Dear Readers,
Welcome to the last issue of our second volume! We’ve had two fantastic years and we can’t believe how quickly they’ve passed. In this time, we’ve had some incredible achievements—most recently, Isabel J. Kim’s “You’ll Understand When You’re a Mom Someday” (Issue 1.3) won the 2021 Shirley Jackson Award for best short story! In addition, Maria Dong’s “The Frankly Impossible Weight of Han” (Issue 1.1) was recently published in the 2022 Best American Science Fiction & Fantasy anthology, and four of our stories appeared on the inaugural Brave New Weird awards shortlist, with two of them (Isha Karki’s “Skin” [Issue 2.3] and M. E. Bronstein’s “Banhus” [Issue 2.2]) making the final table of contents.
Issue 2.4 is themed around music in all its forms and influences. In these pages, you’ll find an octopus drawn to the strange music of the human world; a woman who finds herself preoccupied with a half-formed memory she can’t quite place; former outcasts who find recognition and affirmation in dance; a spaceship powered by dance; a maze of clubs and memories; and a karaoke time machine. We hope that, just as some songs take up residence in your memory seemingly of their own accord, these stories will stay with you even after you finish reading.
As this volume comes to a close, it’s almost time for subscription renewals to go through. Whether you use our website store or Weightless, please consider renewing your membership. We have also set up a Patreon in case that’s something you prefer! Finally, since we’re a 501(c)(3), all donations to us are tax-deductible, and we are also eligible for corporate donation matching.
With your support, we can make sure we have an even more successful third year! It already promises to be fantastic: our longstanding First Reader Zhui Ning Chang has joined the team as a Fiction Editor starting in Issue 3.1; in addition, First Reader Sachiko Ragosta and newcomer Isabella Kestermann have joined our team as Assistant Editors. While nobody will ever be able to replace Rowan, we’re so excited for Volume 3 with this truly talented editorial team.
With best wishes for the holiday season,
Aleksandra Hill, Editor-in-Chief
Kanika Agrawal, Zhui Ning Chang, and Rowan Morrison, Editors, Fiction
Isabella Kestermann and Sachiko Ragosta, Assistant Editors, Fiction
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A quick postscript from Rowan: Thank you to everyone who has donated to, volunteered for, and read khōréō in these past two years! Your belief and trust has been staggering, and I’m very grateful to have had the chance to work with every member of khōréō’s staff and collaborate with so many skilled and talented people to put the first two volumes of this magazine in front of you. But I also want to extend a particularly heartfelt thank you to all of our submitters, past, present, and future: khōréō wouldn’t be here without you. Thank you for letting me read your work—it has been a true privilege. I can’t wait to see what you do in the future.