigation that only she can solve--with the help of clues she uncovers within the valuable book. Kate spent twenty years in television production before turning to writing. She lives with her husband in Venice Beach, California, and online at http://katecarlisle.com.
Gary Clites, SENECA WOOD, June 2009
A native of West Virginia, Gary Clites is a teacher, writer, and journalist living in Chesapeake Beach, Maryland. While he was a student at West Virginia University, the college's scuba team discovered a body in nearby Cheat Lake. The police eventually determined that criminals had been using a backwater of the lake as a dumping ground for illegal materials for years. That experience served as inspiration for his first novel, SENECA WOOD. When the mob's dumping ground is discovered in the novel, Wood Garrett suddenly has a problem. A disgraced reporter hiding in the mountains of West Virginia, he finds his peaceful life shattered when someone who wants his land tries to frame him for murder to get it. Before he knows it, his friends have been drawn into the trouble, and he has to take up the fight to save their lives. He quickly finds himself in a battle that involves crooked cops, hired killers, tabloid TV reporters, fake ecoterrorists, and very hungry bears. SENECA WOOD will be published by Casperian Books in June 2009. For more information, visit http://www.garyclites.com.
JJ Cooper, INTERROGATED, August, 2009
JJ Cooper spent seventeen years in the Australian Army, deploying on two tours of duty in East Timor and one tour to the Middle East in 2003. He specialised in Human Intelligence, including interrogation (as a practitioner and instructor). Since leaving the military, he spends every spare moment on his passion for writing. JJ's debut thriller, Interrogated, will be published by Random House Australia in 2009. INTERROGATED is a story of betrayal and nightmarish conspiracy firmly rooted in the highest levels of government across international alliances. Jay Ryan is an interrogator with a dark past and a tortured soul; he's also the keeper of secrets Israeli spies will kill to get their hands upon. Renowned for his skills, he is used to commanding a certain level of respect amongst his peers. Then one day Jay is drugged, tortured, tattooed and accused of rape. He is forced to reveal information that could further destabilise fragile Middle East relations and plunge the entire region into war. The story rockets toward a shattering finale that will leave the survivors changed forever. http://jjcooperaus.blogspot.com/Joshua Corin, NUCLEAR WINTER WONDERLAND
Joshua Corin grew up to a strapping 5'8'' in Rhode Island, a lovely state you've never been to and which is roughly the size of Yosemite National Park. He spent 7 years at the State University of New York at Binghamton, and all he got to show for it was a Bachelor's degree, two Master's degrees, three consecutive assistantships, and mononucleosis. In 2000, he went on to work on the Broadway revival of The Rocky Horror Picture Show and then teach English at a yeshiva for wayward Jews. He moved to Atlanta in 2004, where he currently is an instructor in English and theatre at Georgia Perimeter College. His plays have been produced in many states, his screenplays have won many awards, and his debut novel NUCLEAR WINTER WONDERLAND was written over many sleepless nights. For more information, visit Joshua at http://jcorin.blogspot.com.
John Darrin, SCREENSHOT, April 2009
John Darrin is a consultant on nuclear and radiological emergency preparedness. His experience in the nuclear industry has taken him all over the world, from China to Finland, from Central America to Canada, and includes dismantling obsolete nuclear reactors, the safe treatment and disposal of nuclear weapons waste, the recovery from the Three Mile Island accident, and manufacturing electronic instruments to monitor radiation.
Evicted from his comfortable life by the untimely death of his wife in 2007, John now travels alone in his RV on the Go Places / Meet People / Do Things Tour of North America, chronicled in the eponymous blog www.thegoplacesmeetpeopledothingstour.blogspot.com.
Screenshot, his first novel published by Kunati, is a techno-thriller about a multi-millionaire entrepreneur with a bent for murder, and a talent for creating bizarre and aptly-named killing machines. His latest business plan is interactive pay-per-view executions, live on the Internet, and the paying public lines up for the chance to pull the trigger and watch the spectacle. A crackpot scientist holds the key to bursting his dot.com bubble, and a free-lance writer and a rogue FBI computer geek must use it to unlock the secret of his identity and stop the killings before they become the next prime-time broadcast. For more information, visit www.johndarrin.com.
Karen Dionne, FREEZING POINT, October, 2008
Karen Dionne's debut eco-thriller FREEZING POINT will be released by Berkley Books in October 2008. In addition to novel writing, Karen is co-founder and co-administrator of Backspace (www.bksp.org), an award-winning website and Internet-based writers organization with over 700 members in a dozen countries. She also organizes and runs the Backspace Writers Conferences held in
Prior to forming Backspace, Karen worked as senior fiction editor at NFG Magazine, a print literary journal out of
Stacy Dittrich, THE DEVIL'S CLOSET, October 2008
Stacy Dittrich is an award winning 15-year law enforcement officer and former detective specializing in sex crimes. With past training by former FBI Behavioral Specialist, and bestselling author, Roy Hazelwood, Stacy is certified through the National Institute of Truth Verification as an examiner (CVSA- lie detector). Stacy has also been assigned to a federal drug task force that resulted in arrests from California to Mexico and has been involved in the investigations of numerous homicides. Prior to her law enforcement career, Stacy explored a brief modeling career in New York, where she appeared in Allure Magazine. Stacy is the author of the upcoming CeeCee Gallagher thriller series about a female detective.
Jeremy Duns, FREE AGENT, July 2009
Jeremy Duns' debut novel, FREE AGENT, an intense spy thriller set in Africa during the Cold War, will be published in the UK by Simon & Schuster in May 2009 and in the US by Viking Penguin in July 2009. It is the first in a trilogy featuring MI6 agent Paul Dark. Jeremy is British, and studied English literature at Oxford University before working as a journalist in Belgium. He now lives in Sweden and is running out of space for his ridiculously large collection of spy novels. For more information about Jeremy, please visit http://www.jeremyduns.com.
Steven M. Forman, BOCA KNIGHTS, Available now
STEVEN M. FORMAN was born and raised in the Boston area. After graduating from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, he founded a one-man business and built it into a multimillion-dollar, worldwide enterprise. Boca Knights is Forman's first novel. He's working on the sequel, Boca Mournings. He divides his time between the Boston area and Boca Raton, Florida. For more information, visit Steven at www.stevenmforman.com
Richard Fountain, THE WELLWISHERS, August 2008
Richard Fountain toiled for years writing for businesses in hi-tech markets. After the birth of his twin daughters, a unique story concept presented itself and he decided it was time to let his vivid imagination loose. THE WELLWISHERS follows John Gideon, a CIA operative, and Natalie Reyes of the FBI as they fight to save a gifted set of twins known as wellwishers. Kept in extreme isolation these sisters have a unique gift - whatever they wish for together comes to pass in reality - and controlling them has been the cause and crusade of many world leaders. As the twins become more difficult to command, it is Gideon and Reyes who step in as their protectors, beginning a thrilling standoff against greed and domination. For more information, visit Richard at his website www.richardfountain.com.
Jamie Freveletti, RUNNING FROM THE DEVIL, May 2009
Jamie Freveletti is a trial attorney, martial artist, and runner. She has crewed for an elite ultra-marathon runner at 50 mile, 100 mile, and twenty-four hour races across the country, and both practices and teaches Aikido, a Japanese martial art. After law school she lived in Geneva, Switzerland while obtaining a diploma in International Studies. Back in Chicago, she represented clients in areas ranging from class actions for mass salmonella poisoning to securities fraud. Her debut thriller, RUNNING FROM THE DEVIL will be released by HarperCollins/WilliamMorrow in May, 2009. She lives in Chicago with her family. To learn more about RUNNING FROM THE DEVIL, visit http://www.jamiefreveletti.com
Keith Gilman, FATHER'S DAY, May 2009
Keith Gilman is a cop. He's been a cop in the Philadelphia area for over fifteen years. He knows how cops think. He's seen things most people only see in their nightmares. He knows what cops know and in FATHER'S DAY, his debut novel from St. Martin's Minotaur, he pulls back the curtain on his disturbing vision of a decaying urban world, haunted by shadows of deceit and death. For more information, visit Keith's website at http://www.keithgilman.com
Andrew Grant, EVEN, June 2009
Andrew Grant is a former telecommunications executive. He was born in Birmingham, England and now divides his time between the UK and Chicago.
David Trevellyan is a Royal Navy intelligence operative who usually works undercover, sometimes with the approval of his masters--and sometimes not. On a seemingly normal evening, he takes a lonely late-night walk between a restaurant and his New York City hotel. A familiar huddled shape in the mouth of an alley catches his eye--a homeless man has been shot to death. Trevellyan steps forward...and a cop car arrives. A split second too late, Trevellyan realizes he's been set up.
But Trevellyan isn't worried. He's a hard man from the shadowy world of Royal Navy Intelligence. He's been in and out of trouble a thousand times before. But the NYPD quickly hands the problem to the FBI. Trevellyan is sucked deeper into the system. And the British Consulate tells him: You're on your own now, mate.
With no idea who's a friend and who's a foe, he penetrates deep into a huge international conspiracy. The price of failure will be death, and the reward for success will be redemption, both for himself and the huddled corpse from the alley. The motivation will be his cherished life-long belief: You don't get mad--you get EVEN.
Bryan Gruley, STARVATION LAKE, March 2009
Bryan Gruley's debut, STARVATION LAKE, is the first in a new mystery series from Touchstone/Simon & Schuster. It's about the death of a hockey coach in a little town in northern Michigan. Publishers Weekly, in a starred review, called it, "Outstanding ... a tale of violence and betrayal that will remind many readers of Dennis Lehane." The native of Detroit has been a newspaper reporter and editor for nearly thirty years. He's now the Chicago Bureau Chief for The Wall Street Journal, where he shared in a Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. He plays a lot of hockey and a little guitar. For more information, visit Bryan at www.bryangruley.com and www.starvationlake.com
Rhodi Hawk, A TWISTED LADDER, April, 2009
Rhodi Hawk has been fascinated by storytelling since her earliest memory, when her grandmother read to her from Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens. Rhodi has been reading or writing ever since, and began her career as a transcription linguist in US Army intelligence. She later made a living as a technical writer during the Internet boom, working on her first novel in the early mornings and at night, and is now writing fiction full time. In 2007 Rhodi Hawk won the International Thrillerwriter's Scholarship for her first work of fiction, A Twisted Ladder. She is also one of the founders of a new magazine, The Fruited Vine, which is due to launch in the third quarter of 2008. She travels compulsively and dabbles in the culinary arts, and lives in the
James Hayman, THE CUTTING, June 2009
James Hayman spent more than twenty-five years creating TV campaigns for some of New York's biggest ad agencies before deciding to (A) leave the big city, (B) shift gears and (C) follow in the footsteps of other former "mad men" turned thriller writers (James Patterson, Stuart Woods and Ted Bell to name just a few).
He landed in Portland, Maine where his debut suspense/thriller, THE CUTTING, is set. THE CUTTING, published by St. Martin's Minotaur, is the first in a series featuring Portland homicide detective Mike McCabe who, like the author, is a transplanted New Yorker. Jim lives in Portland with his artist wife, Jeanne O'Toole Hayman, and is currently hard at work on McCabe #2. Visit www.jameshaymanthrillers.com (Site currently under construction) for more information.
Don Helin, THY KINGDOM COME, March, 2009
Don Helin's debut novel, Thy Kingdom Come, is due out in March 2009. In the novel, the Pentagon's elite Anti-Terrorist Task Force is assigned a mission of preventing a white supremacists' rogue militia from stealing nuclear material and spreading terror by detonating dirty bombs. Don spent three tours in the Pentagon and has worked as a lobbyist for the chemical industry. These two "Washington Insider" careers have provided him ample material for his thriller novels. For more information, visit www.donhelin.com.
Matt Hilton, DEAD MEN'S DUST, May 2009
Matt Hilton is an ex-police officer and private security specialist of over 22 years, but he has now retired to concentrate on writing. Matt is the author of the soon to be published Joe Hunter books due to launch May 2009 in USA and UK territories. He is a 4th Dan martial artist and coach and has had previous articles published in martial arts magazines.
Dead Men's Dust - Joe Hunter is a problem-solver--"the weapon sent in when all the planning is done and all that's left is the ass kicking." A former military operative and ex-CIA agent, he's more than qualified for nearly every situation--except for the one he's faced with now. His brother is missing.
Tubal Cain is a highly intelligent killer as careful and cautious as he is sarcastic and terrifying. Always on the lookout for unsuspecting prey, his most precious possession is a set of knives he carries everywhere. When a small-time crook steals his favorite Bowie knife along a deserted stretch of highway, Cain will stop at nothing to get it back. Unfortunately for Hunter, the thief is his brother.
Now the chase is on. All three men are caught in a dangerous cat-and-mouse game that takes them on a twisting cross-country race to a deserted spot where flesh and bones become nothing more than dead men's dust.
For more information, visit Matt at www.matthiltonbooks.com.
Jeannie Holmes, CRIMSON SWAN, June 2010
Jeannie Holmes -- known to friends as J. K. -- is a native of southwest Mississippi. Before receiving her Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the University of South Alabama, she worked in a variety of interesting jobs, including emergency rooms, independent auction houses, and even a brief stint in a funeral home. Her debut novel, CRIMSON SWAN, a supernatural suspense thriller set in a small Mississippi town, is due for release in June 2010 from Bantam Dell. In CRIMSON SWAN, Alexandra Sabian, a vampire and Enforcer with the Federal Bureau of Preternatural Investigation, must fight bigotry, the media, and her own past to stop a serial killer before her brother becomes the next victim. In addition to working on the sequel to her debut novel, she received her Master of Arts degree in English at the University of South Alabama in December 2008. She lives in Mobile, AL with her husband and four neurotic cats. For more information, visit www.jeannieholmes.com.
Kathy-Diane Leveille, LET THE SHADOWS FALL BEHIND YOU, April 2009
Kathy-Diane Leveille's debut novel LET THE SHADOWS FALL BEHIND YOU (Kunati Books) was inspired by her fascination with disappearances. An estimated 10 million people go missing each year in the U.S. alone, but no one's ever documented how many of these incidents defy explanation. Take the mystifying case of the man who stepped out his front door and vanished in broad daylight. His family could hear him calling, but no one could see him anywhere. LET THE SHADOWS FALL BEHIND YOU features Brannagh Maloney whose boyfriend, Nikki, disappears into thin air while conducting a bird count up north. Brannagh reluctantly returns home for a reunion of the childhood club Tuatha-de-Dananns. She hides out at her Grandmother's cottage near the woods where her mother was murdered fifteen years ago. As Brannagh tries to solve the mystery behind Nikki's vanishing, she is haunted by the secrets hiding the most startling disappearance of all. Kathy-Diane Leveille is a former broadcast journalist with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Her award-winning fiction has been adapted to radio drama for the CBC's Summer Drama Festival, and for stage by the Saint John Theatre Company. For more information, visit http://kathy-dianeleveille.com.
Sophie Littlefield, A BAD DAY FOR SORRY, August 2009
Sophie Littlefield grew up in central Missouri, daughter of a history professor father and an artist mother. She earned a degree in computer science and made very little use of it. After living in Chicago for ten years, she and her husband packed up the kids and moved to Northern California in 1998. She wrote several novels in a variety of genres before selling her first mystery, A BAD DAY FOR SORRY, about a fiftyish widow who runs a sewing shop but has a side business helping battered women "take care" of their abusive husbands. A Young Adult series is slated for publication beginning in 2010 from Delacorte Books for Young Readers. Sophie's award-winning short stories have been featured in a variety of publications and anthologies. Visit her at http://www.sophielittlefield.com.
Grant McKenzie, SWITCH, October, 2008
Born in Scotland, living in Canada and writing American fiction, I like to cover all the bases. My debut novel SWITCH will be published by Bantam Transworld for mass-market paperback on their thriller list in the UK on October, 2008. My short stories have been featured in Out of the Gutter and Spinetingler magazines and my first screenplay won a 2007 fellowship at the Praxis Centre for Screenwriting in Vancouver, B.C. As a veteran journalist, I have worked in virtually every area of the newspaper business from the late-night "Dead Body Beat" at a feisty daily tabloid to senior copy/design editor at two of Canada's largest broadsheets. In between regular newspaper gigs, I have also contributed technology/humour columns to various magazines around the world. I currently reside on British Columbia's beautiful Sunshine Coast with my wife and teenage daughter.
Stuart Neville, THE GHOSTS OF BELFAST, July 2009
Stuart Neville has been a musician, a composer, a teacher, a salesman, a film extra, a baker and a hand double for a well known Irish comedian, but is currently a partner in a successful multimedia design business in the wilds of Northern Ireland.
He has published short stories in Thuglit, Electric Spec and Every Day Fiction. His debut novel, THE GHOSTS OF BELFAST, will be published in the UK by Harvill Secker, an imprint of Random House, July 2009, and by Random House Kodansha in Japan. For more information, visit Stuart's website at http://www.stuartneville.com/.
Diana Orgain, BUNDLE OF TROUBLE: A MATERNAL INSTINCTS MYSTERY, August 2009
Diana Orgain holds an M.F.A. and B.A in Creative Writing from San Francisco State University with a minor in acting. Diana's plays have been produced at San Francisco State University, GreenHouses Productions, and PlayGround in San Francisco. Diana's debut novel Postpartum Detective will be released August 2009 from Berkley Prime Crime. When a body is dredged from the San Francisco Bay, the Postpartum Detective battles sleep deprivation, diaper blowouts and breastfeeding mishaps to muddle through her own investigation, Mommy style. Diana lives in San Francisco with her husband and their children. To learn more about the author, visit her website at www.dianaorgain.com.
Brad Parks, FACES OF THE GONE, December 2009
A shooting can rattle a city, even if it's gun-choked Newark. Investigative reporter Carter Ross finds himself with gruesome front page news: four bodies in a vacant lot, each with a single bullet hole in the back of the head. In a haste to calm residents, local police leak a story to Carter's colleagues at the Newark Eagle- Examiner, calling the murders revenge for a bar stick-up. But while Carter may not come from the streets, he knows a few things about Newark's ghettos. And he knows the story the police are pushing just doesn't make sense. The paper prints the police's version anyway -- under the journalistic theory that it's better to be first with the news than factual -- leaving Carter all but alone to find the real story. He enlists the aide of Tina Thompson, the paper's smoking hot city editor, to run interference for him at the office; Tommy Hernandez, the paper's gay Cuban intern, to help him with legwork on the street; and Tynesha Dales, a local stripper, to take him to Newark's underside. Soon, Carter learns the four victims have one connection after all, and this knowledge will put him in the path of one very ambitious killer.
BRAD PARKS is an escaped journalist, having done time at The Washington Post and The (Newark, N.J.) Star-Ledger as a sportswriter and news feature writer. A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Dartmouth College, he is a washed-up jock, a veteran of community theater and an experienced (and enthusiastic) public speaker. He lives in Virginia with an understanding wife and two adorable young children. For more information, visit Brad's website at http://bradparksbooks.com.
A. Scott Pearson, RUPTURE, February 2009
A. Scott Pearson is a surgeon in Nashville who throws his medical dilemmas at his series protagonist, Eli Branch, M.D. Pearson is a member of the surgical faculty at Vanderbilt University where he teaches on the importance of the patient's narrative in medicine. RUPTURE will be released by Oceanview Publishing in February 2009. For more information, visit www.rupturenovel.com
Andrew Peterson, FIRST TO KILL, September, 2008
Born and raised in San Diego, California, Andrew Peterson attended La Jolla High School before enrolling at the University of Oklahoma, where he earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Architecture. At age six, Andrew won his first shooting competition. His early fascination with rifles became a life-long devotion. He has won many competitions, including a Gold Medal at the 1995 Excellence in Competition match at the Nevada State Championship, and a First Place victory at the 1994 Arizona State Championship, 1,000 Yard Service Rifle Match. Currently, Andrew holds the classification of Master in the NRA's High Power Rifle ranking system. Andrew began to write fiction in 1990, but it wasn't until he attended his first writer's conference in 2005, that he became serious about writing the Nathan McBride stories. Andrew and his wife, Carla, live just north of Paso Robles, California. For more information on Andrew, please visit www.andrewpeterson.com.
Barry Pollack, FORTY-EIGHT X, December 2009
Barry Pollack, who still works in the frontline trenches of medicine as an ER doctor, has a creative life that spans a variety of venues. After a master's degree in film from Stanford and a fellowship at the American Film Institute, he began as a documentary filmmaker and went on to write and direct two feature films, several prime-time television dramas, and a series of newspaper columns. His debut novel, FORTY-EIGHT X, will be released by Medallion Press in December 2009.
FORTY-EIGHT X is the story of the Lemuria Project, a gathering of the world's greatest scientists on a secret island to genetically engineer a new kind of American warrior -- lethal, near invincible, expendable. Pollack takes two fascinating romantically mismatched couples on an adventure around the world, challenging military and political roadblocks, until they uncover the secret of a chimera, a new species that might one day vie with the human race for dominance.
For more information about Barry Pollack and FORTY-EIGHT X, visit www.barrypollackonline.com.
Cynthia Robinson, THE DOG PARK CLUB, December 2009
Cynthia Robinson lives in San Francisco. She is writing a series of mysteries revolving around the noir entanglements of Max Bravo--opera singer, sybarite, and decidedly amateur detective. We first meet Max in The Dog Park Club. He is vain, arch, brittle, and bored. To his own surprise, Max becomes enmeshed with an eccentric group of regulars at a Berkeley dog park. One of them, a beautiful and beguiling young woman, goes missing. And so ensues the clueless hunt for the woman's killer. Thomas Dunne Books (St. Martin's Press) is publishing The Dog Park Club in December 2009, and The Barbary Labyrinth in 2010. Cynthia has an MFA in creative writing from University of San Francisco, where she also taught. Her stories have appeared in Switchback (swback.com) and Opium (opiummagazine.com) and she was nominated for the Best New American Writers Award and the Best of the Web, Humor. Visit her at http://www.cynjairobinson.com
Robert Rotenberg, OLD CITY HALL, March 2009
Here's what one of my publishers (how can I say that with a straight face?) wrote about me: "Robert Rotenberg is one of Toronto's top lawyers, defending, as he likes to say, 'everything from murder to shoplifting.' He lives in Toronto with his wife, a television producer at CBC News, their three children and their little dog, Fudge, his constant companion every morning when he gets up to write. The "top" lawyer we can file under the "fiction category" but my dog Fudge is by my side. Fortune has smiled upon me. I have a two book hardcover deal with Farrar Strauss and Giroux and to date we've sold my first novel, OLD CITY HALL, in eight languages. Simon & Schuster is publishing in Canada, John Murray in England. Even though I've been writing since I was a teenager, and always saw myself as a writer who was an accidental (read: mortgage/kids/life) lawyer, this still feels a bit like fiction to me. Not that I'm complaining. In fact, I'm thrillered.
Allyson Roy, APHRODISIAC, September 2008
Allyson Roy is actually . . . Alice & Roy, a husband and wife team. With backgrounds in the arts -- Alice in dance and choreography, Roy in fine art, theater and standup comedy -- they spent many gypsy years living and working in the different neighborhoods of New York City and Philadelphia. Their humor-laced romantic suspense series is set primarily in the Brooklyn waterfront neighborhood of DUMBO. For more information visit http://www.allysonroy.com.
Hank Schwaeble, DAMNABLE, September 2009
Hank is a practicing attorney in the Houston area, and a former Air Force officer and Special Agent for the Air Force Office of Special Investigations. He's a graduate of the University of Florida and Vanderbilt Law School. He also graduated first in his class from the year-long Japanese Language Course at the Defense Language Institute and was a distinguished graduate from the Air Force Special Investigations Academy. In law school, he won multiple American Jurisprudence Awards and was an editor of the Vanderbilt Law Review. His first novel, DAMNABLE, is a supernatural thriller about a disgraced special forces interrogator who knows he's going to Hell, and who discovers that getting to the truth behind his brother's death may be the only chance the rest of us has of not joining him. Hank's first short story was published in Alone on the Darkside (Roc 2006), and he won a 2007 Bram Stoker Award along with Gary Braunbeck for the five-author anthology Five Strokes to Midnight. New York Times bestselling author Cherry Adair called DAMNABLE "Flat-out fabulous! ... [F]ast-paced, edgy and gripping!" While fellow bestseller Tom Monteleone described it as a "powerful tale" that combines many genres to create something "fresh and irresistible." For more information, visit www.hankschwaeble.com.
Roger Smith, MIXED BLOOD, March 2009
South African film and TV writer, Roger Smith, uses Cape Town - a city as brutal as it is beautiful - as the backdrop for MIXED BLOOD. An American, hiding out in Cape Town after being blackmailed into a bank heist back home, is building a new life for his pregnant wife and young son when an incident of random violence sets him on a collision course with street gangs and a rogue cop who loves killing almost as much as he loves Jesus Christ. MIXED BLOOD will be published in hardcover by Henry Holt in February 2009. Roger's second book, another stand-alone thriller, will follow in early 2010. Website: http://www.rogersmithbooks.com/
Dennis Tafoya, DOPE THIEF, May 2009
Dennis Tafoya was born in Philadelphia and dropped out of college to work as a housepainter, hospital orderly and EMT before starting a career in industrial sales. Dope Thief, his first novel, will be published by St. Martin's in May 2009. His second novel, The Wolves in Fairmount Park, will also be published by St. Martin's. He is a member of the Mystery Writers of America, the International Thriller Writers, and the Liars Club, a Philadelphia-area writers group. He lives in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, where he is currently at work on his third novel, Black Horse Pike.
Along with his friend Manny, small-time criminal Ray makes a decent living posing as a DEA agent and robbing drug dealers in the decaying neighborhoods surrounding Philadelphia. Heading further afield, they raid a meth lab in a farmhouse, and end up scoring hundreds of thousands of dollars. Ray and Manny soon discover that the farmhouse was part of a much larger operation, and a wannabe drug kingpin is determined to make them pay.
For Ray, the situation is a wake-up call; he needs to get out of his life of drugs and crime right away. Yet this isn't the first time he's tried to go straight. Ray is haunted by the memory of a girlfriend from high school, a girl he would have done anything for, whose death left him stuck in the life of a criminal. Now Ray has to stay alive long enough to discover if that path is truly irreversible.
Kay Thomas, BETTER THAN BULLETPROOF, January 2009; BULLETPROOF TEXAS, April 2009
Having grown up in the heart of the Mississippi Delta, Kay Thomas considers herself a recovering Southern belle. She attended Vanderbilt and graduated from Mississippi State University, with a degree in Educational Psychology and an emphasis in English. Along the way to publication, she taught high school, worked in an advertising specialty agency, and had a very brief stint in a lingerie store. Today she lives in Dallas with her husband, their two children and a shockingly spoiled Boston Terrier named Jack.
Her debut romantic suspense thriller will be released by Harlequin Intrigue in January 2009. BETTER THAN BULLETPROOF is about a woman who becomes tangled in a murderous web of government conspiracy involving a big pharma cover-up and the vaccine-autism connection. Thomas dares to ask the question: How far should the government go to protect a pharmaceutical company that holds a worldwide cure in one hand and an epidemic in the other?
Kay's second novel, BULLETPROOF TEXAS, will be released in April 2009. Visit her at www.kaythomas.net.
Paul Tremblay, THE LITTLE SLEEP, March 2009
Paul Tremblay has sold over fifty short stories to markets such as Razor Magazine, CHIZINE, Weird Tales, Last Pentacle of the Sun: Writings in Support of the West Memphis Three, and Horror: The Year's Best 2007. He is the author of the horror fiction collection Compositions for the Young and Old and the hard-boiled/dark fantasy novella City Pier: Above and Below. He served as fiction editor of CHIZINE and as co-editor of Fantasy Magazine, and was also the co-editor (with Sean Wallace) of the Fantasy, Bandersnatch, and Phantom (forthcoming) anthologies. His first novel, The Little Sleep, is forthcoming from Henry Holt (March 2009). Paul is also a juror (and one of the founders) for The Shirley Jackson Awards (www.shirleyjacksonawards.org). For more information on Paul and his works, visit his website at www.paultremblay.net.
Paula Tutman, DEADLINE!, Available now
DEADLINE! is a serial thriller about a journalist who unwittingly becomes the catalyst for murder. It is a mainstream fiction novel that factually recreates the dirty, dingy, dank behind-the-scenes world of television news.
Written by Emmy winning television journalist, Paula L. Tutman, who spent nearly a decade as a top police reporter. The debut novel is loosely based on a killer who developed an obsession with her while working in Baltimore, Maryland. Tutman currently works as a correspondent for the NBC affiliate in Detroit, Michigan, WDIV TV 4. For more information, visit www.deadlinethebook.com
John M. Wills, CHICAGO WARRIORS, MIDNIGHT BATTLES IN THE WINDY CITY, October 2008
John spent 33 years in law enforcement before holstering his pistol and drawing his muse. After retiring from the FBI, he redefined his mission as one of sharing his experience and expertise with those who would follow in his footsteps. John has published dozens of articles on police training and officer survival. His first book, published by TotalRecall Publications, draws on his experiences as a Chicago Police Officer and FBI Agent.
In the book, Chicago Police Officer Pete Shannon's life is about to take a dramatic turn. His wife has a dark secret that she's about to reveal to him; his partner's life is about to be in jeopardy, and worst of all one of his own colleagues will present him with one of the biggest challenges of his life. Pete's strength, both physical and spiritual, will be put to the test as he and his partner work the "graveyard shift" on the mean streets of the "Windy City."
Fellow officer Marilyn Benson doesn't realize it yet, but her life is about to change in ways that she could have never imagined. Forces of good and evil will do battle for her soul and her faith, both of which have lain dormant for many years. It's an issue that she can no longer ignore. St. Michael the Archangel, patron saint of police officers, is about to engage in his biggest clash since throwing Satan out of Heaven.
The battle lines are drawn!
Visit www.johnmwills.com for more information.
Jaye Wells, RED-HEADED STEPCHILD, April 2009
After several years as a magazine editor and freelance writer, Jaye Wells finally decided to leave the facts behind and make up her own reality. Her overactive imagination and life-long fascination with the arcane and freakish blended nicely with this new career path. She lives in Texas with her saintly husband and devilish son.
RED-HEADED STEPCHILD and the next two books in the Sabina Kane series were purchased in a preempt deal by Orbit. Bestselling author Kat Richardson had this to say about RED-HEADED STEPCHILD: "Brassy, sassy, and hip! Wells' promising debut is a fast-paced trip through a dark and dangerous landscape featuring an unusual take on vampires, mages, faeries, and demons. It hooks you on page one and takes you for a great ride!"
RED-HEADED STEPCHILD debuts in April 2009. For more information, visit www.jayewells.com.
