The knight looked out over the rolling hills, hands on her knees and sword resting on the ground in front of her, ready to be snatched up at a moment’s notice. It was dark, with only the moon and the faint flickering firelight providing any visual on the surrounding area, but her eyes were sharp and well-accustomed to seeing in near pitch-black. The plains where they had made camp seemed to stretch endlessly, grass rippling...
Read moreby Savannah Jade Firm arms wrapped around my body as we lay atop a dark green crocheted blanket in the sand. Each grain molded to the contours of our figures, leaving imprints in the shape of mini sand dunes. Past his shoulder where my chin rested, my fingertips grazed the peak of the nearest dune, tracing the curvature of Earth’s natural occurring memory foam. The sand trickled down, forming a small waterfall that shimmered like...
Read moreby Meahgan Ferral In the dark of the woods, where sunbeams rarely kissed the ground and strangers never stepped, there was a small community, tucked away in the leaves and branches and dirt. I’ve lived my life there, in a cabin with my parents and sister. The two of us spent our childhood roaming beneath the trees with our parents at our heels, whispering in our ears to never wander too far, to never stray...
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Science fiction allures and enthralls because of the unique worlds each story holds. At the core of science fiction, there’s science: some new knowledge, discovery, or breakthrough. Then, there’s technology: how that science is applied, from daily life to a planetary or (inter)galactic scale. When you hear “science,” your mind might jump to physics, biology, chemistry—all those hard sciences. But don’t discount the social sciences, like psychology, sociology, and anthropology. Blending together different sub-sciences leads Read more…
Romance is the genre that inspired me to write as a kid. It felt more welcoming and attainable, since I viewed it in an escapist light. I realized I didn’t have to take myself or my writing so seriously, but rather just try to write something fun, interesting and well-written. Another beauty of romance, no pun intended, is how central love is in our lives. Everyone wants to love and be loved in some sense Read more…
Our pulse quickens. Our eyes grow wide. We gasp for breath, shudder, and shrink back into our seats. Horror readers—and writers—are a true contradiction. As our favorite genre hurls us mercilessly into our deepest childhood frights, feeds us to monsters, and speeds us headlong into destruction and death, we’ve never felt more alive. What is it about wandering through words, away from the safety of the light, into the terrors of the darkness, through dizzy Read more…
Sitting amidst the woods with the golden glow of the sun, you watch satyrs run by with their flutes. Fairies zoom to join them. Well, except for one. She’s barely the size of your finger, but you still manage to see her smile beneath her wide eyes. The fairy offers a hand to you. Sound familiar? Fantasy is a genre known for bending reality in beautiful ways. Whether the world is based on our own, Read more…
In thrillers, good and evil are divided. Moral choices stay clear, though risks are high and calls are hard. For all the palpitation-inducing danger, for each acid spurt of adrenaline, what whiplashes protagonist and reader through each thriller’s plot is the knowledge that they have something worth saving. They are the ones who will fight for good. They are the ones who will face down evil. Mysteries can twist the reader’s perception with unreliable narrators, Read more…
I read all genres, but mysteries were there for me when the going was rough. During the hardest times in my life I engaged my overactive mind in high-stakes puzzles, in fictional webs of deceit, and in dropped clues and red herrings. Each mystery pointed out the truth: sometimes, life went sideways, the world went wrong, and people went wrong, too. I didn’t want to be gaslit into thinking everyone was safe. I knew that Read more…
By Zenia deHaven Cerberus was eyeing the boulder of Sisyphus when a swirling portal cleaved space and time in two. The hound of hell didn’t notice. There was a true miracle transpiring before him that required all his attention. Sisyphus was rolling his boulder up the mound. This was not unusual. What was unusual was that Sisyphus rarely made it this far out of the Underworld. Cerberus’ post was at the mouth of Hades, bordering Read more…
By Abigail Meacham “I fold.” The words echoed in the gentlemen’s hall. Although it was nearly midnight, the chandeliers were still glowing, the windows shut against the rainstorm outside. It was empty save for the four men seated at a table near the back, all clad in costly suits. One was smirking, one was frowning, one was stacking his chips, and one held no expression at all. The smirker was Charlie Harte. He was a Read more…
By Shay Manning The keeper can’t remember the last time the old house had a guest. Perhaps the woman who’d become lost in the rose garden? Or was she before the man who’d been stung to death by the bees? He shivers; that death had been particularly gruesome. But the house demands a sacrifice now and then. The grandfather clock in the hall has long since chimed eleven in the evening when the keeper is Read more…
By Jennifer Sexton-Riley The party was over. I was tired. The rambling, mazelike loft apartment I shared with Cassie was now truly housewarmed, and the wine I’d sipped all evening lent a hazy gold warmth to the strings of tiny lights we’d looped from the curtain rods. Their cheery glow against the black expanse of the enormous industrial windows brought to mind a tiny vessel moving through a dark sea, the only bright spot in Read more…
By Madison Gagner The camp was a speck in the distance of Mina’s vision as she followed the shoreline. It was spring, and the lake’s water ran high and cold from mountain runoff. Wildflowers and lush willow trees populated the fields to the right of her, and iridescent clam shells populated the waves that hugged her ankles. Dry reeds brushed against her, fluting their soft airy song. It wasn’t her first time exploring this part Read more…