Yes, it’s true what they say; the first novel is always autobiographical!

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Mark’s great-grandfather was Doctor Albert Leigh, who went to medical school with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The two men were great friends—they joined the Freemasons together—and Sir Arthur presented Albert with a complete set of Sherlock Holmes first editions, all inscribed: To dear Leigh, from your friend Doyle. They would fetch a fortune at auction today. Unfortunately, upon Leigh’s death in 1944, his housekeeper, an actress, made off with the volumes and they’ve never been seen since.

Thus it is that two great fortunes have eluded Mark Hodder.

Denied money-for-nothing and the luxury, idleness, and indulgences it would bring, Mark lives in Spain and writes novels. His first Burton & Swinburne adventure—THE STRANGE AFFAIR OF SPRING HEELED JACK—was published in 2010 and promptly won the Philip K. Dick Award. Two sequels followed, THE CURIOUS CASE OF THE CLOCKWORK MAN and EXPEDITION TO THE MOUNTAINS OF THE MOON.

Mark’s blog can be found here.

He also runs BLAKIANA, a site dedicated to the fictional British detective, Sexton Blake.

Myke Cole is the author of the SHADOW OPS military fantasy series. The first book, CONTROL POINT will be published in the United States by Ace (Penguin) in February 2012, and by Headline (Hachette) in the UK in summer of 2012. As a secu­rity con­tractor, gov­ern­ment civilian and mil­i­tary officer, Myke Cole’s career has run the gamut from Coun­tert­er­rorism to Cyber War­fare to Fed­eral Law Enforcement…

He’s done three tours in Iraq and was recalled to serve during the Deep­water Horizon oil spill. All that con­flict can wear a guy out. Thank good­ness for fan­tasy novels, comic books, late night games of Dun­geons and Dragons and lots of angst fuelled writing.

Myke says ‘I’m delighted to be represented by Zeno in the United Kingdom (and throughout the Commonwealth, as apparently that’s how these deals go). I’ve had a long love affair with Britain from my youngest days. I helped move the royal armouries to their new home in Leeds, and have served alongside several UK units both in the US and Iraq. When CONTROL POINT first sold in the US, it was my fervent (and not so secret) hope that it would find a British audience as well. Rule, Britanntia. Nice to soldier along with you again.’

• Visit Myke’s website at www.mykecole.com.
• Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MykeCole
• Or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/mykecole.

Ian Tregillis was born and raised in the United States, where his parents had settled after fleeing the wrath of a Flemish prince. (The full story involves a stolen horse, or so he’s been told.) He attended the University of Minnesota, where he received a Ph.D. in physics for his research on radio galaxies and quasars. After finishing his thesis, he moved to the American Southwest just as soon as he found a group of people willing to hire him. He’s still a bit surprised by this because he has no useful skills.

He attended the Clarion Writers’ Workshop in 2005. Soon after, he joined the Critical Mass writing group, where he spent several years working alongside a very accomplished collection of writers including Walter Jon Williams, Daniel Abraham, S. M. Stirling, Melinda Snodgrass, and George R. R. Martin. His first novel, BITTER SEEDS, was published in the United States in 2010 and will be published, along with two further novels, THE COLDEST WAR and NECESSARY EVIL by Orbit in the UK and British Commonwealth towards the end of 2012.

His short fiction has appeared in Apex Magazine, Tor.com, and in Jonathan Strahan’s ‘The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year, Volume Five. He is also a member of the Wild Cards writing collective, and has contributed to the Wild Cards novels INSIDE STRAIGHT, BUSTED FLUSH and SUICIDE KINGS.

He lives in New Mexico, where he consorts with writers, scientists, and other disreputable types.

• Visit Ian Tregillis’s web site.

Alongside this, she went on writing fiction (she completed her first novel at the age of 8 – it was 12 pages long and about ponies) and began selling short fiction in 2007.Her first novel LIVING WITH GHOSTS was published by DAW Books in March 2009. It was awarded the Sydney J. Bounds Award for Best Newcomer 2010 by the British Fantasy Society, was short-listed for the IAFA William L. Crawford Award 2010 and made the Honor List for the 2010 James Tiptree Jr Award.

Her second novel, THE GRASS KING’S CONCUBINE is forthcoming from DAW in 2012/3. She’s currently at work on a sequel, and on a mediaeval Welsh themed Sekrit Projekt.

• Visit Kari’s website at www.karisperring.com
• Visit Kari’s Live Journal
• And Kari can be found on Facebook as Kari Sperring and on Twitter as @karisperring.

Needless to say, this didn’t have a great impact on subsequent jobs as a cucumber packer, telephone interviewer and civil servant, and it was only when he sidestepped into the world of computing that David’s study of the dark arts really began to pay off.  He currently roams the UK as an itinerant IT Technician-for-hire, applying theories of animism and sympathetic magic to computer repair and taking devoted care of his bonsai tree familiar.Over the last few years, David has been steadily building a reputation for his sci-fi, horror and fantasy short fiction, with stories and poetry appearing in markets such as Lightspeed, Chiaroscuro, Bull Spec, Flash Fiction Online and John Joseph Adam’s best-selling anthology THE LIVING DEAD.

Increasingly, his writing has tended to push and merge genres, and to incorporate influences from his other great loves, comic books and cinema – two fields David has already discussed in non-fiction and plans to work in increasingly over the coming months.

His four novels to date are the cult-classic superhero tale NOBODY GETS THE GIRL and the Dragon Age trilogy of BITTERWOOD, DRAGONFORGE, and DRAGONSEED. Orson Scott Card praised BITTERWOOD as ‘…a book that feels like fantasy but is, at core, smart science fiction. It feels like — and is — a magnificent hero story …’

While his Dragon Age trilogy blended fantasy with science fiction, Maxey’s new series is pure epic fantasy, with each book pitting mythic heroes against primal dragons, creatures so strongly proficient in elemental magic they’ve become forces of nature. The series launches with GREATSHADOW , in which a team of twelve battle-hardened adventurers face off against the primal dragon of fire. GREATSHADOW will be published in the UK and the US by Solaris in late 2011, with further books to follow.

For progress updates on the series and news about Maxey’s con appearances and book signings, visit his blog at dragonprophet.blogspot.com.

Her writing, which often draws on her peripatetic past, is motivated by the paradoxical desire to both expose painful truths and celebrate the intense sensual beauty of life.

Originally trained in theatre, Naomi has collaborated with artists, musicians and filmmakers on award-winning project.  She has also published reviews, travel writing and short fiction.

An AHRB and AHRB scholarship winner, Naomi holds an MA in Creative and Life Writing from Goldsmiths College, and a doctorate in Creative Writing from Bangor University.   She has been awarded grants from Arts Council England and the Canada Council.

‘Naomi Foyle’s voice is confident, fervent, erotic, lyrical, distinctive.  Her writing is bold and unflinching, imaginative … thrilling and disconcertingly edgy.‘  — The PBS Bulletin, Autumn 2008

‘Naomi Foyle’s brilliantly detailed, sensually absorbed, light-saturated mix of personal findings and their extension into the political, make her poetry my sort of poetry … I go to her poems to see things shine clear as the light in a diamond.’ -– Jeremy Reed

‘Truly original new work in verse and prose, as well as some adventurous, idiomatic translations, unsettle complacency and challenge expectations. Ostentatious, flirtatious, sometimes witty, technically ambitious and expansively sensuous, these poems [are] innovative but far from obscure, entertaining but never escapist.’ –- Carol Rumens

Unfortunately there was little demand in 1970s Nottinghamshire for diminutive swordswomen, so she studied sensible subjects like science and languages instead. She now lives in Cambridge, where she works as a web developer for one of the world’s largest medical charities

It appears, however, that although you can take the girl out of Sherwood Forest, you can’t take Sherwood Forest out of the girl. She now spends every spare hour writing – or at least planning – fantasy fiction about spies, actors, outlaws and other folk on the fringes of society.

She has a website where she blogs about the fantasy genre, medieval and renaissance history, favourite films and anything else that piques her interest. She also tweets a bit.

His first novel, THE DESERTERS’ ORCHESTRA tells the remarkable story of three Russian musicians who helped win a war. Set in 1941 Leningrad, this novel explores how they endured the deadliest siege in history and found themselves in the makeshift orchestra premiering Shostakovich’s defiant Seventh Symphony – broadcast across the city, the country, and directly into the trenches of the surrounding German soldiers.

Based on true accounts and set in meticulously accurate historical context, this is the unprecedented story of how three unlikely friends played a part in a defining moment of the Second World War and Russian history.

John is currently working on a novel reimagining the life and death of Canadian painter, Tom Thomson.

Visit John’s website here: www.johnowentheobald.com