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.  His work has appeared in Dog Fancy Magazine, Elysian Fields Quarterly, and The Edgerton Elementary PTA Newsletter.  He still makes his home in Puyallup with his wife, son, daughter, and dog, a yellow Labrador retriever named Ulysses.

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 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, living in rural Washington State.

Julie 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, she is an occasional contributor to the Tacoma News Tribune.  Her work has been featured in Wilmington Blues and her essay, "Dissection," was named finalist for The Bellingham Review's 2007 Annie Dillard Award.  Following graduation from Syracuse University, she was commissioned as an officer in the Army Medical Service Corps and served in Heidelberg, Germany.  She currently lives in Tacoma with her husband Chad and young son Dylan, who, at three years old, has already acquired a passion for watching football on television.

Michael Schmeltzer (Poetry Editor & Publicity Coordinator) is ready to rumble. He believes narwhals are the unicorns of the sea and should be treated as such. His work appears or is forthcoming in various online journals (Poetry Midwest, Boxcar Poetry Review), print journals (New York Quarterly, Briar Cliff Review), and editorial office recycle bins. He has been a finalist in the Crab Creek Review Poetry Contest, Jane Kenyon Poetry Prize, and Richard Hugo House New Works Competition. 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.  Should you be interested in learning more about Paul Sundstrom Freelance Illustration, feel free to write to sundstroms@yahoo.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.