by Rose Mary Boehm I know I have to do some shedding. Can’t go into a long, enfeebling winter with the weight of oceans, moors, beaches, dark woods, and stark horizons. I suppose I ought to shed my lightweight roots and put down the other kind, sturdy and reliable, holding a tree that tries to rise…
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 Angela Townsend If Lana knows that people underestimate her, she does not show it. She shows up to committee meetings with freshly purpled hair. It is not intended to be subtle or ironic, qualities that search in vain for a place to touch down in Lana. Big birds have…
by Allan Deligi Tom wasn’t the kind of man people noticed—not in a good way, anyway. He moved through life like a shadow, a worn figure. His once-thick, vibrant-red hair had receded into a few pale, wiry strands that clung stubbornly to his scalp. His ears stuck out too far,…
by Cidney Mayes “A Heart Destined to Wither” is an honorable mention in Southern New Hampshire University’s 2024 Fall Fiction Contest. A favorite contract of mine: the mortal’s ruinous craving for riches. Everyone knows that gold lasts forever, but hearts such as his are destined to wither. – Margin Note…
by Coryna Pido “Home” is an honorable mention in Southern New Hampshire University’s 2024 Fall Fiction Contest. She stalks away from the store, a bundle of Cempasúchil being promptly watered by a river of tears streaming down her face. She remembers every Sunday being dragged to service where she learned…
by Maureen Winemiller “Mr. Sunshine” is an honorable mention in Southern New Hampshire University’s 2024 Fall Fiction Contest. Walter Schmidt hurried up the cement path that led to the modest bungalow on Pine Street. He had lived in the run-down house for almost forty years and knew the walkway like the…