Michael Lister

After a seven-year stint in the Florida State Prison System, Michael Lister was paroled and began to put pen to paper. The result was gun lit set in the Sunshine State—Florida Noir (www.FloridaNoir.com)

His first two noir stories, one classic, one contemporary, are featured in the anthology North Florida Noir, which he edited. In a Spider’s Web is classic noir featuring PI Jimmy “Soldier” Riley (see below), while Mitigating Circumstances is neo-noir involving the slow burn of a family disintegrating in the small coastal town of Port St. Joe, Florida.

His first noir novel, The Big Goodbye features PI Jimmy “Soldier” Riley, a young knight errant who walks the wartime streets of Panama City, Florida, wounded and woman-haunted.

When asked for a comment, the author said, “It’s a bitter little world, baby.”

Michael Lister is also the author of a series of mysteries featuring ex-cop turned prison chaplain, John Jordan (Power in the Blood, Blood of the Lamb, The Body and the Blood), and writes a monthly crime fiction column titled Sunshine and Crime (www.SunshineandCrime.com). For more about the author, go to www.MichaelLister.com

Victor Gischler

Victor Gischler is the author of the Edgar-nominated Gun Monkeys as well as The Pistol Poets, Suicide Squeeze and Shotgun Opera.  He now lives in the wilds of Skiatook, Oklahoma but was born and raised in Florida, attending high school in Ocala and earning his BA at the University of Central Florida in Orlando (where he minored in creative writing.)  His work has been translated into French, Italian, Spanish and Japanese.  A recovering academic, Victor would gladly return to teaching if he could weasel himself one of those gigs where he teaches a group of student writers in Prague or London.

Jim Pascoe

JIM PASCOE has been writing professionally since the early '90s. His most recent project is Undertown, an upcoming dark fantasy series from publisher Tokyopop. His ten published books include two pulp fiction novels (including the cult fave, By the Balls: a Bowling Alley Murder Mystery), five Buffy the Vampire Slayer graphic novels, 
and three kids books for Disney Press. In the noir world, he's best known as the co-publisher of UglyTown, which put out cutting-edge fiction for nearly a decade. He is currently in hiding in the hills east of downtown Los Angeles but occasionally files reports at  www.jimpascoe.com .

Lynn Wallace

Lynn Wallace lived in Costa Rica several years as a boy, and after receiving an MA in English-Fiction Writing from the Pennsylvania State University in 1986, he was awarded a Fulbright to Costa Rica for fifteen months, during which he taught at the University of Costa Rica, wandered the backcountry, and worked on several writing projects. One of those works was a memoir, an excerpt of which was translated into Spanish and published in the literary supplement of the daily La Nación, and installments of which have been published in Postcards from Pottersville, Kalliope, and elsewhere. Most recently, some of his poems have appeared in the Atlanta Review.

The novel Los Caminantes, due out in fall 2005, won a prize in the novel category at the Florida First Coast Writers' Festival in 1992.

In 2002-2003 he served on the fellowship grant review panel in the area of media arts for the Division of Cultural Affairs of Florida, and has been reappointed by The Secretary of State as a grant review panelist in media arts for 2005-2006.

Currently, Lynn Wallace serves as an Assistant Professor of English at Gulf Coast Community College, Panama City, FL, where he teaches creative writing, literature and film, among other courses. He serves as the chair of Faculty Council, 2005-2006, and is long-time advisor to the Muslim Student Association. He resides in Marianna, Florida, with his wife, Jill, and daughters, Elynn Joy and Sara Grace.

Tony Simmons

Tony is a Florida boy. He's the assistant managing editor for news at The News Herald in Panama City, where he lives with his wife, Debra, and their children, Nathaniel and Jessica. He was born and raised in Century, and graduated from Century High School in 1982, sixth in a class of 60. He has degrees in television production and print journalism from, respectively, Pensacola Junior College and the University of West Florida, both located in Pensacola.

He has won numerous awards for his newspaper work, including recognitions by the Florida School Boards Association, Florida Society of Newspaper Editors, Florida Press Club, Florida Department of Education, the Sons and Daughters of the American Revolution, and the National Society of Newspaper Design.

His short fiction has appeared in the anthologies, Postcards from Pottersville, volumes one and two, and has received honorable mention in the L.Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future Contest. A Web log (or “blog”) about his debut literary novel, Welcome to the Dawning of a New Century — including insight about his inspirations and steps the work followed between the writing and publication process — is on the Web at http://dawningofanewcentury.blogspot.com

When he's not writing, Tony listens to music, reads books and watches movies — but then, that's what he does while he's writing, too. He listened to albums by Tori Amos, David Bowie, Dave Matthews and Sarah McLachlan while working on the Century manuscript. During that time, he also read books by Rick Moody, John Dufresne, Neil Gaiman, Audrey Niffenegger, Bill Bryson, Michael Lister, and others.

He drinks too much coffee.

www.TonySimmons.info

M. DIANE VOGT

M. DIANE VOGT is the author of the Judge Wilhelmina Carson legal suspense series of novels set in Tampa, Florida. Six Bills is now

available at all bookstores and online booksellers. Marital Privilege will be available in Spring 2004.
Diane is currently working on Black Money to be published in 2004, and a stand alone legal thriller, Think No Evil, in which Judge Carson has a cameo appearance.

Like her protagonist, Diane is married. She and her “first husband,” Robert, recently celebrated their thirtieth wedding anniversary. Diane has collected an extensive Herend zoo. After realizing all the fun Willa was having driving around in her Mercedes CLK convertible, Diane bought one, too. Diane and Robert are snow birds, dividing their time between Tampa and Northern Michigan, where they live with their Schnauzer, Molly.

Diane is a nationally recognized speaker and educator and an active member of Mystery Writers of America. She was the editor of the Florida Chapter's newsletter for four years and is now a member of the Board. Diane served as a judge on the Edgar Committee for Best Paperback Original published in 2002, presenter at the Edgar Symposium in 2002 and 2003, and editor of the 2003 Edgar Annual.

Mary Anna Evans

Mary Anna Evans has degrees in physics and engineering, but her heart is in the past.  Her series character, Faye Longchamp, lives the exciting life of an archaeologist, and Mary Anna envies her a little.  The first Faye Longchamp novel, Artifacts , won the Benjamin Franklin award for the best mystery novel published by a small press in 2003.  It also won the Florida Historical Society's Patrick D. Smith Florida Literature Award, and it was recognized by the Voice of Young America (VOYA) as an "Adult Mystery with Young Adult Appeal."  Mary Anna is very proud of being recognized for writing a good page-turner for people of all ages while, at the same time, getting the historical facts right. 

For the incurably curious, Mary Anna's first published work, her master's thesis, was entitled A Modeling Study of the NH 3 -NO-O 2 Reaction Under the Operating Conditions of a Fluidized Bed Combustor.  Like her mysteries, it was also a factual page-turner but, no, it's not available online.  She turned to from engineering to fiction after the birth of her third child prompted a shift in focus from managing hazardous wastes to preparing balanced meals.  Unfortunately, she has yet to acquire the knack of laundry management.  Writing lets her indulge her passion for history and literature and science and everything else that goes into a good book.  Simply put, crafting a novel is fun.  Mary Anna lives in Gainesville, Florida with her husband, three children, and a cat.

Lon Prater

Among many other things, Lon Prater is the lucky father of two great girls, the even luckier husband of a truly amazing woman, a servicemember, stunt kite flyer, youth soccer coach, former editor of the webzine Neverary , and a writer of odd little tales.  He maintains a small but pleasant web-presence at www.neverary.com .

Terry Lewis

Terry Lewis , a native of North Florida and a trial judge since 1988, knows his legal and geographical territory, and his taut courtroom procedurals ring with authenticity. Both CONFLICT OF INTEREST (1997) and PRIVILEGED INFORMATION (2003) are set in Tallahassee and feature unlikely law partners, Paul Morganstein and Ted Stevens.

He is hard at work on his third novel. Terry lives in Tallahassee with his wife Fran and their cat, Buffy. They have one daughter, Angie, who is away at school.

Anthony S. Buoni

Anthony S. Buoni is a Panama City Beach writer, musician, and bartender with an interest in film.  When he's not writing or jamming, he enjoys devouring books and playing with his son, Fallon.  Currently at work on a counter culture novel and a feature film, Anthony loves nature and ghost stories.