Sometimes the real world gets a little too real. Fiction and community can provide comfort, escape, hope, and joy in difficult times. As we move towards the middle of the year, we are grateful that Apex Magazine is part of your journey.
Issue 144
Apex Magazine issue 144 releases on May 7. With stories by Kanishk Tantia, Monica Joyce Evans, Derrick Boden, Sara S. Messenger, Spencer Nitkey, and Natalia Theodoridou, flash fiction by Wen Wen Yang and Kelsea Yu, essays by Nicole Givens Kurtz and Rebecca E. Treasure, reprints from Jermane Cooper and LP Kindred, plus a book review from Leah Ning, Words for Thought from AC Wise, and an excerpt from the coming Apex Book Company release Cinderwich by Cherie Priest, this is a huge issue!
Check out our incredible cover art, by Tom Edwards, on April 26th!
Snap Judgment Episode 10
Apex Magazine is excited to present SNAP JUDGMENT Episode 10 of our rapid-fire, live-streamed critique series. Every quarter, industry professionals Lesley Conner, Rebecca E Treasure, and a special guest offer live feedback on the first page (up to 250 words) of genre short stories or novels. Stories are read by our talented host and narrator, Aly Grauer. We are pleased to announce that our special guest editor for this event was author and editor Rae Wilde!
Snap Judgment 10 was live Thursday, April 18th, at 12pm eastern.
Rae Wilde (she/her) is a queer woman and author of dark fiction who has published numerous works under the pen name Rae Knowles. Her available long works include The Stradivarius (May 2023) and Merciless Waters (November 2023). She was the co-editor of Scissor Sisters, an anthology of sapphic villains (January 2024), and co-authored Lies that Bind (February 2024) in collaboration with April Yates. Rae has published 20+ shorter works in magazines and anthologies such as Dark Matter Ink, Nightmare, & Ghoulish Tales. Her forthcoming work includes a collection with Off Limits Press (September 2024) and a 2026 novel which has not yet been announced. Rae is represented by Laura Williams at Greene & Heaton.
Cinderwich by Cherie Priest Releases May 14
"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 is coming from Apex Book Company in May. 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.
Coming up in May we have classes with Carrie Callahan, Holly Lyn Walrath, Storm Humbert, and more.
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 April 7-31—themed Skin—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 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
