150 is a big number. It's a number that shows commitment and stubbornness, community and trust. In the world of short fiction, where the money is never enough, the technology and landscape never stops changing, and the future always uncertain, 150 is enormous. To have reached this milestone, Apex has endured, changed, adapted, and overcome enormous obstacles.
I started with Apex on the return after the hiatus, at the peak of the pandemic. In the 5 years since, we've seen the rise of AI, multiple upsets in our spec fic community, the fall of Twitter, alongside many public and private personal and professional challenges.
To me, Apex is a lot more than a magazine. In a very real sense, Apex is the people—our readers, authors, patrons, discord friends, artists, reviewers, essayists, and more. The community is what is important to me, and it's what I fight for on the days things feel hard. I am grateful every day for the opportunity to be a part of it.
Our publishser and former editor, Jason Sizemore, wrote a blog earlier this year about the milestone of 20 years in publishing, itself an impressive achievement.
Below, please enjoy the reminisces, celebrations, and thoughts of Apex Magazine authors through the years. Thank you sincerely to all of them, and all of you, for being with us on this journey.
Rebecca E. Treasure, Managing Editor
I was a hopeful young writer scouring the submissions stacks when I came across a new magazine called Apex Digest and promptly fired off a story to its equally young editor, Jason Sizemore. "Crucifixation," one of my very early Central Station stories (and really the genesis for much of what was to come) appeared in issue #2 of that long-vanished magazine. When the print copy arrived in the post, I was pleasantly surprised by how good it looked! Over the years I continued to send stories to Apex as it underwent various transitions, from digest to magazine, from print to online, and under different editors—all of whom, I must say, with impeccable taste! I had my share of rejections from Apex, too, as I realise now going over my files... And I think I even wrote a column for one of the online iterations at one point! I don't think Jason—let alone me—thought we'd ever get to 150(!) issues—an incredible achievement, and I am genuinely honoured to have been along for the ride. Long may it continue!
"Keep Talking" was my sixth short story sale, and it won Apex's Story of the Year for 2014. A reviewer for the Oxford Culture Review called it "Everything science fiction should be"—my first, and most validating public praise. Since then, Jason and Lesley have become dear friends. They are always offering new opportunities to the community.
Apex Magazine was one of the first places both to fuel my imagination with its wondrous stories, but also one of the first places to accept my imagination on its pages. It makes me very pleased to see the magazine's longevity, even with all the obstacles in its way. Since my first publication there ("Soil of Our Home, Storm of Our Lives") in 2021, Apex has felt like a home, and its team like a family. And as a reader, it remains a place to escape, to think, and to be amazed. Here's to more 150 issues!
Apex was not my first professional acceptance but the first at over 2000 words. I started writing again in 2012 after probably 20 years. "1957" described a schoolboy's life which seems stuck in time... the acceptance called it horror, and I think it is a sort of bright horror. It's a story I wrote in a blaze, which divided opinion, but had real fans. I still think it's great. It told me that the short story world did just judge you on the story. Everyone at Apex was lovely and helped me accept that editors are human. (Or at least good at playing it.) It encouraged me to keep writing, it earned me entry to Codex Writers [a forum for SFF writers], and it's a place I still recommend when someone asks where you could place a beautiful, weird, Apex vibe story. I've not written many Apex-type stories since, my focus is elsewhere, but thank you, and keep going.
Apex means "family" to me. Its pages with its dark, twisted, unsettling stories became a reliable venue when I was an unexperienced author. The mag featured my articles and stories, and I got to work on collaborative side projects with the team, that trusted and supported me even when I doubted myself. Nobody minded the accent of my writing, nobody judged me. I just felt that finally I've found a space in which I belonged. To sump up, Apex mag feels like home. Apex es mi hogar.
Apex was my first pro sale, and this is my fourth publication with it, so it remains the most shiny accomplishment of my budding career. I also feel like Apex helped me shape my identity as a writer. It's probably a bit contradictory because you often change things about your writing to fit a market, but I already had a lot of commonalities in my style with Apex, and in trying to find the overlap (which came in the themes such as anti-oppression, fabulist, body horror but symbolic) I discovered more layers to my own brand. It kinda enabled me to embrace my weirdness.
Congrats on 150 issues, Apex—that's huge. Apex has been foundational to my career as a writer; I first appeared in issue #68, and last appeared in issue #141. I've sold eight stories to Apex all told, but more than that, it's the stories and writers I've discovered from reading Apex. Apex is genuinely the top of our genre, every issue a treat. Thank you for being here and leading the way.
I’m very grateful to Apex Magazine for publishing my short story ’The Standard of Ur’ which was subsequently included in Arabilious: Anthology of Arab Futurism. The publication of the story gave me confidence about writing science fiction stories, something I want to pursue further in the future.
Apex has been one of my favorite magazines to read for a long time. The vibe of SFF with a touch of darkness is right up my alley, and I'd often find that some of my favorite stories came from Apex. As a writer, I'd long wanted to have one of my own stories appear in Apex so it was especially meaningful when "A World Unto Myself" became my first Apex sale. I'm thrilled to be among the authors who have had their stories appear in this magazine and I look forward to many more years of Apex, both as a reader and writer.
One hundred and fifty issues – what an incredible milestone for Apex Magazine! Its enduring spirit and visionary heart have shaped so much, and I'm proud to be part of this journey.
Apex Magazine is an artistic home, a living current in the expansive, sometimes shadowy, speculative fiction realm. It's where the familiar's edges blur, where the beautifully strange blossoms, and where voices that might otherwise be whispers find their resonant thunder. My chances to work on exciting editing projects, from guest-curating the Zodiac volume (Issue 111, August 2018) to charting the hidden terrains of The Map of Lost Places, have only deepened my appreciation for its daring vision.
For my personal writing, Apex has been both a beacon and fertile ground. It casts a brilliant beam, illuminating the vast territories speculative fiction can explore—bold, sharp, and echoing with powerful truths. It champions the kind of storytelling I appreciate, language steeped in the colors of local flavor, the contours of geography, and the pulsing heart of nature itself. Apex Magazine fuels the spirit of exploration and boundary-breaking that has sparked my own creative forge over the years. It stands as a great testament to story's power—not merely to entertain, but to transform and to conjure new cosmos into being.
For me, Apex Magazine means dark possibilities. Every voice in the field has its own tone and pitch, and with Apex I get to hear from some of the darker voices—and maybe let my own loose a little....
I've been fortunate enough to appear in Apex not once, not twice, but seven times. That in itself has had quite an impact. And when I find myself paralyzed as a writer, unable to think of a single word, let alone a single sentence, much less a paragraph or a short story—well. I often turn to Apex and hunt down the stories there. It's not a foolproof method—but at the very least, it allows me to lose myself in the magic of words for a time.
Apex represents the start of my professional career as a writer. It was the first pro-paying magazine to publish one of my stories ("I Remember Your Face" in 2016), putting me on the path to SFWA membership. By the time I published my second story with the magazine ("Whose Mortal Taste" in 2021), I had established my style and published two novellas. Now, I have my first novel out with DAW, and I can truly trace the realization of that publication dream to Apex's support. Happy 150th! Your pages shelter the quiet, weird stories that keep asking questions.
Apex Magazine has been with me every step of the way. They've published a dozen of my stories over the past decade plus, from "Maria and the Pilgrim" way back in 2014 to "Lies as the Natural State of Things" just this June, offering a home to some of my weirdest, darkest fiction. Which isn't to say they take them all—in fact, they rejected me just this morning. The editorial staff, personable as they are, are also whipsmart, exacting, and know what they like. That vision is what keeps me coming back, both as a reader and a writer, and I'm delighted to see them hit issue 150. Here's to many more.
Apex Magazine and I go way back. I started working as a slush editor for Jason Sizemore back in 2008, right after I graduated from college. It was my first experience working in publishing, and over the course of the next seven years, I learned so much about the ins and outs of small press, about how submissions work, and also how non-personal rejections truly are. I credit that formative period of my life with teaching me all the important lessons a beginning writer needs to know about writing good stories. To this day, I still recommend new writers try a stint as a submissions editor, because there is no better way to learn how to write captivating fiction, what to do and not to do to catch the eye of a slush editor, and how to avoid the common mistakes that get your stories rejected.
In addition to that, Apex Magazine was one of my very first pro-sales, and that vote of confidence from a magazine that means so much to me was huge. I’m so glad I’ve gotten a chance to work with them not once but twice, and I hope to do so again in the future and for many years to come. The editors are fabulous and dedicated and tireless in their efforts to bring beautiful work to their readers. I hope Apex Magazine continues on for many years to come as one of those choice pro-markets that everyone hopes to get their work published by.
Apex was my first publication and seeing my name on that cover alongside so many other brilliant writers was such a moment of pure joy. It lit a creative fire under me at a time I was down to embers. So, for me, Apex will always represent a sense of confirmation that, yeah, I can do this thing. Which is what I try to remind myself when I can't sleep at 2am because of plot holes and misbehaving character arcs.
"Observations of a Small Object in Decaying Orbit," wasn't an easy story to write, and Apex embracing and supporting it meant and means the world to me. Lesley and the rest of the team have always been professional and a pleasure to work with. Congratulations on 150 issues!
Back in 2022, at the age of 41, I borrowed a laptop, collected my 21 scribbled notes, wrote a 5000 word story, became a critic, and read my story over and over again and revised it almost a dozen times. When completed, I quietly kept the story aside for 2 months then reread it and revised it some more. And then I submitted it to the Apex Magazine only because someone dared me to sell 'a' story and I retorted that I would ‘publish’ with the best—and I did it. QUIETUS, my first story, was published in Apex 140. Frankly, it felt great to see my name on the Apex cover. Honestly, I haven't submitted a story to Apex Magazine since, only because the critic in me felt that none of the stories I have written since are up to Apex standards. Congratulations to Apex Magazine on the 150th issue. It feels exclusive to be part of the Apex Magazine family.
"Apex Magazine means many things to me. As a reader, it's a wonderful place to encounter new fiction, with so many incredible stories published over the years. As an author, I've been lucky enough to publish a few stories with Apex, and it's always a delight to find a home for a piece knowing it will be surrounded by other fabulous works and accompanied by gorgeous cover art. As a regular contributing review columnist, Apex means an opportunity for me to share my love for short fiction and highlight various pieces that spoke to me, while also drawing connections between works and sharing my take on how they speak to each other."
The Apex Magazine editors’ faith in one of my grimmest and darkest stories has been wonderfully encouraging, especially given the other outstanding work they publish. I'll always remember making my first pro sale here.
Apex Magazine has published two of my poems, one piece of flash fiction, one interview, and one story and podcast episode. Apex has been vital to the building of my career as a poet and short story author. With a wide readership and consistently quality content, Apex is truly one of the best in the business. Having those first two poems accepted was a major win; it spurred me to keep submitting my work widely to professional markets—including more to Apex! Then, in 2017, Apex Magazine picking up “So Sings the Siren” changed my career. Without that wider audience, I wouldn’t have been nominated for a Bram Stoker Award, and who knows how many other opportunities that has opened up? It made a Best of anthology and was recommended for another, has been reprinted and audio produced, and has been translated into German and Spanish. I’ve had teachers and professors let me know they teach it in their lit classes. I’ve had readers tell me it’s their all-time favorite story. It’s been one of the honors of my life, and I’ll always be grateful to the Apex team for giving it a home.
With every piece of mine that Apex has published, I’ve reached new readers, and for every reader who resonates with my work and sticks around, I gain something to keep writing for. That’s everything.
The stories I read in Apex Magazine were always so lush and engrossing, with stunning cover artwork that I wanted work published in those pages. Getting that acceptance email was such a thrill! Plus, it was fantastic working the entire staff: from having an original piece of short fiction accepted, to being contacted about the rights to reprint an older story, to the author interview. Apex Magazine is considerate of creatives and their work, as well as thoughtful and risk-taking in the stories they select.
Ten years back, on a Friday, at exactly 3:44 p.m., I got the message from Jason: “Thank you for sending us ‘Blood on Beacon Hill’. We love it and would like to publish it in an upcoming issue of Apex Magazine.” And just like that, I had my first pro sale. Getting published by your dream market is always major. But this was more than a moment. It was a bleeding signpost on my literary path, pointing toward the dangerously unstable ranges of my psyche. It was an inflection point. Jason and Lesley and the incredible crew have been rocking with me and my twisted tales ever since.
Rachel Cordasco
I love that Apex Magazine has published so many pieces of SF in translation over the years, including Cristina Jurado's "Lamia" (tr. from the Spanish Monica Louzon, 2022), K. A. Teryna's "Black Hole Heart" (tr. from the Russian by Alex Shvartsman, 2017), and Marian Coman's "The Small White" (tr. from the Romanian by Sebastian Simon, 2019). My own translation from the Italian of Clelia Farris's story "The Words" appeared in 2022 (Issue 134).
Apex Magazine is—very literally—the reason I'm a writer today. I'm eternally grateful for the talent, patience, discernment, time, and specific artistic vision behind all one hundred and fifty of their issues.
I've always thought of Apex as the most badass of the spec fiction magazines. Their cover art is badass. Their editorial staff is badass. Of course, the stories they put out are badass. Being published in Apex Magazine has made me feel, humbly, a little badass. Being solicited to write for an Apex anthology—a milestone first for me—made me feel almost too badass. Almost. For all of this, I'm forever thankful to Apex Magazine. Looking forward to the next 150 badass issues.
Apex is the place your weirdest visions take you, across strange miles, only to find you're home after all. It's a place for the writing that's most worth writing.
I was honored to be a part of Apex Magazine Issue #138! I’m not only a writer but also a reader, and Apex never fails to both entertain and make you think. I plan to keep reading and writing for Apex as long as I can.
When I first stumbled across Apex in 2018, it reminded me of why I loved short fiction in the first place and made me determined to read and write more of it. The magazine is such an incredible example of how powerful a specific editorial vision can be—there are plenty of excellent speculative fiction markets out there, but there's only one Apex.
But for me, Apex's value in the ecosystem of short SFF goes beyond the stellar work published in the zine. Being an Apex author was not only a high water mark of my writing career, it also gave me a chance to see Apex's principles in action all the way from slush to publication. The transparency and care of the Apex team should be industry-standard, and they offer so many opportunities for writers to grow their careers and make connections beyond their submission queue.
Being a part of the Apex world as a reader, a serial submitter, a dedicated practitioner of the monthly flash contest, an author (!!), and a Discord lurker has been something I can hang on to as evidence that writing and art do still matter, and that they will always be bigger, weirder, and wilder than anything an algorithm could possibly hallucinate. So if you're not already on this boat, you're missing out, even if (or rather, especially because) it may occasionally have teeth and/or heart where you don't expect them.
I view my Apex publication as the true start to my career. I'd loved the magazine for years prior to my publication, so having my first online acceptance be from Apex was a more precious gift than I can express. Apex's choices in stories are always challenging me in the best of ways, and knowing that something I wrote fit among those gave me the confidence to keep going, trust my vision, be persistent, and try new things.
“Being a small part of Apex Magazine was a goal I had since my undergraduate years when I started sending horror pieces out. About two years ago, I was given the chance to write a story as a featured author for Apex. A dream come true! I was, and still am, so grateful and thrilled to have my strange, cosmic tale be a part of issue 136. It’s so wonderful to have a strong magazine that features both new writers and veterans of the craft, and I know that kind of dedication will go on to inspire many others.
Apex Magazine was my first professional publication according to the SFWA standards at the time, as well as my first story to have the honor of receiving an audio version. It opened new doors for my career and gave me access to opportunities I didn't have previously.
Apex published a story I loved, and apparently, you did too. That validation lit the path forward. It gave me the courage to break my characters harder, let them suffer more, stumble more, and to fully unleash the weirdness of my world just to see what happens next.
Apex gave a home to the most emotionally raw story I've ever written, and they were one of the models I looked up to when designing and launching my own magazine for speculative fiction, Zooscape.
What impressed me about Apex was finding a print copy in a Hudson News in Grand Central Station, back when print distribution still existed on such a level that a science fiction journal with fanzine characteristics could be found there. It wasn't so long ago, was it? I bought a copy! Apex Digest! (MB: Apex Digest dot com now leads to some fishy-looking site for gold bugs.)
By the time I got involved, Apex was an online magazine and book publisher; the magazine certainly published stories that would not have otherwise seen the light of day such as "Four is Me! With Squeeeeeee! (and LOLer)", my riff on AI-augmented spam and J.D. Salinger. I recall Locus dismissed it as "silliness", which was pretty nervy considering the sort of goofy, pun-festooned allegedly humorous material Locus was promoting at the time. Apex also published "The Phylactery", which still occasionally garners email from readers explaining to me that the story made them cry. (positive) "A Night out at a Nice Place" inspired a bizarre thread on Reddit as readers bravely struggled with it. Apex has been good to me.
And of course, I published Stave Better with Apex! It sold thousands of copies (well, two) and made us all some money (unusual!), and is still discussed to this day! On Substack, SB was declared "so influential for a certain kind of sci-fi writer in the aughts." (positive) Jeffrey Ford hunts for used copies to give beginning writers! (I'm re-releasing it, slightly updated, with Lethe Press later this year.)
One hundred and fifty issues! Sheesh! Here's to at least another ten. Get weirder, faster!
Being published in Apex three times is one of the huge thrills of my writing life, not to mention appearing side-by-side with incredible writers and storytellers. Apex gave a home to "Loss Prevention," a story that touches on the issue of missing and murdered Indigenous women, and they’ve championed my voice as a Native writer more than once. I am so grateful for Jason, Lesley, and Rebecca's support.
Apex Magazine was the first magazine I started reading regularly when I decided to write short fiction. I fell in love with the darkness and beauty of the stories in each issue. They were the type of stories I aspired to write, and I dreamed of having a story in the magazine too. When I joined Apex's Patreon, I wrote for the flash contests to practice and challenge myself. I didn't always submit my stories, but enjoyed using the themes. And the practice paid off. I finally built up the courage to submit the flash pieces, and to my great surprise, my story "Someone to Feed You," written for a vacuum theme, was accepted! This was my first professional sale and has been the highlight of my writing career so far. Thanks Apex Magazine for all the wonderful stories and community you've created!
Getting published in Apex has been wonderful for my career. Having my story "Brief Life Story of Lila" reprinted in Apex allowed more people to read it. Which, in turn, got me some attention from people within the lit mag community. As far as what the magazine means to me, well, it was the first speculative fiction magazine I've ever read all the way through because I loved the stories so much (IDR the issue sorry!). I binged the podcasts early in my career in order to understand the shape of short stories, so in a sense, Apex was part of my education in writing short stories. In addition, that podcast got me through some tough moments in my life. Which sounds exaggerated or dramatic I'm sure, but I really do mean it. I had the Apex podcast in rotation with "Levar Burton Reads" and a comedy podcast while at a job I hated, and the stories helped the time fly by. So to say it feels incredible to have been published in the magazine I started as a fan of is an understatement!
Thanks to all these authors for joining us. Here's to 150 more.
