Lawrence Buentello ("Confessions") lives in San Antonio, Texas. His fiction and poetry have appeared in several publications, including Word Riot, The Storyteller, The Wallace Stevens Journal and Avocet.

Tom Carlson ("Circus Turtles, Hellgrammites, Ants and Calling Loons") has taught American literature and creative nonfiction at the University of Memphis for thirty-two years. He has written extensively on Poe, Elvis, Romanian poetry, and the passing parade. His latest book is Hatteras Blues: A Story from the Edge of America.

Christopher Compson ("Hobbies") lives and teaches English in upstate New York. His poetry has most recently appeared in Louisiana Literature.

Alissa Grist ("Napkins, Leaves, and Sheets") started her writing career at the age of eight in San Antonio, Texas, with a story about how days are like pennies. She enjoys tripping people, traveling, and food. After she graduates from Texas Tech University in May 2009 Alissa plans on attending Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado.

Hardy Jones  ("Resurrection of the Unholy") has seen his nonfiction and fiction appear in numerous literary journals, and his novel Every Bitter Thing is forthcoming from Black Lawrence Press. He teaches Creative Writing at Cameron University. When he is not reading, writing, or teaching, he enjoys spending time with his wife, Thai novelist Natthinee Khot-asa Jones.

Jamie Kerry ("What I Want is a Graveyard") lives in Boston, where she writes fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. The poem appearing here is dedicated to her sisters, Julie Kerry (1970-1991) and Robin Kerry (1972-1991).

Gill Laverick ("Lost Stuff") lives in Sunderland in the northeast of England with her husband Tony and her two children, Peter and Jayne. She has worked in theater as an actress and a stage manager. In addition to being self-employed, Laverick is also writing murder-mystery scripts for a theater company based in Yorkshire.

Rick Marlatt ("Heart Pounded When") teaches English in Nebraska and is working on his MFA at California Riverside-Palm Desert. Marlatt’s publications include Hamilton Stone Review, Slow Trains, The Reynolds Review, and Prairie Poetry, among others. Marlatt performs regularly, most recently winning the University of Nebraska's Sigma Tau Delta Annual Short Fiction Slam. He and his wife Kina have two sons, Brock and Kehler.

Lynn Miles (Love Sweet Love) is a singer-songwriter who lives in Canada. Her folk-country music has one several awards, including a Juno. Her latest release is Black Flowers, Volume 1.

Rebecca Morey ("Serious") is a MFA candidate at Emerson College. S he works as a reading tutor, and lives in a suburb of Boston with her husband and young son.

Mia Kammeyer-Mueller ("Moth, Reversed") is originally from Minneapolis, Minnesota, and now lives in Florida with her husband and two children. Her stories have also appeared in Verbsap and Del Sol Review.

Mike Peters ("The Beast") is a realtor who lives in his hometown of Bexley, Ohio. He is married and has three sons. He is a combat veteran of the Vietnam War.

Nancy Pulley ("The Faint Smell of Spilled Milk") lives and writes in Ogilville, Indiana. Her poems have appeared in the Indiannual, The Flying Island, Arts Indiana Literary Supplement, Passages North, Plainsong, The Sycamore Review, and the Humpback Barn Festival collection. Nancy’s poems have appeared in A Linen Weave of Themes, a collection of poetry on tape. She won the Writers’ Center Poetry Chapbook Contest in 1992, resulting in the publication of Tremolo of Light.

Matthew Putman ("Park") is a Ph.D. physicisist who has published scientific research over twenty international scientific journals. His poetry has been published in Gold Dust, The Externalist, Barnwood Press among others. Matthew is also a theatre and film producer, having won awards for his film Definition of Insanity. Putman is producing the upcoming play Perdita in November off-Broadway. Matthew collaborates with his wife Marine on films and plays, and has a a very sweet three-year-old daughter Juliette.

Garrett Socol ("Liquor Store Lust") has seen his fiction published in TheBarcelona Review, 3:AM Magazine, Hobart, Pequin, Underground Voices, 3711 Atlantic, Ghoti Magazine, and McSweeney's Internet Tendency. His plays have been produced at the Berkshire Theatre Festival and the Pasadena Playhouse. He created and produced cable television shows for the E! Network for more than a decade.     

Alex Tamaki ("Flowers") was raised in Santa Monica and Venice, California. Deeply interested in poetry and literature, he began writing seriously after his junior year in high school. He is currently a sophomore student at Oberlin College, where he is enrolled in the Creative Writing program.
  

Barbara Jean Tannert ("A Boy Called Horse") lives in Galesburg, Illinois, where she teaches at Knox College and writes dark tales of domesticity.  Her fiction has appeared in Rose and Thorn, Ken*Again, and other literary magazines. 

Ashley Widmark ("How to Grieve") was born in Brainerd, Minnesota and holds a degree in religion from Luther College. She will relocate to Minneapolis come fall, where she plans to work and play hard until her future arrives, whatever that may be.

Olivia Wolf ("Of Purity") is a young writer who lives and writes in New York City. This is her first publication.