In the midst of the third millennium’s chaos and apocalyptic predictions, the waitress serves my cappuccino and calls me ‘honey’. The café is small, peculiarly quaint: five tables and a slightly askew picture of the New York City skyline. The doorbell jingles and in walks the waitress’s partner, daffodils in hand and the certainty of… Continue reading The Crease Effect: Intimacy in Action Lines
Author: blog
Naughty Little Creatures: Roger D. Anderson’s Humorous Take On The Harmless Paper Clip
Our Winter 2026 issue includes many exciting pieces, but one in particular stayed with me. Paper clip sex by Roger D. Anderson is a quick, humorous expression of joie de vivre made in just a couple of rough brushstrokes, the rich colours of which are as vivid as an oil painting, and just as memorable.… Continue reading Naughty Little Creatures: Roger D. Anderson’s Humorous Take On The Harmless Paper Clip
The Cost of Being Creative: Fighting Class Exclusion in the Arts
The arts have a favourite myth: that creativity drifts as freely as a neighbour’s cannabis smoke, provided one endures a little aestheticised discomfort. It takes place in a charmingly decaying flat somewhere near the Thames, shared by five people, filled with second-hand furniture, mismatched mugs and at least one tote bag from a gallery opening.… Continue reading The Cost of Being Creative: Fighting Class Exclusion in the Arts
Soil Under My Fingernails: Queer Identity in Timothy Ngome’s Where the Petals Remember My Name
It was absurd – to argue with something that photosynthesized my guilt – but the absurdity thrilled me. Maybe that’s what queerness is, I thought: the pleasure of breaking form, of wanting in directions that defy taxonomy. It was absurd – to argue with something that photosynthesized my guilt – but the absurdity thrilled me.… Continue reading Soil Under My Fingernails: Queer Identity in Timothy Ngome’s Where the Petals Remember My Name
CRAFT TOOLS: Deus Ex Cista
One of the things I love most about writing poetry is the freedom offered its author. It’s said that poets see the world differently, which is why poetry can sometimes strike those more familiar with fiction or drama as challenging, even weird. I’m not sure if I believe in an essential point-of-view shared by all… Continue reading CRAFT TOOLS: Deus Ex Cista
What We’re Reading
We the editorial staff of Spellbinder believe the writing we take in is just as important as the writing we produce. Whether focusing on texts within their own genre or taking inspiration from other parts of the literary world, many of the greatest writers we know are also great readers! Unsure what you should look… Continue reading What We’re Reading
CRAFT TOOLS: (Word) Clouds In My Coffee
In the recent film, Come See Me In The Good Light, a documentary about the life, art, and death of beloved poet Andrea Gibson, there’s a scene where Gibson talks about putting together their first book and how their publisher, exasperated, told them, “Andrea, all these poems have the same words rearranged in a… Continue reading CRAFT TOOLS: (Word) Clouds In My Coffee
Our Enemy, Ourselves: Anxiety Personified in Elizabeth Ingamells’ My Friend, the Hag
I admire my friend’s consistency and unwavering attention to my every unwanted feeling, nervous twitch, or anxiety riddled thought. While I’m huddled against my pillow, petrified of an open curtain, she is just outside my door, whispering. Featured in the Winter 2026 issue of Spellbinder Magazine, Elizabeth Ingamells’ My Friend, the Hag uses an evocative… Continue reading Our Enemy, Ourselves: Anxiety Personified in Elizabeth Ingamells’ My Friend, the Hag
Writing the Mind in Motion: Tips and Resources for Stream of Consciousness
Stream of consciousness is often described as the most intimate of literary techniques. It tries to capture the mind as it actually functions: layered, looping, distracted, luminous, contradictory. For writers it can feel liberating and disorienting at once. How do you capture the quicksilver movement of thought without losing the reader? How do you preserve… Continue reading Writing the Mind in Motion: Tips and Resources for Stream of Consciousness
Autumn 2025 – Drama
OTTO And we carry around your little bags. Always carrying around bags of things you don’t need. Bundles of yarn. Sweaters for kittens we don’t have. An old Bible you know nothing about. Bottles of paint and brushes. Crumpled receipts that are two years old. What do you need all that shit for? I once… Continue reading Autumn 2025 – Drama