Karen King

Author

Karen King began her writing career with the teenage magazine Jackie and spent many years writing for various children's magazines including Winnie the Pooh, Rosie and Jim and Nursery Education. before concentrating solely on writing books. With over one hundred children's books published, Karen writes both fiction and non-fiction titles for children from pre-school to teens and has worked with a range of publishers, including Walker, HarperCollins and Scholastic.

Karen's published work includes Foul Play, Cosmic Whizz Kid, Space Chase on Planet Zog and The Gold Badge. Her picture book I Don't Eat Toothpaste Anymore won the Gold Award for Best Product, and The Birthday Surprise won the Practical Parenting Award.

Born in Birmingham, England, Karen King lived in the West Midlands all of her life until 1999, when she moved to Cornwall. Karen has since returned to the Midlands where she lives with her husband, dog and cat. She has four daughters, but all have grown up and flown the nest.

Karen admits to having absolutely no sense of direction and gets lost so often that her family are scared to let her out on her own. The things she likes best are eating chocolate and reading, preferably both at the same time!

Quest titles: Dognapped!; Sabotage!;

Gary Murray

Author

Gary Murray is a former Armed Forces Special Investigator and Counter-intelligence Operative. He has also worked undercover for MI5 and US Customs, operating out of the American Embassy, London.

Gary currently works on a consultancy basis for several UK Government departments and the Defence Industry. This work includes surveillance, tracking down missing persons, and other covert operations.

In addition to his professional work, Gary teaches martial arts to children from 8 years old. In fact, he holds black belts in judo, karate and ju-jitsu himself. He is a qualified civilian fixed-wing and helicopter pilot, and enjoys playing the piano and harmonica.

Gary's literary and media work to date includes: Enemies of the State published by Simon & Schuster, Business Security Handbook published by Simon & Schuster and Introduction to Judo published by McDonald Optima.

Gary has had various articles printed in numerous magazines and newspapers, and has made over two hundred major television contributions, including BBC TV's Secret Society, Open Media's After Dark and ITV's famous Cook Report.

Quest titles: Venom Rising; Vipers' Nest;

Bob Nicholls

Illustrator

Robert Nicholls became a professional natural history artist in 1999 after successfully completing a Master of Arts degree in Birmingham. Today he is a highly respected natural history artist with a reputation for producing unique and exciting palaeontological artworks. His illustrations, murals and 3D models are exhibited and have been published throughout the world, and his portfolio contains projects for National Geographic, internationally renowned universities and many museums. In June 2001 Bob was also chosen to be the artist on set for the BBC2 television series Live from Dinosaur Isle.

As well as being a passionate prehistory enthusiast, Bob is a member of numerous organisations dedicated to the study and progression of palaeontology. He uses his own knowledge of anatomy and the expertise of his contacts within the field to produce up to date and scientifically accurate reconstructions of prehistoric animals and environments. Bob has developed his own method for doing this by reconstructing the subject from the inside out. First he examines the fossil remains, then reconstructs the skeleton, and then adds the muscles and internal organs before attempting to render the complete animal. The result is a modern and believable reconstruction of an extinct creature.

Quest titles: A Time Traveller's Field Notes - Dinosaurs; A Time Traveller's Field Notes - Egypt;

Neil Reed

Illustrator

Neil lives in Cornwall and has been illustrating books for twenty four years. He is also a landscape designer, with a keen interest in plants. He draws much of his inspiration from the Cornish landscape and spends his spare time surfing with his children at local beaches.

Quest titles: A Time Traveller's Field Notes - Dinosaurs; A Time Traveller's Field Notes - Egypt;

Dave Spurdens

Author

Dave Spurdens has worked as a sports writer and journalist for over thirty years. Dave has written and edited articles for magazines including Football Kick, Football Monthly and Football Digest and is a football correspondent for the Sunday Telegraph.

His published football-related books include World Soccer Skills, Liverpool Football Club: The Inside Story and Rowton Road. Dave has also written four books on BMX biking and is Editor of BMX Racer & Freestyle magazine.

As a teenager, Dave Spurdens played youth and reserve team football for Crystal Palace before moving on to become the player coach for Maidstone United. He is still actively involved in grass roots football and holds a full coaching badge. Dave is also qualified as an FA Coaching Courses Adjudicator.

Quest titles: Bridgewood High FC: A New Team is Born; Bridgewood High FC: The Struggle for Success; Bridgewood High FC: On the March;

Gordon Volk

Author

Gordon Volke's commercial writing career began in 1972 when he was responsible for inventing the comic antics of Dennis the Menace, Minnie the Minx and The Bash Street Kids in the UK's best-selling comic, The Beano. Since this auspicious start to his writing career, Gordon has gained plaudits by originating material for Snoopy (Peanuts), Tom and Jerry, Popeye and Garfield and has been the principal contributor for numerous comics and magazines, including Twinkle, Thomas the Tank Engine, The James Bond Experience and Jurassic Park.

In 1998, Gordon began writing for The Tweenies, the Bafta award-winning pre-school series, scripting 44 of the 365 episodes. His association with the makers of this programme has remained strong, and he has contributed to two of their subsequent television productions, Fun Song Factory and Jim Jam & Sunny. Gordon has lost count of the number of children's books that he has originated over the years, but his published bibliography spans most genres and age categories.

Gordon lives near Brighton on the south coast of England. He used to be sporty, playing tennis and squash, but he is now too lazy and just watches football on TV. He stirs himself occasionally to polish his old Triumph cars, of which he owns three. They shine a lot, but don't go very far or very fast. He has a wife – a retired teacher – and an aircraft-engineer son at home. His daughter has inherited her father's literary genius and works as an editor in Australia.

Quest titles: A Time Traveller's Field Notes - Dinosaurs; A Time Traveller's Field Notes - Egypt; Elephants' Call; Orcas' Song; Tigers' Secret; Wolves' Gambit;