The Binnacle: Fifth Annual Ultra-Short Edition

by Gerard NeCastro (Editor)

The Binnacle’s Annual International Ultra-Short Competition features the best works of narrative fiction and poetry of 150 words or fewer. Submissions are typically received from six continents and a couple dozen countries. From these hundreds of submissions fifty to sixty works are chosen for the annual edition, and among these a few receive cash prizes. Submissions are accepted each year via e-mail at ummbinnacle@maine.edu between December 1 and March 15. Notifications are made in early June. The publication is completed several months later. For more information, please visit The University of Maine at Machias at http://binnacle.machias.edu/.

This volume contains works by Elizabeth Kerlikowske, Laurelyn Whitt, Ellen Birkett Morris, Mike Lachance, Maureen A. Sherbondy, Diane Elayne Dees, Kelli Russell Agodon, Susan Ames, Shannon Anthony, Nina Bayer, Greg Beatty, F.J. Bergmann, Louis E. Bourgeois, Gary Cadwallader, Jane Christensen, Temple Cone, Linda Courtland, Elly Cummens, Carol Leonetti Dannhauser, Barry Dearborn, Mark DeCarteret, Ivan Faute, June Payne Flath, Andy Fogle, Liz Foster, Clifford Garstang, Christine Gehrmann, Toni Giarnese, Christopher Goodrich, Caitlin Hawes, Kyle Hemmings, Tania Hershman, Ruhi Jiwani, Adrian Kane, Sue Kanhai, Ellen LaFleche, Monica Landy, Elizabeth Langemak, William I. Lengeman III, Adam Lilienthal, Robert A. Lindblom, Tessa Smith McGovern, Terry McKee, Roger Midgett, Micaela Myers, Sally R. Petersen, Jessica Piazza, Jamie Quatro, Margaret Rozga, Jenny Sadre-Orafai, Mark Schynert, Marisa Silver, Melissa Smith, Erik Svehaug, Pamela Tarlow-Calder, Linda Therber, Ateet Tuli, and Sylvia Woods.

73 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 1, 2017

About the author

Born and raised in Erie, Pennsylvania, Gerard NeCastro, after graduating from Mercyhurst college, was an accountant and bookstore manager in Cranberry, Pennsylvania, and Redlands, California. While working as a bookseller by day, he returned to school at night, studying languages part-time and eventually joined the master’s program in English at the University of California – Riverside, where he began his long involvement with Chaucer, Dante, and Medieval and Renaissance Drama. When he completed his MA, he continued his studies in Medieval Literature at the University of Wisconsin – Madison. While he was there, he taught in the legendary Integrated Liberal Studies program where he developed his love of Art History.

Upon completion of his Ph.D., he taught for two years at the University of Maine – Orono, and then for many years both on the graduate faculty at Orono and the regular faculty at Machias, where, after teaching hundreds of classes and editing dozens of publications, he was named as Emeritus Professor of English and Humanities. After his retirement there, he began his second career at WLU in July 2017. He and Vicki, his wife of 30+ years, live in the quiet town of Bethany. When he is not serving as dean or teaching his classes, he spends his time reading, editing, gardening, and writing fiction and poetry. He is now revising his novels Columbine AS3 and The In-Law.