We're named Red Queen after the Red Queen effect, a hypothesis which proposes that organisms must constantly adapt & evolve not only to get ahead, but to stay exactly where they are. We fight through literature to maintain ourselves; we write & we edit & we rewrite just to preserve our lives. We want work that has torn you apart & then saved you. Work that bleeds & then heals. Literature for you to consume, & literature that consumes you.
Editor's Note from the First Issue:
This literary magazine is named after the Red Queen Effect, a hypothesis that proposes the idea that organisms must evolve not just to gain an advantage over others, but simply to survive. Red Queen isn’t just the name of an evolutionary theory furthering the idea of competition in nature, however. The scientist who proposed this effect, Leigh Van Valen,coined the name based off of a statement made from the Red Queen to Alice in Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass--
“Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place.”
Throughout our lives, we run and run to no avail. We run towards the things we believe will allow us to fit in and keep up, never pausing to look around us and realize that even when we feel like we’re drowning, there’s always something beautiful around us. As we kick relentlessly and try to swim to the surface, there’s an undying sun above us, a gleaming silver fish to the right of us, a glossy unmarked pebble on the river’s floor. Of course, we have to keep fighting, but we can pause for a moment to take everything in before we start over renewed and ready.
This magazine is a product of that thought, meant to be a distraction and escape from the competition and divisiveness that plagues us; instead, it was meant to be a glimpse into the beautiful, the haunting, and everything in between. If there’s one thing we can agree on, it’s that there’s always so much more than what our lives are currently holding on to. Let’s listen to others. Let’s speak from a place of unity. Let’s stare down this rabbit hole together— uncertain and alive.
Each and every contributor was able to look past the chaos of their lives and create something more. Of course, no art exists in a vacuum. These pieces reflect their worries and their fears and other less beautiful things, but they were able to transform this negativity into a kaleidoscope of love and concern. Even if these works of literature and art don’t change your perspective or your life, I hope that at the very least this magazine will make you want to stop running and just wonder.
Anika Prakash
Editor-in-Chief of Red Queen Literary Magazine
This literary magazine is named after the Red Queen Effect, a hypothesis that proposes the idea that organisms must evolve not just to gain an advantage over others, but simply to survive. Red Queen isn’t just the name of an evolutionary theory furthering the idea of competition in nature, however. The scientist who proposed this effect, Leigh Van Valen,coined the name based off of a statement made from the Red Queen to Alice in Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass--
“Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place.”
Throughout our lives, we run and run to no avail. We run towards the things we believe will allow us to fit in and keep up, never pausing to look around us and realize that even when we feel like we’re drowning, there’s always something beautiful around us. As we kick relentlessly and try to swim to the surface, there’s an undying sun above us, a gleaming silver fish to the right of us, a glossy unmarked pebble on the river’s floor. Of course, we have to keep fighting, but we can pause for a moment to take everything in before we start over renewed and ready.
This magazine is a product of that thought, meant to be a distraction and escape from the competition and divisiveness that plagues us; instead, it was meant to be a glimpse into the beautiful, the haunting, and everything in between. If there’s one thing we can agree on, it’s that there’s always so much more than what our lives are currently holding on to. Let’s listen to others. Let’s speak from a place of unity. Let’s stare down this rabbit hole together— uncertain and alive.
Each and every contributor was able to look past the chaos of their lives and create something more. Of course, no art exists in a vacuum. These pieces reflect their worries and their fears and other less beautiful things, but they were able to transform this negativity into a kaleidoscope of love and concern. Even if these works of literature and art don’t change your perspective or your life, I hope that at the very least this magazine will make you want to stop running and just wonder.
Anika Prakash
Editor-in-Chief of Red Queen Literary Magazine
