Happy (almost) Thanksgiving, Inkwell readers! We’re certainly thankful for our upcoming holiday break; schoolwork and extracurriculars seem to snowball this time of year and can leave us feeling overwhelmed and ready to give up. However, we have chosen to channel this energy into something positive—our third issue of the semester, “Defeat.”

Defeat: frustration by nullification or by prevention of success; an overthrow especially of an army in battle; the loss of a contest.

In this issue, our writers’ depictions of defeat range from as realistic as the burden of writer’s block to as fantastical as an overthrown kingdom inhabited by creatures of folktales and legends. No matter your personal reading preferences, you’re sure to find commonality and catharsis in all our writers’ interpretations of defeat.

We hope you enjoy “Defeat.” A PDF is available for download here.