By Luke Flanagan (TW: Brief mention of self harm) Norilsk, Russia is the northernmost city in the world. Six hundred and twenty-one nautical miles to the north, on the west side of October Revolution Island, Cassandra Skowroński sat in a plastic folding chair clicking her mechanical pencil and watching the lead march out. Carefully sliding it back into the pencil with a finger, she scribbled a few more words on a piece of paper, then Read more…
By Naomi Necakov (TW: abuse and violence) No man is burdenless. We carry heavy cargo invisible to the naked eye but blinding to the soul. I harbor such weight during morning, noon, and night. A prince has no time for worrying—ease and grandeur are his only concerns. He does not wallow in his chambers and spend years grieving for his dead mother … at least that’s what Father tries to ingrain in me. A prince Read more…
By Brenna Lonner (TW: gore, implied/referenced animal death, threats of child death, and minor body horror)The horizon was a bloody gash against the night by the time the Creature made it to the river where the child would be drowned. The babe had been shoved into the Creature’s recalcitrant arms by the Deep Forest Folk, as even the most wretched among them had no desire to kill it themselves. Perhaps the task was too terrible Read more…
by Theodore Boronkay Fantasy and sci-fi literature are both filled with examples of neurodivergent characters in strange universes. SFF writers can highlight realities ignored in our familiar reality by re-positioning the marginalized within hypothetical contexts that other genres couldn’t explore, allowing them the best opportunity to comment on the treatment of the neurodivergent. Dr. Matthias Stephan, an English literary scholar, further argues that fantasy is the superior genre for marginalization commentary because it’s frequently more Read more…
by Zenia deHaven It’s that time of year again. The leaves are turning red and gold, stores are bulldozing over Thanksgiving and shoveling out the Christmas decorations, and I can finally don my massive cozy sweaters without judgment. November, while boasting the ever-esteemed holidays of Thanksgiving and Black Friday, is also the month of NaNoWriMo. What is NaNoWriMo? If you are new to the writing community, you may not know that National Novel Writing Month Read more…