E.P. Ackerman - "Bad Seed" : E.P. Ackerman is a writer and bookseller living in southern California..

Norman Ball - "Letter to a Brilliant, Failed Writer" : Norman Ball is a Virginia-based writer and musician whose work appears frequently in venues, both on and off-line.

Bob Bradshaw - "Ishi: The Last Survivor Of The Yahi, 1886" and "Chinese Bride, San Francisco 1912" : Bob is a programmer living in Redwood City, CA. He is both a big fan of the Rolling Stones and naps. Recent work of his can be found at Blue Fifth Review, Boston Literary Magazine, Apple Valley Review and Slow Trains.

Christine Brandel - "It's Not Nothing" : Born in the Midwestern US, Christine lives in the East Midlands of England. Her most recent publications were in 2006 for poetry in Borderlines, Iota and Staple. In addition to writing, she takes photographs and is interested in connections between creativity and physical and mental health.

Elaine Chiew - "Theft and Restitution" : Elaine lives in London, England; her fiction has previously appeared in Verbsap, Juked, In Posse Review and The Summerset Review.

David Chorlton - "The Way Back" and "Colour" : David Chorlton was born in Austria, grew up in England, and spent several years in Vienna before moving to Phoenix in 1978. He has become increasingly fascinated by the drama of the Arizona landscape, and continues to explore it when he can, along with his wife Roberta, with a birding field guide close at hand. Kings Estate Press published his book A Normal Day Amazes Us in 2003, Main Street Rag published Return to Waking Life in 2004. He has two recent chapbooks from Pudding House, Another Word and Places You Can't Reach. His newest published books reflect this concern for the natural world. They are Waiting for the Quetzal, from March Street Press in 2006 , and The Porous Desert, from Future Cycle Press in 2007.

Luke Evans - "The Gargoyle" : Luke is a Multiple Repeat Hisser: his short story "The Fix" was published in last year's NC-17 issue, and his poem "Walking Is Good, and Other Things We Tell Ourselves" in our previous issue. Other recent poetms have appeared in: Contrary, Edifice Wrecked, and Thieves Jargon.

John Grey - "Return to Sender" and "The Day We Buried Our Dead" : John's latest book is What Else Is There from Main Street Rag. He has been published recently in Agni, Hubbub, South Carolina Review and The Journal Of The American Medical Association... and in our "Birds & Bees" issue.

Barry Harris - "Yellow Thunder Walking" : A member of the Writer’s Center of Indiana, Barry is editor of the Tipton Poetry Journal and has published one poetry collection, Something At The Center, and one chapbook, The Soul At Work: Poems From The Office. Barry lives in Zionsville, Indiana and works as a systems analyst for Eli Lilly and Company in Indianapolis. His poetry has recently appeared in Lily, The Centrifugal Eye and Flutter Poetry Journal and is forthcoming in the Houston Literary Review.

Rachel Inish - "Recipe for Gypsy Chicken" and "We Do Not Each One Fall" : Rachel lives in Washington, DC, and writes in the virtual community simply known as The Town. We are proud to be the first to publish her poetry.

Cynthia Grier Lotze - "Daily" and "Inheritance" : Cynthia Grier Lotze lives and writes in Richmond, Virginia, where she earned her MFA in Poetry in 2006. She teaches English at Virginia Commonwealth University and her work can be seen in journals such as Harpur Palate and Visions International. She was the recipient of an Academy of American Poets Prize in 2006.

Chris Major - "Smack" and "Know" : Chris lives in Staffordshire, England, where he is training to become a Psychiatric Nurse. His poetry has featured in many UK print mags -- also on-line at (among others) Snakeskin, Zygote, A little Poetry, Poetrykit, High Horse, Haggard and Halloo, Indite Circle, Gypsy, Blue House, Underground Voices, Thieves Jargon, and Lily. White Leaf Press published his chapbook, The Lowest Level.

James Michael - "Minus Me" : James grew up on a farm in Southern Manitoba, went to a country school and experienced everything rural -- in the context of the larger, technological world and the cold war (in many ways, Manitoba is like the state of Kansas or Iowa). He worked as a transit bus operator for the city of Winnipeg for twenty-one years, and retired in 2001. He has recently published poetry in Pathways, Hard Row to Hoe, Hidden Oak, Tale Spinners, The National Poetry Association's Mother Earth Journal, Red Owl, Illya's Honey/Dallas Poets Community, and our "Birds & Bees" issue. He lives with his wife Marge in a plus-55 park, "Paradise Village," just outside the city.

Bryan Murphy - "Before the Flood" and "Crime and Impunity" : Bryan is a translator who lives in Turin, Italy. His fiction has appeared twice in our pages, and this is his second time here as a poet (the first in our previous issue, "Space to Grow". His work also recently appeared in Velvet Avalanche, an erotic poetry anthology. "Before the Flood" should not be considered prophetic regarding his native UK...

John Stanford Owen - "Seven Song : John Stanford Owen is a poet and screenwriter from Nashville, TN. His work has been called "heartbreakingly genius", but only by his mother and his cat, Lenore. He is the inventor of the "Owenien Sonnet" and the "Owenien Wedge," two forms no respectable poet will ever use. Two of his poems, "Sleep Journals" and "In the Vineyard, as a Child, I was Frightened", appeared in our previous issue.

Jala Pfaff - "La Jaula (The Cage)" : Jala Pfaff's work has been published in The Rose & Thorn Ezine, as well as in Slow Trains. Her first novel, Seducing the Rabbi, is currently available at Blue Flax Press, and will soon be available in bookstores and on Amazon. She teaches university-level Spanish in Boulder, Colorado, studies art, and has one husband and nine other animals. She also has a website.

Sara Ryan - "Zantedeschia" : Sara is a doctoral student and teacher in the Political Science Department at Syracuse University. The only thing she's published — until now — is an article on the Civilian Conservation Corps in "The History Project."

Angie Smibert - "The Lone Cabbage" : Angie has recently placed work in Mytholog, Flashquake, Flash Me, Heavy Glow, Crimson Highway, Triptych, and Boston Literary Magazine. She also has a new story in the latest issue of the Bent Pin Quarterly.

Craig W. Steele - "A Path Less Traveled" : Craig is a professor of biology at Edinboro University. He lives in the urban-sprawl countryside of northwestern Pennsylvania with his wife, their two young children, and two rubbish cats. He has a humorous short story, “Thanksgiving in the Tropics,” published in the Jan-Feb 2006 issue of the literary journal Calliope.

Candy Tothill - "On Being Distracted" and "The Other Woman" : Candy's work has appeared in 2River View, Get Underground, Litnet Magazine, Megaera Anthology, The Pedestal Magazine, Unlikely Stories and Wide Thinker. She has written two collections of thought, "Death in Words" and "Life in Print" for which she presently seeks a publisher. She live in Blairgowrie, South Africa.

Steven Trebellas - "Elegy for a Man Not Quite Gone" : Steven Trebellas is a recent graduate of the MFA program at Southern Illinois University. He has been published only a few times, so far, including: once in a pedagogical journal; two poems under the name of Steve Leek in the Winter 03/04 issue of Southeastern Review; and in our 2nd Annual NC-17 issue (February 2005).

Ann Walters - "At Chernobyl, They Monitor the Devil" and "Liberation" : Ann Walters lives in the Pacific Northwest. Her poetry has appeared in Poet Lore, Carousel, and Juked, among others. Ann is a frequent (and much-loved) contributor to THQ, as well — most recently, as a finalist in our Ekphrastic Contest in "Space to Grow".

Lise Whidden - "Chinatown, SC" : Lise writes in North Carolina, where she lives with a husband, a Boxer bulldog and horses. She tells us, "I am unpublished as of this moment, but I am emerging." Well, Lise... you're not unpublished any more, and we're proud to be your first emergence!

Martin Willitts, Jr. - "Deserts" and "Calder Teaches" : Martin Willitts Jr is a Senior Librarian in New York. He has recent publications in Pebble Lake Review, Hurricane Blues (anthology), Hotmetalpress.net, Haigaonline, Bent Pin, 5th Gear, and others. He has a fifth chapbook "Falling In and Out of Love" (Pudding House Publications, 2005), an online chapbook "Farewell--the journey now begins" (www.languageandculture.net in 2006), and a full length book of poems with his art: The Secret Language of the Universe (March Street Press, 2006).

Dale Wisely - "Sound Art" : Dale Wisely is the editor of the on-line literary journal Right Hand Pointing, and designs and edits books for Mercy Seat Press. He has poems and short fiction in America, Amaryllis, Birmingham Poetry Review, National Catholic Reporter, Poet's Canvas, Salt River Review, Main Street Rag, Birmingham Arts Journal, Blue Collar Review, and elsewhere, including our previous issue. He is also the author of a poetry chapbook, Visitation (Mercy Seat Press).