Three days after submissions closed, and I’ve finally logged, counted, and sent all the art and poetry onward to the judges. What a GREAT turnout—thanks to everyone who submitted!
I’ve also sent all confirmation notifications regarding receipt of your submissions. If you haven’t heard from me, check your SPAM folder first, then email kakalak@carolina.rr.com. We don’t want ANY submission to get missed due to an email error.
The judges are excited to read all your poetry and view all your art—and will spend as much time as necessary to carefully consider your work. Since this is the largest number of submissions we’ve received in several years, it may take a little longer than the original plan of late June/early July. I will keep you posted as to when the judges’ have finalized their choices and acceptance notifications can be sent, so STAY TUNED.
Again, thank you ALL for the support and for the many kind sentiments you’ve shared. You’ve made this first part of the process a true pleasure for me!
Keep Creating, Keep Sharing! Anne M. Kaylor Executive Editor & Publisher
Away from the harshness of daylight, promises are made, bodies come together, words are spoken that can never be taken back—and the creative process thrives.
I can’t think of any issue that better represents the above mantra—written when I founded moonShine review. Literally and allegorically, the dichotomy of light and dark clashes from cover to cover as cheerful, comedic pictures endorse playful, entertaining tales while somber, haunting images mirror dramatic, sometimes graphic, stories.
I am in awe how these diverse plots, characters, and settings gather under a canopy of analogous voices and introspection. Authors focus on a single character’s inner thoughts and emotions, either through first-person point of view or through a third-person limited narrator who presents one character’s internal reflections.
Indulge me: please read this issue in order and don your deerstalker cap. Through a little Holmesian detecting, you’ll find minute details in one story that appear in the next. And you’ll discover nuances to unite images, and their captions, with individual pieces…
SPECIAL THANKS to this issue’s contributors:
Featured Photographers: José H. Quiñones & Evelyn Eickmeyer-Quiñones
Featured Authors: Michael Beadle, Jason Boling, Joyce Compton Brown, Mary Alice Dixon, Lee Grossman, Lana Hendershott, Maggie Nerz Iribarne, Linda Vigen Phillips, Jane Shlensky, Wanda Stover, Bob Strother, Elaine Thomas
ORDER NOW AT A SPECIAL DISCOUNT!
Order your copy for just $6.75 ($1.25 off retail)plus tax & shipping To order a SINGLE copy, via PayPal—you can pay with a Credit Card OR PayPal account:
To order MULTIPLE copies, email moonShine@carolina.rr.com.
To all, I encourage you to find introspection and inspiration in that moment of civil twilight—after the sun’s harsh glare has crossed the horizon and before night’s murky veil descends.
We’re excited to announce the contributors for moonShine review’s Spring/Summer 2021 issue, and thanks to EVERYONE who submitted. We had an awesome turnout!
Featured Photographers: Evelyn Eickmeyer-Quiñones & José Quiñones
Featured Authors: Michael Beadle Jason Boling Joyce Compton Brown Mary Alice Dixon Lee Grossman Lana Hendershott Maggie Nerz Iribarne Linda Vigen Phillips Jane Shlensky Wanda Stover Bob Strother Elaine Thomas
Welcome to a brighter, better 2021 and some exciting news about KAKALAK!
I’m thrilled to announce I am the new publisher of Kakalak. I’ve been involved with this anthology since its birth in 2005, playing different roles—designer, co-judge, co-editor. I see my new publishing role as a natural and wonderful evolution, and I’m determined to keep the best of what you’ve come to expect while making a few tweaks I think you’ll find helpful.
Please visit www.Kakalak2021.com for all the details, including the submission guidelines for the Kakalak 2021 contest. Note, at least for now, you’ll be redirected to the parent website, www.moonShinereviewpress.com, where you’ll find all the news about our press, our journal moonShine review, and Kakalak.
To celebrate the release of Kakalak 2020, the editors—Kim, David, and I—are planning ZOOM Readings for January, February, and March (and maybe April, if there’s enough participation). I’ll communicate dates and details within the next couple weeks via email, Facebook, and the new website, www.Kakalak2021.com. We hope you’ll sign up to participate in the readings AND encourage your family and friends to attend as audience members.
Special thanks to those of you who have participated in Kakalak contests. hope to see all of you participate in this year’s Zoom Readings, and PLEASE submit to Kakalak 2021!
Featured Authors: Franklin Bailey, Anna Catanese, Joyce Compton Brown, Steve Cushman, Gregg Cusick, Alan Gartenhaus, Joiya Morrison-Efemini, Martin Settle, Jane Shlensky, Allen Stevenson, Bob Strother, and Nancy Young
Order your copy for just $6.75* ($1.25 off retail) *plus tax & shipping
To order a SINGLE copy, click HERE for PayPal (you can pay via PayPal account or credit card).
To order MULTIPLE copies, email moonShine@carolina.rr.com.
Fear. We all feel it, especially this year. We’re frightened of dying from an unseen virus, of living in a society that excludes some individuals from fundamental human rights.
Arguably the most basic, yet complex, of emotions, fear manifests itself in myriad ways, as shown by the stories, photographs, and quotes shared in this issue of moonShine. And the message is not so much about what frightens us but how we react. Some choose to deny fear, some use anger to mask fear, and some act courageously despite fear.
In a year when we’ve literally faced life and death decisions, creative endeavors seem marginal to those front-line efforts of medical professionals and emergency responders.
But the artist’s role in society, particularly during turbulent times, remains crucial—to question the status quo, to engage in dialogue, to challenge ourselves and others, to promote change.
Lynn Farmer, our featured photographer, provided such powerful images to accompany the stories, we knew the captions had to be equally compelling. So, we turned to peacemakers, philosophers, artists, scientists, even select politicians to address the issues herein—and to speak for us.
Thank you, Lynn, for outstanding visual imagery. Thank you, authors, for profound words. Thanks, Beth and James, for your many hours and creativity. Thank you, Scott, for printed books that meet our high expectations. And thanks, everyone, for submitting, for spreading the word about us, for contributing to our success.
Mister Rogers, who devoted his life to teaching acceptance, said, “Listening is where love begins.” May you listen with all your senses to this moonShine—let it illuminate the dark corners where fear thrives and encourage openness to change and much-needed healing.
You may have noticed our website has a whole new look, and just in time to announce the contributors for our upcoming 2020 Fall/Winter issue of moonShine review!
With an outstanding turnout of submissions, choosing stories this time proved difficult. We enjoyed so many, but alas, our budget only allows a set number. So, thank you ALL for submitting, and congratulations to the following who will be featured in the next moonShine:
Featured Photographer: Lynn Farmer
Featured Authors: Franklin Bailey, Anna Catanese, Joyce Compton Brown, Steve Cushman, Gregg Cusick, Alan Gartenhaus, Joiya Morrison-Efemini, Martin Settle, Jane Shlensky, Allen Stevenson, Bob Strother, and Nancy Young
More details on the issue (including a sneak peek at the cover) to come. Meanwhile, I hope you enjoy perusing the new website. And I appreciate any feedback, including bugs you may encounter, while doing so!
Stay safe and keep writing, Anne M. Kaylor Executive Editor & Publisher
Order your copy for just $6.75* (that’s $1.25 off retail)
*plus tax & shipping
Click HERE for PayPal (you can pay via PayPal account or credit card).
To order multiple copies, email moonShine@carolina.rr.com.
Featured Photographer: T. Parker Sanborn
Featured Authors: Lisa L. Lynn, Jane Shlensky, Allen Stevenson, Bob Strother, Caren Stuart, Andrea Turner, Elizabeth B. Watson, Nancy Young
Our stories this issue create a cohesiveness much like the near-perfect, slightly varied petals of the intricate dahlia. Imagery overlaps as the invisible becomes visible, and vise versa. Characters crisscross as male and female voices run the gamut between witless and wise. Settings emerge from virtual to natural while plots gradually unfold to reveal often surprising results.
Though diverse in content, an intuitive theme blossoms as these stories and photos blend to create a rhythm for the senses, a chorus of personalities, a symphony arcing from conflict to resolution.
Keep Writing ~ Keep Sharing Anne M. Kaylor Executive Editor & Publisher
Stories Not to Tell by Bob Strother Sequel to Shug’s Place
ORDER your copy for just $14.95 or order both books for $22.00! See Details Below
When an Army buddy’s twelve-year-old daughter goes missing, Vietnam veteran Shug Barnes enlists a cadre of old friends and new acquaintances to track down the kidnappers. His newly formed posse, a unique mix of men and women on both sides of the law, go to great lengths to rescue the young girl—and still keep their own secrets intact. To do so, they will challenge a force seething with racial hatred, more insidious than Waco’s Koresh and just as lethal.
Gary V. Powell: This book reminds us that, beneath the surface of a bland, homogenous, white-collar American landscape lies a rich, blue-collar, black market underbelly. Bankers and politicians walk the streets in broad daylight, but hustlers and grifters ply the darkness. Yet, in that darkness, an old school code of honor is at play, a code of honor that feels solid and reassuring in these uncertain times.
Nancy McFarlane: A cast of the most unlikely characters come together in this action-packed crime thriller… colorful characters whose lives are intertwined in an unputdownable quest…
Susan Reichert: An excellent read…
David Burnsworth: Bob Strother really knows how to write a page turner! In Stories Not to Tell, he exposes the dark side of an already dark world. Shug Barnes is the cunning lead man in a tale that starts in Detroit, stops off in South Carolina, and ends up in a place we should all be afraid exists. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and look forward to Bob’s next.
