Mission
We’re working writers, and we know that writers need open spaces where they can be read, and talk about writing, and hear from other writers. We want to build a community for writers who care about their craft. We want to publish writing that keeps us up at night — writing that we can't wait to talk about in the laundromat or at the pub.
Barnstorming was about passion, art, and a payday. Pilots trained in the first world war gave spontaneous exhibitions in small American towns of the 20s. A team would fly low over a town to get attention, then land at a local farm and bargain to use its fields and pastures as an air strip for the day.
Whole towns would shut down to watch the show. The pilots looped and rolled, played tennis in the air, danced on the planes’ wings, dove into freefall — and gave rides. For a moment, these strangers opened up the sky.
Staff Biographies
Kate Abbott completed her MFA in fiction at UNH in May 2007. She has been published in the Berkshire journal, Comstock Review, qarrtsiluni and in the upcoming anthology, The Farmer's Daughter. Before UNH, she spent four years as a reporter and then Associate Editor of the Berkshire Advocate, an independent weekly paper. Away from her desk, she plays recorder with a contradance fiddle jam, weeds tomatoes, and watches her cat climb trees. She is currently revising her first novel.
Amy VanHaren’s writing process is based on tireless motivation, wanderlust, and a love of all things outdoors and adventurous. She is also a big movie buff who can usually figure out which actor was in which movie, and she is overly gullible.
Alex Parsons claims to have written two novels, three screenplays, and at least one short story. Currently, we believe all of these claims to be spurious.
Mike Gutierrez doesn’t want to be found. Don’t google him. Seriously, don’t.
Brian Wilkins is the nom de plume of a rotating staff of poets, all committed to the idea of Post-Modern Manichaeism. When not writing esoteric poetry, they sponsor a reading series entitled, “Implications of Latent Pediophobia in the Work of Keats.”
Sara Erdmann is a moderately intelligent student of writing and a lifetime sufferer of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. She spends most of her time trying to outrun her high school reputation and washing her hands.
James Smith often finds himself wandering into the woods (under his own volition) searching for eco-inspiration. Wanting to learn about everything, he is known to amass irrelevant (albeit entertaining) facts that he purges in spiraling, tangent-packed e-mails, a lost art form. And to write that one last dizzying sentence, he wishes an extra hour of the day could be Easy-Buttoned.
Tim Horvath has been the worst nightmare for purveyors of corruption within the Corn Nut industry for the three years in which he's been investigating them. He considers his current domicile to be in Eberly, Massachusetts, a fictitious schizopolis of prep schools, mills, and farmland where his novel-in-progress is set. For actual nuttage and boltage on him, check out www.timhorvath.com.
Robert Donohue is a once-aspiring poet and burned-out business-person who insists he’s adjusted to life without executive perks (though he’s not to be believed). He’s a first year MFA fiction student and collects string when he’s not writing, reading, or avoiding responsibility.
Shannon O’Neill is a nonfiction writing student who is obsessed with cute shoes, coffee, long walks on the beach, and proper punctuation, spelling, and grammar. Obvious copy mistakes leave her cowering in the corner.
Nathan Graziano is coming soon.