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
COVER PIECE: The Twinkle in Your Mind Kennedy Timmons Kennedy Timmons is an African American mixed-media artist born in Kingwood, Texas in 2004. Currently dividing her time between Central Texas and New Orleans, Timmons is working on her BA in Visual Arts and a minor in Business Administration from Dillard University. Timmons’ practice is based on using her art to create unique, pseudo-fictional, stylistic worlds to explore her identity as she transitions into adulthood, black Read more
By Bretton Cadigan As a New Englander, I know three things: Boston sports are king, Dunkin’ Iced Coffee is a year-round beverage, and Spooky Season doesn’t end after Halloween. There’s no better way to while away the cold, dark three seasons of winter than to curl up with a scary story. So naturally, New England is home to a number of horror stars, from modern writers like Stephen King and Paul Tremblay, to one of Read more
By Kimberly Jackson It’s 2024, gated communities are under siege, armed guards patrol the high-walled gates keeping out the poor, foreign, sick, and starving. The wealth inequality has widened along with climate-fueled fires, water is scarce, the police are privatized and rarely come unless you are wealthy, and social fragmentation is the norm. Entire communities are ablaze while the country scrolls past the footage. And on the political campaign trail is a candidate who promises Read more
By Ember Richardson The news cycle is perpetually inundated with bad news wherever you look. Whether it’s daily CNN broadcasts, a local news station, or even your social media feeds, there always seems to be something terrible. As a reader, I turn to books to escape into other worlds, where heroes narrowly avoid death by dragon-fire and are forced to fight baddies around the clock, because at least it’s not my current reality. So it’s Read more
By Ava Kevitt TW: death, mention of violence They had appeared at the edges of her vision when she was still just a baby, crawling on the floor. Buzzing around her head like flies, her childmind would simply call them ugly monsters. She didn’t know that most people weren’t able to see them. Not until one tried to touch her. That one had been particularly ugly, with skin waxy like paper, slowly sliding off his Read more