Margaret Ajemian Ahnert was born in New York City. Growing up, she listened to her mother's stories about her own childhood during the Armenian genocide in Turkey. She has an MFA from Goucher College and a BA from Goddard College, and is a graduate of the Barnes Foundation. She has pursued a variety of careers: producing television documentaries, lecturing as a docent at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and teaching art appreciation through the Art Goes to School program in elementary schools. Ahnert holds a 100-ton master captain's license and is an avid hunter and fisherwoman. The Knock at the Door is her first book.

For more information, visit her website.

Tom Anthony is a West Point Graduate and combat veteran who spent his professional civilian career in global business all over the world. He has lived and worked in Austria, Italy, Spain, England, Iraq, Israel, and throughout Asia, Latin America, and Africa. Anthony also lived in Mindanao for three years. He currently lives in California with his family. Rebels of Mindanao: A Novel is his first novel.

For fifteen years, Debra Beck has been a devoted mentor for teenage girls. She's done workshops with Girl Power, a program sponsored by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that is dedicated to helping "encourage and motivate eleven- to sixteen-year-old girls to make the most of their lives." She has also created and facilitated her own workshops and girls' groups through Spirited Youth, an organization she founded to help girls in a positive and supportive way. She has drawn on her own experience and the experiences of the young women she has helped to make My Feet Aren't Ugly resonate with readers. She currently resides in Sedona, Arizona.

Michael Brown is an international healer and teacher. He has taught seminars around the world sharing his evolutionary new healing procedure called The Presence Process.

Ronald Cutler, called the "Steven Spielberg of Radio," was the first FM disc jockey in America to play contemporary music. In addition to owning his own station, he wrote, created, and produced twenty-two hit national radio shows, and created six nationally syndicated comedy networks. Cutler's research for this book included reading more than seventy-five books on Biblical Archaelogy. The Secret Scroll: A Novel is his first novel.

For more information, please visit the author's website.

Winner of the 1999 Bruce P. Rossley Literary Award for Best New Voice, Glenn Frank's first love is writing fiction. Abe Gilman's Ending is his first novel. He has received a Juris Doctor and a Master of Laws from Boston University, both in 1983. Frank and his wife Cathy live in Plymouth, MA, with their two children. He is currently working on his second novel.

Ron Garner, BEd, MSc, Diploma in Natural Health, is a health researcher, educator, author, and speaker.  For a major part of his life, he worked in the public school system in Canada, where he held positions as a teacher, Principal, Deputy Superintendent in British Columbia, and also served as Regional Superintendent of Schools in the Yukon Territory.
 
Marrying his teaching and writing skills, he presents complex subjects in an organized, easy-to-understand manner. Underneath the content of his writing, the reader finds evidence of his passion for truth and desire to help others.

His own search for health solutions has convinced him that the human body is a miraculous self-healer – if it is given the support it requires to build and maintain health. 

He currently resides in British Columbia, Canada. 

Richard Hains is a financial expert and successful global investor with over twenty years of experience. Along with his brothers, he currently runs a substantial private hedge fund that invests globally in the major equity, fixed income, and foreign exchange markets.  Hains was also the founder and architect of one of the largest and most efficient newly built gold facilities in the Former Soviet Union and has recently established a boutique investment company based in London to take advantage of the deregulation of the West African oil and gas industry.

Richard Hains uses his financial world expertise as the background for his first novel, Chameleon.  He is an Australian citizen based in London.

For more information about the author, visit his website.

Haider Ala Hamoudi grew up speaking fluent Arabic and visiting Baghdad every year. He has written for the Asia Times and numerous law reviews and journals, and he has been interviewed on the New York Law Journal, the Online NewsHour, and other publications and media outlets. He currently lives in Pittsburgh with his wife and is an Assistant Professor of Law at the University of Pittsburgh.

January Jones received the 1999 IRWIN Award and has been nominated for a Golden Headset Award. She is currently working with Steve Harrison of RTIR, Radio Television Interview Report, in his Quantum Leap Mentoring Program. She lives with her husband in California.

A professional journalist since 1979, Sherry Jones has won numerous awards and been published in magazines including Newsweek, CMJ, Southwest Art, and Rider. She is currently the Montana and Idaho correspondent for the Bureau of National Affairs, an international news agency in the Washington, D.C. area, and a correspondent for Women's e-News. The Jewel of Medina is her first novel.

Eric Kampmann is the president of Midpoint Trade Books. Previously, he served as Vice President and Director of Sales for Simon & Schuster, and held similar positions at St. Martin's Press and Viking Press. Over the past twenty-five years, Eric has taught at several prominent universities, including Harvard, Columbia, New York University and Hofstra. The main focus of his teaching has been in the areas of book publishing, but he has also taught courses in English Literature. He has also taught and participated in innumerable bible studies at local churches in and around Fairfield County, Connecticut. He holds an undergraduate degree from Brown University and a graduate degree from the State University of New York at Stony Brook.  He is the author of three books: The Tree of Life, The Book Publisher's Handbook: The Seven Keys to Publishing Success with Six Case Studies, and trail thoughts.

For the past eight or so years Eric has pursued backpacking and mountain climbing as an avocation. Recently, he did a winter ascent of Mt. Whitney in the High Sierras; he has climbed Mt. Rainier, as well as the 48 four thousand footers in New Hampshire. Eric is currently hiking the Appalachian Trail in New England in sections.

Eric lives in Greenwich, Connecticut with his wife Anne. They have four children.

For more information, visit his website. 

Lansing Lamont was a national political correspondent for Time Magazine’s Washington bureau from 1961-1968. He covered the assassinations of John F. Kennedy and Robert Kennedy, as well as the 1964 and 1968 Republican and Democratic conventions and presidential campaigns. He was deputy chief of Time’s London bureau from 1969-1971. He was chief Canada correspondent and United Nations bureau chief from 1971-1975. He is the author and editor of six other books, including Day of Trinity, his bestselling account of the first atomic bomb. Lamont lives with his wife in New York, where he is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Dan Lier is internationally recognized as a public speaker as well as a business and sports performance consultant.  He worked with motivational guru Tony Robbins for six years. Called "America's Coach", Lier has worked with numerous professional athletes on performance strategies.  He is also a former college basketball player and coach, and represented the U.S.A. in the 1985 World Games in Tokyo, Japan.

Rita Lowenthal is retired from the faculties of Hebrew Union College, School of Communal Service, Los Angeles, and the University of Southern California School of Social Work. Currently, she is on the Drug Policy Committees of the Progressive Jewish Alliance and Progressive Christians Uniting.

David Malin, DD PT, is a skilled Medical Intuitive who has been practicing in the field of Alternative Medicine since 1977. His degrees in Physical Therapy and Doctor of Divinity reflect the wide scope of his work. David addresses the entire being in his attempts to help people become "more whole" physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. To this end, he has created the Body Math system of healing and the ESR-Inner Opening Technique, two powerful vehicles for creating positive change in life. David's unusual ability to "scan" the human electro-magnetic field (the aura) with his hands has led him to many of his insights and discoveries, including the 12 Chakra System. David has been featured on a television special on alternative medicine aired in the U.S. and abroad, and his articles have been published internationally in various professional journals. He has taught his techniques both nationally and internationally. More detailed biographical information about David Malin can be found at his website.

Once upon a time, during the reign of Ike, Elvis and Willie, a son was born to an Irish couple who called The Bronx their home.  His name was Thomas, and as God would have it, three sisters preceded him.  Growing up there provided many pastimes – deceiving nuns, drinking egg creams, dodging drunks – but maybe none so enjoyable as going to the racetrack with his old father, who could always tell a good turf horse from a bad tip sheet and forever looked forward to post time.

Many adventures awaited young Tom over the years, and the crust of experience soon covered those simple days.  Years later, on a chance remark while vacationing in Ireland, something was rekindled.  Back in New York with his wife at his side, his dog at his feet, and his cat somewhere, Tom set out to recreate the beauty and magic of youth remembered. 

Auriela McCarthy, born in the former Soviet Union in Riga, Latvia, escaped from behind the Iron Curtain in 1980 to come to the United States as a political refugee. She taught English, sold art in a high-end gallery, and by 1985, after only five years in the country, had opened her own art gallery in San Francisco with the premier U.S. exhibition from Pablo Picasso's estate. A whirlwind of success followed, and she became known internationally as an art dealer and an expert on the art of Picasso. But behind the bright façade lay conflict at home, memories of heartbreak and loss that had marked her early years in the Soviet Union, and unexpected health problems.

After a spiritual awakening, Auriela ended her marriage, closed the art gallery, and completely changed her life. Working as a private art dealer, she dedicated her life to internal reflection, meditation, and deep immersion into metaphysics. After twenty years, she emerged a spiritual teacher with a clear message of hope, compassion, and understanding. For the last fifteen years Auriela has been helping people from all walks of life with their life and relationship issues. This book is the culmination of her teachings.

Auriela holds an M.A. in English and English Literature. The Power of the Possible is her first book in a series of three. She lives in Northern California with her husband Mykaell.

For more information, please visit the author's website.

When Bruce Newman sold the fruit of his labors in 2001, Newel Art Galleries, he had built it into America's largest decorative and antiques firm, containing an inventory of over twenty thousand objects ranging in epoch from the Renaissance to the twentieth century. A highlight of his career, Mr. Newman wrote the popular book Fantasy Furniture (Rizzoli, New York, 1989), a descriptive and visual book about the category of antiques of the same name coined by Newman. Mr. Newman made decorative arts history by discovering an entire Art Deco lacquered wall from the French luxury liner Normandie, thought lost for decades.

He received a B.A. from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY in 1953 and is presently a trustee emeritus of his alma mater and former member of the boards of The New York City Center, J. P. Morgan Advisory Board, and The American Society of Interior Designers. Newman has been named "an important and influential figure in the field of decorative arts and antiques" by the New York Times and former director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Thomas Hoving. He has appeared on numerous television programs including Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous and the CBS "Morning Show". His many awards include the Designer Merit Award from the Art Directors Club in New York (1984), the Founders Award from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn (1993) and an honorary degree from Pratt Institute (1997). Mr. Newman has also lectured at many museums and colleges around the country.

Dr. Brian G. Orr is a board certified pediatrician who has practiced pediatrics for over twenty three years and currently practices north of Boston, Massachusetts. A 1982 graduate of Georgetown University School of Medicine, Dr. Orr is also a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

An award-winning physician, Dr. Orr has contributed to medical reports on Boston's CBS affiliate CBS4, speaking on a variety of health care issues affecting children. Recognized as an expert in the pediatric community, Dr. Orr is a periodic columnist in several area newspapers and has been featured and profiled in many prominent news outlets and is a well-known lecturer hosting parenting workshops in the north of Boston area.

Dr. Orr's strong interest in international healthcare issues, community service and outreach prompt him to travel to Honduras for two weeks each year as a volunteer with Nuestros Pequenos Hermanos ~ Honduras. Dr. Orr's fluency in Spanish helps him in his work with the children, tending to their various medical needs while restoring some emotional dignity to the children, many of whom have been abandoned or orphaned.

A resident of Massachusetts, Dr. Orr lives in the north shore area of Boston with his wife and their three children.

For more information, check out www.drbrianorr.com.

Stanford Pritchard has worked for The New York Review of Books and The New York Free Press, and is a Rockefeller Fellowship recipient. He is a playwright, was nominated for the Pushcart Prize, and his stories and essays have been published in Kenyon Review, Wisconsin Review, New England Review, Tango News, International Philosophical Quarterly, and elsewhere. He lives in Middlebury, Vermont, and New York City.

Diana M. Raab, MFA teaches journaling, memoir, and poetry at The University of California Extension Santa Barbara. Her award-winning poetry and essays have been published in numerous publications, including, The Writer, The Louisville Review, The Red River Review, Rosebud and Oracle. She is the recipient of the Benjamin Franklin Book Award for her book, Getting Pregnant and Staying Pregnant: Overcoming Infertility and High-Risk Pregnancy. In 2008 the book will have been in print for twenty years and an anniversary edition will be released. She has a poetry collection called, My Muse Undresses Me (2007) and frequently lectures on journaling.

Rosenshine, 65, was born in New York City and graduated from Columbia College.  He taught at Brooklyn College and worked as a copywriter at J.B. Rundle Advertising, a business-to-business agency, before joining BBDO in 1985.  A year later, he spearheaded what Time magazine called "advertising's big bang"—the creation of Omnicom Group, now the world's biggest and most successful marketing communications company, with BBDO as its largest subsidiary.  Advertising Age has named him among the 100 most influential people in advertising in the 20^th century.  He is married, has four children, and lives in New York City.

For more information, visit the author's website.

Linda & Alvin Silbert have dedicated over thirty-five years to the growth and enhancement of children's intellectual, emotional, and social development. They have written over forty books, for children in kindergarten through college, which have sold over one million copies. They lecture and lead workshops about how to help children succeed in school and beyond. They have appeared on radio and television throughout the U.S. & Canada. They continue to collaborate as writers, educational therapists, and directors of Strong Learning Centers in New York. They have two grown children, and live in Mahopac, New York.

Linda & Alvin Silbert have dedicated over thirty-five years to the growth and enhancement of children's intellectual, emotional, and social development. They have written over forty books, for children in kindergarten through college, which have sold over one million copies. They lecture and lead workshops about how to help children succeed in school and beyond. They have appeared on radio and television throughout the U.S. & Canada. They continue to collaborate as writers, educational therapists, and directors of Strong Learning Centers in New York. They have two grown children, and live in Mahopac, New York.

Gordon Zacks is Chairman of the R. G. Barry Corporation – the world's largest marketer and supplier of comfort footwear. His leadership role on behalf of Republican Party causes dates back to 1976. He was an active supporter of and adviser to Vice President and President George H. W. Bush and was integrally involved with Israeli-American relations throughout both the Bush and Reagan administrations. For decades, Jewish leadership education has been a leading personal priority for Zacks. He was a founding member of the Young Leadership Cabinet of the United Jewish Appeal. He is chairman of Florence Melton Adult Mini-school, which provides high quality, pluralistic adult Jewish education in over sixty cities in four countries with 10,000 active learners and 20,000 graduates.

His accounts of personal encounters with some of the world's most remarkable and courageous leaders have riveted and inspired audiences throughout the Jewish community for decades.

Dr. Bud Zukow is Chairman Emeritus of the Department of Pediatrics at Encino/Tarzana Regional Medical Center in Tarzana, California, where he is also in private practice. After raising three children and treating thousands more, Dr. Zukow describes himself as a parent advocate. He is also the author of PARENT POWER:  Preserving Your Identity Through Realistic Parenting.