Jeffrey is an essay writer in Boston, MA. He has workshopped essays with GrubStreet. His essays “The World of Tomorrow” and “The Wrong Napkin” have been accepted for publication this Spring in Wilderness House Literary Review. Avalanche I wondered, would I die of dehydration or hyperthermia?  Then the thought occurred to me:  I was buried in an avalanche, high up in the Alps.  So, it wouldn’t be dehydration.  I had only to stick out my tongue to access an endless amount of snowy hydration.  So, it would be the cold that would take me.  Not a pleasant way to go, … Continue reading Jeffrey Feingold

Gary Beck has spent most of his adult life as a theater director and worked as an art dealer when he couldn’t earn a living in the theater. He has also been a tennis pro, a ditch digger and a salvage diver. His original plays and translations of Moliere, Aristophanes and Sophocles have been produced Off Broadway. His poetry, fiction and essays have appeared in hundreds of literary magazines and his published books include 32 poetry collections, 14 novels, 3 short story collections, 1 collection of essays and 5 books of plays. Published poetry books include:  Dawn in Cities, Assault … Continue reading Gary Beck

Peter is an Emeritus Professor of Community Psychiatry at Imperial College, London and a consultant in Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust. He was formerly the Editor of the British Journal of Psychiatry where he wrote a regular column strewn with rhyming doggerel. He now feels he can graduate to poetry, and sonnets attract him by their need to convert complexity to order. Awakening Where are we? Still in epidemic mode Fenced in helpless by edict and control Thwarted daily from our intended role So we look ahead, our hope bestowed On the shining dawn when the open road To freedom’s … Continue reading Peter Tyrer

Abby Ripley is a seventy-eight-year-old who has had a very rich and varied life. She grew up on a ranch on the Crow Indian Reservation in Montana and spent time as a Peace Corps volunteer in Niger, a travel agent, a life insurance field agent, and an editor for Grolier Publishing. More recently she has exhibited as a fine art photographer specializing in composite images, a painter of watercolors and acrylics, a poet who has been named poetry finalist three successive years by Adelaide Literary Magazine, and a novelist with a historical novel in progress. Her art has appeared on … Continue reading Abby Ripley

Gabriel Ricard writes, edits, and occasionally acts. He writes a monthly column called Captain Canada’s Movie Rodeo at Drunk Monkeys, as well as a monthly called Make the Case with Cultured Vultures. His 2015 poetry collection Clouds of Hungry Dogs is available from Kleft Jaw Press, while his 2017 novel Bondage Night is available through Moran Press. Recent releases include A Ludicrous Split (Alien Buddha Press/Split chapbook with Kevin Ridgeway) and Love and Quarters (Moran Press). His newest book, the short story collection The Oddities on Saturday Night, is available now from Moran Press. A new horror fiction collection entitled … Continue reading Gabriel Ricard

Fred Miller is a California writer. Over eighty of his storiesand poems have appeared in publications around theworld in the past ten years. Many may be found on hisblog: https://pookah1943.wordpress.com The Lone Traveler For the soul that’d been pierced to the quick with oceans of pain that cut deep into life’s very soul, he mourned. Cleave to forbearance, they warned. Show raw courage, not tears. Tis a primal lesson of survival, he was told. Chin Up, stiff lip, they brayed. Unhinged resolution led to temptations forbidden, a release of sorrows and strife, all cares and breath, a wrinkle of mercy aborning. … Continue reading Fred Miller

Frederick Livingston lives in the liminal space between sustainable agriculture, experiential education and peacebuilding. His poems have appeared in literary magazines, scientific journals, public parks and bathroom stalls. Compelled by the power of metaphor to shape culture, he strive to plant seeds for a more fruitful world. The Moon Rose Joshua Tree, California the moon rose slowly bloomed the moon petunia soon bluebell too violet and marigold the mountain thorns adorn slender twilight stem morning roots deep in night something more than an absence of light Lemon Season Leaving Njombe, Tanzania low breeze blows lemon leaves dreaming sideways through time … Continue reading Frederick Livingston

Kevin McManus is a poet-writer from Leitrim in Western Ireland .He has published six novels, a collection of short stories and two books of poetry. His latest poetry book called “The Hawthorn Tree” is published by Lapwing Publications, Belfast.  His poems have been published in various journals including the Cormorant and The Galway Review.   Songs of better days Light will shine through the dark, as the birds at dawn sing a better song of days to come, new words from the ashes of the old, floated on the air by a melody, to encapsulate the essence, lifeblood upon the strain, … Continue reading Kevin McManus

Nancy Machlis Rechtman has had poetry and short stories published in Literary Yard, Paper Dragon, Page & Spine, The Thieving Magpie, Quail Bell, Anti-Heroin Chic, Blue Lake Review, Goat’s Milk, Down In the Dirt, and more. She wrote freelance Lifestyle stories for a local newspaper, and she was the copy editor for another local paper. She has had stories and plays for children published and produced. She currently writes a blog called Inanities at https://nancywriteon.wordpress.com . Maybe In My Dreams The nights tease and dangle The possibility of escape And obliteration From the mania of the day While the hours tick by … Continue reading Nancy Machlis Rechtman

Books lead to more books. Read one and you’re reminded of another. New material refers to past releases, either directly or in roundabout ways. 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 the name of compelling art. Pick up the trail and we end up making extraordinary connections. Welcome to Connection Degree Three … Three engaging books on the savage nature of humankind: Lord Of The Flies, Hunger Games: Catching Fire, and The Wasp Factory. Lord Of The Flies by William Golding is a … Continue reading ON THE TWELVE STEPS TO MIDNIGHT