Meet Our 25 Featured Anthology Authors
Authors featured in The Weight of Almost Knowing span across the state, from Buckeye, Gilbert, Mesa, Peoria, Phoenix, Prescott Valley, Scottsdale, Sun City, Tempe, and Tucson.
Written by Tracy Skochil
A curated collection of new, original work by Arizona authors, The Weight of Almost Knowing: A Curious Anthology features 25 rising talents across fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. Through the lens of curiosity, these authors reveal familiar moments that define us: simple joys we cherish, difficult truths we face, and the million shades of emotion that exist between.
Read on to learn more about each of our authors.
The Weight of Almost Knowing: Creative Non Fiction
Jackie Anderson, My Spark Bird
One transformative moment of wonder at the Desert Botanical Garden sparks a lifelong passion for birdwatching that quietly reshapes an Arizona woman's entire world.
Jackie has always felt a connection to nature, especially in Arizona, where she has lived for the past 41 years. In a typical week, she can be found helping guide bird walks, hiking on a nearby trail, or playing with grandchildren. She counts among her greatest accomplishments raising six children and hiking to the bottom of the Grand Canyon twice. Writing a memoir has been the focus of her writing for the past ten years.
Jerald Riibe, That Sunday Dinner
An imaginative boy in rural Nebraska playing spy overhears his parents worrying that something is wrong with him, and he quietly resolves to never stop dreaming of a bigger world.
Jerry is a retired educator. He is a writer by passion if not prolific publication. Writing serves as his means to ponder both himself and the world. Each piece is an invitation for others to understand his perspective, but also explore their own, through the shared act of reading and connecting with words shaped by experience and curiosity. In 2020, Jerry and wife, Jody, became residents of the East Valley and claim Arizona as home.
Julie Erfle, Who’s To Blame
After her police officer husband is murdered, a woman examines her own unexpected obsession with the killer's mother — and uncovers the deeper cultural phenomenon of mother-blame.
Julie Erfle hails from North Dakota but has called Arizona home for more than two decades. She began her career as a promotions producer at KPHO-TV5 and 3TV before launching her own communications consulting firm, Erfle Uncuffed, in 2016. A former executive director of Progress Now Arizona and columnist for the Arizona Mirror, Julie is also a fellow with Leading for Change and the Flinn-Brown Arizona Center for Civic Leadership.
Glen Loveland, The Desert Canvas
An exploration of Keith Haring's 1986 mural at the Phoenix Art Museum, examining how his urban iconography collided with the desert landscape and left a lasting mark on Arizona's art community.
Glen Loveland is a queer writer and the Senior Career Coach at Thunderbird School of Global Management in Arizona. His work explores LGBTQ+ lives across borders, masculinity, migration, and work. A former HR leader who spent thirteen years in Beijing, he now calls the Phoenix metro home. His debut memoir, Beijing Bound: A Foreigner Discovers China (2025), traces chosen family and cross-cultural belonging. Glen mentors global students and writes candidly about identity, career, and community.
Lori Appleby-Hoke, Bessie Rose
A granddaughter traces the remarkable life of her grandmother, an orphan who rode the historic Orphan Train from New York to Missouri, and reflects on the resilience she carried through decades of displacement and belonging.
Lori Appleby Hoke was born and raised in Arizona, but she has lived in other places including Mexico City. A self-appointed family historian, she draws rich storytelling content from those who came before her. Lori is a retired communications professional with a master’s degree in English. Nature, travel, books, and conversations with her hive inspire her. Lori has been married to Robert for 34 years and learns the most from her daughters, Valerie and Lily.
Gerald Wood, Machines of Endearment
A visit to a Glendale auto museum sparks warm memories of three beloved cars from the author's past, woven into a broader reflection on how machines carry human stories.
Writer and artist, Gerald Lloyd Wood, now lives in Scottsdale, AZ, having lived in Tucson when he completed all but his dissertation for the Ph.D in Higher Education at University of Arizona. Aside from his scholarly publications, his work appeared in Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation Quarterly. He also wrote a weekly horticulture column in Mena, AR. Twenty-four of Gerald’s stories about caregiving and dementia can be found on the non-profit Meaning & Hope Institute’s website.
The Weight of Almost Knowing: Fiction
Elle LeCarre, Just a Peek
A nosy neighborhood watchwoman becomes obsessed with her new neighbor's late-night backyard activity — with fatally ironic results.
Elle LeCarre grew up riding horses under the Arizona sun while developing a fascination with the intrigue of mystery novels. Completing her journalism degree from Arizona State University, she won the highest award from the Communication Workers of America editing the monthly aviation magazine The West Wing. Elle is currently writing her first novel; a mystery combining a death onboard a commercial airliner, with a flawed but scrappy sleuth compelled to discover the truth.
G.B. Croissant, The Archivist of Small Things
A keeper of forgotten memories in a strange town receives mysterious objects that draw him toward a long-sealed well, and the sister who vanished into it years ago.
G. B. Croissant is a part-time teacher, stay-at-home mom, and self-proclaimed “master of Latin.” She has a bachelor’s degree in creative writing with honors from Northern Arizona University. When she’s not teaching English or toddler wrangling, she is trying to stay sane by sewing, writing, and attempting to read. She lives in Mesa, Arizona, with her husband, toddler son, three absurd cats, and a dog who pretends to be a cat.
Mike Williams, Lil’ Gecko
Told from a gecko's perspective, a curious young lizard sneaks into a house and must outwit a predatory house cat in a high-stakes battle of wits and survival.
Mike Williams is an up-and-coming fiction author. His voice is geared for fantasy and thriller, with a fearless attitude toward genre blending. From comedy to romance to horror, it’s all on the table all at once. An Arizona resident for 20 years, he made a transition to Minneapolis with his boyfriend in March of 2025. Mike is currently working on a novella, “All is Fair” and a novel titled “Ride with Reaper.”
Derek Barton, No Farewell
A grieving father burying his young daughter begins hearing her voice through a toy owl he gave her, leading to a devastating final choice.
Derek Barton was born in northeast Indiana in 1970. The typical introvert kid; closer to books than people, but grew up with a fascination for horror novels (Stephen King, Dean Koontz) and medieval fantasy (Piers Anthony, R.A Salvatore). Since 2016, he has completed nineteen works of horror and epic fantasy on Amazon and Audible.com and published in five literary magazines. He moved to Phoenix in 1996 and married his wife in 2012.
Tracy Holohan, The Sale
A desperate family sells their teenage son to a mysterious stranger with a magical pocket watch, who turns out to be far more than he appears.
Tracy Holohan spent a good bit of her life teaching cartooning and animation to wildly creative and fun-loving college students. Then she spent a good bit more teaching math and science to sixth graders who taught her more about life than she ever taught them about anything. A resident of Arizona since she was 10, Tracy graduated from NAU in Flagstaff. She writes paranormal mysteries sprinkled heavily with the captivating personalities of her delightful students.
Jordan Beckett, Arman is Not Well
A graduate student at an Arctic research outpost suffers a terrifying mental breakdown after a tundra accident — with a chilling biological explanation lurking beneath.
Jordan Beckett has lived in Arizona for more than 30 years. A lover of short form fiction, she enjoys writing across multiple genres. Her work reflects her fascination with what it means to be human, in all its messy imperfection. She is currently at work on her first novel, which is a mosaic of stories set in the world of a fictional Chicago diner.
Gayla Robinson, Legacy
A dying robotics pioneer awaits a Mother's Day visit from her estranged daughter, only to realize the boundaries between human and artificial family have blurred in unexpected ways.
Gayla Robinson grew up in Prescott, Arizona and has been living in the 48th state since the Kennedy administration. She found time during her busy career to take writing courses through the Maricopa Community College system. After retirement, she has continued to pursue her first passion—telling stories. When her attention is not diverted by two cats or her husband, she is working on a contemporary novel set in a fictional northern Arizona town.
Eileen Sauer, The Taylor
An immortal soul between lives visits a cosmic tailor who designs its next human incarnation, complete with carefully chosen hardships meant to finally teach it wisdom.
A lifelong East Coast denizen (from Florida to New Jersey), Eileen Sauer moved to Phoenix, AZ in December 2024, and has been exploring since. “What the heck is a haboob?!” She wrote “How Do I Become an Unstoppable Musician?” Vol. 1 (of 3), and began writing fiction in 2023. She is a pianist, composer (evening classes at Juilliard), and former technologist (B.S. in Math - Computing from the University of Notre Dame).
Eric Thurston, A Slip of Paper
A directionless Indiana man drives to Phoenix chasing warmth, picks up a cryptic old hitchhiker, and is handed a list of classic books that quietly transforms his life.
Moving from Indiana to Arizona in 1980 activated Eric Thurston’s curiosity for life. Living in a tiny room in downtown Phoenix, he shut down his shallow life for a year, read fifty classics, and wrote. Eric was permanently changed by that year, and left with a love of literature and a stack of journals. He was inspired to go to ASU, got married, raised kids, and taught special education. Always loving Arizona. Always reading and writing.
The Weight of Almost Knowing: Poetry
Hope Spear, The Launch
A mother watches her small daughter leap off the couch attempting flight, and in a few spare lines captures the pure, shrug-it-off curiosity of childhood.
Hope Spear is an emerging voice in the writing world. She was awarded a Poet and Author Fellowship with the Martha’s Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing. Before becoming a writer, Hope spent years successfully convincing middle school students they were writers, and eventually even she convinced herself. She holds two degrees in education. Hope lives in Tucson, Arizona with the great loves of her life: tacos, her husband, and her three kids. In that order.
Nour Kandalaft, Quiet Observations
From a window, a woman watches strangers pass and wonders about their private griefs and joys, arriving at a quiet realization of shared humanity.
Nour Kandalaft, a graduate student in Hydrosystems Engineering, blends her STEM background with a passion for poetry. Her writing explores themes of belonging, love, faith, and life’s quiet moments. Originally from Lebanon and now living in Arizona, she finds in poetry an anchor through change from a heritage of mediterranean resilience to a present of discovery and growth through the desert.
Pam Vap, NASA Releases The Pictures
The James Webb telescope images ripple outward through different eyes — poet, scientist, priest, and an old woman on her porch imagining stars being born.
Pam Vap is rockhounding and writing in the Sonoran desert. She was awarded first place in the 2024 Princemere Poetry Contest and first place in the Cultural Integration on the High Plains poetry contest. She was also a finalist in the Lascaux Prize for Poetry, and an Allen Ginsberg Poetry Honorable Mention, among other awards. She has recently published in Poetry East, The Lascaux Review, Presence, Patterson Literary Review, Abandoned Mine, Orison and others.
Bonnie Danowski, Embers
Two people sit by a fireplace, gently circling the question of whether it's possible, and permitted, to love again after loss.
Bonnie Danowski is a fearless caregiver, advocate, author, artist, innovator, and speaker. Her husband, Jim’s multiple sclerosis created a passion to improve caregivers’ lives. While with Valley Interfaith Project and the Franciscan Renewal Center, she co-wrote Arizona’s Lifespan Respite Care bill, providing respite for thousands of Arizona families. Bonnie has received numerous awards from national, state, and local organizations. Much of her life is chronicled in her book, The Path Beckoned: I Answered Yes.
Tinamarie Cox, Angiosperms and other
A botanical metaphor traces a woman's journey through desire, loss, and the quiet turning inward that follows.
Tinamarie Cox lives in Prescott Valley with her husband, children, and rescue felines. Her written and visual work has appeared in online and print publications. She has two poetry chapbooks with Bottlecap Press: Self-Destruction in Small Doses (2023) and A Collection of Morning Hours (2024). Her first full-length poetry collection, Through a Sea Laced with Midnight Hues, arrived in 2025 with Nymeria Publishing. Her second book, A Numbers Game, will be released in 2026.
Linda Esperanza, Transitions
A series of seasonal journal entries spanning three years traces a woman's slow emergence from survival mode into self-recognition and cautious hope.
Linda Esperanza, based in Phoenix, Arizona, uses poetry and prose to process the world around and within her. She believes writing is a tool to become friends with her emotions. She loves epistolary poetry for such an experience. She hopes to promote mental health advocacy within her writing. Other creative endeavors include open mics, poetry videos and dabbling in zines. When she isn’t writing or working, she is watching TV or connecting with her favorite people.
June Powers, her untold story
A fragmented portrait of a woman navigating isolation, unspoken pain, and the small rituals that keep her moving forward through an uncertain world.
June Powers is a free verse poet from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, now residing in Phoenix, Arizona. She has self-published three books of narrative poetry: CHILD/poems of consciousness, SOUTH/poems of passing through, and HEART/poems of love. A member of the Arizona State Poetry Society, she enjoys writing about social issues, nature, love, and family, often intersecting these topics. She is currently working on poems that embrace the traumas of the human condition.
Donna Parker, Memorabilia
Older writers gathered in coffee shops and libraries reflect on memory, mortality, and the act of putting imperfect lives into words.
Donna A. Parker is an Arizona-based author and currently resides in Phoenix. Her short stories, magazine articles, and poems appear in various publications and anthologies. Her works as a playwright have been performed on college campuses. A long-time member of a dedicated writers’ group, she draws inspiration from her decades of a well-lived life. Donna’s insightful writing explores themes of connection, perseverance, and love in everyday life.
Gaea Bailey, The Human Question Mark
From the guilt of a car's air-conditioned comfort, a speaker watches an unhoused person and turns their questions inward — about complicity, compassion, and the courage to truly see another person.
Poet/Author Gaea Bailey came to Phoenix from upstate New York nearly 60 years ago. Her work has been published by Moonstone Press, Phoenix Oasis Press, and others. She was co-owner of Lords of Art Town Studio & Gallery, served as review panelist for Phoenix Youth Arts Grants, hosts an on-line poetry critique group, and manages Old Hunt Road Press. She recently released a poetry anthology entitled What is This? A Conversation Between 10 Poets.
Ilana Lydia, A Woman on Stage
A philosophical meditation on performance, identity, and the fleeting moments of self-awareness that remind us — and then slip away.
Ilana Lydia is a playwright, director, and former Artistic Director. Born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona, Ilana won her school's highest honor in philosophy as an undergraduate, the second female to have done so. Ilana likes to write fantastical feminism, the offspring of magical realism, and treating women as people. She is currently the founding Manager of Arts & Culture in Buckeye.
Every Anthology Purchase Supports Our Programming
The Weight of Almost Knowing is available in print ($18.99) and eBook ($5.99) wherever you buy books. We encourage readers to support independent Arizona bookstores by shopping local. You can also purchase the anthology on Bookshop.org and, at checkout, select a local bookshop to receive a percentage of your purchase. Anthology sales directly support POP’s programming, enabling us to continue to deliver free programming for authors.
About Phoenix Oasis Press (POP)
A volunteer-driven Arizona publisher, PHX Oasis Press supports local authors across the writer’s journey through free and low-cost resources. These include an AZ author event calendar filterable by city, author networking events, craft workshops featuring guest hosts, and a popular craft book club for authors.