~~~coming soon!~~~
Calling all Coffin Bell contributors to join our new group for writers whose work has been published in any issue of Coffin Bell. Coffin Bell Coven should be used to keep us abreast of new developments, promotions, publications, and announcements, and we’ll put promote your new work right here on Coffin Bell in the Contributor Crypt and in our newsletter, Lucky Thirteen. Enjoy dark links and ephemera in the group while networking with other writers. We implore you–join us!
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Samuel J. Adams is an MFA candidate in fiction at Bowling Green State University. His work appears (or is forthcoming) in Spork, New World Writing, The Molotov Cocktail, BULL, and Rubbertop Review. He tweets @Bib_Zone.
Ray Ball, Ph.D is a writer and history professor at the University of Alaska Anchorage. When not in the classroom or the archives of Europe and Latin America, she enjoys running marathons, reading, and spending time with her spouse Mark and beagle Bailey. She is the author of a number of history books and articles. Her poems have recently appeared or are forthcoming in Foliate Oak, Moonchild Magazine, NatureWriting, Occulum, and Visitant. She tweets @ProfessorBall.
Gina Marie Bernard is a heavily tattooed trans woman, roller derby vixen, and full-time English teacher. She has completed a 50-mile ultra marathon, followed Joan Jett across the US, taught creative writing at a medium-security prison, and purposely jumped through a hole cut in lake ice. She lives in Bemidji, Minnesota. Her daughters, Maddie and Parker, own her heart. She has written one YA novel, Alpha Summer (2005), and one collection of short fiction, Vent (2013). Her work has recently appeared in r.kv.r.y. quarterly, Flypaper Magazine, The Hunger Journal, and Nature Writing. She has creative nonfiction forthcoming in Waccamaw Journal.
With degrees in Physics and Chemistry, Andy Betz has tutored and taught in excess of 30 years. His novel, The Lady in Red Quilt; his short stories, “The Copy,” “November,” and “My Bucket List;” and his poems, “Lonely” and “Long Enough for Chocolate,” are works still defining his style. He lives in 1974, is married for 25 years, collects occupations (the current tally is 95) and currently teaches high school physics.
Maria Agostina Biritos is from Argentina. She is twenty-six years old, and a recently-graduated lawyer with a writer’s heart. Her pieces explore Beauty and Romance in a non-conventional way, with a touch of magic and a taste of madness.
Joel Blackstock is an avid reader and explorer with an interest in Southern history and folk traditions. He has a BA from the University of the South in Religious Studies and a Masters of Social Work from the University of Alabama.
Sydney Brooman is a Queer fiction writer, slam poet, and a fourth-year Honours English Literature & Creative Writing student at Western University in London, ON, Canada. She is also serving as Western University’s Student Writer in Residence. Her recent publications include The Gateway Review, Occasus, Symposium, and the PLASTOS and GLITCH editions of Iconoclast. When she isn’t procrastinating, she’s putting her full effort into that thing you really like. No, not that one. The other one.
Jacqueline Boucher lives and writes in Northern Michigan. Her work was a finalist for the 2016 Write Bloody poetry manuscript contest, and has appeared in BOOTH, Hobart, Barrelhouse, SmokeLong Quarterly, and other magazines. She can be found on Twitter as @jacqueboucher.
Peter Boysen has taught literature for the past twenty-three years and is the proud father of triplets. He has written professionally for fourteen years and is publishing his first poems.
J. Andrew Briseño is Assistant Professor of English and Creative Writing at Northwestern State University of Louisiana. He is the Series Editor for the Katherine Anne Porter Prize. His work can be found in Smokelong Quarterly, Waxwing, Nat. Brut, Acentos Review, and The Boiler. He lives with too many cats in Natchitoches, Louisiana.
Dawn Brunelle was born 66 years ago and wrote her first short story at seven years old. Except for a few dry spells in the interim, she has almost always had a pen in her hand (or the current version of a pen). She has written many letters to the editor, most of which were published, and many letters for Amnesty International, some of which were possibly not even read. She had a short story called “Gord and Marta’s House” published in an anthology titled Pointe-Claire, The City We Share. She studied Creative Writing part-time at Concordia University, and attended a local, weekly workshop for several years. She has belonged to a small, informal writing group for five years and is also a member of the Quebec Writers’ Federation. Now retired and living in the country, she is plying her craft with renewed enthusiasm and hopes you enjoy her story.
Valentina Cano is a student of classical singing who spends whatever free time she has either reading or writing. Her works have appeared in numerous publications and her poetry has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Web. Her debut novel, The Rose Master, was published in 2014 and was called a “strong and satisfying effort” by Publishers Weekly.
Michael Carter is a full-time ghostwriter in the legal profession. When he’s not lawyering, he writes short fiction and creative nonfiction, fly fishes, and spends time with his family. He also enjoys cast-iron cooking and occasional India pale ales. He’s online at www.michaelcarter.ink and @mcmichaelcarter.
A. H. Cassells lives in Paisley, Scotland, with his wife Karen and dog Coco. He works as a community pharmacist in the west of Scotland and writes as a hobby. He has had two short stories published thus far, one in an anthology, Alternateas, and the other as a highly commended entry in the ‘To Hull and Back’ 2016 humourous short story competition. His favourite authors are Jasper Fforde, Genevieve Cogman, and Ross Mackenzie for their exquisite turn of phrase and extraordinary imaginations. He hopes one day to emulate their ability.
Michael Chin was born and raised in Utica, New York and currently lives in Georgia with his wife and son. His hybrid chapbook, The Leo Burke Finish, is available now from Gimmick Press and he has work published or forthcoming in journals including The Normal School, Passages North, Barrelhouse, and Hobart. He works as a contributing editor for Moss. Find him online at miketchin.com or follow him on Twitter @miketchin.
Kim Chinquee is the author of the collections Oh Baby, Pretty, Pistol, Veer, and Shot Girls. She is a regular contributor to NOON, Denver Quarterly, and other journals. She edits New World Writing and ELJ, and is an associate professor at SUNY Buffalo State.
Steve Conn lives and writes in Charleston, South Carolina.
Zach Davis is a writer living and working in the beautiful Appalachian region. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in print and online in The Fertile Source, Bartleby Snopes, FortyOunce Bachelors, Drunk Monkeys, the Anthology of Appalachian Writers (numerous volumes), The First Line, Five2One Magazine, Gravel, Visual Verse, Rabble Lit, and Carve.
Spencer Dawson is an avid reader and new writer from Ontario, Canada looking to find his direction in the craft.
Kate Dlugosz has a BA in Creative Writing and a minor in History from Hiram College and currently lives in Cleveland, Ohio. She has a previous publication in Dear Damsels literary journal.
Joseph A. Domino was a college instructor (composition and literature) from 2007 to 2017 before retiring. Prior to that he spent 30 years in the technical publications field. During that period, he produced three full-length novels: A Reign of Peace, Downtime, and Principalities of Darkness, all available at Amazon, as well as a novella and dozens of short stories, articles, book reviews, and blogs, which have appeared in a variety of print and online publications. Read more about his work here.
William Doreski’s work has appeared in various online and print journals and in several collections, most recently A Black River, A Dark Fall (Splash of Red, 2018).
Veronica Emilyn makes stories, paintings and noise. You can find her on twitter @allthatweforget and on tumblr at www.crimesididntcommit.tumblr.com.
Nikolaus Euwer is an avid gardener and enjoys writing poetry when he finds inspiration. He also makes music, which can be heard at: https://soundcloud.com/grownativeplants.
John Gerard Fagan is a Scottish writer, currently teaching Creative Writing in Japan at Meikai University. He has had over 50 short stories and essays published in several magazines, including horror in Black Static and Massacre.
Leslie Ferguson has just finished her first book-length work, When I Was Her Daughter: A Memoir of Disorder, about one family’s struggle with mental illness, and of which an excerpt has been published in San Diego Writers’ Ink’s A Year in Ink, Volume 9. She earned her MFA in Creative Writing from Chapman University. In San Diego, California, she teaches English, practices yoga, and lives happily with one husband and two cats.
Alfredo Flores is a husband and father living in Southern California. When he’s not busy writing, he’s reading, or spending time with his family. As an avid reader of horror, sci-fi and fantasy stories, his favorite authors in the genres are Neil Gaiman, H.P. Lovecraft, Terry Pratchett, and Dean Koontz.
Leopold Friedman is a writer of poetry and prose, a student of history, and a devotee of the Gothic and the Shakespearean. He lives in New England and can be reached by howling into the void – or, more reliably, at www.crookedbutinteresting.wordpress.com.
Paul Garrett is a writer, farmer and educator, and former NC resident living in the upstate of South Carolina. He has published work in several genres including short fiction, poetry, essays, reviews, journalism and photos in both local and regional publications, including Blackheart Magazine, The Petigru Review, The Charlotte (NC) Observer, The Greenville (SC) News, Writer’s Digest and Blue Ridge Country magazine. He currently teaches creative writing and facilitates a writer’s workshop in Pickens, SC.
Holly Gaskin grew up on Long Island, and currently lives upstate in Watertown, NY. She has enjoyed a long career in radio broadcasting, and can currently be heard as “Cricket” on Froggy 97 (WFRY). Holly is the author of four books, including A Little Company (suspense) and Tricked (YA thriller). She is one cat short of crazy.
After many years of teaching in Germany, Rhonda Strong Gilmour returned to make a new home in Tacoma, Washington, and start a new chapter as a full-time writer of mystery, romance, and short horror stories. The Northwest rain doesn’t get her down; rather, it gives her the perfect excuse to spend hours at her desk, letting her spider brain spin its web of stories.
Henry Giovannetti is currently an instructor at Kansas State University with no current publications, although he has presented a critical essay at a culture studies symposium at the University of Kansas–“All Lights on Mr. West: A Study of Spectacle in Hip Hop Culture.” His poetry is inspired in part by South American writers–those who blend the everyday with the barely believable–and by the thinking of Edmund Burke, who speculates that a feeling of horror comes from one’s inability to fully conceptualize or understand.
Michael Grantham is a writer of fiction who loves scary stories. Currently, he is traveling the world looking for inspiration for the next great horror icon.
Wesley D. Gray is a writer of things mostly strange. He is an active member of the HWA, an author of fiction, and a poet. His first two books include Come Fly with Death: Poems Inspired by the Artwork of Zdzislaw Beksinski, and the horror novel, Feeding Lazarus (written as Rafe Grayson). Residing in Florida with his wife and two children, most nights you can find him enjoying a wide variety of geeky activities, but mostly, tabletop gaming with family and friends. Discover more at WesDGray.com.
John Grey is an Australian poet and U. S. resident. He has been recently published in Examined Life Journal, Studio One, and Columbia Review, with work upcoming in Leading Edge, Poetry East, and Midwest Quarterly.
Michael Hammerle is pursuing his MFA at Bennington College. He holds a BA in English, cum laude, from the University of Florida. His fiction has been published in The Best Small Fictions 2017 selected by Amy Hempel. His prose and poetry have been published or are forthcoming from New World Writing, Chicago Literati, After the Pause, The Sandy River Review, The Matador Review, and many more magazines. He lives and writes in Gainesville, FL.
Heather Harrison was born and raised in North East Texas. Growing up with a family of misfits left her with a wild imagination, a sharp sense of humor, and prone to the occasional bout of insanity. By day, she is a marketing manager, and by night she is a coffee-fueled zombie, author, and mother of two children. She has several published works including “I, Avatar,” “Franny’s Fable,” and “To Reap and Sow.”
Chad Haskins lives in Georgia. He enjoys reading crime fiction and horror stories, writing, and is a Bob Dylan music fan. Chad’s writing has appeared in Untitled Country Review, Yellow Mama, Spinetingler Magazine, Golden Sparrow Literary Review, The 5-2, Citron Review, Barefoot Review, and The Flash Fiction Offensive.
Katrina Hays was an opera singer and river guide before finding her way to writing. Her poetry and essays have appeared in WomenArts Quarterly, Psychological Perspectives, Bellingham Review, Apalachee Review, and Crab Creek Review, with poems forthcoming in The Hollins Critic. She is the founding editor of RWW Soundings, the online literary and program journal of the Rainier Writing Workshop at Pacific Lutheran University, where she received an MFA in Creative Writing (2010). She is now on the RWW guest faculty.
Rayne Kaa Hedberg just finished his bachelor’s thesis in English Linguistics and is keen to get back to more creative writing.
Jason Heit is currently working on a collection of connected stories. He lives and writes in Saskatchewan.
John Helden is originally from a city called Leeds in the North of England. He graduated from university with a degree in English Literature. Since then he has been travelling and teaching in Europe and Asia. He has lived in London, Amsterdam, Seville, Taipei, Seoul and Saigon. He is currently living in Binh Duong New City in Vietnam. He has had one short story published in Heater magazine.
Matevž Honn lives in Shanghai. His short stories have been published in Structo, Haggard and Halloo Magazine, The Artillery of Words, Delivered, Bette Noire Magazine, Short Humour, The Underground Voices, Mush/Mum, and Rogue Particles Magazine. His short story, “The Perfect Day,” is included in the anthology Citizens of Nowhere, published by Bridge House Publishing.
Jennifer Ihasz is a historian who began her writing life as a poet, then was tempted into the darker side of horror writing. She is currently pursuing her MFA at Stonecoast, a low-residency MFA through the University of Southern Maine. Her work has appeared in Mastodon Dentist, Down in the Dirt, The Penwood Review, The MacGuffin, and Poetry Quarterly.
Rollin Jewett is an award winning playwright, screenwriter, singer/songwriter, poet, author and photographer. His screenwriting credits include “Laws of Deception” and “American Vampire”. His short stories, poetry and photography have been published in numerous literary magazines and anthologies and his plays have been produced all over the world.
Anastasia Jill is a queer poet and fiction writer living in the southern United States. She is a current editor for the Smaeralit Anthology. Her work has been published or is upcoming with Poets.org, Cleaver Magazine, FIVE:2:ONE, Ambit Magazine, Drunk Monkeys, Hawai’i Pacific Review, The Laurel Review: Fearsome Critters, and more.
Lucinda Kempe’s work has been published or is forthcoming in Elm Leaves Journal, New World Writing, b(OINK), Frigg, r.kv.r.y., The Summerset Review, and Jellyfish Review. The recipient of the Joseph Kelly Prize for creative writing in 2015, she’s an M.F.A. candidate in writing and creative literature at Stony Brook University. New World Writing nominated her for a Pushcart in 2017. She has just completed her memoir.
Cecilia Kennedy earned a PhD in Spanish literature from Ohio State University. Her speculative fiction works have appeared in Theme of Absence and Gathering Storm Literary Magazine. She lives in the Greater Seattle area with her family and details her “scary” attempts at DIY projects in her blog, “Fixin’ Leaks and Leeks.” https://fixinleaksnleeksdiy.blog/.
Madiha Khan is a first-time contributor to Coffin Bell. She did not provide a bio, even though we asked nicely.
Sarah L. King lives in West Lothian, Scotland, with her husband and young children. Born in Nottingham and raised in Lancashire, her books include the historical fiction novels, The Gisburn Witch (2015) and A Woman Named Sellers (2016), both set during the Lancashire witch trials in the seventeenth century. Her first contemporary novel, Ethersay, was published in 2017 and was inspired by the seismic shift in the Scottish political landscape which occurred during the independence referendum of 2014, and its impact upon ordinary lives. Sarah is currently working on the third installment in her Witches of Pendle series. Aside from history and politics, Sarah loves long country walks, romantic ruins, Thai food and spending time with her family.
Amy P. Knight is the author of the critically acclaimed novel Lost, Almost, published in November, 2017 by Engine Books. She works as a criminal defense and civil rights attorney in Tucson, Arizona where she lives with her two dogs, Oscar and Ruby. Visit her on the web at http://www.amypknight.com, or follow her on facebook and twitter.
Mackenzie Knorr is a creative writing student at the University of Concordia St. Paul in Minnesota. She has not yet been published in any literary journals.
Grove Koger is the author of When the Going Was Good: A Guide to the 99 Best Narratives of Travel, Exploration, and Adventure (Scarecrow Press, 2002), and Assistant Editor of Laguna Beach Art Patron Magazine, Palm Springs Art Patron Magazine, and Deus Loci: The Lawrence Durrell Journal. In addition he has published short fiction in Lacuna, Bewildering Stories, Mulberry Fork Review, Two Words For, Eternal Haunted Summer, and Phantasmacore.
Amy Kotthaus is a writer and photographer. Her written work has been published in Glass: A Journal of Poetry, Yellow Chair Review, Occulum, and others. Her photography has been published in Storm Cellar, Typehouse Literary Magazine, Moonchild Magazine, Crab Fat Magazine, and others. She currently lives in Maine with her husband and children.
Jennifer Lynn Krohn was born and raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where she currently lives with her husband. She earned her MFA from the University of New Mexico, and she currently teaches English at Central New Mexico Community College. She has published work in Glass: A Journal of Poetry, Necessary Fiction, Storm Cellar, Tinderbox Poetry Journal, and Gingerbread House Literary Magazine, among others.
Ron. Lavalette is a very widely-published poet living on the Canadian border in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom, land of the fur-bearing lake trout and the bilingual stop sign. His work, both poetry and short prose, has appeared extensively in journals, reviews, and anthologies ranging alphabetically from Able Muse and the Anthology of New England Poets through the World Haiku Review and Your One Phone Call. A reasonable sample of his published work can be viewed at EGGS OVER TOKYO.
Toby LeBlanc is a mental health professional at the University of Texas at Austin. He meets monsters everyday. The hardest part of his job is to convince others they aren’t the monsters that live inside them.
John I. Leggett is a fiction writer who resides with his wife in Maine. He has authored numerous short stories that have been published in periodicals, literary journals, anthologies, and serialized in Maine newspapers. Leggett has also published two novels for adults―The Five-Cent Gang and Diamonds In The Rough, along with a young adult novel, Auggie and the Fat man. Being too old to keep up with current trends, Leggett doesn’t know how to use twitter.
Steve Liebowitz’s books are available on Amazon and B&N. You can find him on the web at HQPubs.com, and on Twitter as @steveliebowitz1. Steve’s professional career began in 1966, completing Peace Corps training as an English teacher for Ethiopia. Then he served three years in the Army, with tours at top secret installations outside Washington, D.C., Viet Nam, and Wiesbaden, Germany. Along with adjuncting at F.I.U., St. Thomas, U. of M., and Miami Dade, Dr. Liebowitz served on the National Faculty of Pepperdine University in California.
K. A. Liedel is an emerging author based in Delaware and a former staff writer for Slant Magazine. Liedel’s fiction has appeared in Bird’s Thumb, Flapperhouse, Typehouse Magazine, Five on the Fifth, Chronoscope, and The Metaworker.
Before deciding to take writing seriously, Paul Lubaczewski did many things: printer, caving, the SCA, Brew-master, punk singer, music critic, etc. Since then he has appeared in numerous science fiction and horror magazines, as well as anthologies. Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he moved to Appalachia in his 30s for the peace and adventure that can be found there. He has three children, two who live in his native Pennsylvania, and one interrupting his writing constantly at home. Married to his lovely wife Leslie for twenty years, they live in a fairy tale town in nestled in a valley by a river.
Gregg Mayer is a writer and lawyer in Mississippi. His first published story was “The Peacemaker,” which won first place in a competition hosted by the Texas Bar Journal in 2017.
Adam McCulloch is a NATJA award-winning travel writer whose work has appeared in Travel + Leisure, The Australian, Men’s Health, Reader’s Digest, and Lonely Planet. His screenplays have been listed for The Academy Nicholl Fellowship in Screenwriting, Page International Screenwriting Awards, Scriptapalooza, and BlueCat Screenplay Competition. His fiction and poetry have been published by Easy Street and in the forthcoming anthology A Gigantic Book of Tiny Crimes by Electric Literature.
Abbey McLaughlin is a recent graduate of Indiana Wesleyan University with a degree in English and Creative Writing. She has been published twice and hopes to continue engaging readers with works of fiction. She is from Grand Rapids, but currently lives in Indiana.
Carey Millsap is a writer and teacher living in Northwest Indiana. Small-town life impacts Carey’s work in myriad ways. Carey’s poetry has appeared in Great Lakes Review, GNU journal, and the local zine Mythos. Carey’s academic work has been published in Studies in Popular Culture, The Dark Arts Journal, and some magazines and newspapers. Carey holds an MFA in creative writing, poetry and a Master’s of Arts in English.
Cameron Mitchell’s story, “Be a Good Girl,” published by Cold Creek Review, has been nominated for the 2018 Pushcart Prize. His story “Big Cat Head,” published by Sun Star Review, is nominated for the 2017 Best of the Net Anthology. His work has also appeared in Vol. 1 Brooklyn, Literary Orphans, Oyez Review, The Queer South Anthology, Jonathan, and a few other places. Cameron grew up in the mountains of North Carolina and currently lives in New York, where he works in archives at Columbia University’s medical school library.
Mika Moreh is a second-year BA student in the Tel-Aviv University for Philosophy and English Literature.
Derek Moreland has had short fiction published in Cease, Cows and has an academic composition in the collection The Ascendance of Harley Quinn, published b McFarland & Co., Inc. He also writes the comic Legends of Streaming, available at Facebook.com/streamingcomic, and his the co-host of the podcast “Blah Blah Comics Blah Blah Curse Words,” available on the Night Nerd network (as well as iTunes and Soundcloud). You can follow him on Twitter as @VoodooBen, if you are so inclined. He lives in Texas with an awesome dog and an infinitely more awesome spouse. He has a bad habit of picking out beard hair when nervous.
Victoria Nordlund received her MALS from Wesleyan University. She teaches creative writing at Rockville High School in Vernon, CT. She is also an adjunct professor at the University of Connecticut. Her work is published in Pank Magazine, Gone Lawn, Eunoia Review, Ghost Proposal, and Amaryllis. She is the 2016 NEATE New England Poet of the Year.
Quentin Norris is a horror and fantasy writer currently living in Austin, TX. He studied screenwriting and film direction at the UNCSA School of Filmmaking in 2012. He has been writing freelance short fiction for five years and has been included in various publications including Devolution Z Horror Magazine, Scrutiny Journal, and Breath & Shadow.
Eric Ortlund has had five short stories published in very small venues which don’t exist anymore, and has published one novel, Dead Petals (Fingerpress, 2013).
Romey Petite loves reading and writing fairy tales, myths, and short stories that blend the sacred and mundane. Romey’s fiction has been published in 3Elements Review, and Scott Thrower’s podcast Fairy Tales for Unwanted Children. I also recently ran a 100% funded crowdfunding campaign for my illustrated novel Spiderella: The Girl Who Spoke with Spiders.
Born in Boston, Frank Possemato teaches English in the Los Angeles Community Colleges. His writing has appeared in a variety of publications including 3AM, Underground Voices, and in Akashic Books’ “Mondays Are Murder” noir series.
Richard Reese is a full-time scribbler of short stories ranging from horror to sci-fi, and is now finishing his first novel about the Middle East. In his previous life, Rick taught college history, worked retail management, spent a few years working DMV for a county government, and got married somewhere in between.
Brooke Reynolds is a veterinarian from Charlotte, North Carolina. When she isn’t saving animals, she enjoys writing fiction. Her stories have appeared at such online and print markets as Massacre Magazine, Fantasia Divinity, The Airgonaut, The Literary Hatchet, Ghost Parachute, and Every Day Fiction. Her story “Dr. Google” won 2nd place in the 2016 Short Story Contest for Channillo and her story “Bang Bang” won 2nd place in the 2018 Flash Suite contest for Defenestrationism. You can follow her on twitter @psubamit or check out her website reynoldswrites.org.
After deferring to the point of no return her PhD on an obscure Czech philosopher whom she still finds fascinating, Tihana Romanić moved from London to Berlin in 2007 where she plans to live happily ever after. When she is not teaching she cannot be found anywhere because she is either training for a marathon, writing, or taking photographs.
Desiree Roundtree was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY where she still lives with her husband and daughter. By day she crunches numbers, but anytime in between she is writing words. She is a lover of hip-hop, acoustic guitar and a well timed curse word.
Kassie Shanafelt is a social media manager based out of Brooklyn, NY. Her work has appeared in Enclave. She is the founding creative director of Millennial Pink, an online community for fellow creatives.
Currently living in the Highlands of Scotland, Abigail Shepherd has had numerous short stories published, most recently in Drabble, The Flash Fiction Press, and Mystery Weekly. Her first teen novel, Victoria’s Victorian Victory, is available on Amazon. She blogs at bewritingblog.wordpress.com.
T. L. Sherwood lives in western New York near Buffalo. She’s Fiction Editor at Literary Orphans and the Assistant Editor of r.kv.r.y Quarterly Literary Journal.
Bruce Shields is a recent graduate from Colorado State University’s MFA program, Bruce Shields lives and writes along the Colorado Front Range and is a general enthusiast of the weird, absurd, and uncanny. Previous fiction has appeared in as Kansas City Voices. He is currently hard at work on his first novel and a collection of short stories.
Savannah Slone is a queer writer who earned her B.A. in English: Professional and Creative Writing from Central Washington University and is completing her M.F.A. in Writing at Lindenwood University. Her poetry and short fiction has appeared in or will soon appear in Manastash Literary Arts Magazine, Creative Colloquy, Heavy Feather Review, Boston Accent Lit, PaperFox Lit Mag, The Stray Branch, The Airgonaut, Ghost City Press, Sinister Wisdom, decomP magazinE, Maudlin House, and FIVE:2:ONE. Savannah lives in Skykomish, WA, where she works a handful of part-time jobs and cares for her toddler with autism. She enjoys reading, writing, knitting, hiking, and talking all things intersectional feminism.
Matthew Smart lives in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, where he works as an information technology analyst. His writing has appeared in Vestal Review, CHEAP POP, Queen Mob’s Tea House, Unbroken Journal, SmokeLong Quarterly and elsewhere. He serves as Assistant Prose Poetry Editor at Pithead Chapel.
Alex Smith lives and studies in Lancaster, England. His work has previously been published by Daily Science Fiction, Hello Horror, and The Molotov Cocktail. At night, his stories climb out of his laptop and play tricks on him.
William R. Soldan grew up in and around the Rust Belt city of Youngstown, Ohio, where he lives with his wife and two children. A high school dropout and college graduate, he holds a BA in English Literature from Youngstown State University and an MFA from the Northeast Ohio Master of Fine Arts program. His work appears in or is forthcoming in publications such as New World Writing, Elm Leaves Journal, Bending Genres, Jelly Bucket, The Best American Mystery Stories 2017, and others. You can find him at www.williamrsoldan.com if you’d like to connect or read more of his work.
Liora Sophie is a late-twenties Israeli writer with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and education. She was born in Northampton, Massachusetts, and moved to Israel as a child. She does research and data maintenance at a fundraising firm, and plays cello with Nava Tehila as a volunteer. Liora also acts to raise awareness about multiple issue relating to gender inequality and representation of women in STEM.
Ian Steadman is a writer and editor from the south of England. His work has appeared in Black Static, Unsung Stories, STORGY, Night Lights: Midnight Press Anthology 3 and The Year’s Best Body Horror, among others. He also has a story forthcoming in the Hell’s Empire anthology from Ulthar Press.
M. Stone is a bookworm, birdwatcher, and stargazer who writes poetry while living in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in San Pedro River Review, SOFTBLOW, Calamus Journal, and numerous other print and online journals. She can be reached at writermstone.wordpress.com.
Marrie K. Stone’s work has appeared in the River Oak Review, the Writers’ Journal, Reed Magazine, and elsewhere. In addition, Marrie recently placed 11th out of an original pool of over 2,000 writers in the 2016 NYC Midnight Flash Fiction contest. For the past eleven years, Marrie has co-hosted the weekly radio show “Writers on Writing.” Marrie has interviewed hundreds of authors, including George Saunders, Tobias Wolff, Geraldine Brooks and others.
Monet Sutch is a 26-year-old student living in Portland Oregon. Writing and literature have been sources of sanctuary and safety for Monet since they were a child. Their work focuses on family, identity, recollection of trauma through different lenses, the music of language, and using curiosity as a necessary tool to approach all things existential, ethereal, and human.
Lindsey Turner is an art director, writer, and photographer in Nashville. She lives with her husband, son, and dog. She still hasn’t figured out what she wants to be when she grows up, but she’s having fun anyway. She blogs every now and again at theogeo.com and wastes more time than is wise on Twitter: @tindseylurner.
Natalie Turner is a broadcasting and English student at Western Kentucky University, where her works have appeared in Zephyrus and the Talisman. Her poetry placed 3rd in the 2018 Flo Gault Poetry Contest. She hosts a radio show on Revolution 91.7.
Melissa Tyndall is a writer, professor, and Supernatural fangirl. The Best New Poets 2015 nominee’s poems and award-winning articles have appeared in Number One, Prism International, Red Mud Review, Words + Images, Sixfold, Gamut, and various newspapers.
Caryl Ulrich received a B.A. from Indiana University, and an M.Ed. from William Carey University. For many years Caryl was a teacher (high school French, Chemistry, Physics, Marine Science, Biology & other sciences) and education consultant. Caryl suffered a disabling injury and is no longer in the classroom. Caryl writes for children and adults. Prior to Caryl’s years as a teacher Caryl had several works published.
Ugbong, E. Unimke is a young poet writing from the heart of Africa.
Rekha Valliappan is a creative short story writer, prose-poet and essayist. She was born in Bombay, lived in SE Asia and is now in New York. She studied Masters in English and American Literature and Bachelors in Law from Madras University and University of London respectively. As a college lecturer by profession she taught university classes in India and Malaysia. She has had her writing published in Eastern Iowa Review, Thrice Fiction Magazine, Scarlet Leaf Review, Indiana Voice Journal, Foliate Oak Literary Magazine, Third Flatiron, The Ekphrastic Review, Friday Flash Fiction, Intellectual Refuge and other international publications. In 2016 she won Boston Accent Lit‘s Prize for Short Story. In 2017 she made it to Across The Margin‘s List for Best of Fiction.
Sjoerd van Wijk is a 29-year old writer based in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Life feels like a dream to him, and he loves to share this vision through his art. He writes short stories and film screenplays. You can also find him behind a Dungeon Master screen leading players on his self-published Dungeons & Dragons adventures.
Clio Velentza lives in Athens, Greece. She is a winner of ‘Best Small Fictions 2016’ and a Pushcart nominee. Her work has appeared in several literary journals, such as Wigleaf, Lost Balloon, Jellyfish Review, Hypertrophic Literary, Moonpark Review and People Holding. Find her on Twitter at @clio_v.
Stephen Watt is Dumbarton FC’s poet-in-residence. Author of two collections, Spit (2012) and Optograms, Stephen became Scotland’s first crime poet at Bloody Scotland crime writing festival and is one half of the gothic spoken word/music collaboration Neon Poltergeist.
Melissa Woods is a writer who lives in Boise, ID with her six kids, husband and a full time schedule at Boise State University. Her most recent publication, “Feeding Piper,” can be found in Memoir Magazine.
Jane Yolen is the author of over 370 published books including 10 books of poetry for adults. She has won two Nebulas, a World Fantasy Award, a Caldecott, three Mythopoeic awards, two Christopher Medals, a nomination for the National Book Award, the Jewish Book Award, the Kerlan Award, the Catholic Library’s Regina Medal, a nomination for the National Book Award, as well as six honorary doctorates. She was the first writer to win a New England Public Radio’s Arts & Humanities Award. Despite her many awards, she has this warning: Don’t go chasing fame. Just write. One of her awards set her good coat on fire.