Dear Weird Lit Readers,

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As this issue took form—its themes emerging, rust-red and raw—a sense of loneliness came over me, and I had to laugh. 

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The equinox marks our entry to a liminal space: summer fades, winter looms, we shed our leaves and burrow. We're gifted the autumnal reminder that what arises must fall, only to rise again come spring. Call me an absurdist, but knowing that life is a cycle of seasons and change while we so often fight for things to stay the same is a delight I’m not ashamed to indulge.

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I once listened to Johnny Cash’s cover of Nine Inch Nails’ “Hurt” on repeat for six hours. Why I would do such a thing, I don’t recall, but the oncoming of fall feels like that afternoon I reveled in Trent’s and Johnny’s sorrow. Grieving what was, welcoming what will be: through this yearly transition to darkness—gradual, inside and out—we are changed, whether or not we’re ready.

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In this issue, we invite you, weird reader, to indulge in your own responses to the themes in these stories. To your loneliness. To your transformation. To yourself. 

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Stay weird.

 

Weird AF,

 

September Herrin

Publisher & Editor-in-Chief

Weird Lit Magazine