2021 Sunshine State Book Festival

LM Reynolds, IT consultant and Pan Am veteran, weaves the past and present into tales of international suspense and intrigue. The back story of her award-winning novel Spies in Our Midst takes place during the Iranian revolution. Its sequel, Spies We Know, transports the reader to India during the Cold War. Her latest novel, Deliberate Acts, delves into the horrors of the Yugoslav Wars. When not exploring the globe, Reynolds resides in Florida. Click to view Author’s website

Armand Rosamilia is a New Jersey boy currently living in sunny Florida, where he writes when not sleeping. He’s written over 150 stories that are currently available, including crime thrillers, horror, contemporary fiction, nonfiction and more. His goal is to write a good story and not worry about genre labels. He also loves to talk in third person . . . because he’s really that cool. Or thinks he is, anyway. Click to view Author’s website

Joel Shulkin, MD, is a developmental-behavioral pediatrician and United States Air Force veteran with a master’s in public health. Having been lucky enough to be mentored by the legendary Michael Palmer, he has written short stories that have appeared in various print and online journals. He has also won several national and local writing awards for fiction and poetry. He lives in Florida with his wife and twin daughters. Click to view Author’s website

T. C. Weber is a proud University of Florida graduate. His first published novel, Sleep State Interrupt, was a finalist for the Compton Crook Award for best first speculative fiction novel. The first sequel, The Wrath of Leviathan, was published in 2018, and the final book of the trilogy, Zero-Day Rising, came out in 2020. He has other books on the way. He is a member of Poets & Writers and the Maryland Writers Association. Click to view Author’s website

E. S. Barrison has been writing and creating stories for as long as she can remember. After graduating from the University of Florida, she has spent the past few years wrangling her experiences to compose unique worlds with diverse characters. Currently, Barrison lives in Orlando, Florida, with her family. The Mist Keeper’s Apprentice is her first novel. Click to view Author’s website

Larry Brasington grew up with black-and-white adventure and science fiction movies, attended the University of Florida, and has a degree in History. Brasington’s first published work was a weird tale, “A Temple in the Swamp,” in the Eldritch Tales magazine (1977). Since then, he has written science fiction and fantasy novels: Nell’s Tavern, Alien Madness, Saving Sonya. He also published a historical fantasy, Beyond the Wall, under the pen name Howard L. Parker. Click to view Author’s website

Bria Burton lives in St. Petersburg, Florida, with her husband, son, and two wild pets. Her short fiction has appeared in over twenty anthologies and magazines. Four of her fiction stories and manuscripts (both published and unpublished) have received Royal Palm Literary Awards. She's a member of the Alvarium Experiment, a by-invitation-only consortium of outstanding authors who have collaborated on five speculative fiction anthologies. Visitors can find additional titles on Bria’s website. Click to view Author’s website

Anna Elias began her career as Don Johnson’s assistant onMiami Vice. She worked on films such asNell, The Client, 12 Monkeys, A Time to Kill, and Practical Magic before becoming a writer. She has written spec scripts, paid assignments, and a book adaption with a celebrity actor. Elias’s passion for social justice is integral to her work. That is especially true in her debut sci-fi novel, The Vessels (2020, Vesuvian Books). Click to view Author’s website

Lynne Adams Barzé, a lover of crime and paranormal genres, moved in retirement to Picayune Mississippi, with her husband, after six generations in New Orleans, Louisiana. In 2004, she became an antiques dealer, opening Barzé Place Antique & Collectibles Mall. However, what  Barzé has done longer than anything else is write. Though she wrote poetry, essays, short stories and articles from age twelve, she penned the first of ten novels, Revenge & Perseverance, in 2013. Click to view Author’s website

Douglas Daech, born in Michigan, now resides in rural Kentucky. He is married to his soul mate, Julie, and has two children. The TV show The Waltons inspired him to write. John-Boy, smooth voice and wisdom, pulled him into every episode. Daech’s family is large, too, and he fancied himself the writer. Just as in the Walton family, his siblings grew up to become chefs, truckers, doctors, and more. And Douglas became the writer. Click to view Author’s website

Chris Holmes writes horror, urban fantasy, and paranormal stories. She has three titles published by Paranormalice Press, LLC, and two novels in the works. Her Light A Candle: Chase the Devil Away won a gold medal in the 2019 Florida Writers Association’s Royal Palm Literary Awards competition. Vamped: The Turning won gold in 2020. Holmes is a graphic designer and creates her own book covers. Originally from New Jersey, she now lives in Central Florida. Click to view Author’s website

Elizabeth Randall is a retired high school English teacher, a widely published freelance writer, and the author of five books. She has also guest-lectured at book conferences. For her stories, she has interviewed prisoners on death row, traipsed through haunted houses, and camped in humid tents. Randall won a writing award from the Florida Authors and Publishers Association and Royal Palm Literary Awards in 2017 and 2020. She lives in Lake Mary, Florida. Click to view Author’s website

Sam Berretti was raised in the High Plains city of Lubbock, Texas. Cotton was king and oil wells and cattle were always close by. The land was as flat as his mother’s tattered ironing board and spring was always ushered in with dust storms, tumble weeds, and tornadoes. Sam moved to Florida to attend college, met a woman who he says was gracious enough to allow him to marry her, and raised two amazing children. Click to view Author’s website

Loren Colden of St. Augustine, Florida, grew up in a haunted house in Alexandria, Virginia, where her current book begins. Colden loves a good ghost story and utilizes paranormal concepts mixed with truth and real events for her dark stories. Her first fiction novel explores the presence of a black shoe found on the side of the road. Short chapters keep the story turning at a fast pace. Readers have given impressively positive reviews.  

J. Elliott, artist, author, post-menopausal Buddhist with hot flashes and a midlife crisis, enjoys a campy sense of humor, adores Basset hounds, murder mysteries, puzzles, clever comedy, the supernatural, getting scared but not being scared. She also loves ghost stories, foreign films, Acorn television, coffee, what’s left of old Florida, travel, delicious food, unpredictable stories, and that book you just can’t put down. Seeks readers who enjoy same. Click to view Author’s website

Laura Anne Ewald is a former university librarian turned freelance writer, editor, and public speaker. An eclectic scholar of many years, she wrote her first play in the late 1980s, her first novel in 1990, and has been writing and publishing her own work—scholarly, professional, and fictional—since 1999. Ewald continues to pursue her avocation in drama by writing for, creating, directing, and performing with puppets as founder of The Everyman Puppet Theatre. Click to view Author’s website

Terri Faunce is an entrepreneur and housewife who was born and raised in Florida. Her vocations over the years have included houseware sales, auto sales, photography, custom cake baking, catering, and meal preparation. Her latest endeavor in fiction writing has its roots in her interest in genealogy, action-adventure, and mystery novels. Terri’s motivation for writing her first novel, Obsession, was derived from years searching for clues to her ancestry and a sense of belonging.  

Mary Beth Magee lets her curiosity take her in a wide variety of writing directions. Her (LOL)⁴ mystery novels, short fiction, poetry, and devotions all come from a faith-based perspective. Her children’s books share uplifting stories to encourage children in their daily lives without preaching. She has appeared in three Chicken Soup for the Soul™ volumes as well as multiple other anthologies. Welcome to her world! Click to view Author’s website

Elle Andrews Patt has published short fiction in multiple online magazines and anthologies. Her novels are represented by Donald Maass Literary Agency. She's received an Honorable Mention from Writers of The Future, a National Indie Excellence Award, and several Royal Palm Literary Awards from the Florida Writers Association for both her short fiction and her novels. When she's not writing, Elle can be found mucking stalls and working her day job as a digital marketer. Click to view Author’s website

N. L. Quatrano writes the Point and Shoot mysteries and co-authors the inspirational Southern women’s Amazing Grace Trucking Series with D. K. Ludas. She’s also a columnist for the St Augustine Record and owns On-Target Words. Books in both series have won local, national, and international awards. Keeping Faith is book two in the Amazing Grace series and is due to be released in late January. Additional titles can be found on her website. Click to view Author’s website

JW Robitaille writes the Cory Marin Mystery series, which features a strong female detective with a complicated love life and a diverse group of friends. Julie enjoys painting, cooking, gardening, walking, house restoration, and travel. She lives in Gainesville, Florida, the setting of all her fiction. In addition to her Gainesville detective series, she writes literary fiction, short stories, screenplays, and she is getting ready to launch a Young Adult dystopia series. Click to view Author’s website

Wendy Thornton has been published in Riverteeth, Epiphany, MacGuffin, and many other journals. Her books include Sounding the Depths,Bear Trapped: Blowback, and Dear Oprah: How I Beat Cancer and Learned to Love Daytime TV. Nominated for Gainesville Poet Laureate (2020) and for a Pushcart Prize, she has won many literary awards and cofounded the Writers Alliance ( www.writersalliance.org). Her work has appeared in England, Ireland, Australia and India. She teaches writing at Santa Fe College. Click to view Author’s website

Nick Vellis draws on thirty years of law enforcement and intelligence experience for a unique spin on thrillers, suspense, and mystery. Packing his books with action accented by a dash of humor, Vellis writes what he knows, drawing readers into complex plots with plenty of twists. Careers in law enforcement, software sales, intelligence, and government contracting have given him a unique view of the world, fascinating experiences, and characters, all lending depth to his writing. Click to view Author’s website

Tom A. Wiggins, PhD, is a wounded warrior of the Global War on Terrorism. He has published everything from articles to short stories and novels to his dissertation. He has found his passion is writing fiction. Tom’s current and most popular work is A Happening in Hawthorne. Its sequel, A Hope for Hawthorne, is scheduled for release in 2021. Wiggins is also the author of The Spirit of the North (November 27, 2020). Click to view Author’s website