Introduction by Traci L. Gourdine
Todd Walton
Todd Walton, founding chair of the Creative Writing Program at the California State Summer School for the Arts, is a fiction writer, playwright, and essayist. His novel Inside Moves, made into a motion picture in 1980, will be reissued in 2013 with an introduction by Sherman Alexie. His non-fiction works include The Writer’s Path, a collection of original writing exercises, many invented during Todd’s tenure at CSSSA. Buddha In A Teacup (2009) and Under the Table Books (2010), each won Bay Area Independent Publishers Awards. Todd is also a pianist and visual artist.
CSSSA FACULTY 1987-1988, 1990-1991
Creative Writing Department
Margaret Dilloway
Margaret Dilloway is the author of The Care And Handling Of Roses With Thorns, chosen as the 2013 American Library Association’s Literary Tastes selection for Best Women’s Fiction, and How To Be An American Housewife, a finalist for the John Gardner Fiction Award. Margaret lives in San Diego with her husband and three children, where she’s working on her third novel.
CSSSA ALUMNA 1992
Creative Writing
John Stocks
johnstockspoetry.wordpress.com
John Stocks is an educator and writer based in Sheffield. He is currently Head of Media at The City School Sheffield, and has taught Drama and English Language & Literature. In 2011, his work appeared in Soul Feathers, an anthology that also featured works by Maya Angelou, Bob Dylan, Carol Ann Duffey, and other well-known poets. The anthololgy was published to aid the efforts of Macmillan Cancer Support.
George Wells
George Wells is an American expatriate living in Guadalajara, Mexico, where he teaches English as a Foreign Language and writes.
His short fiction “To The River” was published in Shadow Road Quarterly in Summer 2012, and will appear in Spark: A Creative Anthology, Volume III.
Scott Warrender
Scott Warrender lives in Seattle and teaches music at Cornish College for the Arts. His most recent work has been published by The Foundling Review, Stanley the Whale, and Larks Fiction Magazine.
Hunter Liguore
Hunter Liguore earned an MFA in Creative Writing from Lesley University. Her work, nominated multiple times for the Pushcart Prize, has appeared in The Irish Times, Empirical magazine, DESCANT, and more. She is the editor of the print journal American Athenaeum. Hunter revels in old legends, swords, and heroes.
Svetlana Kortchik
Svetlana Kortchik was born in the small Siberian town of Tomsk and, when she was 16, moved to Australia with her mum. She lives in Sydney, working as a computer programmer. Her short stories have appeared in Alt Hist Magazine and the Inwood Indiana Press Anthology Harvest Time, among others. Her passions are writing, travelling, history and martial arts.
D. Laserbeam
D. Laserbeam is a flash fiction and short story writer currently working on a PhD in mechanical and nuclear engineering.
Valentina Cano
Valentina Cano is a student of classical singing who spends any free time she finds either writing or reading. Her works have appeared in Danse Macabre and Popshot.
Hannah Weverka
Hannah Weverka is a student living in Oakland, California, with a cat and three chickens. She is currently waiting for admission to college, where she intends to study creative writing.
CSSSA ALUMNA 2010
Creative Writing
Darrell Lindsey
Darrell Lindsey is a Pushcart Prize nominated poet from Nacogdoches, the oldest town in Texas, and the author of Edge Of The Pond (Popcorn Press, 2012). His haiku and tanka have won awards in the United States, Japan, Croatia, Bulgaria, Canada, and Romania.
j.lewis
j.lewis is a poet, musician, and Nurse Practitioner. His poetry and music reflect the difficulty and joy of human interactions, and often draw inspriation from his decades of experience in healthcare. When he is not writing, composing, or diagnosing, he is often on a kayak, exploring and photographing the waterways near his Northern California home.
Diana Fu
Diana Fu was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area and holds the honor of being Pleasanton’s Teen Poet Laureate. She is currently a junior in high school, and hopes to travel to the east coast for college.
CSSSA ALUMNA 2011
Creative Writing
Alexis A. Hunter
Alexis A. Hunter grew up on a steady diet of John Wayne movies, Bonanza reruns, and hours spent riding—trying not to get thrown off—her ornery horse, Cody. Since then, she has developed a passion for fantasy and science fiction short stories—and it only seemed natural to blend the two worlds. Alexis’s short stories have been published in a variety of magazines, appearing recently in The Ghost IS the Machine and At Year’s End: Holiday SFF Stories.
Stone Showers
Stone Showers lives in Oregon with his wife and two children. His first short story was recently selected for inclusion in the Love Hurts Anthology.
Katie Stephens
Katie Stephens is a retired music teacher and curriculum writer, currently pursuing the world of fiction writing in Fairfield, Ohio.
Brian Reeves
Brian Reeves is a Portland-based writer, English teacher, and former Peace Corps volunteer. His short story “Wild Horse” was published in Sand Hill Review and has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. His novel A Chant of Love and Lamentation was a Finalist in the 2012 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award.
Michael Lee Johnson
Michael Lee Johnson is a poet, freelance writer, photographer, and small business owner from Itasca, Illinois, who has been published in more than 750 small press magazines in twenty-five countries. Michael has released several chapbooks of his poetry, including From Which Place the Morning Rises and Challenge of Night and Day, and Chicago Poems.
Peter Wood
Peter Wood is an attorney in Raleigh, NC where he lives with his patient wife and surly cat. He has been published in Daily Science Fiction and Stupefying Stories.
Linda G Hatton
Linda G Hatton spends her days writing—poetry, novels, screenplays, web code, or notes to her children—otherwise she gets a little cranky.
Kari Castor
Kari Castor teaches high school English and writing, and has an M.A. in English Education from Northern Illinois University. Her poetry has previously appeared in the magazines Towers, In the Red, and Sounds of the Night.
Melana Plains
Melana Plains is a novelist and poet, whose love poems were featured in AltraMusa Poesia, an Italian literary magazine.
She is currently writing her first Young Adult novel, The Hodge Podge Kids.
Matt Lancaster
Matt Lancaster is twenty years old and neck-deep in the world. He studies at American River College in Sacramento, CA, and writes every day.
CSSSA ALUMNUS 2011
Creative Writing
Kaitlin Branch
Kaitlin Branch has worn many hats—zookeeper, teacher, and world traveler—but her favorite is ‘author.’ Her contribution to Spark: A Creative Anthology is the origin story behind her forthcoming Steampunk adventure novels. She also writes romance; Valeria was published in 2011, and Pandora’s Ring followed in May of 2012.
Spark: A Creative Anthology 
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