Reckoning is a communal effort. Our editorial staff, in random order:
Michael J. DeLucaPublisher
Michael J. DeLuca’s short fiction has been appearing since 2005 in markets such as Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Mythic Delirium and Apex. His novella Night Roll was a finalist for the Crawford Award in 2020, and his debut novel The Jaguar Mask came out from Stelliform Press in August, 2024. He lives in the rapidly suburbifying post-industrial woodlands north of Detroit with wife, kid, cats, plants and microbes. For more, try his website: The Mossy Skull.
Andrew KozmaAndrew Kozma’s fiction appears in Apex, ergot., and Analog, while his poems appear in Strange Horizons, The Deadlands, and Contemporary Verse 2. His first book of poems, City of Regret, won the Zone 3 First Book Award, and his second book, Orphanotrophia, was published in 2021 by Cobalt Press. You can find him on Bluesky at @thedrellum.bsky.social and visit his website at www.andrewkozma.net.
Portrait by Wolf William Say.
Ruth JoffreNovellas Editor
Ruth Joffre is the author of the story collection Night Beast. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Lightspeed, Nightmare, Pleiades, khōréō, The Florida Review Online, Wigleaf, Baffling Magazine, and the anthologies Best Microfiction 2021 & 2022, Unfettered Hexes: Queer Tales of Insatiable Darkness, and Evergreen: Grim Tales & Verses from the Gloomy Northwest.
Octavia CadeOctavia Cade is a New Zealand writer with a PhD in science communication. Most of her academic work talks about how science is presented in speculative fiction; she has around 30 academic publications in markets including Horror Studies, Supernatural Studies, and Interdisciplinary Literary Studies. Creatively, she has approximately 70 short stories in markets including Clarkesworld, F&SF, and Asimov's. Her latest book, You Are My Sunshine and Other Stories, was published in 2023 by Stelliform Press. She was the 2023 Ursula Bethell writer in residence at Canterbury University, and was the recent recipient of an Arts Grant from Creative New Zealand.
Aaron KlingAudio Editor
Aaron Kling is a podcaster, fiction writer, and voice talent working out of the Midwest. He enjoys obsessing over worldbuilding, running tabletop campaigns, and talking to his partner, his friends, and himself.
Ellis NyeSubmissions Coordinator, Fiction Co-Editor
Ellis Nye (any pronouns) is a scientist, fiber artist, and writer. Ze lives in New England, and wrote this short story on a laptop that the tech support people wanted to throw away because it was “too hard to fix”.
Taj WilkinsonTaj Wilkinson (she/her) is a Marylander who writes speculative fiction. She is a graduate of the Jimenez-Porter Writers' House who enjoys watching hockey and studying Japanese.
Bernie Jean SchiebelingBernie Jean Schiebeling (she/they) is calling on you to join the struggle for liberation and peace alongside Palestinian, Jewish, Native American, and oppressed peoples everywhere. Set aside the catharsis of short-term activism and binary thinking: embrace community, embrace longevity, embrace the possibility of change. Work together, form coalitions based in trust and respect. Rest together, and help the garden grow more than salt.
Hope JosephHope Joseph is an essayist and poet. He writes from Nigeria, West Africa. His works are forthcoming or already published in Poetry Ireland, Notre Dame, CSM, Augur, Stormbird, A long house, Mukoli, SolarPunk, Riddlebird, Reckoning, The Sunlight Press, and more. A multiple times Best of the Net & Pushcart Prize nominee. A joint winner for SEVHAGE/Agema Founder’s Prize for Creative Non-Fiction (2023).
Tim Fab-EmePoetry Editor
Tim Fab-Eme is an engineer and poet who experiments with poetic forms on environmental and social justice themes. He’s the Issue 7 poetry editor of Reckoning: Creative Writing on Environmental Justice, and Cove Park’s 2022 funded writer-in-residence on climate action. Tim loves exploring nature, gardening, and fishing in the mangrove swamps of his island home, Egun-Okom (Ogonokom). His work has appeared in The Malahat Review, The Fiddlehead, Magma, New Welsh Reader, About Place Journal, Reckoning: Creative Writing on Environmental Justice, Channel: Ireland’s Environmental Literary Journal; apt, Planet in Crisis Anthology, Deep Wild Journal: Writing from the Backcountry, Land and Territory Anthology, Delmarva Review, FIYAH, The Future of Black: An Afrofuturism & Black Comics Poetry Anthology, Borderlands: Texas Poetry Review, FU Review, The Maine Review, etc. His other projects center on the lore, myth, and experiences of marginalized folks and communities.
Alyssa MinorAlyssa Minor is a writer from Maryland with an adoration for gothic literature and vampirism; a simple goth with a love of writing, editing, and being surrounded by books.
Offor ChideraOffor Chidera (t[he]y) is a Nigerian Poet residing in Coal City. They have been published in The Spectacle, So To Speak (print), Reckoning, Ouch! Collective and elsewhere. Find them on Bluesky: chideraoffor.bsky.social.
Rath MercuryRATH MERCURY writes horror, fantasy, romance, poetry, and science fiction, always queer. They have also worked as a choreographer, open source software developer, arts administrator, and more. It’s been busy. Mercury lives in New Mexico. When not writing, they play tabletop games and classical guitar. https://www.rathmercury.com
Gloria OgoGloria Ogo is an American-based Nigerian writer with several published novels and poetry collections. Her work has appeared in Eye to the Telescope, Brittle Paper, Spillwords Press, Metastellar, Gypsophila Magazine, Harpy Hybrid Review, Allegro Poetry Magazine, CON-SCIO Magazine, and more. With an MFA in Creative Writing, Gloria was a reader for Barely South Review. She is the winner of the Brigitte Poirson 2024 Literature Prize, the finalist for the Jerri Dickseski Fiction Prize 2024 and the ODU 2025 Poetry Prize, both with honorable mentions. She is also a finalist for Lucky Jefferson’s 2025 Poetry Contest. Her work was longlisted for the 2025 American Short(er) Fiction Prize.
https://glriaogo.wixsite.com/gloria-ogo
Guillermo G. MendozaGuillermo G. Mendoza is a Mexican writer from Orizaba, México. He’s also both a teacher and a literary researcher. When not involved with literature, he can be found hiking and cycling. His story “The Heart of the Land” got published in Android Press’ Bioluminescent: A Lunarpunk Anthology in 2023. You can find him on Twitter at @Momentanium.
C. G. AubreyManaging Editor, Fiction Co-Editor, CNF Co-Editor
C.G. Aubrey is a queer, AuDHD writer and outdoor enthusiast obsessed with yellow leaves, swamp rainbows, and em dashes. She holds dual-masters degrees in US History and Religious Studies and often finds inspiration at the intersection of cultural memory, religion, and the environment. Her story “A Predatory Transience” appeared in Reckoning in 2023; she’s been editing here ever since. Find her occasionally on Bluesky @cgaubrey.bsky.social, Instagram @c.g.aubrey, and www.cgaubrey.com.
Catherine RockwoodCatherine Rockwood (she/they) lives in Massachusetts with her family. Their poetry appears or is forthcoming in HAD, Stone Circle Review, Moist Poetry Journal, Psaltery & Lyre, Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet, and elsewhere. Catherine’s poetry chapbooks, Endeavors to Obtain Perpetual Motion, and And We Are Far From Shore: Poems For Our Flag Means Death, are available from the Ethel Zine Press.
CP NwankwoCP Nwankwo (he/him), SWAN IV, identifies as an apprentice poet. He writes from Port Harcourt, Nigeria. He was recently shortlisted for the Alpine Fellowship Prize for Poetry, 2025. His work is published/forthcoming in Frontier Poetry, Palette Poetry, Mizna, Magma, Heartlines Spec, Strange Horizons, Reckoning, Consequence Forum, Lucky Jefferson, Rough Cut, Another Chicago Magazine, Big Score Lit, Poetry ColumnNND, and elsewhere. He tweets @CPNwankwo.
Priya ChandArt Director, CNF Co-Editor
Priya Chand is a California transplant living in the Midwest, where she volunteers as a forest steward. Her work is inspired by a background in biology, and has appeared in magazines including The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction and Clarkesworld.
Emeritus
E.C. BarrettE.C. Barrett writes and edits fiction and literary criticism, teaches creative writing, and makes woodblock and linocut art. Alongside their partner, EC built a timber frame home by hand and planted a small orchard, which has so far only fed the local fauna. A Clarion West graduate, EC's writing has appeared in Baffling Magazine, Split Lip, Strange Horizons, and elsewhere. ecbarrett.com
Sakara RemmuSakara Remmu was first published in 2001 after witnessing a violent crime and police shooting in Seattle. In 2007 she started writing The Sable Verity Social Commentary, and became a regular contributor to local and national online, print and radio outlets. In 2016 Sakara founded Black Owned Media Broadcasting Company (BOMBCo) to create a multimedia journalism and storytelling platform to reclaim the media narratives around the social issues directly impacting the lives of Black and other people of color in Seattle and beyond. Sakara is the Host and Executive Producer of Under the Redline, a miniseries podcast exploring experiences, stories, opinions, and issues historically and actively misrepresented or ignored by local and national mainstream media, and which impact the lives of those in marginalized communities in and around Seattle.
African Heritage/First Nation
She/her
Giselle LeebGiselle Leeb’s debut collection, Mammals, I Think We Are Called (Salt), was longlisted for the Edge Hill Short Story Prize 2023. Her stories have appeared in Best British Short Stories 2017 (Salt), Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet, Black Static, IZ Digital, and other publications. Her most recent story was published as a Nightjar Press chapbook.
Aïcha Martine ThiamAïcha Martine is a trilingual /multicultural writer, musician and artist, and might have been a kraken in a past life. She's an editor at Reckoning, co-EIC/Producer/Creative Director of The Nasiona, and has been nominated for Best of the Net, The Best Small Fictions and The Pushcart Prize. She is the author of At Sea (CLASH BOOKS), which was shortlisted for the 2019 Kingdoms in the Wild Poetry Prize, and her second collection, BURN THE WITCH, is forthcoming with Finishing Line Press. Some words found in: Déraciné, The Rumpus, Moonchild Magazine, Marías at Sampaguitas, Luna Luna, Bright Wall/Dark Room, Pussy Magic, South Broadway Ghost Society, Gone Lawn, Boston Accent Lit, Anti-Heroin Chic, Cosmonauts Avenue, Tenderness Lit. @Maelllstrom/www.amartine.com.
Aozora BrockmanAozora Brockman was raised on an organic vegetable farm in Central Illinois by a Japanese mother and an American father. She is the recipient of the 2015 Jean Meyer Aloe Poetry Prize from the Academy of American Poets, and is the author of two chapbooks, The Happiness of Dirt and Memory of a Girl. Aozora’s poems have also appeared in Hermeneutic Chaos, the Cortland Review, Fifth Wednesday, and other journals. Read more of her writing at: aozorabrockman.wordpress.com.
Goldie LocksBorn in the USSR, lives in Russia. Always gay, often sad. A human, a mother, a voice.
Julia DaSilvaJulia DaSilva’s poetry has appeared in Eclectica, Rat’s Ass Review, Lychee Rind zine, Cathexis, Sapphic Writers Collective, Half A Grapefruit, and the University of Toronto journals The Spectatorial, The Strand, and Hardwire. She is a guest in Tkaronto/Toronto on Dish With One Spoon territory, and writes fantasy as well as poetry, with a particular interest in the politics of magic systems. Her writing is informed by her work in climate justice organizing, and explores questions of political responsibility and queerness, embodiment, love and hope in worlds coming apart and being rebuilt.
Gabriela SantiagoGabriela Santiago is a writer and performer based in St. Paul, Minnesota. A graduate of the Clarion writing workshop and a proud member of Team Tiny Bonesaw, she has been published in Clarkesworld, Strange Horizons, The Dark, Lightspeed, Nightmare, and Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet, among others. She is the founder and curator of Revolutionary Jetpacks, a science fiction cabaret centering visions of the future by BIPOC, queer and trans, and disabled artists. You can follow her @LifeOnEarth89 or writing-relatedactivities.tumblr.com.
Leah BobetAuthor, editor, and community organizer Leah Bobet’s novels have won the Sunburst and Prix Aurora Awards; her short fiction is anthologized worldwide. She has reviewed books on climate and our relationships to place for PRISM International, Spacing, and Rewilding Magazine. She was poetry editor for Reckoning 5, read for Grist's Imagine 2200 climate fiction contest, and was the longtime editor of Ideomancer Speculative Fiction. She lives in Toronto, where she makes jam, builds grassroots food security networks, and plants both tomatoes and trees. Visit her at www.leahbobet.com.
Julie C. DayJulie C. Day's dark fantasy novella, The Rampant, is a 2019 Lambda Literary Award finalist. Her debut collection Uncommon Miracles came out the prior year. Julie has published numerous stories in magazines & journals such as The Dark, Black Static, Podcastle, Split Lip Magazine, Interzone, and the Cincinnati Review. She lives in a small town in New England with her family and a menagerie of variously sized animals. Café writing and long walks with ebooks are also a non-quarantine thing. You can find Julie online at @thisjulieday or on her blog stillwingingit.com.
Johannes PunktJohannes Punkt is a writer, translator and alarmist from Sweden whose texts occasionally surface. He's been part of the Reckoning Editorial Staff since the second issue. Email: johannes@reckoning.press. (Photograph courtesy of Josefin Tollgren.)
Noa CovoNoa Covo is an aspiring teenage writer and Fridays For Future activist. Her work has been published in Museum Anthology, a Didcot Writers anthology, and will be published in Forgotten Ones, an Eerie River Anthology. She can be found on Twitter @covo_noa.
Sonia SulaimanSonia Sulaiman writes speculative fiction inspired by Palestinian folklore. Her work has appeared in ArabLit Quarterly, Beladi, FIYAH, Lackington’s Magazine, Seize the Press, and other venues. Her stories have been anthologized in Xenocultivars: Stories of Queer Growth, Year’s Best Canadian Fantasy & Science Fiction, If There’s Anyone Left Vol 4, INARA: Light of Utopia, and more. Her stories have been nominated for Pushcart, Lammy, and Palestine Book awards, and she was a finalist for the Best New Weird Award.
Her editorial debut, Thyme Travellers: An Anthology of Palestinian Speculative Fiction, launched in 2024 from Roseway Publishing.
Sonia is a former submissions editor for Augur Magazine and Hugo Award-winning magazines Uncanny and Strange Horizons. In her free time, Sonia curates the Read Palestinian Speculative Fiction Reading List.
Mohammad Shafiqul IslamMohammad Shafiqul Islam is the author of two poetry collections, most recently Inner State (Daily Star Books, 2020), and translator of Humayun Ahmed: Selected Short Stories and Aphorisms of Humayun Azad. In February 2017, he was a poet-in-residence at the Anuvad Arts Festival, India, and his poetry and translation have appeared in Journal of Postcolonial Writing, Poem: International English Language Quarterly, Critical Survey, Stag Hill Literary Journal, SNReview, Reckoning, Dibur Literary Journal, Lunch Ticket, Bengal Lights, Armarolla, and elsewhere. His work has been anthologized in a number of books, including The Book of Dhaka: A City in Short Fiction (Comma Press, UK). Currently at work on a few translation projects such as The Letters of Kazi Nazrul Islam, Dr Islam is Associate Professor of English at Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, Sylhet, Bangladesh.
Marie VibbertBesides selling thirty-odd short stories (six to Analog!), twenty-some poems and a few comics, Marie Vibbert has been a medieval (SCA) squire, ridden 17% of the roller coasters in the United States and has played O-line and D-line for the Cleveland Fusion women’s tackle football team. Her college coursework was in Environmental Geology but by day she is a computer programmer.
Ivy RaffIvy Raff’s debut chapbook, Rooted and Reduced to Dust (Finishing Line Press, forthcoming 2024), was hailed by Jimmy Santiago Baca as “sensuous, glowing with an undercarriage of mystique.” Her poetry appears in The American Journal of Poetry, Nimrod International Journal, and West Trade Review, among numerous others, and is anthologized in Spectrum: Poetry Celebrating Identity. Currently nominated for the Best of the Net Anthology, Ivy’s work has garnered scholarship support from the Colgate Writers’ Conference as well as residencies with Atlantic Center for the Arts and Alaska State Parks. She lives and bakes artisan challah in Northern New Jersey.
Knar GavinKnar Gavin (they/any) is a doctoral candidate at the University of Pennsylvania, where they recently served as the Poetic Practice Fellow. Their research attends to representations of environmental crisis in late-20th- and 21st-century poetry and poetics, and they are drawn toward learning from and sharing the prefigurative political possibilities that emerge in works of documentary and ecopoetry. Knar is also an environmental justice organizer and participates in bottom-up collective struggles, including those against extractive, toxic industries and ecocidal development projects. Recent poetry can be found in AGNI, NiCHE, Perpetual Doom, and West Branch, and their 2019 poetry chapbook Vela. is available through the Operating System. You can find their essay on the idiom of “climate grief” in Annulet: A Journal of Poetics.
Cécile CristofariCécile Cristofari lives in South France, where she teaches English to unruly but endearing teenagers. Her stories have previously appeared in Daily Science Fiction. In a previous life, she authored a PhD dissertation on imaginary cosmogonies in science fiction and fantasy (someone once described it as “more dedicated fan work than academic work,” which she chooses to take as a compliment). She blogs at http://staywherepeoplesing.wordpress.com/.
Hal Y. ZhangHal Y. Zhang is a word arranger and lapsed physicist who splits her time between the east coast of the United States and the Internet. She writes at halyzhang.com, and her science fiction chapbook Hard Mother, Spider Mother, Soft Mother was published by Radix Media.
Waverly SMWaverly SM is a 2019 Lambda Literary Fellow whose work has appeared in We’re Here: The Best Queer Speculative Fiction 2020 (Neon Hemlock, 2021), Stim: An Autistic Anthology (Unbound, 2020), Lucent Dreaming, SAND, and Catapult. They can currently be found trying to approximate the anchorite lifestyle on the unceded territory of the Ramaytush Ohlone People.
Danika DinsmoreDanika Dinsmore is a literary mutt, social and environmental activist,
performance artist, and educator living in British Columbia.
Amanda Ilozumba OtitochukwuIlozumba Otitochukwu Amanda is a messenger for fictional characters and often refers to herself as three owls disguised as a human.
She is obsessed with African mythology and wants to write a speculative fiction novelette inspired by African gods, that is, if she can manage to put down her phone for more than a minute.
Ilozumba writes to tell the African story through the African lens.
Arkady MartineArkady Martine is a speculative fiction writer and, as Dr. AnnaLinden Weller, a historian of the Byzantine Empire and a city planner. Under both names she writes about border politics, narrative and rhetoric, risk communication, and the edges of the world. She is currently a policy advisor for the New Mexico Energy, Minerals, and Natural Resources Department, where she works on climate change mitigation, energy grid modernization, and resiliency planning. Her debut novel, A Memory Called Empire, released in March 2019 from Tor Books, has been nominated for the Nebula, Hugo and Locus Awards. Arkady grew up in New York City, and after some time in Turkey, Canada, Sweden, and Baltimore, lives in New Mexico with her wife, the author Vivian Shaw. Find Arkady online at www.arkadymartine.net or on Twitter as @ArkadyMartine.