Dear Reader,

The summer is ended, and we are not saved.

Okay, that sounds a little dramatic. Let's try that again.

Dear Reader,

The summer is ended, and we can now drink tea and wear our autumn jackets.

It lacks a certain gravitas, sure, but that's why no one has ever asked me to found a new religion. It'd be more pumpkin spice and less eternal damnation, and then where would we be?

One more time:

Dear Reader,

Summer is ended, but science fiction and fantasy go on.

There, that's better.

In this issue, you will find a slew of stories, a plethora of poems, and a host of heartbreaking, hopeful, honest content. (You are instructed to please pronounce the h.) Find the god that lurks in polluted waters in "The God Who Never Sleeps Dwells Under an Inky Sea" by A. W. Prihandita, and weep over the ghosts that you may never find again in "The Coral Tombs" by Eric Raglin. Cure your heartbreak in "Bleeding Hearts" by Suzan Palumbo, and discover your father in unexpected places in "Giant Killer Shark" by Timothy Mudie. In "The Poison You Leave" by Krystle Yanagihara, settler colonialism marks the land, but we have the tools (and righteous monsters) to clear it all away, and in "A Good Catch" by Stacie Turner, make a promise to the sea that will be hard to keep.

If poetry is more your speed, come with us to Nigeria and watch the roads turn to rivers in "Somewhere in Nigeria" by AbdulBasit Oluwanishola, or raise your voice with the women and hear the many tongues in grandfather's mouth in "Black Bile" by Chinedu Gospel. Else you might face the coming storm in "Category 4" by West Ambrose, read the words on the tomb of the world in "Epitaph of a World on Fire: An Abecedarian" by Jessica Peter, or refuse to be the princess they want you to be in "Meat, Bone, and Soul" by Beth Cato.

There's a lot to be worried about in this dear old world of ours, but there's space for hope, too. Summer is ended, but it doesn't mean that we end with it. So:

Dear Reader,

Thank you for being here. Thank you for coming on this journey with us.

And thank you, as always, for reading.

Leon

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Leon Perniciaro, Editor
Haven Spec Magazine

© 2024 Leon Perniciaro