6-minute Stories

Arlene Mandell is an artist living in Linville, North Carolina, proudly celebrating her 10th year at Carlton Gallery in Banner Elk. (carltongallery.com/arlene-mandell). A native New Yorker, relocating to the Blue Ridge Mountains with Captain Dan ignited a passion to write. Her “6-minute Stories” podcasts include: “Eye of the Dolphin,” “Artist Borne,” “Gobsmacked in the Gulfstream,” “Renegade Daughter,” “It Started with a Typo,” “Shopping for the Homeless,” “Thirteen Candles in the Dark,” “The Promise of Romance,” “At Five & Ninety-Five, Mother Was a Star,” “In the Heart of Trauma,” and “The Jig Is Up.”

David Inserra lives on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina with his wife Ellen Titus and their dog, Mindy. David’s most recent work appears in the PSPP release, Sooner or Later. He is a member of the Island Writers Network and works at the local Unitarian Church. David’s first novel, a speculative thriller titled “In Your Own Backyard,” is currently being queried to agents. He is also a musician who has written over 400 songs, most being about his wife. Visit davidinserra.weebly.com.

Growing up in the South means hearing and sharing stories. Ginny Foard learned a lot that way and keeps on trying to find out more about it all. The air is thick with good stories. She lives in a little post office box on Sullivans Island, South Carolina.

Emerging author Lynne E Williams is a native New Englander who lives in Charlotte, NC.
with her two cats, two dogs, two teenaged sons and their father. Lynne is a graduate of Clark University in Worcester, MA where she double majored in Music and Theater instead of English but was nevertheless named a Writing Fellow of the University. She is a member of the Charlotte Writer’s Club and Charlotte Lit, and a two-time finalist in CWC’s nonfiction contest. Her story “The Power Drill” was included in the fall 2022 PSPP anthology Twists and Turns.

Lubrina Burton lives in Lexington, Kentucky with her husband and pug. She completed the Carnegie Center’s Author Academy in 2020 and is now pursuing her MFA at Eastern Kentucky University’s Bluegrass Writers Studio. In 2023, Hydra Publications/Erudite Press released her first book, Shitbag Soldier, a creative nonfiction memoir detailing her experience as a young soldier in a pre-9/11 U.S. Army. Her short stories and poems are featured in the anthologies, That Southern Thing, Trouble, Curious Stuff, Twists and Turns, From Pen to Page II, and G.I. Days.

Alison Rice Bruster comes from a long line of women who love the written word. The granddaughter of a librarian, daughter of an English teacher, and sister of a novelist, she was destined to be an avid reader and writer. After a career spent finding the voices of senior business executives, she is writing a new chapter. She holds a BA in English Literature from Queens University of Charlotte and lives in Fort Mill, South Carolina. She is a member of the Charlotte Writers Club, Charlotte Lit, and the North Carolina Writers Network.

Catherine Parisio is a freelance editor, relentless writer, and international schoolteacher, currently living and working in Calama, Chile. The college student with the courage to take a risk and pursue an unconventional relationship became a woman living a somewhat uncommon life as an international schoolteacher, seizing opportunities to experience all that life has to offer. Catherine believes the pivotal moments of life provide insight into the core values that shape us; writing and sharing these stories is an intimate act that reveals our humanity. 

Robin Russell Gaiser, MA, CMP, added a certificate for music practitioner to her degrees in English literature and psychology. As an experienced multi-instrumentalist and vocalist, Robin gave live bedside acoustic music to critically and chronically ill, elderly and dying patients in hospices, hospitals, rehabs, nursing and private homes. Her first book, Musical Morphine: Transforming Pain One Note at a Time (Pisgah Press, 2016) chronicles such work. Her second book, Open for Lunch (Pisgah Press, 2018) offers readers a look at what happened when Robin asked random diners to join her for lunch. She and her husband live in Asheville, North Carolina. www.robingaiser.com

Fascinated with every big and little thing, Jamie Cheshire has long been an avid student of design and structure. Having worked together with giants, he has had the extreme good fortune to practice his craft for most of the last four decades and has seen his work appear nationally and in several countries on three continents. He lives in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, with his beloved feral, hippie-chick wife, their three dogs and two cats. Deeply committed to the ordinary, he is constantly searching for a way to describe it.

Mary Alice Dixon is a Pushcart nominee, award-winning poet and former finalist for the NC Poetry Society Poet Laureate Award. Her writing is in five PSPP anthologies, in Braided Way, County Lines, Kakalak, Main Street Rag, Pinesong, and elsewhere. Her poetry will appear on NC Poetry Society posters in 2024. Mary Alice lives in Charlotte, NC where she teaches a Hospice Grief Writing Workshop for the bereaved. Her course includes found poems, tears, laughter, peppermint candy and plenty of blueberry scones. She also collects old stories and loves old hats.