Note from the Editors

I practice self love / like a fist cracking against drywall. / I have no knack for self compassion, / but I buy myself earrings shaped like / mushrooms and it feels close to / the same thing.

- Wanda Delgane, “the patron saint of strawberry lemonade and weird earrings”

When the sunlight dances through the ripples, you can almost see the world beneath. Even though it’s just a glimpse, the imagination leaps with envy at everything that you could have been. What else have you wished to become?

In Aster Lit Issue 9: Paradox, we received over 500 submissions worldwide. We were enlightened by the paradoxical natures you showed us—in relationships, mothers and fathers and daughters; in memories, between pasts and presents and futures; and along rivers, amongst villages, between spaces. We are so thankful for the opportunity to read all of your amazing work, and we are honored to be the home to 19 incredible works from 16 outstanding authors who awed us with their beautiful imagery, technical mastery, refined craft, developed voices, and inspiring stories.

To our wonderful international constellation of stars—our readers, our submitters, our Instagram followers, our podcast listeners, and everyone reading this Editor’s Note right now—thank you for making Aster Lit possible. Your voices will continue to motivate us far beyond this issue.

As always, deciding our pieces for publication was extremely difficult, and this issue was especially selective. We truly wish we could publish every submission we receive. If your piece was not selected for publication this time, we sincerely invite you to submit to our next issue. Issue 10 will be open for submissions starting in mid-July, and we would love the chance to review your work—we can’t wait! In the meantime, you can follow us on Instagram (@aster.lit) or Twitter (@LitAster) to stay involved with our community and receive updates on issue submissions.

We love you. Your voice matters. Keep telling stories.

With all our love,

The Aster Lit Team