By day, Daniel P. Dern is still an independent technology writer, but by setting aside some time each morning for the past year and a half, he’s managed to finish writing his first sf novel (working title Dragons Don’t Eat Jesters), which includes a minimum of “one dragon, two princesses, four dogs, a lot of riddles, some explosions, and a lot of really weird stuff.”

His science fiction stories have appeared in magazines and anthologies—most recently “For Malzberg It Was They Came,” which appeared in (and sparked the notion for) F&SF’s Malzberg tribute in their June 2003 issue)—plus “Bicyclefish Island” (inspired at a previous Readercon), in Tomorrow Speculative Fiction, “Yes Sir That’s My,” in New Dimensions 8, ed. by Robert Silverberg (reprinted in Best of New Dimenions and in Smart Dragons, Foolish Elves ed. by Marty Greenberg), “All for Love and Love for All” in Analog, “Stormy Weather” in Worlds of IF, and “White Hole” in Ascents of Wonder ed. by David Gerrold.

A graduate of Clarion East 1973 and of 1.5 sessions of the BMI Musical Theater Workshops, he is the author of The Internet Guide for New Users (McGraw-Hill, 1993), was the founding editor of Internet World magazine (valuable collectible sets still available, at reasonable prices!), and most recently, Executive Editor for Byte.com (he’s got a few Byte.com pocket protectors left, feel free to ask for one).

He’s also a very amateur magician (including kids shows at sf conventions). (“Performing for free means never having to say ‘Here’s your refund.’ ”) He lives with Bobbi Fox and their dog Grep (and the obligatory still too many books and obsolete computers), in Newton Centre.