The Authors Quill 1st guest Todd McCaffrey second guest Steven L. Sears .

Todd McCaffrey was born to Anne McCaffrey on April 27th, 1956. The then-named Todd Johnson came into the world as a rather precocious middle child. Anyone who questions the precocious part has only to read some of the anecdotes in “Dragonholder” to have any doubt removed. He spent most of his childhood on the East Coast of the USA until moving to Dublin, Ireland with his mother and sister in 1970.

Like most of the boys growing up in the ’60s, McCaffrey became space mad. However, unlike most of the other young men running around their yards in pretend helmets and throwing toy rockets into the air, he was given a “complete” set of the actual Lunar Module Pilot Study Guides in 1968. The number of hours spent devouring them repeatedly from cover to cover is evident in the fact that he has been known to quote excerpts from them during convention panels.

When the time came for him to pursue higher education, McCaffrey attended Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, for a year—and hated it. But he did discover one of the great loves of his life while he was there, computers. He graduated with Honors—or rather, “Honours”—in 1985 from Trinity College, Dublin.

Having never lost his love for space, he left Ireland for Los Angeles, California, in the hopes of working in the aerospace industry. However, the computers got him first, and he began working in computer programming in 1986. He continued to develop his love of space and all mechanical things that fly by getting a private pilot’s license in 1988. One interesting side note is the collapse of the aerospace industry in 1989.

During this time, his interest in writing also took flight. The sale of some of his early short stories helped him log an impressive amount of airtime. He flew across the continent solo in 1989, attending Oshkosh along the way. After quitting his day job in 1990 to write full time, he repeated his solo cross-continent flight and attended the 1990 Oshkosh as well.

Todd McCaffrey became a Writers of the Future judge in 2012.

“The Writers of the Future is one of the premier awards that’s available particularly to new writers. It’s basically the only one there. This is a chance to open up the universe to reward people who are trying and striving and succeeding in creating great stories, to reward them with more than just a pat on the back to actually some monetary reward and some recognition and to give them a leg up into the world of a professional writer.” —Todd McCaffrey

Find out more at: pernhome.com/tjm/ STEVEN L. SEARS
Writers, Producer, etc. – Biography

Steven L. Sears has worked as a Writer, Story Editor, Producer and Creator in Television, Film, digital media and animation. His lengthy career has encompassed over fifteen separate Television series, and development deals with many major studios in the industry, including Columbia Studios, Sony/Tristar Television, Rhysher Entertainment, Artists Inc., Cookie Jar Entertainment, Digital Pictures and many others.

Steven’s initial foray into professional Television writing came with his hiring as a staff writer on the Stephen J. Cannell Productions hit TV series RIPTIDE, for the NBC Television Network. He followed that up by adding his talents to the writing staff of one of the more popular genre series of its time, THE A-TEAM, also for NBC.

From there, he continued his career by writing and working on such popular series as HARDCASTLE & McCORMICK, JJ STARBUCK, STINGRAY, WALKER-TEXAS RANGER, HIGHWAYMAN, ROBIN’S HOODS, HOLLYWOOD DETECTIVE, FATHER DOWLING MYSTERIES, HARDBALL, GRAND SLAM, JESSE HAWKES, SUPERBOY, S.H.E. SPIES and many other Television favorites. His animation experience includes ITSY BITSY SPIDER, TRANSFORMERS: RESCUE BOTS and working with the legendary animation Director Don Bluth as writer on the short feature THE GIFT OF THE HOOPOE.

More than just a writer, Steven also moved up through production as a Story Editor and Producer to Creator of Television series. After Producing SWAMP THING for USA network and RAVEN for CBS, he soon moved to a series that has made its mark in Television and pop culture history, as Co-Executive Producer of the wildly popular series XENA – WARRIOR PRINCESS. He followed that up by co-creating the latest incarnation of the legendary comic book heroine SHEENA for Sony/TriStar Television, which ran for two seasons.

Still involved in Television and Film development, he recently branched out into the literary world. He is a contributor to THE LAST CITIES OF EARTH anthology, based on the artwork of Jeff Sturgeon, and his partnership with popular sci-fi author Kevin J. Anderson (DUNE: HOUSE ATREIDES; CLOCKWORK ANGELS; DAN SHAMBLE, ZOMBIE P.I.) has resulted in the gritty futuristic sci-fi graphic novel STALAG-X. Published by Vault Comics, STALAG-X already has an option deal in place.

A popular figure at genre sci-fi/pop culture conventions, Steven has an eclectic fan base as a result of his many series and accomplishments and is a frequent guest speaker at colleges and universities.
Find out more at:

StevenLSears.com