OUR KICKSTARTER STORY
Apex Book Company (Apex Publications) seeks funding to publish a print compilation anthology of all the original genre short fiction published in our digital publication Apex Magazine during the 2021 calendar year.
Our Kickstarter project page can be found here:https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/apexpublications/apex-magazine-2021-compilation-anthology
WHAT IS APEX MAGAZINE: 2021?
Apex Magazine: 2021 is a print edition anthology compiling all the original short stories published in our digital zine, Apex Magazine, during the 2021 calendar year. It will be published and distributed through Apex Book Company.
Apex Magazine had an exceptional 2021. Seven of the zine’s stories made the Locus Magazine Suggested Reading List. The zine placed a story on the Nebula finalist list and won a Stabby Award. In October 2021, we published an issue dedicated to Indigenous authors. In December 2021, we dedicated an issue to international authors.
The anthology will include 48 stories from a diverse array of new and established writers and will feature the Apex Magazine Readers’ Choice Award-winning artwork “Entropic Garden” by Marcela Bolívar on the cover.
A majority of the authors will include annotations about their contributing stories. Those stories without an author annotation will include a write-up by one of the Apex Magazine co-editors, Jason Sizemore or Lesley Conner, about what they see in the story and why it was selected.
APEX MAGAZINE: 2021 ANTHOLOGY VITAL STATS
- 350+ pages
- Trade paperback
- Offset printed by Color House Graphics
- The print run will equal enough copies for contributors, artists, and editors plus an additional 100 copies for marketing and promotional use.
- 6″ x 9″
- 49 Authors, 48 short stories plus one-online only interactive story
AUTHOR LIST
- ISSUE 121 — Fargo Tbakhi • Elana Gomel • PH Lee • Cassandra Khaw • Alix E. Harrow • Merc Fenn Wolfmoor • Charles Payseur
- ISSUE 122 — Sabrina Vourvoulias • AC Wise • Sheree Renée Thomas • Barton Aickman • Sam J. Miller • Annie Neugebauer
- ISSUE 123 — AK Hudson • Mari Ness • Aurelius Raines II • Sydney Rossman-Reich • Jennifer R. Donohue • Katherine Crighton
- ISSUE 124 — Beth Dawkins • E. Catherine Tobler • R Gatwood • Kingsley Okpii • Nicole Leboeuf-Little • Kelly Sandoval
- ISSUE 125 — Joelle Wellington • Rose Keating • Jared Millet • Maggie Slater • D. Thomas Minton • Rachel Swirsky
- ISSUE 126 (Indigenous authors) — Pamela Rentz • Theodore C. Van Alst, Jr. • Jessie Loyer • Kevin Wabaunsee • Tiffany Morris • Norris Black
- ISSUE 127 — Marie Croke • Izzy Wasserstein • Carson Winter • EK Wagner • Stephanie Kraner • Zahra Mukhi
- ISSUE 128 (International authors) — Renan Bernardo • Nina Munteanu • Cheryl S. Ntumy • Gabriela Damián Miravete • Tlotlo Tsamaase • Lavanya Lakshminarayan
EDITORS
Jason Sizemore, the man with the titanium jaw, is a three-time Hugo Award-nominated editor, writer, and publisher who operates the genre press Apex Publications. He serves as co-editor of Apex Magazine. He currently lives in Lexington, KY.
Lesley Conner is a writer/editor, co-editor of Apex Magazine, and a Girl Scout leader. She lives in Maryland with her husband and two daughters and is currently working on a new novel.
WHY KICKSTARTER?
After a 19-month hiatus, Apex Magazine returned last January, publishing six regular issues and two guest-edited themed issues throughout 2021.
Our readers joined a final ride on the sun-soaked South Dakota railway express, jumped through space and time, rode in a magical food truck in the heart of Philadelphia, and gained a glimpse inside the mind of a morally unconscious man doing terrible things for good reasons.
Apex Magazine published stories that explored motherhood, body dysmorphia, colonialism, memory, the societal masks we wear, and what it takes to be the person society says we have to be.
Apex Magazine co-editors Jason Sizemore and Lesley Conner have long wanted to compile a print anthology that showcases the original short stories published in the zine. Now that we have our feet under us post-hiatus, it feels like the perfect time to make this anthology a reality. Featuring stories by authors such as Alix E. Harrow, Lavie Tidhar, Rachel Swirsky, Sam J. Miller, E. Catherine Tobler, and so many more, you are sure to find many tales that delight, make you cry, and push you right to the edge of comfort.
Talking with our readers, this is a book they want.
Let’s make it happen!
FUNDING BREAKDOWN
Our project baseline is set to $6200. How does that break out in terms of our budget?
- Cover art license – $300
- Print Costs (1000 tpb) – $3400
- Shipping costs – $800
- Contributor copies – $250
- Materials – $500
- Kickstarter fees – $900
- Video product – $65
STRETCH GOALS
If we make our funding goal, these are some of our planned stretch goals:
- $9000 – In addition to their original payment, Apex Books will pay Apex Magazine: 2021 contributors an additional .01 cents (USD) per word.
- $9500 – Artist Justin Stewart will create spot art to accompany all 48 stories!
- $11000 – Full page b&w art to accompany four stories
- $13000 – Full page b&w art to accompany eight stories
- $24000 – (Shoot the moon!) Hardcover edition of Apex Magazine: 2021. Color reproduction of all twelve 2021 Apex Magazine issue covers will be included.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION
The Kickstarter launches April 6th at 10am EDT and runs through May 6th 10 am EDT.
Should we fund, the expected delivery of physical rewards is August, 2022.
All rewards and add-ons will be shipped via USPS or UPS.
Our Kickstarter project page can be found here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/apexpublications/apex-magazine-2021-compilation-anthology
