Issue Four – Author Biographies

 

Unity Flow

"...is a former games designer and scientist who lost faith in video games, stopped playing with science and started to create odd pictures to fill the void left behind. For more information and some more of the Flowfield Unity visit www.freewebs/flowfieldunity."

 

Grant Perry

"...began writing stories when his promising career as a virtuoso Jew's harpist was curtailed by chronic gingivitis. Though yet to achieve the acclaim he garnered for his re-workings of classic 70s TV themes for the Jew's harp, his literary endeavours have met with limited success; appearing or upcoming in Eyeshot, Pindeldyboz, Thunder Sandwich, Megaera, FRiGG, Uber, Thieves Jargon and Snow Monkey, amongst others.

'Reflections of a Swordsman' is an excerpt from his difficult first novel. He lives in South London."

 

Peter Rolls

"1930: born 7 May.  Thus briefly a contemporary of Arthur Conan Doyle (died 17 July), although no meeting is recorded …

1942: Slough Grammar School.  English report: ‘weak’.  Discouraged; collected train numbers …

1990: retired.  Joined Creative Writing class in Camberley.  Some success in competitions, magazines, anthologies and internet (eg. www.eastoftheweb.com).  Monologues and plays performed …

2005: cholesterol 5.1.  With Felicity Howard’s Adult Education group in Farnham.  Others write novels; I just try to catch up on my homework."

 

Louie Crew

"...is 69, and the author of 1,705 published poems and essays and lives in East Orange, NJ, with Ernest Clay, his husband of 32 years. Crew taught in the secondary modern school in Penge in 1965-66 and in 1970-71 was back in England as academic advisor to U.S. undergraduates doing independent study. He is an emeritus professor of literature at Rutgers: The State University of New Jersey. "

 

Judith Beck

"...is a physician practicing in California. She recently received honorable mention in "Best American Essays of 2004" and was awarded the Bernice Slote Award and a Pushcart nomination from Prairie Schooner. Published here and there, from literary journals to anthologies, now mostly working on this novel, SKIN. "

 

Krystal Hansen

"...is a poet from Brisbane, Australia. She has always had a passion for words and has written short films, poems, and songs and is currently working on completing her first manuscript. Her main influences are Anais Nin, Leonard Cohen and Pablo Neruda. Her writing is strongly inspired by the dynamics of relationships, touch and intimacy."

 

Eleanor Taylor

"...is studying an MA in Creative and Critical Writing at the University of Sussex and is a member of the Sussex Postgraduate Writing Group. She has written travel brochures, online city guides, book reviews and features for newspapers and magazines. Her writing has been published in The Guardian, Number Ten, Fresh and The Argus. Eleanor's creative writing has been published in Reading Prose and she won the Promis Prize in the London Writers' Competition 2004."

 

Frances Ball

"...was born in Kew where she spent her childhood. Her family later moved to the south-west where she trained to teach infants. Her favourite teaching post was at Parracombe School on Exmoor where the niece of Richard Doddridge Blackmore (author of Lorna Doone) had once been headmistress. She began writing as part of her work as a teacher. Her book The Development Of Reading Skills was published by Blackwells. She has also written various children's stories. These have appeared in collections such as The Flying Squirrel and Other Stories from the Woodlands (Eurobook). She now writes short stories for adults on a variety of subjects and is also putting together a themed collection provisionally entitled Red Earth. She publishes some material under her imprint Bradhill Books. Her two sons have always been dedicated football supporters. They have written about the game and sometimes trade memorabilia."

 

Ramesh Avadhani

"...lives in Bangalore, India, and has a background in journalism, public relations and advertising. He has published over 50 stories and articles in India. He is a regular contributor to Reptilia (Spain) which appears in all the major European langauges. His recent writings have appeared/are forthcoming in Australia (Living Now), UAE (Woman This Month), USA (Gastronomica, Dragonfire, Gobshite, World Online), and UK (The Reader). He is in the final throes of completing his first novel, a story of politics in love, family, and religion. He can be contacted at ramesh_avadhani@yahoo.com."

Ryan Bird

"...The castle-gate has but one key, and Ryan Bird carries that. When he is not safeguarding the regal and the dastardly, he likes to pass time by stroking his moustache, empting out the Thieves Quarter and counting his friend’s fingers. For more arcane references, please visit: www.ryanbird.com."

Brendan Connell

"...was born in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 1970 and currently lives in Ticino, Switzerland, where he teaches English and writes. He has had fiction published in numerous magazines, literary journals and anthologies, including The Journal of Experimental Fiction, Fantastic Metropolis, Leviathan 3 (The Ministry of Whimsy 2002), Album Zutique (The Ministry of Whimsy 2003) and Strange Tales (Tartarus Press 2003). His first novel, The Translation of Father Torturo, has recently been published by Prime Books; his novella Dr. Black and the Guerrillia has recently been published by Grafitisk Press."

Kate Noakes

"...was born in Guildford in 1962 of Welsh parentage. She has degrees in Geography and English from Reading University. She has lived in the UK, USA and Australia.

Her work has appeared in a number of small press magazines in the UK and USA. She reads her poems at The Poet's Café, South Street Arts Centre, Reading on the third Friday of each month.

She has been invited to perform at the Poetry Society, The Big Chill, Glastonbury Festival, Nottingham Poetry Festival and Windsor Arts Centre."

Jonathan Guilford

"A seventeen-year-old student currently living in York, but preparing to move on to a gap year and then university to study an English Literature degree.  Aside from occasionally busking with my yellow ukulele around York, I rarely do anything I consider "work".  Stephen King and David Mitchell have been my guiding influences in writing my first novel, still yet to see completion."

Leigh G Banks

"...was a daily newspaper writer for 20 years. Then he lost his job.  That launched him on an odyssey across Europe, into Africa and, finally, to America as a travel writer. Along the way, he found the ambition to write well and completed his first novel, Half Moon, and a TV drama, The Orphan Train.  So, from a 'hack' of some renown, he has become a real-McCoy impoverished writer"