Aaron Bauer lives in Fairbanks, Alaska, with his partner and daughters. He received his undergraduate degrees in Music and English Literature from the University of Colorado, and is teaching and taking classes at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. He is the editor for the literary journal Permafrost, and his work has appeared in Spillway, Superstition Review and other literary journals.

Erika Lorentzsen‘s work has been published in Ambit, Tears in the Fence, nthposition, Blueline and Orbis, among others. She is an independent producer for Prairie Public, an NPR station.

Nancy Ryan Keeling is a poet, playwright and multimedia artist.

Keith Seher is a New Jersey native living in Macedonia, Ohio.

Jillian Stankewich is a native of Rochester, NY. A graduate of Oswego State University’s Creative Writing program, she is currently a civil servant for the State of New York. Her work has appeared in Foliate Oak, Hazmat, Great Lake Review and In Other Words: An American Poetry Anthology.

Submissions are now open for the tenth annual issue of The Mom Egg.

The Mom Egg publishes sharp, articulate, inventive work by mothers about everything and by everyone about mothers and motherhood.

Submissions period for poetry, fiction, creative prose and art for The Mom Egg 2012 Vol. 10 will be July 15 through Sept. 30, 2011. That issue will be a themed issue on “The Body”. Full guidelines here.

Photo by Frank 3.0, Flickr

Photo by Ali Wisch

Trisha Bora is an editor and writer who has been away from her hometown – Assam – for many years now and currently lives in Delhi. She studied English Literature at Delhi University and started a career in publishing immediately after. Her poems have been published at Ultra Violet, nth position, Poetry Super Highway, pyrta journal, with more forthcoming in Asia Writes and Nether Magazine.

Elijah Burrell is currently working toward his MFA in the Bennington Writing Seminars. His poetry has been published in The Sugar House Review, Muscle & Blood, Swink Magazine, The Country Dog Review, Blast Furnace, The Honey Land Review, Under One Sun, and forthcoming in The Penwood Review. Burrell was the recipient of the 2009 Cecil A. Blue Award in Poetry, and a finalist in the 2010 Pinch Poetry Contest. He resides in Jefferson City, Missouri with his wife and two little girls.

Anna Elkins has an M.F.A. in poetry and was a Fulbright Fellow of creative writing in Germany. She has been published in several journals and books and has multiple poems forthcoming in the North Carolina Literary Review and Reunion: The Dallas Review.

Stephen Germic is a poet living in Montana.

Jazmine Green is a Los Angeles based writer who has published poetry and short fiction in numerous independent literary publications. She spends her time writing and editing for for LA Yoga Magazine, blogging about wellness and whole living, and teaching hatha yoga. Jazmine is currently working on her first novel. You can read her blog and other published works at www.jazminegreen.com.

Karen Greenbaum-Maya is, among other things, a clinical psychologist in California. She has placed poems and photographs in many publications, most recently Off the Coast, qarrtsiluni, In Posse Review, Statushat Artzine, Tipton Poetry Journal, Poemeleon, Inlandia, dotdotdash, Waccamaw, and Sow’s Ear Poetry Review. She was nominated for the 2010 Pushcart Prize. Her first chapbook, Eggs Satori, was a finalist of note in Pudding House Publications’ 2010 competition, and will be published in 2011.

Joanne Merriam is a Nova Scotian living in Nashville. Her poetry has appeared in The Fiddlehead, Stand Magazine and Riddle Fence. You can find her online at joannemerriam.com.

George Moore‘s book of poems, Children’s Drawings of the Universe, will be released in Ireland in 2012. He recently completed an artist residency on the island of Paros in Greece, and has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net and Best of the Web awards.

Ali Wisch is a playwright, poet, novelist, artist and executive producer of Ali Wisch Productions.

Guidelines from Anderbo:

Anderbo.com wishes to post up to the first 36 manuscript pages of an unpublished novel on its website by December 21st, 2011 for at least the following six months. We will look at the FIRST 36 PAGES (up to 9,000 words) of your e-manuscript submitted to editors@anderbo.com and decide within 60 days of its arrival if we want to see more.

YOU MUST SUBMIT YOUR MANUSCRIPT ENTRY WITHIN THE BODY OF THE E-MAIL—NO ATTACHMENTS!
THERE IS NO READING FEE
and all literary rights will remain with the author.
NO NOVEL SUBMISSIONS WILL BE ACCEPTED AFTER SEPTEMBER 21st, 2011.
This contest is not open to anyone previously published on anderbo.com at any time.

This Anderbo No-Fee Novel Contest will be judged by the anderbo.com editorial staff; Anderbo guarantees to choose and use one manuscript-excerpt. There will be an honorarium of $500 paid by the sponsor of this contest, Mercer Street Books & Records, to the winning author upon publication on Anderbo.

Photo by Eye8Pudding, Flickr

In honor of National Short Story Month, we’re taking a second look at some of the best works of fiction that have appeared in The Furnace Review. Here, from Fall 2010, is “Motherland” by Anthony Jones.

It took Grace Silverstein three tries to dial the phone number of her younger sister; a number that she had had memorized for the last ten years. That’s how bad her hand was shaking. When it finally started ringing on the other end, she pressed the telephone close against her face and cowered down into the sofa so that she could just see over the leather cushion into the mouth of the hallway. From the strained, nervous expression on her face there seemed to be something lurking in the shadows there–a deformed presence that disturbed her deep down in her guts.

“Jeanine,” Grace whimpered into the phone.

“Yes. Who is this?”

“Jeanine. It’s Grace.”

There was a slight pause on the other end. “What is it, Grace?”

“Gabriel’s just stabbed me.” Read more….

From the cab of his dad’s semi, Jesse watches rows of corn blend together. It’s dusk and the world feels blurry, unsure of itself. His dad has a cigarette tucked behind his ear and one smoldering between his fingers. Jesse reaches for the half empty pack and lights himself one.

“Hey, grab us a beer.” His dad’s voice is thick with phlegm. He coughs once, rolls down his window and spits into the wind. The beer isn’t quite cold enough but it doesn’t matter. They are maybe five miles from their last stop, an arm-pit-bar off the highway called The Chalet. The front had a peaked roof that was near collapse trying to look like some fancy ski resort, an obvious after thought when someone thought up the name years ago. It was like any other bar they stopped at; dark, smoky, with a musty smell like wet towels left to dry in the corner of a stone-wall basement.

The bar was lined with a dozen or so regulars who talked about the kinds of things all bar regulars talk about; weather, women, and the good-ol’-days. Right off, his dad made a few friends. He could do that when he wanted to, make a pal out of a stranger with just a few words. He got them laughing, a verbal tool Jesse was still trying to master. Read more….

Photo: “No Dark Sarcasm in the Classroom” by Thomas Hawk