Contributors

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.

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

Richard-Yves Sitoski (he/him) is a songwriter, performance poet and the 2019-2023 Poet Laureate of Owen Sound, on the territory of the Saugeen Ojibway Nation. His work has appeared, or is forthcoming, in Arc, Prairie Fire, Train, The Fiddlehead, The Maynard, and elsewhere. BOTN nominee 2021, 2021 John Newlove Award winner, 2022 Don Gutteridge Award winner (2nd place). His most recent works are the chapbook How to Be Human (Bywords.ca, 2022) and the full-length collection Wait, What? (Wet Ink Books, 2023). He is co-editor, with Penn Kemp, of Poems in Response to Peril: An Anthology in Support of Ukraine (Pendas Productions/Laughing Raven Press, 2021), profits from which will go to displaced Ukrainian cultural workers.

Rick Kast was an English major, then went to law school to learn a whole new bag of tricks. He writes fiction that he hopes is more interesting than the fiction he’s read in the factual recitation sections of his opponents’ briefs, and humor pieces that are much funnier than his opponents’ oral arguments. His fiction has appeared in Sixfold, The First Line, Defenestration, and Potato Soup Journal. When not writing he enjoys listening to music, good food and drink, and engaging in snappy repartee with robotic phone calls.

Rizza writes code to make a living. She writes stories and songs to feel alive.

Born in Montreal, Robert Steckling lives in Toronto and has studied at the Humber School for Writers. His work has appeared in The Antigonish Review, the Gay & Lesbian Review, The Puritan, Canadian Literature, and is forthcoming in Queen’s Quarterly.

Robert Steward teaches English as a foreign language and lives in London. His stories have appeared in Scrittura, Literally Stories, Across the Margin, The Ogilvie, The Door Is A Jar and others. You can find them at: twitter.com/theroadtonaples

Roger Mills is retired from medicine after 30 years of teaching in university medical centers and another 10 years with Janssen Pharmaceuticals. After retiring, he contributed to and edited JFK. The Last Speech, a multi-author companion volume to a documentary film with the same title. The Massachusetts Review (Summer 2018) published an early version of one of his book chapters, an essay titled, “The President and the Poet. He is currently enrolled in the 2-year Stanford Online Writing Course.

Rohan Clifford is a senior school English teacher in the western suburbs of Melbourne, Australia. He is married with two grown children and two equally grown dogs, one of whom is a retired greyhound (the dogs). He loves guitars and is far better at collecting than actually playing them. He is also the author of the young adult title “Frank Davies and the Amazing Frog Catapult” (Penguin/Puffin). He is extraordinarily grateful when anybody reads his work.

Rosemary Porto has studied fiction writing at VCFA’s Novel Retreat for nine years and has taken courses at Grub Street, The Loft, and StoryStreet. Connie May Fowler and Tommy Dean mentor her one-on-one. She is working on a novel-in-progress and Flash Fiction. For her day job, Rosemary is an award-winning interior designer specializing in contemporary kitchen design. She has been practicing for more than twenty years on projects locally and nationally. Her newsletter, The Next Chapter, has been expanding in circulation since 2020.

Royden V Chan was born in Guyana in 1932 and immigrated to Canada with his family in 1978. In 1958 one of his early short stories won a prize and was published in the Guyana Christmas Annual. Several years ago a Guyanese friend of his asked him to publish some of his stories in the online website Guyanese Online. Other than that, he wrote for his own pleasure and was not interested in publication. But now that he is an old man, he would like to share his stories with others.

Ruth Emeroe is an emerging Canadian writer living in British Columbia. She writes stories, essays, and poetry, and has been published in Folklife magazine.

Ryan C. Eubank is a regional Emmy award-winning television producer/director, visual artist and writer based in Richmond, Virginia. His work can be found in Whitefish Review, VCU Health’s Medical Literary Messenger, Gabby & Min’s Literary Review and his storytelling has been featured on NPR’s All Things Considered.

27-year-old Ryan Frost lives in Toronto's east end with his wife, Dale McCabe, and his cat, Tyco. He graduated with a Master's degree in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from the University of Toronto in 2022, hoping to pursue a career researching ways to make society more sustainable. After realizing that job prospects in his targeted field were regrettably scarce, he began to focus on another life-long passion; literature. Today, he works at the Toronto Public Library, aspiring to one day see a book of his own creation on the shelves. His favourite authors include, in no particular order, Orson Scott Card, Terry Pratchett, Iain M. Banks, Jim Butcher, and Neil Gaiman. Outside of his professional and literary life, he enjoys endurance running, 3D modelling and printing, tabletop role-playing games, and DIY projects around the house.

S. M. Beal (she/her) is a fiction writer, poet, and nap enthusiast. After serving as Southern Utah University’s first student poet laureate from 2021-2022 and working as an editor for Kolob Canyon Review for two years, she graduated with her bachelor’s degree in creative writing and a minor in psychology. A Utah native, she now works at the University of Idaho as the Academic Publications and Curriculum Coordinator. Her pieces have been published by Owl Hollow Press, Every Day Fiction, and Kolob Canyon Review in their 2020-2023 editions. To see more of her work, follow her on Instagram at @writersmbeal.

SL Walsh recently earned their undergraduate degree in Creative Writing & Publishing from Sheridan College, and will begin their Masters in Communication & New Media at McMaster University in the fall of 2025. SL enjoys writing science fiction and poetry, and is inspired by concepts in physics and ecology. They have had a short story on AI titled Webworld published in Alchemy by Sheridan College, multiple articles published in McMaster’s Facility Services News, as well as poetry to be published in Phylum Press’ and Consilience Journal’s upcoming issues.

Sabrina Shabana Vellani is a South Asian-Canadian actress & writer from BC. She studied Theatre Acting & Creative Writing at UBC and graduated in 2018. Some of her poetry can be found in The Malahat Review, Event Magazine, and Filling Station Magazine under her pen name, Rozina Jessa. Her poetry can also be found in Carousel Magazine, the New York Quarterly, Pulp Magazine and Prism International Magazine under her real name. She recently wrote two pieces for the Creatus Project's Tales of the Theatre- Participation for Professionals Of All Ages, which was an interactive creative forum presented at the PAL Studio Theatre. She also works as an actor in both the Film/TV and Theatre industries. At the moment, her work aims to focus on the Magic of the Seasons and the comforts we can find through their offerings. More of her creative work can be found at https://www.instagram.com/themagicalseasons/

Sadee Bee is a queer artist and writer inspired by magic, strange dreams, and creepy vibes. Sadee is the Visual Arts Editor for Sage Cigarettes Magazine and the author of Pupa: Growth & Metamorphosis and Magic Lives In Girls. Sadee can be found on the web at linktr.ee/SadeeBee.

Salina Tellis is a lover of hiking, hockey, and books. She is studying Integrated Business and Humanities at McMaster, with a specialization in Sustainability, and Global Peace & Social Justice. Her greatest inspirations draw from nature's gifts, mental wellness, femininity, and the trials of growing up.

Sally Zakariya’s poetry has appeared in some 100 publications and been nominated for the Pushcart Prize. Her publications include All Alive Together, Something Like a Life, Muslim Wife, The Unknowable Mystery of Other People, Personal Astronomy, and When You Escape. She edited and designed a poetry anthology, Joys of the Table, and blogs at www.butdoesitrhyme.com.

Salome Vera is currently a student at Cal State University Long Beach and is a partial caretaker for her father who is disabled. Her story, El Doctor Cortez, was inspired by the last doctor's visit she accompanied her father on.

Samantha Lee Curran is a poet, writer, author and editor of trash to treasure lit. Her poetry collection ‘exposure to existence’ is forthcoming with Alien Buddha Press in February 2023. She has had work published through Stereo Stories, Anaerkillik, Mamamia, SourCherry Mag, DED Poetry, Soft Star Magazine, among others. Samantha was chosen as a Vessels of Love poet for the City of Sydney poetry event and she is attending an Artist's Residency in France in 2023. When she’s not writing (or trying to) you can find her at a bakery, having a picnic in the park or napping. Twitter: @slcurran & Instagram:@s.l.curran

Samantha Terrell is an internationally published American poet and author whose work has received five-star reviews. In 2021, she received First Honorable Mention in the "Anita McAndrews Poets for Human Rights Awards" organized by Poets Without Borders. Her most recent book, Things Worth Repeating?, features an invented form - the poetic trinitas. Terrell and her family reside in upstate New York.

Samuel Wise is a writer based in Montreal. He has been published ten times, including most recently, In Hiram poetry review, Burrow, Quibble literary magazine, and the Veg at McGill University.

Sandra Arnold is an award-winning writer with eight published books. Her new flash fiction collection Below Ground (Impspired) was published in the UK on 23 June and launched live-streamed at the Flash Bomb in New York on 12 July. Her short fiction has been published and anthologised internationally and has received nominations for The Best Small Fictions, Best Microfictions and The Pushcart Prize. She held writing residencies in The Robert Lord Cottage, Dunedin and the Seresin/Landfall/ University of Otago Press. She has an MLitt and PhD in Creative Writing from Central Queensland University, Australia.

www.sandraarnold.co.nz

Sanjeev Sethi has authored seven books of poetry. His latest is Wrappings in Bespoke (The Hedgehog Poetry Press, UK, August 2022). He has been published in over thirty countries. His poems have found a home in more than 400 journals, anthologies, and online literary venues. He edited Dreich Planet #1, an anthology for Hybriddreich, Scotland, in December 2022. He is the joint winner of the Full Fat Collection Competition-Deux, organized by Hedgehog Poetry Press, UK. In 2023, he won the first prize in a poetry competition at the prestigious National Defence Academy, Pune. He was recently conferred the 2023 Setu Award for Excellence. He lives in Mumbai, India.
X/ Twitter @sanjeevpoems3 || Instagram sanjeevsethipoems

Sarah R. New is in her late 20s, but has been writing since the age of 6. After graduating from university with a BA in Film Studies, she dabbled in screenwriting before returning to fiction writing. Sarah loves to cook and bake, spends most of her time with her cats and is an avid traveller who has visited four continents. Her travel memoir, The Great European Escape: The Trials and Tribulations of Travelling While Chronically Ill, is available for free from https://sarahrnew.wordpress.com/.

Sarah Royston was shortlisted for our 1st Anniversary Short Story contest. Her writing draws inspiration from nature, folklore and the landscapes of southern England. Her short fictions and poetry are published in Popshot Quarterly, Full House Lit, Ellipsis and Crow and Cross Keys among others. She lives in Hertfordshire, UK, and works as a researcher at Anglia Ruskin University. Twitter: @sarahroyston4

Scott Mason was born on May 6th 1958 in Hartford Ct. but has resided in Willimantic Ct. since
1960. He served four years in the United States Marine Corps and recently retired after 41 years as a vocational
counselor in the mental health system. He spends most of his time these days playing golf, hiking and spending
time with his granddaughter and family.

SOUM (Screams of Unfettered Minds) is a collaboration of three women, who value anonymity, using their art and poetry to be their voice. Their style is raw, unpolished, tongue-in-cheek, unapologetic, unfiltered; a mishmash of life experiences and ongoing shadow work. SOUM champions mental awareness and social issues drawing inspiration from the struggles of everyday people highlighting the darker aspects of their physical, mental and spiritual battles.

Seán McNicholl is an Irish GP who enjoys writing short stories in a variety of genres. He has had work published in several magazines, including Beyond Words, Raw Lit, 34th Parallel, Bindweed, Intrepidus Ink and two anthologies from Wicked Shadow Press. He has featured on the Blue Marble Storytellers Podcast and the Read Lots Write Lots podcast. For more: www.seanmcnicholl.com

Shamik Banerjee is a poet from India. When he is not writing, he can be found strolling the hills surrounding his homestead. His poems have appeared in Fevers of the Mind, Lothlorien Poetry Journal and Westward Quarterly, among others.

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After a career as a High School English and Visual Art teacher, and then an Administrator, Sharon Frayne now writes and paints full-time.

Her prize-winning short fiction and poetry is found in numerous print anthologies, magazines and online publications. She’s published two novels…so far.

‘Caught Between the Walls’, a hybrid historical fiction/nonfiction novel is set in the old Courthouse and Jail in Niagara-on-the-Lake. ‘The Sound of a Rainbow’, her YA debut was published by Latitude46 Publishing. She’s a member of the NOTL Writers’ Circle, the Writers Union of Canada, and past president of the Canadian Author’s Association Niagara. In her spare time, she leads backstage tours at The Shaw Festival.
www.sharonfrayne.com

Shirley Jones Luke is a poet and writer. Ms. Luke lives in Boston, Mass. Shirley has an MFA from Emerson College. Her work focuses on culture, family, and society.
Ms. Luke is working on a poetry collection.

Simon is a writer from England. he seeks stillness, solitude. shade and shadow.

Siobhan Farrell is originally from Toronto and lives in Thunder Bay, Ontario. She predominantly writes poetry and has published in Northwestern Ontario Writing Workshop Litfest, winning first prize twice, and placing in both poetry and creative-non fiction. Other published works include the Prairie Journal of Canadian Literature, The Walleye and The LAIR: Lakehead Arts Integrated Research Gallery. She has now also embarked on writing short stories. Overall, Siobhan likes to infuse her writing with quiet acceptance, love for the northern landscape and the many elements of our lives, including our passions, visions and incongruities.

Sis Byers lives in Chicago and writes fiction, screenplays, and personal essays. Her fiction has been published by Parcham Magazine, God’s Cruel Joke, and Red Noise Collective. When not writing she produces and directs short films with her creative partner.

Sonja Boon is a writer, researcher, teacher, and flutist currently living in Kjipuktuk (Halifax). Her work has appeared in numerous journals, including Riddle Fence, Geist, ROOM, and The Ethnic Aisle, as well as in anthologies. Her memoir, What the Oceans Remember: Searching for Belonging and Home, appeared in 2019.

Sophie Kearing is a writer of short fiction and a drinker of too much coffee. Her work has been featured by Lumiere Review, Isele Magazine, Ellipsis Zine, Litro UK, Pigeon Review, Discretionary Love, Roi Fainéant Press, and other publications. She’d love to connect with you: https://twitter.com/SophieKearing

Sruthi Amalan is a 23-year-old Tamil diaspora author living in Canada who uses her writing to explore her various intersecting identities and to make sense of the world around her. Sruthi's perspective on the world is deeply informed by her being a brown, queer woman who is a survivor of trauma and abuse. She is an active member of her community, both in-person and online, and she uses her social media presence to encourage others to do the same. Sruthi has many interests besides writing, including reading, drawing, and creating graphic designs. In her spare time, she loves to watch local music and theatre performances, spend time with her father and brother, and play board games with her friends. Sruthi released her first poetry collection, ‘Where the Clay Meets the Flame,’ in February 2024.