About The Authors

Charlotte McGary and Sharon Faiola-Petersen have coauthored a variety of science fiction and fantasy works for television and print. In addition to "The Dream Crystals of Gandara" (the first book in the Gandaran Trilogy), the team has written the feature-length sci-fi screenplay "Reaping Europa" and two spec scripts for Star Trek Voyager, which secured six pitching sessions at Paramount Studios by invitation of Star Trek producers. Their soon-to-be-published book for middle-grade children, "The Real-life Adventures of Nellie Cook," is the first in a planned series of tales blending science fantasy with 19th-century history and geography. The book is based on their teleplay that placed among the winners of a national "animated series" contest sponsored by Klasky-Csupo Productions (creators of Rugrats and The Wild Thornberrys).

CHARLOTTE is a technical writer and programmer for a major technology company. Her background is in math, physics, and computer science. She also serves as an adjunct instructor at a community college, for which she created a series of primers on HTML and SQL. Previously, she worked for ten years as a programmer contracted to NASA, dividing her time between NASA’s Langley and Ames Research Centers.

Charlotte is often described by her friends as a Nerd. She freely admits to that classification as well as others, such as Anime freak, sci-fi fanatic, and [former] World of Warcraft addict. Her interests also include programming teaching tools and apps for fun (yep, definitely a Nerd), writing (obviously), and the fate of Shrödinger's cat (okay, make that serious Nerd!).

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SHARON is a marketing copywriter who holds degrees in public relations and journalism. She has worked as a marketing communications professional and administrator for many respected private corporations and educational institutions, including Stanford University, the University of Washington, and Bastyr University. Her writing is greatly influenced by her international travels and by a fascination with ancient cultures, metaphysics, and the body-mind-spirit connection.

When not writing, Sharon is often reading books on the nexus of science and spirituality, watching news and opinion shows (and yelling at the TV), and consuming anything about alternative Earth histories, unexplained phenomena, ancient aliens, Big Foot, Loch Ness Monster, and other strange and mysterious beasts (which could help explain her initial attraction to far too many past boyfriends).