One of the great aspects of being a publisher is that you get to watch talented newcomers become masters of the craft. Apex has been fortunate enough to ride the rising crests of a number of authors as they have went from fairly obscure to well-respected and more widely appreciated. I like to believe that Apex Magazine (and Apex Digest), in some small way, gave an assist.

Mary Robinette Kowal’s past three years has been quite impressive. She won the 2008 Campbell Award for Best New Writer. Her short story “Evil Robot Monkey” earned a Hugo Award nomination in 2009. She’s an award-winning puppeteer. She’s a talented voice-actress currently working for Brilliance Audio. Mary is the current Secretary for the SFWA. Her first collection, Scenting the Dark, was published by the highly-regarded specialty house, Subterranean Press. Her first novel-length work, Shades of Milk and Honey, is set to be released this August by Tor Books.

I first met Mary at Chattacon in January, 2006. Her being a writer, me being an editor/publisher, we naturally talked about writing. I was impressed by her intelligence. I asked her if she’d ever sent anything to Apex Digest. I *believe* the answer was ‘one time, but it was rejected.’ I asked her to try again, I wanted to see something else from her. Mary laughed me away, dismissing her abilities.

A few months later, she submitted a fantastic story (“Cerbo en Vitro ujo”) that we published in Apex Digest.

And the rest is history…

I hope you enjoy the new novelette and short story from Mary Robinette Kowal, and that you take this opportunity to revisit a pair of chilling Kowal ‘classics’ from our magazine archives.

Interesting anecdote about our lead story, “Pimp My Airship.” Maurice Broaddus was on one of his typical late night rants on Twitter. One of his random tweets was some thing like “I am thinking about writing something called ‘Pimp My Airship.’” He claims that several editors wrote him saying “I’d be interested in a story with that title .”

Is this nonsense true ? Who knows…maybe , but what can tell you is that Maurice wrote the story and it turned out to be a work of art. I’m proud to admit that I wasn’t one of those editors begging for the story, and I’m double proud to be the one publishing “Pimp My Airship.”

As for “Kenny 149,” the background story’s not so glamorous. All the same, it’s notable that it is author’s first sale (who says you can’t make your first sale to a professional- level publication?). It’s also the first story pulled from the slush to make publication by our most junior member of the team—April Snellings. So, I offer a heartfelt congratulations to both!

The presentation of this issue should be improved from the previous as I get a better hang of designing a letter-sized publication. Also, one of the universal requests from readers of the last issue was the desire for more content. Due to prohibitive printing costs, upping the page count isn’t an option. To get around this, I’ve lowered the font size by .5. In all, this allowed me to add an extra 5,000 words of added content squeezed into 32 pages!

Enjoy.

—Jason Sizemore

I want to begin this editorial by thanking Jason Sizemore, the publisher of Apex Magazine, for inviting me to serve as the guest editor for this issue.

Having the opportunity to edit an issue of Apex means a lot. Jason trusted me to put together an issue that would meet with both his standards and the standards of his many readers. I’m hoping you’ll agree that I succeeded – or, at least, that I did nothing to bring shame and disgrace unto the good name of Apex.

As we mentioned when we announced the special issue earlier this year, the theme of the issue is memory or, more specifically, the slipperiness of history and the dangers of forgetting the past.

The issue starts with a reprint that means a lot to me: Jeffery D. Kooistra’s “Love, Dad.” This story originally appeared in the March 1992 issue of Analog, and it won the reader’s poll for the best short story published by Analog that year. On the surface, the story is perhaps more hopeful and not as dark as Apex readers might be used to. But when I read the story, I was a recent college graduate who had just lost my father less then two years before. I think after reading it, you’ll understand why I felt it fitted the theme and why I chose it to kick off this issue.

The two new stories I selected explore personal interests of my own. Jamie Todd Rubin’s story, “Hindsight, in Neon,” offers a bleak perspective on the world we imagined and the world we’re getting, a theme I also examined in the title story of my collection I Remember the Future. Barbara Krasnoff’s Holocaust story, “Waiting for Jakie,” shows how memories of the past can haunt the present, a theme I presented in my own Holocaust story, “Kaddish for the Last Survivor.” I think you’ll find them both worthy of inclusion in Apex.

I was pleased that Jason also allowed me to publish two science fiction poems in this special issue of Apex. Although I myself am not a poet, I am a lifetime member of the Science Fiction Poetry Association and consider myself a patron of the art form. Michael Ceraolo’s “Message in a Bottle” and Elizabeth Barrette’s “Fallen Gardens” both moved me, and if I say anything more I fear I will ruin your own enjoyment of them.

An issue of Apex wouldn’t be complete without some interviews, and I’m pleased that this issue includes interviews with Paul Jessup and Ekaterina Sedia. I’m even more pleased that Jason took care of the logistics of getting the interviews.

I’d like to end this editorial by going back to the start, which in this case is the cover of the magazine. The subscribers of the PDF are in for a real treat. Artist Stephen Rider has done an admirable job of capturing the essence of Jamie Todd Rubin’s main character from “The Last Science Fiction Writer.” I think you’ll agree that the art adds an extra dimension to appreciating the story. And if you’re reading this issue online, perhaps you’ll be intrigued enough to buy a PDF copy of this month’s issue just to see what I mean.

Welcome to this special issue of Apex Magazine.

Michael A. Burstein won the 1997 Campbell Award. His short fiction, mostly in Analog, has been nominated for ten Hugos and three Nebulas. He and wife Nomi live in Brookline, Massachusetts, where he is a Library Trustee and Town Meeting Member. He has two physics degrees, and attended Clarion. See http://www.mabfan.com.

In November, 2008, Apex Publications released Michael’s first collection of stories titled I Rememeber the Future: The Award-Nominated Stories of Michael A. Burstein.

Photo credit: Nomi S. Burstein

The big sale, it has been made. You drink heavily from a box of cheap wine in celebration. In the heat of the night, you strip down to your skivvies and run up and down the streets of your town exulting in writing superiority.

You will soon be a published writer.

I say: go ahead, celebrate. Making a professional sale is hard. There are too many writers for the number of quality markets to give everybody a piece of pie. What we need is a Jesus Christ figure funding professional markets like he did with the fish and wine. But I digress…

One of the things your editor will ask from you prior to publication is a biography. Generally, the request will be for a short biography (less than 200 words) written in third person. It’s the one bit of self-promotion evil publishers–like myself–will grant the lowly writers. Too often, writers waste this gift.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned about writers, it is that they love their cats. Think about it. How many of those bio blurbs have you read at the end of a story that go like this:

Mary Margaret Smith lives in Podunk, Montana with her wonderful husband, Ted, where they serve every whim of their two cats, Oswald and Larry, whom they love dearly. When not feeding or petting the cats, Mary fights them off her computer so to write spooky stories. Usually stories about humanity running from cats.

That’s a lot of cat info. Frankly, I don’t care about Oswald and Larry. When I read a biography, I want to know more about the writer, not about his or her cats. Has the writer won any awards? Got anything else coming out soon in the off chance that I want to read more of your work? I guess I’ll never know, because Oswald and Larry are the most important figures in your life.

And really, I don’t really care about your wonderful husband Ted. Or anybody else in your family.

As an editor/publisher, I want a bio that will make the writer interesting. Here are a few things I like to see in bios:

1) Geographic location – This can be interesting for those who live in your region (“Hey, Mari Adkins lives in the same city as me!”). Or, you have people like Lavie Tidhar, who lives in a different country each week (“Wow, Vanuatu, now that’s remote!”).

2) Most recent awards -- This type of stuff validates a reader’s appreciation of your short story. If readers hate your story, it might make them think less of the award, but that’s not your problem.

3) Past publication history – Especially your pro-level credits. Books from major publishers and well-respected small presses work, too. Are you lacking writing credits? Have you been to one of the Clarion workshops? Viable Paradise?

4) Website or blog — All authors should be required to place this in their bios. So many don’t, and it just makes me shake my head.

5) Bring the funnies – An amusing anecdote that ties into the story in question works well when it’s not a lame anecdote or a failed attempt at a joke.

Here’s the stuff I don’t like:

1) Age – Nobody needs to know.

2) Your wonderful, supportive spouse – Who cares? Maybe you do, or your spouse does, but your reader doesn’t give a flip.

3) Pets — This is easily the most commonplace bit of filler in biographies.

4) Influences – It’s irrelevant, and mentioning well-known writers can come across as pretentious.

5) Trying to be funny and failing – Never trust yourself to be the judge of your own humor. Ask someone who isn’t afraid to hurt your feelings whether what you wrote was funny. If they say no or seem at all hesitant, believe it: you’re not funny.

In short, don’t stress too much about writing the perfect bio, but do be professional. And if it keeps you out of trouble with your spouse to mention how wonderful he/she is, then keep the rest professional and the reader might let that one slide. After all, none of us want to read about your miserable ex-husband Ted in your next bio.

Jason Sizemore is the publisher and editor-in-chief of all things Apex. During his free time he writes weird fiction that can be tracked down from his personal website at http://www.jbsizemore.com.
He has two beautiful cats, two kids, and a WONDERFUL wife.

Wading the waters of the writing life can be dangerous even for seasoned pros, let alone newbies looking to make their mark on the world.

Because I care and don’t want to see anybody get hurt, I’m going to list some resources that will allow writers to protect themselves from scammers, lamers, nitwits, and crooks.

WRITER BEWARE BLOGS! – This blog, ran by Victoria Strauss, Richard Wright, and A.C. Crispin does a detailed and precise job of dissecting the disreputable publishers. If you’re thinking of selling a book to a small press, you’ll want to check with these ladies.

I’ve met A.C. Crispin a few times. You don’t want to be on her blog or her bad side.

PREDITORS AND EDITORS – Nothing fancy, just the facts. This website gives you the dirt on the good guys and the bad guys. In fact, one of the bad guys have sued the P&E folks for reporting the facts. If you’d like to donate to their legal fund, click on the link and find the Donate via Paypal button.

ABSOLUTE WRITE FORUM – Lots of back patting and support goes on in these forums. Want to cry on somebody’s shoulder because Mari Adkins rejected you AGAIN. This is the place. Just remember, editors can see you EVERYWHERE, so if you publicly state that Mari Adkins pisses you off, she’ll find you.

MARI ADKIN’S BLOG OF HATE – Check here to see if you’re on Mari’s “Shit List.” You’ll want to check often.

Jason Sizemore is the publisher and editor-in-chief of all things Apex. During his free time he writes weird fiction that can be tracked down from his personal website at http://www.jbsizemore.com.

Mary Doria Russell has written some heartbreaking novels. The Sparrow will leave you emotionally exhausted and wondering is faith really worth all the pain? The Pulitzer-nominated A Thread of Grace forces the reader to confront the abject evils of humanity while acknowledging the good that resides in most of us.

So I popped a handful of Prozac and attacked Mary’s latest novel, Dreamers of the Day. Going in, I knew this to be a novel about the creation of the modern Middle East. Such a topic would have to be a downer knowing what we know about the world. To my surprise, Dreamers of the Day is a delightful…dare I say…fun travelogue bordering on historical romance.

Mary Doria Russell is always full of surprises.

Can you give Apex readers some background on Dreamers of the Day?

Mary Doria Russell: The book got started back in 2001, when Osama bin Laden took credit for 9/11. In his statement, he said the attacks were in part “to avenge the catastrophe of 80 years ago.” Now, not many Americans paid attention to that remark because in our culture, when we say “That’s history,” it’s code for “That’s not important anymore.”

Being an anthropologist, I try to see things from a variety of points of view, so I tried to come up with something awful that happened to Arabs in 1921 and drew a blank. World War I ended in 1918. The Versailles Peace Conference was in 1919… So I thought, Well, maybe bin Laden is rounding? The catastrophe was 81 or 82 years ago?

At the time, though, our family had three people slowly dying of terrible diseases and I was still soldiering away on A Thread of Grace, which was a bear to write. So I just filed the 80 Years Ago question away under a mental heading: stuff I’m curious about, but don’t have the time or energy to run down.

Five years, three funerals, one novel, and a couple of new wars later, I had just sent the manuscript for A Thread of Grace to Random House when I came across a reference to the 1921 Cairo Peace Conference, and I did the math: that’s the catastrophe of 80 years ago. In just a few days at a fancy hotel in Cairo, Winston Churchill, Lady Gertrude Bell, T.E. Lawrence and a handful of oil men carved up the Middle East. They invented Iraq, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Palestine, Trans-Jordan – just drew lines on paper and gave these places names and made plans to install puppet governments.

We are still unwinding the damage done in that disastrous week in Cairo. Nearly all wars of the 20th century have their roots in European colonialism. Soldiers and civilians dying today in places like Iraq and Rwanda and Congo and East Timor and on and on – they are all casualties of the conflict that began in August of 1914.

One day, historians may look back call this another Hundred Years War. No end in sight, I’m afraid…

Despite such a dark topic…Dreamers of the Day is…dare I say it? Fun and mostly lighthearted.

Strangely enough, it is! Especially when you think about what a total mess the 20th century was, and how little has changed since the Great War began – but Dreamers is not a war book. It’s actually something of a Romance. The world may be going to hell, but Agnes Shanklin is doing okay for herself, thank you very much.

Speaking of your protagonist, Agnes Shanklin has a great social and intellectual awakening throughout the book.

As she says, the 1920s and her 40s were the best years of her life!

What do you think she’d say about a woman nearly winning the Democratic nomination for president?

She’d be quite tart, I think, about how Mrs. Clinton didn’t have much of a plan for after Super Tuesday. Having two X chromosomes is not enough. You have to be able to run a campaign well, too, and Mr. Obama demonstrated remarkable abilities in that sphere.

There’s a photo in the book supposedly of Agnes with Lawrence of Arabia, the Churchills, and Lady Gertrude Bell. Do you know who the lady in the photo really was?

No. That lady is unidentified, which is why I decided to use the photo as “documentary” evidence of Agnes’s trip.

How’s a Cleveland girl like yourself bring turn-of-the-century Egypt to life in such vivid detail? Wild imagination?

Research, honey! Research! Twenty-four linear feet of period travel memoirs, political and historical studies, biographies, natural history, etc. And I have lived in several countries, so there’s a certain sense memory of what it’s like to plunge into another culture.

Dreamers of the Day says much about the long-lasting effects of seemingly irrelevant events. Some of your characters do seem cognizant of the potential problems of creating a unified Iraq (Kurds, Shi’a, and Sunnis), but was this as big a misunderstanding as it is now?

Oh, they did it quite deliberately. Most colonial rule is based on the strategy of Divide and Conquer. That’s why you’ve got so many ethnic wars today – the “national” boundaries were drawn so that the natives would never be likely to make common cause against the British or French or Belgians.

The “natives,” however, eventually adopted the counter-strategy of “the enemy of my enemy is my friend,” at least until they’d unloaded their colonial masters. Then they went straight back to “my enemy is still my enemy, even though we just got rid of the Brits.”

God, I hate my species…

I read in an interview posted on your website (marydoriarussell.info) that you consider your two SF works The Sparrow and Children of God as not SF but as historical fiction that happens to take place in the future. That’s an interesting way to dodge the SF label! (ed note: this was asked in a ‘joking’ manner)

Oh, I never dodge that label! Hell, in The Sparrow, they build a spaceship and go to another planet and meet aliens, for crying out loud. That’s old-fashioned, straight-up science fiction, pal! The only caveat I provide is that my stuff is very classy science fiction. It’s got, like, Latin and shit.

But the story was written with an ironic and omniscient narrative voice, as though it were all being looked back on with compassion but with an emotional distance made possible by the passage of time. So even though the story took place in the mid to late 21st century, the narrator might have been speaking from fifty years beyond that time. Which makes it a historical novel that takes place in the future!

What I did resist was being called a “science fiction writer.” I am actually pretty much a genre slut. I will stand around on the literary street corner and get into any genre that drives by and promises to show me a good time.

So far, there have been the two SF novels (The Sparrow and Children of God). And then I did two 20th century historicals, but A Thread of Grace is also a WWII thriller and Dreamers of the Day is a Romance plus Travel literature.

And now I’m writing Eight to Five, Against — a murder mystery set in Dodge City in 1878, the summer when the unlikely but enduring friendship between Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday began. It’s about greed, bigotry and gambling, and Doc Holliday is going to break your heart.

For me, the pleasure of the process is doing the research, learning what my characters would know, finding their voices – literally changing my own mind, so I can portray characters on their own terms.
Sometimes, that’s a lovely thing. Doc Holliday, for example, was an excellent pianist, and he’s led me to study music theory and the glorious 19th century piano repertoire.

But it’s also taken me into some pretty difficult places – writing a Nazi doctor responsible for the murder of 91,867 people, for example. The challenge is keep in mind that people aren’t villains in their own minds. Nobody gets up in the morning and says, “I’m going to be evil today!” Everybody thinks they’re doing the right thing, no matter how wrong they are about that!

You put your characters through some hellish experiences –

Yep. I write tragedies for the most part. Like the Greeks, I believe in the efficacy of catharsis.

Do you find your mood affected by the trials and tribulations of your characters?

The only time that really happened was at the end of The Sparrow. I was in Emilio Sandoz’s head, and that was a very bad place to be. In part, I wrote Children of God to bring Emilio to some kind of resolution so that I could get out from under his anger and depression!

But now… Thinking about it, I have to say that I have been noticeably affected by writing Doc Holliday. Doc is a man of ardor and conviction as regards personal dignity, and he is – let’s say, he’s in touch with his own rage. In the past year, I’ve had three truly startling encounters where someone well and truly needed to be set straight about something, and I shocked myself by providing them with the experience.

Maybe it’s just being post-menopausal and long past the stage when it was necessary to be ingratiating, but I take no crap anymore. Poor attitude and bad service are noted and defined, and a correction is expected. The interesting thing is, I get treated better! Channeling Doc Holliday is working for me!

And in Doc’s defense, I will add that he is also exquisitely courteous and kind, and I also find myself going out of my way to recognize respect and to reward excellent service. Doc and I are very complimentary — and we tip big!

We publish a lot of short fiction at Apex. You ever gotten the urge to pump out a short story?

Jason, you keep asking, and the answer is always the same: I thought The Sparrow was going to be a short story. Two 400 page novels later, I realized that “short” is not my form!

One day, Mary…one day…

You can buy all four of Mary Doria Russell’s award-winning novels from the Apex aStore(Amazon).
Dreamers of the Day
A Thread of Grace
Children of God
The Sparrow

Jason Sizemore is the publisher and editor-in-chief of all things Apex. During his free time he writes weird fiction that can be tracked down from his personal website at http://www.jbsizemore.com. .

Adrienne Jones is a talented writer. She’s got a sharp sense of humor that makes her fiction wild, memorable rides. Mundania Press recently published her first novel (The Hoax). Adrienne followed that with Gypsies Stole My Tequila from Necro Publications. Apex fans will recognize Adrienne for her Apex Digest Online column, Atomic Rubble, and her Gratia Placenti contribution, “Party Makers.” Now her latest book, brine, brings back one of her most popular works (“Temple of Cod”) and expands on the original with two new sections to form a novel length work.

Jason Sizemore: Hi Adrienne! Thank you for taking time to do this interview.

Adrienne Jones: Why thank you, Jason. Thank you for taking the time to pick my brain once again.

JS: Tell us a bit about brine.

AJ: Brine is a ghost story. I almost laugh at this simplification, but at the end of the day that’s what it is. It’s the story of a painter, Elliot Newton, who although successful, can
only paint lighthouses. When he tries to paint anything else, he becomes paralyzed with fear. After being dumped by his girlfriend, he decides to get to the bottom of his phobia, and moves into his grandfather’s cottage by the sea–where yes indeed, there is a lighthouse. After getting good and

brine by Adrienne Jones

liquored up, he forces himself to paint something unique, something other than the lighthouse seascape he’s famous for. This unleashes bizarre manifestations that taunt him in outrageous ways, assuring that until he solves their riddle he’ll not be rid of them. After I wrote the first third of Brine four years ago, and published it as the chapbook Temple of Cod, my publisher and I both received emails asking for a continuation of the story. I’d never considered expanding on Temple of Cod, but after bashing my head onto the desk trying to come up with sequels, it dawned on me that the mystery wasn’t quite finished. I’d answered the what but not fully explored the why. Brine answers all those questions, and introduces the reader to some of the wildest characters they’ll ever see in a ghost story. The novel includes Temple of Cod as part one, with two parts added of equal length–Part Two: Shell Shock and Part Three: The Sand Witch.

JS: Sounds interesting, yes. I’ve got a signed copy of the original release of Temple of Cod. Can you assuage my fears of it losing value with this greedy new release of ToC? I was going to sell it ten years from now and use the money to finance my children’s college education.

AJ: Yes indeed. It also has the power to solve world hunger and disease, and possesses the secrets of dark matter in the universe. Encourage all your friends to buy now.

JS: I won’t lie. I haven’t read Shell Shock and The Sandwich. Are they as weird and delightfully disgusting as Temple of Cod?

AJ: It’s The SAND Witch Jason, The SAND Witch! Yes, they are possibly even more fun. I do want to stress that these aren’t three separate stories. Although it’s divided into three parts, it reads like a novel, the continuing sage of Elliot Newton and his paranormal afflictions. Unlike the first segment, which is told completely from Elliot’s perspective, we get to enter other characters’ POVs in the rest of the novel. I hope readers will have as much fun with the new characters as I had writing them, it’s a wild ride with many new and delightfully charming mutants.

JS: That does sound interesting. Now why brine and not Brine? Are you comparing your talents to those of e.e. cummings?

AJ: Well his ancestry and mine are oddly linked with the whole Cambridge/Harvard thing, but to the best of my knowledge he never wrote a poem about fish people. The lower case b in the cover title was a design decision by my publisher Pete Allen, who I trust implicitly. I originally nicknamed him ‘The Font Master’ but have since upgraded his status to ‘Little Lord Fontleroy’ which he likes much better.

JS: Sounds like you and your publisher might be playing some “parlour” games. As your publisher, I am offended by our lack of “parlour” games. At least give me a cute nickname.

AJ: How about Jason Tries-more? Or perhaps Jason Lies-more? You are a writer after all. At the end of the

The Hoax by Adrienne Jones

day we’re little more than professional liars.

JS: Adrienne, you are so clever! And it’s a talent that crosses over into your writing. Does brine showcase your dark sense of humor?

Gypsies Stole My Tequila by Adrienne Jones

AJ: Brine definitely has a lot of humor in it, although it’s less of an all out comedy than Gypsies Stole my Tequila or some of my other stuff. It’s not that there’s less humor, it’s just much darker. The humor is weaved into a very horrific and often emotionally jarring mystery (as most ghost stories are). What I did with this one is create more situational humor by way of things like thrusting ancient beings into the modern world, forcing a cultured, respectable doctor into a strangely primitive form, and taking a journalist that usually reports on banalities such as Cape Cod craft fairs and having her fall into this dark and dirty secret beneath the lighthouse. I suppose the story itself is a mutant hybrid, but I guess that’s what black comedy is.

JS: Now that we have the readers salivating for some brine, where is the best place to get the book?

AJ: Brine is available at all the major booksellers like Amazon and Barnes and Noble, or support the genre clans by buying from The Horror Mall or direct from Creative Guy Publishing. There are still some limited edition hardcovers left, signed and numbered by my little self, and those must be
ordered from Creative Guy. I’m pleased with the way the book turned out, and the artwork (done by Travis Ingram) looks fabulous on both the hardcover and the paperback.

JS: Wrong. The best place is to order it from the Apex aStore so that we get an affiliate bonus!

But I say to fans of dark humor, no matter where you decide to buy brine, just make sure you buy it!

Thank you, Adrienne, for your time. Do come back to play again sometime.

Get a copy of brine from the Apex aStore.
Get a copy of The Hoax from the Apex aStore.
Get a copy of Gypsies Stole My Tequila from the Apex aStore.

Jason Sizemore is the publisher and editor-in-chief of all things Apex. During his free time he writes weird fiction that can be tracked down from his personal website at http://www.jbsizemore.com. If you’d like a chapbook of his fiction, Webs of Discord can be bought from the Apex Shop.

Five weeks into this APEX DIGEST ONLINE business, I’ve had some people say to me: Sizemore, what’s the game plan?

It’s a bit confusing, but there is a method behind the madness. It goes like this…

Every other week we run a new story. These stories abide by the submission guidelines outlined on our website. Essentially, these are stories you might have found in the print version of Apex Digest. For these, we pay five cents per word. Anybody can submit their work.

On the weeks we don’t run a new story, we run one or more reprints. The reprints aren’t bound by the rules of the online submission guidelines in that they aren’t required to be dark SF. They can be dark fantasy, horror, or SF. Or a combination of those three. Usually the reprint will accompany an interview of that story’s author. And quite often, these authors will be writers within the Apex roster of talent. For instance, last week we published an interview and stories by Wrath James White and Maurice Broaddus. I’m a firm believer in “synergy.”

Most of our reprints are solicited.

I’d like to point out that the new, original stories aren’t bound by anything more than our submission guidelines. We give Random Joan’s submission the same level of attention somebody like Jennifer Pelland might receive.

Another aspect of the game plan has to do with generating web traffic via the short fiction, non-fiction, and other features. This web traffic is supposed to turn into added book sales on the website. The goal is that the additional booksales will support the online content. I am hoping they feed off of each other and both grows and grows!

So I ask from the bottom of my heart to not be shy when looking at some of our excellent book titles.

Finally, articles by Lavie, Adrienne, and myself will be on a near-weekly status. Every week we will feature a Popped Culture comic from Justin. We’re always open to non-fiction proposals.

I hope you’ve enjoyed the first month of Apex Digest Online (ADO). Let’s keep that momentum rolling!

END

Jason Sizemore is the publisher and editor-in-chief of all things Apex. During his free time he writes weird fiction that can be tracked down from his personal website at http://www.jbsizemore.com. If you’d like a chapbook of his fiction, Webs of Discord can be bought from the Apex Shop.

Folks, do you know how scary Apex slush can be?

I’m not going to go into the typical editorial gripes about amateurish writing, unprofessional cover letters, and idiots not following guidelines (god, but I’d like to!). Instead, I want to open a discussion about the stories that we read–their plots, their characters, and their settings.

After 3.5 years of reading Apex slush…thousands of stories…I’m convinced that the “institution” of marriage is the base causation of all the world’s evils. Marriage creates so many dynamics of hate that it gets hard to track.

One popular marriage-hate archetype we receive is the “make it all end” fantasy. This starts with the protagonist waking in bed and thinking: “Fuck, here I awake in this same bed and realize I’m still married to the same fucking loser.” These are a riot. Almost always cigarettes are smoked, the wife/husband list of flaws is provided, and then the protagonist goes off to some boring job. Something happens, pushing the protagonist into a murderous rage, and essentially resets his/her life either by going to jail, committing suicide, or making off to another location.

There’s also the popular “revenge” fantasy. These are not always murderous, but mostly are. The spouse will do something that pushes the protagonist into a rage, that in turn, sets off a series of actions that culminate in the demise of the hated spouse. I have found that these stories typically contain the highest amount of visceral gore, as the writer pours his/her heart and soul into the execution and torture of their beloved.

I’ve had the opportunity to read about protagonists cheating on their spouses just because they can. Cheating in humilating ways, because twisting that knife in the back always jazzes your senses.

A disturbing archetype is the “it’s all your fucking fault” story where the protagonist uses his/her spouse as the fuel for their hate. If you hadn’t done this on our wedding day, then that wouldn’t have happened. These stories will involve the murder of extended family members.

While we’re at it, let’s include the “she/he don’t love me no more” stories.

I’m not laying judgment on people who might write to let off some steam. Hell, I’ve got my own “anti-marriage” short story that was published by Nocturnal Ooze in Nov. 07 and is now in reprinted in Webs of Discord. Writing it all down is sure better than acting it out!

If you’re a writer and thinking of submitting your anti-marriage piece to Apex, it will likely get rejected. Our editors are tired of them.

But the rest of you…if you’re dating or married to a writer, watch your back. Writers love to flex that old adage “Murder your darlings.”

END

Jason Sizemore is the publisher and editor-in-chief of all things Apex. During his free time he writes weird fiction that can be tracked down from his personal website at http://www.jbsizemore.com. If you’d like a chapbook of his fiction, Webs of Discord can be bought from the Apex Shop.

I’m an MTV-generation guy. I was there when video killed the radio star. I mumbled along with Kurt Cobain in 1991 while a janitor danced with his mop. I cried when the great Johnny Cash remade NIN’s great song “Hurt.”

Even now, I dig through Youtube and Yahoo Music looking for the videos that accompany many of my favorite songs.

Over the course of time, I’ve ran into a few that are “creepy.”

First is “Come to Daddy” by Aphex Twin. Here we have children with adult-sized heads (actually, the same adult-sized head on each child). There is a creepy demon screaming “Come to Daddy.” An old woman is pissed on by a dog. This video was directed by Chris Cunningham, the wild genius behind the “Rubber Johnny” short movie.

This next video is “Queen B” from Puscifer. Puscifer is a new project from Maynard Sims (Tool, A Perfect Circle). You know how the man is obsessed with bizarre animation, sexual objects, and angry lyrics? It’s all combined with creepy madness in the “Queen B” video.

Here we have “What’s a Girl to Do” by Bat For Lashes. It’s a beautiful song…moody and atmospheric. The video starts with the innocent-looking lead singing biking down a lonely road at night.

Then people wearing animal masks pop out of nowhere and follow her. And what the hell is the deal with the spooky kids and the balloons!

So a group called The Cuban Boys thought it’d be a great idea to mash up “The Hampster Dance” with some bizarre techno. Thus “Cognoscenti Versus Intelligentsia” was brought to life. This one tiptoes that fine line of creepy and fucked up.

The last one I present is “Where’s Your Head At?” by Basement Jaxx. Putting human faces on angry monkeys gets me every time. The dog at the end gives me nightmares.

Jason Sizemore is the publisher and editor-in-chief of all things Apex. During his free time he writes weird fiction that can be tracked down from his personal website at http://www.jbsizemore.com. If you’d like a chapbook of his fiction, Webs of Discord can be bought from the Apex Shop.