Download the list of participating authors

Lucy A. Snyder
is the author of the urban fantasy novel Spellbent and of the collections Sparks and Shadows, Chimeric Machines, and Installing Linux on a Dead Badger. Her writing has appeared in Strange Horizons, Farthing, Masques V, Doctor Who Short Trips: Destination Prague, Chiaroscuro, GUD, and Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet.
She was born in South Carolina but grew up in San Angelo, Texas. She currently lives in Worthington, Ohio with her husband and occasional co-author Gary A. Braunbeck. To learn more about her and her books, please visit www.lucysnyder.com

Gary A. Braunbeck
is a prolific author who writes mysteries, thrillers, science fiction, fantasy, horror, and mainstream literature. He is the author of 19 books; his latest is a novel entitled Far Dark Fields. Nearly 200 of his short stories have appeared in various publications.
His fiction has received several awards, including the Bram Stoker Award in 2003 for "Duty" and in 2005 for "We Now Pause for Station Identification"; his collection Destinations Unknown won a Stoker in 2006. His novella "Kiss of the Mudman" received the International Horror Guild Award for Long Fiction in 2005. To learn more about Gary, please visit www.garybraunbeck.com

Maryann Miller
A diverse writer of columns, feature stories, short fiction, novels, screenplays and stage plays, Maryann Miller has won numerous awards including being a semi-finalist at the Sundance Institute for her screenplay, A Question Of Honor. Her work has appeared in regional and national publications, and the Rosen Publishing Group in New York published her non-fiction books for teens, including the award-winning Coping with Weapons and Violence In School and On Your Streets.
Miller has had several novels published including One Small Victory, a romantic suspense novel that was released in hardcover by Five Star Cengage/Gale. Play it Again, Sam, a woman's novel is an e-book from Uncial Press, and Friends Forever, a Y/A novel is a Kindle release. Other experience includes extensive work as a PR consultant, a script doctor, and an editor. She is currently a freelance book editor, as well as the Managing Editor of WinnsboroToday.com, an online community magazine.
When not working, Miller enjoys acting and directing in community theatre, playing farmer on her little piece of property in East Texas, and spending time with her husband. www.maryannwrites.com

Renae Brumbaugh
is an author, public speaker, singer/songwriter, worship leader and syndicated humor columnist. Her writing credits include Morning Coffee with James (Chalice, 2009), four books in the Camp Club Girls Series (Barbour, 2010), 365 Simple Tips for Busy Moms (Barbour, 2009), Christmas Bedtime Stories, Christmas Prayers, and The Simple Living Planner (Barbour, 2010), as well as contributions to God Sightings (Howard, 2009) and 365 Whispers of Wisdom for Stepmoms (Barbour, 2010). She has sold more than two hundred articles to publications such as In Touch, Brio, Vista, Focus on Your Child, Live, Susie, and others. Her humor column for newspaper, Coffee Talk, was recently accepted for syndication by Churchmouse Publications, along with her children's devotional series, Morning Cocoa. She lives in Copperas Cove, Texas with two children, two dogs, and one handsome husband.

Lynette Sowell
is the award-winning author of eight books with over 200,000 copies sold. She's written inspirational romance, as well as a three-book cozy mystery series and historical romance for Barbour Publishing. From the time she was old enough to play Let's Pretend and own her first library card, she's loved making up stories, reading late into the night, and has spent the past eleven years writing fiction. Lynette was born a Massachusetts Yankee, but arrived in Central Texas "as soon as she could," where she lives with her husband, two teenagers, and five cats that have their humans well-trained.

Les McGehee
is an author, a working comedian and an improvisation pioneer who has entertained and trained millions of happier people. Les' National Comedy Theatre and ComedySportz teams have toured around the US and in 10 other countries and performed thousands of shows, including winning the ComedySportz National Championship (Les as player/coach) and performing two Tours for the Troops for our military neighbors abroad.
Les' book Plays Well With Others (A Grown-up Handbook of Improvisation and Play) is a unique success story. It is popular in stores, libraries, private and corporate events, and is a text at many schools and universities. Whether it was keynoting for Dell, teambuilding for AT&T, or communication training at NYU, Les's improvisation work always gets an excellent response. Les continues to perform on land, in the air, and on the seas.

Jazmine L. Swanson
When she was only in the eighth grade, Jazmine L. Swanson began to develop a story inspired by cartoons and videogames, as well as ideas from her dreams and drawings. Encouraged by family and friends to write the story down, Swanson completed her first novel, Avalon, published in December 2008 during her sophomore year of high school."Avalon is a story for teenagers and young adults", Swanson explains. "I wrote the story to take readers on a thrilling adventure that will keep them far from bored."

Clare Dunkle
Native Texan and former librarian Clare Dunkle began writing while living in Germany for seven years. A series of stories she wrote in letters to her daughters who were away at a boarding school became Dunkle's first four books. Her knowledge of myths, legends and fantasy shaped her earlier works, creating strong, engaging stories. Her most recent book, The Sky Inside, looks to a future where genetically-engineered children are commonplace and big business controls all aspects of domed communities—a chilling look at a very possible future.

Brian Floca
Temple, Texas, native Brian Floca has gotten too many ink stains and paper cuts to count, but he continues to write and illustrate anyway. He has illustrated works by popular children's authors Avi, Patricia Lakin, Dick King-Smith and others as well as authoring and illustrating several books alone. His works regularly earn starred reviews. Floca's highly-acclaimed Moonshot: The Flight of Apollo 11 came out in April 2009.

Don Tate
Award-winning author-illustrator Don Tate has published more than 25 books for children. A self-trained painter, Tate also works with digital illustration to create distinctive artwork for each of his books. One of Tate's latest creations is a special poster for the 2010 Take 190 West festival

Jan Peck
A former cook and current organic gardener, Jan Peck also takes time to pen delightful children's books. She is a member of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators and has served as freelance editor for Boy's Life magazine. Her short stories have appeared in anthologies, and one even landed in Chicken Soup for the Kid's Soul (1998).

David Davis
Twice named to the International Reading Association/Children's Book Council's “Choice Top 100” list, David Davis has published several picture books as well as numerous poems, short stories and cartoons in various newspapers. Davis is renowned for his ability to put a new spin on old classics, such as his “Night Before Christmas” series that tells the classic poem from viewpoint of different people such as nurses, librarians and truckers. His “Texas Aesop's Fables” follows in this tradition, bringing the old stories a little closer to home.

Jennifer Ziegler
makes her home in Austin where she works as a freelance reporter and middle school teacher. Reviewers have called her books Alpha Dog and How Not to Be Popular “charmingly humorous” and “thoughtful and fun.” Ziegler also writes under a pseudonym or two, but those are closely-guarded secrets that she won't divulge.

Rickey Pittman
Author, playwright and poet Rickey Pittman was the Grand Prize Winner in the 1998 Ernest Hemmingway Short Story Competition. In addition to writing, Pittman teaches English at the high school and college levels. His most current books are Stories From the Confederate South and a children's book, Jim Limber Davis: An Orphan in the Confederate White House.

Terry Widener
Award-winning illustrator Terry Widener hails from the Dallas area. He shares his love of sports through his artwork in several children's books about legendary baseball figures, and his work can also be found in numerous other works as well. His works have appeared in publication ranging from USA Today to Sports Illustrated and is contained in the permanent collection at Harvard.

Mark Mitchell
Author-illustrator Mark Mitchell has a thing for Texas history. Whether telling the story of LaSalle and the wreck of his ship off the Texas coast or talking about the McDonald Observatory in West Texas, Mitchell brings excitement and life to our state's past. In addition to bringing history to life through his books, Mitchell's works fit into the TEKS curriculum for Texas public schools.

Philip Yates
Although originally known as a playwright, Philip Yates is also co-author of 14 books of humor for children, including It's Not My Fault Because: The Kid's Book of Excuses and World's Silliest Jokes. His foray into the world of children's picture books brought forth Ten Little Mummies (illustrated by G. Brian Karas), which earned rave reviews from Kirkus, Horn Book and Booklist, and A Pirate's Night Before Christmas, a delightful adaptation of the Christmas classic.

Download the list of participating authors