Contributors


Nilanshu Kumar Agarwal

Dr.Nilanshu Kumar Agarwal is senior lecturer in English at Feroze Gandhi College, Rae Bareli, (U.P.), India . He has his doctorate on T.S. Eliot from Allahabad University. Dr. Agarwal is interested mostly in Indian Aesthetics, Diaspora and Contemporary Critical Theory. His interviews with a number of contemporary literary figures, as well as his research papers, book reviews, articles and poems have appeared in publications, including South Asian Review, Kavya Bharati, The Vedic Path, IJPCL, Quest, The Confluence, Kafla Intercontinental, Pegasus, IJOWLAC, The Journal, Contemporary Vibes, Promise, The Raven Chronicles, Yellow Bat Review, Poetcrit, Carved in Sand, Turning the Tide, Blue Collar Review, Creative Writing And Criticism, The Expression, Bridge-in-Making, Katha Kshetre and Hyphen. Several anthologies have selected his poems and articles. His poem “To Lord Krishna” is in the celebrated anthology, The Pagan’s Muse, Citadel Press. Several of his literary pieces have been included in The People’s Poet: Summer Community Magazine of 2004 and are posted on Web sites. He has also edited a critical book on Stephen Gill. He actively participated in the International Literary Festival, 2008, organized by Kerala Language Institute at Calicut (Kerala, India) and also presented an illuminating paper there. He edits Parnassus: An Innovative Journal of Literary Criticism. He can be contacted via e-mail at his primary address or his secondary address.
Probes: Mahendra Bhatnagar, Kamla Kapur


David Arthur-Simmons
David Arthur-Simmons is a painter in New York City working on a series of 365 paintings (one for each day of the year). He has been working on the series for three years and is now into the fourth year. Each year he comes back to the painting for the day and works on it some more until it is complete. He expects to finish the series in another three to four years.
Artwork: Course in Miracles #155


Jean Blasiar

Jean Blasiar has had six full-length plays produced in the Los Angeles area. As a theatrical producer for ten years, Jean presented over twelve productions in Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York with such stars as George C. Scott, Tony Danza, Juliet Mills, Maxwell Caulfield and Paula Prentiss. In 1994 Jean was voted Woman of the Year by Women in Theatre. Recently Jean began writing short stories, two of which are being published in 2008. Her teenage novel, What's Best For Richie?, was recently accepted for publication. When asked how long she has been writing, Jean will respond that she wrote the third grade play in the third grade.
Fiction: The Boy Who Could Fly


Anselm Brocki

In 1981, after having been a pilot in World War II, having taught school for eleven years, and having been a senior editor at Houghton Mifflin, Anselm Brocki decided he lacked a public voice and set about to find one in writing poetry. Since then, he has written over 2,700 poems, has published over 1,400 of them in over 800 publications — among them, The Amherst Review, The California Quarterly, Off the Coast, and Waterways — and has been nominated twice for a Pushcart Poetry Prize. He is currently running his own editing business and continues to write over 100 poems a year.
Poetry: Prized Possession

Jill Charles
Jill Charles grew up in Spokane, Washington, majored in creative writing at Seattle University, and wrote articles for Seattle’s Tablet: Magazine of Arts and Culture and poems and stories for Poetry Motel, Heliotrope and The Inlander, an independent Spokane newspaper. In 2007, Jill moved from Seattle to Chicago, where she performs poetry at open mics at Kafein and The Heartland Café and writes restaurant reviews for Planjam.com. Jill has a blog at http://jill099.vox.com. Jill enjoys her work in the office of Near North Montessori School and all the ethnic neighborhoods, galleries and museums in Chicago.
Poetry: Purgatory in an Airport


Julia Ann Charpentier

Julia Ann Charpentier is a freelance writer and editor. She holds a master of arts in the humanities from California State University. Her articles, interviews, and reviews have appeared in trade and consumer publications. She edits fiction and nonfiction for independent book publishers. The Indigo Dream Catcher, a short story collection, is her seventh release from DiskUs Publishing. Please visit her website at: www.juliacharpentier.com.
Interview: Costel Iarca


Nicholas Chittick

Nicholas Chittick lives in Illinois. This is his first published story.
Fiction: Karma


Rada Djurica
Radmila Djurica is a Serbian freelance journalist who has done correspondence work for the Tiker Press Agency and has had articles published in British Sunday and daily newspapers, including the Scottish newspaper, Sunday Post; in Woman Abroad magazine; and at Storyhouse.org. She has served as assistant editor, reading manuscripts for the Reading Writers Service; has published articles with the SCN Television Network in California; is a freelance columnist for the British monthly magazine Code Uncut; and wrote about Serbia's International Bitef Festival of contemporary theatre for Zowie Wowie Magazine, an American e-zine.
Reviews:
The Transition, Palermo Shooting, Surveillance, Filth and Wisdom, Skin
Essays: Ralph Fiennes in Belgrade, Ken Foree in Belgrade, Belgrade International Film Festival, Lynch, Wenders and Madonna on the New Author Film Festival, Kustendorf Film Festival
Probes: Dominique Blanc, actress, Hanro Smitsman, writer & drirector


Ken Fisher

Owning his own decorating business has allowed Ken Fisher the luxury of stopping to write whenever he's inspired. In his spare time, he looks for a publisher of his book-length poetry collection, takes his wife ballroom dancing, and runs on the local track on nights he's not dancing or at a poetry reading.
Poetry: Delicious


Gerald R. Grubbs
Poetry: Opening


Brenda Hammack
When she isn't teaching at Fayetteville State University in North Carolina, Brenda Mann Hammack lives in a mountain cabin in Virginia, where she is visited by wild things like Thumper the Deer, Wile E. Racoon, and Damnation Blacksnake Bill. She received her master's in creative writing from Hollins and her Ph. D. in nineteenth-century British literature from the University of North Carolina. Her article on Florence Marryat's The Blood of the Vampire appeared in the Autumn 2008 issue of SEL — and she is working on a collection of ekphrastic verse, based on paintings by five surrealist women: Remedios Varo; Leonora Carrington; Dorothea Tanning; Leonor Fini; Frida Kahlo. Selections from this manuscript have appeared in Mudlark, Word Riot, Heliotrope, The Wild Goose Poetry Review, Illya's Honey, and another in Arsenic Lobster.
Poetry: Drowning Wendy


William Hart

William Hart is a poet and fiction writer from Kansas who now lives in Los Angeles. His stories and poems have appeared in several hundred literary journals, commercial magazines, newspapers and anthologies, including America, California Quarterly, Chiron Review, Cicada, Commonweal, The Daily Yomiuri (Tokyo), Florida Review, The Honolulu Advertiser, Mainichi Daily News (Tokyo), Pittsburgh Quarterly, Potomac Review, Quixote, and Stand in England. Of his eight poetry collections, two won national awards. He's published two novels, Never Fade Away (2002) and Operation Supergoose (2007). He also writes and helps produce the feature documentaries of his wife, filmmaker Jayasri Majumdar of Kolkata, India.
Poetry: The Day the World Turned Stupid


Allison Healy
Allison was raised in the northwoods of Minnesota, where she developed a deep association with the natural world. She left high school two years early and received an associate degree in liberal arts at the age of eighteen, spending some time in Scotland before receiving her diploma. She studied at the Minneapolis College of Art & Design, where she focused on illustration and graphic arts. During her undergraduate career she studied illustration intensively at the University of Brighton, on the south coast of England. Upon completion of her bachelor of fine arts degree, she began the preparations to move to Boston, where she would again be faced with new and exciting challenges.
Artwork: Environmental Crisis


Rik Hunik
Rik Hunik is over half a century old. He lives with a woman named Jo and a cat named Mister. They have no children and don't drink coffee, which apparently makes them social outcasts. He's worked on a farm, in a sawmill, a plywood plant, a tire retreader, and a water bed manufacturer. He's sold some of his paintings and a few of his photographs, but in order to earn a living, he's been working in construction for the past sixteen years. Eighteen of his fantasy stories have been published, or accepted for publication, in small-press magazines and e-zines.
Fiction: The Spirit of the Game


Mark Joseph Kiewlak
Mark Joseph Kiewlak has been a published author of poetry and fiction for more than fifteen years. In 2008 his work appeared in more than two dozen magazines, including The Bitter Oleander, The Rose & Thorn, Cezanne's Carrot, Slow Trains, AlienSkin, The Oracular Tree, ThugLit, and Clean Sheets. He was privileged to have served as judge of the 2007 Wild Violet Fiction Contest. He has also written for DC Comics (FLASH 80-PAGE GIANT #2) and counts among his main inspirations the work of Ray Bradbury, Robert B. Parker, J.M. DeMatteis, Alan Moore, Frank Miller, and Anne Rice.
Fiction: Companions


Stephen Kopel

Stephen Kopel is a teacher who lives in San Francisco. His work had appeared in Troubadour, Skylark, iota, Haight Ashbury Journal, Plainsongs, The Lyric, Icon and dozens more.
Poetry: Ordinary Toe


K.A. Laity
Nature abhors a vacuum, but K.A. Laity abhors a label. She writes fiction, non-fiction, journalis, humour and drama. Her short story collection Unikirja (Aino Press) grew out of Finnish folklore and mythology. A medievalist at the College of Saint Rose in New York, she also teaches New Media, film and popular culture. She's finishing final edits on a slipstream novel born from the grief of knowing there will never be another Kurt Vonnegut book. Visit her Web site, kalaity.com, for more details and to read the ongoing gothic serial about mystery, romance and pockets.
Humor: Wixey


Peter Layton
Poetry: Standing


Lyn Lifshin

Lyn Lifshin has published more than 100 books of poetry, won awards for her non-fiction and edited four anthologies of women's writing. She is the subject of an award winning documentary film, Lyn Lifshin: Not Made of Glass.
Poetry: On the Metro, Suddenly by the First of April, the Palest Rose Wrapped Tight


Jo McKee
Jo lives in a small basement suite turned labyrinth by shelving. Two males share her accommodations: Richard (whom you know as Rik), and her albino Siamese tomcat Mister. She hates gardening, spinash, processed cheese, and warm cat gak. She likes children, the smell of fresh laundry, reading by the fire, wind in her face, the feel of her cat's fur after a good brushing, and holding Richard's hand. She loves breezy summer days, watching clouds form, thunder and rainstorms, children's laughter, playing with her cat, and being with Richard.
Fiction: The Spirit of the Game


Ron Meadow
Ron Meadow is a rather reclusive self-taught renaissance guy living in the redwoods near Santa Cruz, California, where he gently celebrates the sweet and sensual pleasures of life as they become available. He currently awaits the arrival of another muse. To see more of his painting, sculpture, poetry, etc. visit his website.
Artwork: Spirit Lily II


Susan Phillips
Susan Phillips is a Boston area writer, teacher, photographer and graphic designer, whose work has been published in many newspapers and magazines. Her short stories have been printed in Living Text, Red Wheelbarrow, IdioM, Perspectives Magazine, Lichora and All the Women Followed Her. She is currently working on an historical novella about King Agrippa I and a collection of short stories about women in the Hebrew Bible.
Fiction: The Golden Thimble


Mary Ann Reilly
Mary Ann Reilly, a fine arts photographer born in Dublin, Ireland and raised in New Jersey. Her work, characterized as surreal and imagistic, has been exhibited at national and international juried shows, awarded honors, and shown in several galleries. Additionally, her photographs have been published in F-Stop Magazine, Dark Sky Magazine, Honey Land Review and Life Images. Mary Ann is an associate professor in the Literacy, Language and Culture Department at Manhattanville College in Purchase, New York.
Artwork: Study in White XI, Late Light, Open Field


Christopher Rollason
Dr. Christopher Rollason is a UK national living in France. He graduated in English from Trinity College, Cambridge, and obtained his Ph.D. at York University, England, with a thesis on Edgar Allan Poe. He has been a lecturer at Coimbra University, Portugal and (2006) a visiting professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi. He has published widely in the areas of literary and language studies and cultural criticism in journals in India, the UK, Spain, Peru, and Chile, and is the co-editor of the book Modern Criticism (Delhi , 2002). He is a member of AEDEAN (Spanish Association of Anglo-American Studies) and ESSE (European Society for the Study of English).
Essay: Poe Conference Report


Marina Rubin

Marina Rubin is an author of three poetry chapbooks: Ode to Hotels (2002), Once (2004) and Logic (2007). She is the associate editor of Mudfish Magazine and was nominated for The Pushcart Prize in 2007. Her poetry has appeared in PDQ, Timber Creek, Ilya’s Honey, Pearl, The White Pelican Review, The Skidrow Penthouse, Asheville Poetry Review, Chaffin Journal, The Amherst Review, Urban Spaghetti, 5AM and many more.
Poetry: The Barber, The Handkerchief Marriage


Wayne Scheer
Wayne Scheer retired after twenty-five years of teaching writing and literature in college to follow his own advice and write. He's been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and a Best of the Net. His work has appeared in such print and online publications as Notre Dame Magazine, The Christian Science Monitor, Pedestal Magazine, flashquake, The Internet Review of Books, Sniplits, Pindeldyboz and Eclectica, as well as Wild Violet. Wayne lives in Atlanta with his wife and can be contacted via e-mail.
Cutting:
Humor:


Sarah Stahl
Sarah Stahl lives in Ohio with her family and pets, including Looseafur the Cat. She is working towards an MFA at the Ohio State University and is interested in French symbolism and digital media studies. Her work has been published in journals, magazines, daily newspapers, and online. She hopes someday to teach creative writing to women and children who are socially disadvantaged or victims of domestic abuse.
Poetry:
eyes wide awake not dreaming


Davide Trame

Davide Trame is an Italian teacher of English, born and living in Venice, Italy, writing poems exclusively in English since 1993. They have been published in around four hundred literary magazines since 1999, in the U.K, U.S. and elsewhere: including Poetry New Zealand, New Contrast (South Africa), Nimrod (U.S.), Scintilla and Orbis (U.K). and Prague Literary Review. His poetry collection as a downloadable online book was published by www.gattopublishing.com in 2006.
Poetry: The Feat


Alyce Wilson
Alyce Wilson is Wild Violet editor and in her copious spare time writes humor, non-fiction and poetry, keeps an online journal, Musings, and is writing a book on creative wedding planning, My Wedding, My Way: Real Women, Real Weddings, Real Budgets. She has self-published a book of poems, Picturebook of the Martyrs, and an e-book, Stay Out of the Bin! An Editor's Tips on Getting Published in Lit Mags, both of which can be ordered from her web site. She lives with her husband in the Philadelphia area and takes far too many photos of her adorable dog, Una, and attractive cat, Luke.
Reviews: Revealing Moments by Wayne Scheer, The Unfold Pinnacle by Basanta Kumar Kar, Looking for Montrose Street by Carol Frith, Wild Strawberries by Eric Greinke, Swimming the Mirror by Brad Buchanan, From the Bookshelf (capsule reviews)
Cuttings: Drunk Flamingos, Renovation, Letter to a Lost Love, The Heat that Bakes Brains, I Can Ride it Better


Gerald Zipper
Gerald Zipper's work has been published in a great many literary journals. Wounded Hopes, a collection of his poetry, was published in 1987. In 2002, he was named one of the state's top poets by The Journal of New Jersey Poets. He has been featured on National Public Radio and has lectured on writing poetry at the New School in New York City.
Poetry: A Final Slow-Down