Karen Rose Cercone

BIOGRAPHY (by Marilyn Kukula from Indiana University of Pennsylvania )

For Karen Cercone, writing is just another way to flex her teaching muscles. The IUP geoscience professor teaches her readers about science and scientists through her Star Trek novels and history through her series of historical mysteries.

She has co-written some eleven Star Trek novels with fellow writer Julia Ecklar under the name L.A. Graf. The name stands for "Let's All Get Rich and Famous" and was the name of a writer's group to which the two authors belonged. Their first Star Trek novel came out in 1990.

The two authors have split the writing by dividing up the characters. Cercone takes the scientists. "I want to have a really positive portrayal of science and show scientists are human beings using this technique to solve problems," said Cercone. "I want my scientists to be the heroes and the role models. I have a lot of women scientists."

	Steel Ashes (Historical Mystery, Berkeley, 1997)
	Coal Bones (1999)
	BLOOD TRACKS (American Historical Mysteries) (1998)