Books by, for, and about nerds
Kimberly Lemming is on an eternal quest to avoid her calling as a main character. She can be found giving the slip to that new werewolf that just blew into town and refusing to make eye contact with a prince of a far-off land. Dodging aliens looking for Earth booty can really take up a girl’s time.
But when she’s not running from fate, she can be found writing diverse fantasy romance. Or just shoveling chocolate in her maw until she passes out on the couch.
Lisa has been an avid romance reader and fan since she read her first Nora Roberts novel at the age of 13 after wandering the aisles of her local bookstore. Lisa loves that romance has the power to inspire, and believes that HEAs are for everyone.
Lisa writes light contemporary romantic comedies with a liberal dash of snark and banter. She enjoys delving into the complexity of Asian and immigrant family experiences, and celebrates female friendships in her trademark dry, witty style. As an Asian-American author writing own voices Asian American stories, Lisa hopes that her books will show the diversity of the Asian-American experience, and the importance of every reader being able to see themselves represented on the page.
Having grown up in Pennsylvania and helping out at her parents’ restaurant, Lisa has never bothered to learn to cook. She has two liberal arts undergraduate degrees and a J.D, and in her former life she was an intern, then Legislative Assistant for a PA State Representative. She also worked as a paralegal at a boutique law firm. Lisa is a politics junkie (don’t get her started on the wonder that is The West Wing!), indulges in naps whenever possible, and believes Netflixing in her pajamas and ordering take out qualifies as the perfect weekend. As a self-described Twitter addict, you can tweet her @laforesta1!
Jamie Madigan, PhD, has become an expert on the psychology of video games and seeks to popularize understanding of how psychology can be used to understand why games are made and why their players behave as they do. Madigan also writes, podcasts, and lectures on the subject for various magazines, websites, and his own site at www.psychologyofgames.com. He has consulted with game development companies and talked at conferences about how game developers can incorporate psychology principles into game design and how players can understand how it affects their play.
Madigan has appeared as an expert on the psychology of video games in dozens of print, web, and radio outlets, including The Washington Post, Wired, The Atlantic, the Chicago Tribune, BBC Radio 5, the BBC, The Guardian, Oprah Magazine, Official Playstation Magazine UK, The Verge, Livescience.com, The Escapist, MMORPG.com, Kotaku, The Gameological Society, Sky News HD, the Cited Podcast, the You are Not So Smart podcast, and Polygon.
Maria has written six non-fiction books with The Pilgrim Press, most recently A Child Laughs: Prayers of Justice and Hope, and has contributed essays to several anthologies. She has an award from Women On Writing for flash fiction, and was one of ten international authors involved in Circ, an innovative collaborative thriller published by Pigeon Park Press. From 2011 to 2018, her review blog Books J’Adore attracted over 25,000 followers. She has spoken at women’s retreats, written essays on parenting, and is currently working on a book of poetry inspired by the Psalms, as well as the sequel to the murder mystery that brought her and her writing partner, Maren Tirabassi, to Handspun.
Having called Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and California home, she now enjoys living in Colorado with her husband and sons
Maggie McGinnis is a USA Today bestselling author and Golden Heart Finalist who lives in New England, vastly outnumbered by both children and cats. She writes sweet romances set in Montana and Vermont, and feels extremely fortunate that through her books, she gets to fall in love every single day. She’s a sucker for romantic comedies, popcorn, and the perfect green pen, and if she wasn’t an author, she’d totally be rocking a Nashville club in her pink cowgirl boots. It’s probably good that she embraced the author thing, because her singing skills are better suited to the shower, and really? Pink cowgirl boots?
V.S. McGrath is the author of the fantasy Western series The Devil’s Revolver. She also writes romance under the penname Vicki Essex. She enjoys Netflix and sleep more and more with each passing day. She chooses Marvel over DC, salty snacks over sweet ones, and would rather fight a hundred duck-sized horses than one horse-sized duck (though she’d probably herd those tiny horses together and cuddle them rather than hurt them. Or sell them. Probably that.) She lives in Toronto, Canada, with her husband and an Irrational Biped.
Rachael Miles writes romance novels set in the British Regency. Her first novel–Jilting the Duke–has been called a “cosily scrumptious historical romance’ by Publisher’s Weekly and is the recipient of a 4 star review by RT Book Reviews, which described it as “charming, sweet, and sensual.” Cathy Maxwell praised her second novel, saying “Intrigue, romance, adventure, Chasing the Heiress has it all!” Identified as a ‘strong new voice’ by Mary Jo Putney for Omnivoracious.com, Miles is a former professor of book history and nineteenth-century literature. She edits the digital archives, Nineteenth-century Women Writers Reviewed and the internationally award-winning Texas Manuscript Cultures.
A native Texan, Miles lives in the woods with her indulgent husband, three rescued dogs, an ancient cat, and a herd of deer who love her vegetable garden.
By day, Mea Monique struts into court wearing fantastic suits with matching heels. But by night, she writes steamy romance books to escape her responsibilities. When she is not working, writing, or reading, she is probably sleeping the day away, drinking mimosas at a questionable time of day, or playing video games. If you still cannot find her, she is most definitely holed up in a corner of her apartment watching her comfort k-drama. Visit her website at meamonique.com.
Tamara Morgan is a contemporary romance and cozy mystery author. She began her reading (and writing) career as an English literature major and ended as a lover of genre fiction in all forms. When she’s not rolling around with her two Akitas, she can be found hiking, biking, or with her nose buried in a book. For fast-paced action romance, try Tamara Morgan. For heartwarming stories of love and puppies, check out Lucy Gilmore. And if witty, cunning whodunits with a paranormal twist are more your style, visit Tamara Berry.
A best-selling, award-winning author, Sandra Owens lives in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. Her family and friends often question her sanity, but have ceased being surprised by what she might get up to next. She’s jumped out of a plane, flown in an aerobatic plane while the pilot performed thrilling stunts, has flown Air Combat (two fighter planes dogfighting, pretending to shoot at each other with laser guns), and rode a Harley motorcycle for years. She regrets nothing.
Sandra is a 2013 Golden Heart® Finalist for her contemporary romance, CRAZY FOR HER. In addition to her contemporary romantic suspense novels, she writes Regency stories.