Allison, Jo: - Jo Allison (the pen name of Linda Dobkins) spent ten years as a journalist, mostly for newspapers. She was the first woman to do television news in her home town of Joplin, Missouri. Although she went on to teaching and researching, she believes reporting was the best education she could have had. She now lives in Bristol, Virginia. More information is available on her website, joallisonauthor.com.