Cezarija Abartis’ (Thanksgiving) Nice Girls and Other Stories was published by New Rivers Press. Her stories have appeared in Per Contra, r.kv.r.y., Waccamaw, and New York Tyrant, among others. Her flash, “The Writer,” was selected by Dan Chaon for Wigleaf’s Top 50 online Fictions of 2012. Recently she completed a novel, a thriller. She teaches at St. Cloud State University. Her website is http://magicmasterminds.com/cezarija/

Jennifer Cherry (All the World Before Me) lives with her family in central Illinois. Though she lives in the city, her heart belongs to the countryside of cornfields, wind turbines, and pastures full of sheep, cows, and horses. Cycling long distances throughout central Illinois gives her time to create characters that appear in her short fiction pieces, a few of which have been featured in The Storyteller Magazine, Mused: BellaOnline Literary Review Magazine, and Bergasse 19.

Kim Church (Breezeway) just released her debut novel, BYRD, (Dzanc Books) in March. Her stories and poems have appeared in Shenandoah, Mississippi Review, Painted Bride Quarterly, and elsewhere. She has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and has received fiction fellowships from the North Carolina Arts Council, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Millay Colony for the Arts, and Vermont Studio Center. She lives in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Sarah Einstein (What I Know of Madness) lives in Athens, OH where she is a PhD student in Creative Nonfiction at Ohio University. Her work has previously appeared in Ninth Letter, Fringe Magazine, PANK, and other journals, and has been awarded a Pushcart Prize. Her micro-collection, Remnants of Passion, is upcoming from Shebooks. .

David Faldet (Tilt) has had poems appear in such journals as Mid-American Review, The Midwest Quarterly, Saw Palm, and Arion.  His book Oneota Flow was published in 2009 by University of Iowa Press. He lives and works in Decorah, Iowa.

Zarin Hamid (People Eat Chickpeas Bathed in Vinegar) is an adopted native of New Jersey, where after some circling she has come back to work and live. She has studied political science and peace and conflict resolution, and in addition to writing works on gender-based violence, militarism, and human rights issues from a feminist lens.

Tim Hillegonds (Old Colony) is a graduate student pursuing a master of arts degree in writing and publishing (MAWP) from DePaul University in Chicago. His work is forthcoming in RHINO and Brevity, and he was recently awarded an Honorable Mention for nonfiction in the New Millennium Award 36.

Ashaki Jackson (The Body of an American Paratrooper) is a Cave Canem poetry fellow and a member of the Voices of Our Nations Arts (VONA) writing community. Her work has appeared in publications including Eleven Eleven and Suisun Valley Review. She is also a social psychologist who works with teen girls throughout Greater Los Angeles. (Photo credit: Hari Alluri.)

Carrie Krucinski (Scar Tissue) lives in Elyria, Ohio with her husband, Steven, and bulldog, Watson. She earned her MFA in Creative Writing from Ashland University and teaches English at Lorain County Community College.

Kyle Laws (Labradorite) has had work appear in Delmarva Review, Eleventh Muse, Exit 13, The Final Note, IthacaLit, The Main Street Rag, Malpaís Review, The Más Tequila Review, Mead: The Magazine of Literature and Libations, The Nervous Breakdown, Pearl, Philadelphia Poets, Pilgrimage, and St. Sebastian Review. She currently is editor of Casa de Cinco Hermanas Press. www.kylelaws.com

Amanda Abbie Meader (Pulled Under) was born and raised in Maine, where she returned to practice law after graduating from Cornell Law School in 2004. By day Amanda is a staff attorney for a non-profit organization; by night she is the wife of a very patient man and the mother of two ridiculously spoiled Boston Terriers. Reading and writing infuse her with peace and energy in a way that nothing else can, and she is constantly dreaming up ways to devote more of each day to pursuing her true passion.

Leslie Pietrzyk (I am the Widow) is the author of two novels, Pears on a Willow Tree and A Year and a Day. Her short fiction has appeared in many journals, including Gettysburg Review, River Styx, Shenandoah, and The Sun.  She teaches fiction in the low-residency MFA program at Converse College and in the graduate writing program at Johns Hopkins University.

Wiley Quixote (Illustrator) is, creatively, a jack of all trades, which—woefully, makes him an expert at none. Through the years, his creative temperament has led him in many directions – music, poetry, acting, drawing, painting – but his latest efforts with photography give him the greatest satisfaction, combining elements of each of his other creative pursuits with immediate gratification and a greater breadth of expression. He’s an autodidact with no conventional bona fides, but has the aim of establishing himself expressively through the love of, and commitment to, this latest and most gratifying medium.

Matt Thompson (Seeds) is a graduate of Georgia College & State University. He lives and works in Milledgeville, GA. He has written two novels: X. And Oleanders in Alaska, both available via Amazon. His previous short fiction has been featured in apt. He lives with his chihuahua Bruiser, and is seeking his MA in literature.