Meet the Liars
Keith was born in a tiny fishing village in Cuba, where he was kidnapped by a roving pack of gypsy librarians and smuggled to New York City to be taught in their vile and depraved ways. A career as a wordsmith was his only alternative to decades of expensive therapy.
Over the past two decades, Keith has been an author, editor, essayist, anthologist, musician, critic, TV personality, podcaster, curator, convention organizer, karateka, voiceover actor, and probably some other things, too, he just can’t remember due to the lack of sleep. He has written 40+ novels, as well as dozens of shorter prose works and comic books. His fiction is in a wide variety of media universes ranging from television (Star Trek, Farscape, Supernatural, Buffy the Vampire Slayer) to games (Dungeons & Dragons, World of Warcraft, StarCraft, Command and Conquer) to comic books (Spider-Man, the X-Men, the Hulk, the Silver Surfer) to movies (Cars, Serenity, Resident Evil, Darkness Falls). Most of the fiction he keeps the copyright on has been in the universe of his 2004 novel Dragon Precinct, including five short stories, and a sequel novel, Unicorn Precinct, to be published by Dark Quest Books in 2011.
Currently, Keith is the scripter and co-plotter (with series creator Rockne S. O’Bannon) of the monthly Farscape comic book from BOOM! Studios, which is the official continuation of the TV series. Other 2011 publications include the kids’ graphic novel Cars: Rust Bucket Rally, the Dungeons & Dragons novel Dark Sun: Under a Crimson Sun, and the short story “Letter from Guadalajara” in the More Tales of Zorro anthology.
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Gregory FrostGregory may look serious, but he drives a green Mini-Cooper that he intended to name “Moocher”…
Frost is a writer of best-selling fantasy, science fiction, and thrillers. His latest work is the YA-crossover duology Shadowbridge and Lord Tophet, voted one of the best fantasy novels of the year by the American Library Association; the duology was a finalist for Best Novel for the James Tiptree Jr. Award in 2009. It received starred reviews from Booklist and Publishers Weekly. His previous novel was the historical thriller, Fitcher’s Brides, a finalist for both the World Fantasy and International Horror Guild Awards for Best Novel.
He has published over fifty short stories as well. Publishers Weekly called his Golden Gryphon short story collection, Attack of the Jazz Giants and Other Stories, “one of the best of the year.” Frost has been a finalist for every major award in the fantasy genres.
Currently, his short fiction appears in Full Moon City, an anthology of werewolf tales (Simon & Schuster); in the YA anthology The Beastly Bride edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling (Viking), and in the Lovecraftian anthology Chtulhu Reigns (DAW Books). He also serves as fiction workshop director for Swarthmore College in Swarthmore, PA.
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Merry JonesMerry has been known to break out in song in mid book signing, with the rest of the Liars providing the back-up vocals…
Merry is the author of the Zoe Hayes mystery series, including THE RIVER KILLINGS, THE NANNY MURDERS, THE DEADLY NEIGHBORS, and THE BORROWED AND BLUE MURDERS. Her shadowy fiction is set in Center City, Philadelphia, and delves into the depths of a professional woman’s psyche as she confronts murders, copes with relationships and motherhood, and conquers the menacing forces around her and in her own mind.
Jones is a versatile writer; her work includes light humor (including the best-selling I LOVE HIM, BUT… and PLEASE DON’T KISS ME AT THE BUS STOP) and serious non-fiction (including BIRTHMOTHERS: WOMEN WHO HAVE RELINQUISHED BABIES FOR ADOPTION TELL THEIR STORIES). She’s been a contributor to GLAMOUR, and her work has appeared in THE LADIES’ HOME JOURNAL and many other magazines. Her books have been published in Spanish, Chinese, Hebrew, French, German, Norwegian, Turkish and Dutch.
A member of The Authors’ Guild and Mystery Writers of America, Jones teaches writing at Temple University. Married, the mother of two, Jones is an avid competitive rower, sculling out of Vesper Boat Club in Philadelphia and a member of the Masters Rowing Association.
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Solomon JonesSolomon is one of our newest Liars. Since he’s a newspaper columnist, we always edit what we say around him…
Solomon is the author of the critically acclaimed novels C.R.E.A.M., Ride Or Die, The Bridge, Pipe Dream, and Payback, as well as the short story collection, Keeping Up With The Jones: marriage, family and life … unplugged. Jones also writes the Weekend Warrior column for the Philadelphia Daily News. Jones has been published in Newsday, the Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia magazine, the Philadelphia Weekly, and the Philadelphia Tribune. An adjunct professor at Temple University’s College of Liberal Arts, Jones lives in Philadelphia with his family.
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Don likes to make a grand solo entrance to every Liar event we’ve ever had. Don’t believe us? Come to our next event and watch…
Don Lafferty is a writer, lecturer and Web 2.0 marketing consultant. He’s written corporate communication, marketing and advertising copy, and feature articles for several national magazines. On his blog, “Don Lafferty’s Practical Social Media Strategies and Tactics for Connecting with Your Public,” Don is a regular contributor to the global conversation revolving around marketing through online social networks, defining effective strategies and tactics for authors and publishers to connect with their readers like never before.
He’s the social media director of the literary magazine, Wild River Review, and serves on the board of directors of the Philadelphia Writers’ Conference.
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Marie is our shortest Liar, something we remind her of each time we line up for group photos…
Marie is author of the young adult novels Over My Head and What I Meant… (Random House Books), and a new paranormal YA novel Drawn. One of her essays appears in Call Me Okaasan: Adventures in Multicultural Mothering, and she has a short story in the anthology Liar Liar (Mendacity Press).
Marie has worn many hats, including that of editor, book promotions manager and award-winning public relations writer, and has become a book marketing maven of sorts by coaching new authors, writing for national publications about her innovative techniques and offering “Marketing Outside of the Box” seminars for authors. Marie has also published more than 100 articles, including features in national magazines such as Garden Design, Your Home and Sports International. Some of her most recent pieces include “Priceless Promotion” in the Romance Writer’s of America’s national RWR magazine, “Plotting a Novel Group” in Writer’s Digest, and a feature about the Liars Club titled “Joining Forces” in the January 2011 issue of Writer’s Digest.
She is also an Associate Literary Agent for the Jennifer DeChiara Literary Agency, and her submission guidelines can be found by clicking here.
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Jonathan MaberryJonathan seems normal enough, but brings all these weird zombie dolls and candied eyeballs to events, so…
Jonathan is a New York Times best-selling and multiple Bram Stoker Award-winning author, magazine feature writer, playwright, content creator and writing teacher/lecturer. Novels: GHOST ROAD BLUESDEAD MAN’S SONG, BAD MOON RISING, PATIENT ZERO (Pinnacle books; Bram Stoker Award), (St Martins Press; in development for TV); THE WOLFMAN (NY Times bestseller from Tor,), THE DRAGON FACTORY (St Martins Griffin), THE KING OF PLAGUES, ROT & RUIN (Simon & Schuster) and DUST & DECAY, THE OTHERS, and DEAD OF NIGHT. His nonfiction books include: VAMPIRE UNIVERSE (Citadel Press), THE CRYPTOPEDIA (Citadel, winner of the Bram Stoker Award for Nonfiction); ZOMBIE CSU: The Forensics of the Living Dead (Winner of the Hinzman and Black Quill Awards and nominated for a Stoker Award), THEY BITE!, and WANTED UNDEAD OR ALIVE. Marvel Comics: BLACK PANTHER, WOLVERINE, DEADPOOL, X-MEN, FANTASTIC FOUR, the NY Times bestselling MARVEL ZOMBIES RETURN, DOOMWAR, and MARVEL UNIVERSE vs PUNISHER. He has written over 1200 features articles, plays, video scripts, greeting cards, poetry, and over twenty nonfiction books on topics ranging from martial arts to the paranormal. He teaches Experimental Writing for Teens in Doylestown, runs the celebrated Writers Coffeehouse monthly networking event, and is the co-founder of the Liars Club.
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He looks so innocent …
Jon’s newest book, Drift, is an “eco-thriller” coming out from Tor/Forge in 2013. His short fiction has appeared in anthologies including Liar, Liar and The Stories in Between, as well as the upcoming Zombies Versus Robots anthology from IDW. Writing as D. H. Dublin, he is the author of a series of gritty and humorous forensic crime thrillers that includes Freezer Burn, Body Trace and Blood Poison, from Penguin Books. He is a member of the Mystery Writers Association and the International Thriller Writers, and a charter member of the Liars Club. When not writing under his own name or as D. H. Dublin, McGoran is communications director at Weavers Way Co-op in Philadelphia and editor of the monthly newspaper, The Shuttle.
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Edward PettitEdward was born with a beard and a sweater vest. OF COURSE he had to become a scholar…
Edward Pettit is the Philly Poe Guy. He’s also a freelance writer, book reviewer, film presenter, professor and literary provocateur. He teaches writing at La Salle University in Philadelphia and is a member of the National Book Critics Circle, and the Mystery Writers of America.
Pettit’s book reviews have appeared in the Las Vegas Weekly, Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia City Paper, Greensboro News & Record, Chicago Tribune, Columbia SC’s The State and The Record from Hackensack. He has also written features for the Phila City Paper on George Lippard and on Edgar Allan Poe, the latter causing an uproar he affectionately calls the Poe Wars.
He resides in Jenkintown, Pennsylvania and can usually be found on the third floor of his home amidst the tobacco fog of his pipe, head buried deep in the pages of Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque.
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Kelly SimmonsKelly is the nut who came up with the idea of putting our Liars Club logo on toilet paper. A real asset to our group…
Kelly is the author of Standing Still (Simon & Schuster) and The Bird House, coming in February, 2011. One of the most award-winning advertising writers on the East Coast, Simmons served as Chief Creative Officer of Tierney Communications and Executive Creative Director of Earle Palmer Brown before forming her own company, bubble advertising.
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Never sit too close to Keith at an event. The way he swings his hands around when he talks will put an eye out. No, seriously…
Keith Strunk is an actor, teacher, author, and a co-founder and Managing Director of River Union Stage a professional Equity theater based in Frenchtown, NJ. He attended Rutgers University’s Mason Gross School of the Arts Professional Training Program in Acting where he earned his MFA. Keith taught college, worked in film and video production in NYC, and works as an actor in commercials, independent film, and stage. An award winning scriptwriter, Keith has written many scripts over the course of his career including a stage adaptation of A CHRISTMAS CAROL. He is the author of PRALLSVILLE MILLS AND STOCKTON from Arcadia Publishing.
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Over the past fifteen years, Stephen has penned and sold over forty scripts and pitches to major Hollywood studios (including New Line Cinema, Warner Brothers, Dimension, Miramax, Universal, Sony, United Artists, Lionsgate, Rogue, Mandate, Relativity and Paramount), and has written for a variety of acclaimed directors and producers, including Mike Nichols (THE GRADUATE), Taylor Hackford (RAY), Quentin Tarantino (PULP FICTION), Philip Noyce (DEAD CALM), and Michael Bay (TRANSFORMERS).
Stephen’s first film, THE GRUDGE, was produced by legendary director Sam Raimi. Costing under $10M, it grossed almost $200 million worldwide in its theatrical release. He wrote the sequel the following year, and together the theatrical GRUDGE films have generated an estimated half-billion dollars of revenue.
Stephen wrote and co-produced RED (starring Brian Cox) which premiered at the 2008 Sundance Film festival, and was distributed theatrically by Magnolia Pictures. In 2010 he returned to Sundance to premiere HIGH SCHOOL (starring Michael Chiklis and Adrian Brody), a comedy he co-wrote and produced with director John Stalberg, Jr that will be released (appropriately) on April 20th, 2012.
Two other upcoming 2012 releases are THE POSSESSION (August 31st), which Stephen wrote and co-produced with Sam Raimi, and LEATHERFACE 3D (October 5th), the first chapter in a new trilogy that continues the original TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE story.
Most recently Stephen has written INFANTRY for director McG (TERMINATOR: SALVATION) and star Taylor Lautner (the TWILIGHT series), and he is currently adapting a superhero comic series for director Brett Ratner (X-MEN 3), a sci-fi novel for director Chris Columbus (HARRY POTTER 1&2, GREMLINS, GOONIES) and a television series for director Gore Verbinski (PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN 1-3).
Dennis says his crime plots are fictional. But, honestly, have you seen his photo?
Dennis Tafoya lives in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and is the author of two novels, Dope Thief and The Wolves of Fairmount Park, as well as numerous short stories, appearing in collections such as Philadelphia Noir from Akashic Books. The Chicago Tribune called Dope Thief “A classic story . . . First-time novelist Dennis Tafoya has a nice sense of how and where his characters live, revealing in stark detail the hardscrabble life of the petty thief.” The Wolves of Fairmount Park received a starred review from Publishers Weekly, which said, “classic noir readers…will hope Tafoya is their guide through the mean streets for years to come.” He is currently at work on his third novel.
Chuck Wendig is equal parts novelist, screenwriter, and game designer. (Or, should you prefer the more technical title: “Bearded Pennsylvanian Penmonkey.”)
He is the author of the following novels: Blackbirds, Mockingbird, Double Dead, Dinocalypse Now, and the upcoming Heartland Trilogy, The Blue Blazes, Bait Dog, and The Cormorant. He also wrote the novellas Bad Blood and Shotgun Gravy, and the short story collection, Irregular Creatures.
With Lance Writer he is co-writer of the short film Pandemic, the film HiM (Hope is Missing), and the Emmy-nominated digital narrative, Collapsus.
He has written over two million words for the pen-and-paper game industry, and was the developer behind popular horror RPG, Hunter: The Vigil.
You can find him at his website, terribleminds, doling out dubious writing advice to any who wander within spitting distance.
He is likely drunk and untrustworthy, and may be the Wendigo of Native American legend.
He lives in Bucks County with wife, taco terrier, and tiny human.
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