Catherine A. MacKenzie escapes from her mundane world by writing poems and short fiction most women can relate to. Although she writes all genres, she invariably veers toward the dark. Her late mother once asked, "Can't you write anything happy?" (She can!)

Cathy has been published "traditionally" in numerous print and online publications. She has self-published several short story collections, books of poetry, and children’s picture books. Her debut novel, WOLVES DON'T KNOCK, was published in June 2018. MISTER WOLFE, the second in the stand-alone series, was published in 2020. She hopes to finish MY BROTHER, THE WOLF in the near future.

MY HEART IS BROKEN (IT NEEDS FIXING), a book of poetry memorializing her late son Matthew, who died of a rare heart cancer in March 2017, was published in March 2020, the three-year anniversary of his death. She hopes it might help other grieving parents who suffer as she does. BROKEN HEARTS CAN'T ALWAYS BE FIXED (published in March 2022) is the second book in his memory. She says it'll be the last, but who knows, right?

Cathy divides her time between Halifax and West Porters Lake, Nova Scotia.

Her amazing, gorgeous grandchildren provide much joy and inspiration.

Visit Cathy’s website: www.writingwicket.wordpress.com

Compiler and chief editor of 42 Stories Anthology Presents: Book of 42², Bertram Allan Mullin, or BAM, is also an award-winning author. His piece, Kindness & Decency was a Pushcart nominated short story. BAM is also a Ph.D. student at Temple University in Japan. He moved to Japan to have an artist illustrate ten novels he wrote in his 20s into manga, where he's lived for ten years. The first manga will be available in 2026, but he hopes sooner.

Inspirations:

Shakespeare, Elizabeth Cary the Lady Falkland, John Updike, Edward Lewis Wallant, Harper Lee, William Golding, Harvey Pekar, George RR Martin, Bryce Courtenay, Kurt Vonnegut, Jonathan Swift, Joseph Heller, Emily Dickinson, Edgar Allan Poe, Alice Walker, Maya Angelou, R.L. Stine's Goosebumps series, Kentaro Miura of Berserk, Akira Toriyama of Dragon Ball, Masashi Kishimoto of Naruto, Ichirō Sakaki, and a ton of grammar and syntax authors.

P.A. O’Neil has been writing professionally for eight years. Her stories have been featured in over fifty anthologies, journals, and magazines from several continents. She is twice winner of “Story of the Month” on the Spillwords Press website. She and her husband reside in Thurston County, Washington. She is a member of The Sound of the Baskervilles, the John H. Watson Society. She was the winner of the 2023 Mustang Flash Fiction Award with her story, “The Great Burro Revolt,” and was a finalist for the Western Fictioneers Peacemaker Award for short fiction. Her non-fiction article, “Northwest Passage,” about the Ellensburg (WA) Rodeo from the Summer 2022 issue of Saddlebag Dispatches was a medal finalist for the 2023 Will Rogers Medallion Award. Her books, Witness Testimony and Other Tales, as well as Two Sides of the Same Coin: In-between stories of Sherlock Holmes and John H. Watson, are available in paperback and Kindle, from Amazon. For links to other books which feature her stories visit her Amazon author page: P.A. O’Neil.

Lisa H. Owens, a retired Delta Airlines flight attendant and former syndicated monthly humorist columnist, resides in North Texas with two rescue dogs and a long-suffering air plant named Airy Potter (AKA, Claw, may he rest in peace). She began writing in earnest at the age of 56. Her first published story was a real-life horror about the time she was nearly abducted by Ted Bundy while her family managed a shady motel in Pensacola Florida in 1978.

Her stories and poems have been published in magazines and anthologies by Coping Magazine, Sweetycat Press, Owl Canyon Press, Zombie Works, Grinning Skull, Stone Pony Press, Barrio Blues Press, Clarendon House Publications, Gypsum Sound Tales, Black Ink Fiction, Black Hare Press, Savage Realms Press, Heavenly Flower Publishing, Iron Faerie Publishing, Joe Pawlowski Publishing, Mackenzie Press, Weird Christmas, The Poets’ Lounge, House of Loki and CultureCult Magazine & Press.

Her award-winning work is also featured online by Globe Soup, Black Hare Press’ Dark Moments, Black Ink Fiction, The Drabble, 100-Word Story, 101 Words, The World of Myth Magazine, Beneath the Surface News, Spillwords, WOW! (Women on Writing), International Lockdown Journal, Horror Tree’s Dark Nowhere Series, Short Story Avenue, The NZ Dream, Short Story Town, Coping Magazine and narrated on Scare You to Sleep, Weird Christmas Podcast, Creepy Pod, World of Myth Bits and in The Poet’s Lounge—a channel on YouTube

Lisa writes multiple genres, recently discovering a new audience for her odd combination of mild horror and humor: children and young adults. Her stories are typically inspired by true events, often including private jokes, family secrets and nicknames