Today isn't only Valentine's Day—it's also International Book Giving Day! Flowers and chocolate are great, but if you want to treat a loved one (or yourself) to something bookish, we have some suggestions!
For a pre-order gift to surprise future-you...
The Map of Lost Places — Compiled by Sheree Renée Thomas & Lesley Conner
A travel guide to hauntings and the haunted, to lands with their own power, and to the communities that spring from these strange realms.
In your hands is a travel guide to the strange and surreal. From arcades along a boardwalk and jetties at the edges of tourist towns, to a rural village in Pakistan and hollows hidden deep within a forest in Pennsylvania, strange things can happen no matter where you are. You can become lost in a city crowded with people, haunted within your own home, and slip from one reality into another in the space of a step.
With twenty-two stories by authors such as Brian Keene, Maurice Broaddus, Ai Jiang, Samit Basu, and KS Walker, editors Sheree Renée Thomas and Lesley Conner take readers on a tour of places where weird things happen. Places where ghosts are real, old gods are hungry, and towns are not as idyllic as they appear to be.
Welcome to The Map of Lost Places. Enter at your own risk.
Pre-order and save 30%! Only $19.57 in paperback!
Releasing April 22nd, 2025!
If you're feeling more green than pink...
ChloroPhilia — Cristina Jurado, translated by Sue Burke
Would you sacrifice your humanity to save the world?
Kirmen is different from the other inhabitants of the Cloister, whose walls protect them all from the endless storm ravaging Earth. As a result of the Doctor’s cruel experiments, his physical form is gradually evolving into something better fit for survival in the world outside.
Kirmen worries about becoming a pariah, an outcast among the other denizens of the domes. But his desire for affection and acceptance, and his humanity, fade away as the Doctor’s treatments progress. What will happen when the metamorphosis is complete? What will be left of Kirmen and the group of survivors that he knows and loves?
In English for the first time (translated by Sue Burke), ChloroPhilia, an Ignotus Award-nominated novella by Cristina Jurado, is a strange coming–of-age story while addressing life after an environmental disaster, collective madness, and sacrifices made for the greater good.
$15.95 in paperback at Apex Book Company!
If you want some creepy with your cozy...
Cinderwich — 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: Kate’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.
If you'd prefer a sword to a teddy bear...
Island of the Dead — Brian Keene
Not even death is an escape from the... Island of the Dead.
World Horror Grand Master Brian Keene returns to zombies in this relentless sword and sorcery horror epic!
Einar, an enslaved barbarian, plots his escape from a war galley transporting troops and a mysterious weapon to far enemy shores. But when an apocalyptic storm at sea leaves Einar and his fellow captives shipwrecked on a strange, uncharted island, friend and foe alike must band together against a ravenous, steadily growing horde of the undead... And even worse dangers.
And so many more!
Whether you celebrate Valentine's Day, International Book Giving Day, or just take the day to give kudos to you, we at Apex appreciate your support and patronage.
That's why we have a special offer for you today! If you share this blog and tag us on either Facebook, Bluesky, or Instagram, five lucky winners will be selected to win a free copy of ChloroPhilia!
