Vanessa MacLaren-Wray has a new short story published. “Coke Machine,” which won the “In the Spirit of Novelmania: My Ticket to Crazy Town” event at the 2021 Literary Stage competition, is now the second entry in Water Dragon Publishing’s Truck Stop at the Center of the Universe Coke Machine series. Join deaf, wisecracking, Ukrainian spaceship engineer Marichka as she contends with a hazardous-substance spill and an alien intruder. In addition, she received a Pushcart Prize nomination and a World Fantasy Award nomination for her story, “Heart’s Delight,” in Fault Zone: Reverse. You rock, Vanessa!

Marianne Brems had her poem "Not Too Often" published in “The Bluebird Word”, an online literary magazine, on February 28, 2022.

In addition, her third poetry chapbook was just accepted for publication by Finishing Line Press. It will be out later this year. Whoot … Marianne!

The INDEPENDENT PRESS AWARD (IPA) recognized Fault Zone: Reverse as the winner in the Anthology Category of their annual indies competition. Laurel Anne Hill, the Editor-in-Chief, was delighted to inform our CWC anthology contributors—at least one or two of them first-time published authors—that they ALL are now nationally recognized “award-winning” authors and poets.

Carole Bumpus is busy! She is short-listed with Chanticleer International Books for both the Hearten Award (for Uplifting Non-Fiction) and the Instruction and Inspirational (I and I) award for Searching for Family and Traditions at the French Table, Book Two. Foreword Indies Reviews named her a 2021 Finalist for Book of the Year in Travel for A September to Remember: Searching for Culinary Pleasures at the Italian Table, and the Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA) named her a finalist for the Benjamin Franklin Award – Travel for the same volume. Carole spoke to writers at the Diamond Valley Writers Guild in Southern California in March on being a culinary travel writer. And not to be slowed down, she taught an online class on Creating A Culinary Travel Memoir for the SF Writers Conference writers series in April. Whew!

Jim Hanna's new book, The Ping-Pong Champion of Chinatown, has won two awards: Global Book Awards gave it the gold medal in the humor category; Independent Press Award declared it the winner in the humor/satire category. Congratulations, Jim!

Colleen Olle's debut published short story, “Nēnēs,” appears in Running Wild Anthology of Stories: Volume 5, now available at Running Wild Press and on Amazon. (A nēnē is a type of goose and the state bird of Hawaii.) Great news, Colleen!