We're pleased to have two titles on offer in a current Story Bundle curated by Tenea Johnson.
For the next two weeks Pimp My Airship by Maurice Broaddus and Let's Play White by Chesya Burke join titles by Larissa Lai, Andy Duncan, Tenea D. Johnson, Bill Campbell & Francesco Verso, JD Scott, Eileen Gunn, and Ginn Hale.
Check it out here.
The Innovative Worlds Bundle - Curated by Tenea D. Johnson: Innovation can mean the difference between progress and stagnation, wonder and woe, seeing the return of dim days or a new age of enlightenment. An innovative world is one where you can immerse yourself and learn something new, see a trope turned on its head, meet characters that will frequent the passages of your mind, navigating by the spark of newness they carry through the gloom.
Innovative worlds can shine as an example of what to be or provide respite from what, if only temporarily, is. Or they can make you appreciate what ain't broke.
One could make a strong case that innovation and its possibilities are in short supply at the moment. But not here.
Come get yours.
The first step for bringing Apex Magazine out of hiatus has been taken. Hold on to your seats!
The Kickstarter is officially live!
Kickstarter project page: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/apexpublications/apex-magazine-2021
There are bountiful reward selections and even some nifty add-ons. As our funding progresses, there will be milestone rewards that will unlock and rewarded to everyone. And should we fund, we have our eyes set on some major stretch goals that we hope to accomplish.
Be sure to follow our blog for announcements regarding new rewards, milestones, and goals.
Many thanks to the Apex team for helping pull this together: Lesley Conner, Justin Stewart, Maurice Broaddus, and Shana DuBois.
And thank you to the Apex Magazine fans who have kept the flame going for the publication while we have been on hiatus!
During the month of June all profit from direct purchases of our resistance anthology DO NOT GO QUIETLY were donated to a cause supported by the #blacklivesmatter movement.
Thanks to the generosity of many of our readers, we sold 21 copies of the anthology for a total profit of $149. Apex donated an additional $51 to make an even $200 for the Justice for Breonna Taylor GoFundMe campaign.
The donation shows $210, but that includes a 5% tip for GoFundMe.
The movement is still going strong. Even though media coverage of the protests have slacked, the protests are still going strong. There are a number of ways you can help. Here is a list of reputable and vetted causes and organizations from which you can choose from to donate money, your time, and your voice:
https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/
Apex's most recent release, The Grand Tour by E. Catherine Tobler, rolled into the station a week ago today, containing nine stories from her Jackson's Unreal Circus and Mobile Marmalade universe. To celebrate the release of her collection, Tobler was nice enough to sit down with us and answer a few questions about the characters, the rules of writing in her universe, and knowing when a story is headed to the circus.
Run away with the circus! Buy your copy of The Grand Tour today!
Apex: When you started writing "Vanishing Act" back in 2004 did you have any idea that the story you were working on would become the spark that created an entire universe - Jackson's Unreal Circus and Mobile Marmalade? How many Jackson's Unreal Circus stories have you written, and do you ever think there will come a time when you feel like you've told them all and won't write any more?
Tobler: I had no idea. I was writing to play with voice and see what I could do with it. When I actually sold it, that’s when I had the idea that it could be a universe I returned to. I’ve written eighteen stories in this universe, not all of them have been published (or have even sold). I suspect there will come a time when I feel like I’ve told them all—but I will probably be wrong, because I never get anything right when it comes to publishing.
Apex: Jackson's Unreal Circus and Mobile Marmalade is populated with a wide cast of characters - from Rabi who can make things disappear, to the Beauty and the Beast with their horrifying appetite, to Beth working her magic through the marmalade. There's a man who turns into a dog and a woman who is part bird. Are there any rules that you've established over the years over what can or cannot happen at the circus? Are there any characters who readers will never see because what they are breaks the rules of the universe. And are there characters that we haven't seen yet, but that you know travel with the circus and you're just waiting for their story to reveal itself to introduce them?
Tobler: Every universe has its rules, but it’s fun to see how they can break. I think a character who challenges the rules is exactly what the circus is after. This shouldn’t be possible, but it is, so how do we explore that idea, how does it change what we know? The train shouldn’t be possible—it travels in time and harbors the spirit of a nun who is an incarnation of Fate, so—if those are the rules, the rules feel pretty elastic. This world exists to play in. And of course there are characters readers haven’t met yet. They absolutely exist within hints you’ll find in stories, but also in [spoilers].
Apex: When a new story idea comes to you, do you immediately know it’s a circus story? Some of the stories in The Grand Tour could have gone in very different ways - veered away from the circus and become something completely different. "Blow the Moon Out" immediately comes to my mind. I love that the girls end up at the circus, but I also could see how their story could have gone in another direction.
Tobler: Sometimes you don’t know. Sometimes I start with “okay, this is a circus story,” and the story goes off and is absolutely not a circus story. “Blow the Moon Out” was always headed for the circus, though—I think the other path that one takes is that they encounter the killer from a disturbing cold case (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boy_in_the_Box_(Philadelphia)) that is mentioned in passing in the story. But that wasn’t the story I meant to tell. It was always about friends who are girls who are undertaking a journey normally only left to boys. It was about girls trusting one another and growing up and growing apart. And that’s definitely a circus story.
For the first time, E. Catherine Tobler has compiled a collection of her popular circus stories. With nine stories ranging from the first publishing within this universe to a previously unpublished piece, this is your ticket to her magical world. Welcome to The Grand Tour.
E. Catherine Tobler's collection THE GRAND TOUR is now available on NetGalley until the end of June. For all those interested in the adventures of Jackson's Unreal Circus, you can find the collection here:
https://www.netgalley.com/catalog/book/191826
Alternatively, preorder here: https://www.apexbookcompany.com/collections/alpha-print/products/the-grand-tour-preorder?variant=33292889129097
V. Castro has curated a dark fiction storybundle, featuring works from Latinx authors. From Rudolfo A. Serna's dystopian Snow Over Utopia to Richie Narvaez's comedic horror-crime novel Hipster Death Rattle to JF Gonzalez's werewolf novel Shapeshifter, which is now back in print, this collection is not to be missed.
More information about the storybundle can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UZl2wbAUrY
A link to the bundle can be found here: https://storybundle.com/latinx
January 17, 2022
We're giving our readers one last chance to pick up the Apex edition of a bunch of titles that will no longer be available at the end of the month.
