Ilsa J. Bick

Who is Ilsa J. Bick?

Ilsa J. Bick is an award-winning, best-selling author of short stories, e-books and novels. She has written for several long-running science fiction series, most notably Star Trek, Battletech, and Mechwarrior:Dark Age. She's taken both Grand and Second Prize in the Strange New Worlds anthology series, while her story, "The Quality of Wetness," took Second Prize in the prestigious Writers of the Future contest in 2000. Her first Star Trek novel, Well of Souls, was a 2003 Barnes & Noble bestseller.

Her original stories have been featured in numerous anthologies, magazines, and online venues. "The Key," a supernatural murder-mystery about the Holocaust and reincarnation, was named "distinguished" in The Best American Mystery Stories, 2005, and a sequel, "Second Sight," appeared in Crimespells and was named to the 2010 Year's Best Science Fiction and Fantasy recommended reads.

Bick's first YA novel, Draw the Dark, is a paranormal mystery that was awarded the 2011 Westchester Fiction Award. Ashes, the first volume in her dystopian thriller trilogy, was released from Egmont USA in September 2011.

Before she became a successful author, Bick was a child/adolescent and forensic psychiatrist. She also holds a degree in literature and film studies, and has presented and written widely on applied psychoanalysis and film. She currently lives in Wisconsin.