Emerging Voices, Timeless Themes


Greetings dear reader!

Welcome to confetti.

Our lucky seventh issue, Volume 4, Number 1, once again brings long-awaited respite from world weariness and the mundane. We enthusiastically present poetry and prose garnered from around the world.

This issue features Axel Martens, who debuts his Viking fantasy novel, Mae – Death’s Youngest Daughter. Martens’ novel promises action and magic, witches and curses. Get to know this brilliant writer on his featured author page.

We are also showcasing prose from three young writers, who participated in a creative writing seminar focusing on the cultivation of creativity and craft of writing. They share their creative fictions, bringing hope from the next generation of writers for the future of storytelling.

This issue’s cover displays the artwork of Kelly DuMar, who shares her “Maple Wings 3” – an exhibit of the colorful promise of Spring and the nostalgia of childhood whirligigs.

We’ve received much positive feedback about the inclusion of audio for our poetry selections. We’ve not only continued the practice but extended the chance to hear audio of our micro-fiction pieces.

Looking ahead—our Fall issue already has many submissions. Our deadline for the next issue is September 1.

From all our selectors and editors, our versatile and vigorous webmaster, and on behalf of Westchester Writers Workshop, I would like to thank you for your submissions, your readership, and your support.

Enjoy confetti and celebrate eclectic voices!

~Gabriel Sebastian
Editor-in-chiefconfetti
May 2024

Spring 2024 Edition


We are pleased to announce our Spring 2024 edition of confetti.

CONTRIBUTORS

Fiction by:  Dan Brook, Elizabeth Cohen, Sarah Daly, Salvatore Difalco, J.P.J. Fox, Axel Martens, Marcelo Medone, I.J. Miller, A. N. Myers, Richard Natale, John Perilli, Chere Taylor, Danielle Vecchio, Judy Voss, D. Reed Whittaker

Non-fiction by:  Patty Somlo

Poetry by:  Massimo Vito Avantaggiato, Christopher Barnes, Emily Bilman, Joseph A Farina, Natalie Fraser, Anyély Gómez‑Dickerson, John Grey, Rosalie Hendon, Jacqueline Jules, Albert N. Katz, Nikkilee Kozminsky, J. Clifford Milligan, E. Martin Pedersen, Nick Romeo, Lauren Scharhag, William Teets, G.M.H. Thompson, K Weber, Allison Whittenberg, Gerald Yelle

Cover photo by:  Kelly DuMar

FEATURES

Featured Writer: Axel Martens
Young Writers Creative Writing Seminar
     (with stories by Rosie DiLeonardo, Viviana Iglesia, Anastasia Murphy)

See the full Table of Contents.

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confetti cover – Spring 2024, Volume 4 No. 1
Cover photo “Maple Wings 3” by Kelly DuMar

confetti

Eclectic Voices


Greetings dear reader!

Welcome once again to confetti.

Our sixth issue, Volume 3, Number 2, promises more of what we believe are various worthy voices of writers and poets from around the world. We are grateful to everyone who sends us their art, their messages, their feelings, and their stories. We present all in their own excellence, and our endeavor to curate a remarkable sampling and a cohesive variety leads us to this exciting issue.

We are featuring two distinctive contributors within our pages—a poet and a writer. Our featured writer is a regular contributor, Judy Voss, whose short stories and micro-fictions bring a much-needed mix of humor and wistful sentimentality. Our featured poet, Nikkilee Kozminsky, is a newcomer to the pages of confetti, but her freestyle poetry bursts with vivid and visceral emotional expressions.

Our cover flaunts the artwork of Janis Butler Holm, who shares her “Floral Gazebo in the Wind.”

We are excited by our new addition for experiencing the poetry in confetti! Now, eclectic voices can be heard as well as read! We’ve asked poets to provide recordings of their poems recited in their own voices or read by guest performers. Poetry is meant to be read aloud, and now our readers can hear the unique voices of contributing poets. Check out the embedded audio console in selected poems and be sure to comment on these and all your favorite poems and stories.

Looking ahead—for now, we will continue to publish our regular Spring Edition, anticipated May of 2024. Submissions for Spring are already heating up, so send yours by March 1.

From all our selectors, our formidable and focused webmaster, and on behalf of Westchester Writers Workshop, I would like to thank you for your submissions, your readership, and your support.

Enjoy confetti and celebrate eclectic voices!


~Gabriel Sebastian
Editor-in-chief, confetti

November 2023

Fall 2023 Edition


We are pleased to announce our Fall 2023 edition of confetti.

CONTRIBUTORS

Fiction by:  Jeanne Althouse, Maureen Mancini Amaturo, Roly Andrews, Bevy Daniel, Sushma R. Doshi, Christine M. Du Bois, J.P.J. Fox, Evie Groch, Sarah Das Gupta, Maggie Nerz Iribarne, Peace Nkeiruka Maduako, Keith Manos, Axel Martens, Mahvash Mohtadullah, Ryan Tan, E.C. Traganas, Judy Voss

Non-fiction by:  Malcolm Culleton, John RC Potter

Poetry by:  Barbara Alfaro, Janice Boland, Mimi Bordeaux, Salvatore Difalco, Hunter Duffy, John Grey, James Croal Jackson, Nikkilee Kozminsky, Jhemar Lagata, Oksana Lizunova, Lisa Low, Ben Macnair, margie marek, Ron Riekki, Gabriel Sebastian

Cover art by:  Janis Butler Holm

FEATURES

Judy Voss, Nikkilee Kozminsky

See the full Table of Contents.

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confetti cover – Fall 2023, Volume 3 No. 2
Cover art “Floral Gazebo in the Wind” by Janis Butler Holm

confetti

A New Collection of Eclectic Expressions


Greetings dear reader!

Welcome once again to confetti.

For this edition, our fifth installment, we trundle out of semi-winter blinking and peeking toward a bright, new Spring.  Time once again for poetry, prose, plays and stories.

Contained within our digital pages is a new collection of eclectic expressions.  Poems, fictions, and some new feature articles as we find great talent in the neighborhood of Westchester Writers Workshop and the Somers Library.  We continue to gather from a myriad of countries including Ireland, India, Ukraine, and Nigeria and our selection includes a vast variety – some new faces and some familiar.

Writer and visual artist Janice Boland contributed a delightful water coloresque for our cover. Lisa O’Neil Guerci covers a local poetry open mic with artistic flair, and we continue our search for the sublime and extraordinary.

If I detect a common theme in our poetry submissions, I will say many are personal searches and self-discoveries with metaphysical and universal implications.  Nature is prominent, and dystopias ever present, but the human spirit prevails throughout.  Our prose selections include some flash and micro-fictions, and a play starring Oscar Wilde as a hologram!

Our featured author is also a poet who over the years has published fiction and poetry.  William Teets leads his own writers’ group in Michigan and is no stranger to the pages of confetti.  Many know of his debut novel, Upside-down: One on the House, but two books of poetry and another hard-hitting fiction about a troubled urban youth, Reverend Went Walking, quickly propels this artist to the category of local favorite. To call his style “in-your-face,” “raw and gritty” speaks nothing of how crucified platitudes and stripped away sentiment make way for profound, naked feeling, thoughtful and powerful allusions, and soul wrenching reflection.

One aspect of our magazine we find paramount is the ability for you, the reader, to interact with the pieces you read in confetti.  We encourage and welcome feedback.  Look for the form at the end of each page enabling you to leave feedback, comments, praise, and cheers.  An email address is all that is required by our web platform, and we will never publish or share this information.  We love to hear from you, and we know our contributing poets, writers, playwrights, and authors also thrive on the applause and feedback from the audience. Feel free to let your voice be heard in this interactive way.

What’s next for confetti? We continue our search for outré poetry and prose and we also invite artists to share images or photos. See our submission page for details. We are already receiving submissions for our Fall edition!  Thank you to those who share their talent and stories and verse.  Without you, our magazine could not exist. Our success is your success!

From all our selectors, our stolid and sedulous webmaster, and on behalf of Westchester Writers Workshop and the Somers Library, I would like to thank you for your submissions, your readership, and your support.

Enjoy confetti and celebrate eclectic!

~Gabriel Sebastian
Editor-in-chief, confetti

May 2023

Spring 2023 Edition


We are pleased to announce our Spring 2023 edition of confetti.

CONTRIBUTORS

Fiction by:  Alice Archer, William Baker, P.A. Farrell, Mary Walsh Foley, J.P.J. Fox, Calla Gold, Elizabeth Liang, margie marek, Axel Martens, Don Noel, Judy Voss

Non-fiction by:  Susan Bloch, Janice Boland

Poetry by:  C. J. Anderson-Wu, W Roger Carlisle, Shuvra Das, D.F., Joseph A Farina, John Grey, Lisa O’Neil Guerci, Edward Lee, margie marek, Lawrence Miles, Chaya Nadi, Malaena Nahmias, Diana Raab, Nick Romeo, Gregg Shapiro, Dominik Slusarczyk, Marianne Tefft, Terry Trowbridge

Plays by:  Mark Knight

Cover art by:  Janice Boland

FEATURES

William Teets, A Gathering of Poets, The French Lover’s Wife

See the full Table of Contents.

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confetti cover – Spring 2023, Volume 3 No. 1
Cover art “Clown” by Janice Boland

confetti

An Embarrassment of Riches


Greetings dear reader!

Welcome once again to confetti.

For this edition, our fourth issue, we found ourselves reading one engaging and well written story after another and facing the challenge of choosing publish-worthy pieces. Of the more than one hundred poems submitted this time around, each was beautiful or provocative or eloquent in its own way and the plethora of quality made our selections a near Herculean, yet enjoyable, task. The quality of submissions had us believing we were faced with an embarrassment of riches.

Without embarrassment, however, and with pride, we present to you our Fall 2022 edition of confetti. We’ve pulled together a great selection of stories and poetry for your enjoyment.

Also in this issue, we’ve featured an artist who contributed her artwork for our cover page. Writer and visual artist Janice Williams graces our cover with her piece entitled “Tree of Many Colors”. You can read about her along with some of her poetry and her interview with confetti. Be sure to check out her online galleries linked in her feature page.

You can read some excellent short fiction by J.P.J. Fox, our featured author for this issue and a long-standing member of Westchester Writers Workshop.

What’s next for confetti? We continue our search for remarkable poetry and prose, and we are exploring art submission opportunities. Stay tuned.

We are already receiving submissions for our spring edition! Thank you to those who share their talent and stories and verse. Without you, our magazine could not exist. Our success is your success!

From all our selectors, our robust and rugged webmaster, and on behalf of Westchester Writers Workshop, I would like to thank you for your submissions, your readership, and your support.

Enjoy confetti and celebrate eclectic!

~Gabriel Sebastian
Editor-in-chief, confetti

November 2022

Fall 2022 Edition


We are pleased to announce our Fall 2022 edition of confetti.

CONTRIBUTORS

Fiction by:  Steve Carr, William Cass, DC Diamondopolous, J.P.J. Fox, Scott Archer Jones, Sharyn Kolberg, Mario Lowther, Don Noel, Niles Reddick, Kristin H. Sample, John Sheirer, Adam Strassberg, Leon Taylor, Judy Voss

Non-fiction by:  Malaena Nahmias

Poetry by:  R. A. Allen, Dennis J Bernstein, Matt Chalmers, James Cochran, John Dorroh, Joshua Gage, John Grey, Lisa O’Neil Guerci, Jack D. Harvey, Mary Kennelly, Chelsie Kreitzman, Allan Lake, Oksana Lizunova, DS Maolalai, Paweł Markiewicz, Nazanin Mirsadeghi, Susan Oleferuk, Gerard Sarnat, William Teets

Art by:  Janice Williams

See the full Table of Contents.

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confetti cover – Fall 2022, Volume 2 No. 2
Cover art “Tree of Many Colors” by Janice Williams

confetti

Letter from the Editor

Greetings dear reader!

Welcome once again to confetti.

I am pleased to invite you to our third edition of confetti, our Spring issue. This edition was gleaned from a growing number of submissions, the most we’ve had to date! The selection becomes more difficult, more debated, and I believe more successful as the quality of poetry, fiction, plays and stories continues to impress.

Again, this edition brings stories and poems from around the world and perhaps your backyard.

Be sure to check out our featured poet in this issue, Lisa, whose poetry proliferates on Facebook and who is currently working on collecting and publishing her best.

We welcome all comments and discussions on the works we publish. Our writers and poets appreciate the feedback and certainly all praise. And finally, thank you for reading!

confetti is a celebration of words!

On behalf of the Board of Editors, submission selectors, and our scrupulous and true Webmaster, thank you for reading!

~Gabriel Sebastian
Editor-in-chief, confetti

May 2022

Spring 2022 Edition


We are pleased to announce our Spring 2022 edition of confetti.

CONTRIBUTORS

Fiction by:  Catherine Alexander, Alex R. Encomienda, J.P.J. Fox, Terry John Malik, Eadbhard McGowan, Malaena Nahmias, Dana Trick, Judy Voss

Non-fiction by:  Jeffrey Feingold

Poetry by:   Angela Acosta, Bidisha Chakraborty, Maid Čorbić, PW Covington, Oriada Dajko, TAK Erzinger, Joseph A Farina, John Grey, Lisa O’Neil Guerci, Jennifer Ruth Jackson, George Perreault, Mahbubat Salahudeen, Sunil Sharma, Pat St. Pierre, Linda Tancs

Play by:   Veronica Brown

See the full Table of Contents.

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confetti cover – Spring 2022, Volume 2 No. 1

confetti