Several literary powerhouses call Houston home, Robert Boswell (Tumbledown) and Antonya Nelson (Funny Once) among them. The current graphic-novel/Internet king, Mat Johnson (Right State), is also here. The country's leading urban-fiction novelist, ReShonda Tate Billingsley (Rumor Central), and a slew of bestselling romance novelists, such as Kerrelyn Sparks (How to Seduce a Vampire Without Really Trying) and Sophie Jordan (The Ivy Chronicles), are all locals. With a nod to all that talent, it's Dean James, an unassuming librarian/bookseller who writes cozy mysteries and has legions of fans, who takes this year's Best Author award. James has written under several pseudonyms, including Honor Hartman, Jimmie Ruth Evans and Miranda James. It's Miranda James who released The Silence of the Library, the latest title in the "Cat in the Stacks" mystery series. The cozy whodunits feature a male librarian/amateur sleuth who has a big Maine Coon cat for a sidekick — no, the cat doesn't talk, but he does seem to think a lot. Fans (even the ones who don't realize Miranda is actually Dean) scoop up each new title as soon as it hits the shelves and immediately clamber for the next release. ("I'm writing as fast as I can!" James has assured us.)