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    Apparition Lit, Issue 8: Euphoria (October 2019)
    Apparition Lit, Issue 8: Euphoria (October 2019)
    Apparition Lit, Issue 8: Euphoria (October 2019)
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    Apparition Lit, Issue 8: Euphoria (October 2019)

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    Welcome to the eighth issue of Apparition Lit! This quarter’s theme was Euphoria. In these works, one person’s intoxicating high may be another’s nightmare. These stories and poems are striking in their subject matter, styles, and perspectives.

    EDITORIAL
    *A Word from Our Guest Editor: Give Me Some of That by Ezzy Languzzi
    SHORT FICTION
    *The Word for What We Have by Jennifer Hudak
    *An Account of the Defeat of the Earth's Last Conqueror by Adam Lee Weatherford
    *Ilyas' Egg by Sameem Siddiqui
    *A Gentler Sky by Amelia Sirina
    POETRY
    *Luna Rasa by Tiffany Morris
    *Belly of the Beast by Holly Lyn Walrath
    INTERVIEW
    *Artist Interview with Abi Stevens
    ESSAY
    *It’s Not a Big Thing by Amy Henry Robinson

    Apparition Lit is a quarterly speculative fiction magazine that features short stories and poetry. We publish original content with enough emotional heft to break a heart, with prose that’s as clear and delicious as broth.
    New issues will be published each January, April, July, October.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherApparitionLit
    Release dateOct 14, 2019
    ISBN9780463211359
    Apparition Lit, Issue 8: Euphoria (October 2019)
    Author

    ApparitionLit

    Apparition Lit is a quarterly speculative fiction magazine that features short stories and poetry. We publish original content with enough emotional heft to break a heart, with prose that’s as clear and delicious as broth. Every issue of Apparition Lit includes:*Editorial from the staff*Four short stories that meet the quarterly theme*Two poems that meet the quarterly theme*Interview with the Cover Artist*Nonfiction EssayNew issues will be published each January, April, July, October.

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      Book preview

      Apparition Lit, Issue 8 - ApparitionLit

      Table of Contents

      Editorial

      A Word from Our Guest Editor:  Give Me Some of That by Ezzy Languzzi

      Short Fiction and Poetry

      A Gentler Sky by Amelia Sirina

      Luna Rasa by Tiffany Morris

      An Account of the Defeat of the Earth's Last Conqueror by Adam Lee Weatherford

      The Word for What We Have by Jennifer Hudak

      Belly of the Beast by Holly Lyn Walrath

      Ilyas' Egg by Sameem Siddiqui

      Interview

      Artist Interview with Abi Stevens

      Essay

      It’s Not a Big Thing by Amy Henry Robinson

      Thank You to Our Sponsors

      Past Issues

      A Word from Our Guest Editor: Give Me Some of That

      by Ezzy Languzzi

      I’m grateful to the editors for the invitation to help curate this issue.  I was there when this publication was just an idea. Fast forward two years and Apparition Lit is a fully formed magazine, barnacles and all. I’ve watched these women pour their time, resources, and passion into promoting new and established writers, all for the love of speculative fiction. Their grit and no-nonsense approach to launching this site is proof that in this toxic climate, a little determination, confidence, and focus will go a long way. Disregard the naysayers. We should all push outside our comfort zones, because that’s where miracles and magic happen.

      Isn’t that what we want in these challenging times? Miracles and magic. To be swept away from reality and lose ourselves in the bliss of fiction. To be frightened, inspired, excited. Experience a touch of euphoria, however fleeting. As you will see in this eighth issue of the magazine, euphoria takes many forms and is as unique as the people experiencing it. One person’s intoxicating high may be another’s nightmare. These stories and poems are striking in their subject matter, styles, and perspectives. You’ll experience euphoria in fantastic, sometimes humorous, and terrifying terms.

      In A Gentler Sky, a young girl embraces her culture’s demand for the ultimate sacrifice. An Account of the Defeat of the Earth’s Conqueror introduces us to an endearing intergalactic sociologist with a soft spot for humanity. Ilya’s Egg asks us to reflect on what makes a home and more importantly--what it means to leave it. The Word for What We Have is a haunting visit to the liminal space between wakefulness and sleep and our perception of our most important relationships. The poems Belly of the Beast and Luna Rasa are weird and wonderful, plumbing the depths of space. We also have an essay It’s Not a Big Thing by Editor Amy, you’ll want to be sure to read.

      We hope you enjoy these stories and poems as much as we did and invite you to submit your work for the upcoming issue themed Experimentation, due out in January 2020.

      Yeah--give me some of that.

      Thank you,

      Ezzy Languzzi

      Ezzy is a Latinx writer of speculative fiction. Her short stories Naranjas Inmortales and Viva La Muñeca can be found respectively in the anthologies STRANGE CALIFORNIA and BROAD KNOWLEDGE: 35 WOMEN UP TO NO GOOD. Her story Soledad will appear in the LATINX ARCHIVE in 2021. She has contributed tie-in fiction and background setting design for various RPG properties, forthcoming in 2020. She holds an M.Ed in School Counseling and is currently pursuing her MFA in Popular Fiction Writing and Publishing at Emerson College. She lives outside of Boston with her husband, son, and two labradoodles

      A Gentler Sky

      by Amelia Sirina

      In the stories Grandfather told, the rain-makers always turned into mist before the last drop of the drums and right after the first drop of water onto the thirsty earth. In the rare, whispered stories of Shy Izigiro, Grandfather’s little brother, the rain-makers always fell to the ground dead--shriveled of all moisture, eyes pained and staring, endlessly, into the pouring skies.

      Today, Imvura learned both these stories were true. And they were both a lie.

      The drums began their beat all at once. The chanter clanged drumsticks together to guide the rhythm. The air charged with anticipation.

      The rain was coming.

      Imvura's people weren't rain-lucky during the long dry seasons. The windy, many-ravined plateau hazed with heat until every plant brittled and died. 

      The rest of the country, Imvura had once been told, was green and lush as a precious gem. Trees, grasses, rivers, fields upon fields of pastures. Thousands, if not millions, of farmers tending the fecund earth. Imvura had never seen anything other than her native highlands, but she believed all the pretty tales. She believed a great many things others had told her. Probably the only big flaw of hers.

      The villagers said it was the issue of the good rain-making magic, nothing more. Out there, in the lowlands, the people simply had better dancers and drummers. And thus, gentler skies. Here, in the highlands, they had the wrong ones. That was why the local villagers rarely had rain, and whenever they did, one of their rain-makers had to die for it to happen. That was also why the rest of the country chased them away centuries ago to this small waste of land. 

      A hard land under a hard sky. For a hard kind of people.

      They didn't dance like hardened people, though. Swish, jump, land on one leg--then swivel with the other, fast. Faster than the wind, all the dry grasses and leaves of the dancers' skirts cutting air like knives. All the men, even the big ones, danced effortlessly, their step lighter than the drought's lingering touch on the land. Imvura wanted to dance with them but she was only a girl, too weak for commanding such power.

      Besides, somewhere deep in the back of her mind, she did feel afraid of dropping dead at the end of the rain-making dance. Just a bit.

      So she clapped and stomped her feet like everyone did. But sometimes, she stopped, frightened. And waited, breath bated, for the rising tension of this unhinged joy to subside. She would not get caught in the tide of this dance. She knew the legends and how they ended.

      Today, she visited a neighboring village for the first time. She didn't know the names of most dancers but she knew the chant and the

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