(from Doug’s Alliterates.com bio. The Alliterates are a southeast Wisconsin writing and drinking group made largely of TSR veterans.)
Doug is the oldest Alliterate, but by far the handsomest. While the others are like beautifully twinkling stars in the night, Niles is like a supernova whose hyper-nuclear incandescence changes night to day. Author of more than 30 novels, Niles is best known for adventure fantasy but recently published two major WW2 alternate history novels, Fox on the Rhine and Fox at the Front (with coathor Michael Dobson).
Niles is also anticipating the 2005 release, from Tor, of War of the Worlds: New Millenium. He has written extensively for the shared worlds of TSR (now Wizards of the Coast). His Dragonlance titles include: Wizards Conclave, The Icewall Trilogy, Emperor of Ansalon, The Dragons, The Puppet King, Fistandantilus Reborn, Flint the King (with Mary Kirchoff), and The Last Thane. (He has written more fiction for the line than anyone but the series creators.) Niles also authored the very first Forgotten Realms novel (Darkwalker on Moonshae), contributing nine novels to the line.
A lifelong cheesehead and Green Bay Packer fan, Niles is a former teacher who left to make a living at his twin hobbies of writing and gaming. He now lives in the countryside of Wisconsin with his wife, Christine, and two children, Allison and David, as well as two large dogs and a very self-sufficient cat. When he is not writing he enjoys hiking, bicycling, playing the guitar, and enjoying the company of his friends and family.
Doug Niles outside the International Spy Museum, Washington, DC
Michael Dobson at the 2004 World Science Fiction Convention, Boston, Massachusetts
Michael has made a lifelong goal of accumulating a “writer’s résumé,” a collection of odd and interesting positions that would give him a wide perspective.
He has been:
• on the aeronautics curatorial team
that helped build the Smithsonian
Institution’s National Air and
Museum
• director of games development
marketing of TSR, Inc., makers
of Dungeons & Dragons® and
other role-playing games
• a career counselor/writer for
the Federal job market
• founder and publisher of the
Washington Job Hunter
• a management trainer for
organizations on three continents
and six countries
• a project management adviser for
the Navy’s nuclear program and
Calvin Klein Cosmetics
...and more. He is the author of management books, tapes, and videos including:
Practical Project Management
Enlightened Office Politics
(Library Journal Top 100 Business
Books of 2001)
Project Management for the Technical
Professional
The Juggler’s Guide to Managing
Multiple Projects
Coping With Supervisory Nightmares
Exploring Personality Styles
Managing UP!
The Triple Constraints in Project
Management
Michael currently lives in Bethesda, Maryland, in his 25th residence (the first time he’s ever been in a house without being certain he’d be moving again) with his wife and frequent collaborator Deborah Singer Dobson, a human resources executive, his son Jamie, and their pet tarantula Sally.
