Heartlines Spec, Issue 2, Spring/Summer 2023

This second issue of Heartlines Spec has poignancy running throughout. It's in the powerful stories that fill the space in your heart. The poems that grip your hand and whisper to you. The essays that lean forward, elbows on the table, to tell you something vital. It's a feeling of something that's not forlorn, not sad, not fluffy, but poignant—pain in the chest, funny flipflop heartbeat, and wistful smile with a shimmer of comfort.

Editorial by Heather Clitheroe

Short Fiction
The Long Way Home from Gaia BH1 by Manuela Amiouny
Sibble-Sweet by Carol B. Duncan
The Saint of Lost and Stolen Things by E.M. Linden
Autumn Without Rain by Lucy Zhang
Pomegranate Anatomy by Diana Dima
Night Blooms by Narrelle M. Harris
The Bodytakers by Eva Papasoulioti
Lost Time in the Turnaround by Sarah Ramdawar

Poetry
The Magician’s Foundling by Angel Leal
Five Things said by the Deity's Lover by Goran Lowie
Harrowing Nightwatch by Gretchen Tessmer
As a, I want to, so I can by Kelley Tai
Parable With Time Travel by Ashish Kumar Singh

Non-Fiction
It Takes (More Than?) Relationships and their impact on the broader environment by Lynne Sargent
Meet me at the bar by Mary Sanche

Heartlines Spec is an online speculative magazine focused on long-term friendships and relationships. It's the comfort of the known, the fierce hug of someone that knows you best. Issues are released three times a year.