David W. Frank
David is the author of Vienna in Violet. He was educated at Harvard and Stanford. Though he lived
in Boston, David developed the arts and crafts that characterized his long-running career as a theatre person (actor, director, producer, amatuer musician and English teacher in New York's North Country).
SplinterFire lost our beloved David in the summer of 2017. His wonderful persona, sense of humor, an tongue-in-cheek writing style was surpassed by no other. He was a wonderful actor, singer and composer. He will be terribly missed.
Marie Bartlett
Marie Bartlett is the author of Pearl, MD and Pearl, MD, The Way West. If you love women's fiction, you'll love these wonderful books.
Marie was born in Melbourne, Australia. She spent most of her youth and adult life throughout Virginia and North Carolina, where her American father traveled for work. A member of the American Society of Journalists & Authors (ASJA), she began her writing career in newspapers, trade journals and national magazines. Today, she is the author of four non-fiction books, including one titled Gifts from Shane: A True Story of Love and Loss, forwarded by Winston Groom, author of Forest Gump. She lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Hendersonville, NC and has two surviving sons, Brian and Brett. Travel writing is one of her newest passions.
Northeast with his wife Susan and their two dogs, Daisy and Gracie.
*Lisa Begin-Kruysman
Lisa is the author of Dog's Best Friend. She is an established dog blogger and administrator for the official National Dog Week Facebook page. She is an award-winning author. She lives in Ocean County, New Jersey. www.lisabegin-kruysmanauthor.com/#!
*Brenda Stanley
Brenda is the author of The Color of Snow, The Zucchini Houdini, That's a Lot of Crock, and Everyday Vegetarian, The Treasure of Cedar Creek, Only in Darkness , the upcoming The Small Silent Voice and the new edition of Like Ravens in Winter. She is retired from her job as news anchor at NBC affiliate station KPVI in Eastern Idaho. She has been recognized by the Scripps Howard Foundation, The Hearst Journalism Awards, The Idaho Press Club, and the Society for Professional Journalists. She lives in Idaho with her husband. brendastanlybooks.net
Meagan Kish
*John Anthony Miller
John is the author of To Parts Unknown, In Satan's Shadow, All the King's Soldiers, When Darkness Comes, Honour the Dead and the upcoming Sinner, Saint, or Serpent , For Those Who Dare, The Drop, The Minister's Wife, A Crime Through Time, and Song of Gabrielle. John was born in Philadelphia, PA to a father of English Ancestry and a second-generation Italian mother. Motivated by a life-long love of travel and history, he normally sets his novels in exotic locations during eras of global conflict. Characters must cope and combat, overcoming their own weaknesses and external influences spawned by tumultuous times. He lives in New Jersey with his family.
www.johnanthonymiller.com
*Dorothy K. Fletcher
James Haberkorn
Jim is the author of Einstein's Trunk and A Thousand Suns and Redfish. He was born in Brookyn, NY in 1951. When he was a teenager, his family moved to the West Coast, settling in San Francisco for a time before moving south into Silicon Valley. After attending college, he completed a church mission and spent six years in the marines. He found a home in the computer industry in 1978 and has worked there ever since.
Jim has lived on three continents and done business in over 40 countries. Currently he lives in Zurich, Switzerland with his wife Kim. www.jimhaberkorn.com
G. W. Kennedy (Bill)
Bill is the author of Purpose Pitch and Dead Arm. He received a B. A. in English from Rice University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. He completed his PhD in English, writing a dissertation on Dickens novels. He was an English professor at the University of Illinois, Chicago. When he left academia to become a business writer, he was published (short stories) in several literary magazines, plus had various non-fiction articles published in the Chicago Tribune.
Purpose Pitch is the first in the Ben Barklee (English professor), mysteries. www.facebook.com/bill.kennedy
Cal Thomas
He has over 20 years of experience in writing, music production, performing arts, education and counseling. He has guest taught a variety of academic subjects in public schools, souseled at-risk youth, and created an on-line music-marketing based resource for artists most in need of knowledge to succeed.
Jody Overend
Jody is the author of UPHILL and the upcoming Missing: Bessie. After an award-winning career as an advertising copywriter in Toronto, Canada, Jody flew the coop, going on the sabbatical of a lifetime to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Three months turned into three years of glorious sun-soaked freedom and time to follow her dream of writing novels. She currently lives in a small fishing village in Ontario.
AUTHOR BIOS
* equals award winning author
Bruce Loper
Tony Black
Tony Black is the author of The Last Tiger and His Father's Son. He is the author of sixteen novels, including the critically acclaimed Gus Dury crime series. He has been nominated for eight CWA Daggers and was runner up the The Guardian's Not the Booker prize for The Last Tiger. Born in Australia and raised in Scotland and Ireland, he is described by Irvine Welsh as his "favourrite British crime writer." You can visit with Tony at his website: www.tonyblack.net.
Anne Montgomery
Anne Butler Montgomery is the author of The Scent of Rain. Wild Horses on the Salt ,The Castle and Wolfcatcher. She has worked as a television sportscaster, newspaper and magazine writer, teacher, amateur baseball umpire, and high school football referee. She finished her on-camera broadcasting career with a two-year stint as the studio host for the NBA's Phoenix Suns.
Lee Goldstein
Lee is the author of So Far, So Good! Lee lived with his injury for 70 years. Behind his success as a young man and adult was a loving, caring and supportive fmaily. Lee and his late wife Marilyn raised five adopted children. His widow Ellen was a rock, and made Lee's later years close to divine.
We lost Lee in the summer of 2017. He was wonderfully articulate, compassionate, and very funny. We'll miss him forever.
*Avanti Centrae
Jenny is the co-author of Fifty Shades of Black and White. She is currently an Instructional Specialist in Forth Worth Independent School District working with students who need extra support. In 2011, she left her career to publish and distribute books for The Writer's Coffee Shop. Her litigation with partner, Amanda Hayward, is the subject of the book.
Margaree King Mitchell
Margaree is the author of The People in the Park. She was born in Holly Springs, MI and received her college degree from Brandeis University. She lives in Kansas City. She is the creator of the Everybody Has a Dream program, which empowers students in urban and rural areas to shoot for the stars with aspirations for their lives. The program inspires students to dream big and believe their dreams can come true. It also imparts significant life principles and nuggets of history. In 2002, Margaree was presented with the SCERUS award at the National Invitational Conference on Educational Research in the Urban South. In 2012, Margaree was honored for her commitment to children's literacy by Texas A & M University. margareekmitchell.com
Nancy is the author of The Triangle Stair. She has worn many hats: biologist, anatomy professor, illustrator, and volunteer in wildlife rehabilitation, conservation, and pet therapy. She has illustrated several biology laboratory manuals, and has sold her artwork on consignment and on line. She and her husband MIke and their dog Carl live in the Chicago area. The Triangle Stair is her first children's book.
Janie Owens*
Janie is the author of 50 Plus Condo trilogy and Goldilocks, inspirational cozy the whole family will love. . She sometimes writes under the name of Elizabeth and is a published author with Llewellyn Worldwide.
Some of Janie's interests are reading, painting and travel. She and her husband Vincent have a houseful of pets that live peacefully in their large central Florida home.
Cal is the author of Decoy, an international thriller, featuring Kyle McBride and all of his minions. Cal has been writing for most of his life. After several careers, Cal began writing for fun and profit, beginning with travel articles and moving into thrillers After a somewhat unusual tour of duty as a military intelligence operative, he formed TSD Company and collaborated with major broadcasters in North America, Europe and Asia. He is a pilot and a marathon runner. After living ad working in Paris, New York, Pennsylvania and Florida, he currently splits his year between Maine and Florida.
Avanti is the award winning author of VanOps--The Lost Power. After ony forty-six years of study and exploration, she found the courage to complete VanOps, a thrilling adventure/mystery. Reading is always in her life. She now resides in Northern California. Besides reading and writing, she enjoys her family, her dogs, hiking, biking, and doing anything outdoors in the local Sierra Nevada mountain range.
A native of Richmond, IN, she began her professional writing career with a weekly history column for a Gannett newspaper, where she was also a features reporter. She received an honors liberal arts degree from Indiana University. Mary Ellen lives with her husband Tom in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Capt. Michael A. Lilly
Capt. Michael A. Lilly, USN (Ret) is the author of Nimitz at Ease. He is an honor graduate of the University of the Pacific's McGeorge School of Law. He has published over 100 articles on military history and current affairs in the Honolulu Council of the Navy League's magazine Fore 'n Aft, Seapower, Surface Sitrep, the U. S. Naval Insititute's Proceeedings," newspapers and other publications He wrote a book on estate planning, If You Die Tomorrow, which is in its third printing.
Paul Spencer Alexander is the author of Strike the Right Chord--A DIY Guide to Global success in Today's Music Industry. Paul is an international award-winning singer, songwriter and short filmmaker.
*Mike Farris
Mike is the author of A Death in the Islands , Miles Apart, Poor Innocent Lad and Fifty Shades of Black and White, which he co-authored with Jennifer Pedroza.Both are true crime stories that take place in Hawaii, Mike's home away from home. He is a retired commercial litigator and entertainment lawyer in Dallas, TX. He is an adjunct professor at the University of Dallas and is on the faculty at the La Jolla Writers Conference. He is an award-winning screenwriter. Although he currently resides in the Dallas suberbs, Hawaii is his home away from home. Many of his mature novels are located in that beautiful location. www.facebook.com/mike.farris
Meagan is the author of The Darkest Current. She grew up in the Mid-West, but transplanted to the Deep South more than a decade ago. She's always been drawn to historical settings and things mysterious. From that combination she tell us of the plight of the Sullivan Family. Meagan has a degree in English, with a background in editing and communications. She lives in Alabama with her husband, three daughters, and spends her spare time as a music instructor.
IN MEMORIUM
*Gloria Koehler
Gloria is the author of Scruffy Brown Shoes, co-author of See, I Can Do It!, The Reluctant Eagle, The Silent Lion, Outrageous Kitty, and the upcoming A Jobe for Tabitha. She is the co-founder of SplinterFire. She, with her husband, retired to Palm Coast, FL in 1985, after a 30-year span as a career woman. At last, she has time to satisfy her passion for writing children's books, as well as young adult stories. In the See books, Gloria brings forward the trials that children often face and deals with them in a humorous yet non-insulting way. When asked where she gets her ideas, Gloria replies, "They just pop into my head."
*Piper Huguley
Piper is the co-author of Oney--My Escape from Slavery. Her book, A Treasure of Gold, was named by Romance Novels in Color as Best Book of 2015. She was named breakout author of the year by AAMBC. She is the author of Migrations of the Heart, a five-book series of historical romances set in the early 20th Century, featurning African American characters. Her new series, Born to Win Men will debut this winter.
Bruce is the author of the upcoming The Watergate Post. Bruce is retired after thirty years of teaching high school and college. He loved every minute in his classroom, but hated the politics of school. Now this retirement makes every day a I-guess-I'd-rather-go-golfing-or-skiing day than a doin -actual-work-day. Options he never had before, and time to write for fun, instead of grading endless stacks of essays, while praying for snow-days, just to catch up a little. Great family. Life is good.
Anne was a freelance and/or staff reporter for six publications, writing sports, features and archeological pieces. Until her recent retirement, she taught journalism at high school level in Phoenix. She is a foster mom to three sons. When she can, she indulges in her passions: rock collecting, football officiating, scuba diving, and playing her guitar.
Dorothy is the author of HOJO Girl and Shelter from the Storm, both young adult coming of age stories. After 35 years of teaching English, she began her writing career in earnest. Her poetry already had appeared in 78 literary journals, and her articles had appeared in the Florida Times-Union, Jacksonville Magazine, Small Press Review, the Christian Science Monitor and Rider Magazine. She is the author off four books published besides HOJO Girl--The Week of Dream Horses, The Cruelest Months, and Zen Fishing and Other Southern Pleasures.
Her monthly column for the Florida Times-Union formed the basis for the first of five histories she has written about her beloved city, Jacksonville, FL. Presently, she and her husband Hardy reside in the San Jose area, near their family. They travel whenever they can.
* Donna Eastman
Donna is the co-founder of SplinterFire. She is the author of Terwilliger's Tale, and co-author of See, I Can Do It!; The Reluctant Eagle, TheSilent Lion, Outrageous Kitty and A Job for Tabitha. She holds a B.S. from Simmons College School of Publication. She worked as a copywriter for Allyn and Bacon (Pearson Group), a managing editor at Little, Brown (now Hachett Book Group) and as an editor at McGraw-Hill. She has had 35 years experience in book and magazine publishing. She is the owner of Parkeast Literary Agency, a member of the National League of American Pen Women, and Who's Who in American Women. www.facebook.com/donna.eastman
Lee Arthur (Lee Edwards Benning)
Lee is the author of The Flying Filly. She is also is the author of Ah, Fudge, the sequel to Oh, Fudge. She is known to her friends as "The Fudge Lady."
She is the author of twelve books. She lives in Ambler, PA with her assistant and husband, Arthur E. Benning Sr.
*Christina Britton Conroy
Christina is the author of the award-winning How to Have Fun with your Aging Parents. She is a professional actior, musician and singer. She is the founder and Executive Director of Music Gives Life, bringing muscial performing into the lives of senior citizens.
A former senior center director, nursing home therapist, she brings unique insights into the joys and frustrations shared by geriatric patients and their caregivers. She lives in Greenwich Village, NYC with her husband. www.christinabrittonconroy.com.
Paul Spencer Alexander*
Mary Ellen Is the author of Smiles, and In The Shadow of Her Hat. She has always had a special fondness for family lore--the quirkier the better.
J. T. is the author of Blood on the Bayou and Murder in the Extreme, plus six other Miranda Marquette mysteries, and The Influencer, a new series featuring Cordelia Corbett, another female slueth. J. T. is a lifelong singer/songwriter. When he realized that to be successful in songwriting meant moving to Nashsville, he decided to keep his day job. Writing a novel has been a lifetime dream. He lives in the
Charlotte Stuart
Mary Ellen Donat
Christine Raffini
Christine Raffini is the author of the trilogy, Daughters of Fire. She studied in Paris, France where she lived for five years, and in Perugia. She received a Ph.D from Penn State and taught French literature at the University of Miami.
A seasoned traveler interested in politics, wildlife and culture, she reveals her varied interests in her books, which give much information about the historical times of which she writes.
SplinterFire tragically lost our darling Christine, gone much too soon. Her writing is marvelous, and readers of Daughters of Fire will be enthralled with her characters and their various escapades.
Diana Rubino
Diana is the author of the novels, the best-selling Oney--My Escape from Slavery and the just released For the Love of Hawthorne. Diana is the author of several historical and paranormal novels set in England and the U. S. She's a longtime member of Romance Writers of America, the Richard the Third Society and the Aaron Burr Association. She has written articles for Romantic Times and appeard on the Book Swap Cafe, shown nationwide on Comcast channels. Diana and her husband own an engineering business based in Boston. www.dianarubino.com
*Jennifer Pedroza
Bob Bickford
Bob is the author of Caves in the Rain, Girls in Pink,A Song for Chloe,Hau Tree Green,The Violet Crab, Deep Cherry Red, the The Orange Groove, A Blueberry Moon for Corah and the newly released, Dear Ghost.When he was little, he haunted the library. He hunted for good stories, found himself lost in pages, and daydreamed about becoming a writer. When he grew older, real life got in the way and paychecks became more urgent than classes or degrees.
The dream was filed under "impossible things," and nearly forgotten. After years spent in various corners of the United States and Canada, he dusted off his imagination and became a writer-by-night. He hunts for good stories once again, this time the ones in his head. He still haunts the library. He lives in Canada. www.bobbickfordauthor.com
J. T. Kunkel
Charlotte is the author of the McCavity and Me series including Why Me? , Bogged Down, and Survival Can be Deadly, with a new series featuring insurance sleuth, John Smith, wonderful cozy mysteries the whole family can enjoy. She began her career in academia, teaching communications and coaching intercollegiate debate. She left her tenured position to go commercial salmon fishing in Alaska, and for several years divided her time between fishing and management consulting. In a world filled with too much uncertainty and too little chocolate, she enjoys writing lighthearted stories. Currently she lives with her husband on Vashon Island and spends time each day being entertained by herons, seals, eagles and other wildlife.
Nancy Kett
*Sharon Pape
Sharon is the author of Magick and Mayhem ,That Olde White Magic and Magick Gone Amok, Magickal Mystery Lore and This Magick Marmot. She started writing stories in first grade and never looked back. She studied French and Spanish literature in college and went on to teach both languages at the secondary level.
She has shared her storytelling skills with thousands of fans. She lives with her husband on Long Island, NY, near her grown chidlren. She loves reading, writing, and providing day care for her grand-dogs. www.sharonpape.com
Rich Johnson
Rich is the author of Rich Johnson's Guide to Wilderness Survival and Rich Johnson's Guide to Trailer Boat Sailing and the thrillers, Deadly Cargo and Code Name: Viper.He is one of America's best-known experts on wilderness survival and sailing. As an Army National Guard Special Forces veteran, he developed his outdoor skils further while iiving off the land for a year in the Utah backcountry with his wife Becky and two young children.
Rich has been a survival instructor, and he has appeared in survival videos. He is a regular columnist for Outdoor Life magazine and has published hundreds of ariticles on outdoor subjects. www.facebook.com/rich.johnson