The Avalon Literary Review
Fall 2016 Contributors

​Gary Beck spent most of his life as a theater director. He has 11 published chapbooks, 10 published poetry collections, 5 accepted for publication. He has 3 novels and 3 accepted for publication. 1 short story collection and 1 accepted for publication. He lives in NYC and is online at www.garycbeck.com.

Lindsey Danis is a freelance writer living in the Hudson Valley. Her work has appeared most recently in Writers Weekly, Helen, and 34th Parallel. When not writing, she spends her time cooking, homebrewing, hiking, and traveling. 

Carly Dee is a writer, editor and spoken word artist from London. She is the co-founder and Editor of BLYNKT Magazine and Podcast www.blynkt.com.

Mike Faran spent his childhood in the UK. After his return to California, he served a four year stint in the USAF and then went on to graduate from Cal State Fullerton. His poetry has appeared in Over the Transom, Rattle, The Comstock Review, Abbey, Ship of Fools, Atlanta Review, and in Homestead. He is the author of We Go To A Fire (Penury Press) and is a Pushcart Prize nominee.

Amanda Gomez is an MFA candidate in poetry at Old Dominion University. Some of her works have been published or are forthcoming in the Eunoia Review, The Ekphrastic Review, The Manchester Review, Expound Magazine, and San Pedro River Review. 

John Grey is an Australian poet, US resident. Recently published in New Plains Review, South Carolina Review, Stillwater Review and Big Muddy Review with work upcoming in Louisiana Review, Cape Rock and Spoon River Poetry Review.  

Maisie Houghton, a member of  Poem Works classes, has  come late in life to poetry writing but Pitch Uncertain, her memoir of growing up in the fifties, was published by TidePool Press in 2011. She moved to Boston in 2008 following a long time residence in Corning, NY. 

Zackery Jones is a current student of creative writing at Illinois State University. This edition of the Avalon Literary Review features his first published piece of creative writing, though he looks forward to providing more creative material in the years to come.

Erin Joyce lives in Connecticut with her husband and son. This is her first publication.

J.R. Kangas works as a librarian and as a musician, and his poems have appeared in Atlanta Review, Connecticut Review, New Letters, The New York Quarterly, Tampa Review, West Branch, et al.  He lives in Flint, Michigan, and has a chapbook currently seeking a publisher.

Fred Melton is a numerous Pushcart Prize nominee whose work has appeared in Best American Mystery Stories 2002, Oyez Review, Talking River Review, Big Sky Journal, Passages North as well as other literary magazines. He plans to finish his MFA in Creative Writing from Pacific University (OR) in 2017.


B.A. Merlin is a proud graduate student of fiction at Butler University's MFA program in Indianapolis, IN. Her interests include writing historical fiction, poetry, and horror stories. She spends her time working on her various projects and leading writing for wellness workshops at a variety of locations, including children's hospitals, high schools, prisons, and addiction rehabilitation clinics.
 
Simon Perchik is an attorney whose poems have appeared in Partisan Review, Forge, Poetry, Osiris, The New Yorker and elsewhere. His most recent collection is Almost Rain, published by River Otter Press (2013). For more information, including free e-books, his essay titled “Magic, Illusion and Other Realities” please visit his website at www.simonperchik.com. 

Cathy Porter's poetry has appeared in Plainsongs, Chaffin Journal, Homestead Review, Hubbub, and various other journals. She has two chapbooks available from Finishing Line Press. Her newest collection Exit Songs is forthcoming from Dancing Girl Press. She lives in Omaha, NE.

Janet Reed teaches writing and literature for Crowder College in Missouri. She is a Birkenstock-wearing, Prius-driving, tree-hugging flower child whose poems reflect the conversations she has with the voices in her head. Her work has been published in multiple journals, and she is currently working on her first chapbook.

Nico Rodriguez is an aspiring poet who currently attends Montclair State University. For him, the beauty of poetry is the ability to transform a dark history into an unapologetic anthem that finds its way into open mics and literary magazines. When he isn't writing, Nico attends poetry slams all around the tristate area.

Mary B. Schwartz is a graduate of Northeastern University with a B.A. in English literature. She is a published poet and is currently writing her second novel. She lives in Saugus, Massachusetts with her husband, Bob.

JC Sullivan has two daughters, Kira and Meredith. And, yes, like the character in this story had surgery for a deviated septum and could not get anyone to understand how remarkable it was to smell again. He plans to include Deviated Septum in a collection of stories he is compiling called American Places since the stories are set all over the country.

Eileen Van Hook has had poetry published in various literary journals and anthologies.  She placed first in a poetry contest in Writer's Journal, is a Pushcart Prize nominee and received an Editor's Choice Award in the Allen Ginsberg Poetry Contest (2015).  Eileen lives and writes in the wilds of northwestern New Jersey.

R.M. Warren's fiction has appeared in several publications, including The Haunted Traveler, Ghostlight Magazine, and Quantum Fairy Tales. He lives in Western Maryland.