George R. R. Martin is the international best selling author of the Game of Thrones. His first short story appeared in print in 1970; in 1973 his story "With Morning Comes Mistfall"was nominated for the both the Hugo and Nebula awards. In 1977 his first novel, Dying of the Light, was published by Simon & Schuster and was nominated for the both the Hugo Award and the British Fantasy Award. His 1983 novel Fevre Dream has been called one of the greatest vampire novels of all time and was nominated for a Stoker award. A Game of Thrones (first in his A Song of Ice and Fire series) was published in 1997 and reached #1 on the New York Times best seller list. The Daenerys Targaryen chapters won the Hugo Award for Best Novella. In 2011 A Game of Thrones was adapted into an HBO series, to worldwide acclaim. He currently lives in Sante Fe, New Mexico. Roger Zelazny was a science fiction and fantasy writer best known for his ten book series the Chronicles of Amber. He was a six time Hugo Award winner and a three time Nebula Award Winner. He published more than 50 novels in his lifetime. His first novel This Immortal, won the Hugo for best novel, a shorter version of the book entitled "...And Call Me Conrad" had already won the Hugo Award for best novella. Lord of Light, his second novel, won the Hugo award and was nominated for the Nebula award. In 1970 Nine Princes in Amber, the first of his ten book Amber series, was published. This series would garner him an international following. He died in 1995 at the age of 58. Steven Brust was born late in the Cenozoic Era at a place a mere 238,900 miles from the lonely, harsh desolation of the moon. From the moment of his birth, he launched a study of language, facial recognition, and tool using, while simultaneously beginning an intense regime of physical fitness. He fell into a life of crime under the influence of Tuli, the Evil Dog of Evilness, a life which continued for many years. At one point, aided by Captain Blondbeard the Space Pirate Kitty, he nearly succeeded in either taking over the world or destroying the universe, the record is unclear. The plot, which featured a machine (built by a mysterious parrot known only as "Doc") that could predict the future, failed when the machine turned out to be only able to predict the plot of action movies. This led Brust to abandon his criminal activities and begin writing science fiction and fantasy novels. Only time will tell how much lower he'll sink.