DARK MOON DIGEST

Editor-in-Chief / Publisher

STAN SWANSON

Stan has been writing, editing and publishing for over 30 years. This is his third magazine as editor/publisher. (The first two—computer oriented—have faded into oblivion.) He has written 5 books including two nonfiction works and three novels. He has also written numerous short stories,  poetry and over 200 songs. (In addition to writing, he spent many years as a singer/songwriter.) He is owner of Stony Meadow Publishing and its imprint: Dark Moon Books. Married with three children and six grandchildren, Stan is hiding away on the beaches of Florida trying to determine if he can possibly retire early and spend his time writing and publishing—as if that isn’t work.

Managing Editor

LORI MICHELLE

Lori was born in Los Angeles, CA where she was raised to be a ballerina. After injuring herself before her career could begin, she turned her creative efforts elsewhere. Now she resides in San Antonio Texas, where she is the wearer of many hats: a mother of two, a full time bookkeeper and IT tech for a real estate company, dance studio owner, a graphic designer, and, on occasion, a vermillion tiara. When not talking about writing stories, sometimes Lori actually writes short stories, novels, half finished novels and poems. And while pretending to work, she creates websites and designs business cards on the side. She also enjoys peanut butter on her waffles. Don't ask. You can enlist her business card making services at www.lmbgraphics.com

Assistant to the Editor / Content Editor

FRANCES AUGUSTA HOGG

Frances Is president of the forty-year old Hudson Valley Writers Association, and co-author of "Writing Group in a Box," a handbook for writing critique groups.  A former attorney, Frances has focused on free-lance story editing and coaching since 2007.  She is an editor at Pen-in-Hand Press, in Beacon New York, as well as other imprints.

Consulting Editor

ARAMINTA STAR MATTHEWS

Araminta has both a BFA and MFA in creative writing.  Currently, she works as a College Writing and Humanities instructor at a college in central Maine, and she runs a transition program for adults interested in returning to college for a career in health care.  When she is not writing or teaching, she is involved in theatre or learning a new type of art.  She spins wool, paints, designs her own clothing and handbags, and plays with clay on a semi-regular basis.  She is a big fan of genre fiction, particularly supernatural horror, and finds herself wooed by apocalyptic zombies or non-teen based, anti-Twilight vampire fiction.  The only thing that really scares her, however, is bobbleheads.  Those things are just too creepy. 

Story/Copy Editors

MAX BOOTH III

Max has been writing practically his whole life, sharpening the craft with each new word he creates—all while wearing a fancy hat. He is intrigued by the absurd and surreal. More of his works can be found on his blog, http://homeonlinoleum.tumblr.com.

SEAN M. DAVIS

Sean recently found a story in childish handwriting entitled “The Killer Morning” proving that he learned how to write by writing stories. His story, “Pink Lemonade,” was published on Fangoria.com as part of their Weird Words Contest; his story, “First Word,” was published in the Wayne Literary Review 2010. He is currently working on a novel, Clean Freak. Visit The Chimerical Dark for articles, story excerpts and more at http://seanmdavis.wordpress.com/.

GEORGE LEA

George inhabits a shadowy realm in the British Midlands that consists primarily of writing, wandering, and unholy amounts of red wine. When not earning a living in his various capacities as a tutor, assistant and support worker to the mentally disabled, he tends to be sealed away in some dark, dank space, scribbling furiously in an effort to exorcise the stories whispering in his skull. He describes editing as "...like surgery, only gorier." Regards humanity as an occasional indulgence, stories as essential as air.

NICK MEDINA

Nick is a young author and editor from Chicago, Illinois. Since 2009 he has been published in print, online and audio formats by magazines, journals and short story anthologies in the United States and the United Kingdom. To see some of Nick’s published work, or to contact him, visit his personal website at http://sites.google.com/site/nickjmedina/.

MICHAEL O'NEAL

Michael resides in Las Vegas, NV, where he writes horror/dark fantasy and science fiction. A prolific artist and playwright, he has had several of his plays produced – Soul, Nuthouse, and Booksmart. Online his weekly comic, Empty Space updates weekly and appears in the quarterly fantasy magazine, Abandoned Towers. In September of 2010 he is slated to be a featured actor in an upcoming Hollywood horror/comedy film (name not yet to be announced). His chapbook of poetry, Enema, is available in paperback. Mr. O'Neal holds a degree in clinical psychology.

KURT REICHENBAUGH

Kurt grew up in Florida and currently lives in Phoenix where he works in the Insurance industry. He loves pulp magazines of just about any genre, vintage noir paperbacks and classic horror movies. To date, his stories have appeared in PHOENIX NOIR, HUNGUR, SOUNDS OF THE NIGHT and NITEBLADE.

Associate Editors

DAVID AET

David grew up in the shadows of the Son of Svengoolie TV show in Chicago. He was tricked into watching zombie movies by his older brother and is now addicted to all things Zombie, Frankenstein-ish, and monster movies galore are on the menu. He gets a kick out of Sci-fi, Horror stories, Edward Gorey and Charles Addams are revered and all the Film Noir and Pulp Detectives he can can handle. After an extensive unrelated educational career, he has to dedicated himself to painting and writing again (mostly commission work and some private showings) and searching to become recognized. He has, over the past few years, began compiling his own poetry and stories to publish (thanks to his sister.) He lives in Southern California with a black cat, his best friend (his wife), both of whom shall remain nameless to avoid incrimination.

BRIGID DAULL BROCKWAY

Brigid lives in a hobbit hole in Canton, OH with her husband and two hell beasts disguised as cats. She is a technical writer who also keeps a blog on words, word origins, and language. For more information you can visit her at technicallyawriter.blogspot.com. As a child, Brigid was afraid of the Nancy Drew books, and just seeing the commercials for horror movies gave her nightmares for weeks. She has no idea, therefore, what possessed her to read Stephen King's The Stand when she was 14, but she's been hooked on horror ever since.

PHILLIP BROWN

Phillip resides in Washington State, where he was born and raised...hell.  He feels akin to the sleeping habits of vampires, the hygiene of werewolves and the intellect of zombies; therefore he loves reading and writing about them.  He has an MBA from WSU, as does many of his unemployed fellow alumni.  He enjoys writing short stories because he doesn't have the attention span to write a novel, and has a collection of his own published, 12 Days of Christmas.

CHARLES CAPASSO

Charles was born in Boston, Massachusetts and raised in Akron, Ohio. He graduated from Denison University, where he majored in English with a concentration in Creative Writing. He currently resides in Atlanta, Georgia.

KYLE DICKERSON

MANNY FRISHBERG

Born just south of New York City, Manny has made his home on the West Coast for more than 30 years. His articles appear on the pages of numerous publications and websites. He lives with his partner in the shadow of SeaTac Airport, where they attend two cats and wait for the children to call. Having been writing science fiction in which children and cats play a significant role for half his life, his first fiction sale, a short fantasy story which has neither, is due out in late 2010.

CRAIG GARRETT

Craig is the co-creator and writer of the web comic "Robot Lincoln & Zombie Jackson." Craig lived in Los Angeles for a while. Now he lives in Queens.

ABNER GOODWIN

JULIE JANSEN

Julie lives in Olympia, Washington where she spends gray rainy days writing creepy stories when she's not teaching Italian. She loves Godzilla, spooky stories, hanging out with the "grrls" in her writers group, and sneaking vegetables into children's food. She has a BA in Anthropology and Italian from the University of Washington and continued at that school to pursue her MA in Italian Literature (but is admittedly a grad school dropout). Her stories have appeared in Nature, The Harrow, State of Imagination, and Black Petals Magazine. She's an associate member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America and a guild member of the Northwest Screenwriters Guild. Her current projects include a young adult fantasy novel and a horror comedy creature feature script.

TRACIE MCBRIDE

Tracie is a New Zealander who lives in Melbourne, Australia with her husband and three children. She is a member of the Melbourne-based speculative fiction writers group SuperNOVA. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in over 50 print and electronic publications, including Pulp.Net, Coyote Wild, Abyss and Apex, Space & Time, Sniplits and Electric Velocipede. She won the Sir Julius Vogel Award for Best New Talent for 2007.

ADAM STEHLY

Adam lives in Wisconsin with his wife, two stepsons, four cats and dog.  Moving up from Florida, he’s convinced himself that the winters aren’t so bad after all.  He also has a penchant for brewing and drinking beer.  In his spare time, he works as a property administration paralegal for a relatively large national retail chain.  He has a B.A. in English from Penn State and has been passionate about horror fiction, movies and comics since adolescence.

RORY WARWICK

JENNIFER WORD

Jennifer resides in Southern California .  She has written six novels, dozens of short stories, two screenplays and numerous poems.  She holds a B.A. in Psychology from Pepperdine University.  When Jennifer was nine, she picked up the novel IT, by Stephen King and began reading.  She hasn't stopped since.  She loves horror, science fiction and fantasy, and especially enjoys reading short story anthologies, in all genres, including the O. Henry Prize Stories. Jennifer has dedicated the last twelve years to raising her beautiful children, and is now poised to make her writing debut.

Managing Editor of Dark Eclipse

LORI MICHELLE

Book Reviewer

ASHLEY DENIS

Staff Artists / Photographers

WHENDY MUCHLIS EFFENDY, MARC OLIPHANT, CANDRA HOPE,  and MAHELLA (T.M.)