Creativity is easy to notice in the Denton culture with murals beautifying buildings, musicians performing at multiple venues and authors getting published works-upon-works in multiple places. With this beautiful abundance of creativity in Denton, the Denton Arts and Music Awards is a wayto further appreciate these individuals. The Dentonite welcomes readers to delve deeper into the works of nominees for Best Published Authors.

Darin Bradley

A Ph. D. holder named Darin Bradley has several published works including books such as his cluster of three dystopian novels named “Noise,” “Chimpanzee,” and “Totem.” He is author of “Light Both Foreign and Domestic,” which is a collection of stories. He has taught courses in such places as the University of North Texas, East Tennessee State University and Furman University.   

In the collection of stories in the novel “Light Both Foreign and Domestic,” Bradley has pieces that range from titles as magical as “Fairyland” and as wondersome as “Sleepwalker.” This story collection is a venture of light in darkness and is a look at finding the way to being human in dark territory. Bradley is full of interesting concepts and is definitely worth checking out.   

Find more about this author’s work at: http://darinbradley.com/

Caitlin Pryor

Avid writer with work in poetry, fiction and nonfiction Caitlin Pryor is a nominee with many pieces to venture through. Several pieces can include such poems as “Castles,” “Squeeze,” “Mushrooms” and “Love Meter.”

Pryor said that writing is similar to how art is and how much of it is done purely because one can do it. Pryor said that one of favorite pieces to write was Castles as she was thinking about bounce houses, the return of Saturn and Denton sunsets in the piece.

“It was written and published near the end of my PhD program at UNT, and it felt, in some ways, like the first poem I had written with the kind of startling clarity that I tend to value in my work now,” Pryor said. “It’s direct in its feeling and precise in language, which are things that I worked for years to learn how to get right, vacillating back and forth between mystery and frankness, abstraction and definition, before finally finding the place on that continuum that was Goldilocks-style perfect for me.”

Pryor said that when she writes she hears another version of her voice that has been with her since she was a child that makes her want to take to paper what she hears. Pryor said writing is her path of connecting with the world.

“Writing, for me, has resembled very little the Dickinsonian shut-in model: writing has asked me and allowed me to travel, to meet new people, to try new things… you name it,” Pryor said.  “Writing is my avenue of connection to the world.’

Find more about this author’s work at: https://www.caitlinpryor.com/

 Annie Neugebauer

Annie Neugebauer has short fiction, nonfiction, poetry, blog interviews and more. Neugebauer has published several works including in just 2017 alone and on her website she mentions that she realized how she got so much done, was surprised and looked in what she calls a JoyJar containing the note that said “I showed up.”

“It’s because day after day, week after week, month after month, I showed up. I did the work. I made the effort.” Neugebauer said on her website. “Even when it didn’t feel good, when the work was slow or hard or crappy, I showed up.”

Neugebauer said that she is very driven and impatient when it comes to the path of publication. Neugebauer has worked from non-paying works to paid work. Neugebauer said she believes as far as writing goes that it is an art due use of word.

“Most of us take writing and reading for granted, but when I stop to think about how meaning is conveyed, it seems amazing bordering on magical,” Neugabauer said. “Using just words, we can build people, stories, entire worlds. I love that creative writing not only asks but requires participation of the reader. For this to work, the writer and the reader--you and I--both have to be involved in the creation.”

She is proudest of her two of her short horror stories  “"Hide" in Black Static #43, and "So Sings the Siren" in Apex Magazine Issue 101, and as far as poems she is proud of a work she had won a National Federation of State Poetry Society contest for titled “The Fox.”

Find more about this author’s work at: http://annieneugebauer.com/

Courtney Marie

Courtney Marie has had works appear in Literary Orphans, Black Sun Lit and The Thing Itself among other places. She is co-founder of Spiderweb Salon which is a literary arts collective, over five years old, for local writers, artists, musicians and creatives of different talents. The Spiderweb Salon collective was named Best Literary Arts Group in DFW in 2016 and the collective publishes various written works.

Marie is also co-host of Pegasus Reading Series in Dallas and also does a podcast for the Spiderweb Salon. Having done so much for the community, Marie’s nomination for the DAM Award is pretty fitting.

Find more about this author’s work at: http://thoughtcrimepress.com/portfolio/courtney-marie/

Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam

Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam has been published in over 40 magazines and has works available to read from short stories to poetry. She also has music and works collaboration set to Jazz music available for purchase.

Stufflebeam said that she is thrilled with her success as a writer and she loves to share her work with people. Stufflebeam said she loves creating everything from worlds to people inside her imagination and what makes her writing special is how she uses dreams.

“As an avid daydreamer and appreciator of strange night dreams,” Stufflebeam said. “writing is the best way I get to transform those dreams into something robust.”

Stufflebeam said that she has a gorgeous secretary desk which she inherited from her grandmother. However, Stufflebeam said that she is often writing on her laptop as she lies on her couch with a cat competing for lap space.  

“Books and stories have affected my life so much, and I have always been compelled to attempt to affect others the way that I was affected,” Stufflebeam said, “I've always been wildly ambitious, with an urge to reach out to others and to move others emotionally. I can use words to do that.”

Stufflebeam said that she is proud of her fantasy short story "In the City of Martyrs," her dark humored alien invasion story "The Wanderers," and her cyborg story "The Damaged" which goes over ways that we fail to connect with people and ideas. She said that her favorite piece she wrote as far as poetry is her myth-inspired work titled "The Ferryman."

Find more about this author’s work at: https://bonniejostufflebeam.com/