“History, Aristotle says, represents things only as they are, while fiction represents them as they might be and ought to be.”
— Albert J. Nock, Memoirs of a Superfluous Man

YA

Tracy Lawson

Tracy Lawson

Tracy Lawson is eagerly awaiting the release of her coming-of-age thriller, Counteract. It’s the story of a girl (Careen), a guy (Tommy), the terrorist attack that brings them together, and their race to expose a conspiracy that could destroy their country.

In Counteract, Careen survived a terrorist’s bomb when she was a kid, and now the threat of a chemical weapons attack is literally hanging over her head. She takes the antidote offered by the government, but is unprepared for the side effects, which cause her to hallucinate, affect her memory, and derail her from her university studies. Her erratic behavior attracts the attention of a young law enforcement officer, who mistakenly pegs her as a dissident and pursues her, hoping she’ll make contact with a known resistance group. Careen doesn’t realize the antidote is causing her confusion… until she runs out on the day of the anticipated attack.

Tommy, recuperating from injuries sustained in a recent auto accident, is unaware that there’s a link between that accident, which killed his parents, and the chemical weapons attack that threatens him now. The antidote plagues him with hallucinations of tragedy and loss, and sends him spiraling into despair. When he discovers that working out before he takes his dose helps him feel more like himself, he defies the rules to regain his strength and his sanity. On the day of the attack, he meets Careen, who just might be the girl of his dreams, and tries to save her by sharing his last dose with her, even though doing so could potentially hasten his own death.

What Careen and Tommy learn about the true nature of the terrorist threat spurs them to take action, and their decisions lead them to run afoul of local law enforcement, team up with that underground resistance group, and ultimately take their quest for the truth to the highest reaches of the United States government.

Resist, the second volume in the trilogy, is nearing completion, and Tracy is now commencing work on the as-yet-unnamed final installment in Tommy and Careen’s saga.

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Alyssa Altadonna

By day, Alyssa Altadonna appears to be a mild-mannered school teacher; but, in the shadows of the evening, she becomes SUPER-LIBERTARIAN-SCIFI-TEEN-AUTHOR-WOMAN! Fueled by an irrepressible love of outer space and the rage that accompanies reading the daily headline news, she writes stories that somehow manage to instill the hope of freedom in the face of totalitarian oppression.

Alyssa is the author of several short stories and is currently working on her first novel, a young-adult scifi adventure set on Mars.

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Janine A. Southard

Janine A. Southard writes speculative fiction and videogame dialogue from her home in Seattle, WA. She sings with a Celtic band and is working on the next book in her Hive Queen science-fiction saga. Her first book in the series, Queen & Commander, won the 2013 IPPY Award Silver Medal for Best Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Horror E-Book. She’s also been known to read aloud to her cat.

The cat appreciates all of these things. Maybe.

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William Alan Ritch and Ginny Heinlein

Born in Miami, Florida, now residing in Atlanta, Georgia, Ritch first discovered novels by reading Have Space Suit — Will Travel by Robert A. Heinlein in elementary school. It has warped his life forever.

In addition to short stories (and someday novels), he has written and produced several plays and is currently the president of the Atlanta Radio Theatre Company, trying revive a moribund art form. A list of his various writings, from short fiction to reviews, can be found on his Wikipedia user profile.

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Tarrin Lupo

Tarrin is a modern day renaissance man who seems to have already lived three lifetimes. He is best known as an author, but he is also recognized as a national liberty activist. Tarrin has self-published over 20 stories, five of which have made it to the Top 100 on Amazon. One of his novels was the #1 highest-rated historical fiction eBook on Amazon for more than five months straight. As an independent author, he competes with very well-established authors and the powerhouses of the publishing world and is still beating many of them in eBook sales. Tarrin has spent almost no money on marketing but instead leverages social networking to compete.

Background

Tarrin grew up in Springfield, Virginia and started winning awards in elementary and high school with his writings. Tarrin spent most of his youth playing and coaching rugby while becoming the youngest head coach in the country for the women’s club at Radford University. Over the last 20 years, he has played for many teams and coached high school, college, and women’s clubs.

He graduated with degrees in biology, chemistry, and jewelry repair and design. Tarrin went on to four more years of chiropractic school, graduating with honors. His postdoctoral training specialized in motion x-ray technology and animal chiropractic.

Dr. Lupo went on to develop one of the largest and most successful practices in West Virginia. Eventually, he grew disenfranchised because of the increasing insurance regulations and government encroachment into healthcare. After selling his practice, he tried some other businesses while starting to write.

Tarrin started an online jewelry business for which he made and sold custom silver pieces with a freedom theme. He used the profits of the sales to finance his first book.

Writing

Tarrin started out writing a joke book about all the silly pranks he pulled on his friends. He followed it with a manual on secret hiding places and a book on agorism. His first fiction work, Pirates of Savannah, broke the rules for self-publishing and climbed its way to the #1 highest-rated historical fiction on Amazon for fall and winter 2011. Tarrin continued by writing a group of Savannah-centered, scary short stories. He has also published a young adult series and even a children’s book. His current dystopian novel One Nation Under Blood is getting fantastic reviews. Even his historical romance novella If It Ain’t Got That Swing is getting attention. Few authors write in so many genres; it seems Tarrin is trying to make his own bookstore. Being such a prolific author is a big accomplishment, since Tarrin battles severe dyslexia every day.

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Chris Baker

Chris Baker was born and raised in the Northern Panhandle of West Virginia and currently lives in Austin, Texas. He competed in math competitions and now works in information technology. While he is definitely an “auditory boy,” he has been published in LibertyIdeas on LibertyBaseball America, Moundsville Daily Echo, Columbus Alive, Austin Chronicle, Sports Collectors Digest, and The Other Paper.

His first novel is Escape from the Village, and he is already working on its sequel.

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