It’s Sci-Fabulous: PTM’s Science Fiction

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…

You’ve Gotta Love It: PTM’s Romance

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…

A Nightmare: PTM’s Horror

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…

Enchantment Awaits: PTM’s Fantasy

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…

The Thrill of it All: PTM’s Thrillers

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…

What’s the Secret?: PTM’s Mysteries

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…

Avoiding Racism in Fantasy Races

By Clarissa Janeen Speculative fiction is unique in that by separating ourselves from the real world, we have the tools to examine our reality from a perspective that is otherwise unobtainable. Fantasy in particular is known for portraying a multitude of fictional races; it can be concerning for fans of the genre to see this asset used in problematic ways as the portrayal of these ideas in fiction can negatively contribute to real-world ideas of Read more…

Top 5 YA Books to Horrify Your Summer

By Shannon Elaine Sweeney Lose yourself in a world of suspense, mystery, and horror this summer with these eerie stories. Whether you’re lounging on the beach, soaking up some sun by the pool, or hiding from the heat indoors, there’s nothing quite like a well-crafted horror story to keep you on the edge of your seat and give you chills on even the hottest of days. With so many great young adult horror books, it Read more…

Asphyxia

by Katherine Holmes PREFACE “Asphyxia” adapts the ancient Greek myth/play Antigone, wherein the title character defies her newly crowned uncle, Creon, in order to bury her traitorous dead brother according to the funerary rites dictated by the gods. Creon has decreed that anyone who so much as covers the body from carrion shall be put to death; but Antigone argues that her brother, no matter his allegiance in life, must be honored. When Antigone asks for Read more…

Sanderson’s Secret Project Kickstarter: What it means for publishing

by Ali Dening In the spring of 2022, prolific fantasy author Brandon Sanderson asked his fans to crowdfund one million dollars over a thirty day period. In exchange, Sanderson would self-publish four secret novels that he wrote during the pandemic. In just three days, his Kickstarter had raised $20.3 million, busting records (Whitten). In a month, his fans had collectively pitched in $41.7 million (Sanderson). Kickstarter, a digital crowdfunding platform not too unlike GoFundMe, raked Read more…

Stalking Jack the Ripper, by Kerri Maniscalco: A review

by Emily Andsager Stalking Jack the Ripper, by Kerri Maniscalco: A cup of murderA teaspoon of mystery½ cup of forensic scienceA pinch of historyA handful of goreOne dashingly handsome Mr. Thomas Cresswell These are the key ingredients that make up this thrilling book. Watch your back as you walk the streets of London in 1888; you might just be Jack the Ripper’s next victim. Kerri Maniscalco takes us back in time with Audrey Rose Wadsworth, Read more…