Here are this issue's writers' bios:

Lance Calabrese is a self-taught writer born in California. Read his poetry here.

Ryan Dilbert is the editor of Shelf Life Magazine and a senior contributor to thefootnote.net. His writing has appeared in McSweeney's Internet Tendency, Flashquake and Red Fez. Read his fiction here.

Nicole Gounalis is a second-year student at New York University studying Comparative Literature and Creative Writing. She is from upstate New York. Read her poetry here.

Nikolai von Keller's is a graduate of Bowdoin College. His work has appeared in Albion College's Albion Review and USC's Lettered Olive, and he has been awarded the Forbes Rickard Poetry Prize and the Nathalie Walker Llewellyn Poetry Prize. Read his poetry here.

Michael Pikna grew up in northern New Jersey and moved to Colorado in 1977. He received his undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Colorado. For the past twenty-six years, he has worked as a counselor for people with severe and persistent mental illnesses. His work has appeared most recently in Nuvein Magazine. Read his fiction here.

William Robinson has a BA in Creative Writing from Concordia University and attended the Graduate Writing Program at Union Institute & University at Vermont College. His work has appeared in Scrivener Creative Review, Verbsap, Carte Blanche, SNReview and Poetry/Fiction in Motion. He has also been nominated for an AWP short fiction award. Read his fiction here.

Barton Smock lives in Columbus, Ohio, with his wife and three children. He has been published online at arseniclobster.magere.com, mergepoetry.com and, upcoming, at intertiamagazine.com Read his poetry here.