Lynne Cantwell has been writing fiction since the second grade, when the kid who sat in front of her showed her a book he had written, and she thought, "I could do that." The result was "Susie and the Talking Doll," a picture book illustrated by the author about a girl who owned a doll that not only could talk, but could carry on conversations. The book had dialogue but no paragraph breaks.

Today, after a twenty-year career in broadcast journalism and a master's degree in fiction writing from Johns Hopkins University (or perhaps despite the master's degree), Lynne is still writing fantasy. She is also a contributing author at Indies Unlimited. She lives near Washington, DC.

David Antrobus is a freelance writer and editor whose origins lie in northern England and who currently lives in the Vancouver area. As if in tribute to the abused and neglected children he spent two decades working with, his writing in all its forms bristles with outrage, sorrow, dark humour, and resilience.

As a writer, David is far from prolific, which he justifies by assuring anyone who cares to listen that he much prefers quality over quantity. The fact that he has one perfect daughter lends support to this approach. However, his steady intake of wine, caffeine, and deeply questionable movies just as easily undermines it.

As an editor, he created Be Write There in 2009, a one-stop service that provides proofreading, copyediting, substantive editing, developmental editing, and manuscript evaluation. He is a member of Editors Canada.

He has published two books, both nonfiction, and has written numerous dark yet lyrical tales scattered among various anthologies and websites. He is a member of the Horror Writers Association.

Rich Meyer is a freelance writer, editor and reviewer of random stuff. He works with the members of eNovel Authors at Work (www.enovelauthorsatwork.com), a group that promotes and supports their independent author membership.

Rich runs Quantum Formatting Service, dedicated to providing inexpensive yet reliable formatting for independent and self-publishing writers (quantumformatting.weebly.com).

He is a volunteer and member of the Old Time Radio Researchers Group, as well as belonging to the National Lum and Abner Society, the Charlton Arrow fan group, and was a card-carrying member in good standing of the last incarnation of the Mister Ed Fan Club.

Rich's biggest influences have been Frank Zappa, Hunter S. Thompson, Kenneth Robeson, William S. Burroughs, Lenny Bruce, George Carlin, Steve Ditko, Jack Kirby, Bill Everett, and the Firesign Theatre. He is also an avid comic book aficionado, a fan of giant monster movies and Mego action figures since he was a li'l spud, and a collector of classic TV and movie serials on DVD.

Rich also plays annually in the World's Largest Trivia Contest, broadcast from his hometown of Stevens Point, Wisconsin, on a team known as Collective Foole.

Rich lives in Pennsylvania with his lovely wife Mona and their menagerie of furry children.

JD Mader is a writer and musician who hangs his laptop in the San Francisco Bay Area. Mader began writing professionally at age fourteen as a sportswriter and columnist in San Diego. He is a graduate of the Creative Writing program at San Francisco State University.

Mader is an award winning short story writer and novelist. His work has been described as "powerful and real", "gritty", and "rock and roll-literary". Mader maintains a blog: www.jdmader.com and frequently writes about fishing and motorcycling. He is the president of a MC club, the PPMC.

From reviews:

"Stylistically the novel is both elegant and dark, moving between evocative descriptive passages and sharp edge dialogue. Using flashbacks, it gets you inside the killer's head and Mader cleverly manages to allow you to see the reasons Chet Mooney has ended up this way. This is one of the strengths of Joe Café, it digs behind the behaviour of the characters and gets beneath the skin. In its thematic darkness and narrative style Joe Café is a Noir novel and a fine one at that." - Review of Joe Cafe, by British Author and Playwright Richard Godwin.

"Mader has a sense of understated occasion, an understanding of the dull and devious. Of the harrowing and the hardboiled. Never is this better discovered by a reader than when the interior lives of a number of less-than-savory characters are dissected. Discovering an author who can write despair, hopelessness, confusion and deep, deep loneliness can be a shock. It can sadden, but it can also impress. Yes, there are people who live like this, and think like this, and there are writers who can make it all tangible." - "According to Luke" Author, Rosanne Dingli

LB Clark currently resides in Austin, Texas, where she spends as much time writing as possible (when she's not being distracted by her roommates, her friends, her day job, books, or random shiny objects).

When she's not busy with writing or work, LB's favorite pastimes include tabletop gaming, travel, and music. She has loved both writing and music from an early age, so combining the two seemed like the thing to do. As such, music plays a role in almost all of her stories.

Erin McGowan lives in Galveston, Texas, where she spends as much time as possible writing or walking in the surf. She also travels with her roommate and partner-in-crime, L.B. Clark, whenever she can.

While pursuing her master’s degree in accounting from Stephen F. Austin, Erin discovered that writing during and after class was a great way to relieve stress and focus. Changing jobs and moving all over Texas fueled her desire to write and gave her some great story ideas, and deciding to partner with her roommate in a publishing company gave her every reason to share said stories with the world.

Erin finds that story ideas come from everywhere. Watching the ocean, picking figs in the morning, even walking down the street to get coffee can lead to an idea for a book or a short story. She also finds that her natural empathy and love of music lends itself to writing about musicians and the music industry.

For Erin, writing is like laughing; you can get through life without it, but what would be the point?

Ann Cathey is an artist and writer living in the Greater Houston Area. She has been writing for over 20 years, with her first professional publication back in high school. She has had non-fiction articles published all over the web, fiction and poetry appearing in fan and trade publications, and now is settling down to write for LSBW's readers.

"Writing is like breathing," she says. "I don't think I could survive if I didn't write about something." She also says that her hobbies all revolve around something creative. "If I'm not traveling or taking photos or drawing things, my writing also suffers. Everything I do creatively feeds everything I do." She enjoys good cheese, tasty beverages, shooting, and cooking, which she blogs about.

Her short story "The Heart Never Forgets" is featured in the LSBW anthology Music Speaks, and several of her stories appear in the LASBW Halloween anthology series Boo!

Her first novel, Wolf in the Fold, set a little into the future and a lot into the rural countryside, has now been published by Lone Star BookWorks. Look for a sequel to be available, soon.