Contributors

Rosie Able is a part-time physiotherapist from Luton, who writes in an effort to silence the voices in her head.

Ali Bacon is an exiled Scot living in the West Country. She has a part-time job in I.T. and spends the rest of her time writing, blogging and playing golf. Her first novel, a literary romance, won some prizes but hasn’t been published. Her second (a very different kettle of fish) is due to be finished this summer. Meanwhile she’s had various things published on the web, and is delighted to have had a story accepted for a forthcoming issue of The Yellow Room.

Big Fat Lion is a compulsive writer who is very fond of cheese and onion sandwiches.

Faith Bretherick writes: I am as yet unpublished and have come to writing fairly late in life, having been married, raised children, pursued a series of merely functional jobs and had various pieces of writing returned to me, most notably by the BBC and week-end broadsheets. During my life and from enlightened observation during encroaching maturity, it has dawned upon me just how absurd many aspects of the human condition are, and this has happily coincided with the opportunity to do a lot more writing, which tends to be of a satirical bent. My completed novel 'Tales from Hake on Spinach' is currently being submitted for consideration by publishers.

Douglas Bruton writes: I am a teacher in Scotland. I have been writing for years. I have won recognition in over seventy UK based competitions over the past three years. I was on the 'shortlist' for Bridport last year, a runner up in the Fish Knife Award in 2007/8, won HISSAC 2008 and am on this year's shortlist for Fish. I have been published in lots of online and print literary magazines including Storyglossia, Vestal Review and Blood Orange Review.

Peter Drobinski spent seventeen years working in a university video production unit in south London, starting as a cameraman, then editor, then finally writer and director. He became a houseparent, moved to Sheffield in 1999, and now works from home as a self-employed book-keeper. He’s co-leader of, and occasional contributor to, the Sheffield Forum Writers’ Group: and despite his occupation he insists that he bears no similarity to Bob the Books.

Rona J Frith runs a writers' forum (membership by invitation only). You can read one of her science fiction stories here.

Linda Gruchy writes crime novels, and has published short fiction and non-fiction articles. She moderates an online forum for police officers, and works as a gardener.

Rod Holland has an O-level in geography, which shows how old he is and how little effort he made at school because it is his only one, and he really should have got a few more. But he still thinks school was a blast and remembers it fondly, especially the day he blew up the bike sheds.

Abha Iyengar is an internationally published writer and poet. Her work has appeared in several anthologies, magazines and literary journals, both in print and online, such as Mannequin Envy, Six Sentences, Citizen32, Arabesques Review, Nefarious Ballerina, Dead Drunk Dublin, Nothing but Red, and others. She is a Kota Press Poetry Anthology contest winner. Her story, ‘The High Stool’ was nominated for the Story South Million Writers Award. She is a member of The ‘Riyaz’ Writer’s Group at The British Council. She does digital art and photographs street life, and blogs.

Chris Leonard: prior to my career in the manufacturing industry I published a few short stories and won a handful of prizes for my short fiction and poetry; while I was working I published only in trade publications, company brochures and academic journals. Now I've sold the business and am enjoying a very early retirement, during which I hope to return to creative writing after my extended absence.

Allan Mayer manages a day service for people with Profound and Multiple Learning Disabilities in the North West of England. His first novel, Tasting the Wind, will be available January 2009.

Nicola Morgan is an award-winning author, mostly of serious fiction for teenagers, but also non-fiction about the teenage brain. A former English teacher and dyslexia specialist, she lives in Edinburgh, where she writes full-time, but she also travels widely to talk about books, writing and the brain. She blogs on behalf of aspiring authors at http://www.need2bpublished.blogspot.com/.

Jonathan Pinnock was born in Bedfordshire and—despite having so far visited over forty other countries—has failed to relocate any furtheraway than the next-door county of Hertfordshire. He is married with two children, several cats and a 1961 Ami Continental jukebox. His work has won several prizes, shortlistings and longlistings, and he has been published in such diverse publications as Smokebox, Every Day Fiction and NecroticTissue. His unimaginatively-titled yet moderately interesting website may be found at http://www.jonathanpinnock.com/.

Anna Russell is a 29 year old writer from Scotland who has had her work published in Open Mouse, Identity Theory and Cause and Effect Magazine. She mostly writes short stories and poetry, but is currently working on her first novel.

Nicola Slade lives in Hampshire where she writes romantic comedy and cosy crime. She has had two novels published along with numerous short stories.

Jane Smith is a writer, editor and researcher. She runs Greyling Bay and How Publishing Really Works, and her book The Trivium: The Liberal Arts of Grammar, Logic and Rhetoric will be published later in the year by Wooden Books.

Sally Zigmond writes short fiction for both literary and commercial magazines. She was assistant editor for QWF magazine and a reviews editor for the Historical Novels Society. Her novella Chasing Angels was published by Biscuit Publishing in 2006 and her novel Hope Against Hope will be published by Myrmidon Books in April 2009.