Our Authors

Amanda Nowlin-O’Banion’s writing draws not just on her imagination but on her myriad experiences of life “off the beaten path.” From rural Texas to New York City to the sparkling Alaskan tundra, Amanda has worked as a sailing instructor, served as a jack-of-all-trades in Denali and taught English inside a maximum security men’s prison. She has been pursued by bears, won first prize for her mayhaw jelly at the county fair and survived to tell about it. Humorous, provocative and genuine, Amanda’s essays, short stories and other writings reveal the changing landscape of Americana, and the human struggles that come as a result. Her novel-in-progress, The Greenest Grass, from which “The Walls, Texas” is excerpted, explores one young woman’s struggle as she challenges traditional land inheritance patterns and the labor division of her family’s ranch. In 2000, Joyce Carol Oates named Amanda the “¡TEX! Emerging Writer” in fiction, and she was nominated for Best New American Voices 2006. Her work has appeared in the Dallas Morning News, Conversely and will appear in the Summer 2006 issue of SHSR. Amanda has been an invited guest on National Public Radio affiliate KUHF’s program “Front Row” and at the Blaffer Gallery Girls Night Out exhibit. She holds an M.F.A. in creative writing from New York University and is currently a Ph.D candidate in literature and creative writing at the University of Houston, where she teaches. Amanda lives in Huntsville, Texas, with her husband Robert. Special thanks are extended to Robert O’Banion, Debbie and Bill Nowlin, and Ree and Daniel Belhumeur.

Jody Lynn Nye lists her main career activity as “spoiling cats.” She lives northwest of Chicago with two of the above and her husband, author and packager Bill Fawcett. She has published 30 books, including six contemporary fantasies, four SF novels, four novels in collaboration with Anne McCaffrey, including The Ship Who Won; edited a humorous anthology about mothers, Don’t Forget Your Spacesuit, Dear!; and written more than 80 short stories. Her latest books are Strong Arm Tactics, first in the Wolfe Pack series (Meisha Merlin Publishing), and Class Dis-Mythed, co-written with Robert Asprin.

Dennis O’Neil is a former comic book writer and editor for Marvel Comics and DC Comics; wrote the novelization for the film “Batman Begins”; and is the author of Batman: Shaman and Batman Sword of Azrael. He wrote the main Batman title in the 1970s and 1980s and is the former group editor for the Batman family of books. He lives in Nyack, N.Y.

Bachelorette #1, Jennifer’s bestselling debut novel, was called a “poolside page turner” by Cosmopolitan and declared “chick-lit at its most fun” by the Denver Post. Dress Rehearsal, Jennifer’s second book, was selected as a “hot book pick” by US Weekly, hailed as a “sassy novel” by LIFE Magazine and dubbed “perfect” by The Boston Herald. Her third book, Off the Record, will be available September 2005, and Plan B, Jennifer’s first teen chick-lit book, will be published by MTV Books in April 2006. Jennifer received her B.A. from Smith College and her M.B.A. from the University of Chicago. She can be contacted via www.jenniferoconnell.com.

Sten Odenwald received his Ph.D. in astronomy from Harvard University in 1982, and has since been employed by the Space Sciences Division of the Naval Research Laboratory (1982-1990), BDM International (1991-1992), the Applied Research Corporation (1993-1996) and most recently Raytheon (1996-2000+), all located in the greater Washington, D.C. area. He has turned his creative energies toward public education, writing for magazines such as Astronomy and Sky and Telescope. He has won a number of awards from NASA, Raytheon and the American Astronomical Society for his education work. He is the author of four books, The Astronomy Cafe (1998), The 23rd Cycle: Learning to Live with a Stormy Star (2000), Patterns in the Void: Why Nothing is Important (2002) and Back to the Astronomy Cafe (2003). His award-winning Web site the Astronomy Cafe (www.astronomycafe.net) is a great place to visit for information on space and astronomy from A to Z. Dr. Odenwald currently works with NASA as Education and Public Outreach Manager for the IMAGE satellite project and is involved with the NASA Office of Space Science’s “Sun-Earth Connection Education Form,” where he develops new NASA resources in solar-terrestrial science education, and works with teachers at national conventions and workshops across the country. He received NASA’s “Excellence in Outreach” award in 1999 from the Goddard Space Flight Center.

Lamar Odom is a two-time NBA champion and 13-year veteran. He was a regular cast member on E!’s worldwide sensation Keeping Up with the Kardashians, the highest rated reality show in history. He also starred in the wildly popular spinoff Khloe & Lamar, which documented one of the most covered marriages in recent Hollywood memory.