<%@ Language=VBScript %> Contributors - Mused - the BellaOnline Literary Review Magazine
MUSED
BellaOnline Literary Review
Tentacles by Christine Catalano

Table of Contents

Contributors
Melissa J. Bahle Melissa J. Bahle

Melissa began writing poetry in high school after being inspired by Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s "Sometime During Eternity." Discovering it was okay to write poetry that didn’t rhyme, she began experimenting with free verse. Today, Melissa is a contributor to writingiscake.com, a blog by writers, for writers. Between working at a local college and training for the next Warrior Dash, she likes to sit quietly at the kitchen table and stare at the blank screen of her laptop until an idea strikes.

Maesa Beany Maesa Beany

Maesa was born in Ghana to Lebanese parents and has spent the intervening years in Lebanon, Africa, France, and the UK. She is currently taking a sabbatical from her job as an investment banker in London to write, travel, experiment, and explore new possibilities.

Jeff Bell Jeff Bell

Jeff Bell is a poet and musician originally from South Shields, North East England. He is now currently living in London, UK. His music can be heard at http://myspace.com/quangomusic.

Bruce J. Berger Bruce J. Berger

Bruce J. Berger is a graduate of the University of Connecticut and Harvard Law School, still practicing law in Washington, DC. His short stories and poems have been published in a variety of literary journals. He publishes collections of short stories and other materials for Amazon/Kindle. See http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=Bruce+J.+Berger Bruce lives in Silver Spring, MD, with his wife Laurie and their two dogs, Sandy and Danny.

Mark Berkerey Mark Berkerey

Mark was born to itinerant Irish parents which set the scene for a restless life. Like the Gypsy, he couldn´t accept the moribund values of a soulless society, what passed for important or posed as spiritual. The resulting roller-coaster of experience and inner conflict eventually gave way to a love of the simple sense of nature that he now lives - the best he can - as a form of meditation. He expresses his ongoing exploration of nature´s spiritual value through his writing and pictures at www.beingmark.com

Lori Blake Lori Blake

Lori Blake is a writer and hobby photographer from Raleigh, North Carolina.

Carole Bouchard Carole Bouchard

Carole Bouchard is a self-taught photographer with a deep passion for this art form. Though she had an interest in this medium for many years, it was digital photography that fired her creativity. Fortuitous meetings with on-line friends and mentors pointed the way to more creative experiments. She particularly enjoys macro photography of nature subjects and the magic of water reflections. You can see more of her work at www.carolebouchard.smugmug.com. Carole lives in Groton, MA.

Fred Boye Fred Boye

Fred Boye has been involved in photography for over 30 years. During that time, he became passionate about motorsports and aviation photography. When he is not at the airport or track, you might find him in much quieter surroundings photographing nature. Fred currently works as a college instructor, teaching 3D animation and game production.

Candice Carnes Candice Carnes

Candice Carnes earned her BFA in creative writing at Goddard College. She is the winner of the 2009 Leo-Love Merit Scholarship in fiction, and the 2011 Spirit of Goddard essay contest. Her work has appeared in Adobe Walls, Raphael´s Village, and the Apeiron Review. This story is an excerpt from, An Incomplete Case Study of the Petrified Woman, a memoir of her own traumatic illness. Most of her stories are informed by over a decade of providing hands-on patient care.

Christine Catalano Christine Catalano

An English Lit major in college, Christine slipped into publishing by becoming the artist that had been lurking inside all along. She worked happily in graphics for many years. Now liberated from daily deadlines, she tries to tempt her muse with camera, Photoshop, and the occasional poem. Some of her artwork has been published in the San Pedro River Review, Crack the Spine, and Mused, among others.

Joanne Cucinello Joanne Cucinello

Joanne Cucinello is a poet and writer who to date has published three books of poetry and an illustrated Children´s Fairytale. Her works include lyric essays and free form poetry, often visionary and insightful. Joanne is a member of the Academy of American Poets and the Society of Children´s Book Writers and Illustrators. She has been published in "Shadows Ink Selected Poems 2008" and "A Splash of Verse 2008" with an Award of Excellence. http://icthebridge-moonspirit.blogspot.com/

T.A. Cullen T.A. Cullen

T. A. Cullen lives and works in Madison Wisconsin and is a member of the Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets. He has a BS from Cardinal Stritch University and a MBA from University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee. Tom’s work has appeared in Mused before and has also been published in the Wisconsin Poets´ Calendar 2010 thru 2013. His work has also appeared in Verse Wisconsin Online and Gutter Eloquence.

Tanya Dickinson Tanya Dickinson

Tanya was raised in Missoula, Montana and attended the University of Montana. Her poetry focuses on issues ranging from family and community to nature and politics. She currently resides in Portland, Oregon with her husband and daughter.

Stacey Dye Stacey Dye

Stacey writes to touch people. Her favorite subject is the human condition. Her love affair with words is life long and she collects them on rocks, jewelry and through music and memorable quotes. She lives in Georgia with her husband Dennis and her critters Izzy and Elly. Credits include Touch: The Journal of Healing, BluePrintReview and previous issues of Mused. www.stace-onawhim.blogspot.com

Louis Gallo Louis Gallo

Louis Gallo was born and raised in New Orleans and now teaches at Radford University in Virginia. His work has appeared or will appear shortly in Glimmer Train, American Literary Review, Texas Review, The Southern Quarterly, storySouth, The Ledge, Missouri Review, New Orleans Review, Xavier Review, Baltimore Review, Berkeley Fiction Review, Portland Review, Greensboro Review, Oregon Literary Review, Bartleby Snopes and many others.

Leigh Harlett Leigh Harlett

Leigh Harlett is a Creative Writing student based in Liverpool, the UK. She is a bit of a self-confessed Science-Fiction and Fantasy nerd and would love to write for video games one day.

Dixon Hearne Dixon Hearne

Dixon Hearne teaches and writes in southern California and Mississippi. His work has been twice nominated for the Pushcart Prize. His recent book, Plantatia, was nominated for the Hemingway Foundation award and received the Creative Spirit Award-Platinum. Other work appears in Post Road, Cream City Review, Hawai’i Pacific Review, Louisiana Literature, Potomac Review, Roanoke Review, Wisconsin Review, and elsewhere. He is at work on a play and short story collection. Visit: dixonhearne.com

Lois Elaine Heckman Lois Elaine Heckman

Lois Elaine Heckman grew up in Los Angeles, receiving a degree in Italian from UCLA. Her home is Milan, Italy. Among her writing credits are Boston Literary Magazine, Sonnet Scroll, Tilt-a-Whirl, and Yale Journal for Humanities in Medicine. She won the 2010 New England Shakespeare Festival Rubber Ducky Sonnet Contest and placed in both the Poetry on the Lake Competition and the Hungry Hill Poetry Prize in 2012. Her chapbook "Out of Nowhere" is available on Amazon. She also enjoys photography.

Mary Henderson Mary Henderson

Mary Henderson is a retired elementary school teacher. Next to spending time with her grandchildren, she most enjoys a nature walk with her camera ready. When inclement weather keeps her indoors, she enjoys making greeting cards, writing stories for her grandchildren and short stories of a personal nature. She has published one book and several stories have been printed in Guideposts, I love Cats, Chicken Soup for the Soul and Reminisce. Her digital wildlife photography has won several awards.

Lisa Hodges Lisa Hodges

Lisa is originally from Wellington, New Zealand, but for the last 10 years has lived in Canada; most recently in Saskatchewan. She is an active member of the Saskatchewan Poetry Society; a group that started in 1935 and is still going strong. She has been writing only a short time and is delighted and very grateful to have her work recognized and published in MUSED. Lisa and her husband of 31 years have 3 grown children and one small and very lively grand-daughter.

A.J. Huffman A.J. Huffman

A.J. Huffman is a poet and freelance writer in Daytona Beach, Florida. She has previously published six collections of poetry all available on Amazon.com. She has also published her work in numerous national and international literary journals. Most recently, she has accepted the position as editor for six online poetry journals for Kind of a Hurricane Press ( www.kindofahurricanepress.com ). Find more about A.J. Huffman, including additional information and links to her work on Facebook.

Gary F. Iorio Gary F. Iorio

Gary F. Iorio has an MFA in fiction from the Iowa Writers´ Workshop He lives in Islip, New York and has been a real estate attorney since 1985.

Margaret Karmazin Margaret Karmazin

Margaret Karmazin’s credits include 150 stories published in magazines including Rosebud, Chrysalis Reader, Mobius and North Atlantic Review. She has had four Pushcart and one 2010 Million Writers Award nominations and stories included in STILL GOING STRONG, TEN TWISTED TALES, PIECES OF EIGHT (AUTISM ACCEPTANCE), DAUGHTERS OF ICARUS, M-BRANE and other anthologies. Her YA novel, REPLACING FIONA and children’s book, FLICK-FLICK & DREAMER were published by etreasurespublishing.com.

Meghan Kelly Meghan Kelly

Meghan Kelly lives in North Carolina with one free-range child, one rescue dog and a large stripey cat. She nurtures obsessions on the Civil War, the paranormal and folklore which were also encouraged by her defection from the North after one too many snow storms. Meghan has published one novel, Cursing Fate, and one novella, Clockwork. She is currently working on her next novella, Make Me Real, and exploring her new habitat with camera in hand.

Sean J. Mahoney Sean J. Mahoney

Sean lives with his wife, her parents, and two dogs in Santa Ana, CA. He has been there 9 months now after stints in Los Angeles, Ukiah, Santa Cruz, and formative years spent in Fresno. Yes - he likes California. Sean works in geophysics after studying literature and poetry in school. The palateras frequent his street and ring their bells. They ring their bells quite often. With the help of aspirin and water Sean recovers. After he has eaten of course.

Patricia Maulding Patricia Maulding

Patricia Maulding, aka, ´Poppet´, collects old books and silver spoons. She is a freelance artist, poet and photographer who secretly writes songs for the moon. You can find her work at: http://pillpoppet.imagekind.com/

Mark J. Mitchell Mark J. Mitchell

Mark J. Mitchell studied writing at UC Santa Cruz under Raymond Carver, George Hitchcock. His work has appeared in the anthologies Good Poems, American Places, Hunger Enough, Retail Woes and Line Drives. His chapbook, Three Visitors has been published by Negative Capability. Artifacts and Relics, another chapbook, is forthcoming from Folded Word and his novel, Knight Prisoner, will be published in the coming months. He lives in San Francisco with his wife, the filmmaker Joan Juster.

Samantha Moore Samantha Moore

Samantha Moore is a writer, a healer, and a student of life. Follow the adventures of a reluctant priestess, reconciling dichotomies on her blog "Gratitude and Curses" at http://wiseandlost.wordpress.com/

Toni K. Pacini Toni K. Pacini

Toni Pacini, Author, poet, natural born storyteller. Her stories piled up throughout a bizarre childhood spent in a small cotton mill village in Alabama. Raised to be silent, told “never tell” she speaks out in her memoir – Alabama Blue – and has burst forth into the second half of her life with words flowing freely. She writes poetry and short stories in Southern Gothic Style. Toni lives in Las Vegas where she’s a member of the Henderson Writers Group.

Helen Peppe Helen Peppe

Helen Peppe´s writing and photographs have appeared in Practical Horseman, Equus, Dog Fancy, and Cats Magazine. Three stories from her memoir will appear in Pop Fic Review, PaniK and Telling Our Stories. Helen’s writing placed first in the Richard Carbonneau Fiction Contest, the WordWorth 2009 Essay and Fiction Contest, The Starving Writer Literary contest, May and August 2010.She was a finalist in the 2011 Annie Dillard Creative Nonfiction Award and a finalist in the 2011 Maine Literary Awards.

Andriana Pohja Andriana Pohja

Andriana Pohja is a bit of an eccentric who works forensics and has an inherent passion for the creative arts. Her admiration for the beauty of natural and man-made surroundings, along with personal experiences and just a touch of morbid darkness, are her inspirations for her photos, art, jewelry, poems, and stories.

Barry Press Barry Press

Barry is a barrister from London who has written a few poems and translations, including Derby Day 1913 and Under Milk Hedge. Visit http://freespace.virgin.net/barry.press/home/poems.html

Dorothy R. Rice Dorothy R. Rice

Dorothy Rice recently retired from a 35-year career in environmental protection. She is enrolled in UC Riverside-Palm Desert´s creative writing MFA program. Rice is working on a novel inspired by her late father´s surrealistic and hard-edge paintings from the 1960´s and has developed a website dedicated to his work: http://www.josephflaviusrice.com/ Dorothy is also working on a memoir about approaching 60 and belatedly pursuing a lifelong dream to become a published writer.

Linda Riz Linda Riz

Linda is a Forensic Technician with the County of Riverside in California. Her current hobbies are mountain biking and photography. She usually takes her Canon PowerShot point n shoot camera with her when she rides Sycamore Canyon; an ecological reserve in Riverside. She says "You don´t need to own an expensive camera to get great shots, just get out there and look around".

Al Rollins Al Rollins

Al Rollins is a retired Local Government Budget Manager. Al loves to travel the USA with his wife, Janet, and photograph all the wonders of this great country.

Sue Russell Sue Russell

Raised in Montana and transposed to the mid-west, Sue Russell finds her inspiration in the mountainous wilderness of her childhood. As a practicing psychologist/psychoanalyst, she brings the richness of human emotional experience and dream symbolism to her writing.

April Salzano April Salzano

April Salzano teaches college writing in Pennsylvania. Her work has appeared in Poetry Salzburg, Pyrokinection, Convergence, Ascent Aspirations, The Rainbow Rose, The Camel Saloon, The Applicant, The Mindful Word, Napalm and Novocain, The Second Hump, Jellyfish Whispers, The South Townsville Micro Poetry Journal, The Weekender Magazine, Deadsnakes, Winemop, Daily Love, WIZ, and is forthcoming in Inclement, Poetry Quarterly, and Decompression. She is working on her first collection of poetry.

Eileen Sateriale Eileen Sateriale

Eileen Sateriale is a Federal Government worker who writes in her spare time. She lives in Methuen, Massachusetts with her husband, Ken. In the past few years, she has had the chance to travel to Europe and Alaska. She is the mother of two grown daughters who are a source of pride for her. She has had poetry and short stories featured in print and on-line media.

Julie L. Scharf Julie L. Scharf

Julie L. Scharf is a lover and writer of creative nonfiction, and has published over several short stories, essays, and poems. She is the author of short CNF pieces titled The Train of Bobby´s Life, Remnants, and Signals. Born and raised in the suburbs of Chicago, Illinois, she now resides in Colorado.

Linda Leedy Schneider Linda Leedy Schneider

Linda Leedy Schneider is a poetry and writing mentor and psychotherapist in private practice. She received the 2012 Contemporary American Poetry Prize from Chicago Poetry. Linda leads the Manhattan Writing Workshop. Her work has been published in hundreds of literary magazines including Pedestal Magazine, Rattle,and The Sow’s Ear. Linda has written six collections of poetry including Some Days: Poetry of a Psychotherapist (Plain View Press 2011). http://www.pw.org/content/linda_leedy_schneider

Donna Sciandra Donna Sciandra

Donna has always been adventurous and loved to travel. She spent two years in Jamaica (as a teacher trainer in Kingston) and five years in the Solomon Islands on Guadalcanal (as a Community Developer in a rain forest living in a leaf house) with the Peace Corps. Donna is now a retired elementary school teacher who is enjoying her “free” time traveling and photographing North America.

Andrew R. Sciandra Andrew R. Sciandra

Andrew is a retired Alternative High School Art Teacher.

Frank Scozzari Frank Scozzari

Pushcart Prize nominee Frank Scozzari resides in Nipomo, a small town on the California central coast. His award-winning short stories have appeared in numerous literary magazines including The Kenyon Review, Pacific Review, The Nassau Review, The Berkeley Fiction Review, and The MacGuffin, and have been featured in Speaking of Stories, Santa Barbara’s preeminent literary theater.

Bob See Bob See

Bob See has been actively interested in photography for many years. He enjoys taking images of wildlife and landscapes. Bob can be reached at his golfing site at http://enjoyma.com/golf/.

Georgia Seitz Georgia Seitz

Georgia Seitz,the tatting editor for BellaOnline.com, has been tatting over 34 years! It is both her pleasure and passion. She finds that it is both relaxation and stress management. An avid stamp collector also, she has studied several foreign languages and had the good fortune to be stationed overseas while working in the Army Security Agency. After returning to civilian life, she traveled and then lived in Alaska for 18 years. Her photos are cherished memories of AK. www.georgiseitz.com

Jeni Booker Senter Jeni Booker Senter

Jeni Booker Senter is a poet, essayist, fiction writer, editor, and journalist. She is a mental health and women´s rights activist who has bipolar disorder and fibromyalgia. She is the author of the book Every Pen Stroke is a Heartbeat. Writing is her catharsis. She lives in the Blackwater River State Forest with her husband and children.

Lisa Shea Lisa Shea

Born in Maryland, Lisa Shea has been contentedly nestled in the rolling hills and mossy forests of Massachusetts since 1995. She is drawn to the ocean and cherishes quiet evenings as the orange glow of sunset glistens across wooden docks. Lisa relishes the challenge of conveying meaning and memorable characters in a measured bounding of time and space. Her stories, poems, and images celebrate natural beauty and serenity. Enjoy thousands of her photos at http://www.lisashea.com

Beate Sigriddaughter Beate Sigriddaughter

Beate Sigriddaughter grew up in post-WWII Germany and moved to the United States in her teens. Three times a Pushcart Prize nominee, she has published prose and poetry in many literary magazines and ezines. Her most recent book, Kuan Yin: Flowers For Change(2009) is a collection of short reflections inspired by Kuan Yin, goddess of mercy. Beate is also the founder of the Glass Woman Prize that honors passionate women’s voices (details at www.sigriddaughter.com).

Tarinda Smithson Tarinda Smithson

Tarinda Smithson wife and mother of two sons has been writting poetry for most of her life. Tarinda has not shared her writtings with the public until now. Tarinda finds writting poetry a way of expressing her feelings about things going on in her life and in the world.

Craig W. Steele Craig W. Steele

Craig W. Steele grew up in Texas and Pennsylvania and currently resides in the countryside of northwestern Pennsylvania, not far from Lake Erie. He is a professor of biology at Edinboro University. He writes for the same reasons he reads?for enjoyment, to understand and to visit alternate realities. His poetry has appeared most recently in Plainsongs, Stone Path Review, Blood and Thunder, Extra Innings, The Edge Magazine, The Lyric, Popular Astronomy, Enhance and elsewhere.

Angelika Teuber Angelika Teuber

Angelika Teuber is an internationally published poet who followed her dream of writing after she had moved to the US from Germany. She has a love affair with poetry and discovered like-minded people in the Triangle area where she founded the non-profit group Living Poetry in 2009 organizing local poetry events (www.livingpoetry.net). Recently, she received her MFA in Creative Writing, Poetry from Pacific University, OR. She is also a member of the NC Poetry Society and NC Writers´ Network.

Dorothy E. Thomas Dorothy E. Thomas

Dorothy grew up in upstate New York in a hotel that had once been a sanitarium. With this experience, 4 brothers and the 1960´s she has characters and stories for her writings. Dorothy writes non-fiction short stories and on occasion will write poetry. Dorothy finds that the creative process of writing is what brings balance and joy to her life. Dorothy is currently employed in the field of adult and elder abuse and looks forward to a time when she can devote more and more time to writing.

Angela D. Valdes Angela D. Valdes

Angela Valdes is an English graduate student at Stephen F. Austin State University located in the East Texas piney woods. She often uses personal experiences and observations as a muse to write poetry, fiction, and nonfiction. In her downtime she enjoys spending time with her husband and her dogs, Corbin and Shadow. She hopes to teach creative writing and composition classes at a college level in the future and, of course, to continue to publish her work whenever possible.

Purnendu Chatterjee
Purnendu Chatterjee is a research scholar and teacher. His areas of interests are postcolonial, subaltern and gender studies. Purnendu has been awarded the Issac Sequeira Memorial Award, 2010 by the Multi Ethnic Literature of the United States, India Chapter for excellence in critical writing. He has published verses in many national and international print and electronic journals.


Emma Deanston
Emma Deanston is a journalist who grew up in Germany before moving to the US. She has won several awards for her non-fiction writing. Emma Deanston is the pseudonym she has adopted for her new adventures in the short story genre. It’s not her real name. She’s currently living back in Europe, making her home in the Netherlands. She can be reached at: deanston.emma AT gmail.com


Lee Evans
Lee Evans was born in Maryland, spent most of his life in that state, and is currently living in Bath, Maine. His poems have appeared in such journals as Four and Twenty, Poetry Porch, The Christendom Review and Anon. He has produced four poetry collections, which are available on Lulu.com.


Joseph Farley
Joseph Farley submitted the work Fathers and Sons.


Linda B. Gamble
Linda Gamble is a retired reading specialist. In the past she has published articles for professional educational journals, but since her retirement has given her creative muse a chance to grow. She has just begun submitting some of her poetry and has been fortunate to have pieces accepted by Edison Literary Review, Camel Saloon, Long Story Short and past issues of Mused. Currently she is also working on a children´s picture book.


Linda Sue Grimes
Linda Sue Grimes has published poems in many literary magazines including The Berkeley Review and Rattle: Poetry for the 21st Century. She has published three books of poetry: Singing in the Silence, Command Performance, and Turtle Woman. Grimes maintains a literary Web site, Maya Shedd’s Temple: Literary Home of Linda Sue Grimes at http:/webpages.charter.net/mayasheddstemple/. She lives in Spring Hill, TN, with her husband, Ronald.


Linda Kaye
Malinda Dunlap Fillingim wrote her first story at about age five. This literary masterpiece was about mud pies and contained the following words: Mud good. Cake btr. She lives near the beach in Wilmington, NC and teaches ESL to adults at a local community college.


Ansel Oommen
Ansel Oommen submitted the work Automa Mortis.


Barnali Saha
Barnali Saha is a creative writer from India. Her works have been published in several newspapers and magazines in India and in several e-magazines in the USA (e.g., The Tribune, Woman´s Era, Muse India, The Statesman, The Indian Express, Mused -Bella Online Literary Review, The Smoking Poet, Fiction at Work, Parabaas, Palki, etc). One of her short stories has also been featured in "A Rainbow Feast", an anthology of new Asian short stories published by Marshal Cavendish, Singapore.


B.A. Varghese
B. A. Varghese graduated from Polytechnic University (New York) in 1993 and has been working in the Information Technology field ever since. Inspired to explore his artistic side, he is currently working toward a degree in Creative Writing from the University of South Florida. His work has appeared in Rose Red Review, The Camel Saloon, Foliate Oak, and is forthcoming in Apalachee Review and Eunoia Review. (www.bavarghese.com)


Beth Weiner
Beth Weiner is a biologist. She lives in Upton with her husband. In their free time they raise many exotic plants and enjoy woodturning (http://www.moonhillwoodart.com/). Clearly from this bio you can see she is a much better photographer than writer!