Read here. October is a month of transformation. Stagnant summer days transform into crisp, howling autumn nights. The morbid and the merry battle it out as stores shift into sprawling landscapes of holiday decorations. Green trees turn into skeleton bones and then into dangling lights. Children morph into little monsters ready to gobble up candy and toys and the magic wafting through the air.
We transform, too. We shed our summer wings and cocoon ourselves in sweaters and scarves. We confront the stress and the joy of the season, turning into the worst or best versions of ourselves.
Fiction
Jamie Grove, Homecoming
Kasia Merrill, Nightmares
Sean Murphy, This Kind of Man
Monica Zarazua, The Son
Megan Turner, Of Blood and Feathers
Nonfiction
Bailey E. Heille, Defying Linear
Catherine West, Displays of Affection, Mercy, and Other Things
Poetry
Clyde Kessler, Dancers in a Parallel Universe
Kasandra Larsen, After She Says She Wants Cremation
Julia Ponder, Dinner on a Tuesday
John L. Stanizzi, Gift
Sara True, an intention
Kirby Wright, September City
Art
Cover: Manit Chaotragoongit, Life of Mine: Past
Laura Baran, Reeds and Rushes
Manit Chaotragoongit, Life of Mine: Icon of Belief
William C. Crawford, Family Portrait
Kelly Joy Ladd, Hypnotic
Kate Salvi, Floral Plethora: Closed Sunflower
Floral Plethora: Coming Through
Sarah Vorsheck, Civilization: Girl