Nancy Bourne's work has appeared in more than thirty publications nationwide. Her stories have been published in Upstreet, The South Carolina Review, The Carolina Quarterly, Blue Lake Review, and many others. A short story collection, Spotswood, Virginia, set in the South during the Civil Rights era, was published by Stephen T. Austin State University Press in September, 2021. Nancy was a retired attorney who, in addition to writing and volunteering as a fiction editor for this journal, devoted energy and passion to teaching prisoners in San Quentin; voting rights and racial and social justice; and saving the environment. Nancy died on March 11, 2021, succumbing to cancer-related problems after a 14-month struggle, during which she continued to write and publish stories and novellas, including a yet-to-be published novel set in 17th century America. https://nancybourne.us
Rachel Cann was awarded an MA in Creative Writing from Emerson College in 1991. She was a semi-finalist for the Katherine Anne Porter Award in 2004 (Nimrod). Her work has been published in numerous journals since 1989, including Spare Change, The Old Red Kimono,The New Southern Literary Messenger, Half-Tones to Jubilee, Harbor Review (U Mass), Anemone, Yesterday’s Magazette, Passion Press Books on Tape Anthology of Women’s Erotica, Blue Collar Review, Fried Chicken and Coffee, The Wilderness House Review, Hippocampus Magazine, Florida English, WhistlingFire, The Write Room Magazine, Mug of Woe, Skive Magazine, Noir Anthology, Work Literary Magazine, and others.
Frank’s poem, “Labor Day,” was nominated for a Pushcart Prize Award. His short stories have appeared in RavensPerch, Insider, Kola: A Black Literary Magazine, Dialogual, Madras Mag, Reverential Magazine, the Examined Life Journal, Into the Void, Empty Sink Publishing, Zodiac Review, The Fictional Cafe and the Fredericksburg Literary & Art Review, among many other publications. He has had poetry published in Philadelphia Stories, Fox Chase Review, Deltona Howl, Artifact Nouveau, Black Bottom Review, and Feile-Festa. He lives in Langhorne, Pa.
Iris Jamahl Dunkle is an award-winning writer and former Sonoma County Poet Laureate. Her work challenges the Western myth of progress by examining the devastating impact that agriculture and over-population have had, and continue to have, on the North American West. She obtained her MFA in poetry from New York University and her Ph.D. in American Literature from Case Western Reserve University. Dunkle wrote the first full-length biography on Charmian London, Jack London's wife, Charmian Kittredge London: Trailblazer, Author, Adventurer published by the University of Oklahoma Press in 2020. Her fourth collection of poems, West : Fire : Archive was published by The Center for Literary Publishing in 2021. Dunkle teaches at Napa Valley College and is the Poetry and Translation Director of the Napa Valley Writers' Conference.
D. B. Gardner, a graduate of Michigan State University, has had stories published in Flumes Literary Journal, East by Northeast, and Black Fox Literary Magazine and is currently working on a collection of short stories.
Joyce Goldenstern writes and “lives by” fiction, often inspired by folktales, animals, visual art, and other literature as well as her own experiences and imaginings. She has been published in many journals and anthologies and has a collection of short stories (The Story Ends — The Story Never Ends, 2015, ELJ Editions) and a chapbook (Way Stops American, 2017-18 Gambling the Aisle chapbook contest). She has been awarded two Illinois Arts Council grants for her work and won a Quarterly West novella contest. Her novel In Their Ruin will be published by Black Heron Press in early 2024. She lives in Chicago. https://thestoryendsthestoryneverends.wordpress.com
Raised simultaneously by David Bowie and Virginia Woolf, Natascha Graham is a writer of stage, screen, fiction and poetry. She lives with her wife in a house full of sunshine on the east coast of England. Her short films have been selected by Pinewood Studios & Lift-Off Sessions, Cannes Film Festival, Raindance Film Festival and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Her plays and other stage work have been performed at The Mercury Theatre, Colchester, Thornhill Theatre, London and Fifth Avenue Theatre, New York where her monologue, Confessions: The Hours won the award for Best Monologue. Her poetry, fiction and non-fiction essays have been previously published by Acumen, Rattle, Litro, Every Day Fiction, The Sheepshead Review, Yahoo News and The Mighty among others, as well as being aired on BBC Radio and various podcasts. Natascha also writes the continuing BBC Radio Drama, Everland, and has an upcoming theatre show at The Lion & Unicorn Theatre, London.
Mark Heathcote’s poems are published in journals, magazines, and anthologies online and in printed form, residing in the UK, from Manchester; he is the author of In Perpetuity and Back on Earth, two books of poems published by Creative Talents Unleashed.
Mary Lewis has published stories and essays in journals including Superstition Review, The Woven Tale Press, r.kv.r.y. quarterly, Persimmon Tree, The Spadina Literary Review, Toasted Cheese, RiverSedge, Sleet Magazine, Lost Lake Folk Opera Magazine, Trapeze, Valley Voice, Wapsipinicon Almanac, and a story collection, Frank Walsh’s Kitchen and Other Stories. She has an MFA in creative writing from Augsburg University. She also has an MS in Ecology from the University of Minnesota, and taught for many years in the Biology Department of Luther College in Decorah, Iowa.
Fabiana Elisa Martinez was born and raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She earned a degree in Linguistics and World Literature from UCA University in Buenos Aires. She is a linguist, a language teacher and a writer, who has lived and worked in Dallas, Texas, for almost twenty years and speaks Spanish, English, French, Portuguese and Italian. Her first work of fiction is the short story collection 12 Random Words. She also authored the grammar book series Spanish 360 with Fabiana and the short story Stupidity, published as a book by Pierre Turcotte Éditeur. Her short stories have been published in Rigorous Magazine, The Closed Eye Open, Ponder Review, Hindsight Magazine, The Good Life Review (UK), The Halcyone, Rhodora Magazine (India), Mediterranean Poetry, and Writers and Readers Magazine (UK), among others. Two of her stories were featured in the Manawaker Flash Fiction Podcast. She is currently working on her first novel.
Sarah Mullen earned her Bachelors of Art in English with a minor in writing from Portland State University in 2014. She is currently working on her Masters in Literature & Writing at California State University San Marcos. Her writing recently appeared in Feels Blind Literary. Sarah has worked in eclectic industries including substance abuse treatment, family law and construction. Her dynamic work experience has been excellent for relating to diverse groups of people, appreciating their stories, and learning how all stories are intertwined. Sarah currently lives in San Diego with her two children two and under and her husband.
Mary Cuffe Perez lives in Galway, upstate New York. In addition to six books – which include poetry, creative nonfiction and children’s novels – she has published numerous magazine articles on natural history subjects, and fiction and poetry in a variety of literary publications. “Chico” is part of a memoir of linked stories, entitled Just be Pleasant and Enjoy the Ride.
Christopher Rubio-Goldsmith was born in Merida, Yucatan, and raised in Tucson, Arizona. Growing up in a biracial, bilingual home near the frontera, and then teaching high school English for 28 years in a large urban school with a diverse student body created many experiences rich in voice and imagination. Some of his works have appeared in Book of Matches, Hole In The Head Journal, Sand Hills, the anthology America We Call Your Name and other places. Kelly, his wife of almost 30 years, sometimes gently edits his work.