Page Title
Page Title


Attending Authors & Special Guests

Darla Baker
Author
Darla Baker is the author of the Amazon best-selling novel Eagle Cove (Thalia Chase: Sex Therapist Series, Book One). Book Two in the series, Seventy Six Falls will be released on November 3, 2016.
Life's twists and turns took Darla's passion for pursuing a career as a therapist and led her to spend the past thirty years practicing her therapy skills on unsuspecting software and systems engineers in various technology roles. Now as her career in technology comes to a close, you will find her counseling fictional clients as a fictional sex therapist in a world of her creation as the author of the Thalia Chase: Sex Therapist series.
Darla lives with her wife of twenty years on the shores of beautiful Lake Cumberland, Kentucky during lake season and in Dayton, Ohio the rest of the year. Her adorable pit bulls, Raven and Delilah, are always by her side.
http://stonesoupcommunity.com/

Brenda Trobaugh
Deputy Chief, Cal Poly Police Department
Deputy Chief Brenda Trobaugh holds a Masters Degree in Forensic Psychology (Summa Cum Laude) and has worked for 23 years in law enforcement. She has held assignments in patrol, field training, personnel, investigations, gangs, threat assessment, and management and tactical suppression. Trobaugh is a recognized national gang expert with 14 years of experience in the area of gangs. She was responsible for the largest gang rape sex slave case in the State of California where she received a Meritorious Service Award by the International Association of Asian Crime Investigators.
Deputy Chief Trobaugh is also a recognized expert in the areas of domestic violence and human trafficking. She has been an instructor of new officer orientation and advanced officer training (AOT) in the areas of domestic violence, gangs, and Miranda. She has been an instructor and a presenter
at Local, State and National Conferences in the areas of Gangs, Gang Rape, Human Trafficking, Miranda, School Violence, Domestic Violence, Violence as a Learned behavior, Violent Crime Behavioral Analysis, and Expert Testimony.
Deputy Chief Trobaugh received three proclamations from the City of Fresno and received the Fresno Police Department Outstanding Achievement Award. She was named as Fresno Police Officer of the year in 2008 and in 2009 she received the Marjoree Mason Center’s Top Ten Professional Women of the Year. The International Association of Chief of Police (IACP), California State Senate and United States Congress have recognized her for her work.
The California School Resource Officers Association and the Pat McCormick Educational Foundation have recognized her for her work in development and implementation of youth gang prevention programs. Deputy Chief Trobaugh served on the Domestic Violence Task Force and the Human Trafficking Task Force. She served as an Honor Guard member for 14 years and served as a board member of the Fresno County Peace Officer Memorial, Fresno County 9-11 Memorial Board and a member of the State of California Peace Officer Memorial Board.
She has been a Criminal Justice adjunct professor from 2009-to present and a guest lecturer at several college and universities. She has also competed in martial arts and track in field in both national and world competitions where she has won numerous medals.
Nat Burns
Author
Nat Burns is the author of more than fifteen novels with three different publishers. Since becoming a novelist, she has won one Golden Crown Literary Award and twice was voted a finalist. She also won an Alice B. Lavender Certificate for her novel Two Weeks in August. Her poem, “Womanwalk”, won first place in the local Virginia Writing Club contest and third place in the VWC state competition. Other poems have appeared in dozens of publications, such as Lynchburg Magazine, The Wishing Well, Muse Magazine, Witness to the Bizarre, and Worlds of Surrealism. She won state honors for a short story, “The Road, The Rock”, and was nominated for a Pushcart Prize for her short story “Diverse Delusions”.
During her ten years as a journalist, she won two Virginia Press Association awards, as well as honors from Writer's Digest, Muse Magazine, Writers in Virginia, The Virginia Writing Club, Piedmont Writing Institute and Writers of the Future. She taught journalism and creative writing as part of the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts Writers in Virginia program and worked with the Small Press Writers and Artist Organization for many years, serving one year as president. She currently writes a monthly column called “Notes from Nat” with a magazine in Los Angeles.
As an editor, Burns worked with the American Association for Clinical Chemistry, VA NOW, Byrd Newspapers, County of Nelson, Hampton Roads Publishing and Carden Jennings Publishing. In addition to many periodicals, she has edited more than three dozen fiction and non-fiction books, many of them winning awards.

Jennifer Fulton
Author / Editor
Jennifer Fulton is the award-winning author of 19 novels and recipient of the Alice B. Readers' Appreciation Award (2006). Published by Bold Strokes Books, she began writing mysteries under pen name Rose Beecham in 1992. Her first series was published by Naiad Press (USA) and Silver Moon (UK); her second series, featuring protagonist Jude Devine, includes GCLS Goldie award winner Grave Silence (2005).Jennifer’s romances span various sub-genres, from the very romantic Passion Bay (1992) and A Guarded Heart (2008), stories in the best-selling Moon Island series to romantic suspense with some Gothic spin: Dark Dreamer (2005), Dark Garden (2009); adventure romance: More than Paradise (2007), and a nod toward erotic romance: Naked Heart (2008). Writing as Grace Lennox, she anticipated the “new adult” trend with Chance (2006) and Not Single Enough (2007).Over the years, Jennifer has taught numerous classes and is proud to have mentored many authors as an editor. With her spouse Fel and their animal companions, she lives in Santa Fe, where she enjoys teasing guests by writing short
Shelley Thrasher
Author / Editor
performance pieces they must act as home dinner theater. Her 90-minute sell-out show Desperately Seeking Stimulation (1997) was the first lesbian stage comedy presented at the Melbourne Fringe Festival.
After a lengthy time-out to focus on her family, Jennifer picked up her pen again in 2015 and has two new novels forthcoming: Courting Trouble, set in Northern California, and Solace, the long-overdue fifth installment in the Moon Island series.

BL Clark
Author
BL Clark lives in Southern Wisconsin. As a child, BL dreamed of becoming an author, she is now living her dream. In her free time, you can find BL working on various story ideas, or playing with some form of technology.
Isabella
Author
Award winning author, Isabella, lives in California with her wife and three sons. Isabella's first novel, Always Faithful, won a GCLS award in the Traditional Contemporary Romance category in 2010. She was also a finalist in the International Book Awards, and received an Honorable Mention in the 2010 and 2012 Rainbow Awards. She is a member of the Rainbow Romance Writers, Romance Writers of America, and the Gold Crown Literary Society.
She has written several short stories and just finished her next novel, Forever Faithful, out now. She is current working on the next in the American Yakuza series, American Yakuza III. You can also find Isabella's book at iTunes, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Smashword, Kobo, Sony and All Romance Ebooks.


Tara Wentz
Author
Tara Wentz is the author ofTraffic Stop. She was a GCLS Debut author finalist. Tara ives in Missouri with her partner. She has been in the medical field for many years and really does enjoy it. When not working or writing, Tara likes to spend her time reading, dabbling with photography, watching sports on TV or catching up on her favorite shows.
Annette Mori
Author
Annette is a health care executive living in the beautiful Pacific Northwest with her wife and their five furry kids. Well actually, it might be more than five, but they do not count the ones they only feed.
Love Forever, Live Forever is her debut novel that came out in April 2015 followed by Asset Management in August 2015. Her third novel Out of the World came out on Kindle Unlimited in November 2015 and Locked Inside was released in December 2015.
Fortunately, all four novels have received positive feedback and she is thankful to have the support of so many wonderful readers. Annette believes it is never too late to try something new and writing has quickly
turned into a rabid passion. She loves to hear feedback from readers so drop her a line at:
https://annettemori0859.wordpress.com/
Darla Baker
Author/Publisher
Darla Baker is the author of the Amazon best-selling novel Eagle Cove (Thalia Chase: Sex Therapist Series, Book One). Book Two in the series, Seventy Six Falls will be released on November 3, 2016.
Life's twists and turns took Darla's passion for pursuing a career as a therapist and led her to spend the past thirty years practicing her therapy skills on unsuspecting software and systems engineers in various technology roles. Now as her career in technology comes to a close, you will find her counseling fictional clients as a fictional sex therapist in a world of her creation as the author of the Thalia Chase: Sex Therapist series.
Darla lives with her wife of twenty years on the shores of beautiful Lake Cumberland, Kentucky during lake season and in Dayton, Ohio the rest of the year. Her adorable pit bulls, Raven and Delilah, are always by her side.
http://stonesoupcommunity.com/
Jane Alden’s debut novel, Across a Crowded Room, was released by Desert Palm Press in May. The author was born and raised in a small Mississippi River Delta community in Arkansas. Everyone in town knew everyone else, their parents, and their grandparents before them.
After graduating from the University of Arkansas, she moved to California and taught 7th grade English in a small central valley citrus-farming community. When she was recruited on the phone at U of A, she looked up Porterville, California, on the map, and it was only about an inch and a half north of Los Angeles, but it turned out the culture was closer to Arkansas or Oklahoma than to the bright lights and big city she craved. After two years teaching, she moved to Los Angeles, began a career in health care management. After many lucky circumstances and thanks to wonderful mentors, she became a hospital administrator and then an executive coach, working with successful executives who want to be better leaders.
Jane and her partner of thirty years live in a small town thirty miles east of metropolitan Los Angeles. Their chocolate lab, Delilah, is the captain of the domestic ship.
Find Across a Crowded Room at Amazon, Bella Books, Smashwords, Barnes and Noble and other outlets.
Jane Alden
Author

Brenda Trobaugh
Police Procedural Expert
Ret. Fresno and Cal Poly PD
Deputy Chief Brenda Trobaugh holds a Masters Degree in Forensic Psychology (Summa Cum Laude) and has worked for 23 years in law enforcement. She has held assignments in patrol, field training, personnel, investigations, gangs, threat assessment, and management and tactical suppression. Trobaugh is a recognized national gang expert with 14 years of experience in the area of gangs. She was responsible for the largest gang rape sex slave case in the State of California where she received a Meritorious Service Award by the International Association of Asian Crime Investigators.
Deputy Chief Trobaugh is also a recognized expert in the areas of domestic violence and human trafficking. She has been an instructor of new officer orientation and advanced officer training (AOT) in the areas of domestic violence, gangs, and Miranda. She has been an instructor and a presenter
at Local, State and National Conferences in the areas of Gangs, Gang Rape, Human Trafficking, Miranda, School Violence, Domestic Violence, Violence as a Learned behavior, Violent Crime Behavioral Analysis, and Expert Testimony.
Deputy Chief Trobaugh received three proclamations from the City of Fresno and received the Fresno Police Department Outstanding Achievement Award. She was named as Fresno Police Officer of the year in 2008 and in 2009 she received the Marjoree Mason Center’s Top Ten Professional Women of the Year. The International Association of Chief of Police (IACP), California State Senate and United States Congress have recognized her for her work.
The California School Resource Officers Association and the Pat McCormick Educational Foundation have recognized her for her work in development and implementation of youth gang prevention programs. Deputy Chief Trobaugh served on the Domestic Violence Task Force and the Human Trafficking Task Force. She served as an Honor Guard member for 14 years and served as a board member of the Fresno County Peace Officer Memorial, Fresno County 9-11 Memorial Board and a member of the State of California Peace Officer Memorial Board.
She has been a Criminal Justice adjunct professor from 2009-to present and a guest lecturer at several college and universities. She has also competed in martial arts and track in field in both national and world competitions where she has won numerous medals.
Barrett
Author
Barrett is a writer and Golden Crown Literary Society Award Finalist who published six novels in four years with Bedazzled Ink including: Damaged in Service, Defying Gravity; Dispatched with Cause; Deliver Us From Evil; Balefire; and Flights of Fancy before joining Sapphire Books.
Her new book entitled "The Dreamcatcher" was released January 15, 2017. Balefire was re-released in June of 2017 and her next novel, "Highland Dew" is with the first readers.
She is a member of the Western Women Writers of New Mexico, the Land of Enchantment Romance Authors, Romance Writers of America, Golden Crown Literary Society, and the Petroglyph Guild.
After retiring from a busy nursing career, she moved west. Now, Barrett enjoys the inspiring mountain views from two acres of prairie in New Mexico’s high desert. Her devoted pack includes: a wonderful chocolate lab, a hyper border collie mix, and a sweet young blue eyed husky mix.
Isabella
Author/Publisher
Award winning author, Isabella, lives in California with her wife and three sons. Isabella's first novel, Always Faithful, won a GCLS award in the Traditional Contemporary Romance category in 2010. She was also a finalist in the International Book Awards, and received an Honorable Mention in the 2010 and 2012 Rainbow Awards. She is a member of the Rainbow Romance Writers, Romance Writers of America, and the Gold Crown Literary Society.
She has written several short stories and just finished her next novel, Forever Faithful, out now. She is current working on the next in the American Yakuza series, American Yakuza III. You can also find Isabella's book at iTunes, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Smashword, Kobo, Sony and All Romance Ebooks.
Jazzy Mitchell
Author
Jazzy Mitchell loves to tell stories, one word at a time. Her writing has evolved through poetry, short stories, fanfiction under the name Jazwriter, and novels. She’s a lifelong learner who seeks to integrate her observations, and she’s warned others anything they say or do may appear in her next novel.
During the past thirty years, Jazzy has reinvented herself several times. She taught English for a decade to inner-city, underprivileged middle school and high school students, giving back to her hometown which helped her. Law school drove the creativity out of her, but as time passed, her artistic instincts reasserted themselves. Throughout the years, she has taught adults about ethics and real estate law and, through the Lightarian Institute, energy work.
Jazzy’s working on her sixth contemporary lesbian fiction novel while living in Oregon with her beloved wife, three spirited children, feisty bulldog, and energetic five-pound puppy.
Ellen Hoil
Author

Heather Flournoy
Editor
Heather Flournoy holds a BA in Linguistics with a minor in English. She is an active member of the Editorial Freelancers Association. As a longtime member of the Golden Crown Literary Society, she has been on the judging panel for the Goldie Awards on multiple occasions. Heather has served as editor and editorial consultant for more than 100 novels, several anthologies and short stories, and multiple works of memoir and creative nonfiction.
Outside of fiction, she has edited academic papers, resumes and cover letters, medical textbooks, and website content. In addition to her private clients, Heather works on a contract basis as a primary editor/project manager for several small publishing houses.
You can reach Heather at heather@hifediting.com
Website: https://hifediting.com/
Shawn Marie Bryan
Multimedia Professional & On-Air Host
In addition to being a freelance media maven of all trades, Shawn Marie Bryan, Epistolarian, is also a writer of plays, memoirs, fiction, lists, and copy. She has an extensive background in theatre, broadcasting, libraries, radio, retail, and has been helping to bring audiobooks to life for close to three decades. To honor those who had no other choice, Shawn Marie, as an homage of gratitude, also wrote under pen names. She will soon: publish new and republish some previous work, bring interactive reading to the interwebs, continue to foster her passions for sustainable gift wrap and miniatures.
Shawn Marie continues to serve as the president of The A/V Club, a club where everyone is welcome and joining means you receive the help or guidance you seek for any and all of your media endeavors. This A/V Club specializes in forward motion and reaches into the future to best represent every member regardless of their need; be it websites, trailers, covers, branding, audiobooks, marketing, even literary proofing, spelunking, doctoring- think beta read electrified!
You can reach Shawn Marie at sm@shawnmariebryan.com
Website: https://shawnmariebryan.com/
Instagram: Shawn Marie Bryan
Facebook: @shawnmarieisme
Twitter: @ShawnMarieBryan
Sandy Dugger
Author
Sandy Dugger can be found asking people to hold and reboot their computers by day. But at night she can often be found at her computer writing. Originally from Oregon, Sandy now lives in a small town outside Phoenix, Arizona with her partner Stacy and their three furry pets. At almost 30 years old, she returned to school and received a bachelor's degree in Computer Science. She was honorably discharged from the U.S. Navy under DADT. Even though she is now unable to re-enlist she still supports her military brothers and sisters. She enjoys spending quiet days at home with family and friends. Sandy loves to read, play games (all sorts), catch up on her DVR, and travel to new places.
JB Marsden
Author
J. B. “Joey” Marsden recently moved back to her family farm. Even while spending many years in more urban areas in New York, Michigan, and Kentucky, she retained her passion for rural life. She held a professorship in rural health systems research for over twenty years, publishing extensively, so as not to perish.
Joey has dreamed of being a published fiction author since she wrote her first short story at age ten. Her writing studio overlooks quiet, verdant fields in the Mississippi Valley of Central Illinois, where she lives with her wife, her most avid supporter. Joey loves writing, reading, photography, cards, golf, swimming, biking, and being outdoors at her farm.
Look for her second novel - The Travels of Charlie out July 2018
Lee Fitzsimmons
Publisher, Desert Palm Press
Think about it. It’s 2014 you’re getting ready to retire, your hobbies have run their course and the only thing you really like to do in your spare time is read, do a bit of beta reading, and editing. And the books you like aren’t always out there. What do you do? If you’re Lee Fitzsimmons you start a publishing house (of course) in order to further fill the pages of your life with women’s voices. You start small, a couple of authors. Then another and another and 8 years into the venture there are 32 authors, eighty-eight+ books published, and you are knee deep in romances, sci/fi, cowgirls, horror, space pirates, adventures and memoir.
Desert Palm Press is a wonderful adventure and will continue to publish women’s stories bringing to the page their vital voices which embrace and impact our community.
McGee Mathews
Author
McGee Mathews won the 2019 Lesfic Bard Awards for excellence in writing and storytelling in the category of New Author for her novel Moving Violations. Her second book Exceeding Expectations, part of the Ladies of Diamond Lake series, was also self-published before she signed with Sapphire Books.
She is a member of the Golden Crown Literary Society, Rainbow Romance Writers and, formerly, the Romance Writers of America.
McGee finds inspiration for her historical characters in her lifelong hobby of genealogy. She comes from a long line of potato farmers and Quakers. Four hundred years ago, her wife’s ancestors owned the fiefdom McGee’s family worked on in northern England. This annoys her to no end. She maintains that she is not a chihuahua and families, not bloodlines, are the most important. For her contemporary works, she is drawn to blue-collar gals with sass, often tapping into her experiences playing bass guitar in a rock band for twenty years.
An Army brat, McGee was predominantly raised in Garden City, Michigan. A Jill of all trades, master of none, McGee has a B.S. in biology from Western Michigan University and has worked in numerous, underpaid, overworked positions including automotive engineering, facilities maintenance, and teaching chemistry. She currently writes full time.
McGee and her wife of over 26 years raised three children on a farm in South Carolina. She has retired from chasing goats but still enjoys rural life. She counts the days until her wife can retire so they can begin their travels as RV nomads.
Virginia Black
Author
I write contemporary romance and speculative/science fiction. All my stories feature prominent lesbian characters and in the end, the girl ALWAYS gets the girl. I’ve got rules, people, and am determined to make sure more of our stories see the light.
Sandy Nee, CTZ
Zentangle Teacher
Sandy lives in Salinas, California with her fur babies, Rico and Millie. She has a Master’s degree in Counseling and is a Certified Zentangle teacher (CZT). Recently retired from the community college, 32 years with the admin side of the house and 10 years as an an adjunct instructor. Retirement has given her more opportunities to embrace the artist within. She is enthusiastic about sharing the creative art of Zentangle with others and the daily practice of it. She enjoys tending her vegetable garden and the daily spiritual practice of meditation.
The Zentangle method is an easy-to-learn, relaxing, and fun way to create beautiful images by drawing structured patterns. It increases focus and creativity, provides artistic satisfaction along with an increased sense of personal well-being.
Kayt Peck
Author
Kayt C. Peck lived the ranch life as a child and young adult and knows the smell, feel, hardships and gratifications of life on the range. The hard-work and determination needed to survive on a Texas farm and ranch helped her as she began a life-long career as a writer that has included working as a journalist, a public-affairs officer in the U.S. Naval Reserve, and as a grants expert writing applications raising over $30 million for worthy domestic and even international organizations.
Her essential courage aided her as a founding board member of OUTstanding Amarillo, the LGBTQ+ organization serving the Texas Panhandle and formed at a time when being openly gay involved a real and present danger.
She has published two other novels, one biography, and written a number of plays, including being a two time awardee in the Rocky Mountain Voices play competition. She has authored and published numerous articles, short-stories and poems. Today, she lives quietly in her cabin home in the mountains of northeastern New Mexico.