from Richmond, Virginia

Bob Anderson was raised in Hawaii, where he was exposed to rain forests, a recurring theme in his books. As an adult, extensive trips to West Africa, India, and Central America have allowed him to expand his appreciation for rainforests while developing inspirations for his art work and stories.

As an artist, Bob started at the age of five. His first writing attempt was a hand written newspaper he produced while in the third grade to entertain his parents' friends.

Bob has worked as a cartoonist for a newspaper in Paris, he's produced 52 illustrations for a medical atlas on anatomy, and he has worked as an architect (and still does). His first book for children, OBO, was published in 1999. When I Was a Little Boy I Was a Black Panther was published in 2002, and a third book, set in India, was released in 2004.  

Joseph Anthony and Cris Arbo are co-authors for a series of Children's Picture Books, including The Dandelion Seed and In a Nutshell. Joseph also co-authored a young adult novel entitled Innerworld and Cris Arbo is the author of All Around Me, I See.

In a Nutshell received the Outstanding Selection Award from Parent Council Ltd and the Children's Choice Award for 2002-2003 from the Virginia State Reading Association.

They are always two of the most popular authors at Book 'Em, returning for the third year!

                       from Charlottesville, Virginia

                 
                                  from Virginia

                        from Rochester, New York

 Relative Danger was nominated for an Edgarä by the Mystery Writers of America, was the Benjamin Franklin Award for Mystery/Suspense Book of the Year by the Publishers Marketing Association, won the Glyph Award for Best Fiction (Mystery) from the Arizona Book Publishers Association, was nominated for a Barry Award for Best First Mystery by Deadly Pleasures Magazine, was nominated for the Mystery of the Year award from ForeWord Magazine, was named one of the Top 10 Mysteries of the Year - Deadly Pleasures Magazine and Booklist Mystery Showcase, and was named one of seven Hot Debut Novels of the Year – Publishers Weekly. “…smashingly good, action-packed first novel…Benoit is a rare discovery, and one hopes that he plans to produce more adventure-oriented mysteries with the same skill and energy that propel this excellent debut.” Publishers Weekly (Starred review)

In my latest book, Out of Order, a by-the-book office worker sets off to India to deliver a sari to a dead friend’s mother – a sari that people are willing to kill to get their hands on. “It’s the kind of story Alfred Hitchcock would have filmed.” The Denver Post.

                            from Richmond, Virginia

Elizabeth Blue hails from Richmond, Virginia where she is raising three boys and five cats. She is the author of Drown in Fear, a horror novel set in Richmond, and numerous short stories. She co-edited The Travel Guide to the Haunted Mid-Atlantic Region, a collection of short stories presented by the Mid-Atlantic Horror Professionals. Additionally, Elizabeth is the fiction editor at Pretty-Scary.net, a website dedicated to women working in the horror industry. She is currently at work on her fourth novel and a non-fiction book about ghosts of Virginia’s beaches. In her spare time, Elizabeth enjoys doing things that will make her neighbors think she is crazy.

                       from Waynesboro, Virginia

I have a B.A. in journalism and communications from Point Park University, Pittsburgh, Pa. (1985), with a concentration in print media. I am currently a freelance writer. I write a slice-of-life parenting column for a Gannett newspaper, the Daily News Leader, Staunton, Va., along with features and travel stories. Some of the magazines I've been published in include German Life, The Roanoker, Animal Guardian, AlbemarleKids,  Back Roads USA, Virginia Living, and frequently in GRIT, American Life and Traditions. Before embarking on freelancing, I worked as an editor/writer for various national nonprofits in the Washington, D.C. area, where I received an APEX Award for Excellence in Newsletter Writing. I also received the White Mice Award for Poetry, given by Deus Loci, the Lawrence Durrell Journal.

                                from Atlanta, Georgia

Michael David Buchanan, born in Nurnberg, Germany, and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, presently lives in Alpharetta. He attended Georgia Tech and Georgia State University where he received a Masters degree in mathematics.  His interests include diving for artifacts and fossils in rivers of the Southeast as well as reef diving in the Caribbean. A high school and college teacher for over twenty-four years, and a high school basketball coach for nineteen years, Buchanan has been recognized for his creativity in and out of the classroom by the Atlanta Journal/ Constitution and USA Today.

He has been nominated twice for the Disney Award in Creative Teaching, selected as Teacher of the Year for Chattahoochee High School (2001), and nominated yearly for Who’s Who of American Teachers. 

Buchanan has been published in O Georgia!, an anthology of Georgia writers, artifact magazines, and “Reflections,” a monthly magazine for the Georgia council of math teachers. Micah’s Child is his first collaborative work. He is currently working with Lang on the sequel to Micah’s Child;  Cry of the Quetzal, a historical romance about the Quakers who fled from Alabama to Costa Rica; and Please Don’t Read This Page, a fictionalized journal of an obese teenager.

A regular speaker on Celebrity cruise lines, Buchanan has been invited to speak at literary and educational forums throughout the South. Over the years, he has been called the Patch Adams of high school teaching.

Buchanan’s philosophy is shown best by the words from Thomas Carlyle, “When you go as far as you can see, then you can see further.”

                               from Richmond, Virginia

Burton is a graduate of Hollins University and currently lives in Richmond, Virginia. Hobbies include yoga, the occasional triathlon, and lots of reading.

                 

                             from Richmond, Virginia

Rick Conner attended Old Dominion University, majoring in business with a minor in English literature. For the past 20 years, he has been a teacher and outreach pastor in Central Virginia to numerous prisons and jails. He currently is the Prison Minister at Victory Tabernacle Church of God in Midlothian, Virginia.

    He has published articles in the Evangel Magazine, Faith in Action, Christianity Today, The Witness, and Alice Gray's Stories for Teenage Heart Vol.3 by Multnomah Press.

    In 1999, he was inspired to write a series titled "From Crime To Christ" about former inmates, who have successfully made the transition from a life of crime to a life of serving Christ. The Crime to Christ series will be an evangelistic tool for the spiritual and the educational needs for reentrance into society. The series starts with the true story of Darron Shipe, A Prisoner of Hope, which gives hope and inspiration to those in prison, as well as minister to those who are enslaved in a life of addictions.

    In 2001, Beyond The Razor Wire was released, which is a collection of poems, prose, and rap from inmates of the various prisons. David Berkowitz, Son of Sam, writes the Introduction and gives us testimony of his changed life.

    In 2005, At The Corner of Mercy and Grace was released. This is the true story of Harold Langley, a highly decorated Marine, returning from Vietnam with the war still raging in his mind. He committed numerous crimes and spent 12 years in maximum security prisons. Today, he is a minister and owns a business in Richmond, Virginia.