Emily MacKenzie – Scotland, United Kingdom
Former Copy editor at the MockingOwl Roost
Emily MacKenzie is a Canadian-born writer who currently teaches Secondary English in Scotland. She studied English and Creative Writing at Carleton University in Ottawa, although her love of writing developed long before that. Emily loves exploring different narrative formats and styles in her own writing, and while she tends to stick with long or short prose fiction, the odd poem slips through from time to time. She can most often be found tackling one of several young adult fantasy stories she intends to publish, both on her tablet, and on the walls with stickies, markers, and poster paper.
Elizabeth Mock – Michigan , USA
Former creative design team member at the MockingOwl Roost
Elizabeth Mock is a Grand Rapids, Michigan native and senior in illustration studying at Grand Valley State University, where she is also the Vice President of the Student Interest Group of Illustrators, the university’s illustration club. Outside of school and The MockingOwl Roost, she is a community manager at Adobe. In the official Adobe Creative Career (ACC) Discord server, she helps host panels, challenges, and discussions to elevate members’ careers through mentorship. With hopes to pursue a career in graphic, layout, and information design, Elizabeth also enjoys community engagement, animation, and photography. You can find her daily in ACC.
Ben McClure – Western Australia
Ben McClure is a writer and filmmaker. Born and raised in the United States, he now makes his home in Perth, Australia where he works with a Christian missionary society alongside his wife Liesbeth and their three daughters. He enjoys creating stories for work and for fun. He gets excited about science fiction and superheroes, and is deeply interested in matters of faith.
You can follow his WordPress blog.
Michelle Marcoux Schuneman – Ontario, Canada
Michelle Marcoux Schuneman is an emerging photographer who grew up in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. She now resides in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She is inspired by the pandemic and cultural events with a strong intent to be seen. She is currently studying to be a yoga teacher and enjoys painting, playing guitar and Ukulele and is looking forward to making new and old connections.
Michele Mekel – Pennsylvania, USA
Living in Happy Valley, Michele Mekel wears many hats of her choosing: writer and editor; educator and bioethicist; poetess and creatrix; cat herder and chief can opener; witch and woman; and, above all, human. Her work has appeared in various academic and creative publications, including being featured on Garrison Keillor’s The Writer’s Almanac and nominated for Best of the Net. Her poetry has also been translated into Cherokee. She is co-principal investigator for the Viral Imaginations: COVID-19 project.
Michele is co-principal investigator for the Viral Imaginations: COVID-19 project.
Cameron Morse – Missouri, USA
Cameron Morse is Senior Reviews editor at Harbor Review and the author of eight collections of poetry. His first collection, Fall Risk, won Glass Lyre Press’s 2018 Best Book Award. His latest is The Thing Is (Briar Creek Press, 2021). He holds an MFA from the University of Kansas City-Missouri and lives in Independence, Missouri, with his wife Lili and three children. For more information, check out his Facebook page or website.
Follow Cameron on Facebook or visit his website.
Ammanda Selethia Moore – USA
Ammanda Selethia Moore (they/elle) is a non-binary poet and writer who also teaches English at Norco College. Their poetry has been published in Synchronized Chaos, Literary Yard, and The Journal of Radical Wonder. They live with their partner in sunny southern California.
Linda Maxwell – South Carolina, USA
Linda Maxwell is a mom, an English teacher, and a writer who has published in Catholic Digest, Southern Women’s Review, Tidelands, GAB News, SC Living, Chicken Soup for the Soil and The Georgetown Times. She completed her B.A. and M.A. at the University of New Mexico and a second M.A. from Eastern Kentucky University. Her teaching experiences have taken her to the Laguna-Acoma Reservation, the U.S. Territory of Guam, a few rural schools and some others in between. She is currently working with a professional athlete to develop his autobiography.
Diane Mascherin – Ontario, Canada
Diane Mascherin is an artist living in East Gwillimbury, Ontario, mainly focusing on nature. Book cover design, mixed media art and sculpture are just a few of her favourite things.
Clare Marsh – Kent, UK
Clare Marsh lives in Kent, UK and is an international adoption social worker. She has won the Sentinel Annual Short Story Competition and the 2020 Olga Sinclair Short Story Prize. Her writing has appeared recently in Mslexia. It has been featured in Ink, Sweat and Tears, Lighthouse, Flash Flood, Places of Poetry, Rebel Talk, Oxford Flash Fiction, Cauldron and Acropolis anthologies. She was awarded M.A. Creative Writing (University of Kent) in 2018 and nominated for a Pushcart Prize for a poem in The Binnacle in 2017.
Ciara Mandulee Mendis – Sri Lanka
Ciara Mandulee Mendis is a Sri Lankan writer. She holds an M.A. in English Studies and she is serving in Sri Lanka Administrative Service. Her debut collection of short stories titled ‘The Red Brick Wall’ (manuscript), was shortlisted for Gratiaen Prize 2020. And her collection of short stories titled ‘The Lanka Box’ (manuscript) is currently shortlisted for Gratiaen Prize 2021. Her writing has appeared in Southeast Asian Review of English, Riptide Journal, Indian Review, Midway Journal, The Ekphrastic Review, Monograph, Channels: Journal of the English Writers’ Collective Sri Lanka and she has work forthcoming in Queen’s Quarterly and The Bombay Review.You can find Ciara here Facebook and Twitter.
Farida Mijindadi – Nasara State, Nigeria
Farida Mijindadi is a speculative fiction writer who struggles with deadlines, writer’s block, and finding the perfect opening line for her stories. When she isn’t complaining about how hard writing is, and promising to never write again — a promise she always breaks after 12 hours — she is hunting for new songs like a mad woman.
EJ Moran – New Jersey, USA
EJ is an avid reader and aspiring author with varied interests in many genres, having written two children’s books with a third in progress. Aside from children’s books, she is working on another short story in a totally different genre, which will hopefully be completed within the next several months.
Jermuel Manarin – Cavite, Philippines
Jermuel Manarin is a Registered National Book Development Board (NBDB) writer from the Philippines, which is dedicated to advancing and nurturing the book industry in the Philippines. He writes stories and poems, and his work has been published in a book called “Kuwento Book: An Anthology of Filipino Stories + Poems ” and will be published in other journals soon. He earned his Bachelor of Arts in English Language Studies at Cavite State University. He’s currently working as Associate Research Writer.
Michael Moreth – Sterling, Illinois USA
Michael Moreth is a recovering Chicagoan living in the rural, micropolitan City of Sterling, the Paris of Northwest Illinois.
Janet McCann – Texas, USA
Janet McCann, is from College Station, Texas. Journals publishing Janet McCann’s work include Kansas Quarterly, Parnassus, Nimrod, Sou’wester, America, Christian Century, Christianity and Literature, New York Quarterly, Tendril, and others. She has written four poetry books and six chapbooks. Her most recent poetry book: The Crone at The Casino (Lamar University Press, 2014) She taught at Texas A&M for 47 years. She lives with her dogs, Marple and Poirot, and writes copiously about them.
Claire L. Marsh – Gloucestershire, UK
Claire writes short stories and poems, mainly in the horror or dark fantasy genres. She lives in the Cotswolds, UK with her husband and Phoenix (don’t tell him he’s a kitten. He thinks he’s a mountain lion). She currently works for an organisation that assists police forces nationally, providing support for evidence-based practice. Her background is in forensic psychology, including over nine years lecturing it at postgraduate level. Psychology often creeps into her stories; it could be how someone reacts to trauma or why people don’t intervene if they see violence.
Find more on Claire’s Twitter.
Ebenezer Mikwene Mowete – Edo, Nigeria
Ebenezer Mikwene Mowete is currently studying in the University to become a doctor. Reading, singing and writing are his top passions. He is an avid reader of novels and medical books. He has a keen interest in surgery and on making a global impact. He lives in Benin City, Nigeria.
Makena Metz – Los Angeles, California, USA
Makena Metz writes for the page, screen, and stage. She has an MFA in Creative Writing and MA in English from Chapman University. Makena’s work has been published with Broken Antler Magazine, Wordgathering, the Literary Hatchet, The Clockhouse Review, For Page and Screen, Havik, The Bitchin’ Kitsch, Strange Horizons, Arkana, and many others.
Find her work on Coverfly, New Play Exchange, or Chillsubs or follow her on Instagram, or TikTok or check out makenametz.com
Mahvash Mohtadullah – Karachi, Pakistan
Mahvash’s stories and poems have appeared in a number of international literary publications including The Rumen, Sequoia Speaks, Recesses, PentaCat, Confetti, Every Day Fiction, Parcham, Blaze Vox and DoubleSpeak magazines. Her poem, “Veins” was long listed in the Plough 2023 poetry competition. Her short story “The Glimmer” was long listed in the 2023 Zeenat Haroon Rashid writing competition for women. Her verse “Ravaged” has been selected as part of an upcoming American academic publication. She has published two collections of short stories, a book of poetry and four books in a children’s series.
Find more from Mahvash on her website, Instagram, and Facebook.
Melanie Maggard – Seattle, Washington, USA
Melanie Maggard is a flash and poetic prose writer who loves dribbles and drabbles. She has published in Cotton Xenomorph, The Dribble Drabble Review, X-R-A-Y Magazine, Five Minute Lit, and others.
Find more on Melanie’s website, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
Rebecca D. Martin – Virginia, USA
Rebecca D. Martin is an autistic writer living in Virginia with her husband and two daughters. Her work has been published in the Curator, the Brevity blog, Proximity, and Isele, among others. Visit her website where she talks about some of her favorite things, including poetry, houses, and neurodiversity. On Thursday, she feeds bearded dragons at her local nature center.
Find more on Rebecca’s website.
Gary McCallum – Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Gary is a lawyer practising in Ontario. He has previously published short fiction in Event and the Mystery Tribune and a collection of stories entitled “The Man Who Killed Weekends and Other Stories”.
Cameron Morse – Missouri, USA
Cameron Morse is Senior Reviews editor at Harbor Review and the author of eight collections of poetry. His first collection, Fall Risk, won Glass Lyre Press’s 2018 Best Book Award. His latest is The Thing Is (Briar Creek Press, 2021). He holds an MFA from the University of Kansas City-Missouri and lives in Independence, Missouri, with his wife Lili and three children.
Gary Hewitt Maidstone (kingsraconteur) – United Kingdom
Gary Hewitt is a writer who has had a love of the written word for many years. His style is a unique blend of grittiness mixed with a dash of the unusual. Over the years, he’s adjusted to a punchy style of writing and is always looking to find new ideas and originality. His inspirations are Stephen King, James Herbert, Graham Masterton, William Gibson, JRR Tolkien, and many more. He doesn’t just read horror and sci-fi, though, and is quite happy to sit down with a feel-good tale or two. Gary also works with Tarot, Reiki, and other realms of the esoteric. It’s all a quirky mix that can elicit some unusual inspiration for stories, poems, and longer works of fiction.
Find more on Gary’s Facebook pages, ShadowFruit, Raconteur to the King, and Inspirational haikus.
Melanie Maier – California, USA
Melanie Maier was born and raised in San Francisco and attended the University of California, Berkeley (BS) and the University of California, Hastings College of the Law (JD). Melanie’s poetry has been published in reviews such as The Fourth River, Phoebe, The Southern California Review, South Carolina Review and internationally in Gazeta Wyborcza, Warsaw, Poland. She is the author of three chapbooks The Land of Us, Scattering Wind and Night Boats in addition to two full-length books of poems sticking to earth (Conflux Press, 2008) and Invention of the Moon (Conflux Press, 2015). Nothing gives her more satisfaction than the spiritual practice of writing poetry.
Marieta Maglas – France
The Sybaritic Press, Silver Birch Press, Lothlorien Poetry Journal, Dashboard Horus, Al-Khemia Poetica: A Women’s Arts and Writing Journal, Dissident Voice, Ellerslie Books, Journal of the Akita International Haiku Network, The Queer Gaze, PentaCat Press, Coin-Operated Press, Mayari Literature, Synchronized Chaos, Prolific Press, Oddville Press, Tuck Magazine, Southern Arizona Press, Republic Magazine, Phoenix Z Publishing, All Your Poems Magazine, and others published the poems of Marieta Maglas in anthologies like Near Kin: A Collection of Words and Art Inspired by Octavia Estelle Butler, Nancy Drew Anthology: Writing and Art Featuring Everybody’s Favorite Female Sleuth, and The Cardinal Anthology Vol. 3.
Find Marieta on Facebook.
Martha Ellen – Oregon Coast, USA
Martha Ellen lives alone in an old Victorian house on a hill on the Oregon coast. Retired social worker. History of social justice activism. Worked for the NFWA [Farm Workers] in the 60s. MFA in painting and drawing. Two grown children; four grandchildren – the joys of her life. She writes to make sense of the long and winding road.
P. Muralidharan – Chennai, India
Indian poet, thinker, fiction writer, and reviewer P. Muralidharan’s collection of short stories, Draupadi’s Only Partner, and his novel Boomerang stand out in form, content, and creativity. He has been nominated for the Inspiring Author award by The Indian Awaz for 2021. He is an active member of many global literary societies and a poetry/book reviewer. His poems have been published by literary magazines and websites around the world. He has translated two books, including Shashi Tharoor’s Why I am Hindu, into Tamil.
Uday Mukerji – Kolkata, India
Uday Mukerji was born in India and worked as a creative director in advertising agencies in Singapore for over twenty years. In 2009, he left his job to pursue a new goal in writing. His first literary fiction, a 2017 Readers’ Favorite Award Winner Love, Life, and Logic, was published by Harvard Square Editions, New York in November 2016. His second novel, Dead Man Dreaming, a Book Excellence Award Winner, was published in October 2019 by Adelaide Books, New York. His short stories have also appeared in many print and online magazines in the UK and USA.
M – Iran
M is a freelance writer with advanced university studies in science. She is a fan of nature, cycling, and exploring. Born and raised in Iran, she has written many stories, but she has been unsuccessful in publishing anything inside her own country due to suppression and the cultural, religious, and political nature of her work. Although it wasn’t easy, she improved her language skills and wrote different stories, some of which are liked by friends abroad.
Kate Meyer-Currey – UK
Kate Meyer-Currey lives in Devon. Her grandfather was the WWII poet R.N. Currey who taught her to write. A varied career in frontline settings, contrasted with a rural upbringing, has fuelled her interest in gritty urbanism that often carries a slipstream twist. She has had over a hundred poems published since 2020. Her poem ‘Boys of Vallance Road’ came in third in the poetry category of the London Society’s ‘Love Letter to London’ competition (March 2022). Her chapbooks County Lines (Dancing Girl) and Cuckoo’s Nest (Contraband) are due out this year.
Terry Mulcahy – Albuquerque, New Mexcio
Terry worked in a Baltimore Physics lab after high school. He rode his bicycle around the United States and worked for a carnival in the Midwest and a bronze foundry in Arizona. He returned to Baltimore to prep biology lab experiments for students. He bicycled the West again, settling in Albuquerque. He’s worked in Cancer Research. Made PC boards and went back to research, working with proteins, amino acids, and DNA. When he retired, he worked for a winery, which was much more fun.
Find more about Terry on his website.
Arik Mitra – West Bengal, India
Arik Mitra lives in Kolkata, India. An IT professional by trade, he writes mainly short stories and poetry in English and Bengali, his mother tongue. His work has been published by Clarendon House Publications, Red Penguin Books, Rosey Ravelston Books-Dyst Journal, Writers and Readers Magazine, and more.
You may follow Arik on Facebook for more.
Marcelo Medone – Montevideo, Uruguay
Marcelo Medone (1961, Buenos Aires, Argentina) is a Pushcart Prize nominee fiction writer, poet, essayist, playwright and screenwriter. He has received numerous awards and has been published more than 500 times in multiple languages in more than 50 countries around the world, including the US. He currently lives in Montevideo, Uruguay.
Bob McNiel – Connecticut, USA
Bob McNeil, a writer, editor, cartoonist, and spoken word artist, is the author of Verses of Realness. Hal Sirowitz, a former Queens, NY Poet Laureate, called the book “a fantastic trip through the mind of a poet who doesn’t flinch at the truth.” Among Bob’s recent accomplishments, he found working on Lyrics of Mature Hearts to be a humbling experience because of the anthology’s talented contributors.
Emma Mooney – Scotland
Scottish writer Emma Mooney believes passionately in giving everyone a voice. She is the author of A Beautiful Game and Wings to Fly, both published by Crooked Cat Books. Her shorter works, including poems and short stories, have appeared in numerous UK and international literary magazines and anthologies. Emma was awarded a Master’s with Distinction in Creative Writing from the University of Stirling and is currently working on the edits of her next novel.
Check out her website for more.
M.J. Myer – Utah, USA
M. J. Myer, a Northern Utah resident, loves hiking in the mountains, reading by natural lakes, and movie nights with the family. Some of her favorite movies are Inception, Parasite, and The Prestige — basically anything by Christopher Nolan. She will always be a fan of classic literature, including Orwell’s 1984 specifically, and the young adult trilogy Chaos Walking by Patrick Ness is a newfound favorite. Writing for her is an extension of how and what she feels, from the places she visits and the people she meets. Everything deserves a story and every person deserves to hear it.
Follow M.J. on Instagram.
Aiman Wesley Mueller – Michigan, USA
Aiman Wesley Mueller teaches academic writing at Grand Valley State University in Allendale, MI. He enjoys creative nonfiction essays but also dabbles in hybrid and mixed media. Having reinvented himself many times and also having had close contact with multiple immigrant communities, open-mindedness and empathy are among the things he most cherishes.
Follow Aiman on Facebook.
Philip Malinak – Illinois, USA
Phil is and always will be a performer, and he is glad that life provides him with a stage once in a while to share that with others. Since the mid-nineties, he has played a variety of roles on a variety of stages, including: A member of a mime troupe in Miami University’s The Imaginary Invalid; Oswald in Riverfront Playhouse’s Sins of the Father; and Sydney Lipton in Red Ink Production’s God’s Favorite. Since the stage production of the Flying Housewife, Phil has been a background artist on several TV shows and Movies. Most notable, Empire, The Trial of the Chicago 7, and Chicago Med. Phil grew up hearing stories of flight and taking frequent rides in his grandfather’s Cessna 182, so he is very pleased to honor the memory of Jerrie Mock and her significant accomplishment with this performance.
donalee Moulton – Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
donalee Moulton’s first mystery book Hung out to Die was published in 2023. Conflagration! was published in 2024. It won the 2024 Daphne du Maurier Award for Excellence in Mystery/Suspense (Historical Fiction). “Swan Song” was one of 21 stories selected for publication in Cold Canadian Crime. It was shortlisted for an Award of Excellence. Other short stories have been published in numerous anthologies. donalee’s short story “Troubled Water” was shortlisted for a 2024 Derringer Award and a 2024 Award of Excellence from the Crime Writers of Canada. donalee lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Find more on donalee’s website, and follow her on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram.
Pam Martin-Lawrence – Isle of Wight, UK
Pam lives on a small island with collections of emotional support plants, ‘book boyfriends’ and a long-suffering partner. While writing her second novel she writes poetry and short fiction for relaxation, some of which have appeared in publications including Passionfruit Review, Southern Gothic Creations, Macrame Lit. J. Flight of the Dragonfly Journal and Lucky Bug Journal. Her novella ‘The Tale of a Dragon’ will be published by Alien Buddha Press in September 2024. Chocolate is her Kryptonite.
Find more from Pam on X (formerly Twitter).
Lisa McKinnon – Florida, USA
Lisa McKinnon is a prize-winning short story author who writes both fiction and nonfiction. She has been a High School literature teacher, a human rights volunteer, a development director for a nonprofit that provides concerts to incarcerated and marginalized populations, and a program manager for faith-based community-building initiatives. After decades in the Washington DC metro area, she recently moved to a small beach town on the Atlantic side of Florida. She likes to write in collaboration with two of her granddaughters, Victoria and Constance (ages 9 and 7).
Find more Lisa on LinkedIn.
Scott MacLeod – Central Florida, USA
Scott MacLeod is a father of two who writes in Central Florida. His work has appeared in Punk Noir, Rmag, Micromance, Free Flash Fiction, Microzine, Every Day Fiction, Wrong Turn Lit, JAKE, Underbelly Press, Bristol Noir, Havok, Witcraft, NFFD Write-In, Coffin Bell, 10 By 10 Flash, Frontier Tales, The Yard: Crime Blog, Yellow Mama, Short Story Me, and Gumshoe, with more forthcoming.
Find his Son of Ugly weekly flash newsletter on Substack, Instagram, and Facebook, as well as other work here.