Meet the Author Thomas Backer (photo provided) Thomas Backer was born in the small town of Ferdinand, Indiana. Mr. Backer contributed an article and a poem to the local newspaper and attended Xavier University where he wrote a column for the school newspaper and a short story for the literary magazine.  He taught History in a college prep high school.  The Barker’s Voice published “Cheesey,” a poem about a horseshoe game and a theft of cheese in spring of 2014.  Three short stories have been published.  “Fear” about a car-jacking in Los Angeles by aaduna in the summer of 2014,  “Goodwill” about a man trying to help two homeless people by aaduna in July of 2020 and “A Small Town” about hijinks in a bar and an accusation of witchcraft, by openartsforum on September 5, 2020. Slick          “Cats kill young rabbits so there aren’t any rabbits.  You have to kick into five or six brush piles to chase one out.”...

  Meet the Author Matthew Bucknor (photo provided) Matthew Bucknor, MD is an MFA student in the Warren Wilson College Program for Writers. His work has previously appeared in Intima ; was a finalist in The Sewanee Review’s second annual Fiction Contest and received an Honorable Mention in Glimmer Train’s Short Story Award for New Writers. Dr. Bucknor is also an associate professor of Radiology at the University of California, San Francisco where he helps medical students process their experiences in medicine through narrative, with a particular interest in challenges faced by health care workers and patients of color ( https://profiles.ucsf.edu/matthew.bucknor ). How Do You Really Know?   In the moment between the still black night and hesitant blue dawn, Devon finds himself in a large concrete stairwell. Fluorescent white light cascades off the walls in lilting waves. He shields his eyes with his hands and steadies himself against the railing. He cannot recall the intent ...