Names I Call My Sister

Mary Castillo attenteded the University of Southern California, where she majored in History. During that time she went on medical missions to Mexico (where she helped deliver a baby), and interned at L.A. County Hospital. But when it was time to choose a career, Mary went back to her original love of storytelling and began writing screenplays and novels. She has worked in public relations, advertising, and as a reporter for the L.A. Times Community News. She lives in Orange County, California, with her family.

Cuban-born BERTA PLATAS is the author of several novels, including All of Me and Miami Heat. She has been writing romantic comedies since the mid-1990's, when her Latina heritage collided with her brought-up-on-Monty-Python-and-SNL sense of humor. She lives in Atlanta.

Lynda Sandoval is a former police officer-turned fiction writer with twenty-two published (or soon to be published) books to her credit. She lives (and writes) in Denver with a gigantic, rollicking family of mostly beasts who regularly trash the house. Included in the brood are Lynda's partner (who is not a beast), three silly dogs-Ditto, Mojo, and Levi-and two perfectly behaved and housetrained-when-they-wanna-be bunnies, Coco and Georgie. click to enlarge Never the type to pick one thing and stick to it (just ask her mom about the jazz, tap, cello, drums, soccer, gymnastics, and theater phases) Lynda blissfully writes across the board. She's done women's fiction and nonfiction for HarperCollins Rayo; romance for Silhouette Special Edition; a fun novella for Avon A; and young adult novels for Simon & Schuster. She launched her career with five award-winning books for Kensington Bouquet and Pinnacle Encanto, and her popular nonfiction text published by Gryphon Books for Writers, True Blue: An Insider's Guide to Street Cops-For Writers, is still selling strong. She is thrilled to have recently signed with Houghton Mifflin for young adult novels and novellas which will hit bookstores in 2008, 2009, and 2010. In her spare time (HA!), she works more than half-time as an emergency 9-1-1 dispatcher for the Fire/EMS Department, just for some relaxation time. (KIDDING!) She also teaches writing for Long Ridge Writer's Group and volunteers at a GLBTQ youth center. Lynda's books have won numerous awards, which you can read about on the FUN! page if you're so inclined. Prior to selling, she was a two time Romance Writers of America Golden Heart award finalist for best unpublished manuscripts. click to enlarge Some career highlights? Lynda's first novel for teens, Who's Your Daddy?, was selected by the Colorado Endowment for the Humanities as a Colorado Book Award finalist in Young Adult Literature. It was also named to the prestigious New York Public Library's "Books for the Teen Age" list, selected by the American Library Association as a Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Adult Readers, and nominated for the King County Library System's Evergreen Young Adult Book Award. Who's Your Daddy? has gone into multiple printings and will be re-released (in fancy new packaging!) in spring 2008. Lynda's second teen novel, Chicks Ahoy also made the cut as a Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Readers, but more importantly? It was named to the coveted (by Lynda, at least!) list of "Books Teens Love and Parents Hate." In October 2000, Lynda was profiled in People en Espanol, the Spanish language version of People Magazine (click here to read article), and in August 2002, the Sunday Denver Post Book Section ran a profile of Lynda which led directly to her first sale with HarperCollins-two days after her agent submitted the proposal. (Thanks, DP!) In 2004, Lynda was featured in both Writer's Digest magazine and Romantic Times BOOKCLUB (click here to read article). She's also been profiled in Catalina magazine, numerous local papers, and has been interviewed on nationally syndicated radio shows from Pasadena, California to New York City and beyond. When Lynda is procrastinating (a "slacktivity" she has raised to an art form, incidentally), she loves to quilt, knit, make purses, watch reality TV and reality crime shows, bid obsessively on eBay, laugh at dumb dog videos on YouTube, nap (hey, it's an activity), and read everything she can get her hands on.