A World Lit Only By Fire

About the Authors
Detailed Author Credits

Say CHEEEESE, Myranda! Myranda Kalis was not, contrary to popular opinion, actually born in Transylvania... she just pretends she was for the amusement value. The eldest child of a Hungarian- American father and a Scottish-American mother, she considers her birth order, her personality type (INTP), and the fact that she combines the two most obnoxiously contentious ethnic groups on the planet in her chromosomes total justification for all her later personality quirks. She is crabby (Cancer, actually, birth date July 6, 1974), demanding (Nature: Perfectionist), and given to fits of marathon writing, Mountain Dew and processed meat snack consumption, and periods where she will voluntarily go sixty-plus hours without sleep in order to finish a story to her satisfaction. Needless to say, this aggravates her much more normal husband to no end.
She is currently trapped in the Hell of South-Eastern Pennsylvania Transportation Company Office Peonship (Totally Indispensable and Irreplaceable Billing Officer Division) and discovered, after White Wolf actually did give her a job, that freelance writing doesn't pay enough for her to quit her day job, no matter how many projects she has going at once. Her first published works appeared in Dark Ages: Vampire (aka VtDARevised) and in the artbook that accompanied the limited edition of said book, Penance by Firelight. Recently published: Dark Ages: Inquisitor (which she contributed to in conjunction with her colleagues Sarah Roark and Janet Trautvetter) and the story All Good Things for the anthology Lucifer's Shadow (for which she holds an official Writers Lit Only By Fire record, having overwritten her word count by approximately 250%) and Right of Princes. More recent releases include Road of Sin, an essay in the Vampire Players Guide, the Dark Ages: Inquisitor Companion, and her novel Dark Ages: Brujah, all for Dark Ages line. Her second novel, Dark Ages: Tzimisce will be released in August 2004.
However, Myranda's most recent creative effort (a nine-month project undertaken in partnership with her husband Tony), has been Callan Anthony Sarro, who came into the world squalling at the top of his lungs on May 3, 2004. She anticipates this project will keep her busy for years to come, but still plans to work on upcoming Vampire: the Requiem and Exalted fiction projects anyway.
If you wish to learn more of her nefarious goals (or just want to drop her a line) you may contact her at: rhynnmackenna@juno.com or nagaina@yahoo.com

Sarah Roark has recently made the great leap of faith from aspiring to full-time professional musician -- that is, if teaching little kids how to hold a bow counts, which it had better. She has been a violinist since the age of six, which proves that she is masochistic, delusional, and above all, God Damned Stubborn (+/- 75). Fortunately, there are people out there who willingly indulge her in her illness, such as the Tacoma Symphony, the Bellevue Philharmonic, and the Makedonians, a Tacoma-area Balkan band. She has begun experimenting with the electric violin as well; her entry into the world of rock 'n' roll has already provided her with a host of exciting new artistic challenges, such as bobbing rhythmically in five-inch platform heels.

Sarah also leads a secret double life as a roleplayer and White Wolf freelancer. (Okay, make that a triple life. Whatever.) She has even gone so far as to co-author a number of White Wolf supplements, Time of Thin Blood for VAMPIRE: The Masquerade and The Ashen Thief for VAMPIRE: Dark Ages, and the opening fiction for The Veil of Night. More recently, she has contributed to Archons and Templars, The Mummy Players Guide, Dark Ages: Inquisitor, Dark Ages: Vampire (Tremere clan splat) and its limited edition artbook/fiction anthology Penance by Firelight, a short story, That Which Shelters Them for the Demon anthology Lucifer's Shadow, Caine's Chosen: The Black Hand, Lair of the Hidden, and Players Guide to the Low Clans. After her first ever novel Dark Ages: Ravnos, was well-received, she also took up the challenge of making Jervais bani Tremere into a sympathetic (if not always admirable) character in her second novel, Dark Ages: Tremere, now at finer bookstores everywhere.
Being a true masochist, she also duly signed a non-diclosure agreement in her own blood, and joined Myranda and Janet in the top-secret Vampire: the Requiem Writers Training camp. Stay tuned!

She resolutely claims to have been in Iowa at the time the Ravnos Antediluvian was killed, but no one there seems to have seen her.

You can reach Sarah, her husband Brett, or her two bratty cats at: dr.caligari@verizon.net

Janet Trautvetter (a.k.a. D.D.M. - Dread Dark Master) stands on her privilege as an Elder to not reveal her exact age, but will confess (under torture) to owning a copy of the original boxed edition Dungeons & Dragons booklets with the truly horrendous illustrations, and remembering the days when computer services meant time-sharing on mainframes and 1200 baud modems were considered state of the art. She has a degree in Art and Art Education, but had the good sense to stay out of both grad school, and the public school system. She has therefore been an administrative assistant, security guard and alarm systems administrator, free-lance graphic artist, part-time Renfaire performer, legal secretary, technical writer, and professional game designer, and has also written, directed and helped produce children's television shows for a local cable station. She has been a member of the Society for Creative Anachronism, performed in local medieval/renaissance music consorts, and has a keen and longstanding interest in late medieval and Renaissance history, particularly (as if one couldn't tell) Italy.
Janet can rightfully claim Methuselah status in RPG circles, as her first works in that genre were published before some current players were born. In the early 1980s, she was part of Gamelords, Ltd. and worked on the criticially-acclaimed (but regretfully out of print) fantasy supplements such as the Thieves Guild series (including the infamous Orc Messiah story otherwise known as The Radisha Must Die!), Haven: The Free City, Haven: Secrets of the Labyrinth, and Lair of the Freebooters. She has returned to the RPG publishing world masquerating as a White Wolf freelancer; her first effort (along with co-authors Sarah Roark and Ari Marmell) was Archons & Templars. She has also worked on Dark Ages: Inquisitor, Caine's Chosen: The Black Hand, Lair of the Hidden, Players Guide to the Low Clans, an essay in the Vampire Players Guide, and the Dark Ages: Inquisitor Companion. Her first novel, Dark Ages: Toreador, was published in December 2003, and she also has a short story, "Déjà Vu," coming out as part of the Vampire Clan Novel Saga, Volume 4: End Games. Currently she is undergoing top-secret indoctrination and training in White Wolf's new World of Darkness setting, and plans to contribute to Vampire: The Requiem as soon as she is released...
In order to learn how to produce an even more stunning website the next time, Janet is currently employed doing HTML editing and other client services for Potomac Digitek, a small webdesign firm. When not otherwise gainfully employed, she writes fiction in various universes, designs websites and enjoys torturing... er, entertaining her cohorts in A World Lit Only By Fire and Baltimore by Night. Janet lives in the Washington, DC area, but emphatically denies ever having dated Marcus Vitel.

The DDM (and a host of alternate personalities) may be reached at jltraut@erols.com.

Sarah, Janet and Myranda - together at last!

	About the Authors Detailed Author Credits
	Myranda Kalis was not, contrary to popular opinion, actually born in Transylvania... she just pretends she was for the amusement value. The eldest child of a Hungarian- American father and a Scottish-American mother, she considers her birth order, her personality type (INTP), and the fact that she combines the two most obnoxiously contentious ethnic groups on the planet in her chromosomes total justification for all her later personality quirks. She is crabby (Cancer, actually, birth date July 6, 1974), demanding (Nature: Perfectionist), and given to fits of marathon writing, Mountain Dew and processed meat snack consumption, and periods where she will voluntarily go sixty-plus hours without sleep in order to finish a story to her satisfaction. Needless to say, this aggravates her much more normal husband to no end. She is currently trapped in the Hell of South-Eastern Pennsylvania Transportation Company Office Peonship (Totally Indispensable and Irreplaceable Billing Officer Division) and discovered, after White Wolf actually did give her a job, that freelance writing doesn't pay enough for her to quit her day job, no matter how many projects she has going at once. Her first published works appeared in Dark Ages: Vampire (aka VtDARevised) and in the artbook that accompanied the limited edition of said book, Penance by Firelight. Recently published: Dark Ages: Inquisitor (which she contributed to in conjunction with her colleagues Sarah Roark and Janet Trautvetter) and the story All Good Things for the anthology Lucifer's Shadow (for which she holds an official Writers Lit Only By Fire record, having overwritten her word count by approximately 250%) and Right of Princes. More recent releases include Road of Sin, an essay in the Vampire Players Guide, the Dark Ages: Inquisitor Companion, and her novel Dark Ages: Brujah, all for Dark Ages line. Her second novel, Dark Ages: Tzimisce will be released in August 2004. However, Myranda's most recent creative effort (a nine-month project undertaken in partnership with her husband Tony), has been Callan Anthony Sarro, who came into the world squalling at the top of his lungs on May 3, 2004. She anticipates this project will keep her busy for years to come, but still plans to work on upcoming Vampire: the Requiem and Exalted fiction projects anyway. If you wish to learn more of her nefarious goals (or just want to drop her a line) you may contact her at: rhynnmackenna@juno.com or nagaina@yahoo.com
	Sarah Roark has recently made the great leap of faith from aspiring to full-time professional musician -- that is, if teaching little kids how to hold a bow counts, which it had better. She has been a violinist since the age of six, which proves that she is masochistic, delusional, and above all, God Damned Stubborn (+/- 75). Fortunately, there are people out there who willingly indulge her in her illness, such as the Tacoma Symphony, the Bellevue Philharmonic, and the Makedonians, a Tacoma-area Balkan band. She has begun experimenting with the electric violin as well; her entry into the world of rock 'n' roll has already provided her with a host of exciting new artistic challenges, such as bobbing rhythmically in five-inch platform heels. Sarah also leads a secret double life as a roleplayer and White Wolf freelancer. (Okay, make that a triple life. Whatever.) She has even gone so far as to co-author a number of White Wolf supplements, Time of Thin Blood for VAMPIRE: The Masquerade and The Ashen Thief for VAMPIRE: Dark Ages, and the opening fiction for The Veil of Night. More recently, she has contributed to Archons and Templars, The Mummy Players Guide, Dark Ages: Inquisitor, Dark Ages: Vampire (Tremere clan splat) and its limited edition artbook/fiction anthology Penance by Firelight, a short story, That Which Shelters Them for the Demon anthology Lucifer's Shadow, Caine's Chosen: The Black Hand, Lair of the Hidden, and Players Guide to the Low Clans. After her first ever novel Dark Ages: Ravnos, was well-received, she also took up the challenge of making Jervais bani Tremere into a sympathetic (if not always admirable) character in her second novel, Dark Ages: Tremere, now at finer bookstores everywhere. *Being a true masochist, she also duly signed a non-diclosure agreement in her own blood, and joined Myranda and Janet in the top-secret Vampire: the Requiem* Writers Training camp. Stay tuned! She resolutely claims to have been in Iowa at the time the Ravnos Antediluvian was killed, but no one there seems to have seen her. You can reach Sarah, her husband Brett, or her two bratty cats at: dr.caligari@verizon.net**
	*Janet Trautvetter* (a.k.a. D.D.M. - Dread Dark Master) stands on her privilege as an Elder to not reveal her exact age, but will confess (under torture) to owning a copy of the original boxed edition Dungeons & Dragons booklets with the truly horrendous illustrations, and remembering the days when computer services meant time-sharing on mainframes and 1200 baud modems were considered state of the art. She has a degree in Art and Art Education, but had the good sense to stay out of both grad school, and the public school system. She has therefore been an administrative assistant, security guard and alarm systems administrator, free-lance graphic artist, part-time Renfaire performer, legal secretary, technical writer, and professional game designer, and has also written, directed and helped produce children's television shows for a local cable station. She has been a member of the Society for Creative Anachronism, performed in local medieval/renaissance music consorts, and has a keen and longstanding interest in late medieval and Renaissance history, particularly (as if one couldn't tell) Italy. Janet can rightfully claim Methuselah status in RPG circles, as her first works in that genre were published before some current players were born. In the early 1980s, she was part of Gamelords, Ltd. and worked on the criticially-acclaimed (but regretfully out of print) fantasy supplements such as the Thieves Guild series (including the infamous Orc Messiah story otherwise known as The Radisha Must Die!), Haven: The Free City, Haven: Secrets of the Labyrinth, and Lair of the Freebooters. She has returned to the RPG publishing world masquerating as a White Wolf freelancer; her first effort (along with co-authors Sarah Roark and Ari Marmell) was Archons & Templars. She has also worked on Dark Ages: Inquisitor, Caine's Chosen: The Black Hand, Lair of the Hidden, Players Guide to the Low Clans, an essay in the Vampire Players Guide, and the Dark Ages: Inquisitor Companion. Her first novel, Dark Ages: Toreador, was published in December 2003, and she also has a short story, "Déjà Vu," coming out as part of the Vampire Clan Novel Saga, Volume 4: End Games. Currently she is undergoing top-secret indoctrination and training in White Wolf's new World of Darkness setting, and plans to contribute to Vampire: The Requiem as soon as she is released... In order to learn how to produce an even more stunning website the next time, Janet is currently employed doing HTML editing and other client services for Potomac Digitek, a small webdesign firm. When not otherwise gainfully employed, she writes fiction in various universes, designs websites and enjoys torturing... er, entertaining her cohorts in A World Lit Only By Fire and Baltimore by Night. Janet lives in the Washington, DC area, but emphatically denies ever having dated Marcus Vitel. The DDM (and a host of alternate personalities) may be reached at jltraut@erols.com.
	Sarah, Janet and Myranda - together at last!