This edition's featured artist

Brenda Barnhart

I am of a race that has no place
In the organized slots of a man-made mind
Instead I am a mine*
*field of emotions and colors and druthers
of thoughts and intentions

Swirling
&
Spiraling

that is what I Am

I am a brilliance of stars,
I am Venus and Mars and the galaxy at large
I am the sun and the earth
and I know What I’m worth

I am priceless

That is what I Am

Brad Baron

Brad Baron has been editing his first novel, Chubbyfire, for seven years; his first poetry collection, Denmark for six and his second play, A Love Supreme for five. Chubbyfire and Denmark will be published in 2006 while A Love Supreme will be performed throughout 2005-2006 in Minneapolis, MN. While living between Minneapolis and Paris he has been writing his second novel, Molly Hero, second collection of poetry, Self Portrait In Numbers, and third theatric production, Helen of Minneapolis. Much of his work may be previewed at his website where you will also find the sub-site for his theater group, The Drama Troupe Players. Also due in 2006, his first comic book: The Secret History Of The Spy Lord.

Bruce Boston

I was born in Chicago in 1943. I grew up in Southern California in an era of rock and roll, the Cold War, and the space race. From 1961-2001 I lived in the San Francisco Bay Area, attending and somehow graduating from the University of California, Berkeley, during the height of the psychedelia and political protests of the 1960s

Alyssa Brooks

Erotic romance author Alyssa Brooks. Read free shorts at her site.

A.J. Caywood

Author AJ Caywood was born and raised in a small town in Central Kentucky. Her life has been filled with many tragedies and small triumphs which she uses as inspiration for her written works. Her first novel, a Sci-Fi Romance titled "Stay in the Light" finished in the top ten of the 2004 Preditors & Editors Readers' Poll for Best Sci-Fi Novel. She has a variety of short stories published as well.

Charlene Dilzer

Poet/Songwriter

Beate Epp

The Magical Horses are finally finished. Read more about this exciting Fairy Tale Book.

Alicia Griggs aka A.STARR

I am an artist... genuine, creative... I enjoy playing the guitar, love music, writing poetry and also photography and oil pastel drawing....I am a fashion freak and also enjoy comedy ( Dane Cooke, Pablo Francisco are some favorites also Jim Carey)... I love to express myself through many outlets, and sometimes I don't know where to begin first...Or what is next, but I tend to be very organized... I am an accomplished writer, recently publsihed my first volume of poetry called "eyeliner"...Also, a mom to a beautiful son six years old...He keeps me young and responsible...haha...He is my muse...an extension of my soul...I am always trying to find ways to relax, life inevitably brings stress, so meditation seems to be the key here. haha Omm! balance and peace throughout the day, yoga.... It is a great calm that quiets the soul...I am ambitious and driven to accomplish all of my dreams and goals and watch them slowly unravel...

Paul Hartal

Artist/Writer

Alaya Dawn Jonhson

Racing the Dark is set in a land of volcanoes and earthquakes, plagues and typhoons, of island nations bound by fear of the spirits they imprisoned to control their volatile environment. Lana, a teenaged girl on a nameless backwater island, finds an ominous blood-red jewel that marks her as someone with power, setting in motion events that drive her away from her family and into an apprenticeship with a mysterious one-armed witch. Lana begins to learn the spells and incantations, each of which requires some form of sacrifice from the person who employs it. As Lana becomes more powerful, she is deceived into a sacrifice she is unwilling to make — the life of her own mother. When Lana dares to use a dark, ancient spell to save her mother's life, she is set onto a path toward becoming a creature beyond her wildest imaginings. This is an unforgettable coming-of-age story set in a world where wielding the power of magic requires understanding the true meaning of sacrifice.

Review from School Library Journal: "This novel has rich details of setting and character motivation. The prose is lyrical and metaphorical, in a style similar to Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist (HarperCollins, 1993). There are also elements of Greek myths in which mortals and spirits meet with mostly tragic results. The complex plot requires careful reading but the effort is worth it. Teens who enjoyed Ursula Le Guin's Always Coming Home (HarperCollins, 1985; o.p.) will like this novel, and many readers will identify with a character facing adult responsibilities while still feeling like a child."

Arnold Isbister

What I hope to transfer is that feeling of being there or a part of the storytelling as I remember it. I can recall scenes where my Mom & Dad would be telling stories in our small log home sometime to me and other times just talking in general which I overheard. There were visitors too where everybody started storytelling as soon as someone told one. Back then we didn't have any TV and for a long time no radio so when people came it was a big thing, an event to us kids. Our closest neighbour was about 4 miles away on a dirt trail and nobody had cars or trucks at least not us. Visiting and visits were cherished with the storytelling a common denominator which is what we remember the most - and in the context or 'scene' they were told. This is probably one of the factors in me being an Artist, also influencing the style or signature of thought going into my paintings. I remember an orange glow from the wood stove fires and the smell of fresh tea or cooked bannock in the air. This was a common scene in most households too since we all shared the same area, conditions, hardships and economy. Everything around us was 'earthy' not only in feel and touch but in color also. And because most (if not all) were not high school graduates or had university, many not even knowing the English language, affected the way these stories were told having or giving a different feel or character to them. The whole enviroment and time lent itself to stories which is part of our culture. If a person or child somewhere remembers just one of these stories I am happy. Hopefully they will pass it on............ or replay it in their minds with a smile on their faces.

Mike Knight

"Of Apples & Serpents"

A novel by Mike Knight: the story of Tom Beddows, a boy of humble origins, who grew up in a Herefordshire village in the nineteen forties and fifties. It is a remarkable tale of success and failure, and love and hate, in which either fate or co-incidence shapes a series of extraordinary events.

Penn Kemp

Sound poet Penn Kemp performs and publishes everywhere: online and in Brazil! Penn’s publications include twenty-five books of poetry and drama, eight CDs of Sound Opera and Sound Poetry as well as Canada's first CD-ROM: sample pennkemp.ca, http://www.mytown.ca/pennkemp/ and http://www.aeolianhall.ca/animus.php. Since Coach House published her first book in 1972, Penn has been pushing text and aural boundaries, often in participatory performance. She presents her Sound Operas in happy collaboration with actors, poets and musicians. Her videopoem won for best performance (Voice Award), Vancouver Videopoem Festival. http://mytown.ca/poemforpeace/ includes the video of Penn's "poem for peace” and, in audio, many of 100 translations. Through Pendas Productions, Penn edits and publishes poetry book/cds, http://mytown.ca/twelfth/. The League of Poets proclaimed her one of the foremothers of Canadian poetry.

Lyn Lifshin

Lyn Lifshin has written more than 100 books and edited 4 anthologies of women writers. Her poems have appeared in most poetry and literary magazines in the U.S.A., and her work has been included in virtually every major anthology of recent writing by women.

Mindy Matijasevic

Mindy Matijasevic is pursuing multiple paths in life. She is a writer of prose and poetry, a host of the monthly Hidden Treasure Reading Series, a teacher of adult basic students, a mom, and an actress. Mindy's poetry and prose have appeared in over a dozen publications and on-line at www.doorway2themind.com, www.confusedmuse.com, www.roguescholars.com, and at www.beansaboutit.com. She has won awards from the Bronx Council on the Arts for nonfiction and for poetry. Mindy gives readings throughout New York City and would love to see you and hear from you all at the readings and open mic she hosts on the last Monday of the month.

Montgomery Maxton

Montgmery Maxton was born in Cincinnati in 1980 and since the start of his writing life at age fourteen has appeared in dozens of publications. A poet, writer, photographer, and artist, he lives and works in Columbus, Ohio.

Mikoto

Human's mind is strong.
It has power that changes the reality.
But, the reality is not changed.
Because it is thought that you are impossible
Unconsciousness is made impossible.
Now,You must think that you can do!

Michael Mortensen

Michael Mortensen is author of the acclaimed novel "Karnival," which to date has seen three editions (Gutter Press 2002, print; CNIB 2003, cassette; CNIB 2003, laser audio disc). His resume includes 24 industrial videos (1 hr eps), publication in "Blood & Aphorisms," and more than 17 published illustrations, which have graced magazine columns by such writers as David Logan and Daniel Richler. He has recently completed the first "Karnival" sequel and will soon start work on the third book of this ongoing family saga. His first screenplay, "The Circle Eternal," is now in development with Cayle Films, and other current projects include a collection of short works and various adaptations of his fiction.

Ngoma

Ngoma is a performance poet, multi-instrumentalist, singer/songwriter and paradigm shifter, who for over 30 years has used culture as a tool to raise sociopolitical and spiritual consciousness through work that encourages critical thought. A former member of the SPIRIT HOUSE MOVERS AND PLAYERS with Amiri Baraka and the Contemporary Freedom Song Duo, SERIOUS BIZNESS, Ngoma weaves poetry and song that raises contradictions and searches for a solution for a just and peaceful world. Ngoma was the Prop Slam winner of the 1997 National Poetry Slam Competition in Middletown, CT and was published in AFRICAN VOICES MAGAZINE, LONG SHOT ANTHOLOGY, THE UNDERWOOD REVIEW, SIGNIFYIN' HARLEM REVIEW and 'BUM RUSH THE PAGE/DEF POETRY JAM ANTHOLOGY He was featured in the PBS Spoken Word Documentary, "The Apro-Poets" with Allen Ginsberg. Ngoma has hosted the slam at the Dr. Martin Luther King Festival of Social and Environmental Justice Festival (Yale University-New Haven, CT) for the past 9 years. His newest CD release,"Ngoma's Take Out (Smokin' Spoken Word Cuisine w/Jazz-F unk-Fusion)" and his CD Movie Documentary "Ngoma:Alive and In Your Face from NYC", takes Jazz/Funk/Fusion and the Spoken Word to the next level. His CDs "D idgitation:Solo Didgeridoo Musik for Meditation" and "Ancient Future M editational Musik" are must haves for those interested in altered states of consciousness.

Tatiana Pahlen

I was born, raised, and completed my education in Russia. Since my childhood I was fascinated by Russian literature, its rich prose and poetry. I developed an ear for its rhythm, and tried my hand at writing some short stories and poems. Since my arrival in New York in 1986, I started writing poetry directly in English, a language I respect and worship for its beauty. Aside of the many poems I wrote, I also dabble in non-fiction, short stories and cartoons. Currently I'm working on the book, called "Poetry and Eye".

Karen Gibson Roc

Emerging from a thriving spoken word and music scene in New York City, Karen Gibson Roc and Fluid (The Band) bring a cohesive and fusion-like sound. They slip in and out of several different musical genres with ease. Karen shares dynamic words of wisdom while intoxicating here audience with raw stage presence.

Tantra

Tantra believes her work can best be described "by the love that I make through my art to the vision of the unseen reality." Sensual and sublime, her poetry explores love in all its forms--from the rush of the first kiss to the bittersweet.

Tono Rondone

I am a multi instrumentalist, singer, songwriter and recording artist with four CDs to my credit so far) and a novelist, a non fiction book writer, a short story writer and a screenwriter with four novels to my credit so far, a non fiction book and a collection of twenty one short stories, plus two screenplays.

Philip Rubinov Jacobson

Philip is an artist, writer, teacher and visionary in several fields. He holds undergraduate (B.S.) and graduate degrees (M.A., MFA) in Studio Arts, Philosophy, Comparative Religion. His work has been exhibited internationally in more than 80 exhibitions and his writings have been read world-wide in numerous articles and journals. He is the author of "DRINKING LIGHTNING - Art, Creativity and Transformation" and organizes and teaches painting techniques of the old masters in the annual seminars; "Old Masters-New Visions".

Thaddeus Rutkowski

Thaddeus Rutkowski is a graduate of Cornell University and The Johns Hopkins University. His second novel, Tetched, was published by Behler Publications, Lake Forest, Calif. His first novel, Roughhouse (Kaya Press), was a finalist for an Asian American Literary Award. He has received two Pushcart Prize nominations. His work has been anthologized in Screaming Monkeys: Critiques of Asian American Images (Coffee House), Sweet Jesus: Poems About the Ultimate Icon (Anthology Editions), The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry (Thunder's Mouth), and The Naughty Bits: Columns from Nerve.com (Three Rivers/Crown).

Mary Elizabeth Shanahan

Trees possess the secrets of man, nature and beauty.
For this I love them.
I know not of the secrets man keeps within trees.
I only see the secrets of nature and beauty,
whatever they may be.

Marge Ballif Simon

Marge Ballif Simon free lances as a writer-poet-artist for genre and mainstream publications. Her illustrated poetry collections include "Eonian Variations", Dark Regions Press, 1995 "Night Smoke", Miniature Sun Press, 2002 and "Artist of Antithesis", Miniature Sun Press, 2003. She is the illustrator for the Bram Stoker winning EXTREMES 2 CD-ROM collection, two Best Poetry Collection winners,"Consumed, Reduced to Beautiful Grey Ashes" by Linda Addison (2001), and Bruce Boston’s “Pitchblende” (2004). In addition to her solo work, Marge also collaborates with her husband, writer-poet Bruce Boston. Their poems and stories have appeared or are forthcoming in Strange Horizons, Dark Regions, Talebones, Dreams & Nightmares, Star*Line, and Fantasy Commentator.

Nathalie Stephens

Nathalie Stephens writes in English and French, and sometimes neither. Writing l’entre-genre, she is the author of several published works, most recently L’Injure (l’Hexagone, 2004), Paper City (Coach House, 2003), and Je Nathanaël (l’Hexagone, 2003). L’Injure was a finalist for the 2005 Prix Trillium; Underground (TROIS, 1999) was a finalist in 2000 for the Grand Prix du Salon du livre de Toronto. Stephens’s writing appears in various anthologies, including Biting the Error: Writers Explore Narrative (Coach House, 2004), Breathing Fire II (Nightwood, 2004), Portfolio Milieu (Milieu Press, 2004), The Common Sky : Canadian Writers Against the War (Three Squares, 2003), La Cendre des mots (l’Harmattan, 2002), side/lines: A New Canadian Poetics (Insomniac Press, 2002), Mondialisation et Identité (GREF, 2001) and Carnal Nation : Brave New Sex Fictions (Arsenal Pulp, 2000), and in literary print journals such as Apokalipsa (Slovenia), jubilat (Amherst), dANDelion (Calgary), filling Station (Calgary), LVNG (Chicago), New American Writing (2005), Senez (Basque Country) and Tessera (Montréal). Stephens has presented her work internationally, notably in Barcelona, Chicago, Norwich, Ljubljana and New York. She is the recipient of a 2002 Chalmers Arts Fellowship and a 2003 British Centre for Literary Translation Residential Bursary. Some of Stephens’s work has been translated into Basque, Bulgarian, Slovene and Spanish. She has translated Catherine Mavrikakis and François Turcot into English and R. M. Vaughan and Gail Scott into French. On occasion, she translates herself. She lives between.

Lynne Taetzsch

Artist/Author

Wayne Wolfson

Long Bladed Trip

Wayne H.W Wolfson

Everything I used to kill is gone. Even the now empty spaces are hard to find.
The cabin, the scent of damp wood. Her skin, thighs, a straight road I had to follow. Tasks of passion accompanied by a New Orleans funeral march.
Always there was that secret pain kept deep inside her like an unbirthed child. It was only my guesses that I wrote about. She thought differently.
The cabin. Again. It was there, in my dreams. In my art, that was then. It had been more important than just a place to go.
The cabin with its cool, off season darkness. The scent of damp wood which was not too unpleasant.
Everyone else was still in the other room. What else was there for us to do? One of two things. Both to be done, it only being a matter of choosing the order.
The pillow talk, rituals I have always found necessary. We laughed softly, a guitar plucked in the dark.
Everything is fleeting. I already knew this. In the future she and her people would save time by painting my picture in big broad strokes. They will say I was bad. There is not enough time to go into detail.
Blank paper.
I have won.
When I have one of my spells I have to create her, again. I have to tell her, I have to find her. Ink fills the page, blood from a wound.
Rain.
The sound of her crying, the creak of wood straining.
Rain
Silence.
Footsteps fading off in the distance.
All she had of her Russian childhood was an obscure saying about tigers. Even this she gave to me.
Me.
Me.
Me? The darkest thing I know is also the truest.

Angela Verdenius

Born in Victoria, Australia, my childhood was spent in a variety of places, both in towns and the outback. Now settled in Western Australia, I work as a nurse. A love of animals has me involved in animal welfare, and certainly explains why the cats hog my bed and the hot water bottle! Reading has always been my escape, writing my dream. Horror, myths, legends, fantasy and history - there are no limits to the wonders to be found. And romance? Well, that adds the spice, hope and happiness ever after.

Kit Yan

Mission: Trans-gendered activism and diversity through spoken word.

"And amongst all the professionals twice (his) age in the show, "queer college kid" Kit Yan is a slam force to be reckoned with, a name and presence which has been spreading like wildfire in 2005."
-Bay Windows