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RESONANCE: THE ANTHOLOGY.

Hello! This is the fourth issue of the pencilmarks anthology series and this time, we are bringing you short stories. An anthology of meaning. We hope you enjoy and support us as you have always done. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! RESONANCE: A SHORT STORY ANTHOLOGY, DEC 2023

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Málomó by Tomi Olaniyan

Struggles of motherhood, Agonizing, however fulfilling. I toiled day and night, So I may reap what I sow.   Bodies grinding with sweats, With no pleasure on sight. Despair had been my abode, With no child to call my own.   Then you happened, The joy that cometh by morning. Only that I was jinxed, […]

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Promised Land by Nnamdi Vin-Anuonye

CHETA: You spend weekends tasting bliss off each other’s bodies. But this weekend, like the last, you are alone, surrounded by an eerie silence. Davido’s Ekuro is blasting on your boom box: Eh when I look into your eyes. You are a blessing in disguise. You make me wanna do the ring around the roses… […]

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Love is My Sister Saving Me Simply By Existing by Àmọ̀kẹ́

Sisters by chance, friends by choice. I was two years old when my sister was born, I don’t remember it. I haven’t really thought about it, until now. I imagine it being a sunny Friday, I imagine the sky being the prettiest shade of blue because her spirit is so bright and my sister is […]

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Quicksand by Joy Humphrey

“Do you remember the feeling of walking under water?” “Yes.” “It’s hard right? But it’s possible. Deep breaths. “Now have you ever gotten stuck in quicksand?” “No.” “It’s impossible, isn’t it? It feels as though you’re trapped with no way out.” Eyes closed. Hands trembling. “That’s how I feel most of the time.” It took […]

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A Farewell to Okadabooks by the Pencilmarks House

Okadabooks sent a wave of shock through the Nigerian literary space on Monday the 20th of November 2023 that they would be shutting down. This impacted the community especially writers who published their first piece with them. Here at Pencilmarks, the news hit us harder because the founder got published for the first time on […]

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Mother called by Desire O.

today my mother calls me, even though we spoke the night before. i am not ready for any of it, so i still, until i can, until i am alone, and am charged enough to hear it  whatever it is.  in her first syllables, i hear that she is worried about me, and perplexed, i […]

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High on life by Nana Osei Agyeman

The music wells, caresses my ears and tickles my brain. I look up to the sky, blue with hope, optimism… Adorned elegantly in clouds, white, pure, ever changing.   The foliage whisks by, luscious, green, making an otherwise bland landscape vivid and interesting.   Faces, they move past me, different and unique, each wearing different […]

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Does love still exist by oluwasikemi ibitoye

Dearest gentle reader, For this message, I must assume the persona of “Lady Whistledown,” addressing the whole nation of England. Today we shall discuss a very delicate subject: love. As it is today amongst members of the ton (the youth), it almost seems as though it doesn’t exist as it did in our parents’ time. […]

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Eyes made of love by Adigun Peter

Your eyes remind me of love.  Not the fairytale love story,  but one where two beings, though separate, are still together.  They can live without each other,  but will never feel complete  until they are together.    Your eyes remind me  of the love I wished for after  reading my first romance novel.  The “HAPPILY […]