Features

David Lynch and the Genre that Made Him

By Kenyon Geiger Before the internet, there was the office break room, the proverbial watercooler, the porch stoop, the cafeteria, the living room. In the fall of 1990, the question, “Who killed Laura Palmer?” echoed throughout these spaces. It was everywhere—festooned across t-shirts, used in the monologues of Johnny Carson, parodied in sitcoms. The mystery of Laura Palmer’s murder on the hit TV show Twin Peaks became an indelible part of the zeitgeist in the Read more

By logan.farley, ago

The Rain in Vietnam

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 logan.farley, ago

The Outsider by Stephen King Book Review

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 logan.farley, ago

Wearing Versus Being the Identity in YA Fiction

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 logan.farley, ago

Trope Contest Winner: The Butcher

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 logan.farley, ago