Featured Writer: Janet Butler

Poetry

Trevor Abes: Trevor was born in Scarborough, Ontario on May 13, 1988 and lived there for five years before his family moved to Colombia, South America, where he learned Spanish and currently resides. In between Canada and Colombia, he also lived in Tennessee for about fifteen months. Trevor enjoys reading; one of the last books that he has read was The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon. The University of Toronto is probably where he will study next. Golf and tennis are two of his favorite sports to watch on TV. His favorite subject in school is literature, and he hopes to be a published author one of these days. He says "I have had 4 poems published on voicesnet.com and 1 on the previous issue of Sage of Consciousness. I am currently in a relationship with this amazing girl by the name of Viviana; I am blessed to have met her, and I am grateful for each moment I spend with her. I believe writing is a healthy practice for mind and body."

Mary Kate Azcuy: Mary Kate Azcuy's most recent poems appeared in The Caribbean Writer, and nantucket: a collection, and key west: a collection. She works as an English Department Lecturer and the Assistant Faculty Dean of Honors School at Monmouth University in New Jersey. Mary Kate lives in Monmouth County, New Jersey with her husband Gregg and two daughters, Kathyrn and Brooke.

Brittney Bush: (bbush@magitech.org) Britney wrote her first poem at age five, and has been putting pen to paper ever since. She has a regularly updated web journal at http://divergirl.net.

Nancy Wayman Deutsch: A former Exceptional Education teacher and the mother of two grown daughters, she resides in Winter Park, Fl. Winner of FWA Royal Palm Awards for poetry and short fiction in 2005, she has recently had articles, poetry, and short stories published in "Florida Palm" Magazine and the book,"Florida Shorts."

Ann Wood Fuller: Ann Wood Fuller was born in Deland, Florida and moved to Sarasota with her parents after they graduated from Stetson University. She attended the University of Florida in Gainesville and received a undergraduate degree in English Literature and Education. After a hiatus of about 20 years Ms Fuller went back to the University of Florida and worked on a MFA in Creative Writing under the esteemed tutelage of William Logan and Debora Greger. It was there that she began to publish her various works in local literary journals and then in others that included The Yalobusha Review, The South Dakota Review, The Georgia Review and many others. She was invited and attended a conference in Flagstaff, Arizona, where she read and discussed her work. She is a landscape poet and her themes are incorporated into scenes of old Florida scape's. She lives outside of Micanopy in a home she built under the moss solemn oaks.

Eve Hall: Eve Hall, is an author & poet, living in Atlanta, Ga. Her work has been featured in several magazines, including, Purpose, Skyline Publications, and Mature Living. She has published four books and have written over a dozen children's books. One of her goals is to publish all of her children's books. Eve welcomes feedback on her work. Email her at cagedbird2u@yahoo.com. Her website and book information can be found at the following address, http://bradymagazine.com/gallery/evehall/.

Marianne LaValle-Vincent: Marianne LaValle-Vincent is a native of Syracuse, New York, and is a published poet, writer and humorist. She has won numerous literary contests and has achieved publication in such magazines as “Italiana Americana”, “The Birmingham Review”, “Poetry Motel” “Falling Star”, “3 Cup Morning” and other special publications through SUNY. Her credits and awards also infiltrate the Internet on such web sites as “Real Eight View”, “Ascent”, “Underground Window” “Dance With Words” and “Writers on Line”. Her first collection of poetry entitled “American Lie” is available in bookstores throughout the country. “Coverings” (a chapbook) is now available through Foothills Publishing. Marianne’s second full-length poetry collection “313’s Child” will be available in summer, 2005. Besides poetry, many of her short stories have been published—most recently “Understanding Dad” in Chicken Soup For the Soul—Fathers and Daughters edition. Marianne has been awarded a grant through Hill House Writers in Nashville, TN., and is invited frequently to lecture at local universities and libraries. She also acts as an assistant editor for The Rose & Thorn E-zine as well as assistant Copy Editor and feature writer for Moondance, an on-line literary magazine supporting creative women. A first generation Italian-American, Marianne is an administrative RN who focuses on marketing for a large medical imaging corporation. She still lives in Syracuse with her husband Tim, and 14 year-old daughter, Jess. Her greatest pleasure, after writing, is cooking and entertaining family and friends.

Jewel Martin: Jewel is a poet, and a painter. Her life is lived in the state of Florida where the wind dances and plays in her hair. Many refer to Jewel as an unexplainable enigma; embracing this, she enigmatically makes herself her own. Jewel has published in several literary magazines under various pen names.

Precious McKenzie: "A resident of South Florida (for most of my life) and currently a PhD student in English at the University of South Florida with a focus on nineteenth century literature. The poem is a reflection of many hours spent at the swamp."

Suchoon Mo: "I am a former Lieutenant in the Korean Army and a Korean War veteran. Currently, I am a retired academic living in the semi-arid part of Colorado. My poems have appeared in East and West (India), The Surface (UK), Snakeskin (UK), Dissident Editions (UK), America Sings, Riverside Poetry, Religious Humanist, Bitter Oleander, Shampoo, Poetic Voices, Adagio Verse Quarterly, and Above Ground Testing."

Jay Mouton: Jay Mouton lives and thrives on the hard-packed beaches of Daytona Beach, Florida. Jay's most recent achievements include publishing his recent poem "Shiloe," his essay "How Bridges Span a Life," and missing Hurricane Wilma.

Lori Romero: Lori Romero served as Artistic Director of Friends & Artists Theatre Ensemble in Los Angeles. She currently resides in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Ms. Romero's first chapbook, Wall to Wall, was recently published by Finishing Line Press. Her short story, Strange Saints, was a semifinalist in the Sherwood Anderson Fiction Award and her short screenplay is a finalist in the Manhattan Short Film Festival. Her poetry and fiction have been published in journals and anthologies which include Copper Nickel, flashquake, Citizen 32, Quercus Review, Plum Biscuit, Mystic River Review, Edgar Literary Magazine, Poetry Motel, Mobius, and Pebble Lake Review.

Tom Sheehan has five Pushcart nominations, and a Silver Rose Award from American Renaissance for Twenty-first Century (ART) for short story. "A Collection of Friends," memoirs, issued 2004 by Pocol Press (nominated for PEN America Albrand Memoir Award). A poetry chapbook, “The Westering,” 2004, from Wind River Press. His fourth poetry book, "This Rare Earth & Other Flights," issued 2003, by Lit Pot Press. He has two mysteries from Publish America, “Vigilantes East,” 2002 and “Death for the Phantom Receiver,” in 2003. Another, “An Accountable Death,” is serialized on 3amMagazine.com. He’s been feature writer in Nuvein, New Works Review, Tryst and Eclectica.

Cheryl Wilsey: Cheryl Lynn Wilsey was born and spent her childhood in South Dakota. At a very early age in life, she expressed an innate desire to create and to dictate her own path in life. Later, around the age of eight, she started to receive formal lessons in music. When she entered adolescents she started to write poetry and soon had multiple notebooks full of ideas. During undergraduate study, she continued to pursue training in the visual arts and music. She says “Poetry was a constant through this journey as well because the variety of creative means to expression should not be limited to one particular vein of work”. She graduated from Augustana College with a degree in visual arts and the ability to teach art in K-12 school districts. Currently, she is undertaking graduate study through Saint Mary’s University. "I would like to dedicate this poem in the loving memory of Lucile Nuytten, my grandmother. She opened her heart and her home to all of those in need and was a truly remarkable woman. She will be deeply missed by all who knew her." More of her art and writing can be found on her homepage at http://www.geocities.com/cheryl_wilsey/ART.html.

Sharran WindWalker: Sharran was born November 20, 1964 in Fredericton, New Brunswick where he lived his first three years before moving to B.C. In 1974 he moved to Chilliwack where his grandfather had a farm in the foothills of Promontory/Ryder Lake area. There, Sharran came into first hand contact with nature and life as it exists outside the human fishbowl, so to speak. At Watson Elementary, the local grade school, Sharran met Don Gillis, a wonderful teacher who saw his innate abilities and encouraged him to believe that he could succeed in life, despite his handicaps. Sharran is a "natural" kind of natural person. For example, he won't drive a car, preferring to walk or bicycle wherever he goes, and moulding the procurement of his simple needs around these two basic modes of transportation. Hence, Sharran senses much more of the world around him than do most people. This keen environmental awareness is reflected in much of his poetry, giving it poignancy and freshness. A lover, a philosopher, a loner... a misfit in man's system of orderly chaos, Sharran interprets many of our inner thoughts about ourselves and our thorny relationship to our natural environment. He forces us to ask questions about where our lust to convert natural resources into money and to control everything we touch, is leading us. Add his sense of humour and you see Sharran as a kind of throw-back to the days of the lonely travelling troubadours, telling stories of adventure and love, with themselves as the perennial observers, often denied personal involvement in the dramas they so vividly described, filling their own emptiness with vicarious experiences through words and passing relationships; struggling for existence with this most mis-understood and under-valued gift which does so much to balance an otherwise shallow experience of human life. Knowing Sharran has been a great enrichment to my personal life, as thoughtfully reading his words can be to you. Enjoy the challenge!

Short Story

Peter A. Balaskas: Peter A. Balaskas received his BS in Chemistry (minor in English) and his MA in English with a double emphasis in Creative Writing and Literature from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. His fiction and poetry have been published in LA Miscellany, Pale Skies and his critical essay on Harlan Ellison's "I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream" was published in Criterion. His gothic horror novella, "The Chameleon's Addiction," was a semi-finalist in the 2004 Glacier Press Writing Contest and is now published in Bards and Sages. He is presently the editor and manager of the literary journal, Silent Voices: a Creative Mosaic of Fiction.

Randy Farnsworth: Randy Farnsworth is a husband, soccer dad, author, amateur photographer and web designer, in that order. He's been writing in various genres for over twenty-five years, with his most recent work of fiction, "A Stand Yet Taken", published in 2004. He welcomes contact with readers at randyfarnsworth.com.

Laura N. Hogg: Laura is a writer and a musician, and is currently trying to become published. Laura has written flash fiction to full-length historical novels.

Pete Mackey: Pete Mackey has published a scholarly book on James Joyce and chaos physics; lived across the US and in Ireland; written speeches for such leaders as the Deputy Prime Minister of Ireland; and works in public relations.

Jewel Martin: Jewel is a poet, and a painter. Her life is lived in the state of Florida where the wind dances and plays in her hair. Many refer to Jewel as an unexplainable enigma; embracing this, she enigmatically makes herself her own. Jewel has published in several literary magazines under various pen names.

Steve Porter: Steve Porter is 37, was born in East London, England and moved to Milton Keynes (50 miles north of London) aged 9. He has travelled around Europe, Africa and the United States (narrowly missing the 1989 earthquake in San Francisco—thanks to a car chase, but that's another story). His working career has been varied; Trainee Building Inspector, Hotel Luggage Porter, Waiter, Customer Care Advisor and currently providing support on an IT helpdesk (and many other jobs in between). He studied English at Manchester Metropolitan University and has always dreamed of writing fiction. This year he finally decided to do something about the dream. His story 'Finding Your Feet' was recently published at thewritersezine.com and 'The Lidless Window of a Flickering Box' is to be published in the November issue of skivemagazine.com. Early influences were Road Dahl, C S Lewis, John Cristopher and Tolkien (and later Steinbeck, Upton Sinclair and the beautiful There Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston). He is married with two young sons and so life is full of adventures and challenges—as it should be.

Tonya Sorenson: Tanya Sorensen lives in Ontario, Canada. She writes about things both horrific and inspirational, and likes to explore the mysterious line between the sacred and profane.

Shalav Rana: Nepalese by birth, Shalav is now living in London, UK for past three years. Shalav is a web designer by profession, has never been published, and has only recently started writing.

Petryna Venuta: lives and writes in London, Ontario, Canada, often with her precocious daughter at her elbow. She is a secondary school English Literature teacher, a finalist in the Writers' Union Of Canada's Postcard Story Competition, and a recipient of the James DeMille Short Story Prize and Clare Murray Fooshee Poetry Prize.

Laura Madeline Wiseman: Laura is an adjunct professor at the University of Arizona. Her works have appeared in 13th Moon, The Comstock Review, Fiction International, and other publications. She is the Literary Editor for IntheFray and a regular contributor to Empowerment4Women.

Essays/Creative Non-Fiction and Articles

Dorothee Lang: Dorothee Lang is a German writer and net artist. She is author of Masala Moments, a travel novel about India, and editor of the BluePrintReview, an online journal of unintended prose and poetry. Her work has recently appeared in CautionaryTale, Surface, Word Riot and Pindeldyboz, among others. To see some of her latest pieces, visit her virtual gallery at blueprint21.de.

Tom Leskiw: Tom Leskiw works as a hydrologic/biologic technician for Six Rivers National Forest in northwestern California. He lives near the city of Eureka with his wife Sue and their terrier, Gypsy. His experience includes interpretive trail construction, fisheries, and native plant restoration projects. His on-line book reviews appear at H-NET www.h-net.msu.edu/reviews. He co-authored “A Study of Plant Materials Suitable for the Rehabilitation of Landslides and Riparian Areas in the Trinity River Watershed, California” and “A Guide to Birding in and Around Arcata [California].” His essays have been published in NILAS (Nature in Legend and Story) and on-line for Terrain.org at. www.terrain.org/essays/16/leskiw.htm. A partial archive of his monthly column in the Sandpiper is available at www.RRAS.org.

Michelle Close Mills: Michelle Close Mills has been a freelance newspaper writer for 18 years. Her work has appeared in the Ft Wayne News Sentinel of Ft Wayne IN, the Edgerton Earth of Edgerton OH, as well as for the Seminole Beacon and Largo Leader of Tampa Bay, FL.Her work has been published in the "GreenPrints the Weeder's Digest", and "Fate Magazine"as well as multiple times in "Autumn Leaves", "Skyline Magazine", and "SpinningS". She has also written for numerous short story and poetry anthologies including "Chicken Soup For the Soul", "The Rocking Chair Reader, Family Gatherings", and "Beyond Katrina", a charitable anthology published by the Arts Council of Central Louisiana to benefit the 2005 hurricane victims. Michelle and her family reside in Seminole, Florida.

Gabrielle Naglieri: Gabrielle Naglieri is a graduate student at Boston College. She is enrolled in the English M.A. program and is interested in postcolonial and transnational theories. Currently Gabrielle is working on a photo essay entitled: Manic Visual Convergence, a documentation of downtown Boston’s architectural heterogeneity.

Michele Retter: "I was born in Erie, PA, grew up in Cherry Hill, NJ and now reside in South Florida. I am 29, married, with a 2 year old little girl, one dog and two cats. I am a musician, crafter, artist and writer. I've been writing ever since I was very little—I'd have several spiral bound notebooks each with something different written in them. Music is a very large influence on my writings. I am currently working on two books and hope to have more short-story and poetry writings put together soon. My poetry has been published in my High School literary magazines, College literary magazines and a few National Poetry books. I am currently studying Elementary Education at Florida Atlantic University."

Lauren Taylor: Lauren was born in a small mountain town in northwest New Jersey. She is an avid reader and writer. She hopes to spend long years opening young, old, and in-betweeners, eyes to the wondrous world as portrayed through art, invention, literature, religion and so on. You will one day find her at your local museum with a wild look like Indiana Jones sparkling in her eye. A writer and photographer, Lauren is the Editorial Assistant at Sage of Consciousness E-Zine, and also won awards for her participation in the 2004 Imprints edition.

Art and Photography

Brian Ferguson: B L. Ferguson is heavily involved in retirement at this time, having a lifetime of experience to devote to photography he has chosen to devote his sensitivity and vision to this art. Much of his joy comes when the printer spits out an 8 x 10 and he yells “WOW, that’s a great picture,” or when the cat actually pays attention to him. His email is bfery@suscom.net.

Dorothee Lang: Dorothee Lang is a writer and net artist. She lives in an old house with high speed connection in South Germany, where she is editing the BluePrintReview and working on a travel novel. Her prose, poetry and web art have recently appeared in Sunday Herald and Surface, CautionaryTale, and Word Riot, Pedestal, and Pindeldyboz, among others. To see some of her latest pieces, visit her virtual gallery at blueprint21.de. Visit her online literary magazine, BluePrintReview.

Jewel Martin: Jewel is a poet, and a painter. Her life is lived in the state of Florida where the wind dances and plays in her hair. Many refer to Jewel as an unexplainable enigma; embracing this, she enigmatically makes herself her own. Jewel has published in several literary magazines under various pen names.

Brian McNely: Brian J. McNely is a graduate student in English and American literature at the University of Texas, El Paso. He has published poetry and presented extensively on various aspects of literary criticism, most recently at the College English Association and American Comparative Literature Association national conferences. He is currently working on two academic presentations that incorporate his own photography, "The Virgin of El Paso," and "Strip Mall Spirituality."

Steven Watson: Steven is currently seeking his BA in English. He loves American literature, and hopes to teach it in the future. Traveling when he can, Steven takes compelling photos, and writes poetry.

Michelle Williams: Michelle attends classes in English at the University of Florida and is married to the love of her life, Paul. Michelle writes poetry, short stories, paints, sketches, and takes photographs when she can. She has been published in four literary magazines to date and hopes to continue publishing her work in the future. Her design work and editing work have won top honors in the State of Florida Competition of Community College Publications.

Ivan D. Young: Ivan is an assistant instructor for fourth block at the Dave School, a digital animation and visual effects institution in Orlando Florida, assisting William “Proton” Vaughn. He has assisted on several animation projects through the school that can be seen at http://www.daveschool.com, and has studied the arts for many years.

Please note that all works are protected by their respective copyrights. None of the works contained within this e-zine can be copied, reproduced, or used without the express written consent of the copyright owners (in this case, the authors, writers, poets, photographers, painters, and digital media designers). If you wish to contact a writer or artist to inquire about using and/or purchasing their work, feel free to email the contact information provided in the artist's/writer's biography.