David Lynch did not come up with the line “The owls are not what they seem.” It was co-creator Mark Frost who wrote the teleplay for that episode of Twin Peaks. But seemings and doublings are a primary occupation of Lynch’s work. That’s why when I sat down to write about this month’s issue, I immediately thought of him—and the owls. These stories and this poem are also not what they seem.

There’s a special kind of darkness in each of this issue’s pieces that is made out of both our struggle to understand each other and our failures to be what other people want us to be. It’s art that feels like sunshine on what the meteorologist predicted would be the worst day of the year—or vice versa.

None of us are free agents—every last one of us is bound at some point, or many points, in a social web that can be as sticky and as unbudging as any spider’s. The stories in this issue are about these bonds—bonds we choose, bonds we outgrow, bonds we are forced into.

I’ll never stop believing that being scared (while doing something as safe as reading in a comfortable chair or watching a movie on a good couch) is absolutely restorative. Not everyone liked Longlegs or Late Night with the Devil, but after I saw those movies, I felt better about the world.

November is the month Nightmare goes all-out celebrating dark fantasy. That’s right, it’s our annual all-dark-fantasy issue, but don’t worry: just because it’s extra magical doesn’t mean it’s not horrifying.

Halloween is the perfect time to try on your dark side for a few hours. In honor of the holiday, this month’s issue is all about our dark sides. It’s packed with eerie doubles, demons, and devils, all stand-ins for our worst impulses and unrestrained ids.

I have no doubt that if you’re reading this editorial, you are one of us Halloween People. Well, congratulations. You’ve made it through summer and now October shines ahead of you with only the sweet-smelling barrier of school supply sales separating you from all things dark and pumpkin-y.

There are no holidays in the month of August, and everyone is glad to see its back. But not this year, damn it. This year, we’re making August fun! We’ve rounded up the most electric work, the kinds of stories and poetry that can keep your swamp cooler going.

I can’t explain or even begin to fathom the tangled mess of -isms afflicting my nation and my planet. I am a writer and editor of speculative fiction and what I know, what I deeply and profoundly know, is that none of this had to happen this way. That there can and ought to be other worlds than this.