Southern Indiana Writers

In alphabetical order, we are:

Bonnie Abraham, after twenty-five plus years of writing letters disqualifying people from Unemployment Benefits, retired in order to write something more pleasant. In between knitting shawls and socks, she writes short stories (many with Biblical themes), poetry and devotionals and is currently working on a fantasy novel. She now resides in Corydon with her mother’s ghost.

Jan Wolanin Alexander is a retired science teacher married to a biology professor; mother to one horse and an ever changing number of dogs and cats; custom horsehair jewelry maker; part-time dog kennel worker; writer of horse tales; trail rider.

Marian Allen has had poetry and short stories published in small anthologies, in on-line magazines, print magazines, in ebooks, on the labels of coffee cans and on the wall of an Indian restaurant. Her novels include the fantasy trilogy SAGE; science fiction “comedy of bad manners” SIDESHOW IN THE CENTER RING; YA/NA paranormal suspense A DEAD GUY AT THE SUMMERHOUSE’ and science fiction short story collection OTHER EARTH, OTHER STARS. She is part-owner and Editorial Manager of Per Bastet Publications LLC. Free stories, surrealist poetry, recipes and food history columns can be viewed at Marian Allen’s Fiction Site, MarianAllen.com.

Jeannine Baumgartle writes poetry and fiction. Her work has appeared in publications such as Literally, the newsletter for Writers’ Center of Indianapolis, The Flying Island, Studio, a journal of Christians Writing (an Australian publication), Alive Magazine, and several volumes of Southern Indiana Writers’ Indian Creek Anthology. She was twice selected to read at the Indianapolis Museum of Art, and received a weekend residency at Mary Anderson Center for the Arts for her poetry.

Eli Cobb is the author of The Guardian Series: Sacred Words (Book 1); Lucifer’s Tears (Book 2); Neptune’s Poison (Book 3); and Raven’s Conspiracy (Book 4).

Sara Marian is a writer and freelance editor living in Louisville, Kentucky.  Her first novel, THE LIFE AND DEATH (BUT MOSTLY THE DEATH) OF ERIKA FLYNN was published in 2014. She has written numerous short stories. Her artwork and short stories have appeared in a few of SIW’s anthologies. She blogs at Sara Marian: Author, Editor & Archaeologist.

Brenda Drexler was a high school, middle school, GED and college English teacher in a past life. After some major life changes and a root canal, she returned to school to become a psychotherapist. She is currently teaching at a local community college and proudly calling herself a writer. She is an avid reader of a variety of genres. The work she is most proud of includes three articles published in a local newspaper and an anonymous letter to a senior officer on an Army post (Let’s keep that little secret to ourselves). Her book of short stories, Four Shorts for Your Bucket List, can be found at Lulu.com and Amazon.com. She recently completed her first novel, Gracie and Marge: Kicking the Bucket Together, with some absolutely zany characters that you will love at first sight. It can be found at CreateSpace and Amazon.com. While you’re there, check out her author page. Brenda is thankful for the feedback of her husband, sisters and friends after they proofread her works in progress. She’s indebted to the good people of SIW for their keen eyes in perusing the written word and their blunt honesty. (She plans to use that last sentence when she wins an Oscar or Emmy, or something.)

Ginny Fleming considers herself to be foremost a screenwriter, as this is her favorite media. Because nobody thought to tell her she couldn’t, after optioning three scripts for the unsold ensemble sitcom “Tia” for Lighthorse Productions, Fleming dived head-first into the shark-infested mulligan stew that is Hollywood scriptwriting (How’s that for mixing metaphors?). Besides her annual contribution to the SIW anthology and a very brief appearance in the Louisville Courier Journal Scene Magazine, Fleming hopes to soon release “Keys of Illusion” for a second printing. A Romantic/Suspense novel filled with magic, scuba, fantasy, a bunch of lavender stuff, mermen and little bit of sex, “Keys of Illusion” will make you long for the salt-tinged sea breezes of Key West and the unique and magical people found there. Her comedy scripts can be viewed by sending a request (and WGAe approved release form) to: ginny.willwriteforfood.fleming@gmail.com. To date, her proudest honor was to be included in the five person crew responsible for publishing the “Written In Our Hearts” Cookbook. Compiled with love by friends, family, and fans of the late Monkees star, Davy Jones — this is a vegetarian/vegan cookbook that includes recipes, photos, and stories. Proceeds benefit the Davy Jones Equine Memorial Foundation. The DJEMF was founded by Davy’s four daughters after their father’s passing in 2012. Find the Written In Our Hearts Cookbook here. Fleming lives in New Albany, Indiana in what was once a tiny and peaceful woods. Now, not only is her home a tenth of a mile from a strip mall, she even has her own stoplight at the end of that once peaceful woods. She shares this bucolic paradise with her husband and one very fat and sweetly dimwitted cat.

Joanna Foreman was thrilled to see her memoir, THE KNOW-IT-ALL GIRL, a story about growing up as a Jehovah’s Witness, published in 2013. Alone with her memories, she lived in the past nearly three years while writing it. Thirteen spooky ghost stories can be found in GHOSTLY HAUNTINGS OF INTERSTATE-65. Joanna continued her ghost story theme when Ghost Taxi, Lady of the Wigwam, and Vicarious Christmas were published by Melange Books. Visit her website: Joanna Foreman and her Facebook Author Page: Joanna Foreman, Author Anti-Blog.

Andrea Gilbey is the most southeastern member of the group – southeast England, that is. She visits the group as often as she can to add some British colour (because that’s how they spell it over there), whenever she can get leave from her day job as a footwear technologist. (Motto: breaking shoes so you don’t have to.) Andrea has published five illustrated children’s books for pre-schoolers and upwards and, with SIW colleague Ginny Fleming, worked on the Written in Our Hearts Cookbook in aid of the Davy Jones Equine Memorial Foundation. She is currently working on a sequel to her first novel, Bottletops for Battleships, which is set in wartime England. Andrea lives in leafy Hertfordshire with her beloved cat, Teecy.

Dirk Griffin, also known as The Invisible Man. Dirk is seldom among us in reality, but reality has never been our strong suit, anyway. His contributions are always appreciated, and his presence is unflaggingly sought by the group, his family, a passel of friends, a gaggle of enemies, creditors, and a plethora of nodding acquaintances. He has written theatre reviews for Arts Kentuckiana, had a script produced for Public Access Television, and has written music/lyrics and/or scripts for several musicals. Bunbury Theatre of Louisville, Kentucky, selected one of Griffin’s plays to include in their 2001 15th Anniversary 15 Minute Play Festival, where Rick Mattingly of LEO Magazine called it “one of the strongest plays in the festival.”

T Lee Harris is a scribbler of the lowest order. Not only does she pen lies about people who don’t exist, but she draws pictures of them as well. Harris has also been known to aid and abet others by putting their scribblings into book form and even going so far as to devise covers for these publications. She claims she went to school to learn these things, but that shouldn’t be held against anyone. Harris is, in turn, aided and abetted by others in her assaults against literature. Among these accomplices are Per Bastet Publications, who have shamelessly published her untruths about an ancient Egyptian scribe and a magic temple cat and most recently spread her prevarications about a former football player and a 200 year-old vampire turned international law enforcement agents. Also implicated are Untreed Reads, who have promulgated her lies about a retired spy who keeps getting mixed up in other people’s business, and the Southern Indiana Writers’ Group — possibly the worst offenders of all — who have repeatedly permitted her to commit her acts of literary vandalism with their Indian Creek Anthology Series. There are suspicions that Harris is committing another novel or two, but this has yet to be confirmed.

Michele Hubler acquired a motto as the usual overconfident teenager: “It (it being anything that she didn’t know how to do) can’t be that hard.” She has since found a few things that were indeed that hard, such as mothering a son, attending graduate school in instructional design, getting a job with Xerox, and now, writing humor, fantasy and other odd stories. But as a rule, the motto has served her well.

Joy Kirchgessner is a business woman, illustrator and writer. Her paintings were recently on tour with the Kentucky National Art and Wildlife Exhibition. She shares her home with her husband and two horses.

George Lopez is a practicing architect, a construction specifications writer, and figurative sculptor. His profession obliges him to travel extensively, exposing him to a diversity of people and circumstances. George draws upon these experiences for his fiction writing. He is currently marketing several short stories, and is marketing a novel while working on his next. His next what, he hesitates to say.

Samantha Lopez graduated from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale in Illinois and is now in the Louisville area. When not fighting her two cats for the computer, she browses bookstores, practices various musical instruments, volunteers at sci-fi conventions, and attends Renaissance festivals. She writes science fiction, fantasy, mainstream, and poetry. Her short stories have appeared in the Southern Indiana Writers Group’s Indian Creek anthologies, and her poetry has been published in Nightlife. She is currently working on several novels.

Glenda Mills resides with her husband, three children, four dogs, a cat, various hamsters, turtles, frogs and fish in Floyd County, IN. When she is not busy being a “stay-at-home” mom, which is seldom, she enjoys writing poetry, non-fiction and fiction. Her work crosses genres and presently includes short stories, poems, a finished manuscript on an introspective look at the miscarriage of her child, and an unfinished manuscript of a “slightly” psychotic female serial killer. She firmly believes that variety is the spice of life.    

Brett Alan Sanders is a writer, translator, and recently retired teacher living in Tell City, Indiana. He earned a BA in Spanish (with an English minor) at Indiana University and an MALS at the University of Southern Indiana. He has been a contributing writer at Tertulia Magazine, where for “Tertullian’s Blog” he wrote the occasional column “Arte Retórica,” and a former columnist for the Perry County (IN) News. In addition he served a brief stint as managing editor at New Works Review and has translated for the literary-arts website suelta. He has published original essays, fiction, and literary translations in a variety of journals including Hunger Mountain, Artful Dodge, The Antigonish Review, Confluence: The Journal of Graduate Liberal Studies, and Rosebud. He has also published a YA novella (A Bride Called Freedom, Ediciones Nuevo Espacio, 2003) and two book-length translations from the work of Buenos Aires writer María Rosa Lojo (Awaiting the Green Morning, Host Publications, 2008; Passionate Nomads, Aliform Publications, 2011). He may be contacted via his website / blog at Brett Alan Sanders.

Jen Selinsky was born in Pittsburgh, PA.  In 2003, she earned her bachelor’s degree in English from Clarion University of Pennsylvania.  In 2004, she earned her master’s degree in library science from the same school.  Jen has worked as a professional librarian for over eleven years.  She has published more than 160 books, many of which contain poetry. Her work can be found on the following sites: Lulu, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, iTunes, Smashwords, and Pen It! Publications. She has also been featured in publications such as: The Courier Journal, Explorer Magazine, Liphar Magazine, and Indiana Libraries. Jen lives in Sellersburg, IN with her husband.

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