Happy Friday, readers, writers, and shark fans! And happy first weekend of 2024! If you’re looking for something to read this weekend or are looking to relax a little this weekend before we really ramp up next week, we’ve got you! Issue 4 of Lit Shark Magazine is finally here, and we’re so excited to share it with you. We had an incredible selection of works that easily fell into the predator-and-prey trope, but we also received some really touching pieces about grief, love, beauty, and wonder. We’re always mindful of how we organize the pieces in our issues, including the section titles, and this time, we lovingly titled the sections, “Apex,” “Prey,” “Topaz,” and “Wonder.” Wonder and Persevere are our two Words of the Year for 2024, so we also found this to be incredibly fitting for the first issue that’s bringing us into this year!

Welcome to Issue 4: The December-January Winter Edition!

A Special Thank You to Our Contributors and All Who Submitted!

Available to All Readers, Writers, and Shark Fans

We believe literature of all kinds should be accessible to everyone, no matter their financial situations, educational affiliations, etc. So we’re offering each of our issues as a free PDF that you can download and read. You can then read it on your phone, computer, or e-reader, or you could even print out a copy!

Choose Your Edition

Depending on your preferences, we’re offering two-page spread and one-page spread editions. The two-page spread will feel more like a book with facing pages. The one-page spread will display one page at a time, which may be friendlier for those who want to read on an e-reader (though I prefer the book-like feeling of the two-page spread, and it’s been okay to read on my Kindle Paperwhite; the display is simply smaller!).

Also, in case you’re new here, welcome! Or if you’re “behind” on your reading, no worries! You can find the free PDFs of all of the issues of Lit Shark Magazine here.

Paperback Edition On the Way

We will also be offering a paperback edition via Amazon, which will be available this week for purchase. It will contain the same content, but we wanted to offer this for those of you (like me) who enjoy reading physical copies, need more time physically away from screens, or want to financially support Lit Shark’s future. The cover will be a beautiful matte, and the spine of each issue, when you place them next to each other, will create a surprise image. We can’t wait for a few issues down the road when the puzzle starts to be revealed!

Thank You.

Thank you to all of you for the incredible support and excitement you’ve shown to Lit Shark in ALMOST the whole past year (Lit Shark’s first birthday is almost here; I can’t believe it). This issue came together so beautifully, and it felt like the perfect wrap-up to 2023 and introduction to 2024. I’m so excited for all that’s to come in the next days, weeks, and months of 2024. I can’t wait to continue on this journey with you. Thank you so much for being here.