For Immediate Release 9/11/2025
Lexington, KY: Apex Book Company and Violet Lichen Books are delighted to announce that Nichole Lightner is joining the team as Managing Editor of the Violet Lichen imprint.
Nichole is a horror writer and editor from Appalachia who has been the managing editor of The Drabblecast online speculative magazine for two years. As managing editor of Violet Lichen, Nichole will oversee production, marketing and distribution of the imprint’s titles and work closely with EiC Marissa van Uden on acquisitions. "I'm thrilled to bring my own filament symbiotically to the Violet Lichen's cortex," Nichole says.
Marissa van Uden says of Nichole: “Nichole is a beloved member of the horror and dark fiction writing community and a brilliant editor who cares about the authors she works with. She’ll bring a special spark to our team. I’m so looking forward to working closely with her on Violet Lichen’s future titles!”
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NICHOLE LIGHTNER is a weird writer and editor, living in the edges of Appalachia. She's teasing out dark hymns from broken records when everyone in the house finally goes to sleep. She would love to talk to you about your niche hyperfocus, especially if it's about abandoned places, ARGs or lost media. She would love to see pictures of your pets. You can find more of her work in Maudlin House, 34 Orchard, Twin Pies Literary, Thirteen Podcast, and Inner Worlds. You can find her at @nicholeon (Instagram) or @nicholeon.bsky.social.
VIOLET LICHEN BOOKS (www.violetlichen.com) founded in 2024, is the sister imprint of Apex Book Company. Violent Lichen was created by Marissa van Uden to give a home to those dark, literary, weird books that might be a little outside of the norm. The imprint focuses on speculative ecofiction, Weird and New Weird, and moody science fiction with uniquely memorable characters. It is also the publisher of ECO: The Year’s Best Speculative Ecofiction, the first ever annual best-of anthology for ecofiction.
IG: @violetlichenbooks.
APEX BOOK COMPANY (www.apexbookcompany.com) is a small press dedicated to publishing exemplary works of science fiction, fantasy, and horror. Owned and operated by Jason Sizemore, Apex publishes the thrice Hugo Award-nominated Apex Magazine. The Apex catalog contains books by genre luminaries such as Maurice Broaddus, Lavie Tidhar, and Cherie Priest. Apex is distributed by Independent Publishers Group.
