Iain M. Banks
Iain [Menzies] Banks was born in Fife in 1954, and was educated at Stirling University, where he studied English Literature, Philosophy and Psychology.
Banks came to widespread and controversial public notice with the publication of his first novel, The Wasp Factory, in 1984.
His first science fiction novel, Consider Phlebas, was published in 1987. He has continued to write both mainstream fiction (as Iain Banks) and science fiction (as Iain M. Banks).
He is now acclaimed as one of the most powerful, innovative and exciting writers of his generation: The Guardian has called him "the standard by which the rest of SF is judged". William Gibson, the New York Times-bestselling author of Spook Country describes Banks as a "phenomenon".
Iain M. Banks lives in Fife, Scotland.
Stephen Baxter
Stephen Baxter was born in Liverpool, England, in 1957. Since 1987 he has published over forty books, mostly science fiction novels, and over a hundred short stories. He has degrees in mathematics, from Cambridge University, engineering, from Southampton University, and in business administration, from Henley Management College. He has worked as a teacher of maths and physics, and for several years in information technology. His first professionally published short story appeared in 1987, and his first novel in 1991. He has been a full-time author since 1995. He is Vice-President of the British Science Fiction Association, and a Vice-President of the HG Wells Society. He now lives in Northumberland.
Peter S. Beagle
Peter Soyer Beagle (born April 20, 1939) is an American fantasist and author of novels, nonfiction, and screenplays. He is also a talented guitarist and folk singer. He won early recognition from The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards as a high school senior for a poem; the award was accompanied by a scholarship to the University of Pittsburgh, where he graduated with a degree in creative writing. He wrote his first novel, A Fine and Private Place, when he was only 19 years old. Today he is best known as the author of The Last Unicorn, which routinely polls as one of the top ten fantasy novels of all time, and at least two of his other books (A Fine and Private Place and I See By My Outfit) are considered modern classics.
He wrote the teleplay for episode 71 of the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation, titled "Sarek." He wrote the screenplay for the 1978 Ralph Bakshi-animated version of The Lord of the Rings, the film which first inspired a teenaged Peter Jackson to read J.R.R. Tolkien, and he wrote an introduction page for the American edition of The Lord of the Rings in the early 1970s.
His work as a screenwriter interrupted his early career direction as a novelist, magazine nonfiction author, and short-story writer. But in the mid-'90s he returned to prose fiction of all lengths, and has produced new works at a steady pace since.
In addition to his own body of work, he is heir to the literary estates of science fiction author Edgar Pangborn, Edgar's sister and sometime collaborator Mary, and their mother Georgia Wood Pangborn. Since 2003 he has been working to bring the best of these three authors' fiction back into print.
Elizabeth Bear
Sarah Bear Elizabeth Wishnevsky (born September 22, 1971) is an American author. Writing under the name Elizabeth Bear, she works primarily in the genre of speculative fiction, and was a winner of the 2005 John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, the 2008 Hugo Award for Best Short Story for "Tideline," and the 2009 Hugo Award for her novelette "Shoggoths in Bloom."[1]
A native of Hartford, Connecticut, her curriculum vitae includes working as a "media industry professional," a stablehand, a fluff-page reporter, a maintainer of Microbiology procedure manuals for a 1,000-bed inner-city hospital, a typesetter and layout editor, a traffic manager for an import-export business, Emmanuel Labour, and "the girl who makes the donuts at The Whole Donut at three A.M."
Until recently, she lived in Las Vegas, Nevada which served as the setting for the short stories One-Eyed Jack and the Suicide King, Follow Me Light, and This Tragic Glass, but she returned to Connecticut in January 2006.
Her first novel Hammered was published in January 2005 and was followed by Scardown in July and Worldwired in November of the same year. The trilogy features Canadian Master Warrant Officer Jenny Casey, who is also the main character in the short story Gone to Flowers. Hammered won the Locus Award for Best First Novel in 2006.
The Chains That You Refuse, a collection of her short fiction, was published May 2006 by Night Shade Books. Blood and Iron, the first book in the fantasy series entitled "The Promethean Age", debuted June 27th 2006. She is also a coauthor of the ongoing Shadow Unit website/pseudo-TV series.
In 2008, she donated her archive to the department of Rare Books and Special Collections at Northern Illinois University.[2]
She is an instructor at the Viable Paradise writer's workshop and has taught at Clarion West Writers Workshop.
