Matt Liebowitz
Matt Liebowitz earned an M.A in Creative Writing from Boston University, where he studied with Ha Jin, Martha Cooley, and Leslie Epstein. He was awarded the 2002 Sara Bennett Prize for Fiction from Skidmore College, where he worked with Steven Millhauser.
Jessica Bastear
Jessica Bastear is a college student in southern California that loves being outdoors as much as possible, especially since growing up in forest-filled northern California. Much of her photography displays this love of nature, but occasionally she enjoys editing more artistic photos that coincide with her mood or even her poetry.
Ed Nichols
Ed Nichols lives outside Clarkesville, Georgia with his wife Judy and cat, Buck. He is a journalism graduate from the University of Georgia. He is a short story award winner from Southeastern Writer’s Association. He has had short stories published, and/or scheduled for publication in: Every Writer’s Resource, Fiction On The Web, Short-Stories.me, Vending Machine Press, Floyd County Moonshine Review, Beorh Quarterly, Page and Spine, Belle Reve Literary Review and Drunk Monkeys.
Valya Dudycz Lupescu
Valya Dudycz Lupescu is the author of “The Silence of Trees” and founding editor of Conclave: A Journal of Character. Her poetry and prose have been published in Mythic Delirium, Danse Macabre, Fickle Muses, Abyss & Apex, Pedestal Magazine, Doorknobs & Bodypaint, and other places Her first comic book, “Sticks & Bones,” created with artist Madeline C. Matz, was successfully crowdfunded via kickstarter. They are now working on the next three issues to be published by First Comics. You can read more on her website and journal at and follow her on twitter.
Alyssa D. Ross
Alyssa D. Ross was born in Guntersville, Alabama, but spent over a decade in Metropolitan Virginia. After abandoning art school in Richmond, she went on to pursue writing. She now holds an MFA from George Mason University and is currently working on her PhD. at Auburn University while teaching American Literature.
Jane-Rebecca Cannarella
Jane-Rebecca is an editor at HOOT Review, a crazy cat lady, and a Nutella enthusiast. When not poorly playing the piano, she chronicles the many ways that she embarrasses herself at the website www.youlifeisnotsogreat.com. She occasionally drinks wine out of a mug that has a smug poodle on it, and she’s not great at writing in the third person.
Elisabeth Cook
Elisabeth Cook is a writer and blogger living in Wisconsin. She studied writing and literature at Beloit College. She has been attempting to create a viable substitute for an MFA program from within the confines of her apartment and the occasional coffee shop. Her blog can be viewed at literarychicken.blogspot.com.
Bruce Alford
Bruce Alford’s first collection, “Terminal Switching” was published in 2007 (Elk River Review Press). He received a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Alabama and was an assistant professor of creative writing at the University of South Alabama from 2007-2011. He currently teaches American Literature at Southeastern Louisiana University. Before working in academia, he was an inner-city missionary and journalist. He has published fiction, creative nonfiction and poetry in journals such as the African American Review, Comstock Review, Imagination & Place Press, Louisiana Literature, and many others. He lives in Mobile, Alabama.