By Paige Tokay I met a man in the Common once who told me that it rains like Vietnam in Boston. I see him from time to time at the Dunkin’ counter on days that I don’t mind spending a five on coffee. We have not swapped words or nods since, but he was nice—which can seem beautiful and rare most days. This is what I am thinking as the rain picks up. We are Read more
By Ashdeep Kaur Stephen King is a household name—and with good reason. Known as the “King of Horror,” his corpus has brought deliciously thrilling tales of terror to decades of readers. King has thrown readers into a plethora of eerie settings from chilling pet cemeteries to haunted hotels through the rapidfire pace of his prose and his utter mastery over tension. In The Outsider, King transports readers to Flint City, Oklahoma where the body of Read more
by Theodore R. Boronkay What is “representation?” Is it simply depicting a character from a community outside the mainstream? Must a character’s background be acknowledged, or is it better to mention it and move on? Would being Black in a world of alien races remain relevant? These questions are only some of the concerns YA authors must confront when introducing their young audience to diverse characters. The most important one, however, in my opinion, is, Read more
By Jagger van Vliet (TW: violence, blood) So, we watch The Butcher as he works. His glare is not nearly an abusive one, and truthfully, it is far too full of ease for such an early morning. Here, he is too full of life for his own good. The Butcher in this shop is a larger fellow, and this is to be expected. It has been supposed that all butchers must have this heavy-chested build Read more
By Arnine Weiss Suzanne stuffed a twenty into the pocket of her bike shorts and grabbed her cell phone. She saw that she had a missed call from her daughter, but she looked from the phone to the window. She had to get her twenty-mile ride in while the skies were still blue. Her grandson had had the sniffles yesterday, but she decided she could return the call using her headphones once she got on Read more