Do you love us?
We have so much love to give. Or, at least, another story with "love" in the title. Also, meet our new staff members.
What’s up, y’all? Just a quick note. Or a not-so-quick-note. Definitely a rough draft. Self-indulgent, lazy, not up to par with modern standards of “email marketing” or even “writing.” Throw your SEO and ROI right out the window with this one.
A bunch of stuff to talk about. Where to start? We’ve been building our staff to read submissions faster and start new projects. Also, it’s nice to have more people when they are nice. And these people are nice.
Some of the New Editors
You already know Christine Ma-Kellams from her Identity Theory story “Love is Iraq,” which we nominated for the Pushcart in 2022. She’s on our staff now, reading flash and micro fiction and CNF.
You also already know Nancy Stone from her recent Identity Theory flash fiction “I Don’t Know How to Love Him.” She’s on our staff now, reading fiction.
Intermission: Another Love Story
Today, we published a flash piece of fiction from Anita Brienza called “Do You Love Me?”
Here’s a clip:
You were so happy that year, the year that everyone saw what you’d been keeping to yourself, that you could sing like fire and act competently and dance moderately well, but most of all the singing, so good that you snagged the Bye Bye Birdie Rosie Alvarez role in the senior class play, and then, when you tried out for the all-school production of Fiddler on the Roof, Ms. Garcia said, “You can have any part you want—any one—but I really want you for Golde.”
Okay, All of the New Editors (For Now)
We may add a few more staff members in February, but for now, meet our new people:
Doug Dabbs, Visuals Editor
Doug Dabbs is an illustrator and art professor whose comic books have been published by Image, Oni, 12 Gauge, and Desperado. He regularly exhibits work internationally in locations like South Korea, Macedonia, Canada, and England, and his illustrations have appeared in Burning Word Journal, High Shelf, Sand Hills Literary Journal, Box Journal, Coffin Bell, Art Ascent, Under the Sun Journal, and Pittville Press. Doug’s work has earned international acclaim, receiving awards from American Illustration, 3x3, Society of Illustrators West, Brightness Illustration, Cheltenham Illustration, and Communication Arts. He teaches illustration and visual storytelling in higher education, currently at Middle Tennessee State University, and previously at Savannah College of Art and Design. Most days he can be found drawing, teaching, and perfecting his coffee brewing skills.
Works on: Visuals
Chuck Augello, Assistant Editor
Chuck Augello is the author of The Revolving Heart (Black Rose Writing), a Best Books of 2020 selection by Kirkus Reviews. His novel A Better Heart (Black Rose Writing) was praised by PETA founder Ingrid Newkirk as "Lively, engrossing, fast paced, and spot on when it comes to nailing what's wrong with animal abuse but in a realistic, not preachy way. A great read, a great beach novel." His most recent is Talking Vonnegut: Centennial Interviews and Essays (McFarland), an exploration of the life and work of Kurt Vonnegut. His work has appeared in One Story, Necessary Fiction, Smokelong Quarterly, and other fine journals. He’s a graduate of the MFA Program at Queens University at Charlotte. Visit him at www.cdawriting.com.
Works on: Fiction, Interviews
Bradley David, Assistant Editor
Bradley David's poetry, fiction, essays, and genre-blending works appear or are forthcoming in Terrain.org, JMWW, Los Angeles Review, Rougarou, Exacting Clam and numerous other publications and anthologies. He is Pushcart and Best of the Net nominated, and won Identity Theory's 2022 2022-Word poetry contest. Bradley is also the blended-genre senior editor at JMWW. He and his husband are urban homesteading in Los Angeles with their dog, cat, and aviary of rescue birds. Selected work at bradley-david.com. Socials @bradley_david_w
Works on: Flash CNF, Micro, Un-Identified Writing
David Estringel, Assistant Editor
David Estringel is a Texas-based author of five poetry collections, including his latest Blind Turns in the Kitchen Sink (Anxiety Press, 2023), and six poetry chapbooks (his seventh, Brujeria, a bilingual, hybrid collection of prose and verse coming soon from Anxiety Press). A graduate of the University of Texas (B.A. in English Studies and M.F.A. in Creative Writing), David currently functions as Editor-in-Chief at The Argyle Literary Magazine and has served on the editorial staff of Elixir Magazine, Good Men Project, Red Fez, and The Temz Review. His poetry, fiction, and CNF have appeared in literary publications, such as The Opiate, Literary Heist, The Milk House, The Honest Ulsterman, Drunk Monkeys, and Fahmidan Journal. He currently teaches English composition and literature at Austin Community College and Central Texas College. Connect with David on Twitter, Instagram, Threads, and on his website www.davidestringel.com.
Works on: Fiction, Nonfiction, Social Media
Kristine Gill, Assistant Editor
Kristine Gill is a full-time freelance writer based in Northeast Ohio. She got her start in newspapers and spent five years working as a spokesperson for a Florida law enforcement agency where she produced a podcast on cold cases. She currently runs two fiction workshops, co-hosts a fiction podcast called Why Is This Good? and has too many pets.
Works on: Fiction, Micro
Christine Ma-Kellams, Assistant Editor
Christine Ma-Kellams is a college professor, Harvard-trained cultural psychologist and writer whose fiction and essays have appeared in Prairie Schooner, the Kenyon Review, ZYZZYVA, the Rumpus, Catapult, Southern Humanities Review, Saturday Evening Post, the Rupture/the Collagist, the Wall Street Journal, Psychology Today and elsewhere. Two of her short stories were also nominated for the Pushcart Prize. Her empirical studies on culture and relationships have also been widely covered in GQ (Australia), Esquire (Middle East), Boston Globe, Vice News, Elle Magazine (UK), Yahoo News, MSN News, Fox News, New York Post, and Daily Mail. Her debut novel from Atria, The Band (April 2024), follows a cancelled Kpop boy bander who escapes by hiding in the McMansion of an unhappily married therapist with a Savior complex. In its indicting portrayal of mental health/public obsession/fandom/cancel culture, The Band considers how old tribal allegiances disrupt modern celebrity.
Works on: Flash and micro fiction and CNF
Julia Passini, Assistant Editor
Julia Passini received her PhD in psychology in 2023 and uses her research to in her writing to capture human dynamics in characters. Aside from academic journals, her writing has been published in magazines such as The Fantastic Other and ZEAL. She enjoys creating comics, animation, playing Pokemon Go with her husband, and Dunkin' coffee.
Works on: Graphics, Fiction, Social Media
Preeya Shankar, Assistant Editor
Preeya Shankar is a Cleveland-based freelance writer who has contributed to The New York Times, Marie Claire, Reductress, and Imposters Theater, among others. She studied Journalism and Anthropology at NYU and is currently working on an MPH. She enjoys knitting (poorly), teaching her cat to read (better than you'd think), and sitting down and watching Paul Rudnick movies (skillfully). You can find her work at preeyashankar.com and her unhinged pop-culture thoughts @PreeyaShankar.
Works on: Fiction, CNF, Interviews
Adam Shaw, Assistant Editor
Adam Shaw lives with his wife and daughter in Louisville, Kentucky. He is the author of the novel The Jackals and the memoir Sportsman’s Paradise, and his work can be found in Pithead Chapel, HAD, Rejection Letters, and elsewhere. He can be found online at theshawspot.com.
Works on: CNF
Nancy Stone, Assistant Editor
Nancy Stone lives and writes in Florida, a place that’s even weirder than you think. Her short work appears in New World Writing and elsewhere, while her novels keep looking for homes. Someday they’ll find one just the right size and move in. In the meantime, she dreams up new stories, herds cats, and visits her native Connecticut, where her distant aunt was convicted for blasphemy in 1662. Like her aunt, she’ll always tell the truth if it’s uncomfortable.
Works on: Fiction, Micro
Sara Tausendfreund, Assistant Editor
Sara Tausendfreund is a copy editor and creative writer with a Master's degree in English from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. She has been published by Every Day Fiction and Full House Literary. She is also a volunteer fiction and poetry reader for Witness Magazine.
Works on: Copyediting, Fiction, Micro
Darnit
Substack says I’m “Near email length limit” again. But we have so much more love to give! Oh well. Hurry up and read these other new pieces we published this week: “Vegetarian” by Michael Harper (fiction) and “A Fable” by Shana Ross (poetry).
Matt Borondy
Corgi Tamer
Identity Theory