New Jersey author Janis Hubschman was a marathon runner, so she understands the true meaning of endurance. The women in her debut story collection Take Me With You Next Time (Betty Books) are athletes and outdoorswomen who find themselves on terrain that challenges not only their bodies, but their hearts and minds, too. We read "Please See Me," which was first published in Chautauqua Journal.
https://www.janishubschman.com/about.html

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Author Tara Isabel Zambrano is an electrical engineer by day, where she relies on her left brain in designing semiconductors. She balances that by ensuring that her right brain gets time to do some playing - particularly in the form of writing fiction. Of her new collection Ruined a Little When We Are Born (Dzanc Books), Laura Picklesimer, author of Kill For Love writes: "Enchanting and heartbreaking, Zambrano’s prose pulses with intensity, magic, and insight."
https://taraisabelzambrano.wordpress.com/

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Georgia author Viggy Parr Hampton discovered that the best way to find the satisfyingly scary horror stories she craved was to write them herself. She's just published her second novel, Much Too Vulgar, which has been described by Ronald Malfi, bestselling author of Small Town Horror as “A brash, unapologetic, and often funny novel with a delightful nasty streak." We read the story "The Waiting Mortuary," which was published in The Cafe. https://viggyhampton.com/

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Don't be misled by the title of Amy Stuber's debut collection SAD GROWNUPS (Stillhouse Press). It's full of humor. "The stories in SAD GROWNUPS are masterful. At turns funny, insightful, and wise. I couldn't stop reading." - Cara Blue Adams, author of YOU NEVER GET IT BACK.  We read a story that was first published in The Common: "Dick Cheney Was Not My Father."
https://www.amystuber.com/

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Canadian author Kirti Bhadresa was born in Red Deer, Alberta to Indian parents who had travelled far and wide before settling there. In her debut collection An Astonishment of Stars, she honors the lives of women - sisters, wives and mothers - who are caught between two worlds. ECW Press has graciously permitted us to share an excerpt from "In a Name" taken form the audiobook edition of An Astonishment of Stars, read by Roveena Gnanabakthan. https://beingkirti.com/an-astonishment-of-stars

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In the fourteen years author Meg Pokrass has been writing flash, she has established herself as a key figure in the world of flash fiction. First Law of Holes, her newly-released volume of new and collected stories, represents the astonishing wealth of creativity generated during those years. Meg reads six of the stories from her collection. https://megpokrass.com/ 

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The flash stories in Canadian author Hollay Ghadery's debut collection Widow Fantasies are like portrait miniatures, capturing essential moments in the lives of each character with laser-like focus and clarity. We read three stories from the book: "Tarot of St. Petersburg," Audience as Patio Furniture," and "Tennis Whites."
https://www.hollayghadery.ca/ https://hollay-ghadery.squarespace.com/

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There's a lot on Canadian author Kathryn Mockler's mind when it comes to what sorts of things the future might hold. In her hybrid collection Anecdotes (Book*hug Press), she channels her anxiety about the planet into bold, original, and surprisingly humorous works that take aim at the indifference surrounding us in these perilous times. We read four stories from the section of the book titled My Dream House. https://www.kathrynmockler.com/

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UK author Claire Carroll is the daughter of a zoologist, which is no surprise given the ways in which her reverence for the natural world figures largely in her fiction. She brings a daring imagination and a dark humor to the stories in her debut collection The Unreliable Nature Writer (Scratch Books), which examine the fragile relationship between humankind and the natural world.
For this episode, the story "My Two Sons" is read by the author.

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In his linked story collection Delinquents and Other Escape Attempts, Washington DC author Nick Rees Gardner has created a fictional landscape inspired by his hometown of Mansfield, Ohio - which he has affectionately dubbed "Westinghouse." But it's not a rose-tinted homage. Nick's personal experience of the opioid crisis that grew out of the economic hard times which have effected places like Mansfield make this collection a unique and important work of literature. We read "Psychedelicious," which was first published in Cutleaf. https://nickreesgardner.com/

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