This book is about a perspective on the seasons of change as experienced by the Maiden and the Crone. The title, Bookends of Life, sprang to the forefront of my mind even before I started organizing my poetry. What better way to hold life together than with the generations shoring each other up?
I have been married for twenty-one years, have two teenage daughters, am a law enforcement spouse, and work part-time for the women’s ministry at my church. I have worked as a teacher’s aide, a missionary with Mission Aviation Fellowship, and a foster care mom. Life has not been boring!
Kellyn Carni lives in the mountains near Asheville, North Carolina, with her husband, baby boy, dog, cat, and chickens. When she isn’t cuddling one of the aforementioned (usually not the chickens) under a blanket with a good book, she enjoys camping, yoga, and live music. She works as a physical therapist assistant and holds a degree in International Politics. While Kellyn has been writing since childhood, Ricochet is her debut novel.
Michael Colon is a creative freelance writer and novelist, born and raised in the Big Apple, New York City. He uses his craft to profoundly impact the lives of others with thought-provoking words that breathe life into his characters. He often equates his writing to painting masterpieces with prose. His inspiration comes from various societal abnormalities, cultural differences, and his own life experiences. When he isn’t writing, he enjoys working out, watching sports, visiting museums, and exploring nature trails.
After realizing the extent of our climate crisis, I felt compelled to be a part of positive solutions. The story of Eat the Moon came into my mind like white lightning after reading Climaggedon by Lawrence Wollersheim.
I have always enjoyed writing. When I was younger, I’d write song lyrics and go with my mom to the studio. I wrote throughout school and got second place in a contest in high school. I started writing seriously when the pandemic hit and I got very depressed and needed an outlet.
William Finger grew up in Jackson, Mississippi. After graduating from Duke University in 1969, he went to India in the Peace Corps. In midlife, he completed a Masters in Social Work at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His first memoir, The Crane Dance: Taking Flight in Midlife (2016), was a finalist in the Next Generation Indie Book Awards. He has been a freelance writer, an editor of a public policy quarterly, a consultant at the N.C. Legislature, and for the last twenty-four years before retiring in 2013, a writer and communications manager at an international public health organization.
British writer Elisabeth Conway has lived and worked in Southeast Asia for many years in an area that she now considers to be her spiritual home and from which she takes her inspiration. Elisabeth has written a historical trilogy set in and around Singapore between 1822 and 1831. She now lives in the UK but continues to visit Singapore/Malaysia whenever she can.
John “FEELSOUL” Futrell is an artist and musician known for blending evocative storytelling with innovative soundscapes. Drawing inspiration from life’s raw emotions and experiences, their work transcends genres, creating a unique auditory and emotional journey for listeners. With a passion for authenticity and creativity, FEELSOUL continues to captivate audiences worldwide through their art and music.
Allison Batty-Capps is a licensed marriage and family therapist, yoga therapist, Reiki Master, intuitive spiritual guide and channeler. She has lived experience learning to live with a complex mental health diagnosis that began after a profound mystical experience she had connecting to the divine within. She brings her trauma-informed training, lived experience, and education to bear on her spiritual teachings. Her unique insight into how divinity expresses itself in each of us comes not only from her education and training, but from her lived experience learning to use the tools in this book to manage her own mental health diagnosis and personal mystical experiences.
I’m a creative millennial and NG Veteran with a BA in Art (double major in creative writing and graphic design) who loves to sing, cosplay, read a variety of mediums, and swim like the mermaid I wish to wake up as one day. When I’m not writing song lyrics for my band, doing graphic design projects, or working on a book, I’m probably geeking out with my friends over anime (or Baldur’s Gate 3).
Sarah Karasek lives in rural Pennsylvania with two long-haired cats and one long-haired human. She has an MFA in Creative Writing and Publishing from Rosemont College and is currently a freelance writer and copyeditor. She’s also an assistant editor at Space Squid Magazine. Weird Waypoints: A Speculative Travel Guide to the Between is an anthology she edited, and it’s full of really stellar stories by really rad authors.
I am an actor and extra, and have appeared a in number of movies, TV series, music videos, and commercials, one advert I was featured with Idris Elba for Booking.com, which was seen worldwide during the World Series final in America. I am very pleased to say that my credits have been seen across the world on the telly and in cinemas.
Sam feels her feelings like it’s her job…because it is. Crying often as a means to process and release, she strives to uncover all her deepest wounds and salve them with aloe. You can find Sam at her favorite coffee shop (literally named “Poets”) sipping an iced vanilla chai and eating something delicious on a croissant while she scribbles poems into one of her many half-filled notebooks, living her best main-character life.
I’m J.D. Harbor, an author who loves crafting heartfelt romance stories filled with self-discovery, second chances, and unforgettable journeys. My debut series, RomantiSea Serenades, brings readers aboard luxurious cruise ships, where love and adventure meet on the open ocean. When I’m not writing, I’m exploring the world, soaking up inspiration, or dreaming about my next story.
Elenor Pountain is a wife and mum of two young children. She is also a contemporary romance author known for crafting emotionally engaging and relatable love stories. A self-proclaimed hopeless romantic with a penchant for dark humor, she creates characters and storylines that resonate deeply with her readers. Her books often explore the complexities of relationships, personal growth, and self-discovery.
Peggy Gerber hails from Teaneck, NJ, and enjoys traveling, reading, and anything magical. Most mornings you’ll find her indulging her love of weird things by writing stories of time travel, friendly aliens, and other phantasmagoria. She is the author of the two poetry chapbooks, Stumbling in CrazyTown and The Big Indignity, and is proud to introduce her new collection of speculative fiction entitled Once Upon a Time Machine.
Originally from West Virginia, Joyce Serrano now lives in Ladson, South Carolina, where summers are too hot for her taste, and she misses the uniqueness of changing seasons. Well-traveled and tragically widowed, Joyce was inspired to write her first novel after binge-watching superhero movies and supernatural creature television shows during a hurricane lockdown. Original Grace started as a series of recurring dreams, which turned into a short story, then a full-length novel. Immortals In The Everything is the sequel to Original Grace and she has written two side-character novellas, with more on the way.
Joel Shulkin, MD, is the author of the psychiatric thriller series The Memory Thieves and the military medical thriller series Death Benefits. He has also penned award-winning short stories and poetry. A developmental-behavioral pediatrician and United States Air Force veteran with a master’s in public health, Joel lives in Florida with his wife and two daughters.
Meet Sarah Iverson, the creative mastermind behind the spooky and whimsical Mazey Misterie series! Based in Denver, CO, Sarah is a multi-passionate creative entrepreneur and illustrator with a knack for infusing magic into the mundane. Armed with a B.A. in Art and an M.A. in Environmental Leadership, she combines her artistic talents and visionary mindset to inspire readers to unleash their imaginations.