Books lead to other books. Read one and you’re reminded of another. New publications refer to past ones, famous and obscure. Genres cross over, involving similar concepts, tropes, devices. Writers lift, pay tribute, re-imagine, claim as their own and take it a step further in their effort to tell gripping, original stories. Pick up the trail and we end up making extraordinary connections. Welcome to Connection Degree Three … Three autobiographical books – Factotum by Charles ‘Hank’ Bukowski; Notes From Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky; A Moveable Feast (The Restored Edition) by Ernest Hemingway – that are linked by two formative … Continue reading ON THE CRACKS INSIDE WHICH WE SLIP AND FLOW

“That moment when you become aware you are dreaming but have no control. That moment right before you know you will lose your temper, but can do nothing about it. That moment when you know you’re going to scream and are powerless to stop yourself. The feeling just after you start to fall, when the fear is gone and you are just at one with the air passing you by. The Feeling of weightlessness in water disappearing as the waves lap over your face. That feeling of knowing you were honest, were true, were prepared to accept that although you … Continue reading A Review of Written in the Dust on the Ceiling Fan by Dan Flore III

Tohm Bakelas is a social worker in a psychiatric hospital. He was born in New Jersey, resides there, and will die there. His poems have appeared in numerous journals, zines, and online publications. He has published 13 chapbooks. He runs Between Shadows Press.   some lines i’ve written once before  i’ve lost count of all the times i’ve wept watching wind move across water drunk driving in the sun numbed mind, diminished insight, death does not always present so simple sometimes it’s required i drive home drunk with the world singing its songs— why is peace illegal? Portland, Maine drunk … Continue reading Tohm Bakelas

Sherry Shahan lives in a laid-back beach town in California where she grows carrot tops in ice cube trays for pesto. Her work has appeared in Impspired, Oxford University Press, Confrontation, F(r)action, Progenitor and forthcoming from Fiddlehead and Hippocampus. She holds an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts and taught a creative writing course for UCLA Extension for 10 years. How Unearthing a Shoebox of Letters Inspired a Novel in Verse While cleaning out my office I unearthed a shoebox filled with letters from a teenage friend who had served in Vietnam during the tumultuous 1960s. I spent hours pouring through his truthful and heart-wrenching … Continue reading Sherry Shahan

 Gordon Ferris is a Dublin writer who has lived in Ballyshannon, Co. Donegal for the past thirty-eight years.   He has had several poems and short stories published in many publications including, A New Ulster, Impspire Magazine, The Galway Review,  Lothlorien Poetry Journal, and Hidden Channel.        Idol.   are we soldiers fighting all the sorrows who venture into the world who smile even when there’s no one to look or see never wanting to see the wonder in creation only if we have enough to eat when we all eventually die will all our own truths become known will all we … Continue reading Gordon Ferris

Andrew Scott is a native of Fredericton, NB. During his time as an active poet, Andrew Scott has taken the time to speak in front of classrooms, judge poetry competitions as well as had over 200 hundred writings published worldwide in such publications as The Art of Being Human, Battered Shadows and The Broken Ones. Andrew Scott has published five poetry books, Snake With A Flower, The Phoenix Has Risen, The Path, The Storm Is Coming and Searching andone book of photography, Through My Eyes.  Whispers Of The Calm is his sixth poetry book. To contact Andrew, email …andrewscott.scott@gmail.com http://twitter.com/JustMaritimeBoyhttp://andrewmscott.comhttp://www.facebook.com/andymscott http://www.facebook.com/JustaMaritimeBoy The Sickness Part One … Continue reading Andrew Scott

Tim Law is an author of fantasy, horror, detective and general short story fiction as well as the occasional poem or two. He heralds from a little town in Southern Australia called Murray Bridge. A happily married father of three children (plus four cats and a rabbit), family is very important to him. Currently working at the Murray Bridge Library in the role of Library Manager he has dreamed since his early high school years of becoming a full-time author. Working for a library, surrounded by so many wonderful authors it is difficult not to be inspired to write. Tim … Continue reading Tim Law

Jim lives in a small town twenty miles west of Minneapolis, Minnesota. His stories and poems have appeared in over two-hundred online and print publications. His short story “Aliens” has been nominated by The Zodiac Press for the 2021 Pushcart Prize. His collection of short stories Resilience is scheduled to be published in early 2021 by Bridge House Publishing and Short Stuff a collection of his flash fiction and drabbles will be published by Chapeltown books in 2021. In addition, Something Better, a dystopian adventure, will be published by Paper Djinn Press in early 2021. All of his stories can be found on his blog: www.theviewfromlonglake.wordpress.com. … Continue reading Jim Bates

James Mulhern’s writing has appeared in literary journals over one hundred and fifty times and has been recognized with many awards. In 2015, Mr. Mulhern was granted a writing fellowship to Oxford University. That same year, a story was longlisted for the Fish Short Story Prize. In 2017, he was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. His novel, Give Them Unquiet Dreams, is a Kirkus Reviews Best Book of 2019. He was shortlisted for the AestheticaCreative Writing Award 2021 for his poetry. Recently, two of his novels were Finalists for the United Kingdom’s Wishing Shelf Book Awards. The Nest I imagine you looking at the robins’ nest in the Maple outside your bedroom window. You … Continue reading James Mulhern

Pranab Ghosh is a journalist, writer, poet, translator and blogger. He runs a blog “Existential Problems”. His poems and prose piece have been published and accepted by Dissident Voice, Spillwords, The Piker Press, Setu Magazine, Pangolin Review, Visual Verse, Memoryhouse Tuck Magazine, Transendent Zero Press, Scarlet Leaf Review, Literature Studio Review, Leaves of Ink, Hans India, etc. He has coauthored a book of poems, titled Air & Age. He has to his credit a translation of a book of Bengali short stories. The title of the English translation is Bougainvillea and Other Stories. His second book of poems and first … Continue reading Pranab Ghosh