Brin, David, “Buffy vs. the Old-fashioned "Hero”

David Brin’s best-selling SF novels have won Hugo, Nebula, and other awards and have been translated into twenty languages. His 1989 thriller. Earth, foreshadowed global warming, cyberwarfare, and the Web. A 1998 movie was loosely adapted from his Campbell Award winner The Postman, while Foundation's Triumph brought a grand finale to Isaac Asimov's famed Foundation Universe. Kiln People portrays people using "home copiers" to be in two places at once. David's nonfiction book The Transparent Society, deals with openness, security, and liberty in the future; it won the Freedom of Speech Award of the American Library Association.

Conrad, Roxanne Longstreet, “Is That Your Final Answer . . . ?”

Roxanne Longstreet Conrad is the author of seven published novels: Stormriders, The Undead, Red Angel, Cold Kiss, and Slow Burn (as Roxanne Longstreet), as well as Copper Moon and Bridge of Shadows (as Roxanne Conrad). Her hardcover mystery Exile will be available in late 2003. Her new fantasy series (as Rachel Caine) has recently been sold to Roc; the first novel. 111 Wind, will be published in 2003, with Heat Stroke and Storm Season to follow in 2004.

Kilpatrick, Nancy, “Sex and the Single Slayer”

Award-winning author Nancy Kilpatrick has published 14 novels, 150-plus short stories, 5 collections of stories, and has edited 7 anthologies. She has also penned 3 comic books, co-scripted a bilingual stageplay, and written a slew of nonfiction. Much of her work involves vampires', for example, her popular Power of the Blood series, which will be reprinted this year (Mosaic Press), and her newest title Eternal City (Five Star Books/Gale Publishing). In 2004 she will publish The Goth Bible, a nonfiction profile of the modern gothic culture (St. Martin's Press), and Goth Gurrls & Boiz, an anthology she is co-editing with Nancy Holder (Roc/ NAL). Nancy Is currently writing the screenplay for one of her books, Near Death, being produced by C3 Productions. Check her website for the latest news: nancykilpatrick.com

Kenyon, Sherrilyn, “The Search for Spike’s Balls”

USA Today best-selling author Sherrilyn Kenyan has been a devout Buffy fan since the very beginning. She lives outside of Nashville, Tennessee with her husband and three sons. Raised in the middle of eight boys, and currently outnumbered by the Y chromosome in her home, she realizes the most valuable asset a woman has for coping with men is a sense of humor. Not to mention a large trash bag and a pair of tongs. Versatile and prolific, she has successful!}' published in virtually every known genre and subgenre. Writing as Kinley MacGregor and 5herrilyn Kenyon, she is the best-selling author of several series, including. The Dark-Hunters, Brotherhood of the Sword, The MacAllisters, Sex Camp Diaries and BAD Boys. Her novel Fantasy Lover was voted as one of the Top Ten Romances of 2002 by Romance Writers of America. For more information, you can visit her online at one of her websites: sherrilynkenyon.com or kinleymacgregor.com.

Westerfeld, Scott, “A Slayer Comes to Town”

Scott Westerfeld's fourth and latest novel is The Risen Empire. A sequel. The Killing of Worlds will be released in late 2003. He lives in Sydney, Australia, but escapes its cruel winters by fleeing to New York City.

Aloi, Peg, “Skin Pale as Apple Blossom”

Peg Aloi teaches creative writing and film studies, and writes film criticism for The Boston Phoenix, as well as a regular media column for witchvox.com. Her poetry has been published in Obsidian magazine and on gothic.net, and her first published short story somehow became a chapter in some stranger's doctoral dissertation somewhere in New Jersey. Last summer she won the Gorseth Kernow's Morris Cup for a poem about an ancient Cornish landmark she’s never actually visited. In October 2002 she attended the first-ever academic conference devoted to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, in Norwich, England.

Yarbro, Chelsea Quinn, “Lions, Gazelles and Buffy”

A professional writer for more than thirty years, Chelsea Quinn Yarbro has sold over seventy books and more than sixty works of short fiction. She lives in her hometown—Berkeley, California—with two autocratic cats. When not busy writing, she rides her Norwegian Fjord horse Pikku or attends the symphony or opera.

Resnick, Laura, “The Good, the Bad, and the Ambivalent”

Longtime Buffy fan Laura Resnick is the author of such fantasy novels as In Legend Born, The White Dragon: In Fire Forged I, and The Destroyer Goddess: In Fire Forged II. This Campbell Award-winning author of forty SF/F short stones is also writer of over a dozen romance novels published under the pseudonym Laura Leone. She is a regular contributor to the SFWA Bulletin, the Romance Writers Report, and Nink. You can find her on the Web at www.sff.net/people/laresnick.

West, Michelle, “For the Love of Riley”

Michelle Sagara West was born in 1963 and lives in Toronto. She was a finalist twice for the John W Campbell Memorial Award for the Best New Writer in 1991 and 1992. Michelle has since published numerous fantasy novels consisting of the Book of the Sundered series (five titles), The Sacred Hunt series (five titles) and The Sun Sword Trilogy. Her latest book is volume three in The Sun Sword Trilogy and is called The Shining Court.

Larbalestier, Justine, “A Buffy Confession”

Justine Larbalestier is a Sydney-born researcher and writer. She has written a radio show about the end of relationships, a short film about the Midas legend, and extensively on American science fiction culture, particularly in the 40s and 50s as well as Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Her first book is The Battle of the Sexes in Science Fiction (Wesleyan University Press, 2002).

Crusie, Jennifer, “Dating Death”

Jenny Crusie began writing fiction in 1991 as part of her doctoral dissertation research at Ohio State. When the fiction turned out to be vastly more interesting than the research, she switched to the MFA program. 5he sold her first book in 1992 and followed that with fourteen more novels including five for St. Martin's Press that have earned her New York Times and USA Today best-seller status. She thinks Buffy the Vampire Slayer is the best thing that ever happened to television, and Joss Whedon is God.

Krause, Marguerite, “The Meaning of Buffy”

Marguerite Krause's favorite activities involve working with words. In addition to writing, she works as a freelance copyeditor helping other writers to sharpen their skills, and for relaxation loves nothing better than to curl up with a good book. She also has a master's degree in music and performs with a local symphony orchestra, and has held a variety of jobs over the years: short-order cook, day-care provider ice-cream packer, and driver for a courier company. She is married to her high-school sweetheart; they have two children. Her two-part epic fantasy novel, Moons' Dreaming and Moons' Dancing, cowritten with 5usan 5izemore, will be released by Five Star (a Gale Imprint) in Fall 2003.

Zettel, Sarah, “When Did the Scoobies Become Insiders?.”

Sarah Zettel was born in Sacramento, California. Since then, she has lived in three states, ten cities, and two countries. She has been writing fantasy and science fiction since she could pick up a pen. Her latest works are A Sorcerer's Treason and The Usurper's Crown.

Harris, Charlaine, “A Reflection on Ugliness”

Charlaine Harris, who writes one conventional mystery series and one humorous/vampire/romance/adventure mystery series, lives in Southern Arkansas with a husband, three children, a ferret, two dogs, and a duck. The duck stays outside. Charlaine won the 2002 Anthony Award for Dead Until Dark, the debut novel of her vampire series. Almost needless to say, she loves Buffy.

Lichtenberg, Jacqueline, “Power of Becoming”

Romantic Times Award-winning author Jacqueline Lichtenberg is the primary author of Star Trek Lives!, the Bantam paperback that revealed the existence of Star Trek fandom and its fanzines and touched off the explosion of fannish involvement in the television show. Star Trek Lives! presents her theory of why fans love Star Trek so much that they write stories about it. Her first published novel. House of Zeor, the first novel in the legendary Sime-Gen Universe now in print from Meisha Merlin Publishing, Inc., proved her theory has merit. In addition to her series of vampire short stories, she has a vampire romance published by BenBella Books, titled Those of My Blood. She has two occult/sf novels in print. Molt Brother and City of a Million Legends. Jacqueline has spent more than 25 years as a tarot and astrology practitioner and teacher. She is author of The Biblical Tarot: Never Cross A Palm With Silver, and is the sf/f reviewer for the Occult/New Age publication The Monthly Aspectarian. www.simegen.com/jV will provide more details.

Murphy, Kevin Andrew, “Unseen Horrors & Shadowy Manipulations”

A native of California, Kevin Andrew Murphy writes novels, plays, short stones, poems, and games. His most recent works are the novels Fathom: The World Below (a novelization of Michael Turner's Fathom comics) and Drum into Silence, a posthumous collaboration with the late Jo Clayton, concluding her Drums of Chaos trilogy, as well as a novella, "With a Flourish and a Flair" in Deuces Down, the latest volume in George R.R. Martin’s Wild Cards series. He has poems upcoming in Vox 13's humorous H.R Lovecraft anthology Hastur, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! and the mainstream Poets Against the War anthology. White Wolf will be publishing his World of Darkness novel Penny Dreadful, and he’s currently working on a role-playing game adaptation of Wild Cards/or the Theatrix system. More of his works may be found at www.sff.net/people/KevinA.Murphy.

Montgomery, Carla, “Sex in the Suburbs”

Carlo Montgomery began as a reluctant voyeur, but is doing her best to make up for that naughty behavior now. Her essays and short stories have appeared in several anthologies and her commentaries aired on the local NPR station. For really weird story ideas, she highly recommends working as a late-night cop reporter She currently lives with her family in Utah... but that's another story.

Golden, Christie, “Where’s the Religion in Willow’s Wicca?”

Award-winning author Christie Golden has written twenty-two novels and several short stories in the fields of science fiction, fantasy and horror Though best known for tie-in work. Golden is also the author of two original fantasy novels from Ace Books, King's Man & Thief and Instrument of Fate, which made the 1996 Nebula Preliminary Ballot. Under the pen name of Jadrien Bell, she wrote a historical fantasy thriller titled A.D. 999, which won the Colorado Author's League Top Hand Award for Best Genre Novel of 1999. She wrote "The White Doe" for the Buffy the Vampire Slayer anthology Tales Of The Slayer Vol. I and "The Sun Child" for the Angel anthology The Longest Night. Her latest "treks" include Voyager novels Homecoming and The Farthest Shore. The two-part storyline takes place immediately after the Voyager finale, in which she takes familiar friends in new directions. Golden lives in Denver, Colorado, with her artist husband Michael Georges and their two cats. Her website is www.christiegolden.com.

Lorrah, Jean, “Love Saves the World”

New York Times best-selling author Jean Lorrah is the author of the award-winning vampire romance Blood Will Tell, the award-winning children's book Nessie and the Living Stone, and the acclaimed Savage Empire series. She is co-author of First Channel, Channel's Destiny and Zeierod's Doom, part of the cult classic Sime-Gen series.

Carter, Margaret L., “A World Without Shrimp”

Marked for life by reading Dracula at the age of twelve, Margaret L. Carter specializes in the literature of fantasy and the supernatural, particularly vampires. She received degrees in English from the College of William and Mary, the University of Hawaii, and the University of California. Her nonfiction worlds include Dracula: The Vampire and the Critics, The Vampire In Literature: A Critical Bibliography, and Different Blood: The Vampire as Alien. She is also the author of a werewolf novel, Shadow of the Beast, and three vampire novels. Dark Changeling (2000 Eppie Award winner in horror). Sealed In Blood, and Crimson Dreams. With her husband, retired Navy captain Leslie Roy Carter, she coauthored a fantasy novel Wild Sorceress. 5he has recently ventured into erotic romance with three vampire novellas, "Night Flight," "Tall, Dark, and Deadly," and "Virgin Blood" from Ellora's Cave (www.ellorascave.com). Visit her website, www.margaretlcarter.com.

Watt-Evans, Lawrence, “Matchmaking on the Hellmouth”

Lawrence Watt-Evans is the author of some three dozen novels and over a hundred short stories, mostly in the fields of fantasy, science fiction, and horror. He won the Hugo Award for Short Story in 1988 for "Why I Left Harry's All-Night Hamburgers," served as president of the Horror Writers Association from 1994 to 1996, and lives in Maryland with his wife, two teenaged kids, a pet snake named Billy-Bob, and the obligatory writer's cat.

Holder, Nancy, “Slayers of the Last Arc”

Nancy Holder is a four-time Bram Stoker Award-winning author, and was nominated a fifth time for one of her Buffy novels. She also received a special award from amazon.com for Angel Chronicles Volume 1. She has written or co-written over three dozen projects in the BtVS and Angel universes. The Watcher's Guide, Volume 1, coauthored with Christopher Golden, appeared on the USA Today Bestseller List and was described in Entertainment Weekly and the Wall Street Journal as "superb." She lives in San Diego with her seven-year-old daughter. Belle, who recently cast her friend Kate Liang as the Dancing Taco in an Independent after-school production.