Contributors

Howie Good's latest book, Frowny Face (Redhawk Publishing, 2023), is a mix of his prose poems and handmade collages. He co-edits the online journal UnLost, dedicated to found poetry.

Husain Abdulhay has poems published in Cacti Fur, Eskimo Pie, Fib
Review, Foliate Oak, Jellyfish Whispers, Madness Muse Press, Muse Pie
Press, Quail Bell Magazine, Scarlet Leaf Review, Soul-Lit, Sweetycat
Press, Synchchaos, Trouvaille Review, Whisky Blot, and Ygdrasil. His
haiku appears in Failed Haiku, Five Fleas, Haikuniverse, Pkankmaton,
and Wales Haiku Journal, likewise.

Ian C Smith’s work has been published in BBC Radio 4 Sounds,Cable Street,The Dalhousie Review,Griffith Review, Honest Ulsterman, Offcourse, Stand,&,Westerly. His seventh book is wonder sadness madness joy, Ginninderra (Port Adelaide). He writes in the Gippsland Lakes area of Victoria, and on Flinders Island.

Irina Moga is a trilingual poet writing in English, French, and Romanian, and a member of The Writers’ Union of Canada. The author of six poetry collections, she brings a distinctive voice to contemporary literature, one that interlaces linguistic precision with lyrical depth. Her collection Variations sans palais (Éditions L’Harmattan, Paris) received the 2022 Dina Sahyouni International Literary Prize in France. Her latest poetry collection, Quantum, was published in 2025 by DarkWinter Press.

Itto and Mekiya Outini write about America, Morocco, and all those caught in between. They’ve published fiction and nonfiction in The North American Review, Modern Literature, Fourth Genre, The Good River Review, MQR, Southland Alibi, Chautauqua, The Stonecoast Review, Mount Hope, Hidden Peak Review, Jewish Life, The Brussels Review, Eunoia Review, New Contrast, DarkWinter, Lotus-Eater, Gargoyle, and elsewhere. Their work has received support from the MacDowell Foundation, the Steinbeck Fellowship Program, the Edward F. Albee Foundation, and the Fulbright Program. They’re collaborating on several books and running The DateKeepers, an author support platform.

Ivanka Fear is a Slovenian born Canadian writer. Her poems and stories appear in numerous publications, including Understorey, The South Shore Review, Blank Spaces, Montreal Writes, Orchards Poetry, October Hill, Mystery Tribune, and elsewhere. The debut novel of her Blue Water mystery series is scheduled for release by Level Best Books in January 2023. You can read more about her at https://www.ivankafear.com and follow her @FearIvanka

J. Kerr is an enigma.

J.R. Andrews was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, but has lived as far afield as Los Angeles, California, and Anchorage, Alaska. At present, he lives in North Central Florida with his three-legged cat, Lovey. His fiction has appeared in Dark Dossier Magazine and is upcoming in The Vanishing Point Magazine. When he's not writing, he enjoys watching old movies and building Gundam models. You can sometimes find him on Twitter: @andrewshorror.

JP Relph, shortlisted for our 1st Anniversary Contest, is a working-class Cumbrian writer mostly hindered by four cats and aided by tea. She volunteers in a charity shop where they let her dress mannequins and source haunted objects. A forensic science degree and passion for microbes, insects and botany often influence her words. JP writes about apocalypses quite a lot, but hasn’t the knees for one. Recently found in Free Flash Fiction, Reflex Press and WestWord. Find her on Twitter: @RelphJp

Jack is a multidisciplinary creative and writer. She formally studied art history in her undergraduate career, then went on to immerse herself in the research of historic building preservation. She took a slight pivot from her curriculum requirements to write about British burial grounds, their rise and subsequent fall, and their future in the urban realm, reimagining their function as a public space in an exponentially populated Earth. Jack loves macabre, but she won't watch a horror film. she appreciates the cyclical aspects of life. To suffer, to be content, to be happy, to ponder, to fight. She also loves the idea of connecting with others in unconventional ways. In many ways, she uses different media to relay her emotions. Jack lives in New York City, with her black cat Casper, and her beloved beta fish Devon.

Jacqueline Jules is the author of Manna in the Morning (Kelsay Books, 2021) and Itzhak Perlman's Broken String, winner of the 2016 Helen Kay Chapbook Prize from Evening Street Press. Her poetry has appeared in over 100 publications including One Art, Potomac Review, The Sunlight Press, Gyroscope Review, and Dark Winter Literary Magazine. Visit her online at www.jacquelinejules.com

Jacqueline Schaalje has published poetry and short fiction, most recently in Five South, Wildfire Words, and The Ocotillo Review. She won the 2022 Florida Review Editor's Prize and has been a finalist in a few other competitions.

James has had poems published in Blank Spaces, The Ontario Poetry Society, Impspired and The Literary Hatchet. James enjoys writing.

Jamie Gregory is a former teacher and marketer who is now a stay-at-home mom by day, and an emerging writer, podcaster, and audiobook narrator by night. She is the host of the Short Stories for Busy Bookworms podcast. Her short story, Take the Shot, won the September 2023 Globe Soup Microfiction Contest. She lives in Ohio with her husband and identical twin boys. Visit her website at www.jamie-gregory.com.

Jan Ball’s poems appear in journals such as: Chiron, Nimrod, and Slipstream in the U.S. and internationally. Jan’s three chapbooks were published with Finishing Line Press as well as her first full-length poetry collection, I Wanted to Dance with My Father. She has been nominated twice for the Pushcart and twice for Best of the Net.

Jan Lee is a digital native, who first published via Telnet in the 1990s. Jan has work published in Soft Star Magazine, Maenad Review, and Whimsical Press (among others), and short stories collected in the book Route One and Other Stories, available on Amazon. Jan is Editor-in-Chief of The Apostrophe, the quarterly magazine of the Hong Kong Writers Circle.

A teacher by day and an author and mom by night, Jane Benoit has always loved to write. During the pandemic, she started putting pen to paper again, writing children’s stories and short fiction, and she is now working on a novel. While she lives in Kitchener, her heart really resides in the Bruce Peninsula. Connect with her on Instagram at jane._benoit.

Jane Burn is a working-class, autistic, pansexual hybrid writer. She is widely published. Jane has an MA in Writing Poetry. In 2022, Jane explored her neurodivergent writer’s experiences, funded by ACE. In 2023 she received a grant from the RLF. Her latest collection, Be Feared, is available from Nine Arches Press.

Jane H Fitzgerald is a former middle school history teacher who loves to write. Her four books of poetry, including, Notes From the Undaunted, may be found on Amazon. Jane’s work has been published in; Bright Flash Literary Review, Little Old Lady Comedy, Isele Quarterly Magazine, Green Ink Poetry, Livina Press, Still Point Arts Quarterly, and more. Jane enjoys living in sunny Florida, USA.

Jane Idrissi is a writer from London. Her words have appeared in Mechanics Institute Review and Idle Ink. She recently completed her first novel and is currently working on a collection of short stories. She has an MA in Creative Writing from Birkbeck. You can find her on twitter @jane_idrissi (although, mostly, she's too anxious to tweet).

A retired Ontario farmer with two children and six grandchildren, Janet has some works in print, has been successful in a few contests, and takes writing courses. She edited some works and wrote volunteer columns for The Creative Writing Institute under the caring supervision of CEO, Deborah Owen, until Ms. Owen retired.

Jarrett Mazza is a graduate of Goddard College’s MFA in Creative Writing Program and The Humber School For Writers. Before completing his terminal degree, Jarrett studied writing at the University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies and completed the Novel Writing class at Sheridan College. He has had multiple stories published online and in print. He is currently a pulp fiction writer for the companies Airship 27 and Stormgate Press. He lives in Hamilton, Ontario.

Jasmine De La Paz wrote her first story at the age of seven about a ghost haunting a playground. Although the content of her work has matured since then, at the heart of her stories is the Gothic, macabre, and bittersweetness of horror that she first fell in love with as a little girl. Many anthologies and literary magazines feature her stories, including 'Anterior Skies' Vol. 1, 'HorrorScope' Vol. 2, and 'The Crow's Quill.' She spends her spare time teaching yoga and spinning tales to her son, who, like his mother, loves the tradition of sharing spooky stories.
You can find her on social media:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jazz_delapaz/
Twitter https://twitter.com/jazz_delapaz

Jason Buchholz has been writing fictional works and such since the age of eight. Most of his fictional works
reside in the fantasy and science fiction genres, as well as the occasional foray into romance. His passion
for writing has taken him on an extraordinary journey that he hopes will never end. Writing is his way to tell
the world about the stories that form in his mind and flash past his eyes like a movie.

Jason Frederick Myers lives in the upstate of South Carolina, USA. A lifelong fan of suspense and horror, he grew up reading Shirley Jackson, Clive Barker, and Stephen King and draws inspiration from the 70s and 80s classic movies that terrified him as a child. His fiction can be found or is forthcoming at PsychoToxin Press, Bewildering Stories, Black Sheep Magazine, and the anthology “The Horror Zine’s Book of Monster Stories.” Follow him on Twitter @Jasonfmyers.

Jayde Fontana (they/she) is a transgender poet and aspiring novelist. Being an avid reader, Jayde’s favorite genres include sci-fi, fantasy and horror. Poetry has recently won them over as well through its incredible ability to turn mental breakdowns into something productive. When not writing, reading or doing schoolwork Jayde is often playing video games, walking their dog, or running Dungeons and Dragons sessions for her friends. Put simply, she is a nerd who wants to share her nerdiness with others.

Born in New Jersey and raised in New York, Jayson Carcione now lives in Cork, Ireland, where he works for the Irish Examiner newspaper. His short fiction has appeared The Forge, Lunate, Epoque Press, Passengers Journal, Across the Margin, and Pigeon Review. His work was also highly commended in the 2020 Sean O'Faoláin International Short Story Competition. Twitter: @carcionejay

Jean Sheppard is a teacher and editor living in Toronto. Her writing has been published in Memoir Magazine, Syncopation, and Immanence Journal and will shortly appear in Bath Flash Fiction's 2023 anthology.

Jeffrey Zable is a teacher, conga drummer/percussionist who plays for dance classes
and rumbas around the San Francisco Bay Area, and a writer of poetry, flash-fiction,
and non-fiction. He's published five chapbooks and his writing has appeared in hundreds
of literary magazines and anthologies, more recently in Uppagus, Ellie, Beach Chair,
The Paradox, Trashlight, The Broken Teacup, The Raven's Perch, Part Two, and many others.
His selected poetry (from Androgyne Books) should be out very soon.

Jen Ross Laguna is an Ottawa-born Chilean-Canadian journalist and storyteller who spent 10 years working internationally for the United Nations before moving to Aruba, where she took time off to write fiction and poetry and now works as a freelance writer and editor. Her poetry appears in Last Stanza Poetry Journal, the other side of hope, descant, The Caribbean Writer, Better than Starbucks, Woods Reader, Aloka Magazine, Azahares Literary Magazine, and an anthology by The Poet Magazine. Her poem “A New World Order” recently won the Marvin E. Williams Literary Prize by The Caribbean Writer for a new or emerging writer. Her creative nonfiction has appeared in Guernica, Hispanic Magazine and Defenestrationism. Her fiction appears in the Latin American Literary Review, Mslexia Magazine, Global Youth Review, LatineLit, Isele Magazine, Evocations Review, Arlington Literary Journal, Pine Cone Review, New Myths and the Everlast anthology by Dragon Soul Press.

Jen Schneider is an educator who lives, works, and writes in small spaces in and around Philadelphia. She served as the 2022 Montgomery County (PA) Poet Laureate.

Jennifer Cox (she/her) is a writer, mother, and lawyer. Her writing has previously appeared in numerous publications, including Arc Poetry Magazine, Room Magazine, Poetry Pause and Literary Mama. She resides in Ottawa with her family. She is on Instagram as @jencoxpoetry

Jennifer Skogen loves reading too many books at the same time and going for long walks in beautiful places (usually in the Pacific Northwest). When she isn’t maintaining her two cats’ extravagant lifestyles, she can be found writing speculative fiction and poetry. Her work has appeared, or is forthcoming, in journals including Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet, Orion’s Belt, Luna Station Quarterly, Hungry Shadow Press, Drabbledark III anthology, Crow & Cross Keys, and Rust & Moth.

Jerome Berglund graduated from the University of Southern California’s Cinema-Television Production program and spent a picaresque decade in the entertainment industry before returning to the midwest where he was born and raised. Since then he has worked as everything from dishwasher to paralegal, night watchman to assembler of heart valves. Jerome has exhibited many haiku, senryu and haiga online and in print, most recently in the Asahi Shimbun, Failed Haiku, Scarlet Dragonfly, Cold Moon Journal, Bear Creek Haiku, the Zen Space and Daily Haiga. He is furthermore an established, award-winning fine art photographer, whose black and white pictures have been shown in New York, Minneapolis, and Santa Monica galleries.

Jim Young is from the Niagara Region of Ontario, Canada. Born in 1968 and raised in St. Catharines. He has a degree in Science with Honours in Mathematics from Brock University. He taught mathematics for 16 years at the secondary school level. From there, he was a secondary school vice-principal for two years. In 2022, he officially retired from Education. He is blessed with 3 fine children and a wonderful wife. Now, he plays guitar as much as possible for the Seniors in his community. As well, he gets out on the hockey rink three times per week. And of course, he enjoys writing !

Joan Kydd is a native New Yorker transplanted in Northern Vermont. She doesn’t raise chickens, have a vegetable garden, ski or kayak. She started ‘seriously’ writing in August 2022, and has had several personal essays published in online/hard copy magazines, one of which was a semi-finalist in the Brooklyn Film & Arts essay contest.

She loves to write, cook, sing off key, and laugh. She is also fond of red wine and goose liver pate.

Joan McNerney has been the recipient of three scholarships. She has recited her work at the
National Arts Club, New York City, State University of New York, Oneonta, McNay Art
Institute, San Antonio and the University of Houston, Texas. Published worldwide in over
thirty five countries, her work has appeared numerous literary publications. Four Best of the
Net nominations have been awarded to her. The Muse in Miniature, Love Poems for Michael
and At Work are available on Amazon.com A new release entitled Light & Shadow explores
the recent historic COVID pandemic.

Jodi Di Menna grew up near Lake Erie in the southernmost part of Ontario. She works as a writer and editor in Ottawa where she lives with her husband and two daughters.

Joe Luscombe lives in Leeds, UK. A journalist-turned social worker, he likes stories that explore both language and feeling. Joe has appeared in Dark Mountain magazine, so is excited about appearing in DarkWinter. Dark Side and Dark Star magazine have yet to return his phone calls.

Joel Robert Ferguson is a Nova Scotian poet of working-class settler origins who lives in Winnipeg, Treaty One Territory. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in Arc Poetry Magazine, Best Canadian Poetry, The Columbia Review, Prairie Fire, Queen's Quarterly, & Riddle Fence, and his debut collection, The Lost Cafeteria (Signature Editions 2020), was awarded the Lansdowne Prize for Poetry.

John Armstrong lives in England.But his heart resides in many places; On a boat, In the South of France,Ireland and always within what he would call ‘The Silent clouds of nothingness’.His work often invokes dreamlike imagery, themes of memory, loss, and transformation..Armstrong’s earliest work was poetry written at 15 years old for ‘The Young socialist newspaper’ His most recent title and first book is ‘The Seduction of an English Twat Magnet’.A lover of dystopian science fiction( favourite book ‘The Time machine’ ) ‘The Mary Maker, The Sorrows, and The Half-Moon Choices’ is Armstrong’s first short story.His hobbies include; Growing Cosmos flowers and seeing them survive past the first frosts.Exploring Holland on an old bicycle.Photography and astronomy. And of course reading, a lot of Dickens, because why not? Instagram: #johnarmstrongwrites

John Ganshaw graduated with his BS in Leadership Development from NYU; after a 31-year career in banking, John retired early to follow a dream. John spent five years living in Cambodia, owned a successful boutique hotel, and established an NGO to give back. John saw the hurt this world brings and started to write about his life experiences in 2021. Since then, John has published over eighty poems and essays. John continues to share his stories and hopes to share his unpublished memoir.

John Grey is an Australian poet, US resident, recently published in New World Writing, North Dakota Quarterly and Tenth Muse. Latest books, ”Between Two Fires”, “Covert” and “Memory Outside The Head” are available through Amazon. Work upcoming in Haight-Ashbury Literary Journal, Birmingham Arts Journal, La Presa and Shot Glass Journal.

John RC Potter is an international educator and gay man from Canada, who lives in Istanbul. He has experienced a revolution (Indonesia), air strikes (Israel), earthquakes (Turkey), boredom (UAE), and blinding snow blizzards (Canada), the last being the subject of his story, “Snowbound in the House of God” (The Memoirist, 2023). When in high school John had the opportunity to interview the Nobel Prize winning author, Alice Munro, who resided in his hometown. It inspired John to begin creative writing, and is the subject of his story, “In Search of Alice Munro” (Blank Spaces, 2023; Bosphorus Review of Books, 2022). His poems and stories have appeared in a range of magazines including Blank Spaces, Memoirist, Plenitude, Fragmented Voices, The Write Launch, Literary Yard, Bosphorus Review of Books. John is working on a novel-in-progress set in WWI-era Canada, ‘Blood from a Stone’. John RC Potter – Author Website (author-blog.org)

John Timm writes in several genres. His literary fiction appears in 300 Days of Sun, Bartleby Snopes, Euphemism, Flint Hills Review, and elsewhere. When not writing, John teaches foreign languages and communications.

John Zedolik is an adjunct English professor at Chatham University and Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, and has published poems in such journals as Abbey (USA), The Bangalore Review (IND), Commonweal (USA), FreeXpresSion (AUS), Orbis (UK), Paperplates (CAN), Poem (USA), Poetry Salzburg Review (AUT), Third Wednesday (USA), Transom (USA), and in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. In 2019, he published his first full-length collection, entitled Salient Points and Sharp Angles (WordTech Editions), which is available through Amazon, and in 2021 he published another collection, When the Spirit Moves Me (Wipf & Stock), which consists of spiritually-themed poems and is also available through Amazon. He recently published his third collection, Mother Mourning (Wipf & Stock), again, available on Amazon. John's iPhone is his primary poetry notebook, and he hopes his use of technology to craft this ancient art remains fruitful.

John-Paul lives in St. Catharines, Ontario with his wife and two children. He’s been writing for years and is a fan of Sci-fi and fantasy. His stories have appeared in the Niagara-On-The-Lakes’ Writers Circle’s anthologies Beginnings and Endings and Journeys as well as on sites such as Commuter Lit, DarkWinter Lit, The Writer’s Journal, and Jerry Jazz Musician. He is a person of few words, so he enjoys writing short stories and novellas the most.

Jonathan Worlde’s novel Latex Monkey with Banana was winner of the Hollywood Discovery Award. He has over thirty short stories published in various journals, including Trembling with Fear, Cirque Journal, Raven Review, Mystery Tribune, Stupefying Stories, Daily SF and Metastellar. In his spare time he performs blues as Paul the Resonator; his CD is Soul of a Man.

Joseph Clegg's fiction and poetry have most recently been published by Impspired, Confluence and Avatar Review, and he writes about jazz and hip hop for BRICK. He is co-organiser of two literary critique groups based in Amsterdam. Find him on Instagram @cleggjjg and at www.cleggjjg.com

Joshua St. Claire is an accountant from a small town in Pennsylvania who works as a financial director for a large non-profit. His haiku and related poetry have been published broadly including in The Asahi Shimbun, Frogpond, Modern Haiku, The Heron’s Nest, and Mayfly. He has received recognition in the following international contests/awards for his work in these forms: the Gerald Brady Memorial Senryu Award, the Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival Haiku Invitational, the San Francisco International Award for Senryu, the Touchstone Award for Individual Haiku, the British Haiku Society Award for Haiku, and the Trailblazer Award.