Michael Howarth

Michael Howarth is a novelist and essayist. His short stories and essays have appeared in such publications as Flashquake, Mud Luscious, Cybersoleil Literary Journal, The Tulsa Review, DASH Literary Journal, Farmhouse Magazine, and Concho River Review. He is the author of two critical texts, Under the Bed, Creeping: Psychoanalyzing the Gothic in Children’s Literature, and Movies to See Before You Graduate from High School. He is also the author of Fair Weather Ninjas, a young adult novel. His latest book, a gothic historical novel titled A Still and Awful Red, was published in 2021.

Michael grew up in Falmouth, Massachusetts, spending his summers on the beaches of Cape Cod, where he developed an affinity for classic literature, an obsession with horror films, a fondness for diverse foods, and a deep love of traveling. He holds a bachelor’s degree in English from James Madison University, an MFA in Creative Writing & Literary Arts from the University of Alaska at Anchorage, and a Ph.D. in Literary and Cultural Studies from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Currently, he is a Professor of English at Missouri Southern State University, where he teaches Children’s Literature and Film Studies and directs the Honors Program.

Joey Brown

Joey Brown is a poet and a fiction writer. She has authored two poetry collections: The FeralLove Poems (Hungry Buzzard Press) and Oklahomaography (Mongrel Empire Press). Her poems and prose have appeared in The Red Earth Review, Plainsong, Concho River Review, The Langdon Review of the Arts in Texas, Tulsa Review, Oklahoma Review, The San Pedro River Review, and other journals. She has recently completed two new manuscripts—a book-length narrative poem set in early-80s oil bust Oklahoma and a mystery novel—for which she is seeking publishers. She frequently performs her poetry at festivals and writing conferences around the Midwest and sometimes beyond. Joey now lives in southwest Missouri with her husband, the novelist Michael Howarth, and spends her free time making amateur art, watching British tv shows, and dreaming about retiring from her day job.