What does “Symmetry” mean to Apparition Lit?

Greetings and salutations, readers!

Symmetry is open for all! We are looking forward to another issue of amazing stories, and we thank you for the submissions that have already made their way into our stacks.

This issue, we have the immense honor of having Apparition Lit Alum Kel Coleman joining as our guest editor. Kel is not only an amazing author and editor, but Kel’s story, I Wear My Spiders In Remembrance Of Myself, remains one of Apparition’s most popular, and most noted, stories. A complex, layered story of love and identity, this piece encapsulates the themes and skill Apparition strives to publish with every issue 

As we like to do, the Apparition lit team discussed what we are hoping to read this time around. Please take a look and make note of all the many points, and story-lines (wink wink) that we are looking for, for Symmetry: 

Kel Coleman (Apparition Lit Alum and Guest Editor): I would love to see clones and doppelgängers and other look-alikes. I think there’s so much potential for examining oneself from a new angle and radical self-love. And I would be especially excited to see tender and/or melancholy science fiction! (“Sunrise, Sunrise, Sunrise” will always be a favorite for this reason). 

Tehnuka (Submissions Reader): Tehnuka is hoping to see the mathematical and chemistry side of symmetry; mirror images and rotational symmetry; things that shift and keep (or lose) their symmetry and shape

J. Van Belle (Submissions Reader): “I would love to see symmetry in which the end echoes the beginning and casts the entire story in a new light; repeated motifs; and elements (or even characters!) that parallel each other in ways that reveal things we wouldn’t see otherwise.”

Moriam (Submissions Reader): “Looking forward to this issue, there are so many tangents you could go off on! I’d love to see symmetry between the human behaviours we expect to vary, like mirroring thought patterns or mannerisms in characters to create a strange read. Also want to see some weird worlds with excessively symmetrical science too…”

Clarke (Owner/Senior Editor): Clark’s list includes mentions of mirror worlds; when stories have deviations from the symmetry; and the creepy vibe of when you’ve established the sense of a world and then it becomes uncanny…

Ether (Submissions Reader): Ether hopes to see symmetry in the natural world: in organic structures, artificial structure, and when you force something that is not naturally symmetrical into nature…”

Amy (Owner/Senior Editor, Poetry Editor, and Webmaster): Amy loves “…stories like Arrival or The Good Place, or Martin McDonagh stories where when you get to the end you see how every little detail in the story is a Gordian knot and you realize that the ending was revealed from the first sentence…”

Maria (Poetry Editor & Assistant Fiction Editor, Submissions Reader): “For poetry I’d love to see more concrete poetry – shape the lines in a cool way! Send a poem that can be read backwards & forwards! Play with unusual forms of symmetry, like radial or tessellations or fractals (I have no idea how that would work but I have faith). I love symmetry in nature and the fascinating math of flowers…”

Rebecca (Owner/Senior Editor and Cover Art Director): “I’d love to see parallel journeys, either with a multiverse, time travel, or characters ending up in the same place they began…”

Marie (Flash Fiction Editor, Assistant Editor, Marketing, Blogger, & Submissions Reader): “I have always had a penchant for duality in literature. I’m feeling Symmetry is calling for interesting relationships and side-by-sides. I’m thinking it’s time we get some hard sci up in here! Symmetry to me sounds like shiny spaceships and sleek space suits…”

Don’t shy away from our submissions page for our guidelines, continue to reach out to us on the burning wreckage of twitter, or find us on our brand new (!!) instagram! 

Until next time, friends!

Blog Photo by Cristina Gottardi on Unsplash