Austin Bay writes both novels and non-fiction. Bay's A Quick and Dirty Guide to War: Fourth Edition (an assessment of current and potential armed conflicts, co-authored with James Dunnigan) will be published in October 2008 by Paladin Press. His third novel, The Wrong Side of Brightness, was published by Putnam/Jove in 2003. Austin is currently working on his fourth novel. Bay writes a national security column for Creators Syndicate. His commentaries run on National Public Radio's Morning Edition. He has appeared as a guest analyst on CNN, C-SPAN, Fox News, and ABC News Nightline. Bay, who has had two commercial wargames published, served for four years as a consultant in wargaming at the Pentagon. He holds the rank of Colonel (Armor) in the U.S. Army Reserve. In 1999 Bay served as deputy commander of a Hurricane Mitch recovery operation in Guatemala. Bay is now retired from the US Army Reserve, but was recalled to active duty and served in Iraq in 2004. Bay has a B.A. from Rice University and a Ph.D. in English and Comparative Literature from Columbia University. He is a graduate of the U.S. Army War College. He currently teaches for The University of Texas' Plan II Undergraduate Honors Program. On the web his work appears at austinbay.net, creators.com, http://austinbay.thearenausa.com, pajamasmedia.com, and strategypage.com .

Bridget Magnus is a Realtor in Las Vegas. She developed a love for research in grad school, and brings her experience as a research analyst both to her career and to her writing. Bridget has been active in online communities since 1996, and has been blogging since 2003. She blogs on a variety of topics, including politics, real estate, politics, the economy, health/fitness, and random things she finds amusing. You can find her writing at www.TheModerateVoice.com, www.ShortWoman.com, and www.BridgetMagnus.com. Her other interests include reading, cooking, video-gaming, and Japanese language/culture.

Rob Neppell is founder and president of Kithbridge, Inc. (see booth 310) and is best known online by the pseudonym "N.Z. Bear". In 2002, Rob created the first and still-definitive blog tracking system, The TTLB Blogosphere Ecosystem, and over the past six years has earned a reputation as one of the key innovators in the new world of weblogs and citizens' media. For his efforts online, Rob was awarded the first-ever “Blogger of the Year” award in March 2007 at the Conservative Political Action Conference, and is a member of The Heritage Foundation's New Media Advisory Board. Rob is co-founder with Instapundit's Glenn Reynolds of Porkbusters, and spearheaded the "Secret Hold" effort which resulted in the passage of the historic Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act. In September 2007, in recognition of his work as founder of The Victory Caucus, Rob was honored to be invited to the White House with a small group of bloggers to spend an hour with President Bush discussing the war in Iraq and the role of online media in the educating the public about the conflict.

Roger L. Simon has been blogging since 2003 and is the co-founder and CEO of Pajamas Media. He is the author of 10 novels, including the eight prize-winning Moses Wine detective novels. He is also a screenwriter who received an Academy Award nomination for his adaptation of Isaac Singer's "Enemies: A Love Story" in 1989. He taught screenwriting at the American Film Institute and Sundance Institute and served on the board of the Writers Guild of America. He is a former president of the West Coast branch of PEN and a former vice president of the International Association of Crime Writers. His first non-fiction book – "Blacklisting Myself: A Hollywood Apostate In An Age of Terror" -- will be published in January.