Issue 6: Magic
For our sixth issue, we wanted to capture the whimsy and mystical aspect of the fall season especially for Halloween. Within this issue, you will find witches and wizards abuzz with spells as well as fairies at their tricks. Both spooky and delightful reads and art await you. We hope your find inspiration in the many aspects there are to magic and create a bit of it yourself.
Ruchi Acharya is a Business Analyst by profession. She is an Oxford University summer graduate in English Literature. She has been a contributor to multiple writing platforms such as The Pangolin Review, Overachiever magazine, Rigorous Magazine, Detester magazine, Loose Tooth Magazine, Rhodora, Borderless Journal, DREICH magazine, Slouchy beast journal, and Mulberry Literary review among 50 others.
Kelly Sargent is the author of the poetry chapbook Seeing Voices: Poetry in Motion (Kelsay Books, 2022), Lilacs & Teacups: a book of modern haiku (Cyberwit, 2022), and Sundae Sundays (2022), a forthcoming children’s book.
Julie Allan is a writer, chartered psychologist, story-worker and poet living in Gloucestershire in the UK. A former print journalist, she worked for a leading UK TV magazine before moving into her second career as a psychologist. She has poetry and fiction in the journals Graffitti and Steel Jackdaw and place-based work in an East Sussex garden. Poetry and story are integral to her work supporting regenerative practices and revitalising the imagination for social benefit.
Shaurya Arya-Kanojia is the author of the novella, End of the Rope. He likes sports (cricket, mostly), eating out, and watching reruns of The Office and Everybody Loves Raymond. His social media handles include @shauryaticks (Twitter) and @main.hoon.ek.sharara (Instagram), and more about him can be found at www.shauryaak.weebly.com
Jacqueline Bartle has recently escaped from office life and is beginning a second career as an artist and writer. She has had work published in “24 Unread Messages”, “Pure Slush” and “Vamp Cat Magazine.”
Laura Bibby (she/her) loves to write poems and stories that channel her past life as a florist. Her love of nature is often weaved into her work, alongside the fantastical and ominous. When not editing poetry for Hecate Magazine, she can be found wandering the botanical gardens, playing video games, or among the stacks of her local bookstore.
Hayley-Jenifer Brennan is a fried chicken and musical enthusiast who lives between Ireland and South Korea, depending on work. She likes rain, snow, stars, and moons, and can often be found in her car, attempting the final belt in Defying Gravity (and failing miserably).
Linda Brinkhaus is a freelance illustrator from Germany.
Rachel Bruce is a poet from Hitchin, UK. Her work has appeared in The Telegraph, Second Chance Lit, Eye Flash Poetry and Hencroft Hub, Atrium, Capsule Stories and Briefly Zine.
Christina Ciufo is a passionate writer in poetry, short stories, flash fictions, fables, and completing her first novel. At a very young age, she always had a passion for writing stories and poems, specifically in fairytales, folklore, supernatural, and horror. She has numerously appeared in literary magazines including Spillwords, Ovunque Siamo, Nymphs, Truly Review, Mookychick, Moonchild Magazine, Crêpe & Penn, Cauldron Anthology, dream walking, Selcouth Station Magazine, The Wild Literary Magazine, Speculate This Magazine, Poetically Magazine, Analogies & Allegories Literary Magazine, The Clay Literary Magazine, Re-Side, Dwelling Literary Magazine, and Coven Magazine.
Carys Crossen has been writing stories since she was nine years old and shows no signs of stopping. Her fiction has been published by FlashBack Fiction, Fudoki Magazine, Dear Damsels, Cauldron Anthology and others. Her monograph on werewolves, 'The Nature of the Beast' was published by University of Wales Press. She lives in Manchester UK with her husband, their daughter and their beautiful, contrary cat.
Jason de Koff is an associate professor of agronomy and soil science at Tennessee State University. He lives in Nashville, TN with his wife, Jaclyn, and his two daughters, Tegan and Maizie. He has been published in a number of journals including C&P Quarterly, Bandit Fiction, The Daily Drunk, Sledgehammer Lit, Ayaskala, Fahmidan Journal, Near Window, Briefly Zine, and Analogies and Allegories. His chapbook, “Words on Pages”, is currently available on Amazon athttps://amzn.to/3eookJk
Eli Delbaere is an analogue fine artist and illustrator based in the UK. Their often autobiographical work revolves around emotion, spirituality and exploring the murky subconscious powers behind our everyday lives, desires and dreams. Their distorted and charged portraiture seeks to expose these inner states, interspersed with inspiration from folkloric, natural, and psychedelic imagery. Typically, they gravitate to painting, drawing, making collages and zines. You can contact Eli at: eleanordelbaere@gmail.com and find them on Instagram at: @eleanordel_beligique
Wren Donovan lives in Tennessee. Her poetry appears or is upcoming in Anti-Heroin Chic, Harpy Hybrid Review, Green Ink Poetry, Dillydoun Review, Cauldron Anthology, and elsewhere. She studied classics, literature, and folklore at Millsaps College, UNC-Chapel Hill, and University of Southern Mississippi. She reads Tarot and talks to cats.
Hannah Elliott (she/her) is nineteen years old and from the U.K. She has work published with Nymphs, Lovers Eye Press, Celestite Poetry and Small Leaf Press. More of her words can be found on her blog, inblackandwrite.blog, or her Twitter, @HannahAngelina5.
Fran Fernández Arce is a Chilean poet currently living in the intersection between Santiago, Chile, and Suffolk, England. Her work has been featured or is forthcoming in Pollux Journal, Floresta Magazine, and Capsule Stories, among others. She is a poetry reader for The Walled City Journal and poetry editor for Moonflake Press.
Ariana Frascatore is a self-taught freelance illustrator from northern New York working in environmental conservation. In her spare time, she enjoys creating fantasy and sci-fi-themed illustrations and comics that reflect her love for the natural world. She aspires to one day write her own graphic novel. Her work can be found on Instagram (@arifrasc) and Twitter (@arifrasc).
Rev Joe Haward is an author, poet, and heretic. As a freelance journalist his work challenges political, societal, and religious corruption, with articles regularly featured in the national news site, Byline Times. His fiction and poetry has been featured, and is upcoming, in a variety of places, in print and online, including Outcast Press, Cinnabar Moth Publishing, No Sell Out Productions, and A Thin Slice of Anxiety. His debut novel, Burning the Folded Page (Cinnabar Moth Publishing) will be released in 2023.
Interested in the arts and storytelling from a young age, Dre Hill sought to combine his passion for literature and cartoons. Hill is an artist and storyteller from Fort Worth, Texas. He graduated from Drury University in 2021 with his B.A. in Animation and Writing. His work has been published in Currents, Love Discretionary, and Zero Readers Magazine, with work forthcoming in Afro Literary Magazine and GutSlut Press. In his free time, Dre loves taking care of his puppy Jet. Find him on his website at www.drehillart.com.
Exercising through various mediums, Henry Hu’s (born 1995 Hong Kong) emerging practice commits to an infusion. An exchange. An immediacy. A link between the interior and the exterior — of a self, a being, an identity, a consciousness. Each individual series offers an overarching narrative, steps away from the present for a spell: tasked with casting new perspectives, fresh air to breathe, a spiritual relief. Often juxtaposing the past with the future, differing forms of surrealistic fantasies unfold across his works; along with a recurring structure, the heart of all series rests in harmony.
Exercising through various mediums, Henry Hu’s (born 1995 Hong Kong) emerging practice commits to an infusion. An exchange. An immediacy. A link between the interior and the exterior — of a self, a being, an identity, a consciousness. Each individual series offers an overarching narrative, steps away from the present for a spell: tasked with casting new perspectives, fresh air to breathe, a spiritual relief. Often juxtaposing the past with the future, differing forms of surrealistic fantasies unfold across his works; along with a recurring structure, the heart of all series rests in harmony.
Exercising through various mediums, Henry Hu’s (born 1995 Hong Kong) emerging practice commits to an infusion. An exchange. An immediacy. A link between the interior and the exterior — of a self, a being, an identity, a consciousness. Each individual series offers an overarching narrative, steps away from the present for a spell: tasked with casting new perspectives, fresh air to breathe, a spiritual relief. Often juxtaposing the past with the future, differing forms of surrealistic fantasies unfold across his works; along with a recurring structure, the heart of all series rests in harmony.
Yuu Ikeda is a Japan based poet. She loves writing, drawing, and reading mystery novels. She writes poetry on her website. https://poetryandcoffeedays.wordpress.com/ Her published poems can be found in Nymphs, Selcouth Station Press, Goat’s Milk Magazine, celestite poetry, and more. Her Twitter and Instagram: @yuunnnn77.
Yuu Ikeda is a Japan based poet. She loves writing, drawing, and reading mystery novels. She writes poetry on her website. https://poetryandcoffeedays.wordpress.com/ Her published poems can be found in Nymphs, Selcouth Station Press, Goat’s Milk Magazine, celestite poetry, and more. Her Twitter and Instagram: @yuunnnn77.
Haley Lane Johannesen currently teaches high school English. Haley lives with her husband and their two cats named Riggins and Pharaoh. She enjoys baking, reading and writing.
Haley Lane Johannesen currently teaches high school English. Haley lives with her husband and their two cats named Riggins and Pharaoh. She enjoys baking, reading and writing.
Naomi C Kenny, a degree holder in Business & Arts Management, has been active on the poetry scene for many years. Performing at events such as Flying South and Circle Sessions. She regularly publishes poetry on her Facebook page, ‘LiterallyWords’, which can be found at https://www.facebook.com/Literallyw0rds/ She has been published by the Tealight Express in their 2021 May Issue, their Star Sign issue and their Symmetry issue. Her work has also been published by the Magpie Review, Poetry in Bloom and lastly in the Greystones Poetry Trail in 2020 and 2021. She is currently working on getting a collection of her poems published in the upcoming year.
Tina Lamoreux writes on every surface she can find, notebooks, receipts, herself. She loved reading books with no happy endings as a child. Now she is writing one. She lives in Central PA with her partner and two cats. She has a BA in English and works in publishing.
Melissa Llanes Brownlee (she/her), a native Hawaiian writer, living in Japan, has fiction in Booth, Pleiades, The Citron Review, Waxwing, Milk Candy Review, Claw & Blossom, Bending Genres, (mac)ro(mic), Necessary Fiction, HAD, The Birdseed, Bandit Fiction, NFFR and Best Small Fictions 2021. Hard Skin, her short story collection, will be coming soon from Juventud Press. She tweets @lumchanmfa and talks story at www.melissallanesbrownlee.com.
JP Legarte is a Pilipino-American junior at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign working toward a Bachelor of Arts in Creative Writing and an English minor. He desires to provide spaces through his poetry where others can process their own emotions, ponderings, and anything else within life itself. His poems have been previously published or are forthcoming in Poetry Undressed, Dead Skunk Magazine, Words & Whispers, Ice Lolly Review, and The Global Youth Review among other journals and magazines. You can find him on Instagram at @jpl091 and @unspokenentropy.
Paulin Lim currently works in the IT industry and has a penchant for scribbling away when the moon is high. She is fond of colored inks and heart-leaved plants. She is of Malaysian-Chinese descent, and occasionally tweets under the handle @onionpaul_
Dominic Loise is open about and advocates for mental health awareness as seen with his essay writing for F(r)iction. Dominic’s poetry has appeared in multiple journals and he was a finalist in Short Editions' "America: Color it in" contest.
Dominic Loise is open about and advocates for mental health awareness as seen with his essay writing for F(r)iction. Dominic’s poetry has appeared in multiple journals and he was a finalist in Short Editions' "America: Color it in" contest.
Ellie Lopez (she/her) is a Latinx storyteller/photographer from the 209. When she's not ear hustling for the best chimes, you can find her most recent work on https://linktr.ee/Ellielopez.
Hiraya C. Malaya is a writer and poet living in the Philippines. She is currently dedicated to writing flash fiction and short stories and aspires to write novels in the future. Her work usually deals with grief, trauma, hopelessness, and uncertainty; however, she also rejoices in writing about hope, acceptance, rebirth, and redemption, both from realistic and surreal perspectives.
Isla McCullough is an aspiring writer from Central New York who would love to read and write all day if she had the time. Unfortunately, school comes first and there are only twenty-four hours in the day. In the future, she would love to publish a fantasy novel, but she's starting with short stories because she can finish those. These are often based on fairy tales since she's been hearing them since she was born. Maybe someday the magical world will decide it wants her.
Molly Montgomery is a writer who lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she teaches high school English. She has an M.A. in Creative Writing from UC Davis. Her work has been featured in several publications, including Entropy, X-R-A-Y, Sinking City, The Wondrous Real Magazine, and McSweeney's Internet Tendency.
Terri Mullholland is a writer and researcher living in London, UK. She has a PhD from the University of Oxford, where she has taught English Literature and Critical Theory. Her flash fiction has appeared in Litro, Flash Fiction Magazine, Every Day Fiction, Six Sentences, Toasted Cheese, Full House, Severine, Tether's End, and The Liminal Review. Website: https://www.terrimullholland.com/
Avery Nguyen (they/them) reads and writes from MIT, where they are a chemical engineering undergrad and moonlight alternately as a materials scientist, nuclear engineer, and words enthusiast. They tweet @systellura.
Kimberley Pager-McClymont is a researcher in Stylistics at the University of Huddersfield. Her research focuses on figurative language, namely pathetic fallacy, and its impact on the reading process. Kimberley uses her knowledge of stylistics and language to channel her writing of poetry and convey emotions. She is inspired by the Romantic genre and enjoys telling stories of everyday life.
Katherine Quevedo was born and raised just outside of Portland, Oregon, where she works as an analyst and lives with her husband and two sons. Her poetry received an honorable mention in the 2020 Helen Schaible International Sonnet Contest and has appeared or is forthcoming in Heroic Fantasy Quarterly, The Common Tongue Magazine, Honeyguide Literary Magazine, NonBinary Review, Pastel Pastoral, Coffin Bell, Sidequest, and elsewhere. Her speculative fiction appears in a variety of magazines and anthologies. Find her at www.katherinequevedo.com.
Dee Richards is a writer, student of English and American Sign Language, and an LGBTQ+ feminist from Southern California. Her/Their work is published with Cape Magazine, Epoch Press, Cardigan Press, and more. Find her online at: www.authordeerichards.com
Rachel Rodgers is a poet from Fayetteville, WV. She received her MFA in Poetry from West Virginia Wesleyan College, and her work can be found online at Sad Girls Literary Club. When she's not writing she is taking care of 7 ferrets, 2 birds, and a one-eyed dog.
Sumedha Sengupta (She/Her) is a student based in Uttar Pradesh, India. She was the only Asian writer shortlisted for the Margaret and Reg Turnill Prize, in the HG Wells Short Story Competition, 2021. Her work has appeared and is forthcoming in Twist&Twain, The LiveWire, and Ayaskala.
Robert Eric Shoemaker is a poet and interdisciplinary artist. Eric holds an MFA in Creative Writing & Poetics from Naropa University and is currently a Comparative Humanities PhD candidate at the University of Louisville. His work has been seen with Signs and Society, Asymptote, Exchanges, Columbia Journal, Bombay Gin, and others. Eric has released three books: Ca'Venezia (2021, Partial Press), We Knew No Mortality (2018, Acta Publications), and 30 Days Dry (2015, Thought Collection Publishing). Follow Eric’s work at reshoemaker.com.
Marisa Silva-Dunbar's work has been published in Better Than Starbucks Magazine, Chantrelle's Notebook and Pink Plastic House. Marisa is the co-editor of the anthology "Kirstofia." She has work forthcoming in Dear Reader, Sledgehammer Lit Mag, and Fevers of the Mind. You can find her on Twitter and Instagram @thesweetmaris. You can find more of her work at www.marisasilvadunbar.com.
Amrita Tandon is a self-taught artist, currently based in Hong Kong. Her art is greatly influenced by her nomadic life. In her formative years she lived across the length and breadth of India, and later in vibrant cities like Tokyo, Dublin, Mumbai, Sydney, Singapore and now Hong Kong, each having contributed to expanding her creative horizon. Armed with an attention to detail, creative exposure and exacting standards garnered from a career in ad-film making and print advertising, she turned her skills to painting full time around 8 years ago. Her paintings amalgamate memories and musings, from the mighty to the mundane. She wants her paintings to be about the pleasure of seeing, of finding a place and moment of quietude and connection. The artist is currently exploring what she likes to call, ‘Personal Geographies’- delving into memories, places, moods and experiences that mark her continuing journey and she uses abstraction as a way of portraying this introspection. Exhibitions Hong Kong Human Rights Art Prize- 2021, Shortlisted Finalist (Hong Kong) Luxembourg International Contemporary Art Fair- 2020 (Luxembourg) Artscape Singapore- 2017(School of the Arts, Singapore) Mumbai Art by Artists- 2017(Prince of Wales Museum, Mumbai) Mumbai Art by Artists- 2015(Prince of Wales Museum, Mumbai) Mumbai Art by Artists- 2014(Prince of Wales Museum, Mumbai).
Sian Thomas is poet in residence for Ashdown Forest in Sussex, UK where she lives with her husband, two cats and three hens. Her pamphlet Ovid's Echo and collection Ashdown are both published by Paekakariki Press and her work has appeared widely in magazines and anthologies. She also teaches creative writing both online and in Sussex and Kent, and presents The Poetry Bath on Wildhart Radio. www.sianthomas.co.uk
Debasis Tripathy lives in Bangalore. His recent work features in Mad Swirl, Rogue Agent, Vayavya, Leon Lit, Mantle Poetry, Eunoia Review & elsewhere. Occasionally, he tweets at @d_basis.
Melody Wang currently resides in sunny Southern California with her dear husband. In her free time, she dabbles in piano composition and also enjoys hiking, baking, and playing with her dogs. She is a reader for Sledgehammer Lit and can be found on Twitter @MelodyOfMusings.
Melody Wang currently resides in sunny Southern California with her dear husband. In her free time, she dabbles in piano composition and also enjoys hiking, baking, and playing with her dogs. She is a reader for Sledgehammer Lit and can be found on Twitter @MelodyOfMusings.
Melody Wang currently resides in sunny Southern California with her dear husband. In her free time, she dabbles in piano composition and also enjoys hiking, baking, and playing with her dogs. She is a reader for Sledgehammer Lit and can be found on Twitter @MelodyOfMusings.
Melody Wang currently resides in sunny Southern California with her dear husband. In her free time, she dabbles in piano composition and also enjoys hiking, baking, and playing with her dogs. She is a reader for Sledgehammer Lit and can be found on Twitter @MelodyOfMusings.