Contributing Writers
Stephen K. Hirst
Stephen K. Hirst is a freelance journalist whose work has appeared for the BBC, Rolling Stone, VICE News, Ars Technica, Wired, Slate, Salon, Business Insider, The A.V. Club, EGM, The Huffington Post, and Red Star.
A former educator, he has taught at the CUNY College of Staten Island, Qingdao University in China’s Shandong Province, Woosong University in Daejeon, South Korea, and the Excel Language Center in Cusco, Peru.
He is a Florida native who currently lives in the Tampa Bay area, alone. He has no pets. He owns a Pac-Man tabletop-style arcade machine like the ones they used to have at Pizza Hut, which does double-duty as his dinner table.
Ryan Harris
Ryan Harris is an Atlanta based writer and humorist. That’s a fancy way of saying “clown.”
Bobby Pembleton
He published a political satire newspaper in Washington, D.C. during the W. Bush years, when he thought satire was an easy game. He was wrong.
Later, he opened a punk bar in Richmond, Virginia — thousands of shows, countless protest movements.
Like tears in the rain.
In 2013, he left America on a one-way ticket to Ecuador and has since lived and worked on three other continents.
Now a UK citizen, he lives in Scotland with his family, working to support local community climate action.
His name is Bobby, and he is a Recovering American. Take a seat.
Jonathan Padua
Born and raised in Pearl City, Hawaii, Jonathan Padua holds an MFA in Fiction from New York University and a JD from the University of San Diego.
The child of Filipino immigrants, his work and writing have been dedicated to covering topics reflecting his upbringing; immigrant rights, just representation in the justice system, and fairness, diversity and equality in American politics.
In his spare time he enjoys reading conservative blogs and forums because you must know your adversary well and because often his blood pressure is too low.
Nick Raven
Nick Raven is a creative generalist and Colorado Springs fanboy with a passion for municipal politics and policy.
Born a military brat in West Germany with a dream of directing computer animated films before everyone was doing it, Raven writes, designs, edits, produces and tells stories across a variety of media. In 2014, he created The Nth Review, a YouTube channel that focuses on long-form video game essays.
Raven is an urban planning enthusiast and local activist who wants people to make their cities better places to live. His favorite game of all time is X-COM: UFO Defense.
Sean Beaudoin
If you’ve clicked on over to taunt Beaudoin as he attempts to elevate the usual third-person/first-person bio with an archly modest voice that lists his (many/negligible) literary accomplishments without sounding like an insufferable tool, you are indeed in the right place.
I wrote a satirical zombie novel called The Infects that almost got optioned by Brad Pitt’s production company, but in the end didn’t. Which was followed, predictably, by a fictional punk band oral history called Wise Youg Fool. Also, the pretty slick short story collection Welcome Thieves that may still be in print.
I’ve been paid, not unlike a Blackwater Mercenary, to pound out virtually every style and form of writing, from book, movie, record, show and restaurant reviews, to catalog copy (I’m your man if you need 400 words on an inappropriately purple Cashmere skirt, stat) to startup name branding to a sports column for The Onion. Basically, if you’ve read this far, there’s a good chance we’d get along well over a mid-priced dinner in the city.
seanbeaudoinstudio.com