andrew chmielowiec lives in new york's hudson valley, where he teaches on the weekdays, and sleeps on the weekends.
Catherine Owen has published nine haunted collections of poems and one of prose. Other spooky facts about her can be found on her website: www.catherineowen.org. This poem is from Cineris, a manuscript dedicated to her spouse who died in 2010.
Chris Kobylinsky is studying English literature as a graduate student at Western Connecticut State University. He has been a writer of poetry and stories for as long as he can remember. His writing is not only inspired by his many literary heroes — such as Shakespeare, Homer, Emily Dickinson, Wallace Stevens, and Gerard Manley Hopkins — it is also inspired by the hay bale sprinkled pastures, the stone wall–laced forests, and the abandoned silos of New England. Chris has recently completed his first young adult novel and is pursuing a career in publishing.
Christy Effinger teaches English at a community college in Indianapolis. Her writing has appeared in Southern Indiana Review, Word Riot, elimae, Dark Sky Magazine, All Things Girl, Cezanne's Carrot, EarthSpeak Magazine, Girls with Insurance, Melusine, and elsewhere.
Gus Iversen is a native San Franciscan, a founding member of the ILOANBooks literary collective in Brooklyn, NY and the bassist for Phil and the Osophers. He likes cashews, oceans, laundromats, and mechanical pencils. He has a bachelors degree in Creative Writing and consequently works at a veterinary clinic. He was kicked out of Six Flags in New Jersey last summer and briefly banned from the amusement park. This experience informs every aspect of his writing. (www.iloanbooks.com)
Jim Davis is a graduate of Knox College and now lives, writes, and paints in Chicago. Jim edits the North Chicago Review, and his work has appeared in After Hours, Blue Mesa Review, Poetry Quarterly, The Ante Review, Chiron Review, andContemporary American Voices, among others. Jim will see two of his collections go to print in 2012: Lead, then Gold(unbound content) and Elements of Course: Crafty Abstraction (MiTe Press) www.jimdavispoetry.com.
Lucia Olga Ahrensdorf is sixteen years old. She enjoys fencing in sketchy warehouses and writing poetry while she procrastinates for physics labs.
Meredith Weiers graduated from Carnegie Mellon University and lives in southern Maryland.
Michael Dwayne Smith proudly owns and operates one of the English-speaking world’s most unusual names. He teaches at a community college, where campus police routinely ask for his photo I.D. Despite the awful rumors, he wants you to know he writes poems and stories, as suggested by the appearance of said same at BLIP Magazine, Mosaic, Mojave, etc. He lives in a small California desert town with his wife, son, and many rescued animals—all of whom talk in their sleep.
Richard Peabody is the founder and co-editor of Gargoyle Magazine and editor (or co-editor) of nineteen anthologies including Mondo Barbie, Conversations with Gore Vidal, and A Different Beat: Writings by Women of the Beat Generation. The author of a novella, two short story collections, and six poetry books, he is also a native Washingtonian. Peabody teaches fiction writing at Johns Hopkins University, where he has been presented both the Faculty Award for Distinguished Professional Achievement (2005) and the Award for Teaching Excellence: Master of Arts in Writing Program (2010-2011).
Ricky Davis is pursuing an MFA in Creative Writing at Emerson College, where he studies poetry (with a special emphasis on prose poetry). His work appeared in the first issue of Prick of the Spindle in 2007. He lives in Brighton, Massachusetts with his wife and soon-to-be-born son.
Tess Joyce has recently squeezed a poem into the December issue of Anatomy and Etymology. In 2009 a collection of her poetry was published in Delhi, India; the book was a collaboration with an Indian writer. She lives with her partner in Indonesia and in 2011 was the Communications Officer for Dr Galdikas, to write out about her orangutan rehabilitation centre.
William C. Blome is a writer of poetry and short fiction. He beds down nightly in-between Baltimore and Washington, DC, and he is an MA graduate of the Johns Hopkins University Writing Seminars. His work has previously seen the light of day in such fine little mags as Amarillo Bay, Prism International, Taj Mahal Review, Pure Francis, This, Salted Feathers and The California Quarterly.