February 29 – March 6: “Does an author’s voice evolve with each novel?”

Does an author’s voice evolve with each novel or are there consistencies over time? ITW Members John Hegenberger, Ronnie Allen, Dave Edlund, Heather B. Moore, James Grippando, Matthew Betley, Gwen Florio, Marissa Garner, Sanjida Kay, Karenna Colcroft, Peter Steiner, Philip Donlay and Vaughn C. Hardacker will discuss. Feel free to discuss your own work or some of your favorite examples.

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Born and raised in the heart of the heartland, Columbus, Ohio, John Hegenberger is the author of several series: Stan Wade LAPI in 1959, Eliot Cross Columbus-based PI in 1988, and Ace Hart, western gambler from Wyoming to Arizona in 1877. He’s the father of three, tennis enthusiast, collector of silent films and OTR, hiker, Francophile, B.A. Comparative Lit., Pop culture author, ex-Navy, ex-marketing exec at Exxon, AT&T, and IBM, happily married for 45 years and counting. Active member of SFWA, PWA and ITW.

Sanjida Kay is a writer and broadcaster. Bone by Bone is her first thriller. She lives in Bristol with her daughter and her husband. To learn more about Sanjida, please visit her website.

Matthew Betley is a former Marine officer of ten years. His experience includes deployments to Djibouti, Africa, after 9/11, and Fallujah, Iraq, prior to The Surge. A New Jersey native who considers Cincinnati home, he graduated from Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, with a B.A. in Psychology and minors in Political Science and Sociology.

Karenna Colcroft is the alter ego of a New England wife and mother. She began writing at the age of five, and since 2009 has been published in the romance genre and, under the name Jo Ramsey, in young adult fiction. Dawn Over Dayfield, Karenna’s newest release, is her first attempt at branching into suspense fiction, and she found it so enjoyable she’ll probably do it again.

Ronnie Allen is a New York City native living in central Florida. She taught in the New York City Department of education for 33 years as well as holding licensure as a New York State school psychologist. In addition, she’s a Board Certified Holistic Health Practitioner specializing in alternative healing modalities. She uses her skills and education in the themes and plots of her psychological thrillers, Gemini and Aries.

Marissa Garner is a wife, writer, chocoholic, and animal lover, not necessarily in that order. As a child, she cut pictures of people out of magazines and turned them into characters in her simple stories. Now she writes edgy romantic thrillers and steamy contemporary romance. Her stories will titillate your mind as well as your libido. She lives in Southern California, but enjoys traveling from Athens to Anchorage to Acapulco and many locations in between.

Vaughn C. Hardacker has completed five novels and numerous short stories. His novel, SNIPER, was selected as a finalist in the Crime Fiction category of the 2015 Maine Literary Awards. His third, THE BLACK ORCHID, was released on March 1, 2016. He is a veteran of the U. S. Marines and served in Vietnam. He holds degrees from Northern Maine Technical College, the University of Maine and Southern New Hampshire University. He lives in Maine.

A devoted fan of thrillers, Dave Edlund writes what he describes as science-action thrillers, blending cutting-edge science and engineering with present-day geopolitics. His debut novel Crossing Savage received a Ben Franklin Silver Medal (popular fiction) by the Independent Book Publishers Association, and was named an INDIEFAB finalist by Foreward Reviews Magazine (best new mystery/suspense). Relentless Savage was named by Apple iBooks as a 2015 best-pick for new mystery and suspense novels. Deadly Savage is scheduled for release in April.

Heather B. Moore is a USA Today bestselling author of more than a dozen historical novels and thrillers, written under pen name H.B. Moore. She writes women’s fiction, romance and inspirational non-fiction under Heather B. Moore. This can all be confusing, so her kids just call her Mom. Heather attended Cairo American College in Egypt, the Anglican School of Jerusalem in Israel, and earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Brigham Young University in Utah.

James Grippando is a New York Times bestselling author of suspense. GONE AGAIN is his twenty-fourth novel. Grippando was a trial lawyer for twelve years before the publication of his debut novel in 1994, The Pardon, and he now serves as counsel at Boies, Schiller & Flexner LLP. He lives in South Florida with his wife and children.

Gwen Florio’s first novel, MONTANA, won the inaugural Pinckley Prize for debut novel, and a High Plains Book Award, and was a finalist for an International Thriller Award, Shamus Award and Silver Falchion Award. Her second in the Lola Wicks series, DAKOTA, was a finalist for a Silver Falchion award. A veteran journalist, Florio’s work was nominated three times for the Pulitzer Prize. She is a member of International Thriller Writers, Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers, and Women Writing the West. She live in Missoula, Montana.

Philip Donlay learned to fly at age seventeen and was first published at eighteen. In the aviation world, success came quickly and he’s been flying jets since he was twenty years old. Whether flying a Saudi sheik, nighttime freight, or executives of a Fortune 500 company, Donlay has logged over six million miles while spanning the globe to forty countries on five continents. Donlay burst onto the literary scene in 2004 with the publication of his first novel, Category Five, followed by Code Black, Zero Separation, Deadly Echoes, Aftershock and Pegasus Down. He divides his time between Montana and the Pacific Northwest.

Peter Steiner is a Cincinnati native.  He did a stint in the Army, followed by graduate school.  He then got a PhD. and taught German at Dickinson College.  He left teaching to become an artist, painting and drawing cartoons.  In 1979 he began selling cartoons to The New Yorker. For the next 25 years he made his living mainly as a cartoonist, but also as a painter.  In the 1990s he started writing novels.  Although the first one went unpublished, the second one—A French Country Murder–was published by Saint Martin’s Press in 2003.  Since then other books followed. THE CAPITALIST is his fifth novel.