Orson Scott Card is the author of the novels Ender’s Game, Ender’s Shadow, and Speaker for the Dead,which are widely read by adults and younger readers, and are increasingly used in schools.

Besides these and other science fiction novels, Card writes contemporary fantasy (Magic Street, Enchantment, Lost Boys), biblical novels (Stone Tables, Rachel and Leah), the American frontier fantasy series The Tales of Alvin Maker (beginning with Seventh Son), poetry (An Open Book), and many plays and scripts.

Card was born in Washington and grew up in California, Arizona, and Utah. He served a mission for the LDS Church in Brazil in the early 1970s. Besides his writing, he teaches occasional classes and workshops and directs plays. He recently began a longterm position as a professor of writing and literature at Southern Virginia University.

Card currently lives in Greensboro, North Carolina, with his wife, Kristine Allen Card, and their youngest child, Zina Margaret.

Joe Abercrombie was born in Lancaster, England, on the last day of 1974. He was educated at the stiflingly all-boy Lancaster Royal Grammar School, where he spent much of his time playing computer games, rolling dice, and drawing maps of places that don’t exist. He went on to Manchester University to study Psychology. The dice and the maps stopped, but the computer games continued. Having long dreamed of single-handedly redefining the fantasy genre, he started to write an epic trilogy based around the misadventures of thinking man’s barbarian Logen Ninefingers. The result was pompous toss, and swiftly abandoned.

Joe then moved to London, lived in a stinking slum with two men on the borders of madness, and found work making tea for minimum wage at a TV Post-Production company. Two years later he left to become a freelance film editor, and has worked since on a dazzling selection of documentaries, awards shows, music videos, and concerts for artists ranging from Barry White to Coldplay.

This job gave him a great deal of time off, however, and gradually realising that he needed something more useful to do than playing computer games, in 2002 he sat down once again to write an epic fantasy trilogy based around the misadventures of thinking man’s barbarian Logen Ninefingers. This time, having learned not to take himself too seriously in the six years since the first effort, the results were a great deal more interesting.

With heroic help and support from his family the first volume, The Blade Itself, was completed in 2004. Following a heart-breaking trail of rejection at the hands of several of Britain’s foremost literary agencies, The First Law trilogy was snatched up by Gillian Redfearn of Gollancz in 2005 in a seven-figure deal (if you count the pence columns). A year later The Blade Itself was unleashed on an unsuspecting public. It now has publishers in thirteen countries.  The sequels, Before They are Hanged and Last Argument of Kings were published in 2007 and 2008, when Joe was a finalist for the John W. Campbell award for best new writer.  Best Served Cold, a standalone book set in the same world, was published in June 2009, and a second standalone, The Heroes, is due in 2011.

Joe now lives in Bath with his wife, Lou, and his daughters Grace and Eve.  He still occasionally edits concerts and music festivals for TV, but spends most of his time writing edgy yet humorous fantasy novels…

Greg Bear is the author of more than thirty books of science fiction and fantasy, including BLOOD MUSIC, THE FORGE OF GOD, DARWIN’S RADIO, QUANTICO and CITY AT THE END OF TIME. He is married to Astrid Anderson Bear and is the father of Erik and Alexandra. Awarded two Hugos and five Nebulas for his fiction, one of two authors to win a Nebula in every category, Bear has been called the “Best working writer of hard science fiction” by “The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Science Fiction.”

His most recent novels are HULL ZERO THREE and HALO:CRYPTUM. DARWIN’S RADIO and DARWIN’S CHILDREN (1999, 2003) form a sequence about viruses and human evolution and are published by Del Rey and HarperCollins UK. His stories have been collected into an omnibus volume by Tor Books. Bear has served on political and scientific action committees and has advised Microsoft Corporation, the U.S. Army, the CIA, Sandia National Laboratories, Callison Architecture, Inc., Homeland Security,  and other groups and agencies.

Born on a bed of books, Ted spent his youth exploring the multi-dimensional universe of fiction through Hobbiton, the Klingon Home Planet, Orwellian Dystopias and Asimovian Robot Empires.

On the non-fiction side of the space-time continuum, he has built computers, written software in multiple human and machine languages, studied the rise and fall of civilizations, decoded ancient religious texts as well as deciphered corporate financial statements. (Phoenician and Sumerian were easier to make sense of than AIG or IBM.)

A long-time resident of Lake Worth, Florida, he has been active in community affairs, co-founder of the Lake Worth Interfaith Network, organizer of Peace Jam for Earth Day, past president of Kiwanis, member of Lake Worth’s Martin Luther King Day Committee and board member of the Magdalene Carney Baha’i Institute.

His published writings span topics ranging from Interfaith Prayer to Insurance Company Insolvency. Most recently, in a return to the green fields of fiction, Ted has united his fact and fantasy universes by authoring his first novel, Sunshine Republic, a light-hearted satire of Florida’s social, spiritual and political life.

Interviewed by Ross Rojek

Tad Williams has held more jobs than any sane person should admit to—singing in a band, selling shoes, managing a financial institution, throwing newspapers, and designing military manuals, to name just a few. He also hosted a syndicated radio show for ten years, worked in theater and television production, taught both grade-school and college classes, and worked in multimedia for a major computer firm. He is cofounder of an interactive television company, and is currently writing comic books and film and television scripts as well as novels.

Tad and his wife, Deborah Beale, live in the San Francisco Bay Area with their children and far more cats, dogs, turtles, pet ants and banana slugs than they can count.

 About the Book

Shadowmarch begins Tad Williams’ first epic fantasy trilogy since his best-selling Memory, Sorrow and Thorn. Rich with detail and exotic culture, and filled with a cast of characters both diverse and three-dimensional, Shadowmarch is a true fantasy achievement, an epic of storytelling by a master of the genre.

Visit his website

Interviewed by Ross Rojek

Daniel Wallace is the New York Times bestselling author of Star Wars: The New Essential Guide to Characters, as well as a dozen more books that explore the underpinnings of the STAR WARS™ universe, including Star Wars: The Essential Atlas and The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia. He is a regular contributor to Star Wars Insider magazine and assembled the questions used in the Star Wars Trivial Pursuit game.  In addition to making many contributions to the galaxy far, far away, he has written for universes including Indiana Jones, Smallville, Supernatural, DC Comics, and Marvel Comics.  

His newest project, THE JEDI PATH: A MANUAL FOR STUDENTS OF THE FORCE, marks the first time Lucasfilm™ has authorized a book that comes from INSIDE the STAR WARS galaxy. This is the “last surviving copy” of a famous Jedi textbook that was all but eliminated following the Clone Wars.

Advance Praise for THE JEDI PATH

“Few books tied to iconic movie series are as playful or as well-thought-out as The Jedi Path. From the conceit that the book consists of a series of documents discovered “near the ruins of Byss” to the inclusion of coins, badges, and other artifacts, the contributors have managed to create a tactile and delightful addition to the Star Wars canon. Introductory sections set out the Jedi Code and history of the Jedi Order, while later sections discuss such subjects as the three pillars, becoming an apprentice, and advanced lightsaber techniques. Not only is the text copiously illustrated, but some pages are mischievously ripped out (the Prophecy of the Chosen One) and supposedly handwritten annotations by Obi-Wan Kenobi and others add to the experience. Particularly enjoyable is a galactic bestiary featuring such creatures as a Jodakan needler crab, Mygeetan whiteworm, and the furry but cranky-looking o’cerry. For those who prefer history, an explanation of ‘The Second Great Schism and the Final War’ provides further illumination on the role of the Sith in the Star Wars mythos. The creators of The Jedi Path clearly love Star Wars, and just as clearly wanted to pass that love on to readers. Highly recommended as a gift book for all Jedi enthusiasts, from rank beginners to grand masters.”

—Jeff VanderMeer

Interviewer: Ross Rojek

Year 2275. Audrey is the daughter of the Mayor of Milestown. Her world is one where no animals, plants or creature comforts exist and humans live as agrarians under an orange sky. During a diplomatic mission, Audrey’s people encounter the Feds, only to discover their dark, horrifying secret. In her attempt to escape death, she stumbles upon a way to travel through time.

Year 2022. Thomas (aka Tom) Lynch lives in Philadelphia. He accidentally creates a device that allows a single person to transport themselves to any time. A catastrophe destroys his world and plunges his family into an uncertain future. He uses his timepiece to find out what happened to the world and most importantly, to his two children.

Year 1776. Tom’s destiny is soon forged as, after a contrived meeting with Benjamin Franklin, he helps define American history and in doing so, meets Audrey. What he discovers surprises him…

Author Richard Waver was born in Los Angeles and now resides in the Washington DC metro area with his two children Andrew and Alexis. He is a software engineer. This is his first novel.

Visit his website

GUY GAVRIEL KAY is the #1 internationally bestselling author of ten previous novels and an acclaimed collection of poetry, Beyond This Dark House.

In 1984, Kay’s first novel, The Summer Tree, the first volume of The Fionavar Tapestry, was published to considerable acclaim in Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom, and then in a number of countries and languages. In 1990, Viking Canada’s edition of his novel Tigana reached the national bestseller list, and his next book A Song for Arbonne debuted at #1 in Canada.

In this interview, we discuss his latest book Under Heaven.

Interviewer: Ross Rojek

Elizabeth Moon’s bestselling science fiction novels featuring Kylara Vatta have earned her rave reviews and comparison to such giants as Robert Heinlein and Lois McMaster Bujold. But as Moon’s devoted fans know, she started her career as a fantasy writer. The superb trilogy known as The Deed of Paksenarrion is widely judged to be one of the great post-Tolkien fantasies, a masterpiece of sustained world-building and realistic military action.

Now Moon returns to this thrilling realm for the first time in nearly twenty years in OATH OF FEALTY (Del Rey Hardcover; on-sale March 16, 2010). The result: another classic in the making. Thanks to Paks’s courage and sacrifice, the long-vanished heir to the half-elven kingdom of Lyonya has been revealed as Kieri Phelan, a formidable mercenary captain who earned a title—and enemies—in the neighboring kingdom of Tsaia. Now, as Kieri ascends a throne he never sought, he must come to terms with his own half-elven heritage while protecting his new kingdom from his old enemies—and those he has not yet discovered. Meanwhile, in Tsaia, Prince Mikeli prepares for his own coronation. But when an assassination attempt nearly succeeds, Mikeli suddenly faces the threat of a coup. Acting swiftly, Mikeli strikes at the powerful family behind the attack: the Verrakaien, magelords possessing ancient sorcery, steeped in death and evil. Mikeli’s survival—and that of Tsaia—depend on the only Verrakai whose magery is not tainted with innocent blood.

Interviewer: Ross Rojek

Justina is from Leeds, a city in Yorkshire in the north of England. She always wanted to write and always did. Other things sometimes got in the way and sometimes still do…but not too much.

Robson attended the Clarion West Writing Workshop and was first published in 1994 in the British small press magazine The Third Alternative, but is best known as a novelist. Her debut novel, Silver Screen, was shortlisted for both the Arthur C Clarke Award and the BSFA Award in 2000. Her second novel, Mappa Mundi, was also shortlisted for the Arthur C Clarke Award in 2001. It won the 2000 Amazon.co.uk Writer’s Bursary. In 2004, Natural History, Robson’s third novel, was shortlisted for the BSFA Award, and came second in the John W Campbell Award.

Robson’s novels have been noted for sharply-drawn characters, and an intelligent and deeply thought-out approach to the tropes of the genre. She has been described as “one of the very best of the new British hard SF writers.” Living Next-Door to the God of Love is a loose sequel to Natural History, inasmuch as it is set in the same universe.Keeping It Real marks the beginning of a series, the Quantum Gravity Books.

Audible Authors discusses with Justina her latest book in the Quantum Gravity series,Chasing the Dragon.