by Diane DeCillis The day I realized I no longer missed my father was the day I discovered futurist Ray Kurzweil’s The Singularity is Near, an exploration of artificial intelligence and the future of humanity. Ray foresees a new civilization that will enable us to transcend our biological limitations. His…
by Jesse Breite If the fruit tells us anything, it is that we yearn, that the stillness is furious, that the fury is a sacred fire, that fire is a way of breathing, that lungs feed the open wound, but also that color…
by Nicole Hill Your nimble fingers reach for the volume control as Led Zeppelin’s “Houses of the Holy” rolls off the radio announcer’s tongue and enters our ears a second too late across the transmission of a radio wave. Your foot gently taps on the break pedal, the rosary beads…
by Kelly Milos Do you know the night phantoms? The shades that grow strange in Autumn? Oh, you must know the ones— the swirling spirits of once-living leaves giving the air its static sound, the clouds clicking through the branches guarding the harvest moon from prying eyes. They’re glimpses of…
by Gary Beck Another summer to a troubled land that disinherits many while the few revel, supported by servants bound to their masters by economic need rather than fondness for indulgent ways, capricious extravagance as many go hungry, their highest aspiration a service job…
Genesis is the first-place winner in SNHU’s 2015 Fall Fiction Short Story Competition. by Syche Phillips In the beginning, it’s awkward, as so many things are. You don’t know where you’re allowed to sit, where you’re expected to sleep, what there is to eat. You don’t even know what to call…
St. Louis is the third-place winner in SNHU’s 2015 Fall Fiction Short Story Competition. by Virginia Spotts Through the ghostly fluorescent lighting and piles of boxes, my father poked his head through the door, giving a slight smile. My returned smile was tight-lipped. He stepped inside slowly, stopping just a few…
Goldfish God is the second-place winner in SNHU’s 2015 Fall Fiction Short Story Competition. by Michele Meehan “The goldfish is dead.” “What? Are you kidding me?” I asked gripping the phone tightly. “I went to feed it today and it was belly up,” my mother replied. “What do you want me…
By Emily Fox It was the summer of the jumpers. From every height they were falling: from rooftops, from bridges, from sharp cliffs onto vicious rock clusters that waited below with greedy crevices. Perhaps it was the heat that drove people to want to fly. The air was heavy with…
by Linda Bragg LATE DECEMBER 1972 The sour smell of lung cancer clings to the humid air – heavy, unyielding. My family lives in Florida, and like most homes, ours has no air-conditioning. My father’s been sick for two years — now he’s coughing up blood and breathing has…