Russell Chamberlain was born in Nashville, Tennessee, but currently lives in the Pacific Northwest with his family. He recently published an article in the Salt Weekly (issue 35) about the independent music scene in Nashville, Tennessee. He writes short stories, fiction, and poetry. He had two nonfiction pieces published this past winter, one with Waxing and Waning and one with Beyond Words Anthology.

Amanda Conover is a recent MFA alum based in Peoria, IL who often explores themes such as existentialism, spirituality, and social issues. She is the Poetry Editor for Carolina Muse Literary & Arts Magazine and works in scholarly publishing. Her poetry has been published in Atlanta Review, the lickety~split, Sad Girl Diaries, the Chaffin Journal, and elsewhere.

Virginia Elizabeth Samuel writes poetry as a complement to her work as a professional violist and classical composer. She has been published in the Harvard publication, ‘The Advocate’, the British publication, ‘Tears in the Fence’, Denver Quarterly and The Mid-Atlantic Review, among others. She was born in the US, but currently resides in Britain.

Ashley Groves is a Cincinnati-based writer. They have previously acted as the Coordinating Nonfiction Editor for the Short Vine Literary Journal.

Melba writes from the quiet places where grief and identity meet. Her work explores infertility, longing, and selfhood through raw, nature-infused poetry. She is the author of Unplanted Yet Flourishing and the creator of Poetic Nectar Collective.

Misty Van Staaveren is a California native now living in Texas. Misty received her undergraduate degree in Liberal Studies at California State University Fresno. She holds a teaching credential in California and Texas, where she teaches English Language Arts to fourth graders. When not writing, she is always up for a road trip. She recently had the opportunity to be a credited reader for Bluestem Magazine. 

Steven Daniel lives and works in St. Louis, MO. He has degrees in English and Classic from St. Olaf College, and an MFA in Creative Writing from Arcadia University. His work has been published in Esoterica Magazine and Half and One.

Shay Wills graduated from the University of Arizona with a BA in English and Creative Writing. He, with his spouse and son, live in Tucson, Arizona, near his two older children. He earned his MS from Grand Canyon University, and now works as a mental health counselor. His poetry appears in The Abstract Elephant, Hive Journal, Wingless Dreamer, and Bookends Review among others.

Meg Taylor writes poems that teeter between collapse and clarity, often exploring the beautiful strangeness of becoming someone new. Their work examines burnout, gendered performance, and late self-awakening through a surreal, emotionally raw lens. Recent work appears in Beyond Words Magazine and Neon Origami and is forthcoming in Wingless Dreamer and Fjords Review.

S.D. Dillon has an MFA from Notre Dame and lives in Michigan. His poetry has appeared recently in Bloodroot, The Phare, MORIA, Antler Velvet, #Ranger, Canary, and The Shortlist: Best of BarBar 2024, and is forthcoming in Bacopa Literary Review, Southland Alibi, Rundelania, and elsewhere. He can be found on Instagram at @sddillon50.

Robert Eugene Rubino is the author of "Douglas Knocks Out Tyson" (UnCollected Press). His prose and poetry has been published in various print and online journals including Hippocampus, Moonstone, Cagibi and The Write Launch.

Liz P. Brazeau has a BA in creative writing and anticipated MIT from Western Washington University. She lives and writes in Bellingham, WA and is currently unpublished.

Nick Wardean is the author of Dead, Calm, and Silent, a self-published collection of poetry.

Wednesdae Reim Ifrach (they/them) is an art therapist, counselor, and scholar specializing in gender-affirming care, LGBTQ+ wellness, trauma-informed, and healing-centered practices. As a PhD candidate and full-time faculty at Moravian University, they integrate poetry, visual art, ritual mapping, and mindfulness to create body-positive, client-centered spaces for individuals navigating eating disorders and body-image concerns.

Molly Bibeau (she/her) is a writer and teacher living in Denver, Colorado with her partner and two cats. After twenty years of keeping her writing tucked away in notebooks and hidden under mattresses, she wishes to share her words with the world. She is currently pursuing her MFA in Writing at Lindenwood University with a focus in creative fiction.

Kate Caraballo (née Weaver) is a poet and fiction writer living in Youngstown, Ohio. Her work has been published by Z Publishing House, Agora, The Carroll Review, Quaranzine, and Poetic Sun. Kate earned her B.A. in English at Belmont Abbey College and her M.A. in English at John Carroll University. In 2018, she received the Jean S. Moore Award for Fiction for “The Old Man’s Piano,” and an Honorable Mention from the NCC Media Association for “The Aftermath” in 2017.

Georgia Smith is a writer based in Atlanta, Georgia. Her short stories have recently appeared in Coolest American Stories and The Headlight Review. She was also awarded a New Voices Fellowship at the Alexandria Emerging Writers Festival, and accepted into the 2024 Juniper Writing Institute, where she learned from a lot of incredible writers.

CS Crowe is three crows in a trench coat that gained sentience after eating a magic bean. He spends his days writing stories on a stolen laptop and trading human teeth for peanuts. A poet and storyteller from the Southeastern United States, he believes stories and poems are about the journey, not the destination, and he loves those stories that wander in the wilderness for forty years before finding their way to the promised land.

Irving Gamboa is a bilingual poet and filmmaker from Mexico City, now based in Chicago. His work has appeared in Time & Space Magazine, Hearth & Coffin, and other journals. His short films have screened at international festivals including Cannes and the Arizona Underground Film Festival.

Alexis Rhodes is a queer, polyamorous poet, playwright, performer, and strategist based in North Carolina. Her poetry has been described as raw and confessional, with just enough humor to lighten the mood. Alexis lives with her husband, two kids, and a hedgehog named Hedge.

Nick Wardean is the author of Dead, Calm, and Silent, a self-published collection of poetry.

Eden Lozano (they/them) is a full-time student at Cameron University. Aside from creative writing, they are a staunch cinephile with an affinity for all things sci-fi.

Ryan Rahman is a writer based in Orlando, Florida. His works have appeared in Beyond Words Magazine, The Stardust Review, Half and One, BarBar, Humans of The World, WILDsound Writing Festival (Festival for Poetry), Wingless Dreamer Publisher, Moonstone Arts Center, Poets Choice, and The Words Faire. When he’s not writing, Ryan enjoys reading, listening to music, watching movies, and traveling.

Noah Goldsher is a Professor of English, currently teaching at Quinnipiac University, and a graduate of Emerson College's MFA program in fiction and creative writing. His work has been published in the Raw Art Review (2020) and Noctua Review (2021), Southern Connecticut State University's Graduate Literary Journal. In 2019 he won first place at Emerson's Graduate Student Awards for short fiction. He likes cats, hiking, political debate, kosher dill pickles, and Dungeons and Dragons.

Stacey Lounsberry’s work has appeared in Heavy Feather Review, Liminal Spaces, Appalachian Places, SBLAAM, Book of Matches, Clepsydra and others. Her flash fiction, “The Bet,” (first published by The Mersey Review) is a 2025 Best of the Net nominee (Sundress Publications). She is a full-time mother and writer, and holds a BFA in Creative Writing and an MAT in Special Education. Find her in Eastern Kentucky, online at www.sglounsberry.com, or on twitter @sglounsberry.

Ross Hargreaves has an MFA from the University of Idaho. His work has appeared in Mikrokosmos, Quibble Lit, God's Cruel Joke, Fatal Flaw, Drunk Monkeys and the Boiler. He lives and writes in Idaho.

Kote Lien is a recent college graduate, having obtained his BA in English at the University of Utah. He loves Star Wars, his cat named Phish, and the Oxford comma.

Yanis Iqbal is currently studying at Aligarh Muslim University, India. His poems have been published in outlets such as Radical Art Review, Culture Matters, etc. Two of his poems were also selected for inclusion in the Anthology of Contemporary Poetry: Meet the Poets of Today.

Amanda Draznin (she/her) is studying English and Creative Writing at Elon University. Her work has been previously published in The Weight Journal, Beyond Words Magazine and Youth Be Heard. When she isn’t writing you could find her playing the tenor saxophone or reading through her collection of books.

Georgia Prints is a fiction writer whose work explores the quiet dread beneath memory, myth, and the everyday. Her stories often blur the line between the natural and the uncanny, drawing on themes of history, grief, and transformation. She lives in California.