Masthead

Tamara Burross Grisanti

Founder / Editor-in-Chief

Tamara Burross Grisanti is a writer, editor, and two-time Pushcart Prize nominee. Her poetry and fiction appear or are forthcoming in New World Writing, Eunoia Review, Chicago Literati, Former Cactus, Corvus Review, Pussy Magic, The New Mexico Review, and The Literary Hatchet, among others. She is a gardener, comics artist, and musician, collects vintage occult prints, and lusts after the art of Luis Ricardo Falero. Her interests include the Gothic, British Modernism, creation myths, and anything having to do with Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. She is a resident of Buffalo, New York.

Hannah Emadian

Associate Editor

Matthew Dube

Assistant Editor

Matt Dube teaches creative writing and American literature at William Woods University. His stories have appeared in Minor Literature(s), Sourland Mountain Review, Bad Pony, and elsewhere. He’s at work on a dark novel but it’s hard because he spends so much time in the light.

A. Leigh

Assistant Editor

A. Leigh has three degrees in the Arts. She has a passion for reading and is enthralled with the creativity other minds possess. She lives in Buffalo, New York with her husband and small zoo of pets. She is a teacher by day, and her hobbies include crochet and vegan cooking.

Desmond White

Assistant Editor

Desmond White teaches rhetoric and writes when his students aren’t looking. His speculative fiction has appeared in HeartWood, Kasma, The Tishman Review, Literally Stories, Rue Scribe, Ghost Parachute, and Z Publishing’s America’s Emerging Writers. Be wary of his blog www.desmondwrite.com and steer away from mindless tweets @desmondwrite.

Ray Ball

Poetry Editor

Ray Ball grew up in a house full of snakes. She has a PhD in European history and is currently working on an MFA. She lives in Alaska, where she works as a college professor. Ray is the author of a chapbook of history-themed poems entitled Tithe of Salt (Louisiana Literature Press, 2019). Her creative work has recently been published in descant, Gingerbread House, Rivet, Louisiana Literature, Psaltery & Lyre, and SWWIM Every Day. Ray has received multiple nominations for Best of the Net and Pushcart. When she’s not in the classroom, Ray can be found researching in the archives, running on Alaska’s trails, or drinking bitter beverages.

Jessica Drake-Thomas

Poetry Editor

Jessica Drake-Thomas is a horror poet and fiction writer. She is the author of a poetry collection, Burials. She also runs a poetry book review blog, This Week, I Read. Her work has been featured in Grimoire Magazine, Three Drops from a Cauldron, Coffin Bell, Ploughshares, and others. Her interests include Gothic Horror, Dark Romanticism, tarot, occultism and cupcakes.

Julio Montalvo Valentin

Poetry Editor

Julio Montalvo Valentín (they/them): Julio Montalvo Valentin is the author of three chapbooks, Don’t Give up the Ship and Ship Lost (CWP Press, 2016; 2017), and Those who Pray to Rice (NightBallet Press, 2019). Julio was a guest editor for Mutata Re, Plurality Press, Portrait, and co-founded Cringe-Worthy Poets Collective. Their work has been published several times and internationally, as well as currently nominated for the Pushcart Prize(“13 Ways of Looking at Rice,” NightBallet Press). Currently, They are a Poetry Editor for Coffin Bell Journal and Variety Pack. Aside from pursuing a Masters Degree in English Literature for poetic inspiration, you can find them working on their next project: converting a school bus into a poetry caravan.

Juliana Motoki

Short Story Editor

Juliana Motoki is a former English teacher and current library assistant who earned her BA in Literature at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Since gifted with a copy of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary in the 6th grade, she has been addicted to everything relating to cats, horror, and the weird. She is currently the Strange Editor for Rune Bear, an online literary journal devoted to speculative flash fiction. You can find her lurking in Colorado where she lives with her husband and their cat children.

Madison McLoughlin

Short Story Editor

Madison McLoughlin is a third-year student at Loyola University New Orleans, where she studies both English literature and mass communication journalism. Originally from Southwest Michigan, Madison’s love of New Orleans began early in life, as did her love of travel, when she attended her first Mardi Gras at six-months old. When she’s not reading or writing, Madison can be found in the quirky coffee shops, roaming bookstores, figuring out her next trip, nerding out over sea turtles, or exploring The Big Easy. Her work can be found in Coffin Bell Journal, The Loyola Maroon, The Wolf Magazine, and Where Y’at Magazine.

Kyle Shrader

Creative Nonfiction / Short Criticism Editor

Kyle James Shrader is a writer of poetry and nonfiction, an educator, and a professional reader who, like so many WNYers, has boomeranged back to Buffalo after years away. He has taught writing at colleges and universities in Florida, Texas, and New York. He has edited for Florida Review, The Dr. T. J. Eckleburg Review, and now Coffin Bell. His own work has appeared in Crack the Spine, The Chaffey Review, The Dr. T. J. Eckleburg Review, Carcinogenic Poetry, and others. When not drinking coffee (or wine) and grading papers, he can be found hiking in the woods with his young daughter and his old dog.

Jared Benjamin

Reviews Editor

Jared Benjamin, also known by his pseudonym J.B. Stone, is a neurodivergent performance poet, reviewer, and writer from Brooklyn, now residing in Buffalo. He is the author of two chapbooks, A Place Between Expired Dreams And Renewed Nightmares (Ghost City Press 2018) and forthcoming, Fireflies & Hand Grenades (Stasia Press 2019). His prose, reviews, and poetry have appeared in BlazeVOX, Crack the Spine, Maudlin House, Gravel, Yes Poetry, Glass, Empty Mirror, Occulum, and elsewhere. You can check out more of his work at jaredbenjaminstone.com or check out his tweets @JB_StoneTruth.

Michaela Dustin

Blog / Newsletter Editor

Michaela Dustin is an introspective creative with the desire to experience everything at least once. Her usual hobbies include rock climbing, photography, and pushing a pencil around. She has a BA from the University of Louisville where she gained a role as an editor in multiple departments for the literary journal, Miracle Monocle. Also has a huge thing for plants.

Dorian J. Sinnott

Social Media Editor

Dorian J. Sinnott is a graduate of Emerson College’s Writing and Publishing program, currently residing in the historic Kingston, NY with his two cats. He spends his weekends cosplaying at comic cons up and down the east coast, and herding cats at his local animal shelter. When he’s not writing, Dorian loves playing violin, English horseback riding, and watching and reading all things horror. His work has appeared in numerous magazines and journals, including: Crab Fat Literary Magazine, The Hungry Chimera, and Spill Yr Guts.

Lindsey Turner

Designer / Art Director

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.