Category: Editor’s Picks

Editor’s Picks showcases standout works from past issues, with thoughtful commentary, quick reviews, top reading lists, in-depth critiques, and discussions of trends shaping literature and 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

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

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

Winter 2024 – Fiction

It’s rainy season in Jakarta with 78 percent humidity, according to the weather forecasts, but you always wake up dehydrated. Bunda says it’s because you eat too much MSG. Or, more precisely, you keep ordering food from restaurants that clearly use MSG and other artificial flavoring. She tries to teach you how to cook tempe… Continue reading Winter 2024 – Fiction

Winter 2024 – Drama

ANNA Well. I mean … “friends” is a strong word. REFLECTION A temporary truce? ANNA Maybe. They smile at each other. REFLECTION Go get ‘em, Anna. ANNA Right back at ya! Being an actor is a funny thing. Dressing up, playing make believe, small rituals, doing warmups and exercises that may look strange to outsiders.… Continue reading Winter 2024 – Drama

Winter 2024 – Art

‘To The Island’ – Christopher Woods ‘To The Island’ reveals a melancholy, black and white snapshot of passengers traveling to an island by watercraft. The first word that appeared in my mind’s eye, when I saw this photograph, was loneliness. Also, when we think of island, many connect the word to isolation. In this interpretation,… Continue reading Winter 2024 – Art

Winter 2024 – Nonfiction

In Crash Test Dummy, Rose Mason delivers the universal anxiety of driving and thrusts with a tone so frank and forthright that the emotional dreamscape of subconsciousness and the clinical morbidity of facts merge together, inviting the reader along the inner-most routes of the narrators mind only to confront them with critical questions about male-oriented road safety that leaves the female driver and passenger inherently in danger.

Winter 2024 – Poetry

The Aldgate Horses – LJ Ireton Now cool in the fountain –  A memory of earth water; Squelching feet in fields With cleaner conscience, Louder heartbeats. The speaker conveys admiration for one of the bronze horse statues in London. A memory of earth water, under stone readings of oxygen. These are highlights of some of… Continue reading Winter 2024 – Poetry