Romance author Lisa Jackson grew up in Oregon. She graduated from Oregon State University and started working in the banking/investment industry. In the early 1980s, she stopped working in order to become a stay-at-home mom and started writing romance novels at the suggestion of her sister and fellow romance author Nancy Bush. She published her first novel, A Twist of Fate, in 1983. Her books regularly appear on the New York Times, USA Today and Publisher's Weekly bestseller lists. In April 2011 Lisa Jackson's title Devious hit the Publisher's Weekly bestseller list and in Aug 2012 her title You Don't Want to Know made The New York Times Best Seller List. In 2014 she continued this trend with her book, Close to Home.
Clive Cussler was born in Aurora, Illinois on July 15, 1931. He attended Pasadena City College for two years before enlisting in the United States Air Force during the Korean War. After his discharge from the military, he worked first as a copywriter and later as a creative director for two of the nation's most successful advertising agencies. At that time, he wrote and produced radio and television commercials that won numerous international awards, including one at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival. He began writing in 1965 and published his first novel featuring Dirk Pitt in 1973. His first non-fiction work, The Sea Hunters, was published in 1996. He has written over 50 books including the Dirk Pitt series, the NUMA Files series, Oregon Files series, Isaac Bell series, and the Fargo Adventure series. He is the Chairman of NUMA (National Underwater and Marine Agency), a non-profit group which he founded. He and his crew of marine experts and NUMA volunteers have discovered over 60 historically significant underwater wreck sites. Clive Cussler died on February 24, 2020 at the age of 88.