Contributors

Nicholas, or Nick as many call him, is a creative writer based in Canada. He spends much of his free time immersed in the world of words, crafting stories that explore the depths of the human experience. A lover of fiction, he enjoys expressing his ideas through imaginative narratives. Inspired by his passion for storytelling, Nicholas began writing short stories, which he affectionately refers to as "flavors." Each piece offers a unique experience, much like the unexpected bursts of taste found in a variety pack of candy. As a writer, he thrives on the element of surprise and seeks to engage readers with unpredictable twists and turns.

Nick Caccamo is a lifelong resident of Illinois who lives in the Chicago area. He has a degree in Rhetoric/Creative Writing from University of Illinois. In his spare time Nick enjoys watching (bad) movies, drinking (good) beer, taking (long) road trips, listening to (loud, ear-bleeding) music, cheering on (hopeless) Chicago sports teams, and writing (hopefully interesting and engaging) short stories. Nick is not particularly talented at writing short biographical statements about himself in the third person. He's up too late, distracted by the TV, probably has to work in the morning, and just doesn’t have time for this sort of thing. His fiction has previously appeared in Midwestern Gothic, Random Sample Review, and The McNeese Review.

Nick Young is a retired award-winning CBS News Correspondent. His short story "Strop" appeared in Dark winter. In addition, his writing has appeared in dozens of reviews, journals and anthologies. His first novel, "Deadline," was published in 2023. He can be found on Bluesky @youngnick.bsky.social. He lives outside Chicago.

Nicole Winans is an elementary library media specialist living in the Pacific Northwest with her husband and two kids. Though she loves books of all kinds she especially enjoys Gothic literature and all written works about the mysterious. When she’s not reading or writing, you’ll most likely find her stabbing fabric with a needle and thread.

Nicole Wylie’s poetry has been published in Bi All Accounts: An Anthology of Bi+ Voices, Volume 1. She received a Bachelor of Arts in Professional Writing from York University, and writes fiction and poetry in her spare time. She currently lives in Sturgeon Falls, ON.

Nina Trifan is a Canadian writer based in Toronto, Ontario. She is the author of the novel "The Country That Lives Within Me", published in English and translated into Romanian. Inspired by her own experience as an immigrant, her writing explores themes of identity and belonging. Nina is a member of The Writers' Union of Canada and the Canadian Authors Association. She is fascinated by words, flamenco, and white-sand beaches.

​

Nolcha Fox has written all her life, starting with poop and crayons on the walls. Her poems have been published in Lothlorien Poetry Journal, Alien Buddha Zine, The Red Lemon Review, Gone Lawn, Dark Entries, Duck Head Journal, Medusa’s Kitchen and others. Her chapbook, “My Father’s Ghost Hates Cats,” is available on Amazon.

Nuala McEvoy is from North West England, but has lived abroad for many years. She is lucky enough to have called many places home, including the UK, Romania, Turkey, North Africa, Spain and now Germany. The pandemic era gave Nuala the time to experiment with writing poetry and painting scenery, both of which she continues to do. She is happy to have had some of her poems published in Lighten Up Online, Funny Pearls UK and Little Old Lady Comedy.

Nyx Lewis Schmidt is a queer, non-binary, disabled, autistic poet. Their debut book, Claimings and Other Wild Things was published in 2022 by Latitude 46 Publishing. When speaking fails them, poetry is their voice. They live in Sudbury, Ontario with their wife and three gremlins - I mean, cats.

Owolusi Lucky is a Nigerian, he writes poetry, fiction, and non fiction. He has published or has work forthcoming in Noctivagant press, Crosscurrent, America Diversity Report, Afrorep, Decolonial Passage, Zoeticpress, Hallowzine, Scars publication, Sweety Cat Press, Macromicrocosm, Dietmilkmag, Collegevilleinstitute, Overtly Lit, A Solarpunk anthology and others.He shares his thoughts at: Africanmighty.art.blog Twitter @mighty_scribe

Özge Lena has a published novella titled “Otopsi” and her poems have appeared in Ink Sweat & Tears, Green Ink Poetry, Red Ogre Review, Harana, Acropolis Journal, The Phare, After Poetry, and elsewhere, and are also forthcoming in iamb and in The Selkie. Her poetry was shortlisted for the Ralph Angel Poetry Prize and Oxford Brookes International Poetry Competition in 2021 and for The Plough Poetry Prize in 2023.

P. H. Oliver was born and raised in Abercraf, Wales where Faeries, ghosts and a sense of humour were part of everyday life - and still are in Cambridge! Her novel The Gynesaurs was longlisted for the 2018 Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour (top ten in Canada). Two Pearls (2023) a short story published in Dark Winter Literary Magazine. Life in a Nutshell (2018), a personal essay was published nationally in the Globe and Mail. She is a humour columnist for Cassmates Alumni Newsletter (2016 – present) Patricia Delicia’s Titbits and Tattles, was a member of the 2019 Eden Mills Festival opening night reading panel, adjudicates the Cambridge Festival of Literary Arts (2019 – 2023). In 2024 she was honoured to receive the 2023 Bernice Adams Award for the Literary Arts. She is currently compiling a short story collection entitled, “Shrouded in Laughter. Stories about the lighter side of death” and a novel entitled, “Don’t Forget The Faeries”, a tale about how a young girl brings The Faeries to Canada during the Irish Potato Famine.

Paden Smith is an American author, artist, and singer-songwriter. Raised on a ranch in Wyoming, his creative works are heavily inspired by his experience as a member of the queer community steeped in religion and cowboy culture. Initially billed as a gospel artist, he released his debut album in 2008. A proud member of the LGBTQ+ community, Paden experienced pushback in gospel music and left the industry to artistically express himself freely and authentically. True to his roots, he pivoted to the country-pop genre in the hopes of spreading a message of inclusivity and helping to diversify the country music landscape. Still serving in the military as a naval officer, he focuses his free time on his creative outlets. He continues to write new music for an upcoming country-pop album. His music, writings, and artwork can be found on all social platforms (@pdnsmth) and on his official website (www.padensmithmusic.com).

Pam Avoledo's work can be found at pamavoledo.com

Patricia J. Esposito's fiction and poetry appear in numerous anthologies, including Main Street Rag’s Crossing Lines, Cohesion Press’s Blurring the Line, AnnaPurna’s Clarify, Timbre’s Stories of Music, and Undertow’s Apparitions, and in magazines, including Litro USA, Karamu, Rose and Thorn, Not One of Us, Midnight Street, and Clean Sheets. She has received honorable mentions in Datlow's Year's Best Fantasy and Horror collections, is a two-time winner of Rhino’s Reader=Writer award, and is a Pushcart Prize nominee. When not chasing the enticing muse of creativity, she works as an editor, spends time with family, and listens to music with a jigsaw puzzle at hand.

Patricia Wallesverd is an old poet living in the northwoods of Wisconsin with a husband and a dog named Dot. She finds much inspiration in the nature that surrounds her as well as everyday living. In previous lives, she has been a cocktail waitress, a mom and pop grocery store cashier, an emergency room clerk, as well as a high school English teacher. She has had poetry published in the Wisconsin Review, Barney Street, NOTA, among others.

Pat Connors first chapbook, Scarborough Songs, was released by Lyricalmyrical Press in
2013, and charted on the Toronto Poetry Map. Other publication credits include: The Toronto Quarterly; Spadina Literary Review; Sharing Spaces; Tamaracks; and Tending the Fire. His first full collection, The Other Life, is newly released by Mosaic Press.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/patrick.j.connors.3
Twitter: https://twitter.com/81912CON

Patrick Wright has a poetry collection, Full Sight Of Her, published by Eyewear (2020). He has been shortlisted for the Bridport Prize and teaches English Literature and Creative Writing at the Open University. He is also currently finishing a PhD in Creative Writing, on the ekphrasis of modern and contemporary art, supervised by Jane Yeh and Siobhan Campbell.

Paul Bavister has published three volumes of poetry, including The Prawn Season (Two Rivers Press). His work has appeared in numerous magazines.

Paul Brookes is a shop asst. Lives in a cat house full of teddy bears. First play performed at The Gulbenkian Theatre, Hull. His chapbooks include debut chapbook: The Fabulous Invention Of Barnsley, (Dearne Community Arts, 1993). Collections: A World Where and She Needs That Edge (Nixes Mate Press, 2017, 2018), The Spermbot Blues (OpPRESS, 2017) is Sci-Fi poetry, Please Take Change (Cyberwit.net, 2018), As Folk Over Yonder (Afterworld Books, 2019).
A poetry collaboration with artist Jane Cornwell resulted in “Wonderland in Alice, plus other ways of seeing”, (JC Studio Press, 2021). The beginning of the “Ganders” septology, whose other books are: “As Folktaleteller” (ImpSpired, 2022), “These Random Acts of Wildness, (Glass Head Press, 2023), “Othernesses”, (JC Studio Press, 2023), Wolf Eye (Red Ceilings Press, 2023), Wolf Eye Territory (ImpSpired, 2024), and Ever Striding Edge (DarkWinter Press, 2024).

Paul Edward Costa is a poet, spoken word artist, organiser, and teacher. He directs the Outer Haven Poetry Night series, is a full member of the League of Canadian Poets, and a former Poet Laureate for the City of Mississauga. He won the Mississauga Arts Council’s Emerging Literary Arts Award in 2019 and has published in many journals such as Purely Liminal Magazine, Locust Shells Journal, and Blank Spaces Magazine. He has recently published “Vigils of the Night Office” (DarkWinter Press) and “Some Half-Human Creature Thing” (Mosaic Press). He has featured at many poetry reading series across Canada.YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/PaulEdwardCosta
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/paul.edward.costa/
Twitter: @paul_e_costa

Paul Goudarzi-Fry is a poet and photographer from New Hampshire. He received his MFA at the Rainier Writing Workshop at PLU.

Paul Hilding lives at the end of a lonely country road in Idaho. On the night of the Black Moon, and on other similarly auspicious occasions, he still indulges his appetite for flesh, usually paired with a fine French or Spanish wine. His other published short stories are collected at www.paulhilding.com

Paul Lee served as a columnist for a newspaper. His published short stories have appeared in Black Petals Magazine, Goats Milk Magazine, HST Magazine, and Grim & Gilded. Writing fiction has been his passion for most of his life. When not putting pen to paper, he enjoys reading, exploring nature, watching movies, and spending time with family and friends.

Paul Lonardo is a freelance writer and author with numerous titles, both fiction and nonfiction books. Paul has placed short stories and nonfiction pieces in various genre magazines and ezines. He is a contributing writer for several publications, including Tales from the Moonlit Path, and an HWA member. His latest anthology, Dark Little Things, features 25 short tales of dark fantasy and horror. Visit Paul's author website www.thegoblinpitcher.com

Paul Marandina is British and lives in Somerset, England. He has stories and poetry published by AlienBuddha Press, Loft Books, BlackBough Poems, DarkWinter Literary Magazine and Paragraphplanet.
Paul is an editor at ABCTales.com and tutors students in economics, maths and english. He lives in a harmony of sorts with his wife, four cats and their tortoise.
Paul loves to write whilst drinking copious cups of coffee.
You can find him on Twitter PaulP@BeeRummie and SoundCloud http://soundcloud.com/user-62051685

Paul Robinson lives in Ōtautahi Christchurch. He is an award winning chef and recent convert to creative writing, mainly flash fiction and prose poetry. He currently attends the Linwood Arts creative writing classes in Aotearoa New Zealand. His latest creative work has been previously published in takahe, 2024.

Paul is a career journalist whose work has included daily newspapers (including the Baltimore Sun), science and tech writing, and a well-regarded book on the stock market. He has an English degree from Wesleyan University and did coursework in the Johns Hopkins part-time writing program.

Paul Smith is a civil engineer who has worked in the construction racket for many years. He has travelled all over the place and met lots of people from all walks of life. Some have enriched his life. Others made him wish he or they were all dead. He likes writing poetry and fiction. He also likes Newcastle Brown Ale. If you see him, buy him one. He is a featured poet at Mad Swirl.

Paulette Hampton holds a Masters in Reading Education and is a multi-genre writer. She is the author of the YA paranormal novel Of the Lilin, the memoir When Life was Yellow: A Memoir of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, and a sci-fi novella entitled Singing to the Fere Moon. Her poems have appeared in Immortal Hymns Rewritten Realms, Secret Attic, WildSound, and elsewhere. She loves to draw and spend time with family and friends. She lives with her husband and two cats in North Carolina. https://paulettehampton42.wixsite.com/website.

Petar Penda is a professor of English and American literature (University of Banja Luka) and a translator. His translations have been published in renowned journals in the USA and the UK. His poetry was published by "Fevers of the Mind", " Lothlorien Poetry Journal", "A Thin Slice of Anxiety", "Trouvaille Review" and others.

Peter Roberts is a mathematically educated poet who sometimes writes fiction. He has been contributing to various magazines and journals, online & off, for more than 45 years. See his slightly dated personal page, www.god-and-country.info/personal.html, where you can find links to lists of all his published poems & stories, if you look carefully. Some may find the rest of the website interesting as well.

Philip Madden is a freelance writer based in Poland.

Philip Matcovsky is a lightworker and a cosmic traveler based in New York. His work has been featured, or is forthcoming, in Brilliant Flash Fiction, Braided Way Magazine, Odyssey Magazine, Amethyst Review, Aethlon and Pangolin Papers. Website: philipmatcovsky.com

Pitambar Naik is an advertising copywriter for a living. When he’s not creating ideas for brands, he writes poetry. His work appears or is forthcoming in The McNeese Review, The Notre Dame Review, Packingtown Review, Ghost City Review, Rise Up Review, Glass: A Journal of Poetry, The Indian Quarterly and elsewhere. He’s the author of the poetry collection, The Anatomy of Solitude (Hawakal). He grew up in Odisha and lives in Bangalore, India.

Plamen V. is an award-winning freelance writer/poet with published works online and in a dozen US magazines who has been writing since the age of 10. Plamen has won numerous writing contests and have awards from different parts of the world.

I am a creative person with big dreams and also love to help people. I also have Certificates on Creative Writing from the UK writing centre, from the Open University in Scotland, Oxford Study Centre and from Harvard University.

Nipping at the heels like a pup way too attentive. Poetry has pursued this word student all his life. The muse has a funny way of showing up when it wants to make its presence known. He can do no other but to follow. Previously published in The Louisville Review, The Thinker Review and The Birmingham Poetry Review. Publication pending with The Main Street Rag.

R.P. Logan is a retiree residing in Oakville, Ontario. When not visiting small towns with his wife in search of bakeries specializing in pies, butter tarts and that rare treat, Eccles Cakes, he can be found entertaining his one-year-old grandson or walking his three-year-old Havanese, Poppy. After graduating from York University with a degree in Geography and before embarking on a career in transportation he spent an episodic summer hitchhiking from Prestwick, Scotland to Barcelona, Spain. Married life and three children did not discourage the passion to travel as witnessed by road trips to the east and west coast; holiday excursions to St. Lucia and Mexico and a memorable trip to Italy. A cancer survivor he is thankful for every succeeding day since he rang the bell and is looking forward to future travel destinations including Costa Rica and or Iceland.

Rachael Llewellyn (she/her) is the author of two novels and a collection of short stories. Her short fiction has appeared in a number of anthologies and journals, including Divinations Magazine, Crow & Cross Keys Magazine, The Manchester Review and Polari Press's Creating in Crisis Anthology. Her poetry has been featured in Poetry Wales Magazine. She was awarded a PhD from Swansea University for her thesis on trauma and memory in folklore and has spoken at the Jaipur Literary Festival and the Dylan Thomas Birthplace on writing. In 2019 she was awarded a Francis W Reckitt Grant. She lives in South Wales with her family.

Rachel Schmidt is a registered nurse and military spouse. She holds an MA in Writing from Johns Hopkins University and has been published by Bath Flash Fiction with work forthcoming in Winged Penny Review, Collateral, and Flash Fiction Magazine.

Raquel Fletcher is a poet, journalist, and editor. She was formerly a political correspondent in Quebec City for both Global News and Bell Media for close to a decade before moving to the Canadian prairies. She is the author of Who Belongs in Quebec? (Linda Leith Publishing, 2020). She is also the recipient of the 2025 Saskatchewan Writers Guild Prize in Poetry. Her poems have been published in anthologies and literary magazines.

Born in Newmarket, ON, Rebecca Dunlop is a homebody with a knack for romanticising the mundane. From their days of adolescent Pinterest quote boards to their current stack of bedside table books, poetry has long held a special place in their heart. A young, queer, creative, they write to find connection, relief, and meaning in a world that often doesn’t make sense.

Reed Venrick lives in Florida; usually writes and publishes poems
with nature and cultural themes.

Rene F. Tyo is an author of horror stories and an aspiring novelist. He is a jack-of-all-trades, by nature, having used his varied background in everything from business, marketing, and entrepreneurship to manufacturing and hard labour as inspiration for much of his writing, as there is no more thorough research than ingrained personal experience.



He lives in Brockville, Ontario, is married, has two sons and has had one or more dogs by his side most of his life and the occasional cat. He has published one short story collection; The Hostage Chronicles. Rene is also working on his first novel as yet untitled. A tale about a small city besieged by evil forces; man made and otherwise.

Renee Cronley is a writer from Manitoba that stepped away from nursing to prioritize her children, and has been channeling her knowledge and experiences into a poetry book about nursing burnout. Renee can be found at https://www.reneecronley.com/

Richard Krause has three collections of fiction published titled Studies in Insignificance, The Horror of the Ordinary, and Crawl Space & Other Stories of Limited Maneuverability. He recently has had writing in Club Plum Literary Journal, Mobius, Northwest Indiana Literary Journal, Blue Lake Review, Digging through the Fat, and Modern Literature. Krause lives in Kentucky where he is retired from teaching at a community college. His website is richardkrausewriting.com

Richard LeDue (he/him) lives in Norway House, Manitoba, Canada. He has been published both online and in print. He is the author of nine books of poetry. His latest book, “It Could Be Worse,” was released from Alien Buddha Press in May 2023.

Richard M. Ankers is the English author of The Eternals Series and Britannia Unleashed. Richard has featured in Expanded Field Journal, Love Letters To Poe, Spillwords, and feels privileged to have appeared in many more. Richard lives to write. His website is: http://richardankers.com/?p=24343