The Best of Defending the Future

Jack McDevitt is the Nebula Award-winning author of The Academy series, including The Long Sunset. He attended La Salle University, then joined the Navy, drove a cab, became an English teacher, took a customs inspector's job on the northern border, and didn't write another word for a quarter-century. He received a master's degree in literature from Wesleyan University in 1971. He returned to writing when his wife, Maureen, encouraged him to try his hand at it in 1980. Along with winning the Nebula Award in 2006, he has also been nominated for the Hugo Award, the Arthur C. Clarke Award, the John W. Campbell Memorial Award, and the Philip K. Dick Award. In 2015, he was awarded the Robert A. Heinlein Award for Lifetime Achievement. He and his wife live near Brunswick, Georgia.

Charles E. Gannon is the author of the Compton Crook Award-winning, Nebula-nominated Caine Riordan series, as well as two novels in John Ringo's Black Tide Rising series. With best seller Steve White, Gannon is the coauthor of several entries in the Starfire series. With Eric Flint, he has written several novels in the best-selling Ring of Fire series.

Author and graphic artist Mike McPhail is member of the Military Writers Society of America; he is dedicated to helping his fellow service members (and those deserving civilians) in their efforts to become authors/editors/artist, as well as supporting related organization in their efforts to help those who have given their all for us. www.milscifi.com His love of science, technology, and developing an understanding of the human condition play an important role in his writing, art, and game design, all of which are built upon his training as an aeronautical engineer and dreams of becoming a NASA mission specialist, balanced by his enlistment in the service. www.mikemcphail.com In the late 80s he was involved in game design, namely the Martial Role-Playing Game (All'Arc MRPG), a manual-based, hardcore military science fiction adventure, set in his Alliance Archives universe; sections of which are being reissued under the title of From The Archives (FT'Arc) by AGM Publications, a division of eSpec Books, LLC. He is best known as the editor and illustrator of the award-winning Defending The Future series of military science fiction anthologies, which just celebrated its tenth anniversary with its Best Of... collection, and the continuation of the series. www.defendingthefuture.com In 2014 he added the title of publisher, as the co-founder of eSpec Books LLC, Electronic Speculative Fiction Publishing. www.especbooks.com