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.
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.
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.
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.
Steve Conn lives and writes in Charleston, South Carolina.
Veronica Emilyn makes stories, paintings and noise. You can find her on twitter @allthatweforget and on tumblr at www.crimesididntcommit.tumblr.com.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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/.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.