James Hannah

Patexia recognized James Hannah and Lisa Kobialka in its 2025 CAFC Intelligence Report, which evaluates all stakeholders before the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit using data from 2020 – 2024. James was ranked among the top 10 attorneys, and Lisa was ranked among the top 100.

Lina Chern’s debut novel PLAY THE FOOL, featuring tarot reader Katie True, won the 2024 Mary Higgins Clark Award, and was nominated for both the Lefty and the Anthony. She’s following up the success of that book with the darker, twistier TRICKS OF FORTUNE, which brings Katie back, this time trying to find a police officer’s murderer. Lina’s background ranges from writing trivia questions and word puzzles for a game show to video game voice work.

I got to wait out a tornado with Megan Abbott once. It was back in 2023, in Oxford, Mississippi, during the Oxford Conference for the Book (chronicled in one of my first newsletters.) That night’s Noir at the Bar was cancelled because of a tornado warning, which left authors with nothing to do, so everyone gathered in the hotel bar and drank. Megan Abbott was in attendance that year, alongside Ace Atkins, Eli Cranor, and S.A. Cosby.