Eliza Pakenham read English at Oxford, was an editor in publishing and is now a writer and journalist. She is married with three children.

Thomas Pakenham is the author of the critically acclaimed THE SCRAMBLE FOR AFRICA which won the W.H. Smith Award and the Alan Paton Award. He is also the author of THE BOER WAR, THE MOUNTAINS OF RASSELAS and THE YEAR OF LIBERTY. He lives in County Westmeath, Ireland and is chairman of the Irish Tree Society. He plants trees both for profit and ornament.

Mark Perry of BBC's Dead Ringers fame (as the voice of Martin Jarvis and Graham Norton) is a political and sports impressionist in other BBC radio series and in The Archers. On TV he has appeared in Mr Charity and in various stage productions around Britain.

Robert Powell won many awards for this portrayal of Jesus in Franco Zeffirelli's Jesus of Nazareth. Further TV appearances include the BBC serial Jude the Obscure, The Detectives and the children's drama Merlin and the Crystal Cave. Films include Harlequin (best actor award), and Imperative (best actor award 1982), Mahler and The Thirty Nine Steps.

Christopher Priest's novels have built him an inimitable dual reputation as a contemporary literary novelist and a leading figure in modern SF and fantasy. His novel THE PRESTIGE is unique in winning both a major literary prize (THE JAMES TAIT BLACK AWARD and a major genre prize THE WORLD FANTASY AWARD); THE SEPARATION won both the ARTHUR C. CLARKE and the BRITISH SCIENCE FICTION AWARDS. THE ISLANDERS won both the BSFA and John W. Campbell awards. He was selected for the original BEST OF YOUNG BRITISH NOVELISTS in 1983.