Editorial by Jess Cho
600 words, ~5 minutes reading time
Issue 4 (Spring 2024)
As I write this, I’m currently laid out on the couch where I’ve spent the majority of the last week and a half recovering from major surgery. I’m not the best at staying inactive, but having a medically mandated rest period has given me time not only to think about how to introduce the newest issue of Heartlines Spec and the relationships therein, but also consider those in my own life, the complex web of connections to my friends, my coworkers, my students, and what that really looks like.
When we first started on this endeavour, I was curious to see what the theme of our magazine would bring us. I also worried, quietly, if we could manage to keep the magazine fresh, or if the mood would tire after the first couple issues. Turns out, that worry was unfounded. With something as personal as long, lasting relationships, each submission window has brought us new and exciting takes, each as unique as the person writing them.
I think my favourite thing that’s come out of this theme, though, is the ability to encompass change. In short fiction especially, we’re often given brief glimpses, snapshots, really, of how characters relate within a few moments in time. But by bringing the focus to these long-term relationships—be they between friends, lovers, family or someone else entirely—opportunity opens to examine these connections against a much longer timeline.
I almost never consciously seek out a common thread as I read through our submissions, but the back brain is always at work, and a thread of connection inevitably rises to the surface as we finalise our selections and lay out the issue. Looking over the pieces we’ve chosen, I feel drawn to the sense of the past self versus the present, the present versus the future. The “us” of a decade ago is rarely the same as who we are now, for better or for worse.
Outwardly, very little about my surgery will be noticeable once I’m back on my feet. But the truth is, it has changed me. Changed things irrevocably about my life, my future and, in small ways I can already see, my relationships with certain people. I’ve been fortunate to have a number of friends present to help through my recovery, but there have also been those conspicuous in their absence. I know for some, this particular change will lead to a quiet drifting apart, those strands of my social web slowly withering, while others will snap more abruptly.
Names, bodies, pronouns, genders, opinions, beliefs—to live is to grow and to grow is to change. And if we’re fortunate, those we care about will change alongside us, make new spaces to fit our new selves.
And sometimes they won’t. Sometimes it’s just a matter of change taking us in different directions, and that’s okay, that’s important. Others may just say, “no, this isn’t what I signed on for.” And yeah, that’s important in its own way, too.
It means a lot to me to be able to offer you the stories and poems in this issue. With a year behind us and more ahead, we’ve seen a lot of changes of our own here at Heartlines, and I have no doubt we’re going to see more as we move forward. Hopefully for the better, though we’ll almost certainly make some mistakes along the way.
And I hope that you’ll keep on with us as we go.