Our Authors

Lena Sisco

Lena Sisco is a former Department of Defense (DoD) certified military interrogator and Naval Human Intelligence Officer who served in the Global War on Terror as an interrogator in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Today she trains law enforcement, government agencies, and companies all over the world in her strategic interviewing method, elicitation, body language, deceptive analysis, enhanced communication, and leadership skills. She has a BA in Anthropology from the University of Rhode Island, an MA in Archaeology from Brown University, a certificate in the Psychology of Leadership from Cornell University, and is certified in organizational change management. She is also the author of Honest Answers: Interviewing and Negotiation Skills to Get the Truth and You’re Lying! Secrets From an Expert Military Interrogator to Spot the Lies and Get to the Truth.

Linda Sivertsen

Linda Sivertsen, author, ghostwriter, and coauthor of eleven books (including two NYT bestsellers), is the host of the top-rated Beautiful Writers Podcast and mentor to thousands of writers online and in-person. She pushed through all manner of rejection to realize her dream to write bestselling books AND help save trees and fragile ecosystems. (Linda’s a Forest Stewardship Ambassador, and this book is printed on FSC paper, with a percentage of sales going to their nonprofit.) With the added fun of broke-ness, death, and divorce, readers will find Linda uniquely qualified to support them through any blocks.

Linda and her work have been featured widely in the media, including Forbes.com, The New York Times, Inc., Extra, TeenVogue, CNN, HuffPost, Glamour, Los Angeles Times, CARMEL magazine, and on the TEDWomen stage. She loves micro-blogging about all things writing (and dogs and horses!) on social media and blogs regularly at BookMama.com from her ranch office in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Books by Linda Sivertsen

Susan Sizemore

Media junkie Susan Sizemore is the author of numerous novels and short stories, ranging from historical romance to epic fantasy. She has an affinity for vampire fiction, basketball, coffee canines and movies with explosions. For more information, Susan’s Web site address is susansizemore.com.

Bob Skir

Robert N. Skir grew up in Oyster Bay, Long Island. His love of all things fantasy, science fiction and horror led him to make animated films at 14, latex masks at 16 and write short stories throughout high school. He majored in English at the University of Virginia and earned a master’s degree in screenwriting at UCLA. He has written many episodes of animated television, including “Beetlejuice,” “X-Men,” “Batman” and “Superman,” and has served as story editor and written on “The Mask,” “Extreme Ghostbusters,” “Godzilla” and “Transformers: Beast Machines.” His short story “Singularity Ablyss” was published in the 2005 anthology Transformers: Legends. He has taught Animation Writing at UCLA.

John Skomski

John Skomski is the founder of Converge Wealth and a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® professional who helps aspiring retirees make sense of their money and retire sustainably on their own terms. Over the past decade, he has had more than 12,000 conversations with retirees and soon-to-be retirees, an experience that shapes the same straightforward approach he brings to Minding Wealth, his financial wellness workshops for employers that help employees reduce money stress and make more confident financial decisions. John also hosts Retirement Is a Joke, a practical and mildly amusing retirement show that cuts through the noise and helps people feel more confident about their next chapter.

Books by John Skomski

Jon Skovron

Jon Skovron lives with his two sons outside Washington, D.C. His first novel, Struts & Frets, is about music. It was recently published by Abrams Amulet. His second novel, Misfit, is about demons and
other monsters. It comes out in the fall of 2011. If you like music and/or monsters, visit him at jonskovron.com.

Frank Smiley

Raised in the Bronx, Frank Smiley has worked in Late Night for over four decades. He produced and wrote for Conan O’Brien for more than 30 years, as well as for Saturday Night Live, Howard Stern, Dennis Miller, Alan King, and Dr. Ruth Westheimer. An 11-time Emmy Award nominee and Writer’s Guild Award winner, he has produced and collaborated with the biggest stars in comedy and film, including Will Ferrell, Jack Black, Chris Farley, Bill Hader, Adam Sandler, Robin Williams, Dave Chappelle, Chris Rock, Larry David, Ben Stiller, Tom Hanks, Harrison Ford, and just about anyone else you can think of. Frank has introduced numerous stand-up comics to Late Night audiences, including John Mulaney, Bill Burr, Jim Gaffigan, Ray Romano, John Oliver, Marc Maron, and Norm MacDonald. Frank currently produces and appears on Team Coco’s The Conan and Jordan Show podcast, which has over 600,000 downloads per episode. Frank and iHeart Radio launched the Humor Me podcast, starring comic genius Robert Smigel, the voice of Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, in 2025.

John C. Smith

John C. Smith has a master’s in celestial mechanics (the motion of heavenly bodies) and has spent more than twenty years at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., designing missions to explore the planets. He has worked on successful missions to Venus, Earth and Mars and has been part of the Cassini/Huygens mission to Saturn and Titan for 16 years. He is the designer of the four-year “tour” of the Saturn system that began in 2004 and recently contributed to the design of a two-year extended mission through 2010.

Peter Smith

Peter A. Smith is currently working as a visiting professor and research associate at the University of Central Florida, while pursuing his Ph.D. in modeling and simulation at the same university. He was formally trained as a computer engineer and has spent much of his career working with serious games and simulations as a contractor with SAIC and the U.S. Navy. He is also the community manager for the Serious Games Initiative and a blogger for the initiative Web site as well as the Second Life Insider.