Lydia writes poetry, travelogues, essays and the popular vampire fiction series, Dark Whispers and Night Time.

Sand is currently Managing Editor for the Piker Press and has been producing artwork, fiction, nonfiction and novel-length writings for the Press since the very first issue.

Editor Emeritus Alexandra Queen is the original editor of the Piker Press. She is also a freelance writer/cartoonist with numerous print credits and her own weekly humor column in print. But no novels. Yet. Dammit.

Wendy and Caribou do canine search and rescue in California. Wendy works with a therapeutic horseback riding center for the disabled and is a licensed Physical Therapist. She also writes poignant fiction and compelling nonfiction.

Mel Trent lives and works in North Carolina. Occasionally, she writes something that's not half bad. She has written poetry, fiction and anime reviews for the Press.

Josh lives in Missouri where he chainsmokes cigarettes, micro-analyzes Joss Whedon, and suffers frequent heartburn. His accomplishments include co-parenting the brainchild known as the Piker Press, participating in NaNoWriMo, and coaching writers.

Cheryl is the Assistant Editor in charge of poetry at the Piker Press. She also contributes reviews, humor, poetry, and photography to the Piker Press.

Bruce Memblatt is a native New Yorker and has studied Business Administration at Pace University. In addition to writing he runs a website devoted to theater composer Stephen Sondheim, which he's lovingly maintained since 1996. Bruce writes short stories mainly in the horror genre in a mad search to one day create the definitive short story. He hates clowns and soy milk.

In addition to reviews, Bernie has written humorous sci-fi shorts about a priest assigned to a backwater planet, and the serialized novel Stained Glass, a sensitive tale of a woman who must reconcile her love for another woman with her faith.

At some point in his life, Dan Mulhollen realized that writing was the one thing he did with any degree of perfectionism. An incurable dabbler, Dan's hobbies include songwriting, computer and board gaming, photography, tarot reading, and collections of v

Katrina Stonoff is a former journalist gone to the dark side to write fiction. A five-time Nanowrimo winner, she is finishing her third novel and outlining a fourth.

Hailing from the Czech Republic, Jerry writes short stories, nonfiction, software, and novels. Not necessarily in that order.

Chalmers "Chas" Wallace lives in the NYC area pretending to be a Product Manager for a small internet startup while spending his free time writing and trying to get published.

Ed is a born storyteller who hails from Texas. NASCAR, motorcycles, and body piercings are some of the more memorable topics of his fiction and non-fiction, but he is also known to discuss fatherhood, romance, and the love of a good dog.

Artist James Shin pens several regular strips, including FatBottoms which is appearing from the beginning in the Press.

Tedi Trindle has written humor, "Teditorials", investigative reports, and an assortment of other things.

Kellie is a reference librarian and writer. She has published numerous articles in professional journals, a book that has gone into its second printing, and has landed another book deal, on which she is working currently.

Tyler Willson has been a lot of places, and done a lot of things. Raised on a dirt farm in a town called Elmo, Utah (population: 312 - including dogs and cattle...)

JH Mae is a feature journalist and short fiction writer based in rural northern New York.

Cartoonist and columnist, John's work is predominantly political humor of an unabashedly inflammatory nature.

John has written articles on British car maintenance and repair, flight simulator technology, and ham radio operation. For the Piker Press he has written articles on science, fantastic fables, and serialized his 2002 NaNoWriMo novel, "Victory Highway".

Basil D. writes the Meanderings column, a series of essays that are frequently funny and often insightful.

Robert Earle has published dozens of short stories in literary magazines across the U.S. and Canada, two novels (The Way Home and The Man Clothed in Linen), and two books of nonfiction (Nights in the Pink Motel and Identities in North America.)

KK writes nonsense short stories, and is attempting to find someone foolish enough to publish his serious novel.

Despite loving orchids, dry white wine, and Broadway show tunes, Pete McArdle is married and has three kids in college. When not drilling teeth, he enjoys torturing words, especially adverbs.

Richard Voza has been teaching writing for over 20 years, which is why he hasn't had a novel published. When unemployed a few years ago, he made great progress on his third unpublished novel, "The Curse".

I've made my day-job career in computer servicing and technician work, but I still rise early every work day to spend and hour or so at the artboard before getting on the road.

Eric Suhem lives in California and enjoys the qualities of his vegetable juicer. He can be found in the orange hallway. (www.orangehallway.com)

Jon Renaut, a.k.a. The Tejon, contributes photos and articles to the Press, but his true fame is the instigation of the Urinal Cake Thread, now an annual tradition on the NaNoWriMo boards every November, and here at the Press the rest of the year.

Patrick "Teech" Devine writes poetry laden with sensuality, drama and fantasy.

Dan's hobbies include woodworking and running marathons. At one time, Dan was also a Certified Beer Judge from the American Homebrewers Association. (It's good work if you can find it.)

Hailing from the quiet, itchy back woods of Pennsylvania, Paula Patruzzi has this to say about herself:"I've been a paper carrier, punch-press operator, 'sales associate', and pipefitters'/welders' helper. Now I'm a writer, which is a lot more fun than the other ones."

Pete Armetta is a writer of Flash Fiction, Poetry, Short Stories and Essays. With a style that's been called accessible and broad, unpredictable and matter-of-fact, Pete is a genuine, self-taught outsider. His stories and poetry fend off conventionality and he's never easy to pigeonhole... He doesn't wanna be.

Fiction writer Emrys Koenigsmann lives in the barren, wintry lands of the North.

Sci-fi, fantasy and romance fill Missouri-born Anna Parrish's tales.

Beverly Pauley lives in Alderson, West Virginia, with her husband, Curtis, and dacshund, Quentin -- named for Quentin Collins, werewolf in the television show "Dark Shadows." Pauley is a long-time fan of Edgar Allen Poe and all things Gothic.

Jonathan D. Scott is the owner of a small advertising and graphic design firm in the Southeast. Two of his novels are available from amazon and middletonbooks. com. He is married with two daughters and is a very ordinary person, or at least appears so to the casual observer.

Barbara Rendall is a Canadian writer living in Beijing. She has published short fiction in Redbook and Chatelaine, and her poetry has appeared in various Canadian and U.S. publications.

Jeffrey Carl Jefferis is a thirty-year-old freedom fighter. He has been pushing the envelope of word power for so long that his fingers are permanently stuck to the sealing glue

Amy Probst hails from Michigan. She's a published newspaper columnist and tech writer, and a talented photographer. For more Amy, go to www.amyprobst.com.

Hillary Peak is a recovering idealist. She became a lawyer to change the world and is still somewhat shocked that didn't occur. Now, her goal is to retire from practicing law and write novels that people love. She is currently a practicing attorney in the District of Columbia. She lives with her family in Alexandria, VA.

Barry Kirwan works in air traffic and nuclear power safety, and found non-fiction a lot easier to get published than fiction, but finally has his science fiction novel (The Eden Paradox) coming out as an ebook in Feb 2011 with publisher Ampichellis. The short story "Writerholics Anonymous" summarises what he wishes he'd known when starting out in fiction...

Barry has been a ghostwriter, a speechwriter and a copywriter. His work has appeared in newspapers, trade magazines and on the Internet. He has an excessive reliance on spell check.

Michael Price received his BA in Theater from the University of Minnesota in 1980 and has been writing fiction, primarily as a source of self entertainment, ever since. He performed his own one-man one-act play at the 2011 Minnesota Fringe Festival to considerable critical acclaim, has had a number of his short stories published in 2012, and recently finished his first novel, "Serpentine."

Gypsy writes how-to and nonfiction articles for magazines. Her other projects include travelogue, history pieces, and a stint as a regular columnist for the Press in 2004.

Anna Sykora writes for the joy from Hanover, Germany, where she resides with her patient husband and three enormous Norwegian Forest Cats. Editors seem to prefer her humor, horror and animal tales.

Kevin writes ultra-short science fiction pieces. His style is influenced by his work in television news, where brevity and impact are emphasized.

Born in a city minutes from the Quebec border, Carrie grew up in the Adirondack mountains just outside the famous Lake Placid, and now lives in eastern North Carolina. She's a mother and a wife who enjoys writing all forms of fiction and nonfiction. She especially enjoys writing stories that has supernatural themes.

Mark is the father of twins and a jack-of-all trades, master of some, but has yet to figure out what he has mastered! He lives in SE Michigan and writes whenever he can for whatever he can as often as he can.

Sailor Jim writes as he has lived: weird, wild, funny, with unexpected twists and not infrequent incidences of explosions and sex.

Dabbling in poetry, fiction and nonfiction, Terri Edwards (Terrifried) holds down a job as an English teacher in Japan, where she has lived since 1988.

Jerry Guarino writes short stories and plays. Please visit his website at http://thedevilsorchestra.us

Ronald lives in Charleston, South Carolina where he spends his days running, reading, writing, and trying not to get on the nerves of his wife of 39 1/2 years. Gleefully retired from an unremarkable career in financial and social services, Ronald spends his hard won free time writing short stories with a southern theme and setting. His wife, mother, and daughter are his biggest fans because, well, they have to be.

I have returned to my homeland of mountains with woods thick as hair and rivers choked pink with spawning salmon. Every waking minute in this fertile land is an inspiration to capture its essence.

April has been writing for almost five years, getting inspiration from various experiences seen by the eyes of a thinker. The purpose of her creativity is urging people to see beyond the bounds, to be themselves, to speak their minds loud, not to be afraid to differ from the crowd. She creates to destroy. To destroy the naive beliefs. To destroy the stereotypes.

Cody L. Stanford lives in Overland Park, Kansas. He attended the University of Missouri at Kansas City and is fascinated by the arts, history, politics, mythology, and other elements that shape the forces and foibles of human nature. His stories have appeared in "The New Orphic Review", "The Circle", and "Eyes". When not writing, he often spends time working with tigers and other exotic cats at a nearby feline conservation park.

Ralph Bland is a Manager/ Bookkeeper for one of the last remaining small independent grocery stores in Nashville. A graduate of Belmont University, he is married with a daughter and three very spoiled dogs, and on some occasions he likes to disguise himself as a normal person. He is the author of three novels (Once In Love With Amy, Where Or When, Past Perfect), all of the comic Southern Fiction genre.

Van Lee studied history at the University of Southern MS and has spent the last seven years doing independent research on military history. He's currently working on his second book.

Mitchell Waldman's fiction, poetry, and essays have appeared in numerous publications. He is also the author of the novel, A FACE IN THE MOON, was co-editor with Diana May-Waldman of WOUNDS OF WAR: POETS FOR PEACE, and is Fiction Editor for Blue Lake Review.

Chris Miller is editor of the Cold Lake Sun, a print newspaper. He has a degree in journalism and writes short fiction for a number of publications.

Christine is a Canadian First Nations journalist and writer who hails from Peguis First Nation, one of Manitoba's largest reserves. "I write about issues that are close to my heart -- issues that will hopefully bring about awareness of what is happening with Canadian First Nations, because knowing your story, your truth and following it is something that can make us all better."

Ndaba Sibanda is a Zimbabwean-born writer. He hails from Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second largest city. He is one of the most prolific poets to emerge from that Southern African country.

Phillip Donnelly grew up in Dublin and currently lives in Vietnam. He has also lived in Barcelona, China, Moscow, Bangkok, Paris and elsewhere. He hopes to move to another planet at the earliest opportunity.

Sam Gridley's fiction and satire have appeared in numerous magazines in print and online. His novel "The Big Happiness" is available for download at his website, Gridleyville. A new novel, "The Shame of What We Are," is forthcoming from New Door Books.

Effie Collins is a writer of horror and speculative short fiction and novels.

John Paulits is a former New York City teacher. You are invited to visit his website www.johnpaulits.com for more information on his twelve children's novels and five adult novels.

Michael Lee Johnson is a poet and freelance writer from Itasca, Illinois. He is heavy influenced by: Carl Sandburg, Robert Frost, William Carlos Williams, Irving Layton, Leonard Cohen, and Allen Ginsberg.

Born and raised in East Tennessee, I grew up close to nature and related to nearly everyone in the valley...I now try to recapture the flavor of the mountains in everything I write.

A.J. Huffman is a poet and freelance writer in Daytona Beach, Florida. She has previously published her work in literary journals, in the U.K. as well as America.

Carol Anne Byrnes is a community college English instructor who has been writing creatively since about third grade. There seems to be something of a family tradition here -- yes, her grandmother's family really DID come from Blarney.

Michael McLaughlin lives on the shores of Lake Chapala, Mexico. He has been published in the Ojo Del Lago, The Barfing Frog, The Harrow, and New Graffiti, and currently is with an improvisational comedy troupe called "Spanglish Imposition."

Terry Petersen writes with positive thinking in mind. Her motto: Dive through the muck of real life, but surface with a gem. She can be found at her web page http://terrypetersen.wordpress.com and has had poems published in a local anthology, "For A Better World 2011, 2012, and 2013." She will have a short story published in "Pine Mountain Sand and Gravel," an Appalachian literary anthology, in March of 2014.

Joseph McKinley is an English teacher in southern China, where he has lived for the past three years.

I have loved writing and reading ever since I was a child. Aside from 'Paradoxica,' I am the author of the recently released novel, Climbing Through Windows. When I'm not writing, I can be found at work or spending time with my friends and family

Phillip Larrea is the author of We the People (Cold River Press) and Our Patch (Writing Knights Press). Since 2012, his poems have appeared in over 60 journals, anthologies and magazines in the U.S., Ireland, Canada and Asia. He is the winner of the 2013 New Frontier Prize for poetry, and has been nominated twice for the 2014 Pushcart Prize.

Ron Singer (b. 1941) lives in New York with his wife, the painter, Elizabeth Yamin, After having taught for 44 years, in 2008 Singer became a full-time writer. He has written librettos for two operas and published three books and numerous poems, stories, and articles about Africa. Recently, he completed three trips to various corners of that continent to interview pro-democracy activists for a forthcoming book, Uhuru Revisited (Africa World Press/Red Sea Press, 2013).

Two-time NaNo winner Schizophrenic Chick writes short stories and poems for the Press.

Wayne Faust has been a full-time music and comedy performer for over 30 years, performing in 38 states, England, Holland, Scotland, and Mexico. ( www.waynefaust.com). He wrote a full-length non-fiction book about the entertainment business called "Thirty Years Without A Real Job." (Picklehead Music Press - www.picklehead.com).

A fictional,wandering shaman who writes a fantasy advice column for the Press.

David H. Donaghe lives and works in the high desert of southern California. He has three passions in life: reading, writing, and riding his motorcycle. When not delving into a good book or putting his face in the wind on his motorcycle, David writes short stories and novels. In 1995, David took the First Place prize in the California Writer's Club short story contest with his Western short story, "Blind Justice."

Mark Lyons has published stories in several literary magazines, including Whetstone (JP McGrath Memorial Award), Bucks County Writer, Sensations, and the Schuylkill Valley Journal of the Arts.

Peter is currently working towards an MFA in Creative Writing, having journeyed across the country to do so. He has work forthcoming in Writers' Bloc.

Terence Kuch is a consultant, avid hiker, and world traveler. His publications and acceptances include Ante Review, Clockwise Cat, Colored Chalk, Foliate Oak, Foundling Review, Marginalia, North American Review, and many others. He has studied at the Writers Center, Bethesda, Maryland, and the Mid-American Review Summer Fiction Workshop.

Christopher Allen, a native Tennessean, lives in Germany and writes creative non-fiction, humor and Southern literature. His work has appeared in "Chicken Soup for the Soul: Tough Times, Tough People" and "Gathering: Writers of Williamson County," as well as in the ezines "Metazen," "Ruthless Peoples Magazine" and "The Short Humour Site."

Dave Lignell lives in Lawrence, Kansas. He enjoys writing flash fiction as a way to escape the stress of day-to-day obligations.

Gail Taylor is a new Canadian writer who earned the Certificate in Creative Writing from the University of Toronto in 2009 with Honors and completed the writers' program at the Banff Centre for the Arts. Her fiction was a winner in the Random House Canada student contest in 2007, short listed for the Random House prize in 2008, and short listed for the Marina Nemat award in 2009.

Kathryn Long is an author of mystery and suspense novels and short stories.

Marshall J. Pierce is an author, producer and songwriter living in San Francisco. His writing has appeared in newspapers, online magazines, literary mags, tv commercials, corporate videos, LitQuake, box packaging, his Mom's Facebook page, radio theatre and countless emails.

The work of freelance writer, Mary O. Parker, includes dozens of magazine articles on a variety of topics, but opportunities for authentic expression -- e.g. works which skinny past the towering blaze of advertiser approval -- provide her true sustenance. Mary has co-authored three non-fiction books and will soon complete her first novel, "Kaylee, Texas."

Peter is a speculative fiction writer, most notably the author of the award winning supernatural thriller, "The Grandmaster." He is also the Founder and Managing Editor of Ex Machina Press, a publishing company based in Los Angeles, which was named 2007 PUBLISHER OF THE YEAR by the DIY Book Festival in Los Angeles.

Peter lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he's worked in the magical realms of libraries, human resources, and word processing departments.

Steve Klepetar's work has received several nominations for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net. His latest collection is My Son Writes a Report on the Warsaw Ghetto (Flutter Press).

Tom Hamilton's work has appeared in over seventy publications including 'Bathtub Gin' 'The Rockford Review' and the 'Old Crow Review' among many others.

A. Frank Bower took early retirement from mental health work in 2006 to write, study writing and spend time with his wife Carol. He workshopped with Dan Pope and Sari Rosenblatt at CT Wesleyan, but credits his local writers group Poplar Writers -- Geof Fowler, Carol Parker and Lynn Wilcox -- with helping him most. He has published 16 short stories, 4 memoirs and 4 poems to date.

Twenty three year old English writer currently studying film in Cornwall, the South of England. Mainly interested in short stories and poetry. Influences (lots of Americans) : Charles Bukowski, Ernest Hemingway, Truman Capote, Raymond Carver, Jack Kerouac

Amanda is a married mother of three girls and resides near Charleston, WV. She enjoys writing horror, thriller and satire and loves all work by Daphne du Maurier.

Ben wrote his first poems in Texas where he grew up. He then moved to Berkeley, Boston, Philadelphia and finally Northeast Ohio.

Caitlin Sinead Jennings has a master's degree in writing from Johns Hopkins University. She lives in Alexandria, Virginia with her husband and tweets about writing, reading, and whatnot at @CaitlinSineadJ.

I grew up in central Iowa, where the writing bug infested my impressionable brain in my teens. Insecure Pisces that I am, many of my stories and characters remained imprisoned in a shoe box until I moved to Mississippi in 2001...

Daniel Davis was born and raised in Central Illinois. His work has appeared in various online and print journals. You can find him at Dumpster Chicken Music.

I have been writing for several years now. My grown up job is being a funeral director in Ventura County, CA. I have also written an unpublished novel, "Funeral On The Beach" and am currently working on another novel as well as another short story. Funeral directing is a third career; I had toiled in Television Animation for 16 years, working for studios such as Disney, Warner Brothers, Sony and Knowledge Adventure.

Dianne Post is an attorney who worked for twenty years representing battered women and children in family courts. Since 1998 she has been doing international human rights work focused primarily on gender-based violence. Her writings include articles, columns, law review articles, and short stories for which she has won several prizes.

Gary Beck has spent most of his adult life as a theater director and worked as an art dealer when he couldn't earn a living in the theater. His chapbook 'Remembrance' was published by Origami Condom Press and 'The Conquest of Somalia' was published by Cervena Barva Press.

Harvey Silverman is a retired physician living in Manchester, NH. He writes primarily for his own enjoyment.

J.J. Green is a British freelance science writer currently living in Taipei, Taiwan, where she writes on the natural environment and imaginary worlds.

Jay Sizemore has found a day job to be the enemy of imagination, but poverty is the cruelest of muses. He writes poems and stories while his wife sleeps and the cats try to figure out how to open doors.

Joe Baldwin is a History graduate who writes fiction, poetry and essays on a wide variety of topics. He lives in Southampton in the United Kingdom. He has been published in a number of journals and is currently writing a novel and a poetry collection.

Robert A. Vella is a former computer programmer/analyst who is now pursuing his lifelong passion for writing and storytelling. Science fiction is his primary focus, but he also writes non-fiction essays on political, cultural, historical, and environmental issues. As a product of the idealistic and tumultuous Sixties, his work generally expresses themes of progressivism and secular morality.

Steven is based out of the Ozarks and has a BA in English with an emphasis in creative writing from Missouri State University. His fiction can be found in Bewildering Stories , Midwest Literary Magazine, Aurora Wolf, Yellow Mamma and is available for purchase in Winter Canons and A href="http://www.amazon.com/Aurora-Rising-Literary-Journal-Science/dp/1456479083">Aurora Rising.

Tim Henderson is a freelance writer who currently resides in Asheville, NC. He holds an M.A. in Communication Studies, spent several years teaching English in Japan and traveling around Asia, and is finishing up a collection of short stories based on his adventures in the Far East.

Tom Larsen lives in Lambertville, New Jersey with Andree and her pets. His work has appeared in Newsday, New Millennium Writings, Antietam Review and Puerto del Sol.

Bill Schwarz is a writer, designer, and engineer from Austin, Texas.

Alexei Russell is an emerging writer living in Winnipeg, Canada. He had a great many jobs before realizing his University English teacher may have had something, when she suggested he'd be happiest as a writer. A believer in the maxim that a writer should try his hand at all genres, he has conquered all themes and genres, apart from Westerns--which he will get around to eventually.

Amit Chakraborty is an author from India whose daytime job is in IT. He writes humorous short stories which show the human side of the problems faced by people.

Anna Murray is a nationally recognized technology consultant, speaker and blogger. One of an extraordinarily rare species -- a woman who owns a successful software-development company -- she loves to combine her two passions, technology and writing.

Antonio Hopson has published short stories in The Harrow Magazine, The Subterranean Quarterly, Poor Mojo's Almanac and also NPR commentator Andrei Codrescu's Exquisite Corpse Magazine.

C.J. Arellano is a writer and filmmaker. During the day, he works as a video editor at the Second City comedy theatre in Chicago. Sift through his video and writing stuff at CJArellano.com.

Darren Sapp is a U.S. Navy veteran, a graduate of Dallas Theological Seminary, and holds a Masters of History from Southwestern A/G University. He writes thriller/action fiction and engages various aspects of history for non-fiction.

Returning to writing after having spent most of a lifetime doing other things. Original wife, two children, five grandchildren. Have matriculated through almost all of my earlier vices and sins (if it's other than hard drugs, I've probably attempted it). A pleasantly haphazard life.

FRED HILARY, a writer of mythic fiction and fairy tale, lives in Greece. His website can be found at Fred Hilary's Fiction Pages.

James Noguera has published short stories and poems online, such as in The WiFiles, The World of Myth, and The Piker Press. He has an MFA from City College of New York. He lives in the Bronx and isn't scared.

Jim Wisneski is an author and poet living in the Lehigh Valley, PA with his wife, his almost one year old son, two cats, a fish, and a hermit crab.

Another dreadful product of and testament to the illiteracy of white American suburban life, Jimmy Neenan (The Sensei) has been know to write stories including chickens that crap eggs full of caramel, Wayne Newton's eulogy (people will be begging for this in a few years), and his own failed romantic undertakings as an overweight porker in the fifth grade. And still, somehow he's managed to find people to actually read his work.

When Jonas Knutsson left junior high in 8th grade to pursue a career as a gentleman of leisure, said institution made a note of a great general improvement in morale and academic performance and has yet to request his return.

Karla Lammers works as a corporate lawyer and has written several academic articles. Since turning her pen toward literary fiction, some of her short stories have appeared in online publications.

Kate Alexander-Kirk drinks copious amounts of tea as she dreams up weird and wonderful stories that she one day hopes to realize. And she does it all donning her Top-Hat at a jaunty angle. Most recently her work has appeared in Spry Literary Journal, Visceral Uterus and Boy Slut.

Ken Goldman, former Philadelphia teacher of English and Film Studies, is an affiliate member of the Horror Writers Association. His stories have appeared in over 700 independent press publications in the U.S., Canada, the UK, and Australia with over thirty due for publication in 2014.

Kerry D. Stewart has been traveling around the United States for fifty years, and believes that every encounter with another human being is a brush with a potential story. "Writing is as much a way of life as any other deep profession. It just wears out more laptops than most."

Kevin Keating currently teaches English at Baldwin-Wallace College near Cleveland, Ohio. His novel, "The Natural Order of Things," is scheduled for publication in November 2012 by Aqueous Books.

Kristan Ginther is a professional copywriter and published nonfiction author. Her recent short fiction work has appeared in apt Literary Journal, M Review, and Planet Magazine. She lives in Minneapolis with her husband, Dan, two cats, and Boxer dog. She h

Laureen Vonnegut is an American writer living between Romania and Mexico. Her novel, "OASIS", was launched in New York by literary press Counterpoint/Perseus Books. Last year her newest novel, "TWIN LIES," was published by Skorpion Press and is read in book clubs from Alaska to Romania. She has had over a dozen short stories and scripts published in the US, Europe and Mexico, and in addition to being shortlisted for the Ian St James Award, she has been nominated for the 2013 Pushcart Prize. Currently, her theater play "THE PORCINI TEST" is being produced in Toronto, her film script "THREE WAY WEEK" is being shot in Europe. She is working on a series of short stories and a film script called, "A Barbershop Quartet Gone Wrong."

For the first 29 years of my life, I grew up with the smells of Eucalyptus trees, and the old Mission churches with their euphoric music.

Matthew Dexter is an American freelance writer living in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.

Maui Holcomb grew up in the Northwest and currently lives and writes in Burbank, California, toiling in the lower echelons of the film industry attempting to make movies sound good. Previously published in a variety of magazines and journals, he spends his free time cleaning up after his wife and two daughters.

An ex-pat by happenstance, Michael has spent most of the last three years in and around Germany. Some of his non-fiction has also been featured in "mental_floss" and "Americas."

On the web: www.michael-ward.com

Michele Host is a lawyer and writer living in New York.

Micki makes friends wherever she goes; she loves to talk. She writes so she can share her personal experiences through fiction, non-fiction and essays with unsuspecting victims.

Mika Nadolsky resides with his wife in Dallas, Texas by way of Denver Colorado.

Mikel K is a poet and memoirist living in Mableton, Ga., a suburb of Atlanta, with his photographer-artist partner Just Joan, and their three dogs, two cats, two turtles, and bird.

Olga is a freelance writer and journalist. Her articles and book reviews appear regularly in local newspapers. She also writes short stories in the fantasy genre and is working on a novel.

"Despite spending 9 years in institutes of higher education, Phil only ended up taking two classes in English. (We think it shows.")

Writer who lives in NYC.

Rebecca Morean is a mother of four, raises a small heard of goats and makes cheese, teaches writing and composition at Sinclair Community College, and wants to right wrongs by writing about wrongs. She has published over two dozen short stories, and her articles and fiction have appeared in Salon, Crone, Kalliope, and Mississippi Mud among others. Her novel, In the Dead of Winter (St. Martin's Press) was picked up as a series by Breese Books in England and is about the daughter of Sherlock Holmes. She is currently the president of the Antioch Writers' Workshop in Yellow Springs, Ohio.

A life-long rock-climber and mountaineer, Robert Walton has made numerous ascents in the Sierra Nevada and in Yosemite. Much of his writing reflects his time in the mountains. His novel "Dawn Drums" was published in April 2013 by Moonlight Mesa Associates.

Scott Archer Jones is currently living and working on novels in northern New Mexico, after stints in the Netherlands, Scotland and Norway plus less exotic locations. He's worked for a power company, grocers, a lumberyard, an energy company (for a very long time), and a winery. He is the Treasurer of Shuter Library of Angel Fire, a private 501.C3, and desperately needs your money to keep the doors open.

I am an elementary school teacher living in Connecticut who wants to get published and who wants recognition as a skilled writer of thought-provoking stories.

Susan Okaty lives in Virginia Beach and is a member of Hampton Roads Writers (hamptonroadswriters.org). Her work has appeared in Highlights for Children and Vox Poetica.

Tyler Garant is from Philadelphia, with plans to leave ASAP.

Virginia Bond was born in Oregon and received a Masters in Ministry in 2001. She is the author of The Reign, an adult historical fiction novel, and Specter in the Woods, a juvenile mystery which should be out within the next few months.

Ward Webb is the author of numerous short stories and novellas. Originally from NC, he currently lives in NYC. When he is not reading, he is writing -- and when he is not writing, he will most likely be dead. Please do not send flowers.

Xenia Schiller is a freelance writer living in Birmingham, Alabama. Her work has appeared in "Splinter Generation," "Hobo Pancakes," "St. Anthony Messenger," "Family Digest" and "Twins," among others.