Birth City

Chicago

Birth State

IL

Current Location

Colorado Springs, CO

Occupation(s)

Novelist

Biography

My family moved here from Chicago in 1976. I write novels about ordinary people experiencing life-changing events. I write in all genres of fiction, often influenced by my own extraordinary adventures and infinite imagination. I grew up on the Southside of Chicago in a large, struggling family, working full-time while attending four colleges. I studied Cultural Anthropology, English, Journalism and Theater, eventually earning a B.A. degree in Diversified Studies from the University of Colorado - UCCS in 1982. I later enjoyed a modestly successful career in Hollywood as an actor, writer, and producer in independent films interspersed with stints working for motion picture studio executives. My close friends call me "Hollywood." A cancer survivor, I also write screenplays and original music.

Education/Training

Bachelor of Arts, English, Communications, University of Colorado at Colorado Springs

Local Authors Genres

Published Works

Published Works Book Jackets

Interviews

Speaker Availability

Yes

Speaker Topics

How to develop a story, write it, and publish it.

Birth City

Colorado Springs

Birth State

CO

Current Location

Colorado Springs, CO

Author's Website

Occupation(s)

Author - Designer - Nonprofit Consultant - Speaker/Trainer - #workquilter

Biography

I have lived in Colorado Springs for the last seventeen years. I was born in Chicago, later moved to France (father in the military), returned and moved to Kansas before spending most of my time in Texas (San Antonio area). I have held myriad positions in my life. I like to undertake more than one thing at a time, thus I refer to myself as a #workquilter combining various avenues of income. These include: -Author of nonfiction and fiction. -Certified permaculture designer and previously worked as a registered interior designer. -Suburban Homesteader (have gardens, chickens, bees). -Speaker/trainer on myriad topics. -Global house- and pet-sitter. -Nonprofit consultant, certified grants specialist (proposal writer, donor communications, fundraising strategy)

Awards/Honors

Education/Training

Bachelor of Science, Organizational Management in Christian Leadership, GCU (magna cum laude) - Associate's degree, Registered Interior Designer, St. Philips College in San Antonio, TX - Certified Grants Specialist - Certified Grants Reviewer

Local Authors Genres

Published Works

Published Works Book Jackets

Organizations

Colorado Springs CDBG Board Member

Speaker Availability

Yes

Speaker Topics

Writing - Creative writing - Self-publishing - Backyard farming (permaculture principles, food forest, perennial gardening, lasagna gardening) - Travel - House/pet sitting - Getting what you really want in life - Work quilting - Nonprofit topics (e.g. Fundraising 101) - Entrepreneurship - Design (Interior Design, Landscape design using permaculture zones)

Birth City

Glendora

Birth State

CA

Current Location

Colorado Springs, CO

Email (Public)

Author's Website

Occupation(s)

Writer - Editor - Student

Biography

I am a poet, novelist, and editor living in Colorado Springs. I will graduate from UCCS with my Bachelor's in English in December 2018. In my free time, I enjoy writing, reading, critiquing films and television shows, and going to the occasional concert. I live with my husband and two sons.

Education/Training

I am currently attending UCCS to fulfill a Bachelor's Degree in English Literature.

Local Authors Genres

Published Works

Speaker Availability

Yes

Speaker Topics

I am willing to read/speak about my own writing, as well as discuss literature and the craft of writing.

Birth City

Colorado Springs

Birth State

CO

Current Location

Parker, CO

Email (Public)

Author's Website

Occupation(s)

Author

Biography

Becky Clark is the seventh of eight kids, all born and raised in Colorado Springs, which explains both her insatiable need for attention and her atrocious table manners. She likes to read funny books so it felt natural to write them too. She surrounds herself with quirky people and pets who end up as characters in her books. Readers say her books are “fast and thoroughly entertaining” with “witty humor and tight writing” and “humor laced with engaging characters” so you should “grab a cocktail and enjoy the ride.” They also say “Warning: You will laugh out loud. I’m not kidding,” and “If you like Janet Evanovich, you will like Becky Clark.”

Local Authors Genres

Published Works

Published Works Book Jackets

Organizations

Member of Colorado Authors League - Sisters in Crime - Mystery Writers of America

Speaker Availability

Yes

Speaker Topics

General writing and publishing - Mysteries - Cozy mysteries - How to write humor - "30 Minute Mystery" - "Eight Weeks to a Complete Novel"

Current Location

Front Range of the Rockies

Author's Website

Occupation(s)

Time Machine Mechanic

Biography

AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR D. L. ORTON lives in the Rocky Mountains where she and her husband are raising three boys, a golden retriever, two Siberian cats, and an extremely long-lived Triops. In her spare time, she's building a time machine so that someone can go back and do the laundry.

Awards/Honors

Education/Training

Ms. Orton is a graduate of Stanford University's Writers Workshop and a past editor of <em>Top of the Western Staircase</em>, a literary publication of CU, Boulder. The author has a number of short stories published in online literary magazines, including Literotica, Melusine, Cosmoetica, The Ranfurly Review, and Catalyst Press.

Local Authors Genres

Published Works

Published Works Book Jackets

Interviews

Organizations

Independent Book Publishers Association

Speaker Availability

Yes

Speaker Topics

Writing a book series - Indie publishing - How to find an editor, publisher, and audience

Birth City

Dayton

Birth State

OH

Current Location

Colorado Springs, CO

Email (Public)

Author's Website

Occupation(s)

Author - Chair AAPG Astrogeology Committee - Sr. Geophysical Consultant (ret.)

Biography

Doug Cook has spent over two thousand hours underwater exploring and photographing life in the oceans. He is retired from a thirty-four year career as a petroleum geophysicist. This career allowed him to explore five of the world’s continents and live in Saudi Arabia for eighteen years. A career highlight in petroleum exploration was participating in ten years of deep-water submersible oil seep studies in the Gulf of Mexico. These seeps have associated chemosynthetic communities of life. As extremophiles, these organisms relate to Doug’s interest in astrogeology and exobiology. Doug has always had a passion for astronomy and space exploration. He now pursues this passion as an author. The beauty of the mountains and geology lured Doug to retire in Colorado. He has two daughters and lives in Colorado Springs with his wife Elizabeth.

Education/Training

BS Oceanography, University of Michigan, 1976 - MS in Carbonate Sedimentology, University of Florida, 1984 - Exploration Geophysics (Conoco, BHP Americas, Saudi Aramco)

Local Authors Genres

Published Works

Published Works Book Jackets

Interviews

Organizations

Member, American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) - Chair AAPG Astrogeology Committee, Society of Exploration Geophysicists (SEG) - Member-at-Large Colorado Springs Astronomical Society - Member of the Planetary Society, National Space Society, and Adjunct Astronomy Professor PPCC.

Speaker Availability

Yes

Speaker Topics

1) The Aquila Mission- It’s 2023. Our crew enters deep space to study asteroid Bennu and comet 125P- a step to mankind’s first voyage to Mars. A rigorously scientific yet thrilling story of man’s first journey beyond the Moon. (2018 print and eBook) - 2) Earth Impacts and the Threat from Near Earth Asteroids - 3) Research Submersible Exploration on Chemosynthetic Communities that Eat Oil and Gas, 2600 feet Down in the Gulf of Mexico - 4) Discovering Ancient Ship Wrecks in the Red Sea, Saudi Arabia.

Birth City

Lincoln

Birth State

NE

Current Location

Colorado Springs, CO

Author's Website

Occupation(s)

Educator and author

Biography

Carina Bissett is a writer, poet, and educator working primarily in the fields of dark fiction and fabulism. Her short fiction and poetry have been published in multiple journals and anthologies including Upon a Twice Time, Bitter Distillations: An Anthology of Poisonous Tales, Arterial Bloom, Gorgon: Stories of Emergence, Weird Dream Society, Hath No Fury, and the HWA Poetry Showcase Vol. V, VI, and VIII. She has also written stories set in shared worlds for RPGs at Green Ronin Publishing and Onyx Path Publishing. In addition to writing, she has edited several projects; the most recent is in the role as co-editor for Shadow Atlas: Dark Landscapes of the Americas.

As an educator, Carina has taught at Pikes Peak Community College, Glendale Community College, and Arizona State University. She also participated in the Colorado Writing Project and works with educators to develop writing instruction in college and secondary school classrooms. She currently offers workshops focused on story generation at The Storied Imaginarium. Her fiction has been nominated for the Sundress Publications Best of the Net Award and was a finalist for the Ron L. Hubbard Writers of the Future Awards. Her poetry has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and the Sundress Publications Best of the Net Award. In her editorial capacity, she’s received recognition as the Winner at the Colorado Book Awards 2022 (Anthology) and as a Finalist in the Fiction: Anthologies category of the 2022 International Book Award.

Awards/Honors

Education/Training

MFA in Creative Writing (University of Maine, 2018) - M.A. in Curriculum and Instruction (University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, 2011) - B.A. in Integrative Studies (Arizona State University, 1999) - A.A. in Humanities (Glendale Community College, 1998) - A.G.S. in General Studies (Glendale Community College, 1997)

Local Authors Genres

Published Works

Organizations

Horror Writers Association - Science Fiction Poetry Association - Colorado Poets Center - Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America

Speaker Availability

Yes

Speaker Topics

* Speculative fiction
* Creative non-fiction
* Speculative poetry
* Memoir
* Other creative pursuits

Birth Year (-Died Year)

1968

Birth City

Los Angeles

Birth State

CA

Current Location

Colorado Springs, CO

Occupation(s)

Author

Biography

Raised by a fun-loving, atheist single mom who struggled with depression and mental illness, I spent my childhood backpacking around Europe, visiting yoga communes, eating vegan, living on a houseboat, and then an old pony express outpost in the backwoods of Montana. My teen years took a drastic turn when my mom got saved, got married, and joined an ultra-conservative Mennonite church. Faith, step-parents and unquestioning obedience is a dangerous combination when mixed with mental illness, legalism, and heavy-handed physical correction. I became a confused believer with a heart for Jesus but drowning under a sea of rules, regulations, and legalism. I became a missionary teacher and then a nurse and escaped to the mission field, the one avenue open to single women. I taught VBS on Indian reservations and led school for missionary children in Haiti and Africa. All around me was heartache and disease and glaring need. I longed to make a difference but was limited to working on the mission compound – teaching, cooking, cleaning. Work outside the walls of the compound was reserved for the men. On a furlough, I met my future husband – a new believer who wasn’t looking for a door mat in a wife, but a partner. As he grew in his faith, I reexamined mine and what Biblical womanhood looked like. Timidly at first, but then eagerly as I discovered a new relationship with Jesus Christ based on grace and not performance. I left the Mennonite church and married the love of my life twenty years ago. We have made our home in Colorado Springs at the base of the Rocky Mountains for the last eleven years. We have five beautiful teenagers, two by birth and three through adoption from Haiti. My husband is adopted and God used the time in Haiti to prepare me to understand my children’s culture and language and ease their transitions home. Two people in my family have mild Asperger’s and one has Reactive Attachment disorder, PTSD, and ODD. Our house is not a quiet, well greased machine but a chaotic, happy, crazy, nerve-racking, love-filled oasis where we all try to help each other grow and thrive. I am so thankful for my life – the good and the bad. I feel blessed to have experienced so many unique situations and to love and be loved by so many wonderful and eccentric people. It is from these experiences I draw the fiction stories I write. I like to think of them as fiction with grit – fast paced and entertaining stories that make you want to read till the very last page while at the same time tackling real life issues – Legalism, abuse, divorce, adoption, Asperger syndrome, mental illness, etc. I hope you’ll pull up a chair and stay a while. Drop me a line and share your own story. I’d love to hear it.

Local Authors Genres

Published Works

Published Works Book Jackets

Organizations

American Christian Fiction Writers

Speaker Availability

Yes

Speaker Topics

* Adoption
* Transitioning from a Mennonite lifestyle to a contemporary one
* Asperger's

Birth City

Tampa

Birth State

FL

Current Location

Colorado Springs, CO

Email (Public)

Author's Website

Occupation(s)

US Air Force

Biography

Serving America in the US Air Force for 20+ years; spent 12+ years overseas (Korea and Germany) but now living/stationed in Colorado Springs. Interests include books (reading/writing - of course), travel, art, Asian languages, Asian food...my kids.

Local Authors Genres

Published Works

Published Works Book Jackets

Speaker Availability

No

Birth Year (-Died Year)

1956

Birth City

New York City

Birth State

NY

Current Location

Colorado Springs, CO

Email (Public)

Author's Website

Occupation(s)

Author

Biography

D.M. O’Byrne’s first job was as a waitress. Now she’s a writer of mystery novels. In between, jobs included English teacher, racehorse exerciser, jockey, accountant, golf resort assistant manager, writer, and editor. Her places of residence ranged from the Jersey Shore to a lengthy sojourn in California, and finally to the Colorado Rockies. Each profession, each location was rife with life lessons, fascinating characters, potential plot lines, and wide-ranging experiences. Sooner or later, they will all end up on the written page. O’Byrne is the author of Dangerous Turf, available on amazon.com, and the sequel, Three to One Odds, was released May 2018. She is now writing a series called the Ryn Lowell Colorado Mysteries published by Black Opal Books. The first book in the series, Death in Trout Fork, was released in October 2018. The second book, The Mountaintop Murders, will be released in May 2019 and the third book, A Killing in Vail, will be released in the fall of 2019. Visit www.blackopalbooks.com for more information. D.M. lives in Colorado Springs with her husband and their cat, Warnie. They spend much of their time riding bikes and enjoying the scenery. Warnie spends his time watching the bunnies out the window, lounging on the sofa, and trying to catch his tail.

Education/Training

B.A. in English

Local Authors Genres

Published Works

Published Works Book Jackets

Speaker Availability

Yes

Speaker Topics

Mystery writing - Cozy mysteries - Plotting the novel - Developing characters