The Avalon Literary Review
Contributors Fall 2019
Gale Acuff has had hundreds of poems published in journals in several countries and has authored three books of poetry. He has taught tertiary English in the US, China, and the Palestinian West Bank, where he currently works.

Lori Anaya writes fiction, loves horses, dabbles in art, and searches for the next great story. She’s working towards publication of her middle grade novel, Manos, and her picture book, Sticky Notes.

Lynette Benton is a nonfiction writer and creative writing instructor living in Greater Boston. Her articles and personal essays have appeared in numerous online and paper publications. Her essay, "Chasing Dragons," was included in the 2018 collection, Stories That Need to Be Told. “No More Secrets and Silence,” another of her essays, was awarded first prize in a 2016 essay-writing contest. Two of her essays have been anthologized and two more are forthcoming in Avalon and Passager literary journals, respectively.

Christie Cochrell's work has been published by Catamaran, Orca, Belle Ombre, Lowestoft Chronicle, and Tin House, among many others, with links available on her writing blog, Green Scooter:  https://ourgreenscooter.blogspot.com.  Her recent trio of mystery novellas set in favorite places in Mallorca has just been chosen a finalist for the 2019 Eludia Award (Hidden River Arts).  With enduring roots in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Christie now lives and writes by the ocean in Santa Cruz, California.

Steve Cooke has enjoyed writing for over thirty years, with dozens of published works. He has lived in Kearney Nebraska for over 5 years with his wife and two of his three kids. Steve currently manages the Kearney Goodwill and is the Creative Writing instructor at Central Community College.  

Arthur Davis is a management consultant who has been quoted in The New York Times and in Crain’s New York Business. He taught at The New School and has been interviewed on New York TV News Channel 1. Over a hundred original tales have been published in eighty journals, with another three dozen as reprints. He was featured in a single author anthology, nominated for a Pushcart Prize, received the 2018 Write Well Award for excellence in short fiction and, twice nominated, received Honorable Mention in The Best American Mystery Stories 2017. Learn more at www.talesofourtime.com.

Nickolas Duarte is a writer and director. His work in film has been played in Academy Award qualifying festivals, distributed by Sony Pictures Television, supported by the National Endowment of the Arts, nominated for a Webby. His work has earned an Emmy, and won over 90 industry awards. His poetry focuses on the mystic and mundane in working class life. He lives in Tucson, AZ. 

Thomas Elson’s short stories, poetry, and flash fiction have been published in numerous venues such as Calliope, Pinyon, Lunaris, New Ulster, Lampeter, Selkie, Pennsylvania Literary Journal, and Adelaide Literary Magazine. He divides his time between Northern California and Western Kansas.

Elisa L. Everts is an exuberant late-in-life lesbian who holds a PhD in Sociolinguistics from Georgetown University. She is an emerging poet with poems and creative nonfiction published or forthcoming in 2019 in Lavender Review, misfit magazine, Mused, Anti-Heroin Chic, HerStry, Three Line Poetry, Zany Zygote and Muddy River Poetry Review. She has also just finished a children´s chapter book tentatively titled This Little Pig is Family. Elisa writes, teaches, and dabbles in public speaking near Washington, DC. A smattering of her work and thoughts can be found at gaspingforlight.wordpress.com. 

Fabrizia Faustinella is a physician and film maker. She grew up in Italy and moved to the United States where she practices as an internist in the Texas Medical Center in Houston, Texas. She has published numerous research articles and many essays inspired by her personal and professional experiences. 


Linda Griffin retired as fiction librarian for the San Diego Public Library to spend more time on her writing. Her stories have been published in numerous journals, and a third romantic suspense novel is forthcoming from the Wild Rose Press. Website:  http://www.lindagriffinauthor.com/

Anne Gruner was a CIA analyst and family law attorney. Her work has appeared in Hippocampus Magazine, The Intelligencer, War-on-the-Rocks and the anthology Stories from Langley. Her debut novel CIA Non Grata, with her husband Jay Gruner, a retired CIA operations officer, is forthcoming and can be previewed at http://annegruner.com. Anne holds a BSFS and JD from Georgetown University and an MALD from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University. 

Cheryl Heineman graduated in 2017 with a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from San Diego State University. She also has a master’s degree in Jungian Psychology and has published three collections of poetry: Just Getting Started, something to hold onto, and It’s Easy to Kiss a Stranger on a Moving Train.
Kathleen Hiatt is the author of two nonfiction books and the recipient of multiple Butte Literacy Council Awards for her short stories. Her works are published in two Anthologies and consecutive issues of the California Writers Literary Review. In 2019, she received the prestigious California Writers (CWC) Jack London Award. www.oddotis.com

DS Maolalai has been nominated four times for Best of the Net and twice for the Pushcart Prize. His poetry has been released in two collections, Love is Breaking Plates in the Garden (Encircle Press, 2016) and Sad Havoc Among the Birds (Turas Press, 2019).

Lisa C. McIvor received her MFA from Goddard College in 2011 and her MA in Transformative Language Arts from Goddard in 2014. Her poetry has been published in literary journals including Bellowing Ark, The Sweet Pea and Annie review, 4th Street, and the poetry anthology, The Soul's Bright Home. Her chapbook of poems, Winter Mother, was published by Kelsay Books in 2018. 

Milt Montague was born in NYC in 1924. He survived The Great Depression, school, World War II, college and marriage. He helped raise three lovely daughters, retired, then went back to college where he discovered poetry at 85.  Now at 95 he has published over 200 poems and writes every day.

Marc Morcos lives in Laguna Niguel, where he enjoys writing stories that speak to the heart of humanity. He is currently working on An Undying Love, a story he has picked up and put away for years but hopes to complete in the near future. He also writes music and plays drums in the band, Drowning Fish, and is currently working with his niece, Cloe, on an upcoming debut EP.

Kelly R. Samuels is a Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net nominee. She is the author of two chapbooks: Words Some of Us Rarely Use (Unsolicited Press) and Zeena/Zenobia Speaks (Finishing Line Press). Find her here: https://www.krsamuels.com/

Stephanie Tamagi is a Pushcart Prize-nominated writer living in Northern Alberta, Canada. Her work has previously appeared in Blank Spaces and Other Voices magazines, and is upcoming in the Just Words anthology.

Orit Yeret is a writer, artist and teacher. Born and raised in Israel, she currently lives in the U.S. 
Her work recently appeared in The Borfski Press, Ink Pantry, Drunk Monkeys, Crack the Spine, Blue Lake Review and Steam Ticket and is forthcoming in Evening Street Review. Read and view more of her work at http://www.orityeret.com  

Franny Zhang's work has appeared or is forthcoming in Solstice Literary Magazine, Five on the Fifth, and Mount Hope Magazine. She is currently the managing editor at Solstice and at work on an opera libretto based on several Chekhov short stories, set to premiere in 2020.