The 2002 EPIC Conference

EPIC, the Electronically Published Internet Connection, sponsors annual awards for the best books in several categories. The 2002 awards were announced at the Seattle EPIC conference March 14-16, and Rick Sutcliffe was both a keynote speaker (a copy is here) and presented the EPPIE award for the best SF novel of the year published in eBook format. Information on the nominees and winners is below. For information on the awards in other categories, a complete list of the nominees and winners is here.

Tony Chandler lives in Atlanta, GA, along with his wife and their seventeen year old daughter, Meghan. They share their home with two wonderful cats who lead a very deprived life - eating, sleeping, and getting loved. But they give much love in return, so the arrangement is acceptable to all parties. Tony enjoys baseball, art exhibits and the Bard live at the Shakespeare Tavern, as well as music ranging from Mozart and Bach to the Beatles - on to Enya and Irish music and beyond... he loves 'great' music in any form.

Tony has loved books and reading all of his life, and for the last ten years has written and been published by some of the leading Webzines on the Internet. His first published novel, MotherShip, is the culmination of this first stage of his writing. And MotherShip can rightly be said to be his 'dream' novel.

Tony continues to write, when he can, and has begun the sequel to MotherShip - Borne on Wings of Steel.

MotherShip: The T'kaan have brought their never-ending war to the human race... as they face final defeat a group of scientists integrate Artificial Intelligence into the ultimate warship designed to defeat the T'kaan ships. The 'M' ship is victorious, but it is too late to change the tide of the war. As Earth is destroyed, the last survivors of the human race, three children, escape on-board the AI starship. Soon, they begin to call the ship Mother...

Max & Ariana Overton are a husband and wife writing team. Ariana Overton loves to travel and write, crossing genres the way she travels; always in search of the next great story.

She writes murder mysteries (Trapdoor, The Devil Is In The Details -EPPIE finalist 2001 and Frankfurt nominee), Time Travel Thriller (Tapestry—EPPIE finalist in 2000), Action/Adventure (Glass House, A Glass Darkly –EPPIE finalists in 2001 and Looking Glass.)

Ariana is a member of the Australian Society of Authors, Australian Writers Association, EPIC, a former Senior Editor and Director of Services for Romance Writers of America/Australian Chapter and a Contributing Editor to Suite 101 with articles she writes about other authors. Her articles have been published in Inscriptions Magazine, Suite 101, Disceptatio, an e-magazine, Bamboo Grove and the Romance Writers of American/Australia Newsletter. She has been a Managing Editor for Sharpwriter and Senior Editor for Clocktower Books.

Ariana designs covers for herself, her husband and other authors, and is acting as Art Director for Novel Books, Inc. and cover artist for Atlantic Bridge and Hardshell Word Factory.

Max Overton is a new author specializing in historical fiction, although he has also written extensively on biological non-fiction.

His first book, Lion Of Scythia, (published in 2000 and an EPPIE finalist in 2001) deals with conflicts between the Macedonian Empire of Alexander the Great and the tribes on the borders of his realm. A second book in this trilogy, The Golden King, is a work in progress. A series of murder mysteries with an historical basis is also being planned, taking place in Athens of the fifth century BC. Max is also currently writing a horror novel, The Gates Of Sleep.

Born in Malaysia to English parents, Max has traveled extensively, living in England, Belgium, Germany and Jamaica before settling down in New Zealand. He completed a Master's degree in Plant Physiology before taking up a varied career that includes teaching at elementary, high school and university levels. Max also worked as a tissue culture scientist and assisted the New Zealand Government to conduct research on the effects of introduced mammals on the native vegetation of those islands. Moving to Australia, Max took up a position teaching at James Cook University. He also undertook part-time studies in butterfly ecology for his doctorate.

Looking Glass is a time travel, alternate world SF adventure yarn set in the Australian outback, both in current times and some 30 000 years ago.

Stefan Vucak: Born in Croatia, he has been living in Australia since 1962. With a degree in computer science, he has had a highly successful career in the Information Technology industry. His passion for writing hard science fiction has produced several short stories and three novels. His work With Shadow and Thunder is his second publication. He now lives in Melbourne, working on his next project.

With Shadow And Thunder: The Orieli are the first aliens to confront the Serrll Combine in two thousand years. But the Orieli are at war and the Serrll now faces invasion by creatures out of nightmare. On the Moon, caught in a web of Serrll power plays, First Scout Terrllss-rr is betrayed by his Wanderer brother Dharaklin. His ship is sabotaged an he crashes to Earth. Escaping, he now has American security forces after him and the secrets his crashed ship holds. Above the Moon, Serrll and Orieli forces face each other for the control of the Solar System. Rescued, his soul scarred, Terr returns home, only to find his loved one kidnapped - by Dhar. With the god of Death in his hands, revenge is the only thing now left to him.

Ellen Anthony lives in Wyoming which means she has LOTS of time to write and dream. Last year her second novel, Search For The Sun, received the Eppie for Best Mystery. This year she had two finalists, The Price Of The Samaritan in science fiction and Too Young A King in fantasy. Her first book, The Manhunter, didn't bring home an Eppie, but did make the finals. She has two children's historicals coming out this year and yet another Syran novel.

The Price Of The Samaritan: Boredom. A serious problem when thousands of people traveling between the stars face it. The solution? An extended visit to a planet. But when the planet's star is unstable and likely to nova, what can you do? How can you tell your own people the grounding is cancelled--a grounding they've been looking forward to for twenty years? And what about the natives? Faced with their destruction when their star novas, Anthropologist Kyle Bonar and his team of specialists hit on a daring plan--rescue the natives and use that project to pacify the people who have been promised a world. It's easier said than done. When their landing party is attacked and a woman taken, Kyle discovers who must pay the price of the Samaritan.

Vickie Kennedylives in a small town just south of Atlanta where she grew up. She started her writing career as a staff writer for an Atlanta-based professional wrestling magazine, moved up to become editor, but when the magazine sold and changed, she went on to writing poetry and fiction, although still an avid wrestling fan. She has also co-authored a non-fiction book on hiring contractors. Her poetry has been published in anthologies by Watermark Press, and can be viewed on the internet at www.poetry.com.

Vickie Kennedy is now single, a mom to three, grandmom to five. She has three dogs, one cat, and two lovebirds. She loves nature's animals and the mountains. She has held jobs ranging from a waitress, telemarketer, market research supervisor, and executive administrative assistant.

The Hidden Truth Of Cytech's Randall Forty: is a time travel romance crime adventure. Tough-as-nails Homicide Detective Dixie Freeman is chosen by the federal government for a time travel expedition into the year 2250bring back technology to fight raging street crime. They needed someone tough, intelligent, the least likely to crack under pressure, and the most likely to succeed. They also needed someone with no family, close friends, no ties to her society that might create questions if the mission failed.

Dixie refuses, but is forced to go anyway. She is immediately thrust into a conflict between the head of organized crime and Police Commander Randall Forty, a man with a troubled past of his own.

And the winner was:Tony Chandler's Mother Ship. Congratulations to all! For information on the awards in other categories, a complete list of the nominees and winners is here.