by Betty Stanton Hands smelled of smoke long before the match was struck. We stacked the wood too high, and it swayed with the weight of grief. The fire took its time choosing which bones to touch. Ash gathered in our throats, and we swallowed without protest. Someone said the word sacrifice, but it tasted…
by Caitlyn Burry “How to Eat a Pomegranate’” placed first in Southern New Hampshire University’s 2025 Fall Fiction Contest. Red things stain quickly; remember to handle them with care. STEP 1: Select Your Fruit When selecting the perfect pomegranate, it’s best to feel the weight first. Hold the fruit in…
by Jacqueline Coleman “The Hope Index” placed second in Southern New Hampshire University’s 2025 Fall Fiction Contest. My manager says hospitals smell like hope— it’s better branding than what they actually smell like, which is dying children and hand sanitizer. They brief me in the van: our segment underperformed in…
by Jess Prosser “Home Base” placed third in Southern New Hampshire University’s 2025 Fall Fiction Contest. You live in a small two-bedroom house, that is more like a big shack with walls that make you feel like you’re in a storage space. You live on a military base in California…
by Andrea Lisowski “Stone Teeth” placed fourth in Southern New Hampshire University’s 2025 Fall Fiction Contest. Half a mile behind the Cathedral of St. Casimir, there’s a sad excuse for a waterfall. It’s three feet high and twenty feet long of stratified shale, iron gray, stream bed pitted like a…
by Ryan Fagan “The Replacement Shift” placed fifth in Southern New Hampshire University’s 2025 Fall Fiction Contest. I clock in at 6:02 p.m., and the scanner greets me like a metronome. Beep. Beep. Beep. The lights hum too bright for dusk, carts yawn, doors breathe us in and out. The…
by Chris Dungey After another successful visit to the Presbyterian rummage sale, I have to wonder—who in all the Congregation is built so much like me that their castoff coats fit perfectly, year after year? Will he spot me one day, out of my choir robe, wearing his discarded garment. Hey, I had one like that!…
by Judith McLaughlin Celebrated on March 8 each year, International Women’s Day celebrates women and their contributions to society. In 2025, the International Women’s Day theme was Accelerate Action, or “the importance of taking swift and decisive steps to achieve gender equality.” Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU) recently hosted…
by Greer Pohl Celebrated on March 8 each year, International Women’s Day celebrates women and their contributions to society. In 2025, the International Women’s Day theme was Accelerate Action, or “the importance of taking swift and decisive steps to achieve gender equality.” Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU) recently hosted…
by Sara Carey “Swallow” is an honorable mention in Southern New Hampshire University’s 2024 Fall Fiction Contest. This story contains sensitive topics. Before me, on the bathroom counter, sat two translucent orange pill bottles with no labels. I stood with my back against the subway-tiled walls. My best friend Olivia…
by Nannette Vernon “Across the Vast and Unforgiving Landscape” is an honorable mention in Southern New Hampshire University’s 2024 Fall Fiction Contest. The sun glinted off a car in the distance, a little blip of light, an occasional shimmer along the dull gray highway dissecting the vast Wyoming plains. The…