Creative Nonfiction
Mel Jones has a wide variety of interests. She is a mother, grandmother, aviculturist (which is much like being a mother), teacher (again, much like being a mother), and perpetual student. She has Bachelor’s Degrees in History and English from The College of William and Mary, Master’s Degrees in Literature and Writing & Rhetoric (commonly referred to as Composition Studies) from Virginia Commonwealth University, and an MFA in Creative Writing from Antioch University in Los Angeles.
Publications include The William & Mary Gallery, Sherwood Forest, and several local newspapers. She has published one book of poetry, Between The Lines, and is the Editor in Chief of The Sylvan Echo online literary journal.
She lives and writes on a “pleasure” farm in rural Virginia with a horse, cats, chickens, eight parrots, her partner, and her youngest child.
She is passionate about writing, her parrots, good literature and music (anything but rap and opera), politics, things Irish, movies, her partner, her kids, and her day job – not necessarily in that order on any given day.
She approaches the world with a Bombeckian attitude, you have to laugh or cry. And laughing is preferable. She semi-maintains her blog, Mel’s Madness.
For those interested, she is a Libra, with Aquarius rising, and an Aries Moon — The aspects in her chart form a Star of David (two grand trines) — cool huh?
Patrick O’Neil’s relationship with himself, and the rest of the world is complicated. He prefers the written word for solace, and most of his friends have resigned themselves to the fact that he never answers his cell phone.
Currently a newly relocated resident of the perpetually seedy and frequently smoggy city of Hollywood California – Patrick spends most days annoying his agent with endless queries as to the progress concerning his first book’s hopefully imminent publication date.
On a seemingly nondescript hot summer day in 2008 Patrick was awarded an MFA in Creative Writing from Antioch University Los Angeles. His work of nonfiction has appeared in Word Riot, Blood Orange Review, The Sylvan Echo, SoMa Literary Review, Nouveau Blank, and AUDEMUS. Occasionally he posts a meandering essay on his blog, Full Blue Moon Dementia. Surprisingly he holds a BFA in Film from The San Francisco Art Institute, and a Certificate in Web Design from the Bay Area Video Coalition. His short film/documentary: “The YAA Girlz and the Deadly Sparks,” is not only generating a buzz, but is also busy making the rounds in search of a festival aimed solely at those, like himself, afflicted with the low attention span of A.D.D. He is an accomplished, although a somewhat reluctant musician and if the planets are aligned right he records with his band: ON-X.
For those interested, he is a Libra, with Gemini rising, and an Aquarius moon. How the hell any decisions get made at The Sylvan Echo with this many Libras running around is any body’s guess. For those not interested, you should have stopped reading somewhere around “relationship with himself.”
Mariel Howsepian never legally changed her name when she got married 8 years ago, and she’s been treating her last names like fashion accessories ever since. When her middle school students raise their hands to ask questions such as “Why doesn’t Antarctica fall off the earth?” they call her Mrs. Rodriguez.
Mariel Howsepian-Rodriguez has an MFA in Creative Writing from Antioch University, and a BA in Anthropology from CSU Fresno. She lives with her husband in Santa Monica, California with no children, no pets, and no houseplants.
As a contributing writer to the Santa Monica Daily Press, Mariel writes the biweekly column “West Dressed.”
Fiction
Desiree Kannel is a graduate of Antioch’s MFA program. She has also studied creative writing at California State University Dominguez Hills, Cerritos College and through the Gothams Writers Workshop. She is the creator of Rose Writers Workshops, an 8-week creative writing program.
Desiree lives and works as a teacher Long Beach, California. She is currently writing her first novel.
Apinya Pokachaiyapat Born and raised in Thailand, Apinya moved to the U.S. at the age of twelve to pursue her education. Years later, she is still a student in various parts of life and probably will be for the rest of her life. She recently received an MFA at Antioch University Los Angeles and a 500 hours yoga teacher-training certification at YogaWorks, Santa Monica. She loves the outdoors and so does her dog, Mango. She received degrees in Mathematics and Engineering from Columbia and a Masters in Mathematics from UCLA before moving on to pursue her interests in writing and documentary film. Since making the transition she has produced for numerous documentaries and commercials that have aired nationally and been acknowledged on the festival circuit (Out of the Shadow – official selection Silverdocs, Vancouver International Film Festival), picked up an additional degree in film from UCLA, and spent time working for the International Documentary Association.
William Garnett When not editing fiction for the Sylvan Echo, Wild Bill can be found wandering the desert wastelands that surround Las Vegas, NV looking for story lines and taking classes at UNLV in pursuit of another piece of parchment, another hide, yet one more skin. He holds an MFA in Fiction from Antioch University, Los Angeles usually in his left hand while sitting quietly on a piece of sandstone. And he likes cats. He’s really trying to work on improving response time for submissions as well, because he doesn’t like really late responses to his own, and he thinks that perhaps it will improve his karma–but then again, he’s a wild one.
Poetry
Laurie Barton lives in southern California, where she teaches English to speakers of other languages. Her writing has appeared in numerous print and online publications. In 2008 she won the New Southerner Literary Prize in Poetry. She admires the work of many poets, including Kim Addonizio, Charles Bukowski, Tony Hoagland, and Sharon Olds.
Kristin Stoner devotes most of her time to three things: her family, her two neurotic dogs, and her poetry. She recently received an MFA at Antioch University Los Angeles and continues to write passionately in coffee shops in and around Des Moines, Iowa.
Kristin received her BA in English and her MA in Literature and Creative Writing (specialization in Poetry) from Iowa State University. She currently teaches Composition to enthusiastic students enrolled in Des Moines Area Community College where she mercilessly forces them to listen to her “poem of the day”.
Publications include print journals such as Natural Bridge and The Briar Cliff Review, as well as on-line journals such as Prairie Poetry.
Kristin’s current obsession is the study of fairytales, specifically the story of Little Red Riding Hood. She has found Little Red to be a flowing crimson fountain of inspiration.
Look out, like Mel and Patrick, Kristin is also a Libra. You are surrounded!
Please note: The Sylvan Echo is currently not accepting poetry submissions.
Our newest issue may be viewed at:
This issue contains work from a diverse group of writers and artists that hail from nations around the globe.
Our next issue is tentatively scheduled for November 2009. The submission deadline for our next issue is October 20, 2009.
The site is best viewed in Mozilla Firefox.
Please note: The Sylvan Echo is currently not accepting poetry submissions.
The Sylvan Echo accepts original writing of the highest quality in the categories of fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, book reviews, critical writing, and editorials from new and established writers. We are also interested in original artwork and photography. Submissions may be previously published as long as you own the rights or can obtain permission to reprint the work. We accept – nay, encourage – simultaneous submissions. (We do ask, however, that you notify us immediately if your work is accepted elsewhere.) All vivid, well-written work will be considered.
Please, no gratuitous or graphic sex or violence. If you’re considering submitting the same piece to both The Sylvan Echo and Penthouse, we’re probably not your market.
Authors and artists retain all rights.
Generalities.
* With the exception of poetry, artwork, and photography, you may submit 1 piece per genre. Should you submit more than one piece per genre, we will ignore your second and subsequent submissions (and will look less than favorably on your first submission, as well). See The Particulars, below, for more information on what we’re looking for.
* Submit your work by email to editor at sylvanecho dot net (replace at with @ and dot with .).
* All work should be sent as an attachment in the following formats: Poetry and prose as 12pt doc or rtf attachments; artwork and photography as the highest resolution bmp, tif, or jpg.
* List the genre in your subject line, e.g. Submission: poetry. (We’re not kidding about this; submissions that don’t follow this format risk being overlooked.)
* Each submission must be accompanied by a brief (50-150 word) bio, written in the third person. (We are not kidding about this, either. Don’t make us come looking for a bio.)
*By submitting to The Sylvan Echo you are acknowledging that all creative work is original and that you own all rights.
* While we strive to respond within 7-9 weeks, when you submit to The Sylvan Echo, you grant us permission to publish your work without further notification. Unless you tell us otherwise, we will assume that all work submitted is still available at the time of publication.
The Particulars.
* Poetry: 3-5 poems any style. Poems must be submitted in ONE attached .doc or .rtf document, with the title of each poem in bold face type. This not only makes the lives of our poetry editors easier (and no one likes a cranky poet), it prevents your work from being rejected merely on principle. Also. All poetry is to be single-spaced. If it is double-spaced, we will assume that the extra spacing is to be treated as white space, and the poem will be printed as such.
* Fiction: up to 5000 words of literary fiction. In general, we are not interested in genre work, but if you can demonstrate strong literary merit without being didactic or polemical, please send us your work.
* Nonfiction: up to 5000 words of personal essay, memoir, humor. We will consider journalism but are more interested in journalism with a literary or narrative bent.
* Book Reviews: up to 500 words. Please don’t tell us you did not like a book. We are interested in well crafted, thoughtful reviews from which readers can make informed choices about their limited reading resources.
* Critical/academic work: up to 8000 words. Texts must focus on the craft of writing or literature. MLA formatting (inline citations) only. Papers not using this format will not be considered.
* Editorials: up to 1000 words that consider a political, social or moral issue. Please be aware that editorials will be published in a blog format and open to response.
* Artwork and Photography up to five (5) pieces. Please provide a brief description of the media and dimensions of each piece submitted.
At this time we are unable to pay our contributors (or our staff), except with heartfelt gratitude and the chance to say you were published in The Sylvan Echo.
