Art:

For the Followers

Aleksandar Mirkovic was born with a supernatural amount of Common Sense, and should, by all accounts, be using it to protect the planet from both terrestrial threats and extradimensional beings. However, living in Serbia made that a tad difficult, so he does the same in imaginary worlds, by rolling some rocks with numbers on them. And then writes about

Poem:

Drafting

Allison Rose is the pen name used by Kait Harland, and is used purely for vibes. Kait is currently a student, but would like to eventually be a freelance editor, self-published author, and perhaps even a small business owner. She enjoys reading, writing, and above all, being a total nerd about very random things.

Art:

Overgrown

B.S.Roberts is an author-artist-historian-archivist-geek from Maine. He had too much spare time on his hands, so he helped found Nat 1 Publishing and the Audience Askew Literary Journal. He also happens to be very bad at counting, which led to this issue of AALJ to be off by one art piece, so he was forced to contribute a photograph of his own; therefore, this wasn’t an abuse of power, this was an abuse of basic math.

• Website: www.bsroberts.com

Art:

Untitled

Carolyn EJ Watson is an interdisciplinary artist, who is drawn to the useless and unusual. She takes what she can find to tell a story, using a mixture of unconventional materials. Through her art, Watson strives to advocate and educate, particularly focusing on concepts such as identity, trauma, abstraction, chaos and conservation.

• Instagram: @poppydovedesigns
• Tiktok: @poppydovedesigns
• Facebook: @poppydovedesigns
• Threads: @poppydovedesigns

Story:

Animals of a Vicious Kind

Christine Vartoughian is an award-winning Armenian-American writer and film director. Her work has shown at Lincoln Center, the Museum of the Moving Image (MoMI), and her feature film, Living with the Dead: A Love Story, received the Audience Choice Award at Art of Brooklyn Film Festival, Best Feature Film at Aberdeen Festival in the U.K., and is available on Apple TV and Amazon in the United States and internationally. Christine is the co-founder of (Screen)Play Press, a publishing company for yet-to-be-produced film scripts. Her feature script, Young Monsters, was published in August 2022 and her short fiction has been published in The Bookends Review, Quibble Lit, and Audience Askew Literary Journal. She lives in New York City.

• Instagram: @christinewritesaboutyou

Poem:

The Girl in the Autumn Leaves

Danielle D is an aspiring poet hailing from Lexington, Kentucky. She loves cats, fireplaces, and cozying up with some blankets and a good book. Writing was often a casual endeavor previously, but recently a new spark of inspiration has hit and some much needed encouragement has pushed her to exactly where she needs to be.         

Cover Art:

Mask Gleaners

Art:

The Covid Nightmare

Donald Patten is an artist from Belfast, Maine. He is currently a senior in the Bachelor of Fine Arts program at the University of Maine. As an artist, he produces oil paintings and graphic novels. Artworks of his have been exhibited in galleries across the Mid-Coast region of Maine.

• Portfolio: donaldlpatten.newgrounds.com

Art:

Becoming is a Process

Edward Michael Supranowicz is the grandson of Irish and Russian/Ukrainian immigrants. He grew up on a small farm in Appalachia.  He has a grad background in painting and printmaking. Some of his artwork has recently or will soon appear in Fish Food, Streetlight, Another Chicago Magazine, The Door Is A Jar, The Phoenix, and The Harvard Advocate. Edward is also a published poet who has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize multiple times.

Poem:

Muse

Jade Han is an undergraduate English major at the University of San Francisco, originally from Buffalo Grove, IL. They have a passion for everything regarding writing, especially poetry. This is their first publication.

Story:

The Photographer’s Island

Jeff Kirkley started his career with Nat 1 as a humble member of an adventuring party. Not long after, his first submission—”Frozen Atmosphere”—was accepted, prompting Jeff to write Nabri Rouge and Haunting Lord. While progress may be slow, Jeff Promises to continue his trend of good stories for the readers who want follow along.

Art:

Thanatos

Jennifer Frederick is an artist, a writer, and a lawyer in Maryland. They have been writing since a young age and creating collages since 2016. Their work has appeared in places like Coffee People Zine; Beyond Words Literary Magazine; and 1807: An Art and Literary Journal.

• Tiktok: @lawofcollage
• Instagram: @lawofcollage
• Facebook: Jennifer’s Law of Collage
• Tumblr: lawofcollage.tumblr.com

Art:

Always Thinking of You, I Can’t Let Go, I Can’t Find You, Everywhere I Look I See You, but I’m Still Waiting for You

Juan Sebastian Restrepo lives and works in Miami, Florida. Sebastian employs a figurative language in painting and drawing to depict his major life events and give life to memories, to depict special moments in his life, and to make new paintings and drawings as a way to explore his intersectionality. Sebastian has exhibited his work in different organizations, most recently in the New World Gallery, New World School of the Arts, “intersections” (2023); Edwardsville Arts Center, Edwardsville, IL, “Hybridity” (2018). Sebastian will participate in a forthcoming presentation in Coral Spring Museum of Art, Coral Springs, FL, “Empty Walls” (2024).

Poem:

Is it Better to Die than to Leave?

Julissa Beltran, a Mexican-American, is an 18-year-old college freshman majoring in psychology. She started writing during her sophomore year of high school. Her work can be found in Other Women Worldly Press and Wingless Dreamer Publisher. She enjoys reading, dancing, and working out in her free time. She hopes that she can help and be a voice for her community.

Poem:

Gag Reflex

Karla Linn Merrifield has had 1000+ poems appear in dozens of journals and anthologies. She has 16 books to her credit. Following her 2018 Psyche’s Scroll (Poetry Box Select) is the full-length book Athabaskan Fractal: Poems of the Far North from Cirque Press. Her newest poetry collection, My Body the Guitar, nominated for the 2022 National Book Award, was inspired by famous guitarists and their guitars and published by Before Your Quiet Eyes Publications Holograph Series (Rochester, NY). She is a frequent contributor to The Songs of Eretz Poetry Review.

• Website: www.karlalinnmerrifield.org
• Blog: karlalinnmerrifeld.wordpress.com
• Twitter: @LinnMerrifie
• Facebook: karlalinn.merrifield

Flash Fiction:

Maki Horse Beach, Moloka’I

Kirby Wright was born and raised in Hawaii. He is a guest lecturer at Trinity College Dublin.

Poem:

Rift Zone Point Reyes, California

Laurel Benjamin is a San Francisco Bay Area native, where she invented a secret language with her brother. Affiliated with the Bay Area Women’s Poetry Salon, Port Townsend Writers, and Ekphrastic Writers, she holds an MFA from Mills College. She is a reader for Common Ground Review and has featured in the Lily Poetry Review Salon. She has work forthcoming or published in Lily Poetry Review, Pirene’s Fountain, The Shore, Sheila-Na-Gig, Mom Egg Review, among others. Her work has been nominated for Best of the Net and a Pushcart Prize.

Story:

Spilt Milk

Melanie Albright is a writer and artist from St. Petersburg, Florida. She studied English literature with a concentration in creative writing at the University of South Florida before hopping over the pond to complete her master’s in comparative literature at University College London. She now lives in London, UK, and is working on a collection of poems, short stories and illustrations.

• Website: melaniealbright.com

Art:

Accelerated

Michael Moreth is a recovering Chicagoan living in the rural, micropolitan City of Sterling, the Paris of Northwest Illinois.

Art:

C’est La Vie

Serge Lecomte was born in Belgium. He came to the States where he spent his teens in South Philly and then Brooklyn. After graduating from Tilden H. S. he joined the Medical Corps in the Air Force. He earned an MA and Ph.D. from Vanderbilt University in Russian Literature with a minor in French Literature. He worked as a Green Beret language instructor at Fort Bragg, NC from 1975-78. In 1988 he received a B.A. from the University of Alaska Fairbanks in Spanish Literature. He worked as a language teacher at the University of Alaska (1978-1997). He worked as a house builder, pipe-fitter, orderly in a hospital, gardener, landscaper, driller for an assaying company, bartender.