SALADIN AHMED was born in Detroit. His short stories have been nominated for the Nebula and Campbell awards, reprinted in The Year’s Best Fantasy and other anthologies, recorded for numerous podcasts, and translated into several foreign languages. His first novel, Throne of the Crescent Moon, which Kirkus Reviews called “an arresting, sumptuous and thoroughly satisfying debut,” was recently published to wide acclaim. Saladin lives near Detroit with his wife and children.
KELLEY ARMSTRONG has been telling stories since before she could write. Her earliest written efforts were disastrous. If asked for a story about girls and dolls, hers would invariably feature undead girls and evil dolls, much to her teachers’ dismay. Today, she continues to spin tales of ghosts and demons and werewolves, while safely locked away in her basement writing dungeon. She’s the author of the #1 New York Times–bestselling Darkest Powers young adult trilogy as well as the Otherworld and Nadia Stafford adult series. Armstrong lives in Ontario with her family. You can find her online at www.kelleyarmstrong.com.
HOLLY BLACK is the author of bestselling contemporary fantasy books for kids and teens. Some of her titles include The Spiderwick Chronicles (with Tony DiTerlizzi), the Modern Faerie Tale series, the Good Neighbors graphic novel trilogy (with Ted Naifeh), the Curse Workers series, her middle-grade novel, Doll Bones, and her vampire novel, The Coldest Girl in Coldtown. She has been a finalist for the Mythopoeic Award, a finalist for an Eisner Award, and the recipient of the Andre Norton Award. She currently lives in New England with her husband, Theo, in a house with a secret door. You can find her online at www.blackholly.com.
NEIL GAIMAN writes books for readers of all ages, including the Greenaway-shortlisted Crazy Hair, illustrated by Dave McKean; Instructions, illustrated by Charles Vess; Coraline, which won the British Science Fiction Association Award, the Hugo Award, the Nebula Award, the Bram Stoker Award, and the Elizabeth Burr/Worzalla Award; the Hugo and Nebula Award–winning American Gods; Anansi Boys; and Good Omens (with Terry Pratchett); as well as the short story collections Smoke and Mirrors and Fragile Things. Most recently, Gaiman was both a contributor to and co-editor with Al Sarrantonio of Stories, and his own story in the volume, “The Truth Is a Cave in the Black Mountains,” has been nominated for a number of awards. You can find him online at www.neilgaiman.com.
KAMI GARCIA is the New York Times–and internationally bestselling co-author of the Beautiful Creatures novels. Beautiful Creatures is being published in forty-eight countries and translated into thirty-seven languages. Academy Award nominee Richard LaGravenese directed the film adaptation of Beautiful Creatures. Kami is also the author of Unbreakable, the first book in her upcoming solo series, the Legion, which is currently being developed as a motion picture. When she is not writing, Kami can usually be found watching disaster movies or drinking Diet Coke. She lives in LA with her family and their dogs, Spike and Oz (named after characters from Buffy the Vampire Slayer). You can find her online at www.kamigarcia.com and @kamigarcia.
MELISSA MARR is the New York Times–and internationally bestselling author of the Wicked Lovely series, Graveminder, and Carnival of Souls. With Kelley Armstrong, she has edited two anthologies (Enthralled and Shards & Ashes) and co-authored the upcoming children’s series the Blackwell Pages. Prior to writing, she taught university literature, including courses on the short story and in gender studies. You can find her online at www.melissa-marr.com.
GARTH NIX has worked as a literary agent, marketing consultant, book editor, book publicist, book sales representative, bookseller, and as a part-time soldier in the Australian Army Reserve. Garth’s books include the award-winning fantasy novels Sabriel, Lirael, and Abhorsen; and the young adult science fiction novels Shade’s Children and A Confusion of Princes. His fantasy novels for children include The Ragwitch, the six books of the Seventh Tower sequence, and the Keys to the Kingdom series. More than five million copies of his books have been sold around the world, his books have appeared on the bestseller lists of the New York Times, Publishers Weekly, the Guardian, and the Australian, and his work has been translated into forty languages. He lives in a Sydney beach suburb with his wife and two children.
TIM PRATT is a Hugo Award–winning science fiction and fantasy author whose works have been nominated for most of the major genre awards (including the Nebula Award, World Fantasy Award, Campbell Award for Best New Author, and Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award, among others). His stories have been reprinted in numerous Year’s Best anthologies, including The Best American Short Stories. He is a senior editor at Locus, the magazine of the science fiction and fantasy field, and edited the anthology Sympathy for the Devil.
CARRIE RYAN is the New York Times–bestselling author of the critically acclaimed Forest of Hands and Teeth series, which has been translated into more than eighteen languages and is in development as a major motion picture. She is also the editor of the anthology Foretold: 14 Tales of Prophecy and Prediction, as well as author of Infinity Ring: Divide and Conquer, the second book in Scholastic’s new multi-author/multi-platform series for middle-grade readers. A former litigator, Carrie now writes full-time and lives with her husband, two fat cats, and one large dog in Charlotte, North Carolina. You can find her online at www.carrieryan.com or @carrieryan.
MARGARET STOHL is the New York Times–and internationally bestselling co-author (with Kami Garcia) of the Beautiful Creatures novels, as well as the forthcoming Icons novels, both from Little, Brown. Beautiful Creatures, which has sold more than one million copies, has been published in forty-eight countries and thirty-seven languages, and was released as a major motion picture from Alcon Entertainment and Warner Brothers in 2013. Alcon Entertainment is also developing Icons as a feature film. A graduate of Amherst College, with an MA from Stanford University, Margaret made video games for sixteen years before turning to writing full-time. Margaret now spends most of her free time traveling to faraway places with her husband and three daughters, who are internationally ranked fencers. You can find her online at www.margaret-stohl.com or @mstohl.
CHARLES VESS has been drawing ever since he could hold a crayon and crawl to the nearest wall. Charles graduated with a BFA from Virginia Commonwealth University, and worked in commercial animation for Candy Apple Productions in Richmond, Virginia, before moving to New York City in 1976. It was there that he became a freelance illustrator, working for many companies and publications, including Heavy Metal, Klutz Press, Epic Comics, and National Lampoon. His award-winning work has graced the covers and interior pages of many comic book publishers including Marvel (Spider-Man, The Raven Banner) and DC (Books of Magic, Swamp Thing, Sandman). His work now is found more in book illustration, such as The Ladies of Grace Adieu (Bloomsbury), The Coyote Road: Trickster Tales (Viking), and Peter Pan (Starscape). Charles’s art has been featured in several gallery and museum exhibitions across the nation, and in Spain, Portugal, the United Kingdom, and Italy. Charles’s awards include the Inkpot, three World Fantasies, the Mythopoeic, two Spectrum Annuals—a Gold and a Silver—two Chesleys, Locus (Best Artist), and two Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards. He has resided on a small farm in the southwest corner of Virginia since 1991 and works diligently from his studio, Green Man Press.
GENE WOLFE is one of the most highly respected living authors of science fiction, best known for his ambitious and groundbreaking Book of the New Sun series. He is a Science Fiction Hall of Fame inductee, a winner of the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement, and a SFWA Grand Master, as well as the winner of two Nebula Awards and four World Fantasy Awards.
RICK YANCEY is the author of several novels and the memoir Confessions of a Tax Collector. His first young adult novel, The Extraordinary Adventures of Alfred Kropp, was a finalist for the Carnegie Medal and has been translated into seventeen languages. His novel The Monstrumologist received the Michael L. Printz Honor and was named a YALSA Best Book for Young Adults and a Booklist Editors’ Choice for Youth. The sequel, The Curse of the Wendigo, was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. The 5th Wave, the first novel in an epic science fiction trilogy, will be published in the summer of 2013.