Welcome Spring and Autumn! Whether your leaves are greening or crisping, Apex has books and stories for you to read under the trees. May will be a quieter month after our Kickstarter and issue-a-month run, but we still have exciting things happening.
Issue 138
Issue 138 releases May 2! With cover art by Robson Michel, original fiction by Alexander Langer, Chisom Umeh, Mary G. Thompson, Tre Harris Salas, P.A. Cornell, and Suyi Davies Okungbowa, reprints from Marian Denise Moore and Tim Pratt, an essay by Carina Bissett, and flash by K. R. March and Valerie Kemp, this issue is rich with content.
Strange Machines: An Anthology of Dark User Manuals
We are looking for your darkest, strangest microfiction in the form of user manuals, FAQs, and how-to guides for the use of (or by) robots! Submissions close April 30!
Tell us a story while guiding humans through the use of a strange machine, or guiding sentient robots through human activities they may not understand. Reveal deep yearnings and dark secrets between the lines, show us fascinating futures or weird horrors, and don’t be afraid to mix biology with machine. Let your imaginations go wild to create beautiful, surreal, and dark user-guides for strange machines!
Please no simultaneous submissions or multiple submissions. We will aim to have first responses back within 30 days of closing to submissions.
Word count: Up to 250 words
Payment: $10
Submissions open: April 01
Submissions close: At midnight US central time on April 30.
Get more details here.
Zen and the Art of Starship Maintenance and Other Stories by Tobias Buckell
Released April 18 from Apex Book Company!
Zen and the Art of Starship Maintenance and Other Stories is Tobias S. Buckell’s seventh short fiction collection and is comprised of 15 stories, several of which are original to the collection or were previously only available through his Patreon.
This collection ranges from galactic adventures to intimate explorations of humanity—sometimes in the same story—rich with a sense of wonder and deft storytelling.
Danged Black Thing by Eugen Bacon
Coming June 20 from Apex Book Company and Eugen Bacon is the exciting collection Danged Black Thing. Danged Black Thing is a unique voice of black speculative fiction in transformative stories of culture, diversity, climate change, unlimited futures, a collision of worlds and mythology. It casts a gaze at mostly women and children haunted by patriarchy in Eugen Bacon's bold and evocative text. This stupendous cover art and design is by Elena Betti. Watch for preorders later in May!
Snap Judgment
Apex Magazine is excited to present SNAP JUDGMENT Episode 7 of our rapid-fire, live-streaming critique series.
Every quarter, industry professionals Jason Sizemore, Lesley Conner, and a special guest offer live feedback on the first page (up to 250 words) of genre short stories or novels. These first pages are read aloud by our talented host and narrator, Aly Grauer.
Snap Judgment 7 will be livestreamed on Friday, June 30 at 1pm ET (10 am, PT 12 pm CT, 6 pm UTC)! Keep an eye on our blog and social media for our special guest announcement on May 03!
Submissions will open Weds May 03 - May 21 for subscribers and patrons. Final week also open to the public (May 22- May 31).
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.
You can find our current list of classes here. Classes in May include Character Building for Outliners with Tobias S. Buckell and Five Ways to Build Mood in Your Fiction with Editor in Chief Jason Sizemore. We also have classes with Ai Jiang, Mary SanGiovanni, and Alec Nevala-Lee upcoming!
Apex Flash Fiction
The Flash Fiction Contest for April 7-30—themed Purification—will close on April 30. The theme for May 7-31 will be announced and will open to the public on May 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 announced no later than the 15th of the following month and 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 the forthcoming issue of Apex Magazine.
Podcast Episode 100
Our April Podcast (Our 100th EPISODE!) was "The Matriarchs," by Lois Mei-en Kwa, narrated by Bobbie Chet.
We sadly had to say goodbye to our wonderful podcast director, Alli Nesbit. We wish Alli all the best with her future work and thank her for the amazing productions with Apex. Our podcast will be going on hiatus for the time being, but our 100 episodes will still be available for your listening pleasure on the website!
Discord Happenings
As always, we have fun and community on our Discord, including 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 138. We'll have interviews, two critique opportunities, 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!
To add the Apex Events Calendar to your google calendar, follow this link: https://tinyurl.com/4c74rext
