The Avalon Literary Review
Fall 2017 Contributors
Joseph Albanese is a writer from South Jersey. His work can be found in 2017 issues of Concho River Review, Kansas City Voices, Lowestoft Chronicle, Steel Toe Review, and other publications. 

Gary Beck spent most of his life as a theater director. His poetry, fiction and essays have appeared in hundreds of literary magazines. He currently lives in New York City and is online at www.garycbeck.com.

Christopher S. Bell has been writing and releasing literary and musical works through My Idea of Fun since 2008.  His sound projects include Emmett and Mary, Technological Epidemic, C. Scott and the Beltones and Fine Wives.  My Idea of Fun is an art and music archive focused on digital preservation with roots in Johnstown, Pennsylvania (www.myideaoffun.org).

Richard Brancato's poetry has appeared in many magazines, including the Atlanta Review, The Bridge, Pennine Platform, and paperplates.  You can visit him at richardbrancato.com.  

Recently retired from a career as a psychotherapist, Marian Brooks has just begun to write short fiction. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband.

Deidre Jaye Byrne, currently a student in the Writers Studio-Hudson Valley, is a retired Social Studies teacher and recovering attorney. Earlier stories have appeared in U.S. and U.K. online publications and another story, Timetable will appear in the February 2018 issue of Down in the Dirt. She lives with her husband in Ulster County, New York.

Michael Ceraolo is a 59-year-old retired firefighter/paramedic and active poet. This poem is one of an ever-growing number of haiku about the place where he lives, a collection he hopes to have published soon.

Janet Franklin studies law at the University of Baltimore, where she serves as Associate Comments Editor for the University of Baltimore Law Review.  Her poetry has appeared in the Cider Press Review, Thrush Poetry Journal, Atticus Review, Common Ground Review, Potomac Review, and the anthology The Writers Studio At 30.

Philip Goldberg’s short stories have appeared in both literary and small press publications including Thrice Fiction, The Chaffin Journal and Twisted Vine Literary Art Journal. Three of his stories have been published in Best of collections and one was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. He is currently working on a novel.

Alexandra Grabbe is a former innkeeper who loves history, green smoothies, and her grandchildren, not necessarily in that order. She is the author of Wellfleet, An Insider’s Guide to Cape Cod’s Trendiest Town and the editor of Émigré, 95 Years in the Life of a Russian Count. Her work has appeared in The Gateway Review and Writing for Peace: DoveTales.

Shelley Joy is a retired marriage and family therapist currently living in Denver, Colorado. Her most recent work appeared in the Bryant Literary Review. When not writing, Shelley is out in nature with her husband, seeking remote mountaintops where she can sing arias to everyone and no one.

Poetry is Rita Joy’s passion and has been since she was a child. She regularly holds poetry readings in the community where she lives to encourage the muse. She writes prose as well as an occasional memoir but poetry is where she finds her voice.

Gerald A. McBreen is retired from the U. S. Postal Service. Friends (?) say he never went "Postal" he went "Poetic" instead. He is grateful to be published in Shemom, Stat Poets and a few others. He loves dancing with words and can get all tangled up just as well without using his feet.

Cathy Porter's poetry has appeared in Plainsongs, Homestead Review, Chaffin Journal, Hubbub, Kentucky Review, Nerve Cowboy, and various other journals. She has two chapbooks available from Finishing Line Press. Her latest collection, Exit Songs was released in 2016 from Dancing Girl Press in Chicago. She is a two-time Pushcart Prize nominee, currently working on a full-length poetry collection. Cathy serves as a Special Editor for the journal Fine Lines in Omaha, NE, where she resides. Feel free to contact her at [email protected].

Poet Laureate of Kansas (2017-2019), Kevin Rabas teaches at Emporia State University, where he leads the poetry and playwriting tracks and chairs the Department of English, Modern Languages, and Journalism. He is the author of nine books, including Lisa’s Flying Electric Piano, a Kansas Notable Book and Nelson Poetry Book Award winner. Rabas is the winner of the Langston Hughes Award for Poetry, the Victor Contoski Poetry Award, the Jerome Johanning Playwriting Award, and the Salina New Voice Award.  
Alden Richardson is a freshman at Tufts University. Aside from writing poetry, he enjoys playing bass guitar and meditating in his free time. 

Colleen Risavy is from New Jersey. 

Terry Sanville lives in San Luis Obispo, California with his artist-poet wife (his in-house editor) and one skittery cat (his in-house critic). He writes full time, producing short stories, essays, poems, and novels. Since 2005, his short stories have been accepted by more than 250 literary and commercial journals, magazines, and anthologies including The Potomac Review, The Bitter Oleander, Shenandoah, and The Saturday Evening Post. He was nominated twice for Pushcart Prizes for his stories The Sweeper and The Garage.

Elizabeth Solsburg is the editorial director for a small non-profit publishing company. Her poetry has appeared in The Huron River Review, The Bear River Review, American Scholar Magazine (online) and Rat’s Ass Review. 

Matthew J. Spireng of Kingston, NY, is an eight-time Pushcart Prize nominee. His book What Focus Is was published by WordTech Communications. His book Out of Body won the 2004 Bluestem Poetry Award and was published by Bluestem Press. 

Caroline Taylor's stories have appeared previously in the Avalon Literary Review and in other online and print magazines. She is the author of two mysteries and one nonfiction book, featured on her website at http://www.carolinestories.com