Expat New Yorker James Penha has lived for the past quarter-century in Indonesia. Nominated for Pushcart Prizes in fiction and poetry, his essays have appeared in The New York Daily News and The New York Times. Penha edits The New Verse News, an online journal of current-events poetry. Twitter: @JamesPenha

Catherine A. MacKenzie escapes from her mundane world by writing poems and short fiction most women can relate to. Although she writes all genres, she invariably veers toward the dark. Her late mother once asked, "Can't you write anything happy?" (She can!)

Cathy has been published "traditionally" in numerous print and online publications. She has self-published several short story collections, books of poetry, and children’s picture books. Her debut novel, WOLVES DON'T KNOCK, was published in June 2018. MISTER WOLFE, the second in the stand-alone series, was published in 2020. She hopes to finish MY BROTHER, THE WOLF in the near future.

MY HEART IS BROKEN (IT NEEDS FIXING), a book of poetry memorializing her late son Matthew, who died of a rare heart cancer in March 2017, was published in March 2020, the three-year anniversary of his death. She hopes it might help other grieving parents who suffer as she does. BROKEN HEARTS CAN'T ALWAYS BE FIXED (published in March 2022) is the second book in his memory. She says it'll be the last, but who knows, right?

Cathy divides her time between Halifax and West Porters Lake, Nova Scotia.

Her amazing, gorgeous grandchildren provide much joy and inspiration.

Visit Cathy’s website: www.writingwicket.wordpress.com

Told by a high school teacher that he had writing talent, Steve Carr’s career as a writer began right after graduation. He spent three years in the Army as a military journalist, writing articles for newspapers all over Florida, and followed that up with four years in the Navy where he taught in the Psychiatric Technician Program at Portsmouth Naval Hospital, training Hospital Corpsmen how to provide care and support in an inpatient setting for young men with psychiatric disorders. He then finished college, majoring in English/Theater and then spent the next 13 years working in non-profit health care development and management, mostly in rural communities, during which time several of his plays that he wrote in his spare time were produced in several states. He gave up the steady income to pursue his dream of writing/producing/directing his own plays and began a theatrical production company in Arizona. He retired early and in June 2016 began writing short stories. Since then he has had over 550 short stories published internationally in over 280 different print and online magazines, literary journals and anthologies. Collections of his short stories, Sand, Rain, The Tales of Talker Knocks, and the hardback edition The Very Best of Steve Carr: 52 stories, was published by Clarendon House Publications. His collection of short stories, Heat, was published by Czykmate Productions. His self-published debut novel, Redbird, was released in November, 2019. He independently published LGBTQ: 33 Stories, which was released in January, 2020. In May of 2020 his short story collection The Theory of Existence: 50 short stories, was released. His guidebook Getting Your Short Stories Published was also published by Clarendon House. He has over 130 publications and books that contain his short stories listed on his Amazon bibliography. He has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize twice. In 2019, he was on the cover of the Inner Circle Writers’ Magazine inaugural issue and dubbed “The King of Short Stories.” He’s a native of Cincinnati but has traveled extensively in the United States and abroad. He currently lives in Richmond, Virginia where when he’s not writing he frets about his writing peers not getting the attention they deserve. He is the founder of Sweetycat Press, a Facebook Group, that produces publications as promotion tools for emerging writers

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Kelli J. Gavin lives in Carver, Minnesota. She is a Writer, Blogger and Professional Organizer.

Her first book called I Regret Nothing- A Collection of Poetry and Prose - was published in July of 2019.

My Name Is Zach- A Teenage Perspective on Autism (August, 2019) - is co-authored with Zach Gavin (Illustrator), her son who has Autism.

7 Journals/Magazines most of which have been published on Amazon.com.

She has also co-authored 30+ anthology books. Most of these fantastic anthology collections are available on Amazon.com and Lulu.com.

Two new books from Kelli are planned for 2022 and 2023.

"One of the Best Special Needs Books of All Time" - BookAuthority- My Name Is Zach- A Teenage Perspective on Autism

"Best New Special Needs Book of 2019" - BookAuthority- My Name Is Zach- A Teenage Perspective on Autism

"Best Special Needs Books for 2020" - BookAuthority- My Name Is Zach- A Teenage Perspective on Autism

"13 Best Special Needs Books To Read In 2021" - BookAuthority- My Name is Zach- A Teenage Perspective on Autism

Kelli's blog can be found at www.kellijgavin.blogspot.com

@keltotheg on TikTok

@KelliJGavin on FB and Instagram

Born in Europe, English is his second language, following Italian—then Latin, Pig Latin, French, ASL and assorted computer languages. He now lives in upstate New York with three cats.

He managed a series of oil company outlets; ran two of his own; became a mechanic, then truck driver, did direct sales; became a Field Engineer for main frame computers. After ten years he switched to software and worked ten more years, receiving world wide acclaim, as a System Programmer.

In college he took a dislike to writing of any kind and swore never to try that again. Well, some years later, influenced by Babylon 5's creator and his own pressure to write about three traumatic events, he turned to creative writing. As of June 2021, he has shared 150 published stories online (over 5.1 million views), in nineteen anthologies and two literary journals. AARP volunteer instructor since 2000. We suppose he's one of those who just can't keep a job!

author, instructor, storyteller

He is listed in "Who's Who of Emerging Writers 2020"

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08B4H8DFD/

Follow him at https://tinyurl.com/Paradiso-Author

and https://books2read.com/ap/RWjj5e/AL-Paradiso

Interviewed by Sarah Walker, UK, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ub0vgjlk87U

also in

"PRACTICE My Son": Father and genius son bond in https://short-edition.com/en/story/1-min/practice-my-son American Library Association,

"Seth's Talks": Dragon boy rider and his dragon, Seth, chat during lunch. In Flash Fiction Addiction anthology; https://www.amazon.com/dp/1091710414

"Crossed Wires": Her parents loved me. Was that enough for us? In GUA No. 8 print Arts magazine https://www.genreurbanarts.com/product/no-8-print

"Super Power": Adapting to a surprise super power. Could you do better? in Blaze: The Inner Circle Writers' Group Flash Fiction Anthology ebook at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07T9F5GF1 , print at lulu.com/shop/grant-p-hudson/blaze-the-inner-circle-writers-group-flash-fiction-anthology-2019/paperback/product-24145400.html

"Windy Paris": A non romance romance in 100 words. In BEYOND: A PARANORMAL MICROFICTION ANTHOLOGY, Dark Drabbles #4 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07V9XCN4L

Dragon Tales Collection: Join with a boy obsessed with becoming a dragon rider. Share five of the stories with kids after you read them. B&N; https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dragon-tales-collection-al-paradiso/1132125976

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07TM191T4/

"Big Bang Explained": My revolutionary grand unification theory explained by Carl Sagan. In Tempest: The Inner Circle Writers' Group Science Fiction and Fantasy Anthology 2019!

In paperback at http://www.lulu.com/shop/grant-p-hudson/tempest-the-inner-circle-writers-group-science-fiction-and-fantasy-anthology-2019/paperback/product-24205037.html

And kindle at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07W65833D/ref=sr_1_1

"EVERY BREATH YOU TAKE": Inspired by the song. Who is he? In GLEAM: The Inner Circle Writers' Group Second Flash Fiction Anthology 2019. In paperback http://www.lulu.com/shop/grant-p-hudson/gleam-the-inner-circle-writers-group-second-flash-fiction-anthology-2019/paperback/product-24262021.html

and Kindle https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07YGS39TW

"Romance on Wheels": In BAD ROMANCE, billed as an anti Valentine's Day anthology, about a man's romance with his car and how it affected his living romance(s).

"DNA Surprise": A family is surprised by DNA results. In Maelstrom: The Inner Circle Writers' Group Literary Anthology 2019, www.amazon.com/Maelstrom-Circle-Writers-Literary-Anthology-ebook/dp/B0821T64Z3/

"Faller?": LOVE - is love trust? in DARK DRABBLES #7

"Deep See": is in OCEANS: Drabbles #9 Dark, sea creatures. The octopus incident.

"Deep See Covert": in OCEANS: Drabbles #9 Dark, sea creatures. Octopus royalty.

"Black Feline Love": is in Love is Love by Breaking Rules Publishing. If you ever lost a beloved pet, you MUST read this. https://www.amazon.com/Breaking-Rules-Publishing-Love-Anthology-ebook/dp/B0843B2STN/

"Paris Encore": Is in Glamour: The Inner Circle Writers' Group Romance Anthology 2019 This is a special story called ‘a beautiful, bitter/sweet love story'. https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B084NZPZP9

Quantum Quirk: I wrote this for a call from the Centre for Quantum Technologies at the National University of Singapore for a story that included Quantum Mechanics. QM is not the star. https://shorts.quantumlah.org/entry/quantum-quirk

Who's Who of Emerging Writers 2020 & 2021: I'm honored to be included with so many talented authors!

The following are in https://blog.reedsy.com/creative-writing-prompts/author/al-paradiso/

I Will Not Fear: Facing a greatest fear. Overcoming it? Perhaps.

PAIN less: About siblings. I find this a moving if not disturbing piece with some truthful details

A Little Help: An aging theme.

Black Feline: Heart wrenching story of a life-long bond. 99% true.

Thanksgiving 2121: What it may be like on its 500th anniversary - on a space station 400 miles up.

Laundry Day: A common task has lasting effects, surprises and secrets revealed.

Hairy Kari's Bad Hair Day A man tries immersion therapy to help his wife resolve her Haphephobia at a spa/salon.

My Secret Passage: Discovering an unusual secret passage at home

My Overseas Volunteer Trip to Dumbistan in West Asia: My 10-day journal of a life changing trip to a primitive village-nation.

Forrest Monsters: 70-year secrets revealed; small rebel army may be our last hope.

CHILD'S PLAY, is published in the Esopus Library literary journal's inaugural issue of QUARANANZINE. You may read it free at https://www.esopuslibrary.org/quaranzine-1

This is a touching short story of a mother and child after the Chernobyl disaster.

Book of Books A catalog of 129 books and novels of almost every genre written by some of the best emerging writers on the worldwide writing scene today. It features my DRAGON TALES COLLECTION. available on Amazon.

"I, The Writer" from SweetyCat Press. My photo is bottom center, right behind the logo. Looks just like me --- in the dark. :) Many 5 * reviews. 114 essays by modern-day authors fiction and non-fiction writers, poets, song writers, playwrights and journalists from across the globe write about the intertwining of their personal lives with their journeys in the literary arts. In this volume authors provide keen insights into the early influences and experiences that transformed them into writers and what keeps them writing, in some cases while in dire situations or facing life crises. Every one of them is published, some on the cusp of fame, every one of them is able to proudly title their essay. "I, The Writer."

Print and ebook — https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08LT8L2NQ

Finally Fishing - A short flash story of deception, greed and sharks: https://spillwords.com/finally-fishing/

Anatomy and Blind Dating - An unusual blind date gets intimate and surprising: spillwords.com/anatomy-and-blind-dating/

Chat/interview with Paula Readman of "For Writers only, who write without Fear of Rejection" group. The only way to visit the Clubhouse is via membership or invite to the Clubhouse tearoom. This is your invitation to catch my unique chat interview. I hope you'll find some tid bits interesting as we sip our hot chocolate.

https://paularcreadmanauthor.blog/2020/09/12/clubhouse-chat-a-l-paradiso/

Vacation Letter From IO in an epistolary antho - TBA

Waking a Vampire is accepted for Nightmare With a Twist TBA

Who's Who of Emerging Writers 2021 available on Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B095NLK717

MARS FIRST is in Galaxy # 2: The Inner Circle Writers' Group Sci-fi and Fantasy Flash Fiction Anthology 2021,

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0949H4JDC

THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD (An International Manhunt) features my episode, "Untitled - Limp Noodle Sauce."

It involves time travel, Jimi Hendrix, Woodstock, and the origins of the secret sauce recipe. This is a variation on a chain story --- not that kind! --- where an author writes a chapter then passes it on to another author and s/he writes a connecting chapter etc., In this book, the publisher set a plot and invited authors to write episodes to that plot with restrictions. Available Sept 2021

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Zaneta Varnado Johns, aka Zan Johns, is a Pushcart Prize nominee and 4-time bestselling author. After her 2020 debut book, Poetic Forecast topped Amazon's Bestseller List at #1 in six categories, she embraced her passion of creative expression and has not slowed down or looked back. She released her second poetry collection, After the Rainbow, in 2022. Johns is a contributing author in the Women Speakers Association’s #1 international bestsellers Voices of the 21st Century: Resilient Women Who Rise and Make a Difference (2021), Voices of the 21st Century: Conscious Caring Women Who Make a Difference (2022) and Voices of the 21st Century: Women Transforming the World (2023). Her poems are featured as the Dedication page in these collaborative books.

Johns co-edited Social Justice Inks anthology (2022) with publisher and poet Lisa Tomey-Zonneveld. She serves as an editor with the Fine Lines Literary Journal and administrator for the Passion of Poetry, a global online platform for emerging and esteemed poets. Johns contributes to numerous anthologies and international literary publications. Believing that every word shared is an opportunity to love, Zan's writing offers hope as she stirs the reader’s consciousness about life and living. She is a truth-telling vessel of grace and light.

Johns left her hometown of Hammond, Louisiana to attend the University of Colorado where she also spent her twenty-nine-year administrative career. Johns was the lead human resources officer when she retired in 2007 after being named one of the University of Colorado's Women Who Make a Difference. Zaneta Johns resides in Westminster, Colorado, USA.

Elaine Marie Carnegie-Padgett is a Texas girl, born and bred! A paralegal and private investigator turned journalist and author. She wrote for a local Newspaper in the Texas Hill Country for ten years, and during that time produced a Regional Visitors Guide. Her historical articles have been published in Luxury and Lifestyle Magazines, Visitors Guides while her non-fiction, works appear in online and print venues and have been used in the Texas School System to teach middle-grade children about the dangers of the internet. In the Texas Legislature to check the intrusive powers of POA’s in the State of Texas, and on Discovery ID on Human Trafficking and its consequences on a human life. She has worked with local law enforcement, the FBI, and Texas Rangers, and those experiences are reflected in many of her stories. In the last two years she has published eighteen short stories in various anthologies, and poetry available on Amazon and her website, https://www.authorelainemarie.com. She is currently querying her first novel and writing a second thriller about a paranormal behavioral analyst. Elaine makes her home in the lush East Texas Piney Woods amid her grown children and grandchildren.

Born in Germany, Kerri was raised on the Eastern plains of Colorado and currently lives in Utah with her husband, dog, and cat. She is an author and mentor, having worked with middle and high school writing clubs. Kerri's characters portray warmth, heart, and wit, giving them lives with which readers can identify. She writes multi-genre but focuses mainly on speculative fiction. At age fifty-eight, she published her first short story in Dastaan World Magazine, followed by short stories in other ezines, including Spillwords.com, Fifty-Word Stories and the prestigious Inner Circle Writers' Magazine. She has published short stories in many anthologies, “Dark X-mas: 100 Word Holiday Horror Stories,” “Portal: The Inner Circle Writers’ Group Children's Anthology 2019,” "Ancients: A Dark Microfiction Anthology," "Unity," a charity anthology for Doctors Without Borders, "Alpha One: A Christian Cornucopia" which includes a true Christian experience, "Poetica 2, Poetica 3, Poetica 4, Poetica 5, and Poetica 6: The Inner Circle Writers' Group Poetry Anthologies for 2020 - 2022," "Galaxy 2: The Inner Circle Writers' Group Sci-fi and Fantasy Flash Fiction Anthology 2021". She also was accepted into the "Who's Who of Emerging Writers 2020 and 2021". She has an essay in "I, the Writer". All three were published by Sweetycat Press. She has an essay and a poem in "To Be Or Not To Be A Writer," also by Sweetycat Press, on which she was an editor. She was the editor for "The Wordsmith Chronicles," by Sweetycat Press and "Journeys," published by Stone Pony Press as well as publishing two short stories in that volume. She participated in a unique anthology in which 80 authors from around the world wrote individual episodes to bring together, "The Whole Wide World: An Episodic International Criminal Manhunt Anthology" published by Sweetycat Press. Her episode was number 39. Five drabbles each have been published in "Legends of the Night: Infection" and "Legends of the Night: Bloodlust" by Black Ink Fiction. In addition, three drabbles and a short story have been published in "Discordia: Stories of a World in Chaos," an anthology published by Dastaan World on which she was also an editor. A short story was published in "Dimensions of Fantasy, Volume Two" published by Writers Unite! And four new anthologies by Sweetycat Press titled, "A Love Letter (or Poem) To," "Stories & Poems in the Song of Life," "Beautiful: In the Eye of the Beholder" and "Movement: Our Bodies in Action," the last a tribute to the love between her parents. She has been a blogger since 2004 and currently has one about writing which can be found here: https://kerriwrites342770527.wordpress.com/. As an editor, you may find her website here: https://kljesmer79.wixsite.com/website.

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Member of the Johnson Society of London and run a small literary website. Please visit rudderlessmarinerpoetry.com

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Quinn Cooper is a 63 year old widow. She lives in Fall River, Massachusetts, which is famous for the infamous Lizzie Borden, who was found innocent of the brutal murders of her father and step-mother.

Quinn began writing with fanfiction stories of her favorite show, Emergency! She moved on to some short stories and poems and finally, she created her first novel.

Mrs. Cooper lives in a small apartment along with her 27 year old son and her 12 year old Calico, Niko.

Ger comes from a strong Celtic line of Irish stories and poetry. She writes to bring pleasure to others and for the continuity of this simple way of living and entertainment.

Her poems cover landscape, childhood, beauty, betrayal, loss, gardening, the world around us, “a capture of life’s moments”. She encourages people to “Seek the beauty in their surroundings”.

For this reason they align closely with Irish poets Seamus Heaney, John O’Donoghue, or Brendan Kennelly.

She is grateful to be married to the gentlest of men who takes care of everything allowing her time to splurge on writing!

When not writing her pleasures are walks in the country with friends followed by a nice cuppa tea and chat at the end. She now lives in Sussex, UK.

Lisa H. Owens, a retired Delta Airlines flight attendant and former monthly humorist columnist, resides in North Texas with her daughter, two rescue dogs and a work-from-home job as an environmental compliance coordinator. She began writing in earnest at the age of 56, her first published story being a real-life horror about the time she was nearly abducted by Ted Bundy while residing at a shady motel in Pensacola Florida in 1978.

Her award winning work is featured on Black Ink Fiction, The Drabble, The World of Myth Magazine, Beneath the Surface News, Spillwords, WOW! (Women on Writing), International Lockdown Journal, Horror Tree’s Dark Nowhere Series, Short Story Avenue, The NZ Dream, Short Story Town, Coping Magazine and narrated in The Poet’s Lounge—a channel on YouTube and Creepy Pod—a longstanding horror podcast.

Lisa has a host of stories and poems published in anthologies of various genres, her favorite being horror. Recently, she was one of many “Women in Horror” in Black Ink Fiction’s Women in Horror Month Showcase (February, 2022) and was included in “Who's Who of Emerging Writers 2021.” Her stories are typically inspired by true events, often including private jokes and family nicknames. You can read samplings of her mostly humor inspired work at www.lisahowens.com.