In times of difficulty and darkness, fiction provides escape, reflection, insight, relief, and hope. Thank you for sharing your journey with Apex. We have lots to look forward to in July! This is a massive update!
Issue 132
Issue 132 comes out July 5th! Original stories by Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam, Jennifer R. Donohue, Aimee Picci, Lavie Tidhar, Marie Croke, and Iori Kusano, reprints from Kameron Hurley and Sarah Hans, nonfiction from Kwame Mbalia and Michelle P. Browne, and our usual reviews and interviews. Check out the cover art by Galactic Nikita below.
Watch for our new releases at www.apex-magazine.com.
Upcoming Patreon and Subscription Changes
Beginning July 1, the Apex Magazine subscription price will be increasing to $27/year on our website as well as on Weightless and everywhere else our titles are sold. This annual subscription fee is a 10% savings on the sticker price of the magazine!
For our Patrons, we will be keeping our legacy tiers as a thank you to those who have supported us over the past two years. New Patrons will have 3 brand new tiers to choose from. In addition to our standard content, Patrons will continue to receive early access to the microfiction contest, as well as our exclusive workshops, interviews, features, and more from Apex editors and authors, Discord membership, and more.
To be clear, current patrons won’t have to change anything! However, as a giant thank you to anyone who joins one of our new Patreon tiers between July 1 and September 1, we’ll be sending the digital ebook edition of our excellent Best of Apex Magazine anthology as a free gift. This anthology of fantasy and science fiction published in Apex Magazine from 2011-2017 includes numerous award-nominated short stories, our readers’ Story of the Year selections, and personal favorites chosen by Apex Magazine chief editors Jason Sizemore and Lesley Conner.
New Website
Noticed things looking a little wonky on our website these days? We're in the midst of moving to a cleaner interface with an easier, smoother behind the scenes system. We're hoping to have that transition completed sometime in the next few weeks!
New Podcast Producer
We are sad to be saying farewell to the excellent Aly Grauer, who has been our podcast producer. At the same time we are delighted to welcome Allison Nexbit to the position.
Alli Nesbit (she/her) has been drawing since she could hold a crayon and telling stories from about that same time too! In the past five years or so she realized that her favorite vehicle for storytelling is tabletop RPGs, and in the past three years she’s been producing and starring in a duet actual play podcast: RPG for You and Me. When she’s not restarting Dark Souls 3 or sending Shepard across the galaxy again, there’s a good chance she’s napping or petting one very sweet cat. Check at her podcast at www.rpgforyouandme.com
2023 Kickstarter
Launching July 27th, our 2023 Apex Magazine Kickstarter will fund the magazine for another year. Our short fiction, nonfiction, cover art, and staffing depends on your support and we hope you'll join us for another year of strange, shocking, surreal, and beautiful stories. We believe that now, more than ever, genre fiction plays a critical role in making the world a better place. Stay tuned for details about levels, add-ons, and more!
Apex at Imaginarium Convention
Local to Louisville, KY or planning to attend this convention? Find Apex and E-i-C Jason Sizemore.
The Imaginarium Convention, now in its 9th year, is an event for writers, creatives, and fans of creators, of all genres, that features three days of panel and workshop programming, an expo, a film festival, entertainment, cosplay, and much more!
A broad array of guests and panelists will be featured in the programming, including authors, editors, publishers, filmmakers, screenwriters, game designers, comic creators, artists, actors, and many other creatives.
The Imaginarium Convention in 2022 will be held in Louisville, Kentucky, at the Holiday Inn Louisville East, July 8-10.
Podcast Episode 91
Our July Podcast will be "Creatures of the Dark Oasis" by Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam.
Check out Episode 90, "In the Monster's Mouth", by Tim Waggoner.
New Release! CURSE OF THE BASTARDS
Sword and sorcery collide with horror once again! First came King of the Bastards, then came Throne of the Bastards. Coming this June, Curse of the Bastards from Brian Keene and Steve Shrewsbury TODAY June 28th. Preorders available at apexbookcompany.com!
Steven L. Shrewsbury and Brian Keene's award-winning Bastards trilogy comes to its exciting conclusion with CURSE OF THE BASTARDS!
Rogan—the aging, jaded barbarian who gave up his throne—painfully realizes that his most storied childhood heroes are fading into antiquity, becoming mere ballads in the eyes of the younger warriors.
And he might be next.
The authors will be hosting a live-streamed conversation the day of release on Brian Keene's YouTube channel, and on our blog, Patreon, and socials the next day.
July Book of the Month
Our July Book of the Month will be Upside Down: Inverted Tropes in Storytelling, an anthology of short stories, poetry, and essays where writers pick a tired trope and are challenged to turn that trope upside down. Edited by Jaym Gates and Monica Valentinelli, who will both be joining us on the Patreon with exclusives!
Read stories inspired by tropes such as the Chainmaille Bikini, Love at First Sight, Damsels in Distress, Yellow Peril, The Black Man Dies First, The Villain Had a Crappy Childhood, The Singularity Will Cause the Apocalypse, and many more...then discover what these tropes mean to each author to find out what inspired them.
Snap Judgment
We unfortunately had to cancel our May Snap Judgment. We have rescheduled for August 2nd at 1pm CST with special guest Sheree Renée Thomas! Our particular apologies to those who had submitted their work for feedback. Submissions will be open from July 1 to July 24.
Microfiction Contest
The microfiction theme for July is FERNS. Submissions are open until June 30, midnight central US time.
Check out our May winner, "Crimson Clover," by Angela Sylvaine, here.
Patreon Exclusives
Also on our Patreon, we have an exciting lineup of exclusives for our Patrons from the Authors of Issue 132. We'll have interviews, photo tours, and story insights. Keep an eye on our Patreon!
Not a Patron? Join us for as little as $3/month to get access to these exclusives and the magazine in your inbox!
Discord Happenings
As always, we have fun and community on our Discord: our monthly game 'night' on July 21, critique swaps, live co-writing sessions, and general community support for writers. (Rejectomancy, anyone?)
To add the Apex Events Calendar to your google calendar, follow this link: https://tinyurl.com/4c74rext
