March 21st to 27th: “How do you separate yourself from the characters you write?”

How do you separate yourself from the characters you write? Or do you? ITW members Yvonne Navarro, Victor Banis, Vincent Zandri, Jim Duncan, Ethan Cross, Margaret Carroll, and James Grippando will lead next week’s Roundtable discussion. You won’t want to miss it!

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Vincent Zandri is the author of the bestselling thrillers THE INNOCENT,THE REMAINS, GODCHILD, and MOONLIGHT FALLS. His new novels, THE CONCRETE PEARL and MOONLIGHT RISES are forthcoming from StoneGate Ink. A photojournalist and foreign correspondent, Zandri divides his time between New York and Europe. His official website is www.vincentzandri.com

Living and working away in the state of Ohio, Jim Duncan is a writer of dark, urban-fantasy-suspense. His first novel, DEADWORLD, published by Kensington, will be out in April, 2011.

Ethan Cross is the author of The Shepherd–a book that has been described as “Silence of the Lambs meets The Bourne Identity” and “A fast paced, all too real thriller with a villain right out of James Patterson and Criminal Minds”–and the pen name of a thriller author living and writing in Illinois with his wife, two daughters, and two Shih Tzus.

NYC native Margaret Carroll is internationally published, and currently at work on her sixth novel, a thriller. Her debut thriller, A DARK LOVE (Avon/2009) received a starred review from Publishers Weekly, was named Top 100 Books of 2009, and nominated for RWA’s Rita award. Her fiction builds on a career in travel. She earned her BA from The George Washington University. The Carrolls currently reside in Michigan with Buddy, a Scottish Terrier (all squirrels must die).

James Grippando is the New York Times bestselling author of 18 novels that are enjoyed worldwide in 26 languages.  His latest,
“Afraid of the Dark,” is the ninth in the popular Jack Swyteck series, and takes readers to the dark side of the information age. He is also the author of “Operation Northwoods,” a short story in the acclaimed ITW “Thriller” anthology.  He lives in South Florida, where he practiced law for 12 years.

Victor J. Banis is the critically acclaimed (“the master’s touch in storytelling” Publishers Weekly) author of more than 200 published novels and many shorter works. A longtime California, he lives and writes now in West Virginia’s beautiful Blue Ridge.

Yvonne Navarro has written twenty-two novels, taking a crack at every genre via both original and media tie-in fiction. Her work has won a number of writing awards.  Her latest book is HIGHBORN, the first in the Dark Redemption series; the second, CONCRETE SAVIOR, comes out in June.  She lives in southern Arizona with her husband, author Weston Ochse, along with three rescued Great Danes (Goblin, Ghost and Ghoulie) and two people-loving parakeets.

Kathleen George lives in Pittsburgh where she is a professor of theatre at the University of Pittsburgh. Her latest novel THE ODDS was nominated for an Edgar® award for best novel of the year by the Mystery Writers of America. She is also the author of the acclaimed novels TAKEN, FALLEN, and AFTERIMAGE, the short story collection THE MAN IN THE BUICK, scholarly theatrical books and articles, and many short stories.Coming soon in 2011 are HIDEOUT, another novel in the Richard Christie series, and Pittsburgh Noir, an edited collection of short fiction set in Pittsburgh.