Biographies of Contributors:

Jeffrey Alfier received an honorable mention for the Rachel Sherwood Poetry Prize. His credits include Birmingham Poetry Review, The Cape Rock, Crab Orchard Review, Cutthroat, and Iron Horse Literary Review. He is author of a chapbook, Strangers within the Gate (The Moon Publishing, 2005).

Suzanne Allen... sometimes forgets shortcuts purposefully, saves often.  Find her in California Quarterly, Nerve Cowboy, and Pearl... and at <http://expatchats.blogspot.com>.

David Barnes was encouraged to write poetry and stories from an early age in Cholsey, England, the village where Agatha Christie is buried.  He was sick for four or five years with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome then went traveling round Europe and has lived in Slovenia, Greece and Spain.   In 2003 he discovered Paris and gave up traveling to live there and write.  He set up and runs The Other Writers' Group at Shakespeare & Company bookshop, Spoken Word in Paris <http://spokenwordparis.blogspot.com> and is an editor of Platform, Paris Literary Magazine <http://www.platformparis.com> launching in June.  In 2006 he won Shakespeare & Company's Travel In Words short story competition.

Tobi Cogswell lives in Southern California.  Her work can be read most recently in Hot Metal Press, Subtle Tea, Other Voices, Eclipse, VerbSap, Los Angeles Review, SPOT, and Sage Trail, and is forthcoming in Prism Review, Newport Review, Penumbra, Homestead Review, and Bellowing Ark.  She has two chapbooks – Sanity Among the Wildflowers and Hostage Negotiation in Negative-Land.
 
Steve De France is a widely published poet, playwright and essayist. His work has appeared in literary publications in America, England, Canada, France, Ireland, Wales, Scotland, India, Australia, and New Zealand.  Nominated for a Pushcart Prize in Poetry in both 2002 and 2003, his recent publications include The Wallace Stevens Journal, The Mid-American Poetry Review, Ambit, Atlantic, and The Sun. In England he won a Reader's Award in Orbis Magazine for his poem "Hawks." In the United States he won the Josh Samuels' Annual Poetry Competition (2003) for his poem: "The Man Who Loved Mermaids." In 2006, his play The Killer had it’s world premier at the Garage Theatre in Long Beach, California.  He received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from Chapman University, and most recently his poem “Gregor’s Wings” was nominated for The Best of The Net by Poetic Diversity.

Elizabeth Fenimore is a visual artist working in multiple visual genres, including painting.  She earns her living as a set designer and graphic illustrator, producing large format installations for the trade show industry.  Her works have appeared in galleries, on album covers, and most recently, on top fuel dragsters.  Although she has lived in New York, Switzerland, and in San Francisco, she now resides in Sacramento, California, near her three grown children and her grandson.

Mark Gurarie was born in Orange, California, and raised in the suburbs of Cleveland, Ohio.  He attended Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, where he received a B.A. in Comparative Literature, German, and Psychology.   In 2005, he moved to Brooklyn, New York, where he has been performing with his band, Galapagos Now!, as well as editing and writing for the BAClog, a free monthly journal of emerging writing and art.  He has published three chapbooks: no more dead iguanas, Serial Numbers, and 99 Cents in Neon, and his work has appeared in The Case Reserve Review, The Ornamental Iron, and The 16th and Mission Review. 

Susan Hansell’s complete biography, and more, can be viewed on her website <http://www.susan-hansell.net>; plus, recent posts of Susan Hansell’s Oil Spot Blog, <http://blog.susan-hansell.net> respond to “issues” with “uses” of “language.”

David E. Howerton is a part time programmer and lives in the American River Canyon outside of Auburn, California.  He has done landscaping, sign painting, cooking, and made jewelry to pay the bills.  He and his wife live with two bossy cats.  He has three adult daughters and one granddaughter.  His hobbies include type design, soapstone carving, walks in the woods, collecting dragons, and a growing library of science fiction.

Elizabeth Iannaci is a long-time Los Angeles resident who has appeared at countless U.S. venues as well as in Paris, Slovenia, and remote parts of Orange County.  Recently awarded an MFA in Poetry from Vermont College of Fine Arts, she has one chapbook of poetry, Passion’s Casualties, and her work has been widely published and anthologized.    Iannaci served as a director of the Valley Contemporary Poets for five years, has one son and prefers paisley to polka dots.

Michelle Lauren Kay is a b-girl, book reviewer, and creator of new realities.  Her short story "Lighted Souvenirs" appeared in Twenty3 Magazine and her story "Bullet-proof Vest" can be found on Subtletea.com. Her first novel, Bad Girl, has recently defiantly come into being.

Matthew Karver holds a B. A. in Literature and a B. A. in Creative writing.  He has been writing poetry since the age of eight yet has never attempted publishing prior to now.  He believes his father, since his death in December, is making him publish.  Email Matthew at <racebmw1@yahoo.com>.

Hari Bhajan Khalsa graduated from Vermont College with a B. A. in Creative Writing in 2005 (after a hiatus from school for 30 years). She splits her time between the sprawling city of Los Angeles and the little mountain town of Sisters, Oregon. She writes regularly on her blog, Poetry Evolution, and sends out a monthly e-letter to over 250 friends and fellow poets.  Her work has been published, or is forthcoming, in Poetic Diversity, New York Quarterly, HazMat Review, Fulcrum, Tigers Eye, Avatar Review, Roanoke Review and Phantasmagoria.

Curtis Last lives between Huntington Beach, California, and Tumon, on the island of Guam. He travels for his writing and out of curiosity.  He lives to write and writes to live--which may be why he recently signed on to the Naval Reserves under their Hospital Corpsman program, and awaits further orders.

Jennifer Lester's poetry has appeared in Bamboo Ridge, The Brooklyn Review, SPOT, and Artvoice; a critical essay on Ernest Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls has appeared in The Hemingway Review.

Greggory Moore lives in Long Beach, CA, doing such things as reading and occasionally writing. Versions of his wordsmithery (writing, editing, proofreading) can be found as far afield as the L.A. Times and K-12 lesson books at a school near you, promo material for Law Enforcement Against Prohibition and the HOA minutes of a variety of Long Beach properties, etc. -- and, of course, the occasional literary journal.  His first novel, The Use of Regret, is looking for a home.     

Christopher Mulrooney has written poems and translations in Beeswax, New Translations, Vanitas and Ezra.

Luke Salazar was birthed over a third of a century ago, and has learned little since.  He's in the MFA program for Poetry at CSULB, but he also has a real job.  He can burp on cue, drive hands-free, and recite Pi up to five digits.  Hobbies include music, vegetarianism, cycling, karaoke, alchemy, food eating.  He resides in Whittier with his wife Carrie and 1,432 pet animals.  E-mail him money at <repo.luke@gmail.com>.

Jonathan Rapp dedicates “Theater Notes” to filmmaker Nancy Rodwan, who recently directed, and whose production company, Rodwan Productions, co-produced the short film “The City” (© 2008), which is based on Mr. Rapp’s screenplay by the same title. 

John G. Rodwan, Jr., writer and editor, resides in Brooklyn.  His work has appeared in diverse publications including Slow Trains, The Brooklyn Rail, American Writer, Free Inquiry, and the International Labor Office’s Encyclopaedia of Occupational Health and Safety. A former correspondent for Fight News, he also contributed to the Ringside and Training Principles website.

Neal Storrs teaches French at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Gerald Uyeno makes his living as an engineer:  writing science fiction and creating graphic images of the future.  He enjoys creating visual art with pen, pencil and computer; he recently began constructing individual and set-pieces of haiku poetry.

Robert L. Wells is an amateur photographer who lives and shoots in Long Beach.  He prefers lengthy exposures, B & W materials and Holga (cheap, plastic and unable to focus clearly) so as to create not merely an image of the “decisive moment,” but to unite many moments into one image.



Contents of issue 2.1 (Spring 2008):

Hari Bhajan Khalsa, “Blue” (poem)
Jennifer Lester, “Blue” (poem)    
Greggory Moore, “K.K.” (story)    
Michelle Lauren Kay, “All Cities Are the Same”
    (story)
Robert L. Wells, “Fern’s Drinkers and the Joker”
    (photo)
Suzanne Allen, “Candle” (poem)
Elizabeth Iannaci, “Calypso Awake” (poem)
Tobi Cogswell, “How to Vanish” (poem)
Jeffrey Alfier, “Fidelity” (poem)
Matthew Karver, “Accomplice” (poem)
Curtis Last, “Precursor” (poem)
David Barnes, “She waits for the rush of the tide”
    (story)
Elizabeth Fenimore, “Self-Portrait” (photo)
Steve De France, “Over the Rainbow” (poem)
Mark Gurarie, “In Peanut Shells” (story)
John G. Rodwan, Jr., “Ink” (essay)
Tobi Cogswell, “All She Can Do” (poem)
Christopher Mulrooney “my fair and faith” (poem)
Jeffrey Alfier, “’Calling it’ at 3 a.m.” (poem)
David E. Howerton, “Tyrannical youth mutter godhead”
    (poem)
Jonathan Rapp, “Manual Roses” (poem)
Elizabeth Fenimore, “Acupuncture Baby” (photo)
Susan Hansell, “It Means Dick” (play)
Hari Bhajan Khalsa, “Love on Paper, Celluloid”
    (poem)
Steve De France, “Rain” (poem)
Christopher Mulrooney, “a purpose under heaven”
    (poem)
Robert L. Wells, “Mikey and Elvis at Alex’s” (photo)
Neal Storrs, “Harem Queen” (story)
David E. Howerton, “Who Decides” (poem)
Luke Salazar, “All, or Nothing at All” (poem)
Gerald Uyeno, “Demo Haiku” (poem)
Jennifer Lester, “Currents” (poem)
Jonathan Rapp, “Theater Notes” (poem)
Elizabeth Iannaci, “Art and an Annotation Tangei
    (poem)


PLEASE NOTE:  Due to website formatting considerations and the organizational limitations of the internet as a medium, the hardcopy versions of SLM issues vary significantly from the website versions.   Hardcopy contents are not organized by genre, contain several visual art pieces per issue, and the hardcopy issues are also able to present the textual pieces in the exact form that the authors intended.  Some web browsers distort the formatting of complex or intricate texts, and therefore not all of the pieces that exist in the issue hardcopy version can either exist here or be represented accurately on this site.