Friends of Wing

In my travels and studies, I've been lucky enough to befriend a number of brilliant writers of both fiction and nonfiction, poets, visual artists, musicians and other talented people. Check out their all their awesome work!

Shanon Fitzgerald

Originally from Canada’s capital, Shanon lives and creates in Calgary, Alberta. In 2014 she earned her Bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts, with a concentration in painting and a minor in religious studies. Shanon maintains a working studio in Calgary where she applies her craft to explore themes of human connection, division and introspection. Her art is known for being candid, raw and imbued a gritty, almost cutting, vulnerability. Her work has exhibited in a number of venues in Western Canada (including the cover and inner pages of ICARUS!).

Check more of Shanon’s beautiful work on her website: shanonfitzgerald.com/

BRENT THOMAS

Originally from Florida (and then Georgia) Brent Thomas now lives in Tokyo Japan, having migrated east after university, way back in 2004. He has worked as a teacher and school board administrator in Japan. He also earned his MA in international relations from Waseda University. And he married a wonderful woman and started an amazing family!

Though it all, Brent has been writing. In 2016, he published his first novel, a high-adventure fantasy called Deadly Troubadours. The sequel, Sand, Sea and Stone is due to be release soon! He hosts/co-hosts a number of podcasts on his website, talking comics, living in Japan, and offering an audio novella about vampires in Tokyo.

Click the links below or check out deadlytroubadour.com for fiction, podcasts, blog posts, movie/comic reviews (and even a ukulele video or two!)!

Ian Gibbs

Born in the UK and emigrating to Canada with his family when he was young, Ian carries with him the Celtic beliefs and gifts of his heritage. Always fascinated by storytelling, ghosts and hauntings, Ian found himself more and more assisting friends with their ghost problems and learning much more than simply stories along the way.

Author of Victoria's Most Haunted: 30 Ghost Stories from BC's Historic Capital City, Ian also hosts the Ghost Stories Guys Podcast where he explores even more stories of the paranormal and things that go bump in the night. When not writing, Ian holds down a regular day job as well as doing guided Ghostly Walks in Victoria, BC where he lives. Most of all, Ian enjoys hearing from his readers. Check out Ian's great book and podcast!

Diana Pearson

Scholar, artist, and recovering musician, Diana Pearson is the product of a strong entrepreneurial mother and an artistic father. Having grown up on Canada’s west coast, Diana now finds home wherever she happens to be when the ones she loves are close. (Though for tax purposes she does keep a legal residence.) Possessing a Bachelor of Arts in women’s studies, she is always eager to discuss topics of gender, sexuality, or simply her own life and experiences—be it over glasses of wine or in an academic paper. Her writing has found publication in The Hampton Institute, Portal Magazine, Feminist Spaces Journal, Compass Rose Journal, Earth Common Journal, and The NAV.

Diana’s artistic side has most recently manifested in her exquisite glass-blown art, which can be seen on her Glassworks site. Additionally, the music she created in her previous life as a musician (of which she herself has, at best, mixed opinions—but everyone else loves) is still available on SoundCloud. (But don’t tell her I told you that.)

Travis Beaudoin

In Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, where the days are quiet and the stars are bright, Travis Beaudoin lives, creates, teaches and works. Something of a Renaissance man, Travis has explored numerous paths and tracks in wilds of creative and intellectual expression. He began his career in the study of rhetoric, for which earned a M.A. Through his early adulthood, he worked for several years as both an actor and a director. As an author, he cut his teeth ghostwriting m/m erotic romances, before branching produce works of his own authorship.

Through all this, Travis also teaches Creative Writing, Theater Studies, Communications and Rhetoric at the Post-Secondary level.

Travis writes introspective, character-driven gay erotica with a focus on power dynamics and character psychology. His 8-story Bryce Can Play series is an engaging and steaming series which has received excellent reviews. As has his stand-alone novella, Break Me Down. Travis has also made some of his work available free to anyone who subscribes to his website.

Helen Whistberry

Helen Whistberry is an indie author and artist who took up writing after retiring from a long career working in libraries. She has published six books in her Small Towns, Real Women series that celebrate strong women overcoming adversity; two in her Jim Malhaven Mysteries series, light noir novels with a cozy mystery feel and a touch of the paranormal that pay loving tribute to the wise guy detectives of the 40s and 50s; and a short Christmas-themed Gothic ghost tale as well as contributing short stories to several anthologies. She is currently working on the third of the Malhaven Mysteries, an untitled science fiction book, and a fantasy novel in collaboration with author Elizabeth Belt.

When not writing or drawing, she enjoys exploring the natural world of the Southeastern United States and loves all animals, including her two cats and a rather silly six-pound Chihuahua. She also loves to read and review books by fellow indie authors. You can find out more about her books, art, and book reviews by visiting https://helenwhistberry.com.