Contributor Announcement: THE KNOT WOUND ROUND YOUR FINGER

Deborah Bean, a native Texan raised during the height of the moon race, became interested in science-fiction ata young age. A single mother at twenty, who struggled; raising two children while attending college and working two jobs to better the lives of her children. In 2016, she completed the Your Novel Year Graduate Certificate at ASU’s Piper Center for Creative Writing. Her story, “Money Doesn’t Come in the Mail,” was published in Story Circle Journal, September 2014. She won First Place from the Writers Guild of Texas for “The Visiting Professor” in 2016. In 2019, Ms. Bean received a 3rd Quarter Honorable Mention from Writers of the Future for “Demons Out There.”  She was published in the 2019 and 2020 anthologies, Real Women Write, for “Why I Didn’t Become a Young Writer” and “COVID and I are Getting Old in Dallas.” She currently lives in Dallas, Texas with her husband, Neal Berkowitz, and two dogs.

Helen Bowie is a writer, performer and charity worker based in London, England. Helen’s work has been featured in Queerlings, Beir Bua Journal and How 2 B Bad, among others. Her writing is inspired by bad politics, good make-up, and average life experiences. She has a cat, a Pushcart nomination, and several bafflingly strong opinions about extremely trivial matters. Follow her on twitter @helensulis

Benjamin Gardner is a writer and a multimedia artist living in the Midwestern United States. He is a founder and co-editor of Theurgical Studies Press which publishes limited edition art risograph zines. Gardner’s artwork has been exhibited across the United States and he makes music under the name Lost Music Library. His short fiction has been included in the Mysterium Tremendum zine and Night Terrors Volume 4. Gardner is also a Professor of Art and Design at Drake University, teaching classes on visual art and visual culture. More information is available at www.benjaminagardner.com.

Bryn Hammond writes the Amgalant series, historical fiction that is a close reading of the Secret History of the Mongols. Her Voices from the Twelfth-Century Steppe discusses her engagement as a creative writer with this primary source. She believes we often underestimate people of the past, and crude them down – her purpose is to battle this. Queer, poor, and cheery, Bryn lives in a coastal town in Australia, where she likes to write while walking in the sea. Website amgalant.com. Tweets @Jakujin.

Geoff Hart (he/him) works as a scientific editor, specializing in helping scientists who have English as their second language publish their research. He also writes fiction in his spare time, and has sold 32 stories thus far. Visit him online at www.geoff-hart.com.

NC Hernandez is a Chicano writer from southern California, temporarily living in San Francisco since 2010 with his partner and two cats. He has worked as a behaviorist for children with autism, a touring musician, and an immigrant rights activist who led the first visitation program in California for federally imprisoned immigrants. He currently works in a non-profit organization, spends part of the year in Mexico City, and invents his own cocktails. Hernandez writes sociopolitical essays about male violence, music, and classic menswear.

Joanna Michal Hoyt lives with her family on a Catholic Worker farm in rural northern New York, USA, where she spends her days tending goats, gardens, and guests and her evenings reading and writing odd stories. Her short fiction has appeared in publications including Mysterion, On Spec, and After Dinner Conversation. Propertius Press will publish her historical novel Cracked Reflections in May 2021. Read more at https://joannamichalhoyt.com/

Ibrahim Babátúndé Ibrahim – After he was forcibly sent to science-class in high-school, it took Ibrahim 20 years to find his way back to his passion, in 2019, when he left a successful ten-year career in media & entertainment to become a writer. In that time, his work has been accepted for publication in JMWW, Door is a Jar Magazine, Ake Review, Agbowó Magazine, Landlocked Magazine, the Chaffin Journal, the Decolonial Passage, and more. He finished as a finalist in Goge Africa’s #GogeAfrica20 Writing Contest, and Ibua Journal’s Packlight Series. He was longlisted for the 2020 Dzanc Diverse Voices Prize. He has also been nominated for the Pushcart Prize. Ibrahim’s work explores the human experience from an African perspective. He’s @heemthewriter across social media.

Stephen O’Donnell is a writer, living in Dublin, Ireland. His short stories have appeared most recently in Underland Arcana, Strange Horizons, and Typehouse.

Emma Prior lives in Liverpool where she runs grassroots, community-building projects. Her writing has been published in several independent anthologies and she’s currently working on her first novel.

Karen Rollins dreams of the day when she can write all day, every day near a body of water, preferably an ocean. In the meantime, she finds pleasure in writing inland at her desk in North Little Rock, AR, going on road trips, sightseeing, attending festivals of all kinds, and playing with her dog, Bucky. Her writing has appeared in The Write Launch and the anthology (Her)oics: Women’s Lived Experiences During the Coronavirus Pandemic.

Shanon Sinn is the author of The Haunting of Vancouver Island. His writing can also be found in Nelson’s Canadian Corrections textbook, The Times Colonist, and in several other publications online and in print. Shanon earned his Creative Writing degree at Vancouver Island University. There he received the Barry Broadfoot Award for Journalism and the Gisele Merlet Creative Writing Award. His focus at VIU was on First Nations topics. These included Elder teachings, field school at the University of Fairbanks in Alaska (learning oral history recording guidelines), and being an intern for Snuneymuxw Elder in Residence Geraldine Manson. He is interested in British Columbia Indigenous ghost stories, both authentic and colonial burial ground urban legends.