Meet Mike Roop

Mike grew up around Cleveland, Ohio, the youngest of 5 kids. In 1996 he met his wife-to-be, Dee online; they married and relocated to southern Missouri. Mike and Dee have 3 children (Samantha and twins—Pat and Perry) from her previous marriage, and now have 4 grandchildren. They have 2 children together, Aaron and Gavin. Mike and his family are active members of their local church.

Growing up, his parents encouraged and fostered creativity; he took to drawing and painting, singing and acting, reading and writing. Mike's imagination drew him into not only writing and creating characters in print by prose and visually by illustration, but expanded when he discovered Role-Playing Games. RPGs, a widely misunderstood hobby, managed to combine numerous elements of creativity and boundless imagination.

From 1993 to 1996, Mike was heavily involved in the Gaming Industry by way of involvement with his FLGS - Friendly Local Gaming Shop. He worked with a Veteran Gamer named Frank Koch who Mike still reveres as a mentor. They worked at, and organized, conventions, as well as ran Frank's store, Renegade Gaming Supply, which briefly co-opted space with a new Comic Book store, one of Mike's other loves. But, as all good things must come to an end, Mike's partnership with Frank sadly dissolved when Mike relocated over 800 miles away to southern Missouri.

In 2004 Mike met an online kindred spirit in the way of Brent Wisdom, a young pastor in California who also shared a love of RPGs. Brent had already created an RPG called Spiritual Warfare, a medieval fantasy game, which also had a Wild-West supplement for bringing the concept into the six-shooter era. Mike aided Brent with some editing and proofreading and then created a Modern Era supplement called Last Days. During 2005, Mike fell on some hard times - he lost his job and his internet connection - so Brent had to finish up and release the supplement on his own in 2006.

One of Mike's sisters back in Ohio introduced him to Shoutlife.com, a Christian social networking site. Almost immediately, Mike met Frank Creed and the two hit it off. Mike signed up to develop a Role Playing Game based on Frank's mythos cultivated in Flashpoint: Book One of The Underground.

Mike recently finished creating the Flashpoint RPG, based on Frank Creed's novel of the same name. He aspires to continue creating content for the game in the way of supplements based on the expected sequels, as well as create games for other Lost-Genre books as they become available. He also desires to complete a series of children's adventure books that he has been developing for his kids and grandkids.

Meet Stephen Rice

Stephen Rice has always enjoyed telling humorous and dramatic stories.

He has a B.A. (double major) in Linguistics and in Foreign Languages, and an M.A. in English (Professional Writing and Editing), both from the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. His writing frequently involves someone with an interest in languages, and he has been known to invent languages for stories.

He writes mostly science fiction, with an emphasis on scientific and theological accuracy. (His motto is "Hard science, hard theology, easy reading.") He won't write a story he can't justify theologically.

His first novella was Galatea, a Tale of the Atonement, but the first story he started on was A World Apart, intended to be the first book of a YA sci-fi series. He tends more toward series at the moment, such as "Changelings," "The League of Superheroes," and "The False Dawn."

His current projects include "The League of Superheroes" origin series (he is now working on the fifth and final origin book, Genie Reborn) and several short stories.

Meet Susan Kirkland

Susan Kirkland is a novelist and award-winning journalist whose feature stories have been carried by newspapers nationwide. Born to parents who were avid readers and a father who served in the Air Force, she decided at age five become both a soldier and a writer. She enlisted in the Georgia Army National Guard at age 19 while attending North Georgia College and State University, the senior military college of Georgia. In her 10-year military career, she has served as a photojounalist as well as a broadcast journalist, covering the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta and travelling to Italy to serve.

Her college career started out as a curious endeavor after reading Pat Conroy’s “The Lords of Discipline.” What she found it the halls of NGCSU was a fascinating culture of youthful idealism mixed with the reality of war during the post-Desert Storm period. She wanted to capture the spirit and strength she discovered in that unique and peculiar world of military colleges.

After graduating with a degree in English, she pursued a career in journalism, eventually finding herself at the Rome News-Tribune in Rome, Georgia. She rededicated her life to Christ in 1997 and in 2005 felt the Lord direct her to use her talents for Him.

Susan currently works for the Calhoun Times in Gordon County as the government writer. When she is not writing, she spends time with her husband, George, of 11 years and their five children. Her current novel, Higher Honor, is due for release summer 2008.

Meet Sue Dent

Sue Dent hails from Mississippi. She graduated from Mississippi College in 1983. Since graduating she’s sold computers, taught computer classes and has worked as a Technical Specialist IV for the Mississippi Department of Natural Resources.

Her first book Never Ceese was published in May of 2006. It has since been short-listed for a Bram Stoker Award in the category of Superior Achievement in a First Novel. Never Ceese was also voted book club choice for the month of April 2007 at the ACFW (American Christian Writers Association) and is up for Book of the Year.

This past March Sue was an invited guest of Nicholas Grabowsky to the World Horror Convention in Toronto Canada. Never Ceese will also be at Comic-Con 2007 in San Diego to be represented by Head Press Publishing.

Of her writing, which continues to successfully cross both Secular and Christian boundaries, Sue says, “Well, somebody had to do it. Might as well be me.”

Her much anticipated sequel Forever Richard is due out October 31st published by The Writers’ Café Press. As always, watch http://www.foreverrichard.com/ for updates.

Meet Frank Creed

Frank Creed is TWCP's most recently published author. Born and raised in the western suburbs of Chicago, Frank and his sisters were raised by a mother who instilled a love of reading and writing. He won his first award during highschool when his teacher entered him in the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Literary Contest: first place among hundreds of entries from three states. His award-winning debut novel, Flashpoint: Book One of the Underground was released October 2007.

Although Frank's ministry is his fiction, he didn't start out that way. Ten years ago he began his online ministry in an attempt to help his sister who had joined a grotto of Anton LaVey's Church of Satan. From there he formed his own discussion board, debated satanists and atheists, and offered help to those in need of spiritual direction. (By the way, his sister accepted Christ about a year ago--in answer to Frank's efforts and prayers.

Frank has had several short stories and one novella published in anthologies and online. Three of his short stories are found in Light at the Edge of Darkness, an anthology of Biblical Speculative Fiction. His award-winning debut novel, Flashpoint: Book One of the Underground was released October 2007.