Features

Fantasy Contest “Untimely Portal” Runner-Up: The Little Black Salamander

By Clarissa Janeen When the fairy prince fell through the portal to the mortal realm, he had been presiding over the high court, discussing what was to be done about the hobgoblins encroaching on pixie territory. This was highly embarrassing and irregular for a prince of the high court. One moment he was delegating a spy to seek out the extent of the invasion, the next he was in a circle of mushrooms in a Read more

By logan.farley, ago

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