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Bamboo forest

Bamboozled

by Abbie Doll A meditation— Picture a thicket of bamboo. A towering emerald forest. Nice and dense. Sunlight speckling the stalks. Embrace the serenity, and breathe. Deep. She listened, allowing the calming imagery’s swift delivery of reee…lax…ayshun, RSVP’ing yes to the bamboo’s cordial invite into this thriving garden of contemplation….

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A student writing a short story for the 2020 Fall Fiction Contest.

Announcing the Winners of the 2020 Fall Fiction Contest

The 6th annual Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU) Fall Fiction Contest brought writers from across the country together for a chance to win a scholarship to SNHU and publication in The Penmen Review. After receiving more than 650 submissions, a panel of creative writing experts considered several factors during their review, including originality, structure, character arc, language and whether it was engaging.  Cyndle Plaisted Rials, an…

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Top Writing and Publishing Tips from Acclaimed Novelist Warren Adler

By Warren Adler I’ve spent the best part of my life writing, thinking about writing and publishing, and, lately, more and more about the dramatic, revolutionary changes that are taking place in the way we communicate with each other and how it impacts on our future as writers. The fact…

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November Journal: Wednesday, November 27, 2013

by Don Mager While cold’s persistence officiates, afternoon’s amnesia sweeps away the dinge of clouds.  Sundown plays suites of madrigals on pianissimo recorders.  Counterpoints weave off-beats at low registers.  Modulations melt.  Descant sherbets—treble creams—drops of lemon tenors—contra basses in their azure barkings—and dancing at the upper edges, small piquant sopranino…

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The Penmen Profile: “Knowing” Screenwriter Ryne Douglas Pearson

by Rebecca LeBoeuf Author and screenwriter Ryne Douglas Pearson may be best known for the 2009 film, “Knowing,” a sci-fi thriller featuring Nicholas Cage that hit number one in the international box office during its opening weekend. He first emerged in the world of screenwriting, however, with the film, “Mercury…

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February Journal: Monday, February 18, 2013

by Don Mager Chunks crash from branches and sweat into the ground.  Icicles drip until their hollowed fragility cracks and clatters to the sidewalk.  From its cloudless tall Aegean sky, midmorning sun scans the wide expanse of thaw and wet.  Only north side shadows of thick trunks lurk with small…

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Thirteen Memories

by Carla McGill The First Memory—The Last Day of Fourth Grade It was the year that President Kennedy was shot. We were at different schools, but they were just a few blocks apart. When my teacher found out what had happened, she sobbed, her head on the desk, while Barbara…

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July Journal: Tuesday, July 9, 2013

by Don Mager Fourteen days away on business else- where, sunset is back at work pouring spot-lit white across all the backside windows of each hill slope house. Inside, floors and walls are puddled. The puddles shift and shrink. Outside, the saturated trees blaze in Boric Acid shimmers and green flames. Sun’s…

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The Penmen Review: Gold IPPY Winner Cynthia A. Graham

by Rebecca LeBoeuf Author Cynthia A. Graham is anticipating the release of her third book, “Beulah’s House of Prayer,” on the shelves this July. An avid writer of historical fiction, Graham has explored eras including The Great Depression and World War II in her writing. “Beneath Still Waters,” Graham’s debut novel, achieved a Midwest…

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June Journal: Saturday, June 15, 2013

by Don Mager With its departing mists, amber dusk wanders across the dinner hour’s shower, the way aromas drift their savory steam in a warm kitchen: turmeric stew and saffron rice and backing gourd-shaped halves of butternuts. The kinesthetic air pulses with color’s body.  It throbs in moisture’s glow. Buried…

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