Ballantine Books is a major book publisher located in the United States, founded in 1952 by Ian Ballantine with his wife, Betty Ballantine. It was acquired by Random House in 1973, which in turn was acquired by Bertelsmann AG in 1998 and remains part of that company today. Ballantine's logo is a pair of mirrored letter Bs back to back. The firm's early editors were Stanley Kauffman and Bernard Shir-Cliff.

Following Fawcett Publications' controversial 1950 introduction of Gold Medal paperback originals rather than reprints, Lion Books, Avon and Ace also decided to publish originals. In 1952, Ian Ballantine announced that he would "offer trade publishers a plan for simultaneous publishing of original titles in two editions, a hardcover 'regular' edition for bookstore sale, and a paper-cover, 'newsstand' size, low-priced edition for mass market sale."

When the first Ballantine Book, Cameron Hawley's Executive Suite was published in 1952, the publishing industry saw that the simultaneous hardcover and paperback editions were obvious successes.Houghton Mifflin published the $3.00 hardcover at the same time Ballantine distributed its 35¢ paperback. By February 1953, Ballantine had sold 375,000 copies and was preparing to print 100,000 more. Houghton Mifflin sold 22,000 hardback copies in its first printing. Ballantine's sales soon totaled 470,000 copies. Instead of hurting hardback sales as some predicted, the paperback edition instead gave the book more publicity. After the film rights were sold to MGM, Robert Wise directed the 1954 film, nominated for four Academy Awards.

Philippa Jane Ballantine is a contemporary New Zealand author of speculative fiction and an avid podcaster. She now lives in Manassas, Virginia.

Ballantine went first to Samuel Marsden Collegiate School, and then graduated from Victoria University of Wellington with a BA in English and Political Science. She also holds a Bachelor of Applied Science in Library Studies from The Open Polytechnic of New Zealand.

In 2006 Ballantine became the first New Zealand author to podcast her novel.

Ballantine's first Book of the Order, Geist was published by Ace Books in 2010 and the second book Spectyr in 2011. The series will conclude with Wrayth in 2012 and Harbinger in 2013 Shortly after Geist's release Ace Books ordered another two books in the series.

She is also the co-author with Tee Morris of the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences novels out with Harper Voyager. The first Phoenix Rising came out in 2011 and won an Airship Award for best written work.

Phoenix Rising was also rated in the top 10 science fiction books of 2011 on goodreads.com.

Kristin Hannah (born September 1960 in Southern California, U.S.A.) is an award-winning and bestsellingAmerican writer, who has won numerous awards, including the Golden Heart, the Maggie, and the 1996 National Reader's Choice award.

Hannah graduated from law school in Washington and practiced law in Seattle before becoming a full-time writer. She lives on Bainbridge Island, Washington, with her husband and their son.

The Books were an American duo, formed in New York City in 1999, consisting of guitarist and vocalist Nick Zammuto and cellist Paul de Jong. Their releases typically incorporate samples of obscure sounds and speech. They have released three critically acclaimed albums on the German label Tomlab, and released their fourth studio album, The Way Out, on Temporary Residence Limited in July 2010.

Zammuto and de Jong first met in New York City in 1999 as they shared the same apartment building. De Jong invited Zammuto to dinner at his apartment, where he played him some of his collection of audio and video samples, including a Shooby Taylor record. Zammuto said of their meeting that "we both kind of knew at that moment that we listened (to music) in interesting ways and had similar approaches to music." Soon after, they began playing what they considered to be pop music, in comparison to their own works, under the name The Books.

In 2000, The Books started work on what would become their début album Thought for Food. Zammuto and de Jong moved locations constantly during this time, recording in New York, Los Angeles, Boston, and finally in the basement of a hostel in North Carolina where Zammuto worked for a while after hiking the Appalachian Trail.

Mary Doria Russell (born 1950) is an American novelist.

Russell was born in the suburbs of Chicago. Her parents were both in the military: her father was a Marine Corps drill instructor, and her mother was a Navy nurse. She graduated from Glenbard East High School and later she earned a Ph.D in biological anthropology at the University of Michigan. She was raised as a Catholic but left the church at age fifteen, and her struggles to figure out how much of that culture to pass on to her children fueled the prominence of religion in her work.

Russell currently lives in Lyndhurst, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland, with her husband, Don. They have a son, Dan.

Two of Russell's novels — The Sparrow and its sequel Children of God — have as their subject first contact with aliens. Within the two works, she explores how one can reconcile the idea of a benevolent deity in a universe filled with pain and evil.

Russell's third novel, A Thread of Grace, tells a fictional story within the fact-based setting of the Resistance in Italy during World War II and the plight of Jewish refugees in Northern Italy escaping from Nazi persecution throughout Europe. During the Nazi occupation of their country, many real Italian citizens allowed Jewish refugees to seek safe harbour among their farmlands, cities, and ports. Although a work of fiction, much of story is based on accounts of actual survivors from this period. Russell herself is of Italian heritage and is also a convert to Judaism.