The Ambition Editorial

Ambition is a very personal thing. I’ve always believed that my own ambition level was on the lower end of the scale. It’s a character trait built into my personal mythology. Most of that belief is based on the success I’ve seen other people attain. But everyone has a different passion and a different way to succeed. Ambition is not a competition, but unique to each of us.

When we decided to start publishing really cool spec fic stories and poems, I was all in. I hopped into the project with both feet, both hands, my heart, and all the other viscera. We did what it took to get the magazine up and flying. I didn’t recognize it as being ambitious, because it was something so important, it felt as natural as breathing. But this project is ambitious, an ambition I am excited to continue pursuing as it grows and succeeds.

With our sixth issue, we are proud to bring you a collection of stories and poems about ambitions that are both universal, personal, and 100% worthy.

The Muse Does Not Give a Fuck about Your Personal Safety, a poem by Jennifer Crow about ambition and toil being greater (and more painful) than waiting for that elusive lightning strike of inspiration

In the poem, Naiad, Cameryn Araduke shows the determination of rising beyond your circumstances and the resulting desire to rediscover innocence

eLon-4 Breaks A Mirror, a unique tale by Aurelius Raines II demonstrates how the ambition to change yourself can be spurred on by external forces

The Hermes VII by Donna J. W. Munro pursuit of basic survival leads to an unexpected discovery and finding your way home out of the dark

A zeal for treasure guides Windy Nikel’s story, Juliet Silver and the Sea of Prosperity, chasing pirates through the skies in airships with very peculiar methods of staying aloft.

In Sasha’s Pattern, Sonia’s Edge by Katherine Quevedo the future of interactive tech, and a sibling relationship spur on advancements in both

This issue’s reprint is The Last from Premee Mohamed, which takes us into last surviving iceberg hunters who must succeed to save the lives of their village  

Rebecca Bennett interviews Erion Makuo on the brilliant, hypnotizing art they created for our Issue 6 cover

And in her essay, It’s Cute How Hard You Try: Carol Danvers and Ambition, Tacoma Tomilson encourages you to emulate Carol Danvers and get back up every single time you’re knocked down.

We hope you enjoy these ambitious stories as much as we have! Be sure to check out the Creator Spotlight interviews with each author at the end of each story/poem. The inspiration, and persistence, behind each piece is a great bonus read.

Apparition Literary Magazine is funded by the editors and by your kind donations. If you’d like to support us, you can follow us on Facebook or Twitter and please consider donating and/or subscribing via our website.  For 2019, we’re pleased to announce that we’ve increased our pay rate for short stories to $0.03 per word and poetry to $15 flat rate.

Thank you for reading,

Amy Robinson
Associate/Poetry Editor


Photo by Francesco Gallarotti on Unsplash

  • Amy Henry Robinson
    Amy Henry Robinson Owner/Senior Editor, Poetry Editor, and Webmaster

    Amy has a chequered past leading writing workshops for Writing Pad L.A. & Write In Ventura, and as the column editor for FierceAndNerdy.com. Her poetry & spec. fiction has been in Strange Horizons, Pearl Magazine, & Flash Fiction Press. She lives in a small house beside the ocean with her husband. Amy can be found on Twitter being weird, and mocking her cats, at @Amyqotwf

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