The Enemy Within

Toshiya Kamei (they/them) takes inspiration from fairy tales, folklore, and mythology. They attempt to reimagine the past, present, and future while shifting between various perspectives and points of view. Many of their characters are outsiders living on the margins of society.

Sherry Shahan is a teal-haired septuagenarian who writes in a small beach town in California. Her stories live in Hippocampus, Critical Read, december, F(r)iction, Progenitor, Antitheses, and elsewhere. She holds an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts and has been nominated for The Pushcart Prize in Poetry.

Katie Bernadette is an American Freelance Award-winning artist. She remains reclusive in her sacred space of creation where she finds solace and purpose. She is grateful to be able to share her art with the world and draws inspiration from the unseen and often overlooked emotions that ripple beneath the surface of our daily lives. Her art is a cacophony of traditional brushstrokes mixed with the vibrant, pulsating colors of the digital realm. The canvas is her confessional, the digital screen her oracle, each brushstroke and pixel an ode to the boundless capacity of human emotion. Each piece stands as a testament to the unspoken narratives that dwell within us all—those moments of ineffable joy, profound sorrow, and everything in between. She offers a glimpse into the beauty of our shared humanity, hoping to inspire others to embrace the full spectrum of their emotions and to connect more deeply with the world around them.