Ian Bakers .45

Israel Allen is the son of a minister and an educator. He had lived in seven different towns by the time he was seven years old and has since resided in more than a dozen cities. Home is where his stuff is. He skipped his senior year at Giles County High School for the sole purpose of getting out of Pulaski, Tennessee, while he still could and entered Union University's Religion program at the age of seventeen. He completed his BA in 1995 and continued his education at Union, earning a Master of Education in 1997. He went on to cover education and politics for the Citizen-Tribune, pursue the ministry, serve in various public relations capacities for the governor of Tennessee, earn a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing at Southern Illinois University, taught at Piedmont Technical College and Lander University, then turned to playwriting and acting. Allen's short fiction has appeared in The Wanderlust Review and The Bastille (Paris).