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,” “My Bucket List”), and his poems (“Lonely,” “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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Madiha Khan is a first-time contributor to Coffin Bell. She did not provide a bio, even though we asked nicely.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Mika Moreh is a second-year BA student in the Tel-Aviv University for Philosophy and English Literature.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.