Barbara Ardinger, Ph.D.   (www.barbaraardinger.com) is the author of Secret Lives, a new novel about crones and other magical folks, and Pagan Every Day, a unique daybook of daily meditations. Her other books include Finding New Goddesses, a parody of goddess encyclopedias, and an earlier novel, Quicksilver Moon, which is realistic … except for the vampire.

Her day job is freelance editing for people who have good ideas but don’t want to embarrass themselves in print. To date, she has edited more than 250 books, both fiction and nonfiction, on a wide range of topics. Barbara, who is well known for the rituals she creates and leads, lives in Long Beach with her two rescued Maine coon cats, Schroedinger and Heisenberg. She is a CERT volunteer and has been an AIDS buddy.

Secret Lives is a big novel about big issues—aging and death, the way our society treats its senior citizens, women’s friendships, the powers of love, the theory and practice of magic, the rebirth of the Goddess and Her ancient religion. It’s about the untidy mysteries of human life. Set in Long Beach’s historic Rose Park neighborhood, Secret Lives tells the adventures in a year in the lives of a circle of crones, mothers, and a maiden. Among the other characters are the Green Man, an ageless Neolithic shaman, a ghostly inquisitor, the Norns gone mad in the modern world, and a lost goddess who reminds us of Red Riding Hood. And then there’s Madame Blavatsky, the talking cat that is the circle’s too-familiar familiar. As the baby boom generation ages, the issues addressed in Secret Lives become more significant to readers. Also more recognizable. Issues that used to matter only to their parents are now starting to pop up in the boomers’ own lives. There are both love and cosmic war in Secret Lives.

Pagan Every Day is a spiritual practice daybook for those who live in the real world. It's chock-full of gods, goddesses, saints, real people, and rituals and festivals from around the world. Keep this book by your bed, read a page every morning, and find out what today signifies. Miss Piggy (September 27) as The Goddess Of Everything? Who knew??

Quicksilver Moon is a surreal, funny, scary read that dances nimbly between over-the-top outrageousness and chilling believability. Readers are pulled into the real world of Orange County, California, where a vampire who worships the Goddess helps the nine women of the Quicksilver Moon coven deal with a fanatical right-wing preacher who attacks them. The vampire speaks of theology, love, and occult history, and she even goes to hell before the story ends.

Finding New Goddesses, a parody of goddess encyclopedias, tells us who to turn to for modern issues the classical goddesses never knew about. Sure, the old goddesses and gods can help us with love, prosperity, and health, but who do we ask for help when our computer crashes? See Nerdix, Compuquia, and their sisters and brothers. Who can tell us what to take to a potluck? Caloria. Who can help us with glue guns, feng shui, duct tape, teenagers, and taxes? From A (Acme, Agenda, and Aphasia) to Z (Zinfandella, Zombonie), these modern goddesses have All The Answers.

Ellie Burmeister

How to Get a Literary Agent in Two Murders or Less is the story of aspiring novelist Amanda Anderson who has never had any luck, but she hopes that's about to change. She goes to a writer's conference to find an agent, but ends up with a husband. After a whirlwind courtship, she elopes with Jonny Goodsnuff, a best selling suspense writer and single father of two.

Soon she discovers that her husband's only good on paper. Between his sleazy associates, a draconian pre-nup, the hunky romance novelist neighbor, and daddy's little princesses (his daughters she didn't know about, who are both in their 30's and living at home with no intention of welcoming a newcomer) Amanda learns the meaning of "wed in haste, repent at leisure."

Her husband has a deadly secret, and before she can walk away Amanda finds herself in a desperate game of cat and mouse. But who are the cats? And who are the mice? And most importantly, will any of this bring her closer to a publishing contract?

Ellie Burmeister is a native Californian and a graduate of SDSU. She has worked and traveled extensively in Europe. She is also done some acting for movies and television, and would do more, if she could find the time. Her hobbies include reading, travel, hanging out at the beach, and fine dining. She is a vegetarian who eats fish, but if she says she is a pescetarian, people assume it is a religion and offer her carrot-shaving sandwiches instead of halibut. Beyond that, she leads a fairly simple life.

David Paul Collins

Shanghaied is based on a true story lived by David Paul Collins as a merchant seaman. The events he survives, the compelling characters in the crew are woven into reality and authenticity by a skilled storyteller.

Fifteen-year-old Jack Sligo runs away from a loving Boston Irish family hoping to get a summer job on a cruise ship. He has no luck on the gritty docks of New York and hitchhikes to a seaport in Alabama. While looking for a ship Jack meets two German seamen and accepts their invitation for drinks and a taste of night life. Hours later, Jack wakes up racked with pain on a ship far at sea, drugged, kidnapped, shanghaied aboard a monstrous African freighter, the SS Iron Prince. He has no idea how he got there, where he’s going, how he’ll ever get back, and is too terrified to ask. With only the clothes on his back, he must contend with strange people, different languages and the challenges of working, unwanted, among sailors who don’t know he is an American. The chief mate and the coal passer know and have plans to get Jack alone and offer a life or death bargain.

The ship’s first port is a remote river town in Venezuela populated by thieves, bums, easy women and surrounded by impenetrable jungle. There is no opportunity for escape. When the ship’s cook disappears, Jack stuffs his ethics and helps to shanghai a replacement. Winston, a Jamaican, on the ship since he was twelve, becomes his friend. They defend their honor together against knife wielding sailors, hurricanes, and the disaster of a shipwreck. Jack is unaware that the ship’s Bo’sun, Manor Nelson and Chips, the gnarled, old ship’s carpenter, have become his protectors. When he learns that the ship’s next port of call is Odessa, USSR, Jack drowns his hopes with a sailors’ best “friend”, rum, and he is shanghaied again.

Mr. Collins was born with a thirst for adventure. As a teenager, he set out to go to sea on his own, working aboard merchant ships sailing under African, Asian and Central American flags and later, on American ships as a member of the National Maritime Union. SHANGHAIED is a fictionalized memoir based on his experiences on a Liberian freighter and the dangerous ways of life at sea in the 1950s. The fictional protagonist, fifteen-year-old Jack Sligo, is looking for a summer job when he is shanghaied on an African freighter. By the time September school bells rang, Jack had learned lessons that would never have been taught at St. Peter’s Central Catholic High School.

http://www.shanghaiedthebook.com/

Ann Finnin

“I was only an apprentice. I swear it. By all the angels in Heaven.”

Condemned to death by the Holy Office for sorcery, fifteen-year-old Michael de Lorraine is about to be consumed by flames when he is saved by Abbot Francis and granted refuge at Sainte Felice, a Benedictine monastery in fifteenth-century France. Michael learns that this strange and wonderful place, famous for its healing wine, harbors renegade monk-sorcerers, enchanted gargoyles, and a closely guarded secret that could spell violent death for the Abbot.

As the church intensifies its cruel pursuit of Michael, Abbot Francis and the brotherhood find themselves in grave danger. Michael will do anything to protect his mentor, but are his powers great enough to save the monastery from the merciless, bloodthirsty Inquisition?

Ever since escaping from a convent school at 15, the life of Ann Finnin has been a continuous journey into magic, mysticism and fantasy. She has studied a variety of esoteric traditions and has experience in many schools of magic and mysticism. Not content with being stuck in the twenty-first century, Ann has been active in historical re-enactment groups and renaissance fairs and has been, at various times, a Celtic Druidess, a Renaissance scholar, a pirate, a saloon floozy and a gypsy dancer.

In the ordinary world, Ann has degrees in Biology and Experimental Psychology and currently works as a technical writer. In-between forays into other times and places, Ann and her husband Dave live in the hills of Tujunga, California with a big black Lab named Hunter.

Leslie Ann Moore

Ms. Moore is the author of Griffin's Daughter, her debut novel and the first in her romantic fantasy Griffin's Daughter trilogy, was named 2008 IBPA Ben Franklin Award Winner for Best First Fiction. Griffin's Shadow, the second book in the series, has been officially endorsed by both Publisher's Weekly and The Library Journal. Griffin's Destiny is the third and final volume of the series. All three books are available online in both print and e-book form at Amazon.com

A native of Los Angeles, Ms. Moore received her doctorate in Veterinary Medicine from the University of California at Davis in 1988. Dr. Moore lives and works in Los Angeles, CA and in her spare time, she practices the beautiful and ancient art of belly dance.

Griffin's Destiny, the third and final volume of the Griffin's Daughter Trilogy is now available in paperback direct from the publisher. You can order a signed personalized copy by going to www.ridanpublishing.com

Visit Leslie Ann's website at www.leslieannmoore.com/

Kathy Porter

Kathy Porter grew up in Endicott, NY the birthplace of IBM and only a short distance away from where one of her favorite TV series creator, Rod Serling was raised. Kathy’s lifelong interest in Science Fiction ignited when her father, a science teacher, showed her craters on the moon and taught her the constellations. She grew up watching science fiction movies and TV shows. Ray Bradbury’s “Martian Chronicles” was her first delve into a science fiction novel and she has been hooked ever since.

“I think I was born telling stories,” Kathy explained during a recent interview. “As second to the oldest of seven children, my sisters and I shared a bedroom. I loved making up bedtime stories, with an eerie edge and frightening my sisters. Things about fairies, leprechauns, and aliens even back then. If they couldn’t sleep I knew I succeeded.”

In September of 1961 reports of Barney and Betty Hill’s alien abduction claims took the media by storm. Kathy has been fascinated by their story and any story that delved into the “we are not alone” theory ever since.

Earth's Ultimate Conflict is the first novel in Kathy Porter's Gray Guardians Series. Escape From Nuur, the second in the series will be released next year.

What if the treat of a world-wide pandemic, increased seismic activity, and global warming, were all linked to alien abduction?

In the near future this frightening scenario forces Rosa De Angelo t flee Earth with her three alien hybrid children. In doing soma she leaves behind Tony, her soul-mate and husband. Ellen McCarthy is faced with the agonizing choice of abandoning her love-starved hybrid children or finding a way back to her three-month-old human child Griffin, before it’s to late.

With Earth’s inhabitants faced with seemingly insurmountable illness and destruction, two rival alien species offer them salvation. United States President Barbara Unger will make the ultimate decision of who to trust the Grays or the Guardians.

www.grayguardians.com
http://www.booktour.com/author/kathy_porter

Deborah M. Pratt is a significant force in Hollywood. She is a five-time Emmy nominee, a Golden Globe nominee and short listed for the Academy Awards for her live action short film “Girl Friends”. She is the recipient of The Lillian Gish Award from Women in Film, The Angel Award, The Golden Block Award, and Six B.E.N. Awards. From the award-winning series Quantum Leap to the internationally acclaimed Masterpiece Theatre's Cora Unashamed, Deborah M. Pratt’s vision is an inspiration to audiences worldwide. A master storyteller with a spiritual dream for a better world, Deborah M. Pratt breaks the mold of science fiction and creates a genre of science fantasy with the soul of the universe and a key to the human heart.

The Vision Quest Trilogy takes you into a not so distant future where Earth was transformed by the Great Quakes and massive land shifts that redefined and unified our planet. When the harmony of Earth is torn into factions by the beings who share the planet Earth—human and the array of new species, biological and machine — all must grapple with technologies and mystical forces both ancient and frighteningly new that make up The Vision Quest’s Book One: The Age of Light.

Peace reigned on the resurrected territory of Atlantia until 17-year old Cole "Lazer" Lazerman witnessed the slaughter of his father and 2,700 innocent people by the Black Guard; biodroid protectorates created to defend humans now turned sentient. Lazer and his friends embark on a path of revenge to expose the truth behind the covert biodroid army being built that almost costs them their lives. Lazer’s mother, understanding the danger her son is in, sends him off continent to the great Master Po to study the forgotten secrets of the Visionistic Arts and harness the limitless power of the human mind and spirit. There, along with his two best friends—and the newfound love of his life—Lazer struggles to obey his mother’s wish, learn to transform his hatred, control his fear and passion for revenge and achieve the forgotten powers of the Visionistic Arts. All goes well until he learns his beloved Atlantian homeland is under the control of the biodroid Black Guard and their evil leader, Five. Lazer‘s only goal is to return home.

The Vision Quest’s Book Two: the Odyssey continues Lazer’s journey when he enters a series of explosive battlefields—both virtual and very real. His mimesis Five has discovered that it is Lazer’s imprint on the all powerful Celian Gnorbs left by earth’s first inhabitants, that must be broken if his plan of world domination is to succeed. The hunt across four continents and beneath the oceans to find and kill Lazer turns Lazer the hunter into the hunted. Our hero and his friends are reunites building the alliance as many more warriors are added along the way.

In the third installment of The Vision Quest, Secret of the Celians, Lazer has returned to Atlantia to find his mother missing and his home destroyed. He is reunited with Kyla and Cashton and learns his beloved Alana Blue has been taken hostage by the Black Guard. With time running out, the unified military forces of the earth rally to save Atlantia in a historical battle. In the end, it is Lazer who must face Five alone inside the Voids. There, with the help of Masta Poe, Riana and the four Gnorbs he will meet the powerful Souls of the Universe and learn the Secrets of the Celians, but will it be in time to answer his call to destiny and save the earth… join us and find out.

The Vision Quest is an action-packed, Science Fantasy adventure based on the science and technology of today--projected into a very probable tomorrow.

M. M. Shelley   is a storyteller, wordsmith and dreamer. MISHAP AND MAYHEM, a captivating story of faerie's and magic, is her debut novel. She has traveled the world extensively in search of the magic which is often overlooked in every day life. M.M. Shelley is a native of southern California, and a student of mythology from which she gets much inspiration.

The Zombie Story: Unfolding on the streets of Los Angeles is a new breed of monster... Orlando, fresh from the mid west, arrives at his new high school on his Harley Davidson. All he wants is to make it through the day, and begin his training as a Zombie Hunter. But someone has different plans for him.

Dead Relatives: Living amongst the monsters is nothing compared to what lurks in the shadows... After discovering what was hidden in Mexico and having to sneak back across the border Orlando returns to Los Angeles, but is unable to return to his home. Instead of hunting Zombies he is now hunted. Betrayed by those he thought he could trust, Orlando must keep the truth of what he knows to himself. That is until dead relatives return with dire warnings.

V.J. Waks

V.J. Waks has been telling stories since childhood. This normally can get one into trouble unless you write the stories down. Society then forgives, and people begin to notice.

And so came TAU 4, Book One in this author’s series of sci fi novels. A story of deceit and betrayal, of obsession and determination, TAU 4 takes the reader to savage worlds of storm and jungle, the life and death struggle of a warrior people and the inevitable conflict of creator and created.

Nothing is as it appears to be in TAU 4 or in HAMMERSPACE, Book Two, of the series.The continuing story of Gerda Tau takes a deadly and unforeseen turn. A new, more dangerous enemy surfaces in this taut drama of conspiracy, world domination and revelation for the creature made by Dyle Carzon.

Passionate, sensually provocative and painted on a sweeping, intensely visual and involving scale, the chronicle of Gerda Tau and her fierce determination to recover her lost humanity sets the stage for a battle of wills and personalities in this Award-winning science fiction series, TAU4, and in Book Two of the series, HAMMERSPACE.

In the universe of the Homeworlds and the Out Worlds, conspiracy, deceit and mystery abound and a hidden world with its proud and savage warriors comes into its own in a climactic battle for survival. Here, loyalty meets head on with treachery, virtue with brutality. Here will be the final conflict, between a man and the creature he dared to create – between a man who refuses to accept the limits of his own humanity, and a woman who is just beginning to learn her own.

A Nicholl's Fellowship Screenplay Quarterfinalist and award- winning Author for her sci-fi novels, TAU 4, and HAMMERSPACE, Book Two in her series, V.J. Waks resides in Los Angeles, busily engaged with new screenplays, theatre pieces, and upcoming books in the TAU 4, HAMMERSPACE, and SINGER OF GREEN series.