John Lescroart is the author of nineteen novels, including most recently BETRAYAL, the fourteenth book in the San Francisco based Dismas Hardy/Abe Glitsky series, and his twelfth New York Times bestseller.  His books have been translated into twenty languages in more than seventy-five countries, and his short stories appear in many anthologies.  John’s novels have been nominated for and/or won several awards – the San Francisco Foundation’s Joseph Henry Jackson Award, the Shamus and Anthony Best Mystery Awards, and in 2007, the American Author’s Association’s American Author Medal for THE SUSPECT as its Book of the Year.  Each of the last several of John’s books have been Main Selections of one or more of the Literary Guild, Mystery Guild, and Book of the Month Club. See John Lescroart's books. » 

Jacquelyn Mitchard is the author of the number one New York Times bestselling novel, The Deep End of the Ocean  -- chosen as the first book for Oprah Winfrey’s Book Club and named by USA Today in 2007 as the second most influential books of the past 25 years. She has subsequently written seven other bestselling novels, including The Most Wanted, A Theory of Relativity, Cage of Stars and Still Summer. She has written three Young Adult books, including All We Know of Heaven and The Midnight Twins, as well four children’s books, among them the award-winning Rosalie, My Rosalie. Her essays on family, ethics and modern life have been widely anthologized. A member of the 2002 Fiction Jury for The National Book Awards, she was speechwriter for former Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Donna E. Shalala. Mitchard lives in Wisconsin, with her husband and seven children. See Jacquelyn Mitchard's books »

David Morrell is the author of First Blood, the award-winning novel in which Rambo was created. His numerous bestselling novels include The Brotherhood of the Rose (the basis for a top-rated NBC miniseries broadcast after the Super Bowl), The Fraternity of the Stone, The Fifth Profession, and Extreme Denial. He is also the author of The Successful Novelist: A Lifetime of Lessons about Writing and Publishing. Morrell has been called “the father of the modern action novel.” He is a three-time recipient of the distinguished Bram Stoker Award, the latest for his novel Creepers. Visit him at www.davidmorrell.net.   

James Rollins is the New York Times bestselling author of international thrillers, sold to over thirty countries. His last three thrillers Map of Bones, Black Order, and The Judas Strain earned national accolades, such as one of 2005’s “top crowd pleasers (New York Times) and as one of 2006’s “hottest summer reads (People Magazine).  He was also hand-picked to novelize this summer’s Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.  His most current thriller, The Last Oracle, hit stands July 2008. See James Rollins books »

But that is only half the story . . .Under the pseudonym James Clemens, he has also written a five-book fantasy series for Del Rey Books (Wit’ch Fire, et al).  His first book in a new fantasy series, titled Shadow Fall, was released in July 2005, followed by Hinterland in November 2006. He has also completed a middle-school children’s book, tentatively titled The Stone Dragon, which will be out sometime in 2009. And yes, he does occasionally come up for air. See James Clemen's books »

David A. Fryxell is former Editor-in-Chief of Writer's Digest Magazine and Books and serves as director of the Maui Writers retreat.  An award-winning editor and journalist, he's the author of three books of writing instruction, including Write Faster, Write Better, published by Writer's Digest Books. See David Fryxell's books »

Joe Ortiz is currently working on a “mini-self-help-memoir” entitled 'Why I Play Piano in a Coffee Bar'.  The book traces the internal musings of what it takes to lead the creative life through images from music, painting, poetry and golf.  Joe’s larger book project (working title THE ANATOMY OF INSPIRATION) explores—in hundreds of vignettes—the practices and methods used by poets, painters, actors, writers and composers to kick start their highest creative zone.  Joe's books include, The Village Baker, The Village Baker's Wife -- both Julia Child Cookbook Award nominees -- The Gardener's Table and Shakespeare On Golf, co-written with MWC's own John Tullius.

Hawk Ostby  hails from the dangerous, fish-infested harpoon-happy slums of Oslo, Norway.  Deprived of the most basic filmed entertainment, he fled to the United States by way of India, Malaysia and Singapore, in the late eighties. After ‘studying’ in Boston, Mr. Ostby was extradited to New York, where he met co-writer and fellow conspirateur, Mark Fergus.  They have since collaborated on numerous screenplays, including:  First Snow, Children of Men and Iron Man.
In 2008, Mr. Ostby did not win the Pulitzer Prize, and was not recognized by the Nobel Committee.   He currently ekes out a Kaczynski-like existence deep in the Green Mountains of Vermont, and only communicates with the outside world through a complex network of bull frogs.

Mark Fergus (producer) co-wrote the current blockbuster film “Iron Man” and was one of the Academy Award nominated screenwriters for the film “Children of Men”. He also directed Guy Pearce in the feature “First Snow”, which he co-wrote with his screenwriting partner Hawk Ostby.  

DeVon Franklin is Director of Development for Columbia Pictures. He was formerly an executive at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) where he worked on John Travolta’s Be Cool and Queen Latifah’s Beautyshop. DeVon began his career as an intern for Handprint Entertainment. He went on to work for Overbrook Entertainment and became an executive at Tracey Edmonds’ Edmonds Entertainment. For Columbia Pictures, DeVon has worked on the Box Office hit, The Pursuit of Happyness starring Will Smith, which to date has grossed over $305 million worldwide. He most recently worked on the smash hit 21 starring Kevin Spacey, which has grossed over $120 million worldwide. He is currently working on several projects including Will Smith’s two upcoming movies:  Hancock and Seven Pounds, the next installment of The Pink Panther franchise starring Steve Martin and The Ugly Truth starring Grey’s Anatomy star Katherine Heigl.

Amanda Moresco began her career as an actress for film and TV. She quickly landed roles in the CBS series “Falcone” and A&E’s “100 Centre Street’, which was directed by Sidney Lumet. Her feature films include CRASH and 10th AND WOLF, amongst others.   But, always a writer at heart, Amanda gave up acting to learn from her father, Oscar-winning writer Bobby Moresco, for seven years.  During this time she worked on multiple projects including the television series’ “Falcone” and “Hell’s Kitchen” as well as feature films 'One Eyed King', 'Million Dollar Baby' and 'Crash'. While working as a writer’s assistant on the NBC drama “The Black Donnellys” Amanda, along with TV writing partner Alissa Haggis, were given the opportunity to write an episode of the series. The producers liked the first episode so much, they hired the pair to write a second.  

Amanda has also written 'The Prince and teh Pauper' (starring Dylan and Cole Sprouse) for Oak Films, and her second feature for the company 'The Kings of Appletown' is currently in post-production and due to be released this winter. Her adult drama 'Red to Green' is currently in development.

Stephen Bulka recently joined Lifetime Television as the Vice President of Original Movies after six years at NBC Entertainment where he served in a similar capacity as Vice President of Movies and Miniseries.  At NBC, Stephen supervised the development and production of such television movies as “Martha Inc: The Story of Martha Stewart and the Emmy Award-winning musical production of “A Christmas Carol”.  He also launched the highly successful franchise of “Behind the Camera” movies, including the critically acclaimed “Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of ‘Three’s Company’”.  Prior to his tenure at NBC, Stephen worked as a literary agent at The William Morris Agency, where he represented literary properties in both film and television and was involved with such high-profile authors as Dean Koontz, Erich Segal, and Mary Higgins Clark.  Earlier in his career, Stephen helped launch Nickelodeon Movies, the feature arm of the Nickelodeon Channel, where, as Vice President of Development, he oversaw the company’s first slate of movie projects, including “The Rugrats Movie”, “Harriet the Spy” and “Snow Day”.  Stephen previously served as Director of Development at Paramount Pictures, where he helped develop such films as “The Firm” and “Addams Family Values”.  He began his career as a Story Analyst at Twentieth Century Fox and later at MGM/UA, where he was promoted to a Creative Executive position at the studio.  Stephen is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of UCLA and also earned a Masters Degree in Business Administration from the UCLA Graduate School of Management.