JANUARY 2016 ISSUE #17

"They Transition Easier If We Indulge Their Whims" by W. Jack Savage

This painting by W. Jack Savage pretty much sets the tone for the January issue of IVJ.   It's strange and terrifying... and wonderful.  I hope you enjoy this big edition and don't forget to leave comments on your favorite posts. Writer's love feedback. Have a blessed 2016. ~Janine Pickett

POETRY 

Caleb Allison, Alison Moncrief Bromage, JD DeHart, Ken Allan Dronsfield, Ricky Garni, John Grey, Ananya S Guha, David Howerton, Lindy Hubert, Frances Klein, Milton Montague, Simon Perchik, Gerard Sarnat, David Subacchi, Y.X. Xia

FICTION

Glenna Blomquist, Simon Brown, DB Cox, Nels Hanson, Muhammad Nasrullah Khan, Jim Kjeldsen, Jack Daniel Miles, Colin Rowe, L.D. Zane

NONFICTION/ESSAY/MEMOIR

Lynda McKinney Lambert, Charles E.J. Moulton, K.R. Riordan, Bruce F. Rosen, Adreyo Sen

VISUAL ART
W. Jack Savage, David J. Thompson

Three Poems By Caleb Allison: "And when do we embrace the madness?", "Κρητικά Χριστούγεννα", "Idol"

These poems were inspired by the local Cretan culture in Greece while being in the Navy stationed at Naval Support Activity Souda Bay on the island of Crete.  They spring from my observations of the local culture and environment as well as my feelings associated with being separated from my wife and family for long periods of time.  There is an odd juxtaposition of being able to enjoy the beauty of a paradise location but experiencing it without my wife and family and it is from this that my inspiration stems.

Three Poems By Alison Moncrief Bromage: "In the Pen", "Alibi", "Datum"

Alison's poems have been published in the Paris Review, Denver Quarterly, Barrow Street and in Drunken Boat (which has just nominated her poem "Teratoma" for a Pushcart). The following three are appeals to Daedalus, the tinkerer from mythology.

Three Poems By JD DeHart: "Brother", Bunker", "Hardly Known"

 

JD DeHart is a writer and teacher.  His chapbook, The Truth About Snails, is available from RedDashboard.

A Poem By Ken Allan Dronsfield: "Jack Speaks R2"

 
Ken Allan Dronsfield is a Published Poet/Author/Digital Artist who resides in Oklahoma. He has been writing for many years and has, only recently, been published in a variety of print venues. 

Three Poems By Ricky Garni: "I Can Feel The Wind On My Face", "Alligator V. Cat: 1-4", "In Retrospect"

Ricky Garni is a writer and machinist born in Florida and living in North Carolina. His most recent publications can be found in BOAAT, BITCHIN’ KITSCH, YELLOW CHAIR REVIEW and SECTION 8 MAGAZINE. His latest works are PINKY EMBRACE, via 101 Secret Wing Dings, and a bonbon collection of six poems by BITTERZOET, to be released in the sultry-heat of late summer, 2015

Three Poems By John Grey: "Being Unidentified", "A Spring Boy", "My Morning"

John Grey is an Australian poet, US resident. Recently published in New Plains Review, Perceptions and Sanskrit with work upcoming in South Carolina Review, Gargoyle, Owen Wister Review and Louisiana Literature.

Two Poems By Ananya S. Guha: "Man Dies", "Summer In Fetters"

Ananya S Guha lives in Shillong in North East India. He has been writing and publishing poetry for the last thirty years.

Three Poems By David Howerton: "pain of job hunting", "Looking for you in senses", "memory 1986 VII"

David's a part time programmer and lives in the American River Canyon outside of Auburn Ca. He has done some landscaping sign painting cooking and made jewelry to pay the bills. He lives a rather quiet life. His wife and he live with a bossy cat. He has three adult daughters and eight grandchildren. His hobbies include type design, soapstone carving, walks in the woods, collecting dragons, and a growing library of Science Fiction. 

Two Poems And a Flash By Belinda Hubert: "Striving", "Grief", "Morning"

In addition to writing fiction and poetry, Belinda Hubert is currently working on a  a collection of short stories about life in the Midwest. Her novel, Shrink Wrapped is available on Amazon. Belinda works as a clinical psychologist in a private practice in Lowell, Indiana.  http://buelasprairiepractice.blogspot.com/

Three Poems By Frances Klein "Eve ate the apple/cause the apple was sweet", "Strange Fruit", "High Noon"

Frances Klein is a high school English teacher and poet.  She was raised in Southeast Alaska, and has since migrated to Indianapolis, where she lives with her husband Kris.

Three Poems By Milton Montague: " "Sweet Spot", "The Face", "Writer's Block"

milt montague was born and raised in new york city, survived The Great Depression, the school system, and World War ll.  After 20 years back at college he discovered poetry at 85.  Now at 90 plus he has 54 poems published in 14 different magazines.     

Three Poems By Simon Perchik

Simon Perchik is an attorney whose poems have appeared in Partisan Review, The Nation, Poetry, Osiris, The New Yorker, and elsewhere. His most recent collection is Almost Rain, published by River Otter Press (2013).  For more information, including free e-books, his essay titled “Magic, Illusion and Other Realities” please visit his website at www.simonperchik.com. 

A Poem By Gerard Sarnat: "Orestes Of Theses, Not Thebes"

Gerry and his wife of 45 years live in the room above a daughter’s family’s garage. Grandkids wander in and out all the time. It’s great! When we’re not there, we live in a yurt where our son’s family lives off the grid between the Klamath River and Marble Mountains.

Gerard Sarnat MD received his education at Harvard where he was the editor of the freshman literary magazine The Yardling, and Stanford.  He established and staffed clinics for the disenfranchised, has been a CEO of healthcare organizations, and was a Stanford professor.  

Three Poems By David Subacchi: "You Wouldn't Laugh", "Wondering", "Unbearable"

David Subacchi lives in Wales (UK) where he was born of Italian roots.

He studied at the University of Liverpool and his poetry collections

FIRST CUT (2012) and HIDING IN SHADOWS (2014) are with

Cestrian Press. You can find out more about David and his work

at  http://www.writeoutloud.net/profiles/davidsubacchi

Three Poems By Y.X. Xia: "Not Running Away", "Willow Tree", "Apple Tree"

Y.X. Xia is a scientist by day, poet by daydream. His work has been published or is forthcoming from Strong Verse,  Society of Classical Poets, Boston Literary Magazine, Otoliths, Pantheon Magazine, Star*line, Eunoia Review and elsewhere (see yuxingxia.wordpress.com). He also really likes boards that promote justice such as the washboard. Like really, all kinds of flat boards.

Visual Art: Three Paintings By W. Jack Savage

W. Jack Savage is a retired broadcaster and educator. He is the author of seven books including Imagination: The Art of W. Jack Savage (wjacksavage.com).  To date, more than fifty of Jack’s short stories and over six-hundred of his paintings and drawings have been published worldwide. Jack and his wife Kathy live in Monrovia, California.

Flash Fiction By Glenna Blomquist: "It's Alive!"

Glenna Blomquist has lived in Florida for 15 years and is still exploring what it is to be a "Floridian".  Now retired, she has time to recollect and time to experience each moment as new.  So she writes, weaving her childhood appreciations into the experience of her older self, offering up lyrical pieces with universal appeal.

Flash Fiction By Simon Brown: "These Pretty Roses"

Please visit Simon Brown's blog at:  thetypewriteraddiction.wordpress.com
His twitter handle is: Simon Brown @typewaddition
Featured here: These Pretty Roses

Flash Fiction By DB Cox: "Hope"

DB Cox is a blues musician/writer from South Carolina. He grew up in a Southern Baptist Orphanage called Connie Maxwell Children’s Home in Greenwood, SC. He graduated from high school in 1966, and joined the Marines Corps right after the Vietnam TET Offensive in 1968. After being discharged in 1972, he spent several years playing guitar in bars, juke joints, and honky tonks across the South.

Fiction By Nels Hanson: "Can You Tell Me Now?"

Nels Hanson grew up in California’s San Joaquin Valley and has worked as a farmer, teacher and writer/editor. His fiction received the San Francisco Foundation’s James D. Phelan Award and Pushcart nominations in 2010, 12, and 2014. Poems appeared in Word Riot, Oklahoma Review, Pacific Review and other magazines and received a 2014 Pushcart nomination, Sharkpack Review’s 2014 Prospero Prize, and 2015 and 2016 Best of the Net nominations.

Fiction By Muhammad Nasrullah Khan: "Raja and his Buffalo"

Muhammad Nasrullah Khan is from Pakistan currently living in Saudi Arabia, where he is Lecturer in English at Taif University. His short stories are well recognized internationally for his unique prose style, and really naive innocence of rural life of Pakistan. His short story Donkey-Man was selected among the Notable Online Short Stories of 2003 in the StorySouth Million Writers Award. His work has appeared in Newtopia Magazine, Gowanus Books,Offcourse literary Journal University at Albany, The Raven Chronicles, and many others. He exists on twitter as @nasar_peace ,at  nasar_peace@hotmail.com, nasar_peace@yahoo.com,  and https://www.facebook.com/nasar.peace 

Fiction By Jim Kjeldsen: "The Glob"

Jim Kjeldsen is a historian-journalist who lives in Bellingham, Washington. His previous books include the nonfiction "The Mountaineers: A History" (Mountaineers Books, 1998, still in print) and the forthcoming "The Carnival of Speculation" (WSU Press, due in  2016). He is a finalist for Best Online Short Story 2015 for "The Giant Gila Monster," Indiana Voice Journal, June 2015.

Fiction By Jack Daniel Miles: "Jasper County"

Jack Daniel Miles currently resides in Gainesville, Florida, with his wife and daughter.  Jack is a writer, multi-instrumentalist, and volunteer educator.  Some of Jack's most recent work is forthcoming in the spring 2016 issue of Down in the Dirt magazine.  You can also check out him and his sporadically updated blog at jackdanielmiles.com.

Flash Fiction By Colin Rowe: "Peppered Eggs"

Colin Rowe lives in Santa Fe, NM and has been published by Cracked.com, The Boston Literary Magazine, The Eunoia Review, and a dozen other flash fiction zines. He tweets under the handle @lowericon and can also be found on WriteOn and Scribophile.

 Zombie Colin (@lowericon) | Twitter
 Colin's Write On Profile

Flash Fiction By L.D. Zane: "Where's The Cow?"

L.D. served seven years in the Navy, which included a combat tour in Vietnam on river boats, and five years aboard nuclear-powered, Fast Attack submarines. At 65, his life is quieter now, and is a member of The Bold Writers.

L.D.’s short stories have been published in: Red Fez, Indiana Voice Journal, Remarkable Doorways Online Literary Magazine, The Writing Disorder, The Furious Gazelle, Slippery Elm, and The Rain, Party, & Disaster Society.

His website is: ldzaneauthor.com.

Photography By David J. Thompson: "Cadillac Ranch, Carhenge, and Old Car City"

David J. Thompson's photos have appeared in a number of journals both in print and on-line. He lived in Detroit from 1997 until last October. He has been traveling since then.   Please visit his website at ninemilephoto.com.

Nonfiction Essay By Lynda McKinney Lambert: "A January State of Mind"

Lynda McKinney Lambert created a collection of poems, reflections, and short essays in the book, “Concerti, Psalms for the Pilgrimage, “ published by Kota Press.

Her writing research and unique projects have been published in 2 books by Terry White, Professor of English, Kent State University. Lambert is a retired Professor of Fine Arts and Humanities, Geneva College, Beaver Falls, PA since 2008.

Nonfiction Article By Charles E. J. Moulton: "Colenton Freeman-Atlanta's Gift To Opera"

CHARLES E.J. MOULTON has been a stage performer since age eleven. His trilingual, artistic upbringing, as the son of Gun Kronzell and Herbert Moulton, lead to a hundred stage productions, countless cross-over concerts, work as a bandleader and as an acting teacher. He is a regular contributor for Idea Gems, has written for Shadows Express, Cover of Darkness, Vocal Images and Pill Hill Press. He is a tourguide, a big-band-vocalist, a filmmaker, a painter, a voice-over-speaker, a translator, is married and has a daughter. Charles E.J. Moulton's passion is creative versatility. His short story collection, Aphrodite's Curse: 21 Tales of Love and Terror can be purchased by clicking the link. Homepages: http://www.reverbnation.com/charlesejmoulton/ 

Nonfiction Portrait Piece By K.R. Riordan: "Swimming In Conversation"

K. R. Riordan is a senior at Seattle University, diligently working towards his Bachelor of Arts in English & Creative Writing. He has published numerous short stories, photographs, & non-fiction essays in various journals and literary magazine throughout the Pacific Northwest and across America in such places as the Percival Review, a literary journal out of Olympia, Washington, The Indiana Voice Journal, and The Mulberry Fork Review. After graduating, he plans to teach Literature and/or Creative Writing at the collegiate level. His main goal in life is to transfer his passion for literature and reading onto younger generations.

Memoir Excerpt By Bruce F. Rosen: "Phillip Rusty Siegler" from If You Ever Need Me, I Won’t Be Far Away

An award-winning writer, Bruce F. Rosen shares the same publisher as literary greats Allen Ginsberg, Laurence Ferlinghetti, and William Saroyan.  Featured on The Today Show and the cover of Personal Excellence and Publisher’s Weekly, he has written for the San Francisco Chronicle and the Baseball Hall of Fame.  His “slice of life” pieces ran on BBC Radio.  His mother, Alma Rose, who was a psychic that read tea leaves for, among others, Marlon Brando, inspired this memoir which is dedicated to her.  This excerpt showcases his best friend from his youth, who lives on, only, in the author’s memories. Please visit his website: www.almarosepublishing.com

Memoir By Adreyo Sen: "Roots"

Adreyo Sen is pursuing his MFA at Southampton College. 

He is a frequent contributor to Indiana Voice Journal.