Dear Weird Lit Readers,

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Ah, winter. How my goth heart loves thee. It’s a time for doom metal and ceremony. Candlelit nights and snow-muffled reflections on the year’s gifts and tolls alike. Nature tightens her death grip, freezing lakes and frosting noses. She wraps us in darkness and dares us to dream.

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In this issue, eight authors offer up weird stories that flow like mulled wine and moonshine. Imbibe their weirdness. Feel their slow burn as they go down and let them thaw your winter heart.

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From dusty plains of the old west to near-future data centers; aboard private jets and on family farms—these stories will transport you to realms real and imagined. Don your capitalist clown costume. Pack your finest camera obscuras. Revel in love unrequited. And whatever you do, think long and hard before accepting the role of guardian to the tattooed infant delivered to your door.

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Speaking of goth hearts, I wonder what kind of lyrics Edgar Allan Poe would write were he to assemble a band from the myriad characters who appear in this issue. I’d like to think he’d compose indulgent, brutal ballads worthy of this icy season. And that, backed by his fellow Winter Weirdos and a wall of sonic sludge, Edgar might show us joy in the doom and wonder in the darkness. Perhaps we catch a snowy set at some glowing dive bar off a rural highway. Our souls warmed with spirits and song, we write the band’s name under moonlight, the way all our names are written in the snowdrifts of time: crystalline yellow and fated to melt away.

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Once again, thank you for reading Weird Lit Magazine. On this winter solstice, as humanity warms itself round fires proverbial and otherwise, be reminded that the light will return. It always returns.

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Yours in Wintry Weirdness,

September Herrin

Publisher & Editor in Chief

Weird Lit Magazine

Read our Winter 2025 Issue here.