November 2008 Issue of Arts and Literary Journal The Battered Suitcase; intelligent and imaginative prose, poetry and art that explores the human experience. Edited by Fawn Neun, Maggie Ward, Alice Bigelow, Deb Perry and Apythia Morges. Fiction by Michelle Reale, Karl Koweski and Bronwyn Mauldin. Poetry by Jane Chakravarthy and Jan Melara.The Warrior’s Beckoning is a two-part horror thriller with an allegorical storyline.Connected by a dream, a team of ghost hunters is gathered and sent into a mysterious forest. Once a town, it is now inhabited by only darkness and sorrow.After finding himself at the mercy of the shadow creatures, the team leader is rescued by men he does not know, men who were called by the same dream. But as the ghost hunter plays his camera footage, a priest reads the diary that unleashes the Spirits of Decay. These cloaked figures surround them, their scythes sapping the team of their spiritual energy.Told through a series of diary entries, The Warrior’s Beckoning is an evocative story about the epic cosmic battle between light and dark. The first part of this chilling tale chronicles the awakening of the mysterious forces, while the second part tells of the arrival of the Warrior.A thrilling page-turner filled with unexpected twists and turns, author Patrick Howard’s haunting paranormal narrative will keep you enthralled from the first sentence to the last.

September 2008 Issue of Arts and Literary Journal The Battered Suitcase; intelligent and imaginative prose, poetry and art that explores the human experience. Edited by Fawn Neun, Maggie Ward, and Apythia Morges. Fiction by Laury Egan, Ash Hibbert, Aaron Polson and John Carroll. Poetry by Jennifer Viets, Darryl Salach and Kristine Ong Muslim. Lyrics by Paul Jarvis of Slab!Reality and subjective meaning come together in the life of one man. As they spiral around each other, Darrin looks deeper into his life and the world around him, and is challenged by what he sees.Darrin develops a condition where he no longer sees things, but the shaped descriptions of things in this short story (approximately 3400 words). He suffers loss, and confusion, copes with love and family, and looks deep. This edition also contains two bonus items, "Because Love Resists Narrative," a villanelle, and "Meet Ashley's Neighbor," a short-short episode in a serial character sketch.Cover art and design by Stephen Brom.

July 2008 Issue of Arts and Literary Journal The Battered Suitcase; intelligent and imaginative prose, poetry and art that explores the human experience. Edited by Fawn Neun, Maggie Ward, Alice Bigelow, Deb Perry and Apythia Morges. Fiction by Lucie Barât, Sarah MacManus and Michael Mirolla. Poetry by Collette Jonopulus and Richard Fein. Lyrics by Toy Horses.Recruited to help hunt for a serial killer who has gone without capture for forty years, her second week in Homicide Detective Beck Nash already finds herself at odds with veteran detective Mick Bishop, the original lead on the case. Instincts pulling Beck one way, Bishop’s experience leads them in another, and Beck will learn what it means to be the new blood on the case.Meanwhile, at home, Beck’s brother has come to crash at her apartment under troubling circumstances, stirring demons from their past they would both rather forget.21 Weeks is a fast-paced police procedural thriller series that ramps up in intensity with each victim that falls until its explosive final week.Warning: This series is about a serial killer. There will be violence. There will be language. There will be other adult things. It is intended for a mature audience.