Summer is coming, and because we’re at Apex, it approaches with all the disarmingly bright and lovely charm of Midsommar. We’ve got some good stuff in store for you this June and can’t wait to share!
Issue 144
Issue 144 continues to be released on the website. Cover art by Tom Edwards, original fiction by Kanishk Tantia, Monica Joyce Evans, Derrick Boden, Sara S. Messenger, Spencer Nitkey, and Natalia Theodoridou, flash by Wen Wen Yang and Kelsea Yu, essays by Nicole Givens Kurtz and Rebecca E. Treasure, Marissa van Uden's interviews with authors Kanishk Tantia and Sara S. Messenger, and reprints from Jermane Cooper and LP Kindred. A.C. Wise continues the wonderful Words for Thought short fiction review column, Leah Ning reviews Vajra Chandrasekera’s Rakesfall, and as a treat, we’ve got an excerpt from Cherie Priest’s upcoming novel from Apex, Cinderwich! This issue is full of stories in which the familiar turns surreal, and we invite you warmly – but not too warmly – to join us in exploring these sharp-edged spaces.
n0-M.A.D//003 - Military Assassin Droid by Tom Edwards, cover design by Justin Stewart
Cinderwich by Cherie Priest
"Who put Ellen in the blackgum tree?”
Decades after trespassing children spotted the desiccated corpse wedged in the treetop, no one knows the answer.
Kate Thrush and her former college professor, Dr. Judith Kane, travel to Cinderwich, Tennessee in hopes that maybe it was their Ellen: Katie’s lost aunt, Judith’s long-gone lover. But they’re not the only ones to have come here looking for closure. The people of Cinderwich, a town hardly more than a skeleton itself, are staunchly resistant to the outsiders’ questions about Ellen and her killer. And the deeper the two women dig, the more rot they unearth … the closer they come to exhuming the evil that lies, hungering, at the roots of Cinderwich.
Cinderwich has a new release date due to print run issues - now coming from Apex Book Company in June. Preorders are available now!
CHERIE PRIEST is the author of two dozen books and novellas, most recently the Booking Agents mysteries Grave Reservations and Flight Risk. She also wrote gothic horror projects The Toll, The Family Plot, and the Philip K. Dick nominee Maplecroft; but she is perhaps best known for the steampunk pulp adventures of the Clockwork Century, beginning with Boneshaker. Cherie lives in Seattle, WA, with her husband and a menagerie of exceedingly photogenic pets.
Writing Classes with Apex
The Reach Your Apex initiative is our way of making the knowledge and skills of publishing professionals available to those individuals who are seeking to improve their literary craft. While a majority of our offerings target the craft of writing, we will intersperse our curriculum with workshops/webinars covering various topics about the art of editing and the business side of publishing. We launched a website dedicated to our classes and workshops, including on-demand recordings!
Coming up in June we have classes with Arley Sorg and Rebecca E. Treasure.
You can find our current list of classes here. We also now offer pre-recorded on demand classes as well as critiques and query feedback!
Apex Flash Fiction
The Flash Fiction Contest for May 7-31—themed Spider—will close on May 31. The theme for June 7-30 will be announced and will open to the public on June 7th for flash fiction submissions. Themes are chosen by Patrons at the end of the month and announced to Patrons on the 1st of each month. Submissions will be open to the public on the 7th of each month. Submissions close on the last day of the month at midnight (US Central Time).
The winner will be paid $0.08/word or $10, whichever is more. The winning story will appear on our Patreon as an exclusive and will be included in a forthcoming issue of Apex Magazine.
Discord Happenings
As always, we have a fun community on our Discord, offering critique swaps, co-writing opportunities, and general community support for writers. (Rejectomancy, anyone?)
Patreon Exclusives
On our Patreon, we have an exciting lineup of exclusives for our Patrons from the Authors of Issue 144. We'll have our usual interviews, critique opportunities, and some 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!
To add the Apex Events Calendar to your google calendar, follow this link: https://tinyurl.com/4c74rext
