John Mauk grew up on the Ohio flatland. He has a PhD in English from Bowling Green State University and a Masters from the University of Toledo. His stories have appeared or been accepted in a range of fine magazines such as Arts & Letters, Salamander, Bull, and New Millennium Writings. He has also contributed essays to online magazines, including Writer’s Digest, Beatrice.com, Three Guys One Book, The Portland Book Review, and Rumpus. His first short collection, The Rest of Us, won Michigan Writer’s Cooperative Press chapbook contest. His first full collection, Field Notes for the Earthbound, is available on Black Lawrence Press.