Phyllis Barber teaches in the Vermont College M.F.A. Writing Program. She won Utah Arts Council first prizes in both the novel and the short story in 1988; won the Associated Writing Programs Award Series in Creative Nonfiction in 1991; and has served as a panelist choosing literary fellowships for the National Endowment for the Arts. Her books include a collection of stories, The School of Love (University of Utah Press, 1990); a novel, And the Desert Shall Blossom (University of Utah Press, 1991; Signature Books, 1993); How I Got Cultured: A Nevada Memoir (University of Georgia Press, 1992); and two books for children. She lives in Colorado with her husband, David H. Barber, has three sons, and is a professional musician. "At the Talent Show" first appeared in The Missouri Review (Winter 1991).
M. Shayne Bell won first place in the L. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future Contest (second quarter, 1986); a Creative Writing Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts for 1991; and second prize for his short story, "The King's Kiss," in the Utah Arts Council Contest for 1992. He has published a novel, Nicoji (Baen Books, 1991), and is currently living in Salt Lake City, Utah, writing and editing a collection of Mormon science fiction to be called Washed by a Wave of Wind: Stories from the Corridor (Signature Books, forthcoming). "Dry Niger" was originally published in Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine (August 1990); was voted an honorable mention in The Year's Best Science Fiction: Eighth Annual Collection (1991); and will be reprinted in an anthology of current science fiction, Future Earths: Under African Skies.
John Bennion teaches writing at Brigham Young University and lives in Springville, Utah, with his wife, Karla, and their four children. He won the Utah Arts Council first prize in the short story in 1987 and the Association for Mormon Letters short story prize in 1988. His story "Burial Pool" was included in Christmas for the World (Aspen Books, 1991). "Dust" first appeared in Best of the West (1989) and was reprinted in his first collection, Breeding Leah and Other Stories (Signature Books, 1991).
Orson Scott Card lives in Greensboro, North Carolina, and is the owner of Hatrack River Publications, which publishes LDS fiction. His novels include Ender's Game and Speaker for the Dead, both of which won Hugo and Nebula awards, as well as the Mormon novels, Saints (Tom Doherty Associates, 1988) and Lost Boys (HarperCollins, 1992). He is the author of two series in progress: "The Tales of Alvin Maker" (latest Prentice Alvin, TOR, 1989) and "Homecoming" (the first, The Memory of Earth, TOR, 1992). He is also the author of Saintspeak: The Mormon Dictionary (Orion Books, 1981). "The Fringe" is from The Folk of the Fringe (Phantasia Press, 1989), his collection of Mormon science fiction stories.
Neal Chandler "shuffles papers and sometimes teaches writing at Cleveland State University in Ohio" (where he is actually director of Creative Writing). He is the author of a play, Appeal to a Lower Court, published in Sunstone (December 1990). "Benediction" won the Dialogue Award in fiction for 1984 and is the title story of his first collection, published by the University of Utah Press in 1989. Permission to reprint the story here is granted by the publisher.
Michael Fillerup lives with his wife Rebecca and their four children in Flagstaff, Arizona, where he is director of ESl/Bilingual Education for the public school system. He has published Visions and Other Stories (Signature Books, 1990) and is working on a novel, "The River, The Rock." "Lost and Found" was cited by the Association for Mormon letters as the best Mormon short story for 1991 and appeared in Christmas for the World (Aspen Books, 1991).
Judith Freeman has published two novels, The Chinchilla Farm (W. W. Norton, 1989) and Set for Life (W. W. Norton, 1991). She is at work, with photographer Tina Burney, on a book about India, based on a recent trip funded by the Guggenheim Foundation. "Family Attractions" is from Family Attractions, Stories, © 1988 by Judith Freeman, and is used here by permission of Viking Penguin, a division of Penguin Books, USA, Inc.
Lewis Horne teaches in the department of English at the University of Saskatchewan, is a widely published poet, and has had stories reprinted in Best American Short Stories, 1974 and Prize Stories, 1987: The O. Henry Awards. His first collection, "The Scorpion Fire," will be published by Signature Books in 1993. "The People Who Were Not There" first appeared in Kansas Quarterly (Summer 1973).
Sibyl Johnston holds an M.A. in creative writing from Boston University and was a 1990-91 Fellow in Literature at Radcliffe's Bunting Institute. She grew up in Illinois, now lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, but considers Utah her home. Her story, "Jessie and Louise," was included in Greening Wheat: Fifteen Mormon Stories (Orion Books, 1983). "Iris Holmes" was published in the Macmillan anthology, Hot Type, in 1988 and forms part of a forthcoming novel.
Wayne Jorgensen writes poetry as well as fiction under the alias Bruce W. Jorgensen. He teaches creative writing at Brigham Young University and writes criticism. He is now at work on a book on Reynolds Price. His story, "A Song for One Still Voice," was published in the Ensign (March 1979) and also appeared in Greening Wheat: Fifteen Mormon Stories (Orion Books, 1983). "Born of the Water" won a first place in the Sunstone Fiction Contest, 1980, and was published by Sunstone (January/February 1980).
Walter Kirn grew up in the Midwest and Arizona and is now a full-time writer living in Montana. His first novel, She Needed Me, was published by Simon and Schuster in 1992. "Whole Other Bodies" is from his first collection of stories, My Hard Bargain (Knopf, 1990), which won the Association for Mormon Letters short story award in 1990 and was published in paperback by Washington Square Press in 1992.
Eileen Gibbons Kump lives in St. Joseph, Missouri. Her story "Everncere" was first published in the Ensign (August 1979) and then in Greening Wheat: Fifteen Mormon Stories (Orion Books, 1983). "The Ladder" won the Sunstone Fiction Contest in 1981 and was published in Sunstone (January-February 1981). "Sayso or Sense," included here, first appeared in Brigham Young University Studies (Fall 1974), and was included in her collection Bread and Milk (Brigham Young University Press, 1979).
Donald R. Marshall, professor of humanities at Brigham Young University, has won awards in painting, photography, composing, directing, and set design; his most recent writing awards were first place in the 1988 Utah Arts Council Contest and first place in the 1989 Deseret Book Children's Book Contest. His story, "Lavender Blue," was published in Sunstone (March-April 1981) and in Greening Wheat: Fifteen Mormon Stories (Orion Books, 1983). He has published a collection of stories, Frost in the Orchard (Brigham Young University Press, 1977; Deseret Book, 1985); a novel, Zinnie Stokes, Zinnie Stokes (Deseret Book, 1984); and a children's book, Enchantress of Crumbledown (Deseret Book, 1990). "The Week-end," which was also included in A Believing People (Brigham Young University Press, 1974), is from his first collection, The Rummage Sale (Heirloom Publications, 1972; republished by Peregrine Smith in 1975 and by Deseret Book in 1985).
Pauline Mortensen holds a Ph.D. in writing from the University of Utah and is a professional technical writer in Orem, Utah. "Woman Talking to a Cow" is from her collection, Back Before the World Turned Nasty (University of Arkansas Press, 1989), which won the Utah Arts Council first prize for short stories in 1987, its Publication Prize the following year, and the Association for Mormon Letters short story award in 1989. The story is reprinted here by permission of the publisher, © 1989.
Levi S. Peterson is professor of English at Weber State University in Ogden, Utah. He has published a novel, The Backslider (Signature Books, 1986); a biography, Juanita Brooks, Mormon Woman Historian (University of Utah Press, 1988); and a second collection of stories, Night Soil (Signature Books, 1990). He is at work on a second novel and a collection of "wilderness essays." "The Christianizing of Coburn Heights" is from his first collection, The Canyons of Grace, which won the Illinois Short Fiction Award, was published by the University of Illinois Press in 1982, and was published in paperback by Signature Books in 1985.
Karen Rosenbaum received an M.A. in creative writing from Stanford University and has been teaching English at Ohlone Community College in Fremont, California. She lives in Kensington, California, with her husband, Ben McClinton. Her story, "Low Tide" was published in Sunstone (September-October 1980) and chosen for Greening Wheat (Orion Books, 1983). She won first place in Dialogue's short story contest in 1987. "Hit the Frolicking, Rippling Brooks" was published in Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought (Fall 1978).
Linda Sillitoe is a professional writer and editor living in Salt Lake City. She has published a novel, Sideways to the Sun (Signature Books, 1987) and co-authored Salamander: The Story of the Mormon Forgery Murders (Signature Books, 1988). Her story, "Four Walls and An Empty Door," was published in Greening Wheat: Fifteen Mormon Stories (Orion Books, 1983). Her first collection of poems, "Crazy For Living," will be published by Signature Books, and her ethnobiography of Clifford Duncan, "One Voice Rising," by the University of Utah Press. "Windows on the Sea" is the title story of her collection published by Signature Books in 1989.
Virginia Sorensen's eight adult novels and seven children's books include the Newberry Medal winner, Miracles on Maple Hill (Harcourt Brace, 1957); a Child Study Award winner, Plain Girl (Harcourt Brace, 1955); and two Mormon novels, A Little Lower than the Angels (Knopf, 1942) and The Evening and the Morning (Harcourt, Brace & Co., 1949). Her story, "The Talking Stick," was chosen for the Prize Stories, 1948: The O. Henry Awards, and she was awarded two Guggenheim Fellowships. She was working on an autobiography when she died in December 1991. "Where Nothing Is Long Ago" is from her collection Where Nothing Is Long Ago: Memories of a Utah Childhood (Harcourt, Brace, and World, 1963).
Darrell Spencer teaches writing at Brigham Young University. His story, "Song and Dance," won second prize in the 1990 Utah Arts Council Contest, and "Union Business" won the 1991 Lawrence Foundation Award for the Short Story. "I Am Buzz Gaulter, Left-hander," is from his first collection, Woman Packing a Pistol (Dragon Gate, 1987), which won the Association for Mormon Letters award. He has finished a second collection, "Our Secret's Out," being considered for publication, and is at work on a novel, "Nasty Town."
Douglas Thayer lives in Provo, Utah, with his Wife, Donlu, and teaches creative writing at Brigham Young University. He has published a novel, Summer Fire (Orion Books, 1983); two collections of stories, Under the Cottonwoods and Other Mormon Stories (Frankson Books, 1977; Signature Books, 1984), and Mr. Wahlquist in Yellowstone and Other Stories (Gibbs Smith, Publisher, 1989); and is at work on a collection of personal essays and a novel. His story, "The Redtail Hawk," published in Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought (Summer 1970) and in Under the Cottonwoods, also appeared in Christmas for the World (Aspen Books, 1991). "Opening Day," which won the Dialogue Award in fiction for 1969, was first published in Dialogue (Spring, 1990) and then in Under the Cottonwoods.
Maurine Whipple won the Houghton Mifflin literary Prize for 1938 to help her complete her novel The Giant Joshua, which appeared in 1941. In the 1940s she published a number of essays and stories about Mormon country and a visitor's guide to the state, This Is the Place: Utah (Knopf, 1945). She died in St. George, Utah, in March 1992. "They Did Go Forth," discovered in Whipple's papers, was first published in Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought (Winter 1991), and will appear in Maurine Whipple: The Lost Works, eds. Veda Tebbs Hale and Lavina Fielding Anderson (Aspen Books, forthcoming). Used here by permission.
Margaret Blair Young is a writing instructor at Brigham Young University and has published two novels, House without Walls (Deseret Book, 1991) and Salvador (Aspen Books, 1992). She won first prizes in both the short story and book sections of the Utah Arts Council Contest in 1989 and its Publication Prize in 1990 for her collection of stories, Elegies and Lovesongs (University of Idaho Press, 1992). She is married to Bruce Young and has four children. "Outsiders" first appeared in Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought (Spring 1991).
