Tag Archives: friends

A Language, Little Known

Posted on January 15, 2025 by Ryn PB

The steps led down, down, down—far away from the sun, where no flowers should be able to grow. And yet— “She said the Third-Eyebright would be here.” The angry red scratches on Trev’s face had only gotten worse since the … Continue reading →

Posted in Another New Era, Fiction Short Stories | Tagged amaranth, bees, betrayal, botanist, botany, bugs, contest, eyebright, floral, florist, floristry, flowers, friends, geranium, journey, LGBT+, life lessons, nyc midnight, quest, search, secret society, write, writing, yellowjackets | Leave a comment

Friends, Alone

Posted on March 15, 2024 by Ryn PB

Content Warnings: underage drinking and smoking, homophobia, violence/bullying, mild domestic abuse Even though she had a key to the house, and even though the Raneys usually kept their door unlocked anyway, Allison wasn’t in the habit of entering their house … Continue reading →

Posted in Another New Era, Fiction Short Stories, original writing | Tagged art, arts school, batman, batman the movie, books, cigarettes, friends, friendship, gay, high school, hot chocolate, LGBT+, movie, movie night, painting, photography, popcorn, queer, queer lit, reader, reading, robin, school, shark spray, siblings, smoking, twins, vivian maier, writing | Leave a comment

A Christmas Cookie Contest

Posted on December 17, 2023 by Ryn PB

As he set down the cats’ food bowls, Benji’s phone buzzed insistently in his pocket. His parents had promised to check in when they landed, but they’d only left a few hours ago. When the phone had been wrestled out … Continue reading →

Posted in Another New Era, Fiction Short Stories | Tagged books, christmas, christmas eve, christmas romance, christmas story, cookie decorating, cookies, eggnog, family, fiction, fireworks, friends, holiday romance, hot chocolate, kittens, LGBT+, magic, mental health, merry christmas, movies, party, queer lit, romance, santa claus, santa hat, scotland, sister, snow, straight no chaser, sweater, ugly christmas sweater, winter, writing | 1 Comment

Pierre-Auguste Salvatici

Posted on July 16, 2023 by Ryn PB

His parents set him up for failure when they named him Pierre-Auguste Salvatici. Even if he hadn’t grown up with a persistent speech impediment and severe respiratory problems, Pierre-Auguste Salvatici could never live up to the grandiosity of the name. … Continue reading →

Posted in Another New Era, Fiction Short Stories | Tagged adopted, adoption, anxiety, asthma, club, copd, death, driving, drowning, friends, great lakes, high school, lake, lakes, languages, life lessons, lung disease, lungs, names, neglect, neighbors, orphan, parental death, reading, ship, shipwreck, talent, talent show, tea, water, writing | 1 Comment

Addy Kraz and the Case of the Stolen Cookies

Posted on June 16, 2023 by Ryn PB

“Meet me at the Orange Julius” was the mantra of our junior high years. Before Dijon O’Reilly got a job at Juice Stop and Kiera Moore became a vegan, the three of us would come from our different middle schools—Dijon … Continue reading →

Posted in Another New Era, Fiction Short Stories | Tagged auntie anne, bakery, bffs, bojack horseman, books, candy, cookies, crush, diane nguyen, fake books, fake fiction, food court, friends, hardy boys, hot dogs, indian food, ivy tran food court detective, junior high, kiosk, life lessons, mall, middle grade, middle school, mystery, nancy drew, nonbinary, nostalgia, orange julius, series, shopping mall, short story, stealing, suspects, thief, toy, toys, tweens, writing | 1 Comment

I’m Thinking About Moths

Posted on May 31, 2023 by Ryn PB

I accidentally killed a moth. I was sitting outside, crisscross applesauce, back against a brick wall, sweating under the late May sun; the moth saw the shadowy space underneath my legs and beelined for the shelter with inevitably misplaced trust. … Continue reading →

Posted in Another New Era, mental health | Tagged anxiety, bookseller, change, friends, friendship, half price books, hpb, job, knives, life changes, life lessons, may, mental health, moths, nature, nebraska, outside, reading, summer, the mountain goats, work | 1 Comment

April 2022: How LGBTQ+ media, sunshine, and a magical readathon are lifting my mood

Posted on April 29, 2022 by Ryn PB

What I Got: This Song Is (Not) for You by Laura Nowlin The Ensemble by Aja Gabel The Dust of 100 Dogs by A.S. King Heart Shaped Fire by P.W. Davies Take My Hand by P.W. Davies The Complete Poetry … Continue reading →

Posted in LGBT+, polysyllabic spree | Tagged a cappella, aiden thomas, alice oseman, anxiety, arcs, bass, book reviews, books, brujo, brujx, burnout, climate, climate change, depression, edgar allan poe, emotions, environmentalism, friends, geoff castellucci, graphic novels, greek myth, healing, heartstopper, hi, im back, latinx author, LGBT+, love, medea, mental health, miscarriage, music, mythology, nature, netflix, nick hornby, plastics, poc, poetry, poison, queer, queer lit, queer literature, reading, return, reviews, romance, seasons, siblings, sister, tell tale heart, the raven, voiceplay, weather, writing, YA, young adult | Leave a comment