Jerri Bell (Care Packages) is the Managing Editor for O-Dark-Thirty, the literary journal of the Veterans Writing Project. She and former Marine Tracy Crow are the co-authors of It’s My Country Too: True Stories of Women Under Fire from the American Revolution to Afghanistan (University of Nebraska Press/Potomac Books, forthcoming).

Kay Merkel Boraff (Painting the Elephant Gold) lived in Viet-Nam 68-70 and was married to an Air America pilot who was killed flying in Laos 18 Feb 70. Her work has appeared in the New York Review of Books, Vanity Fair, Texas Short Stories 2, Taos Magazine, Grasslands Review, Fifth Wednesday, Stone Voices, Turk’s Head, and Paper Nautilus.

Jessica Braun‘s (Stay Awake) writing has appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer, The Huffington Post, NEPA Family Magazine, and Literary Mama. She lives with her husband and two daughters in coastal Massachusetts. For more of Jessica’s writing, visit her blog at www.nocigarettesnobologna.com.

Rachel Crawford (Mourning Light) is a writer, teacher, and editor. Her work has appeared in Red Rock Review, Lucid Rhythms, The Lyric, Apeiron Review, Red River Review, Illya’s Honey, Freshwater Poetry Journal, Literary Juice, The Wayfarer: A Journal of Contemplative Literature, Anima Poetry Journal, Crack the Spine, Rock & Sling: A Journal of Witness, and RiverSedge. She lives in central Texas with her husband and daughter.

Kelly DuMar (All These Cures) is a poet, playwright and workshop facilitator. Her poems have appeared in Lumina Online, Corium, Cape Cod Review, Kindred, and Tupelo Quarterly. Her poetry chapbook, “All These Cures,” was published by Lit House Press and her plays have been produced around the US and Canada. Her new book of poetry & prose will be published by Finishing Line Press in 2016. Her website is kellydumar.com

Magdalene Fry (Barks & Vois) is a single-parent advocate from Wayne County, West Virginia, and was educated at Anglia Ruskin and Marshall Universities. She lives in Michigan with her daughter and works as a mental health and wellness coordinator. These selections are from her books Barks and Vois.

Fay Henexson (Illustrator) is a native Californian, a librarian by profession, and a photographer by avocation. Fay has developed a particular interest in using the camera to find abstracts in old buildings, neglected machinery, and other objects. Her work can be seen on her website and its companion blog, Spirit Standing Still.

Liam Hogan (Living in Fear) is a student in the Writing B.F.A. program at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. This is his first professional publication.

Jennifer Schomburg Kanke (I Am Not Worth $8.50) is originally from Columbus, Ohio and currently lives in Tallahassee, Florida where she teaches creative writing and critical theory at Florida State University. Her work has appeared in Prairie Schooner, Pleiades, and Nimrod.

Danielle Kelly (What to Do on a Day Like This) holds an MFA from West Virginia Wesleyan College and is Managing Editor of HeartWood, an online literary journal. She is a banker, a multi-denominational church singer, and currently serves as Adjunct Instructor of English at Davis and Elkins College in Elkins, WV.

Lucinda Kempe (On Perseverance) has work published or forthcoming in Jellyfish Review, Summerset Review, Matter Press’s Journal of Compressed Creative Arts, decomP, and Corium. She won the Joseph Kelly Prize for Creative Writing in 2015 and is an M.F.A. candidate in writing and creative literature at Stony Brook University.

Katherine Koller (The Caregivers) is about to begin her career as Development Fellow for the Chicago nonprofit Peer Health Exchange. She graduated from Northwestern University, where she majored in theatre with a concentration in performance, activism, and human rights, and a minor in creative nonfiction. She also taught Pregnancy Prevention in Chicago Public Schools and directed a course in consulting for nonprofits.

Len Kuntz (Twisters) is author of The Dark Sunshine and an upcoming story collection I’m Not Supposed To Be Here And Neither Are You.

Cyndy Muscatel (A Fine Line) has had short stories, poetry, and essays published in many literary journals. A former journalist, she now writes two blogs. She teaches fiction writing and memoir, and is also a speaker and workshop presenter. She is writing a memoir of her years teaching in the inner city of Seattle.