Author Interviews

Janet Burroway is the author of poems, plays, essays, children’s books, a memoir, and nine novels, including The Buzzards, Raw Silk, Opening Nights, Cutting Stone (all Notable Books of NYTBR), and Simone in Pieces, due out November 2025. Her Writing Fiction, the most widely used creative writing text in America, is now in a tenth edition, her four-genre text Imaginative Writing in its fifth. Her plays have been produced and read in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and London.

Hope Pecord is a 17-year-old poet whose work is deeply rooted in personal experience and emotional truth. She began writing seriously in eighth grade and uses poetry as a way to explore stigma, healing, and identity. A dancer for 12 years, Hope found her voice in writing after stepping away from the art form due to its toxic environment. Since then, poetry has become a powerful outlet and a reclaiming of self. Encouraged by family, friends, and teachers, she is now sharing her work with the world.

H. R. Reid is a 21-year-old writer from Bradford, studying English Literature at Newcastle University. She writes creatively under authors Max Adams, Lars Iyer, Alex Pheby and Jacob Polley, and also works as a freelance editor. She writes poetry, script, and prose. She lives with long-term health conditions including ASD, ADHD, PMDD, and Endometriosis.

I was born and raised in the Philadelphia area, attended Penn State University, where I majored in rugby, beer, and coeds, and miraculously graduated with a B.A. degree in journalism in 1976. In 1991, I earned an MFA in Creative Writing from Florida International University. I’ve now been writing professionally for more than 40 years, primarily as an award-winning journalist. Since 1999, I’ve owned and operated the freelance writing service SuperWriter, Inc. My work has appeared in both regional and national publications, including AARP, Life Extension, Boca Magazine, and The National Enquirer.

A native of southern California, Gary graduated from Duke University, Florida Atlantic University and the Naval War College. He first embarked on a career teaching Political Science, and then served as an intelligence analyst with the National Security Agency for thirty years, serving in various capacities at home and abroad. After retiring, Gary moved to central Florida, where he enjoys writing, golf, and swimming and lives with his wife, Tracy. He has combined his lifelong interest in genealogy and Civil War history in The Broken Fife, a historical novel loosely based on the life of his paternal great-grandfather, Junius Hart.

Gail received her BA in history from Brigham Young University and her MLIS from Syracuse University. Now a retired librarian, Gail and her husband, Richard, reside in Boise, Idaho, with their Anatolian Shepherd, Loki. When not writing her Gallagher Girls mysteries, Gail tends her medicinal herb garden, does landscape and portrait painting, and traces her family history.

Florence Nnolum is a passionate writer and educator with a deep interest in life, spirituality, and human connection. With a background in English and Literary Studies, Florence has taught both children and adults, bringing empathy and insight into her work. The Re-incarnation is her debut book, offering readers a thoughtful exploration of life, death, and the mysteries that connect us all.

My documentary Carisbrooke Castle was broadcast on SKY TV. Three of my other fourteen travel films were shown on Australian television. I have written three children’s stories, three staged plays, scenic travel features, theatre reviews, award-winning poetry, personality profiles and three novels—and I teach. I gave workshops alongside Sir Andrew Motion at the Tennyson Bicentenary and have taught for Screen South, Connexions, Isle of Wight College, independently, and with young people with learning difficulties.

Eleanor Keisman’s short stories, essays, and poetry have appeared in Litro Magazine, The Bangalore Review, Tough Crime, Last Stanza Poetry Journal, and The Wild Umbrella, as well as adapted for “The Other Stories” podcast. After earning her BA in Liberal Arts from The New School, Eleanor left the US and spent over a decade living and working as an English teacher in Czechia, Poland, and China. She holds an MFA in creative writing from Drexel University and co-organizes an English-language writing group in Vienna, where she lives. New Animal is her first novel, and was shortlisted for Broken Tribe Press’ MFA Award.

Atmosphere Press was an ideal fit for me. I have gone the traditional publishing route and found that process unnecessarily complex. Atmosphere Press provides everything I need to publish quality stories in a way that allows me to focus on my writing.

Deborah L. Davitt was raised in Nevada, but currently lives in Houston, Texas, with her husband and son. She’s worked as a technical writer on contracts involving nuclear submarines, NASA, and computer manufacturing. Her prize-winning poetry has received Rhysling, Elgin, Dwarf Star, and Pushcart nominations and has appeared in over seventy journals, including F&SF and Asimov’s. Her award-winning short fiction has appeared in Analog and Lightspeed. She’s published six novels and a TTRPG.

D Adebiyi is a Nigerian-British poet and storyteller whose work blends lyrical precision with emotional depth, exploring themes of faith, identity, memory, and transformation. Her voice is both intimate and expansive—rooted in personal truth yet resonant with universal meaning. Guided by a deep reverence for language, Adebiyi crafts poetry that is sensory, textured, and musical in rhythm. Her writing often lives in the tension between opposites—beauty and pain, longing and resilience, the sacred and the everyday.

Cynthia Stock retired from Critical Care Nursing after over forty years at the bedside. Her career covered the early years of the AIDs epidemic, saw major advances in critical care technology, and facilitated the progress in care for cardiac patients who ultimately survived with transplants or device implantation. Throughout her career, Cynthia pursued creative writing through various institutions and mentors. The Final Harvest of Judah Woodbine, a story about the polio epidemic in America, explores the consequences of PTSD on a survivor who accidentally kills his wife. Her short works have appeared in Intima, Susurrus, UDS Kaleidoscope, Memoryhouse, Lunch Ticket, Shark Reef, and others.

Clennell is a seasoned author with a passion for crafting enchanting romantic tales across various subgenres. Her journey in the writing world has been a rich tapestry, weaving through the pages of literary magazines and culminating in her self-published romantasy novella, The Circle, the inaugural installment of the captivating Draiocht Series available on Amazon.

I started writing when I was seven or eight years old. I’d always enjoyed reading, and I always had my own story ideas tumbling around my head. For years, I wrote short stories but put writing aside to focus on music as a young adult. Later, I rediscovered my love of reading and writing, steering me onto my path as an author.

Christopher Hawkins is the Booklife Prize and IndieReader Discovery Award-winning author of Downpour and the short story collection Suburban Monsters. His work has appeared in numerous anthologies and podcasts, including Cosmic Horror Monthly, Shortwave Magazine, and Tales to Terrify. He is currently the co-chair of the Chicagoland chapter of the Horror Writers Association. He lives in the western suburbs of Chicago with his wife and two sons. His new novel, I Contain Multitudes, was released in April 2025.

While the book will reflect my understanding of good and evil and my general fatalism, it’s meant as a fun, escpaist read for people who find fart jokes and the end of the world cathartic. Save it for a treat after you finish something edifying, like Evan O’Connell’s Mrs. Bridge or Elizabeth Strout’s Olive Kitteridge.

What fascinates Chris most are the machinations of modern-day human frailty, and his debut adult novel is underpinned by significant research into the condition of covert narcissism. Although the book is pure fiction, a key motivator for writing it was the prospect of helping anyone in a current or past traumatic relationship where psychological abuse and control are, or were, all too real. In those situations, “why” is perhaps the one question that remains unexplained.

Brandon Lennon is a 23-year-old novelist raised in Dublin, based in London. He started writing novels at the age of fourteen out of an intrinsic need to express himself through storytelling in all things. Most recently, he has been working on his MA degree from London while wrapping up his manuscript, June Gloom, his strongest vision to date. Lennon’s influences range from cyberpunk to literary fiction, from prestige television to experimental horror flicks, and from classic rock to new-age witch-house. His writing is fuelled by the many weird and wonderful realms of art that he has embedded himself in across his life, and he promises this unique synthesis in his story.

Barbara Hoffbeck Scoblic (born July 1939 in Ortonville, Minnesota) is an American writer. In 1964, she began her writing career as a reporter for the Sioux Falls Argus Leader (a national award-winning newspaper). In 1965, as a Peace Corps Volunteer, she traveled to Thailand, where she taught English as a second language.