Fantasy authors

AA Milne
A.A. Milne was borne in London in 1882. He began his writing career with humorous pieces for Punch magazine. It was in this publication, in 1923, that Winnie-the-Pooh made his first appearance in the poem Teddy Bear. Milne also wrote plays and by the time When We Were Very Young, his first book of poems for children, was published in 1924; he had already made his name as a dramatist and novelist.

Andrew Davenport
Andrew Davenport 42 has a BSc in speech science and is the co-creator and writer of the Teletubbies and In The Night Garden television series and books. He has also directed and produced for the Teletubbies and is also an actor, appearing as the character ‘Tiny’ in Tots TV.

Andrew Davidson
Andrew Davidson was born in Pinawa, Manitoba, and graduated in 1995 from the University of British Columbia with a B.A. in English literature. He has worked as a teacher in Japan, where he has lived on and off, and as a writer of English lessons for Japanese Web sites. The Gargoyle, the product of seven years' worth of research and composition, is his first book. Davidson lives in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Andrew Steele
Andrew Steele has always been enthralled with the world beneath him; and in awe of our galaxy and the universe beyond. As he watches his daughter and sons grow up – and the brilliance in each of them – he often wonders, "What a great adventure it would be for them to explore the galaxy." So Andrew wrote his children a story, and thought it would be great to share the Galaxy Boys adventure with those who might also dream of what is really out there, awaiting those who accept the challenge to embark on a grand galactic adventure.

Andrzej Sapkowski
Andrzej Sapkowski was born on the 21st of June 1948 in Lodz, Poland.

Christopher Paolini
Christopher Paolini was born on the 17th November 1983 in Southern California. His best known works include Eragon and Eldest, both part of the Inheritance Cycle. Paolini's childhood was spent in the Paradise Valley of Montana. Christopher was taught at home and passed his accredited correspondence courses at the age of 15. Following his graduation he began writing the novels that would go on to become Eragon and Eldest.

CM Debell
After completing a degree in Theology, a six month trip to Australia ended up as a four year expedition around Australia, New Zealand and Asia. C.M. Debell has worked as a journalist since her return to the UK and now edits a successful trade publication.

Colin R Parsons
Colin was born on the 8th of November 1960 in the Rhondda Valley in South Wales. He did a variety of short stories over the year’s until in 2004 wrote his first novel. This soon turned into his ‘Wizards’ Kingdom trilogy.’ Wizards’ Kingdom book 1…The Obelisk of Ashmar book 2 and Jarrak’s Darkness book 3. The beautiful welsh landscape of forest’s and lakes provided Colin with inspiration for his writing. He still lives in the Rhondda Valley with his wife Janice and his two sons, Kristoffer and Ryan.

Cornelia Funke
Born on 10th December 1958 in Dorsten, Germany, Cornelia Caroline Funke aspired to being an astronaut when a child but took the route of studying education theory at Hamburg University. After graduating Funke (pronounced - FOON-ka) took the position of Social Worker and dedicated her three years in this role to deprived children. She then took a job as an illustrator and board game designer after completing a postgraduate course at Hamburg University of Design but soon realised that she wanted to write and illustrate her own stories; her time working with children had certainly given her an insight into the type of stories that children wanted to read and enjoy. Establishing herself with the Ghosthunters (Gespensterjäger) and Wild Chicks (Wild H?hner) series of books in her home country it was the fantasy novel Dragon Rider in 1996 that saw her on the New York Times bestseller list for 78 weeks and brought her writing to an international audience. She has since gone on to write several popular titles not least the Inkheart trilogy. After receiving critical acclaim and several awards including the Book Sense Children’s Literature Award she moved to Los Angeles in 2005 with her husband Rolf and their children Anna and Ben. However, the joy of her success has also been tinged with sadness as Rolf her husband of 25 years died of cancer in 2006. The Inkheart trilogy was completed in 2008 with the book Inkdeath following the release of Inkspell which won her the Book Sense Book of the Year Children’s Literature Award in 2006 and Inkheart has now become the subject of a multi-million pound film staring Brendan Fraser.

CS Lewis
C.S. (Clive Staples) Lewis, also known as Jack was born in the Northern Irish town of Belfast in 1898. He was one of two boys born to his father Albert J. Lewis and his mother Florence Augusta Hamilton Lewis, his brother Warren Hamilton Lewis was born in 1895. His upbringing was comfortable and the library of the family home was full of books that the young Lewis enjoyed reading. CS Lewis endured as difficult as year as can be imaged when, in 1908, his mother, father and brother all died.

David Eddings
David Eddings is an American born author best know for his epic fantasy novels. The Belgariad and the Mallorean are his most loved works and two characters in particular; Belgarath the Sorcerer and Polgara the Sorceress have entered into fantasy folklore.

David Farland
David Farland, an American author of fantasy fiction, is the pseudonym of Dave Wolverton. Dave Wolverton, who is well known as an author of science fiction, lives in Utah with his wife and five children.

David Gemmell
David Gemmell was born in 1948 in West London, England. His school life ended at the age of sixteen when he was expelled for his part in an organized gambling syndicate. After leaving school Gemmell became a labourer in the daytime and a bouncer at night in the pubs and clubs of London.

David H Webb
David Webb lives in Sydney, Australia, with his wife, Natalie, and their children. He studied at the University of Sydney, Moore College, and more recently at Tanglewood in Sydney where he developed skills in counselling with a personal interest in the men’s movement and authentic masculinity. Influences include: C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien as well as Robert Bly, Larry Crabb, Dan Allender, John Webb, and John Eldredge.

EB White
Elwyn Brooks White was born on 11th July 1899 in Mount Vernon, New York. He graduated from Cornell University in 1921, then travelled about trying many sorts of jobs, and finally joined the New Yorker magazine. He kept animals on his farm in Maine, and some of these creatures crept into his stories and books. In 1970 Mr. White received the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award, given every five years for distinguished services to children’s literature by the American Library Association. In 1978 he was awarded an honorary Pulizer Prize for his work as a whole. Married to Katherine White, author of ‘Onward and Upward in the garden’ he was also father to Joel White After a long battle with Alzheimer’s Disease E. B. died on 1st October 1985 at home in his farm house.

Eoin Colfer
Born on 14th May 1965 in Wexford, South-East Ireland Eoin Colfer attended Dublin University to gain his degree and qualify as a primary school teacher like his father before him. Returning to Wexford to begin his teaching career he left his home county once again in 1992, this time with his now wife Jackie, whom he married in 1991, to teach in East Africa, Asia and Europe (Italy) over a period of four years. His first book, Benny and Omar was inspired by his experiences in Tunisia, East Africa and was published in 1998. It has since gone on to be translated into several different European languages.

Erik Buchanan
Erik Buchanan lives in Toronto, Canada and is the author of Small Magics. Small Magics was published by Dragon Moon Press and on shelves in 2007. Erik lists his interests as writing, acting, stage combat, martial arts, politics, archaeology, anthropology and philosophy. His favourite films include Harry Potter, Aliens and Willow while among his favourite musicians are the Counting Crows, Sting, REM and Tom Petty.

Erin Hunter
Erin Hunter does not, in reality, exist. She is the pen name of three authors and an editor who work together to write fantasy books, most notably the Warriors series.

Garth Nix
Nix was born in 1963 in Melbourne, Australia, and spent his childhood in Canberra. Before attended the University of Canberra from 1984-1986 he spent time travelling in the UK. Emerging in 1986 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in professional writing, Nix soon became heavily involved in the publishing industry after moving to Sydney, working his way up the corporate ladder until finally becoming a senior editor in 1991 with HarperCollins Australia.

George RR Martin
Born on the 20th September 1948, George Raymond Richard Martin began writing at a very early age; creating scary monster stories and selling them to the other children that lived in the neighbouring area. He had his first book published in 1971; the book was called The Hero and Martin was 21 years of age.

George Udenkwo
The author, George Chyke Udenkwo, was born in 1967 in the troubled town of Newry, Northern Ireland. Half Nigerian, half Irish, he was raised in 70's England and to his everlasting chagrin missed out on the Punk era by a hairs breadth. "We left for Nigeria in '76, anarchy was just over the British horizon and art was about to change forever." But Nigeria was to reshape George's views in other ways.

Giles Kristian
Born in Leicester in 1975 to an English father and Norwegian mother, Giles has led a varied and somewhat unconventional life. His rock 'n' roll singer father had nurtured a dream that would lead Giles to the bright lights of fame. His degree in English Literature and Language at UCE was cut short when he was offered a place in 90s boy band Upside Down as their lead singer. Giles has sung for H.R.H. The Prince of Wales and has performed as such venues as The Royal Albert Hall and Wembley Arena, alongside artists such as Eric Clapton, Dame Shirley Bassey, The Back Street Boys and Meat Loaf, to name a few.

Glen Cook
Glen Cook first began writing in high school, providing the occasional article for the school newspaper. After high school Cook spent time in United States Navy before working full time at a General Motors assembly plant. It was while he was at GM that Cook began writing in earnest, producing as many as three books a year. Outside of writing Glen Cook is an avid stamp collector and enjoys watching the Cardinals play baseball.

Guy Gavriel Kay
Guy Gavriel Kay was born on the 7th November 1954 in Canada. He is still based out of Toronto. At the beginning of his career Gavriel Kay aided Christopher Tolkien (J.R.R. Tolkien's son) in the editing of Tolkien's great work, The Silmarillion. The pair met when at university together in Manitoba.

James Johnson
Richard ‘James Johnson’ was born in Derby, England in 1976. Having studied Graphic Design at Bedfordshire University he went on to win a prestigious D&AD first award. Developing a taste for writing early on in life, his passion for storytelling culminated in two books (he’d rather forget) at the age of twelve. In addition to his work as a writer, he’s also an accomplished Illustrator and Graphic Designer, which he also lectures on and leads a degree level course in Nottingham. The Enemy’s Son is his first novel.

Jasper Kent
Jasper Kent was born in Worcestershire in 1968. He attended King Edward's School, Birmingham and went to study Natural Sciences at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, specialising in Physics.

Jayel Gibson
By her grandmother’s side, Jayel Gibson listened with eager anticipation as her grandmother wove traditional Celtic folklore and fairy tales into stories. These tales fascinated and captivated her imagination, greatly influencing the direction of her own writing and storytelling. This love for mythology drove Gibson to eventually craft the “Ancient Mirrors Tales,” a series of fantasy novels that delve into an ancient, magical world where humans live alongside dragons and wizards.

Jes Battis
Jes Battis was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, and currently lives in New York City. He is a writer and academic whose research focuses on popular culture, gay and lesbian youth studies, and disability. His previous publications include Blood Relations and Investigating Farscape. He has taught English and film studies at Simon Fraser University and Hunter College, and the most recent academic project focuses on the history of gay and lesbian teen writing. Look for his forthcoming book of essays, A Dragon Wrecked My Prom: Teen Wizards, Mutants, and Heroes, with Rowman & Littlefield, to be released in 2010.

JK Rowling
Joanne Rowling, better known and indeed, EXTREMELY well known around the world as JK Rowling was born in the town of Yate, South Gloucestershire in 1965. She is the most successful literary author of all time and her world-famous Harry Potter series has so far sold a staggering 380,000,000 copies worldwide and has been translated into over sixty different languages.

Joe Abercrombie
Joe Abercrombie was born in the famous English town of Lancaster, England, on the 31st of December 1974. He was educated at Lancaster Royal Grammar School before studying Psychology at Manchester University. Joe Abercrombie then moved to London, finding work at a TV Post-Production company. Two years later he left to become a freelance film editor, and worked documentaries, awards shows, music videos, and concerts for artists ranging from Barry White to Coldplay.

Joseph Delaney
Joseph Delaney is a retired English teacher living in Lancashire. His home is in the middle of Boggart territory and his village has a boggart called the Hall Knocker, which was laid to rest under the step of a house near the church.

JRR Tolkien
J. R. R. Tolkien was born on the 3rd January 1892 in Bloemfontein, South Africa. He served in the First World War as a second lieutenant before coming down with trench fever at the Battle of the Somme in 1916.

Julia Donaldson
Born in 1948, Julia Donaldson was born and raised in North London with her younger sister, parents and extended family all sharing the family home. Her first interests were firmly rooted in music, her father being a Cello player and her mother a keen singer; herself and her sister were also members of the Children’s Opera Group. Attending Bristol University to study French and Drama, Donaldson met Malcolm, her future husband and together they busked their way around Europe, making up songs in the language of the country they were visiting, before marrying and settling in Glasgow.

Julian May
Born in Chicago, Illinois on July 10, 1931, Julian May discovered science fiction pulp magazines at the age of sixteen. She got involved in the world of science fiction fandom, exchanging letters with other fans. She eventually formalized her club as Science Fiction International and became publisher of its fanzine. At a convention she met future husband Ted Dikty (they were married from 1953 until his death in 1991) who would, in later life, serve as her editor and literary agent.

Karen Traviss
Karen Traviss is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of three Star Wars: Republic Commando novels: Hard Contact, Triple Zero, and True Colors; three Star Wars: Legacy of the Force novels: Bloodlines, Revelation, and Sacrifice; as well as City of Pearl, Crossing the Line, The World Before, Matriarch, and Judge.

Kenneth Grahame
Kenneth Grahame was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, on 8 March 1859. Excelling in both academic and sports pursuits whilst attending St. Edward's School in Oxford, Grahame did not continue on with his dream of a university education due to financial constraints. In 1879 Grahame obtained a position within the Bank of England as a gentleman clerk but he found the routine so dulling that, from his rooms on Bloomsbury Street, turned his pen to writing stories. His first published story was titled By A Northern Furrow (1888), and his most famous short story is, still, "The Reluctant Dragon" (1898).

Kevin Lane
I'm writing for adults who have full time jobs, spouses, possible offspring, and high-maintenance 'fixer-uppers' they call home. With all these responsibilities we need an occasional escape. But we cannot afford the full trappings of an alter ego in a parallel universe. We have to slip in and slip out on the sly. Get me my fantasy fix and give it to me quick. My lunch break is almost over!

KV Johansen
K.V. Johansen's has M.A. degrees in Medieval Studies and in English Literature. She was born in Kingston, Ontario, Canada.

Maggie Furey
Maggie Furey was born in the northeast of England in 1955. Her debut fantasy series, The Artefacts of Power, was an instant success and Furey quickly became one of the most thrilling fantasy authors to have emerged from the United Kingdom in many years. The late David Gemmell described her work as “infinitely enchanting”.

Margaret Weis
Margaret Weis was born on the 16th March 1948 in Independence, Missouri and is a New York Times best-selling author of fantasy books. Missouri in the 1950s was not an ideal setting for a budding young fantasy author but the young Weis was not to be deterred and enthralled her kindergarten friends and then her classmates in school with her stories.

Margit Sandemo
Margit Sandemo is Scandinavia’s most popular author. Her flagship multi?volume fantasy?historical saga The Legend of the Ice People, now about to be published in English for the first time, has made her something of a living legend among writers because it alone has sold 25 million copies in Scandinavia and Eastern Europe.

Marion Zimmer Bradley
Marion Zimmer Bradley was born on the 3rd June 1930 and sadly died in 1999. She was an American science fiction and fantasy author who was well known for the feminist and Christian themes within her books. Her most famous piece of work is probably The Mists of Avalon, which was in essence a retelling of an Arthurian legend from the female perspective and her Darkover novels.

Mark A Cropper
Mark A. Cropper is an English fantasy author who was born in 1947 and is still going. A self-confessed “aged hippy”, he was once a psychiatric-nurse and is now a writer.

Mark Anthony Tierno
Mark Anthony Tierno lives in Monrovia, California and is a lifelong fantasy and Sci-Fi reader. Mark completed his first novel Maldene in 1996, a novel that was finally published in 2006 following ten years of agent rejections.

Martin Waddell
Born 10th April 1941 during a bombing raid on Belfast, children’s author Martin Waddell is a prolific children’s writer both under his own name and the pseudonym ‘Catherine Sefton’ which her uses for books with a more serious subject matter for older children. He now publishes all his books under his own moniker. A resident for most of his life in Newcastle, Co. Down, Martin has never shied from writing about difficult situations that children have to sometimes deal with, this was never more so reflected in his books ’Starry Night’, ‘Frankie’s Story’ and ‘The Beat of the Drum’ which addressed the difficulties, anger and grief attributed to the political troubles in Northern Ireland but from a teenager’s perspective.

Melaine Bryant
Melaine Bryant knew she wanted to be a writer from the moment she learned how to hold a pencil. To the consternation of her teachers and parents, she preferred writing to paying attention in school, and spent many happy hours composing stories, books, and screenplays. She grew up immersed in The Lord of the Rings, The Chronicles of Narnia, the stories of King Arthur, and many other fantasy books by authors such as John Christopher, Ursula K. Le Guin, and Lloyd Alexander.

Mervyn Peake
Mervyn Peake was born in 1911 in Kuling, Central Southern China, where his father was a medical missionary. Within a year, the family moved to the Northern city of Tientsin. Peake was educated at Tientsin Grammar School then at Eltham College in South East London. During the Second World War, whilst serving with the army, he established a reputation as a gifted book illustrator with his pictures for Ride a Cock Horse (1940), The Hunting of the Snark (1941) and The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (1943). Titus Groan was published in 1946 and was followed, in 1950, by Gormenghast and the third volume of the Gormenghast saga, Titus Alone, was published in 1959. His other works include Shapes and Sounds (1941), Rhymes Without Reasons (1944), Letters from a Lost Uncle (1948) and Mr Pye (1953) and a play, The Wit to Woo (1957). He died in 1958.

Michael Moorcock
Michael Moorcock was born in London in 1939. He began to write while still at school, starting a magazine, Outlaw's Own, in 1950. He continued to produce similar fanzines until 1962. After leaving school, he began to contribute professionally to Tarzan Adventures and edited that magazine from 1957 to 1958, writing for it his first heroic fantasy series.

Michael Morpurgo
Born in 1943 Michael Morpurgo describes himself as ‘oldish’. Married to Clare, father to three children and grandfather to six he has written over 100 titles for children over the course of his career.

Michelle Paver
Michelle Paver is a novelist that is best known for the six books that make up The Chronicles of Ancient Darkness. She was born in 1960 in Malawi (then known as Nyasaland) to a South African father and a Belgian mother. Her father ran and wrote for the local Nyasaland Times whilst her mother contributed the gossip column.

Neil Gaiman
Neil Gaiman is one of the top ten living post-modern writers, and is a prolific creator of works of prose, poetry, film, journalism, comics, song lyrics, and drama.

Patricia McKillip
Patricia Anne McKillip was born on the 29th February (a leap year), 1948 in Salem, Oregon. The sea coast of Oregon instilled a great love of the sea and the cliffs and she likes nothing more than walking along the beach and admiring the views. McKillip grew up as part of a very strong family, full of love and support. Her father was an Air Force officer and Patricia found herself living with her family in Germany and England between 1958 and 1962 and this gave her an insight into the outside world and their cultures and languages, elements of which she has incorporated into her fantasy novels.

Peter J Murray
Peter J Murray was born in 1951 and brought up on a council estate in Rotherham, South Yorkshire. He left school with few qualifications, feeling ill suited to a an academic lifestyle, and followed in the family tradition of working in the dangerous steel works of Sheffield. What happened over the next 30 years is an amazing story….

Peter S Beagle
Peter S. Beagle was born in 1939 and raised in the Bronx, just a few blocks from Woodlawn Cemetery, the inspiration for his first novel, A Fine and Private Place. Today, thanks to classic works such as The Last Unicorn, Tamsin, and The Innkeeper’s Song, he is acknowledged as America’s greatest living fantasy author, and his dazzling abilities with language, characters, and magical storytelling have earned him many millions of fans around the world.

Philip Pullman
Philip Pullman was born on the 19th October, 1946 in Norwich, England. Pullman is best known for the series of books entitled His Dark Materials, the award winning children’s literature consisting of Northern Lights, The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass.

RA Salvatore
Robert Anthony Salvatore was born in Leominster, Massachusetts on January 20, 1959. A graduate of Leominster High School, Salvatore attended Fitchburg State College to study computerscience, however, he changed his major to journelism after recieving a copy of The Lord of the Rings as a Christmas gift.

Raymond E Feist
Raymond E. Feist (the E. stands for Elias) was born in Los Angeles, California in the year that the Second World War ended (1945). Feist was born with the surname Gonzales but was subsequently adopted by Felix E. Feist and took the Feist surname for his own.

Robert Jordan
Robert Jordan was born on the 17th of October 1948 in Charleston, South Carolina. In 2006 he was diagnosed with the rare blood disease amyloidosis and died on September the 16th, 2007. Jordan will be best remembered for his best-selling fantasy series, The Wheel of Time, with 14 million copies having been sold in North America alone.

Robert Le Normand
Robert Le Normand was born in Jersey in June 1954. His parents left the island when he was very young.. They settled in Gloucestershire where Robert was educated at various schools.

Robert Stanek
Robert Stanek was born on the 3rd January 1966 in Burlington, Wisconsin in the United States of America. His father emigrated to the U.S.A. from Budapest in Hungary.

Robin Hobb
Robin Hobb, real name Margaret Astrid Lindholm Ogden, was born in 1952 in California. She uses the pen name of Robin Hobb due to unsatisfactory sales when writing under the name of Megan Lindholm.

Roderick Gordon and Brian Williams
Roderick Gordon was born, grew up and went to university in London. He worked in corporate finance in the City until 2001. He counts a number of writers and poets among his ancestors such RD Blackmore, Philip Doddridge and Matthew Arnold plus two paleontologists and celebrated eccentrics, William and Frank Buckland. He recently moved with his family from London to north Norfolk.

Roger Zelazny
Roger Joseph Zelazny was born in Ohio on May the 13th, 1937. Zelazny's most celebrated fantasy works are The Amber Chronicles. He has inspired younger fantasy writers, with George R. R. Martin and Neil Gaiman being heavily influenced by his work.

Sara Douglass
Sara Douglass grew up in South Australia. After working as a nurse‚ she completed three degrees at the University of Adelaide‚ including a PhD in early modern English history. She worked as a Senior Lecturer in Medieval History at La Trobe University‚ Bendigo. Sara now lives in Tasmania and is a full?time writer ?? and gardener.

Scott Lynch
I was born in St. Paul, Minnesota on April 2, 1978, the first of three brothers. I've lived in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area my entire life; currently, I'm just across the border in Wisconsin, about half an hour east of the Twin Cities.

Stephen Donaldson
Stephen R. Donaldson was born on the 13th May 1947 in Cleveland, Ohio. His father, James, was a medical missionary and his mother, Ruth, a prosthetist (a person skilled in making or fitting prosthetic devices). Donaldson spent the years between the ages of 3 and 16 living in India where his father was working as an orthopaedic surgeon. Donaldson was educated at the College of Wooster and the Kent State University, being awarded a Bachelor's and Master's degree respectively. Stephen Donaldson's work is heavily influenced by other fantasy authors such as J.R.R. Tolkien, Roger Zelazny, Joseph Conrad, Henry James and William Faulkner. Stephen Donaldson currently lives in New Mexico.

Stephen King
Stephen King, the American author of horror and fantasy books was born in Portland in 1947. His first writing steps were taken when attending the University of Maine, he wrote a column for the school's newspaper.

Steven Erikson
Steven Erikson was born on the 7th October 1959 in Toronto, Canada. Erikson is his writing name, his real name being Steve Rune Lundin. Educated in Canada, he trained in both archaeology and anthropology before graduating from the acclaimed Iowa Writers’ Workshop. Steven Erikson has a wife and son; they spent a fair part of their lives living in Great Britain before once again returning to his native Canada and the city of Winnipeg.

Susanna Clarke
Susanna Clarke was born in Nottingham, England in 1959, a Methodist Minister’s eldest daughter. Oxford educated (philosophy, politics and economics at St Hilda’s College), she is best known (so far) for her award winning novel Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, which was published in 2004.

Tad Williams
Tad Williams is a Californian born author of fantasy novels. He grew up around Stanford University in a town called Palo Alto and was encouraged to be creative by his parents.

Ted Hughes
Ted Hughes was born in Mytholmroyd, West Yorkshire on 17th August 1930 His first book, The Hawk in the Rain, was published by Faber in 1957, and was followed by many volumes of poetry and prose for both children and adults. Hughes was married to American poet Sylvia Plath from 1956 until 1963 when Plath committed suicide. He was the Poet Laureate from 1984 and was appointed to the Order of Merit in 1998, the year in which he died.

Teel James Glenn
Teel James Glenn is a native of Brooklyn though he’s traveled the world for thirty years as a Stuntman/ Fight choreographer/ Swordmaster, Jouster, Book Illustrator, Storyteller, Bodyguard and Actor. He was head instructor at the Hollywood Stunts professional stunt training center in New York and teaches stage sword privately. He is a veteran of forty-seven renaissance faires, scores of films (such as Lord of the G-Strings and Jersey Justice) and hundreds of T.V. appearances. Currently he stars as the masked cage fighter Vega (with a Castilian accent) in the international web series Street Fighter: the Later Years and in the forth coming T.V. sequel Street Fighter: Reunion and plays the claymore wielding Scottish pirate Hamish(with a Galsgow (sic) accent) in the forthcoming pirate feature film The High Seas. At home he speaks pure gibberish. His greatest achievement however, is his awesome daughter Aislin Rose who is well spoken indeed.

Terry Goodkind
Terry Goodkind was born in 1948 and raised in Nebraska in the United States. Goodkind, slightly unusually for an author, suffers from dyslexia. He worked as a carpenter and a rare artifact restorer and painted some beautiful marine and wildlife paintings.

Terry Pratchett
The English fantasy author, Terry D. J. (David John) Pratchett was born on the 28th April 1948 in the town of Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire. His was educated at High Wycombe Technical High School.

Tim Powers
Tim Powers was born in 1952; the son of an attorney. He graduated from California State University in 1976 and since then has written more than a dozen highly acclaimed and award-winning novels, including the Fantasy Masterwork THE DRAWING OF THE DARK.

Tony Mitton
Raised in a military family, Anthony Robert Mitton was born Tripoli, North Africa in 1951 and spent the first part of his life here and in Germany and Hong Kong. It was not until he was nine that he came to Britain to attend a Suffolk boarding school. He continued his further education at Cambridge University, eventually gaining a BA in English. Tony Mitton also trained as an English teacher before eventually deciding on teaching at primary school level, which he did from the age of 25, however, by the age of 36 he was teaching on a part-time basis in order to share the parenting of his now two children with his wife, and had begun writing poetry and reading book stories for schools. His teaching career had also changed and he was now found himself working almost exclusively with children with special needs, especially those with literacy and behavioural problems. It was not until he was 40 that he began writing for children in earnest and it was in his late forties that Mitton gave up teaching altogether to concentrate full time on his writing.

Trudi Canavan
Trudi Canavan was born on the 23rd October 1969 in Melbourne, Australia. She won the Aurealis Award for her fantasy short story Whispers of the Mist Children in 1999 and has never looked back. In 2001 she further established herself as a fantasy writer of rare talent with The Magician's Guild, the first book in a trilogy which included The Novice and The High Lord.

Ursula Le Guin
Ursula Kroeber Le Guin was born on the 21st October 1921 in California and is an American author of novels, poetry and short stories. She has won numerous awards during her distinguished career, notably the Fantasy Writers of America Grand Master award in 2003.

William Horwood
William Horwood is an English author born in Oxford on the 12th of May 1944. The works for which he is best known are the best-selling Duncton Mole trilogies and the sequels to Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows.