The first issue of Heartlines Spec contains the challenges, and joys, and frustrations that come from long-lasting connections. It’s a mother you never understood, a friendship that’s fierce but changing, the quiet gratitude of sipping champagne with someone you love. All the stories and poems within feature partners, families, lovers, and friends. The relationships between them are varied but strong.

Editorial by Rebecca Bennett

Short Fiction

Redline by A.D. Sui

And In The Silence After by C. J. Lavigne

Quintessence by Laura Chilibeck

FXH-351 by Filip Hajdar Drnovšek Zorko

Eat Cosmic Jello by Emily C. Skaftun

I Think About You, Only Louder by Jordan Kurella

The Day Comes by Shih-Li Kow

Poetry

Begrudgingly Tertiary by Angela Acosta

Coins for the Departed by Rasha Abdulhadi

ode to the sword by Anne Liberton

On Charles Darwin’s Theory of Evolution by Nnadi Samuel

The Price of Rent on Sarpedon by Marisca Pichette

Non-Fiction

Andromeda (disambiguation) by Mark A. McCutcheon

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.