Stanza is a bookstore. It’s also a press. This volume is one of our first efforts. It’s a labor of love, meant to introduce readers to the rich literary scene in Beacon. It’s also meant to celebrate local writers and use Stanza’s position as tourist stop and literary destination to get more eyes on their work. This is a unique privilege of a bookshop in a popular town. We feature local writers prominently, right at the front of our shop, and we really hope, once you read the works herein, you’ll be enticed to return and purchase these writers’ books.

This book is not only for readers, but writers too.

We hope readers enjoy the great work, of course. We hope they get a good sense of literary culture in Beacon. That culture is richer than we expected when we opened Stanza in 2023. This volume houses poetry, scholarly essays, literature, mystery, horror, and science fiction.

If you’re a writer, We hope you can find some community in these pages. Every writer struggles with life/career balance, isolation, and fear that their work will never find a place in the world. The writers in this book make themselves quite vulnerable through artist statements accompanying their works. We hope this vulnerability helps you know you’re not alone.

Welcome to Beacon’s literary scene.

We’re donating profits from this anthology to the Howland Public Library.