Zinta Aistars

How many cats must you have before you're considered a "crazy cat lady?" Or a hoarder? And why aren’t there "crazy cat gentlemen?" Or are there? These are questions Janet Vormittag answers in her new book, You Might Be a Crazy Cat Lady If…

For most of us try to avoid fear. And nightmares are bad dreams that ruin our sleep. But for James Frederick and Janice Leach, fear is delicious and and nightmares are fascinating. They write about their own fears and dreams, but they also edit the Quick Shivers anthologies of short, scary stories. And, if you'd like to rid yourself of your worst nightmare, they’ll be happy to post it on their Daily Nightmare website.

Too often it's only after a loved one dies that the next generation discovers the secrets they kept when they were alive. Amy L. Johnson, a graphic designer from Grand Rapids, learned about her grandfather’s closest relationship only after he was gone. What she found were boxes of letters, some hand written in beautiful cursive, others done on a typewriter. They became Letters Lost Then Found: A Conversation Between Two Brothers, 1942 - 1945 (Splattered Ink Press, 2016).

Words hold magic for Daneen Wardrop. They seed light and life. The professor of English at Western Michigan University is the author of seven books, three of which are poetry. Her newest collection, Life as It (Ashland Poetry Press, 2016), won the Richard Snyder Publication Prize in 2015 and the Gold IPPY Award in Poetry in 2017.

When it’s time for WrestleMania, you’ll find Daniel Mancilla glued to the television, watching the fight. And when he’s glued to the keyboard, some of those bigger-than-life characters find their way into his stories. A Sou’wester Award finalist for his novel-in-stories, All the Proud Fathers (Dock Street Press, 2017), Mancilla received his doctoral degree in creative writing from Western Michigan University.