Toni Andrews

A former business analyst with a major US Corporation, Toni Andrews decided, at forty-four, that what she really wanted to be was a novelist. She used the business tools employed by her day job to make a plan and, in less than two years, she had published one novel and was under contract for five more. In 2006, Toni quit her day job to write full time and moved to the Connecticut lakeside cottage where she spent childhood summers. Toni is currently working on more installments in the Mercy Hollings, Hypnotherapist series--urban fantasies set in Newport Beach, California. She also writes romance, including erotic romance, under the name Virginia Reede. Toni is a member of Romance Writers of America, Mystery Writers of America, International Thriller Writers, Sisters in Crime and a number of local chapters of these and other writers organizations.

William Bernhardt

William Bernhardt is the author of over twenty mystery-thrillers that have sold more than ten million copies worldwide, most recently Capitol Conspiracy. Library Journal has called him the "master of the courtroom drama." The Vancouver Sun dubbed him "the American equivalent of P.G. Wodehouse and John Mortimer." He is also the author of The Code of Buddyhood, a coming-of-age novel described by The West Coast Review of Books as "a powerful and sophisticated novel about the nature of friendship," and a biography for young adults, Equal Justice: The Courage of Ada Sipuel. Four of Bill's books have been on the New York Time's Best Seller List. He has twice won the Oklahoma Book Award for Best Fiction, in 1995 and 1999, and in 1998 he received the Southern Writers Guild's Gold Medal Award. In 2000, he was honored with OSU's H. Louise Cobb Distinguished Author Award, which is given "in recognition of an outstanding body of work that has profoundly influenced the way in which we understand ourselves and American society at large." That same year, he was presented with a Career Achievement Award at the 2000 Booklovers Convention in Houston. In addition to his work as a writer, Bernhardt is also a popular teacher and publisher. In 1999, he founded HAWK Publishing Group. Although HAWK focuses on discovering new writers, particularly those in the Southwest, it has also published books by acclaimed authors such as Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist N. Scott Momaday, Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter Janis Ian, and PBS newsman Jim Lehrer. www.williambernhardt.com

Bill Brooks

Bill Brooks began his professional writing career after 16 years as a healthcare professional following a lifetime of an assortment of jobs.  When he finally decided to write a novel, the second publisher he sent it to published it in 1992. Since then he has had another 20 novels published. He had three novels released in 2007. In addition to his writing, he has taught workshops all across the country including the famed Chautauqua Institute in New York.  He created and ran the Blue Ridge Writers Program in Asheville for four years. Bill enjoys doing the workshops and lectures as an escape from the isolation of writing.  www.authorbillbrooks.com

Molly Dwyer

Molly Dwyer has been a transformational educator for more than fifteen years, facilitating workshops and teaching English composition, creative writing, and literature in community college. Requiem for the Author of Frankenstein, Molly's debut novel, is the fruit of over a decade of research and writing. She's also co-author of Divine Duality: The Power of Reconciliation between Women and Men with William Keepin and Cynthia Brix. Molly has studied fiction writing with Seamus Heaney, at Ireland's Galway University, and with England's Arvon Project. She's trained with the National Writing Project and studied literature in an Oxford University summer program. Molly earned her Masters in at Sonoma State University and completed a PhD at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco.  www.mollydwyer.com

Karen Fisher

Karen Fisher's debut novel, A Sudden Country, was named a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner award and winner of the Mountains and Plains Booksellers' Award, The Virginia Commonwealth Award for First Fiction, the Sherwood Anderson Foundation Fiction Award, and the Washington State Book Award for Fiction. She taught a winter course in fiction writing for the University of Washington Extension program, and is currently completing her second novel for Random House. Before establishing her career as a writer, she worked as a wrangler, a high school teacher, a farmer, and carpenter, and now raises and trains Nez Perce horses. She lives with her husband and three children on Lopez Island.  www.asuddencountry,com

Molly Gloss

A fourth-generation Oregonian who lives in Portland, Molly's novel The Jump-Off Creek was a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award for American Fiction, and a winner of both the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Award and the Oregon Book Award. In 1996 Molly was a recipient of a Whiting Writers Award. The Dazzle of Day  was named a New York Times Notable Book and was awarded the PEN Center West Fiction Prize. Wild Life won the James Tiptree Jr. Award and was chosen as the 2002 selection for "If All Seattle Read the Same Book." Her most recent novel, The Hearts of Horses, is a national and regional best seller and has received widespread attention and acclaim. Molly was in residency at Hedgebrook on Whidbey Island in 1995 and1997. She received a Fellowship for Writers, Literary Arts Inc., 1996 and the Whiting Writers Award, Mrs. Giles Whiting Foundation, 1996. www.mollygloss.com

Lisa Hendrix

Lisa Hendrix fell in love for the first time at age 10 (with both of the Men from U.N.C.L.E., for those of you who remember that far back) and has been fascinated by the whole concept of love ever since. That interest led her naturally enough to reading romance novels, and then to writing them -- which, coincidentally, put her in a hotel elevator with Robert Vaughn at an RWA conference. Still waiting for that equally serendipitous encounter with David McCallum, she has five published books under her belt and is now working on an extended series about a crew of cursed Viking raiders. The first, IMMORTAL WARRIOR, will be published by Berkley in November 2008.  www.lisahendrix.com

Nancy Horan

A writer and journalist,Nancy's work has appeared in numerous publications. Loving Frank is her first novel. She lived most of her life in Oak Park, IL, until her recent move to Whidbey Island. www.randomhouse.com/rhpg/lovingfrank

Phillip Margolin

A retired attorney specializing in criminal defense, Phillip Margolin began writing full time in 1996. All of his novels have been New York Times bestsellers. Heartstone, his first novel, was nominated for an Edgar for best original paperback mystery of 1978 by the Mystery Writers of America. The Last Innocent Man, was made into an HBO movie. Gone, But Not Forgotten  has been sold to more than 25 foreign publishers and debuted as a miniseries in 2004. Executive Privilege, released in 2008, is a powerful tale of murder that snakes its way through Washington, D.C.'s halls of power, leading straight to the White House. Phil has also published short stories and nonfiction articles in magazines and law journals. His short story, The Jailhouse Lawyer , was selected for the anthology 1999, The Best American Mystery Stories. Since 1996, Phil has been the President and Chairman of the Board of Chess for Success, a nonprofit charity that uses chess to teach study skills to elementary and middle school children in Title I schools.  www.phillipmargolin.com

Michele Scott

Michele Scott is the author of Murder Uncorked and the Wine Lover's Mystery Series as well as the Horse Lover's Mystery Series for Berkley Prime Crime (Penguin). Michele has been writing for more than fifteen years and after twelve years of pursuing her passion she signed two three-book deals with Berkley in less than a year. Her debut novel, Murder Uncorked, has been nominated for a best first mystery award by Romantic Times BookClub. She has been an opening speaker at The Southern California Writer's Conference, The Orange County RWA as well as The Kiss Of Death Writer's Retreat, and taught workshops at The San Diego Romance Writer's of America Conference and was on the mystery writers' panel at The Romantic Times BookClub Conference. Michele now has seven books out with her eighth mystery to be released in Feb. 2009, along with her first mid-grade fantasy novel (also out in Februrary). www.michelescott.com

Dana Stabenow

A prolific author, Dana has produced science fiction, mystery and most recently a novel based on modern piracy and international terrorism. Many of her books are set in her home state of Alaska, where she was raised by her single mother who lived and worked on a fish tender in the Gulf of Alaska. Stabenow received a B.A. in Journalism from the University of Alaska in 1973 and, after deciding to try her hand as an author, later enrolled in UAA's MFA program. Her first novel, Second Star was bought by Ace Science Fiction in 1990. It was followed by two other science fiction books. Her first Shugak book, A Cold Day for Murder, won the Edgar Award for Best Paperback Original in 1993. Recently, Dana signed a new contract with Minotaur that includes two more Kate Shugak novels and the fifth Liam Campbell novel, which she is calling Bones out of the Grave. www.stabenow.com

John Straley

Novelist John Straley, Alaska's current State Writer Laureate, has worked as a secretary, horseshoer, wilderness guide, trail crew foreman, millworker, machinist and private investigator. He moved to Sitka, Alaska in 1977 and has no plans of leaving. John's wife, Jan, is a marine biologist well-known for her extensive studies of humpback whales. John's first book, The Woman Who Married a Bear, was published in 1993 and won the Shamus Award for the Best First Mystery of that year. His third book, The Music of What Happens, won the 1997 Spotted Owl Award for Best Northwest Mystery. John works from a small office alongside the waterfront home near Old Sitka Rocks where he and Jan raised their son, Finn.  www.johnstraley.com

Maralys Wills

Maralys Wills’s twelve published books span several genres. Her fiction includes four romance novels and a techno-thriller about airplane sabotage. Among her nonfiction is a book on hang gliding, a party game book, a book about addiction, and three memoirs. Her humorous memoir, A Circus Without Elephants, won an award from Writer’s Digest.  Her serious memoir, Higher Than Eagles, garnered five movie options, including one from Disney. Her latest is a writing book, Damn the Rejections, Full Speed Ahead. For the past 21 years, Wills has taught college novel-writing, and in 2000 was voted “Teacher of the Year.”   www.maralys.com

Dick Wimmer

Dick Wimmer is a professor of English at Pepperdine University and the author of numerous works of fiction, as well as screenplays for television and film. Some of his books include Baseball Fathers, Baseball Sons (1988), Irish Wine (1989), and Boyne's Lassie (1998). In addition, he has published short stories in many literary magazines and written The Million Dollar Infield, a CBS Movie of the Week, starring Rob Reiner.  Photo by Wynn Allen