Madari Pendas is a Cuban-American writer and cartoonist. She received her MFA from Florida International University, where she was a Lawrence Sanders Fellow, and won the 2021 Academy of American Poets Prise, judged by Major Jackson. Her work has appeared in Craft, Smokelong Quarterly, The Masters Review, Oyster River Pages, PANK, and more. She is the author of Crossing the Hyphen (2021) and She Loves me, She Loves me Not (2025).
Michael A. Clark’s novella “Are One” has recently been published by Water Dragon Publishing, and his short story, “The Final Shot” appears at https://whitecatpublications.com/2024/04/09/the-final-shot/. “I, Cro-Mag” is in the current issue of Electric Spec.
Clark lives in Charlotte, NC, and currently works in industrial automation while spending as much time as he can outdoors. He likes baseball and writes short stories and music because that’s what he does.
Alaina Hammond is a poet, playwright, fiction writer, and visual artist. @alainaheidelberger on Instagram.
Toby Tucker Hecht is a writer and scientist who lives and works in Bethesda, Maryland. At least forty of her stories have been published either in print or in online literary journals. A native New Yorker with a rather traditional life, she writes fiction to explore more exciting lives than her own. She is now working on a collection of short stories, and a series of linked short stories.
Neil Jacobs’ thirty-year career as a psychologist working with leaders, teams, and organizations causes him to reflect daily on the complexity of the human condition. He carries this into his writing. Neil’s evolution as a writer has been informed by workshops at the Fine Art Works Center in Provincetown, MA under the tutelage of authors such as Garrard Conley and Mira Jacob, and writing courses at Grub Street in Boston. He recently finished his first novel, a family saga between two sets of neighbors set in the North of England.
Shawn Yager is an educator who lives in the Monadnock Region of southwestern New Hampshire. He has previously published flash, short stories, and poems both online and in print. He considers himself a “pantser” who tries to write rough drafts as spontaneously as possible. Of course, this produces many false-starts and much hair-pulling.
Madison Ellingsworth likes walking. Her writing has been published in The Palisades Review, West Trade Review, NonBinary Review, and more. Madison’s work can also be found at madisonellingsworth.com.
The fall issue is live on our free downloads page (click on the cover) and print copies will be going out to contributors and subscribers in just a few days. This issue includes the winning and honorable mention stories from our annual George Dila Memorial Flash Fiction Contest. There is lots of great poetry and visual art as well. Happy reading!
Third Wednesday Magazine 