David Weber was born in Cleveland, Ohio on October 24, 1952. He received an undergraduate degree from Warren Wilson College and attended graduate school at Appalachian State University. He ran Weber Associates, a small advertising and public relations agency, for several years. He currently writes science fiction and fantasy full-time. His first novel, Insurrection, in collaboration with Steve White, was published in 1990. He has authored or co-authored over 40 books including The Honor of the Queen, In Enemy Hands, The Service of the Sword, Storm from the Shadows, the Honor Harrington series, the Safehold series, and the Star Kingdom series. Weber's first book in the Manticore Ascendant… Series, co-authored with Timothy Zahn, made the New York Times bestseller list in October 2014.
Keith Laumer was born John Keith Laumer in Syracuse, New York on June 9, 1925. Before becoming a full-time writer, he was an officer in the U.S. Air Force and a U.S. diplomat. He is best known for the Bolo stories and Retief series. His other works include The Other Side of Time, A Trace of Memory, Dinosaur Beach, and A Plague of Demons. He suffered a stroke in 1971, which negatively affected the quality of his work and his career declined. He was also a model airplane enthusiast, and published two dozen designs between 1956 and 1962 in the magazines Air Trails, Model Airplane News, Flying Models, and Aero Modeler. In 1960, he published How to Design and Build Flying Models. He died on… January 23, 1993 at the age of 67.