SEAL Legacy Foundation Tampa Bay Book Festival
November 7th, Tampa, FL
Free and Open To the PublicPresented By
The SEAL Legacy Foundation Tampa Bay Book Festival will bring together the Nation’s Elite Authors to help support the Nation’s Elite Warriors. This one day event will include a book signing by some of the most well renowned authors in the country as well as a VIP Author Reception.
Authors
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Brian Andrews
Brian Andrews
Midwest born and raised, Brian is a US Navy Veteran who served as an officer aboard a 688 class nuclear submarine in the Pacific. He graduated Summa cum Laude from Vanderbilt University with a degree in psychology. He is also a Park Leadership Fellow and holds a Masters degree from Cornell University.
Brian is the author of THE CALYPSO DIRECTIVE from Skyhorse Publishing and the RING OF FLOWERS. He is the Co-author (with Jeffrey Wilson) of the soon to be released thriller BEIJING RED from Crooked Lane Publishing.
Brian currently resides in Tornado Alley with his wife and daughter.
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Kathleen Antrim
Kathleen Antrim
Kathleen Antrim is the award-winning author of the bestselling political thriller, CAPITAL OFFENSE. As a national correspondent and columnist, she wrote for “NewsMax Magazine,” the “San Francisco and Washington, D.C. Examiner Newspapers,” and was featured weekly on KSFO radio and the nationally syndicated show, “Battle Line.”
Graduating from Bowling Green State University, Kathleen has taught creative writing at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and is the winner of the Rupert Hughes Award for fiction. After serving 5 years as the Vice President on National Events, and running ThrillerFest, for the International Thriller Writers she became Co-President of the organization. Her short story, THROUGH A VEIL DARKLY is featured in the anthology, THRILLER 2 edited by Clive Cussler.
Antrim spent years working to raise money for children in need. She is a founder of the Ruby Hill Giving Thanks Ball, and a past President of the Livermore Valley Winegrowers Foundation Board of Directors. These charities have raised more than $2 million for children. She also served on the ValleyCare Hospital Foundation Board of Directors, and is currently an Honorary Member of the Board of Directors for Los Positas College. She serves on the Board of Directors, and is Co-President, of International Thriller Writers. Antrim is also on the Board of Directors for the San Francisco Writers Conference, a member of the Authors Guild, the National Press Club, and Mystery Writers of America.
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Grant Blackwood
Grant Blackwood
A U. S. Navy veteran, Grant spent three years aboard a guided missile frigate as an Operations Specialist and a Pilot Rescue Swimmer.
Grant is a New York Times bestselling author of the Briggs Tanner series, THE END OF ENEMIES, THE WALL OF NIGHT, and AN ECHO OF WAR. He is also the co-author of the Fargo Adventure Series SPARTAN GOLD, LOST EMPIRE, and THE KINGDOM with Clive Cussler. He is also the co-author of the #1 NYT bestseller, DEAD OR ALIVE with Tom Clancy, and the new thriller, THE KIL SWITCH with James Rollins.
Grant lives in Colorado, where he is working his own standalone series starring a new hero.
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Ethan Cross
Ethan Cross
When a fireman or a policeman would visit his school, most of his classmates’ heads would swim with aspirations of growing up and catching bad guys or saving someone from a blazing inferno. When these moments came for Ethan Cross, however, his dreams weren’t to someday be a cop or put out fires; he just wanted to write about it.
His dream of telling stories on a grand scale came to fruition with the release of his first book, THE SHEPERD, which went on to become an International Bestseller published in several countries and languages. Ethan followed this up with more great titles like THE PROPHET, THE CAGE, CALLSIGN: KNIGHT, and BLIND JUSTICE. His latest book is the third installment of the Shepherd series coming from the Story Plant in Summer 2014.
In addition to writing and working in the publishing industry, Ethan has also served as the Chief Technology Officer for a national franchise, recorded albums and opened for national recording artists as lead singer and guitar player in a musical group, and been an active and highly involved member of the International Thriller Writers organization.
Ethan Cross is the pen name of an author who lives and writes in Illinois with his wife, three kids, and two Shih Tzus.
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Lorenzo Carcaterra
Lorenzo Carcaterra
Number one New York Times bestselling author Lorenzo Carcaterra's highly successful career spans more than twenty years of writing for the diverse fields of fiction, non-fiction, television, and film.
Born and raised in New York's Hell's Kitchen neighborhood, Carcaterra landed his first job in the newspaper business as a copy boy for The New York Daily News in 1976. He worked his way up to entertainment reporter before leaving the paper in 1982, heading for the green pastures of then-Time Inc. and TV-Cable Week, as senior writer. Nine months later, the magazine folded, leaving him unemployed. A four-month stint at People Magazine was followed by an odyssey of writing for a string of start-up publications - Picture Week, Entertainment Tonight Magazine, Special Reports Magazine - and freelancing for dozens of others - The New York Times Sunday Magazine, Newsday Sunday Magazine, Family Circle, Ladies Home Journal, and Twilight Zone Magazine, among them.
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Kieran Crowley
Kieran Crowley
Kieran Crowley is the New York Times bestselling author of The Surgeon's Wife, Burned Alive, and Sleep My Little Dead, an award-winning reporter for the New York Post. His investigative reporting on a series of dismemberment murders of prostitutes helped lead homicide detectives to serial killer Robert Shulman, who told police after his arrest that he halted his killing spree when he read a description of himself and his car in one of Crowley's stories. Crowley has covered hundreds of trials and thousands of murders, including the assassination of John Lennon, as well as the cases of Amy Fisher, Katie Beers, the Long Island Railroad Massacre, and serial killer Joel Rifkin.
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Jamie Freveletti
Jamie Freveletti
Jamie Freveletti is the internationally and #1 Amazon bestselling, ITW and Barry award winning author of the Emma Caldridge series. In addition to her own books, she writes for the Estate of Robert Ludlum’s Covert One series. The next in that series, The Geneva Strategy, released in February, 2015. She is a former lawyer, avid runner and holds a black belt in Aikido, a Japanese martial art. She lives in Chicago with her family.
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Simon Gervais
Simon Gervais
Simon Gervais was born in Montréal, Québec. He joined the Canadian military as an infantry officer and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in 1997. Assigned to the Infantry School in Gagetown, New Brunswick, he received extensive training in advanced reconnaissance and small-unit tactics.
In 2001, he became a federal agent. His first posting was in Toronto, where he served as a drug investigator. During this time, he worked on many international drug-related cases in close collaboration with his American colleagues from the DEA. However, in 2004, his career switched gears and he was placed with a federal anti-terrorism unit based in the Ottawa Region. During the following years, he was deployed in numerous European and Middle Eastern countries.
In 2009, he became a close-protection specialist tasked with guarding foreign heads of state visiting Canada. Among many others, he served on the protection details of Queen Elizabeth II, US President Barack Obama and Chinese President, Hu Jianto.
In 2012, Simon was transferred to his organization’s counter-surveillance unit. During the next two years, he participated in a number of intelligence gathering operations. In May 2014, he returned to his former unit to serve as a bodyguard for the American ambassador to Canada until his retirement in September 2014.
Simon is now a full-time writer and a member of the International Thriller Writers. He has volunteered as the Security Director of ThrillerFest since 2013. His debut novel THE THIN BLACK LINE was published by Lou Aronica at The Story Plant on April 7th, 2015. He is represented by literary agent Eric Myers of The Spieler Agency.
Simon, his wife and their two children divide their time between Ottawa and South Florida, which they consider their second home.
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Heather Graham
Heather Graham
New York Times and USA Today best-selling author Heather Graham majored in theater arts at the University of South Florida. After a stint of several years in dinner theater, back-up vocals, and bartending, she stayed home after the birth of her third child and began to write, working on short horror stories and romances. After some trial and error, she sold her first book, WHEN NEXT WE LOVE, in 1982 and since then, she has written over one hundred novels and novellas including category, romantic suspense, historical romance, vampire fiction, time travel, occult, and Christmas holiday fare. She wrote the launch books for the Dell's Ecstasy Supreme line, Silhouette's Shadows, and for Harlequin's mainstream fiction imprint, Mira Books.
Heather was a founding member of the Florida Romance Writers chapter of RWA and, since 1999, has hosted the Romantic Times Vampire Ball, with all revenues going directly to children's charity. She is pleased to have been published in approximately twenty languages, and to have been honored with awards from Waldenbooks. B. Dalton, Georgia Romance Writers, Affaire de Coeur, Romantic Times, and more. She has had books selected for the Doubleday Book Club and the Literary Guild, and has been quoted, interviewed, or featured in such publications as The Nation, Redbook, People, and USA Today and appeared on many newscasts including local television and Entertainment Tonight.
Heather loves travel and anything having to do with the water, and is a certified scuba diver. Married since high school graduation and the mother of five, her greatest love in life remains her family, but she also believes her career has been an incredible gift, and she is grateful every day to be doing something that she loves so very much for a living.
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John Gilstrap
John Gilstrap
Gilstrap has always been a closet-writer. As a kid, he lived for the opportunity to write short stories. He was the editor of his high school newspaper (the Valor Dictus, Robinson High School, class of 1975), until he quit ("You can't fire me! I quit!") over a lofty First Amendment issue that seemed very important at the time. His goal, in fact, was to become a journalist in the vein of Woodward or Bernstein. He confesses, “I wanted to be Woodward; Robert Redford played him in the movie, and chicks really dug Robert Redford.”
John graduated from the College of William and Mary in 1979, and armed with a degree in American history, he couldn't find a job. He ended up settling for a position with a little-noticed trade journal serving the construction industry. They called him the managing editor and they paid him “food stamp wages.” He hated it. About this time, he joined the Burke Volunteer Fire Department in Fairfax County, Virginia, if only to find relief from the boredom of his job. Running about a thousand calls his first year with the department, he was hooked, and the volunteer fire service became an important part of his life for the next 15 years. In the early eighties, hating his job, he went the way of all frustrated liberal arts undergrads—back to graduate school. Earning a Master of Science degree in safety engineering from the University of Southern California, he started down a new road. For the next decade and a half, he became an expert on explosives safety and hazardous waste. Meanwhile, he kept writing. He didn't tell anyone, of course, because, well, “you just don't share artistic dreams with fellow engineers. They look at you funny.”
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Mark Greaney
Mark Greaney
Mark Greaney’s debut international thriller, THE GRAY MAN, became a national bestseller and was nominated for a Barry Award in the Best Thriller category. The follow-up Gray Man thriller, ON TARGET was also nominated for a Barry Award in the Best Thriller category. BALLISTIC the third in the series also received glowing reviews including a rave from the New York Times comparing flipping the pages of the Mark Greaney thriller to “…playing the ultimate video game!” Mark’s fourth Gray Man thriller, DEAD EYE, was released in 2013.
Mark is the #1 New York Times bestselling co-author of THREAT VECTOR and LOCKED ON by Tom Clancy with Mark Greaney, as well as the co-author of COMMAND AUTHORITY by Tom Clancy with Mark Greaney, and the author of TOM CLANCY, SUPPORT AND DEFEND.
Marks books are published in several languages and are available in paperback, ebook and audiobooks.
A feature film adaptation of THE GRAY MAN is in development by Columbia Pictures, with Joe and Anthony Russo of Captain America, Winter Soldier, to direct.
Mark has a degree in International Relations and Political Science. In his research for THE GRAY MAN novels he has traveled to more than fifteen countries, visited the Pentagon and many Washington, D.C. Intelligence agencies, and trained alongside military and law enforcement in the use of firearms, battlefield medicine, and close-range combative tactics.
Mark currently lives in Memphis, Tennessee
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Andrew Gross
Andrew Gross
Andrew Gross is the author of New York Times and international bestsellers The Blue Zone, Don't Look Twice, and The Dark Tide, which was nominated for the Best Thriller of the Year award by the International Thriller Writers, Reckless, and most recently, Eyes Wide Open. He is also coauthor of five number one bestsellers with James Patterson, including Judge & Jury and Lifeguard. He lives in Westchester County, New York, with his wife, Lynn. You can follow Andrew Gross on Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and at AndrewGross Books.com.
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Anderson Harp
Anderson Harp
Anderson has served the United States Marine Corps in many capacities, from artillery to teaching mountain warfare and arctic survival. Harp’s military work has taken him from the Arctic Circle and Fort Greely, Alaska, (where a typical day reaches 44 below zero), to the Persian Gulf, Central America, Europe, South Korea, and the Pentagon. As an officer in the Marine Corps Reserve, he was mobilized for Operation Enduring Freedom and served with MarCent’s Crisis Action Team.
Anderson Harp is the author of international thrillers that have been compared to “Tom Clancy at his finest!” (New York Times bestselling author James Rollins).
His military experience informs his fiction, earning him high praise (“authentic … exciting … timely … believable” (New York Times bestselling author David Morrell, creator of John Rambo).
Anderson’s “breakneck pacing” and suspense satisfy “even the most demanding reader” (New York Times bestselling author Douglas Preston).
His fans rave that his “keenly insightful military thriller compares to Robert Ludlum’s trilogy about CIA assassin Jason Bourne” (www.militarywriters.com).
Harp lives in Columbus, Georgia, home of Fort Benning. He and his wife, Jane have four children.
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Alan Jacobson
Alan Jacobson
Alan Jacobson is the award-winning, national bestselling author of ten thrillers, including the FBI profiler Karen Vail series and the OPSIG Team Black novels. His books have been translated internationally, named to numerous “Best of the Year” lists, and optioned by Hollywood.
Jacobson’s twenty years of research and training with the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit, DEA, US Marshals Service, SWAT, NYPD, Scotland Yard, and the US military bring unparalleled realism to his stories and characters.
Connect with Jacobson on the web: www.AlanJacobson.com; on Facebook: www.Facebook.com/AlanJacobsonFans; on Twitter: @JacobsonAlan; and on Instagram: alan.jacobson.
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Jon Land
Jon Land
Jon Land is the bestselling author of over 25 novels. He graduated from Brown University in 1979 Phi Beta Kappa and Magna cum Laude and continues his association with Brown as an alumni advisor. Jon often bases his novels and scripts on extensive travel and research as well as a twenty-five year career in martial arts. He is an associate member of the US Special Forces and frequently volunteers in schools to help young people learn to enjoy the process of writing.
Jon currently lives in Providence, Rhode Island and loves hearing from his readers and aspiring writers.
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Ward Larsen
Ward Larsen
Bestselling author Ward Larsen is a two-time winner of the Florida Book Award.
His first thriller, The Perfect Assassin, is currently being adapted into a major motion picture by Amber Entertainment.
His work has been nominated for both the Edgar and Macavity Awards. A former U.S. Air Force fighter pilot, Larsen flew over twenty missions in Operation Desert Storm.
He has also served as a federal law enforcement officer, and is a trained aircraft accident investigator
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Don Mann
Don Mann
Mann is the author of the autobiography Inside SEAL Team Six: My Life and Missions with America’s Elite Warriors. When Osama bin Laden was assassinated, the entire world was fascinated by the men who had completed the seemingly impossible mission that had dogged the U.S. government for over a decade. SEAL Team Six became synonymous with heroism, duty, and justice. Only a handful of the elite men who make up the SEALs, the US Navy’s best and bravest, survive the legendary and grueling selection process that leads to Team Six, a group so classified it technically does not even exist. There are no better warriors on Earth. Mann knows what it takes to be a brother of this ultra-selective fraternity. As a member of Seal Team Six for over eight years and a SEAL for over 17 years, he worked in countless covert operations, operating from land, sea, and air, and facing shootings, decapitations, and stabbings. He was captured by the enemy and lived to tell the tale, and he participated in highly classified missions all over the globe, including Somalia, Panama, El Salvador, Colombia, Afghanistan, and Iraq. But to become a SEAL, Mann had to overcome his own troubled childhood and push his body to its breaking point–and beyond. At the podium and in Inside Seal Team Six, he shares a high octane narrative of physical and mental toughness, giving unprecedented insight to the inner workings of the training and secret missions of the world’s most respected and feared combat unit.
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Erik Sabiston
Erik Sabiston
Erik Sabiston grew up in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia before winding up living off the grid in the redwoods of Northern California. Naturally restless, he moved from one job to another working as a door-to-door salesman, music teacher and even a butcher when he eventually found his calling as a Soldier. He led his helicopter crew during a series of miraculous rescues on one of the most dangerous operations in the history of the war in Afghanistan.
Erik also speaks nationwide at conferences, schools and events, inspiring audiences to harness the power of faith and teamwork to push themselves beyond their own limits, survive the unthinkable and acheive the impossible.
He currently teaches the next generation of aviators to fly and fight the UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter. Home is wherever the Army sends he and his wife Tess... who still teases him about his fear of heights.
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Thom Shea
Thom Shea
(Ret.) Senior Chief Thom Shea is the CEO of Adamantine Alliance, a unique leadership and human performance coaching organization. Thom conducts training seminars throughout the nation, developing transformational performance results for various individuals, teams and organizations.
Before founding Adamantine Alliance, Thom served 23 years with distinguished Valor as a Navy SEAL. During his military career he served in three wars, ultimately leading a team of Navy SEALs into Afghanistan in 2009 where he earned a Silver Star, Bronze Star with Valor, Army Commendation with Valor and his second Combat Action Medal. He was hand-selected to serve as Officer In Charge of the famed SEAL Sniper course from 2009 - 2011. During his two year tenure, he transformed the sniper curriculum while successfully increasing both graduation numbers and shooting performance test scores.
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AJ Tata
AJ Tata
AJ Tata's releases in 2015 will include the beginning of a new series from Kensington Books/Pinnacle featuring Native American former Delta Force soldier Chayton Mahegan who is "outside the law, under the radar, out for vengeance..." Tony is also the author of the critically acclaimed, award winning, and Amazon bestselling Threat Series fiction novels featuring the Garrett Brothers, Matt and Zachary. A fourth Threat series novel will be released in January 2015.
An avid supporter of veterans causes, Tony donates 100% of his Sudden Threat book proceeds to the USO Metro DC Hospital Services fund for wounded warriors at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and Bethesda National Naval Medical Center. He is the Chairman of the Board of the North Carolina Heroes Fund, a member of the Board of Directors of the US Military Veterans Foundation and a member of the Board of Directors of the North Carolina Military Order of the Purple Heart.
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Lisa Unger
Lisa Unger
Lisa Unger is the New York Times bestselling author of thirteen novels, including her latest thrillers CRAZY LOVE YOU and IN THE BLOOD (2014 Goodreads Choice Awards Nominee for Best Book, Amazon Best Book of the Month, Indie Next Pick, Suspense Magazine and Sun Sentinel Best Books of 2014.)
Additional accolades include selections as a finalist for International Thriller Writers Best Novel Award, a winner of the Florida Book Awards, a finalist for Prix Polar International Award, Bookspan’s International Book of the Month, and a Target “Emerging Author.” Her books are published in 26 languages worldwide and have been named top picks by Today show, Good Morning America, Walmart Book Club, Harper’s Bazaar, Family Circle, Good Housekeeping, Washington Life, Publishers Weekly, New York Daily News, Indie Next and Amazon (Top Ten Thriller of the Year.) She currently lives in Florida.
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Howard Wasdin
Howard Wasdin
Dr. Howard E. Wasdin is a former Navy SEAL who served in the Navy for 12 years (nine as part of the SEAL Teams). After graduating with BUD/S Class 143, he became a top sniper with SEAL Team Six. He was awarded the Silver Star for gallantry in action against an enemy of the United States in "Operation Gothic Serpent" in Mogadishu, Somalia in 1993, and was a Purple Heart Recipient for injuries sustained in action. In that conflict he was wounded three times and nearly lost his right leg. The Somalia conflict would later become more commonly known as "Black Hawk Down", nick-named after the story depicted by Mark Bowden in his book and movie of the same name.
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Lis Wiehl
Lis Wiehl
Lis Wiehl is one of the nation’s most prominent trial lawyers and highly regarded commentators. Currently, she is the legal analyst and reporter on the Fox News Channel and Bill O’Reilly’s sparring partner in the weekly “Is It Legal?” segment on The O’Reilly Factor. Prior to that she was O’Reilly’s co-host on the nationally syndicated show The Radio Factor. She is also a Professor of Law at New York Law School. Her column “Lis on Law” appears weekly on FoxNews.com.
Prior to joining Fox News Channel in New York City, Wiehl served as a legal analyst and reporter for NBC News and NPR’s All Things Considered. Before that, Wiehl served as a Federal Prosecutor in the United States Attorney’s office.
Wiehl earned her Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School and her Master of Arts in Literature from the University of Queensland.
Wiehl is also the author of The 51% Minority, which won the 2008 award for Books for a Better Life in the motivational category, and Winning Every Time.
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Jeffrey Wilson
Jeffrey Wilson
Jeffrey Wilson is the award winning author of THE TRAITEUR’S RING (2011), THE DONORS (2012) and FADE TO BLACK (2013). He has at one time worked as an actor, a firefighter/ paramedic, a jet pilot, a diving instructor, a Naval Officer, and a Vascular and Trauma Surgeon. He served in Iraq as a combat surgeon with both the Marines and with a Joint Special Operations Task Force.
He is the co-author, with Brian Andrews, of the soon to be released thriller BEIJING RED from Crooked Lane Books .
Jeff and his wife Wendy are Virginia natives with children Emma, Jack, and Connor, who call Tampa, Florida home. Jeff still works part time as a Vascular Surgeon and as a consultant for the Department of Defense when not hard at work on his next book.
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Tom Young
Tom Young
Tom Young served in Afghanistan and Iraq with the Air National Guard. He has flown combat missions to Bosnia and Kosovo as well as additional missions to Latin America, the horn of Africa, and the Far East. In all, Young logged nearly 5,000 hours as a flight engineer on the C-5 Galaxy and the C-130 Hercules while flying to almost forty countries. Military honors include the Meritorious Service Medal, three Air Medals, three Aerial Achievement Medals, and the Air Force Combat Action Medal. Young retired from the Air Guard in 2013 after more than twenty years of service.
In civilian life he spent ten years as a writer and editor with the broadcast division of the Associated Press, and flew as a first officer for Independence Air, an airline based at Dulles International Airport near Washington, D.C. Young holds Bachelor’s and Masters degrees in Mass Communication from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Young’s well-received military adventure novels include THE MULLAH’S STORM, SILENT ENEMY, THE RENEGADES, THE WARRIORS, and SAND AND FIRE.
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Event Information:
Westin Tampa Harbour Island Hotel
725 S Harbour Island Blvd.
Tampa, FL 33602
Schedule of Events
2:00 PM - Bookstore Opens
3:00 – 6:00 PM - Author Book Signing
6:30 PM – 9:00 PM - VIP Author Reception
Books will be for sale at the festival by Murder on the Beach Bookstore
