Jay Bates (Founder, Humor Editor, & Live Show Host) grew up an innocent in Puyallup, WA during the 1970s and '80s.  He was so innocent that when a girl asked him in the 8th grade if he was a he was a virgin, he said, "No, I'm a Taurus."  As a grown up, he teaches English and writes fiction, humor and sub-par doggerel poetry.  He still makes his home in Puyallup with his wife, son, daughter, and dog, a yellow Labrador retriever named Ulysses. His work has appeared in The Southeast Review.

Boyd Benson (Poetry Editor) lives in Clarkston, WA, with his wife, three stepsons, two Chihuahuas and Pomeranian puppy.  He has taught at Washington State University for the last decade and has published poems in The Iowa Review, Ascent, Free Lunch and other publications.  In 2007, his twenty-poem manuscript The Owl’s Ears was included in Volume 1 of the LOST HORSE PRESS NEW POETS SERIES: NEW POETS SHORT BOOKS, edited by Marvin Bell.  He is a recipient of a 2009 Lohmann Poetry Prize and recently, his poem “Owl” appears in the Anhinga Press anthology The Poets Guide to the Birds.  He currently dreams of finding a new career, perhaps Roto-Rooter, as long he does not have to take his work home with him. 

Elea Carey (Editor) was born and raised in Memphis. Her grandparents were sharecroppers on one side and the descendants of Mississippi politicians on the other. She left Memphis at seventeen for New York, attended Sarah Lawrence, San Francisco State and Pacific Lutheran University. Her stories have been published in StoryQuarterly, Exquisite Corpse and The Georgia Review; anthologized by Narrative Press and nominated for Best American Nonrequired Reading and the Puschcart Prize. In addition to writing, she has worked as a radio announcer in Puerto Rico, a bilingual copywriter in New Mexico, and a counselor in the military corrections system. She is a wife, mother of two boys, and horseback rider.

Julie H. Case (Fiction Editor & Literature in Translation Editor) is a fiction writer and one time "bus poet" from Seattle and currently at work on her first collection of short stories. A graduate (many, many years ago) of Interlochen Arts Academy in beautiful Northern Michigan, she is also a graduate (much more recently) of the Rainier Writer's Workshop, an MFA in Creative Writing program at Pacific Lutheran University. Fond of eating and snowboarding, she supports her literary proclivities by working as a magazine editor. Her favorite drink is the vodka martini.

Joanna Manning (Nonfiction Editor) grew up on a farm in Western Pennsylvania where, as a kid, she used to sneak into the barn and taste the salt lick kept out for the cows.  These days, These days she resides (largely against her will) in Dover, Delaware, where she teaches writing at Wesley College. When she is not busy complaining about Delaware, she is at work on a collection of essays dealing with various forms of inheritance.

Meghan McClure (Poetry Editor) was born in Connecticut and has moved 21 times since. She currently lives in Auburn, Washington with her husband, 2 dogs, and a cat named Turtle. Her work has appeared in roger, Superstition Review, and Mid-American Review as well as in folders sitting neatly organized on her shelves. She currently studies in the MFA program at Pacific Lutheran University and spends too much time wishing she were in the mafia and quoting her hero, Vito Corleone, while sipping whiskey.

Meg Hurtado (Fiction Editor) graduated from the University of Richmond in Virginia, where she received a B.A. in English and worked for Brian Henry at VERSE Magazine. Last year she received her M.F.A. in Creative Writing from St. Mary's College of California, where she studied with Brenda Hillman and Graham Foust and worked for Omnidawn Press. She's been published in Cannibal, The West Wind Review, POOL, and The Columbia Poetry Review. She loves Keats, the Marquis de Sade, and cream cheese above all things. She works as a copywriter and editor.

Michael Schmeltzer (Poetry Editor & Publicity Coordinator) is ready to rumble. He believes the Snuggie is a hug made of fleece. His work appears or is forthcoming in various online journals (Waccamaw, Rougarou), print journals (Mid-American Review, Natural Bridge), and editorial office recycle bins. His honors include three Pushcart Prize nominations, the Gulf Stream Award for Poetry, Blue Earth Review’s Flash Fiction Prize, and the Artsmith Literary Award. If you want him to like you, mention any of the following: poet John Berryman, TV show Scrubs, writer/director Darren Aronofsky, Final Fantasy or Silent Hill, and/or KEXP.   

Paul Sundstrom (Graphic Artist) lives in Seattle where he operates his business, Paul Sundstrom Freelance Illustration.  His clients range from local businesses to film production companies to corporate businesses such as Mattel.  When he isn’t knee-deep in India ink, he writes screenplays and enjoys their rejections (experiences akin to standing naked outside a locked house).  He remains adamant that “Showgirls” is the best film comedy of the 1990s, perhaps of all time.  Visit his blog of film reviews through the medium of comics at www.arghcentral.com.

Cameron Walker (Fiction Editor) is a California-based writer and editor.  Her writing has appeared in the Missouri Review, Skiing and Middlebury Magazine.  Even after scoring tips from a stone-skipping world record holder for a Discover story, she can hardly get a hop--but she'll keep trying.