Issue 5.3
Deep Down Inside: Parasitism and Symbiosis
You’re an ant. “I’m not an ant!” Just . . . play along for a minute, all right? You’re an ant, a Lasius umbratus worker,
Premee Mohamed
September 15, 2025
Stories are available on publication to subscribers, and will be released for free on our website and podcast in the following quarter.
Letter from the Editors
Aleksandra Hill, Kanika Agrawal, Rowan Morrison, Zhui Ning Chang, Isabella Kestermann, and Sachiko Ragosta
Coming soon: excerpt of Liar, Dreamer, Thief and an interview with its author, Maria Dong!
Interview with Naseem Jamnia
Questions by Aleksandra Hill
Excerpt: The Bruising of Qilwa
Out from Tachyon Publications
Symbiote
T. Chiu-Chu
The Moon’s Forests Burn All Your Life
brandon brown
Toothpaste Feelings
Sharang Biswas
Island Getaway
Sonia Focke
Closed Doors
Mary Miseon Wu
Deep Down Inside: Parasitism and Symbiosis Premee Mohamed
Cover: Issue 5.3
Jocelyn Short
You’re an ant. “I’m not an ant!” Just . . . play along for a minute, all right? You’re an ant, a Lasius umbratus worker,
Everything I drank tasted fine, but it seemed sometimes that water flowed a bit too slowly from the bottle, swished a bit too heavily in
The smoker will run out of cigarettes today. She first appeared on the news on my sixteenth birthday, about a week ago—her and her pile
Rodrigo’s new car has new leather seats. Adam can smell the leather: real, cured animal skins, imported via climate-controlled freight from Earth-1. He is aware,
Overhead, the mycelium network lights up in waves of twinkling blue, coursing along the roots of our camouflage trees as I pound belowdecks, trying not
The reabsorption began on a Thursday. Channel 9 News reported that two young Korean girls touched palms at recess and that their flesh melted and
About the Art: I wanted to convey a sense of wonder, awe, and whimsy with these two organic beings who are different but similar coming