2015 & 2016 Contributors

AUTHORS:

CSE Cooney

C.S.E. Cooney is a Rhode Island writer, actor, poet, and singer-songwriter. Her first short fiction collection, BONE SWANS: STORIES (Mythic Delirium, July 2015), is the 2016  WINNER of the World Fantasy Award for Best Collection! She is the author of the Dark Breakers series, available in ebook from Amazon. By day she narrates audiobooks for Tantor Media. By night (whenever she’s not writing, or otherwise goofing off), she might be found inhabiting her alter-ego, an imaginary rockstar named Brimstone Rhine. Brimstone Rhine’s first EP, “Alecto! Alecto!” is downloadable from Bandcamp: eight songs of Myth and Legend—Witches, Queens, Nymphs, Fiends—as you’ve never heard them sung before. “Wild Over Tombs Does Grow,” originally published in Cemetery Guardians, can now also be found in her poetry collection HOW TO FLIRT IN FAERIELAND AND OTHER WILD RHYMES, published by Papaveria Press. Check out her website:  http://csecooney.com/

 brendan

Brendan Detzner‘s stories are sometimes scary, sometimes funny, and usually very strange. His work has appeared in Chizine, Pseudopod, One Buck Horror, Bizarrocast, the Exigencies anthology from Dark House Press, and other venues. He also runs the Bad Grammar Theater reading series in Chicago. You can find out about that at: http://www.badgrammartheater.com/  and keep track of Brendan generally at:
http://www.brendandetzner.com/

shawna
Shawna Flavell likes her toothbrushes soft and finds pickled things in jars aesthetically pleasing. During the day, you can find her writing grants and other donor communications for The Nature Conservancy. Outside of the office, she’s a wanna-be homesteader who enjoys the mouthfeel of pies, aged music, and the aroma of bookstores.
carlos
Carlos Hernandez is the author of The Assimilated Cuban’s Guide to Quantum Santeria (Rosarium 2016). By day, he’s a CUNY Associate Professor of English, and his newest vocation is game writing and game design. He lives in Queens, undoubtedly the best borough in New York.
sheila

Sheila JohnsonIn addition to working in such behind-the-scenes fields as copywriting and proofreading, Johnson has also digitally restored the artwork in the classic comic books reprinted in a number of the Marvel Omnibus and Marvel Masterworks collections. An avid fan of magical realism in fiction and science writing in nonfiction, Johnson lives outside of Chicago in a home that’s in a perpetual state of chaos. You can learn more about her at her website, www.sheilacjohnson.net.

allison

Allison Lake has been diagnosed on several occasions as partially rabid due to the fact that she eats bugs. Beware her nun chucks!

mike

Michael Penkas has been a typesetter, an editor, and a librarian. He currently lives in Chicago and works as a freelance writer. He’s had two dozen short stories and poems published in a variety of magazines, anthologies, and websites. His first novel, Mistress Bunny and the Cancelled Client, was published in November 2014. Lots more can be learned on his website at http://www.michaelpenkas.com/

maha-rakta

Maha Rakta is a lover of all things curious; spells, ceremonies, bones & sporks! Above all she enjoys giving life to to cold things, strange things and breaking the stigma of “scary” rituals.

Frank Stascik

Frank Stascik writes both dark and humorous horror stories when not waking up in alleys amongst stray dogs.  His darker work has appeared in Arcane Anthology, Dark Moon Digest, and Bete Noir Magazine.  He can usually be found wandering the streets late at night looking for his shirt.  Find him on Facebook or something.

j9 goddess

Jeanine Marie Vaughn will die with a pen in her hand and plans to haunt the ones she loves after she dies ’cause she’s just that kind of person. She’s been published a few times, does some editing, founded this website, and is working on a few novels, including one about haunted dolls. She runs The No Shush Salon and might one day be better about updating her author blog: j9vaughn

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ARTISTS:

R. Huston in her primordial form

R. Huston has a website, tattooheathen, where you can see more of her stuff and read her attempts at self-explanation.

marc

Marc Ludena likes to drink rum and make drawings. Sometimes he drinks too much rum and forgets all about the drawings. One day he might draw a comic book again. You can see his rarely updated but comprehensive website at http://bassline-shift.com/ or you can see more up-to-date work and pictures of stuff that makes him laugh (and also his kids, who normally make him laugh) by following him on instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/basest/

holly

Holly Morningstar, like many people, fell in love with fairy tales (and all things fantasy and animated) as a child and never outgrew them. As an adolescent, she developed an admiration for portraiture and figurative art. The portraits she paints today are snapshot celebrations of perseverance, hope, love, and sexuality. She embraces a pallet of bright colors to echo the zesty and playful approach she still takes to life as an adult. Through portraiture, she explores the faces people present to society and exposes pieces of humanity that sit just below the surface. She doesn’t believe people have skeletons in their closets, rather, they have dragons under their skin. Her website is:  www.archaicsmiles.com

scotty

Scotty Tedrow creates most of his art though the outlet of being a custom tattoo artist. When he’s not stabbing people with needles, he works alongside other activists spreading misinformation and chaos throughout struggling communities around the world. Mr. Tedrow constantly expands his repertoire, as he is currently writing the much anticipated, ‘Don’t Stick Your Finger in my Honey’—an opera about the diverse history of honey badgers and their struggle in a homosapien dominated society. He enjoys piña coladas and getting caught in the rain in life; and in death plans on dying by the process of spontaneous human combustion. Mr. Tedrow currently resides with his pet honey badger, Marco in the Pacific Northwest. One day, he hopes to destroy you all.

wes

Wesley Wong draws stuff, colors stuff and sometimes restores stuff. But most of the time he complains about stuff. He also lives with Sheila in Tinley Park. His website is:  www.WesWongWithYou.com