By Tim Brumbaugh Most people don’t believe me when I tell them that you can hear the snow fall. It’s true. It’s not one of those auditory hallucinations, when your mind convinces you that it heard something that isn’t really there. And it’s not something only I can hear. I’m…
By Hayden Pursley He checked his watch again. Then he thought of how he must look: sitting alone at a table for two, dressed and groomed nicely enough (he had tried very hard to not look like he was trying too hard), checking his watch then checking the entrance every…
By Douglas Goff I feel the need to explain the concept of chicken catching as it has become all too obvious that most people are not well versed in the methods of capturing our fine-feathered friends. Many people think that just because they are bird brains, they can’t hatch a…
by Rachel E. Enright “The Graveyard of Abandoned Dreams” placed first in Southern New Hampshire University’s 2021 Fall Fiction Contest. The graveyard of abandoned dreams was starting to get crowded. As far as Walt the gravedigger could see, headstones jutted out of the ground like sentries on a forgotten battlefield, weather-worn and…
by Amanda Koprowski “Between Here and There” placed second in Southern New Hampshire University’s 2021 Fall Fiction Contest. Myra says, “Let’s go on a road trip,” and Alice looks at her like she has two heads, because there is work and family and because Myra always says things like Let’s open…
by Brian Reickert “On the Lake” placed third in Southern New Hampshire University’s 2021 Fall Fiction Contest. Marc stepped into the canoe, sat on the caned seat, planted an oar on the rocky lake bottom, and pushed away from shore. Dylan waved goodbye to his mother who stood barefoot in the…
by Janet Petrine “Whispers of the Archipelago” placed fourth in Southern New Hampshire University’s 2021 Fall Fiction Contest. Locals were accustomed to the peculiarities that laced through their meager population. The strange behavior was companion to the endless winters and the harsh wilderness. For those among them with fragile souls, the…
by B. Cray “Chamomile” placed fifth in Southern New Hampshire University’s 2021 Fall Fiction Contest. Karyn found more beauty in the world when she softened her gaze. The thing she appreciated most about her bedroom was the birdfeeder Julian had placed just outside the window last spring. It was an attempt…
By Holli Harms “Cereal and Fire” placed first in Southern New Hampshire University’s 2020 Fall Fiction Contest. My sister wakes up in a room. She wakes and finds that when she tries to move she can’t. Her arms and legs are held down. Strapped down. She is strapped to a…
By Jennifer Taylor “Eggshells” placed second in Southern New Hampshire University’s 2020 Fall Fiction Contest. One day in the June of her eleventh year, I awoke to find the whole world blanketed in white. Eggshells …everywhere. I had been warned this is what would happen with a girl child. One…