With each step, icy shards of pain shoot through my knees and up my spine. My two-year-old Cecily runs ahead of me into the house, then trots back with the TV remote. “Watch Dora?” Guilt sits heavy in my chest. Her brother started kindergarten only two weeks ago and she’s already settled into this routine … Continue reading “The Gift to Be Healed” by Annaliese Lemmon
Emily pushed against the cool surface of her mother’s full-length mirror. The surface remained solid, as it had for months. It wasn’t fair. The portal to the Magic Wood was supposed remain open until she turned twelve in December. But last year, President Nelson had announced that youth would graduate from Primary on January 1, … Continue reading “Portal Friends” by Annaliese Lemmon
Mahalath smiled as she watched each of her sisters by the fire. Whatever the feud between Laman and Nephi, worsened with the death of Lehi, at least the daughters of Ishmael could still enjoy time together. Huldah was showing the dyes she had created from the plants and bugs she had discovered. Jerusha appraised the … Continue reading “Daughters of Ishmael” by Annaliese Lemmon
I have a gift of tongues. Unfortunately, it’s useless to me on my mission. I throw the Spanish flashcards down on the bed in our small Chilean apartment. “I’m never going to get this. Why does Spanish have to be so hard?” My trainer, Sister Helm, puts her hand on my shoulder. “Why don’t we … Continue reading “The Gift of Tongues“ by Annaliese Lemmon
1. My husband is not a cockroach. If I had woken up next to Kafka’s “monstrous vermin,” I would have run and sprayed an entire can of Raid into the bedroom. As it was, I thought the six foot rabbit crouched under the covers was a very elaborate (it even included nose twitching) joke, even … Continue reading “Disability, Death, or Other Circumstance,” by Annaliese Lemmon
Thank you to everyone who submitted to this year’s Mormon Lit Blitz! After our initial review of these pieces, we’re excited to share our long list of twenty-four semi-finalist pieces (listed alphabetically by author’s last name): J.S. Absher “Until You Come” Lee Allred “The Giant Chicken Heart That Ate Nauvoo” Jeanine Bee “Grafted Branches” Alixa … Continue reading 11th Annual Mormon Lit Blitz: Longlist
A note from Jeanna Mason Stay: While I knew and recognized most of the authors who ended up as finalists this year, there were a few names I was unfamiliar with and a few names whose works I had forgotten about and needed to rediscover. I love the things the authors have done for this … Continue reading Meet the Authors and Guest Judge
We’ve come to the end of the Saints, Spells, and Spaceships contest entries. We hope you’ve enjoyed this journey through LDS speculative fiction. We hope it has made you laugh, cry, and think. We hope something has touched you and will stay in your heart. We’re still talking about the pieces over at our Facebook page, … Continue reading Saints, Spells, and Spaceships Voting Instructions
A message from our guest editor, Jeanna Mason Stay Hands have been wrung, dithering has been ongoing (and ongoing and ongoing), stories have been shuffled and reshuffled, and finally we’re down to the finalists. It was such a hard decision, but I’m really looking forward to sharing these stories with you. Congratulations to all the … Continue reading Saints, Spells, and Spaceships Finalists
An announcement from our guest editor, Jeanna Mason Stay Thank you so much to everyone who submitted their wonderful flash fiction to this contest. I have enjoyed reading them so much. I wish I could feature so many more—making the cuts down to semifinalists has been a challenging decision! So many of these stories made … Continue reading Saints, Spells, and Spaceships Semifinalists