We are open for submissions! Send us your laments to the cyclical death of nature every autumn. Send us your paranoid stream of consciousness about how the trees are plotting against you (they are). Send us your weird natures. We want to read them.
Marissa van Uden
@marissavu.bsky.social
Freelance Editor | EiC Violet Lichen (Apex Books) | Editor "ECO: The Year's Best Speculative Ecofiction" | woods mädchen | friend to animals | biodiversity stan | stories in Vastarien, Dark Matter, Los Suelos | ACES & EFA member
AND would you like to make a sacrificial review to the evil one? www.amazon.com/Cellar-Below...
The Cellar Below the Cellar: A Folk Horror Novella
The Cellar Below the Cellar: A Folk Horror Novella
amazon.com
I'm at 95 reviews on The Cellar Below the Cellar on Greads, and for wholly irrational reasons, I've got to get it up to 100. It's numbers! If you've read it and haven't rated it yet, now's your chance. For the numbers! www.goodreads.com/book/show/24...
The Cellar Below the Cellar
A playfully dark folk horror inspired by the fairy tale…
goodreads.com
New STRANGE MICRO antho on the horizon! Will it reach land? You decide 🌊⚓🐋👀
Mari Ness, writer of things@mariness.bsky.social · 3w agoI've been published multiple times by Apex, so of course I'm eager to see them continue, but, honestly? I WANT TO SEE THE STRETCH GOALS HERE, particularly the STRANGE OCEANS: AN ANTHOLOGY OF DARK SEAFARING. So, fund away! (Apex is also offering a pretty cool T-shirt as one of the backer rewards.)
The Apex Kickstarter has begun! Please consider supporting the magazine for 2027. They pay pro rates for the fiction they publish, and the kickstarter has lots of cool rewards this year, like critiques for a short story or manuscript.
Lesley Conner@lesleyconner.bsky.social · 3w agoOne hour in and we're closing in on the first $1,000! Yay!!! www.kickstarter.com/projects/ape...
"I felt a bit disoriented while I was writing the final scene, like it was happening to my own body." 🫁🔄💬 New today by @marissavu.bsky.social: "Interview with Interview with Author Alia Ai-Ming Shahzad" Read it here: www.apexbookcompany.com/blogs/apex-m...
Here’s the episode I was on! I think I talk about the Virgin Mary and witches and stuff but I don’t know it was a fever dream. Loved talking to Alan and Diane!!
Jen@jenbached.bsky.social · 2mo ago
Holy shit I just turned in edits for my debut novella and they absolutely made it better wtf If you like rot, apocalypse, tits, and body horror I’ve got something for ya come November
ICYMI 🌟 treat yourself to some stellar speculative ecofiction! 🌏🌱🦋 app.thestorygraph.com/giveaways/88...
Apex Magazine and Book Company@apexmag.bsky.social · 2mo agoWe're giving away 110 copies of ECO24: THE YEAR'S BEST SPECULATIVE ECOFICTION on @thestorygraph.com! 🌱🪲🐛 If you want to catch up on the anthology series before the November release of ECO25, enter below before September 14th for a chance to win! 🗳️ app.thestorygraph.com/giveaways/88...
Yes, The Best Weird Fiction of the Year, Vol. 2 is, in fact, out early. I'd originally planned it for October, but various circumstances—notably that it was ready—prompted me to move it up. An amazing ToC!
The Best Weird Fiction of the Year, Vol. 2 — Undertow Publications
Cover art by Mikalojus Konstantinas Ciurlionis PRAISE FOR THE BEST WEIRD FICTION OF THE YEAR “Momentous... an indispensable guide to the state of the weird in the twenty-first century.” -Zacha...
undertowpublications.com
Anyone who claims that Solar Farms harm wildlife are ignoring the science. This study shows how a solar farm increased biodiversity by 41% whilst also allowing sheep to graze underneath. #SolarPower #ClimateEmergency www.suffolkwildlifetrust.org/news/new-rep...
New report of Suffolk solar farm showcases ecological best practice | Suffolk Wildlife Trust
Pioneering 12-year study carried out by Suffolk Wildlife Trust at Broxted Estate & Solar Farm Suffolk demonstrates how renewable energy generation and biodiversity restoration can be achieved together...
suffolkwildlifetrust.org
In celebration of the upcoming ECO25 Year's Best Speculative Ecofiction release, we're running a Storygraph giveaway for the first volume. let's gooooo
Apex Magazine and Book Company@apexmag.bsky.social · 2mo agoWe're giving away 110 copies of ECO24: THE YEAR'S BEST SPECULATIVE ECOFICTION on @thestorygraph.com! 🌱🪲🐛 If you want to catch up on the anthology series before the November release of ECO25, enter below before September 14th for a chance to win! 🗳️ app.thestorygraph.com/giveaways/88...
Also, I didn’t even do this on purpose, but there are nods in this story to not one but two real-life badass women scientists: astrobiologist/physicist Sarah Imari Walker, and botanist Alice Eastwood, absolute legend whose story I got to include basically wholesale in an alternate history. So yeah
Apex Magazine and Book Company@apexmag.bsky.social · 3mo agoThe ecofiction season is upon us! 🌸🐛🌟 The next installment in our annual ECO anthology series is available for preorder NOW! Click the link below and grab your copy of ECO25: THE YEAR'S BEST SPECULATIVE ECOFICTION today! 🌱📚🌙 www.apexbookcompany.com/products/eco...
Just looked over the proof of this anthology and I’m so excited about it. What an incredible lineup, and dammit I got choked up proofreading my own story, Past Self really loves rocks the same way I do
Apex Magazine and Book Company@apexmag.bsky.social · 3mo agoThe ecofiction season is upon us! 🌸🐛🌟 The next installment in our annual ECO anthology series is available for preorder NOW! Click the link below and grab your copy of ECO25: THE YEAR'S BEST SPECULATIVE ECOFICTION today! 🌱📚🌙 www.apexbookcompany.com/products/eco...
🐙🎹This includes my @reckoningmag.bsky.social story "The Piano Player Has Eight Arms," plus SO MANY MORE stories I can't wait to read! 30% off pre-orders is a great deal! 🤯 #newbooks #scifibooks #horrorbooks #clifi #speclit #ecohorror
Marissa van Uden@marissavu.bsky.social · 3mo agoPreorders are now open for ECO25: The Year's Best Speculative Ecofiction! Please support our little imprint and this series by preordering -- it makes a huge difference to the success of the books. And you get 30% off the price ✨🦋🌿
Huge shoutout to @marissavu.bsky.social! She actually listened to my pandemic-era podcast before interviewing me haha
Apex Magazine and Book Company@apexmag.bsky.social · 2mo ago"I was in undergrad taking playwriting classes. . . so I thought in stagespace at the time. . . I’m immensely concerned with how sentences sound." 🎭🔊📯 New today by @marissavu.bsky.social: "Interview with Author @anjbaker.bsky.social" Read it here: www.apexbookcompany.com/blogs/apex-m...
Preorders are now open for ECO25: The Year's Best Speculative Ecofiction! Please support our little imprint and this series by preordering -- it makes a huge difference to the success of the books. And you get 30% off the price ✨🦋🌿
Apex Magazine and Book Company@apexmag.bsky.social · 3mo agoThe ecofiction season is upon us! 🌸🐛🌟 The next installment in our annual ECO anthology series is available for preorder NOW! Click the link below and grab your copy of ECO25: THE YEAR'S BEST SPECULATIVE ECOFICTION today! 🌱📚🌙 www.apexbookcompany.com/products/eco...
important announcement from the Apex and Violet Lichen teams!
Apex Magazine and Book Company@apexmag.bsky.social · 3mo agoWe have decided to remove a short story from Issue 153 of Apex Magazine. After meeting with our reading and editorial teams, we'd like to share with you what happened, and importantly, how we plan to move forward from here. Thank you for sticking with us. 💜👽
Apex Book Company is excited to announce the acquisition of LET'S PLAY WHITE, TOO by @chesyaburke.bsky.social! 🎉🎉🎉 LET'S PLAY WHITE, TOO explores the experiences of Black women in America through the dual lenses of short horror fiction and nonfiction essays. Scheduled for release June 2027!
Press Release: Apex Book Company Acquires LET'S PLAY WHITE, TOO by Che
For Immediate Release: June 16th, 2026 Lexington, KY: Apex Book Company is excited to announce the acquisition of Let's Play White, Too by Chesya Burke. Following her trailblazing previous title, Let...
apexbookcompany.com
I’m gonna be dusting off my reviewing hat over the next few weeks in the Seize The Press newsletter. I’ve read some great stuff recently and the first books I’ll be reviewing are OLYOKE by Vincent Endwell, PERSONA by Aoife Josie Clements, and THE CELLAR BELOW THE CELLAR by Ivy Grimes.
Samir is an excellent writer in a way that could almost feel unfair, like wait hold up where did you even pick up this dark alchemy?? From what realm?? Except we can't be mad about it bc we get all these wild Samir stories to read, so it's win/win. Anyway this is a REALLY GOOD DOLLAR to spend 🔥🔥
Samir Sirk Morató@spicycloaca.bsky.social · 4mo agotoday, you can access nineteen moist & miserable (sometimes joyous) short stories for less than $1, which i think is a great deal! ✨️🥩
Damn, Earth is such a cool planet. You can just look out the window and be fully hypnotized by what the plants did to this place
We only run two author interviews per issue in Apex, but I would love if we could do more for the August issue. Every story is bizarre and metaphorical and twisty, and I would love see how @marissavu.bsky.social dug into each of them. Her conversations with our authors are outstanding!
Violet Lichen is NOW OPEN to novella queries until June 30th! 🌱🍄 We're seeking speculative and literary ecofiction and sci-fi between 30-45k words. We look forward to reading your work! Read Full Submission Guidelines: violetlichen.com/submissions/ Query Portal: querytracker.net/query/Violet...
The wonderful Mary Woodbury of @dragonfly.eco & the Rewilding Our Stories community interviewed me about the Year's Best Speculative Ecofiction anthologies! Check it out here, & join the discord for group readalongs of ecofiction like ECO24. It's a great community of nature-loving readers 💚🌿🦋
Dragonfly@dragonfly.eco · 4mo agoCheck out my chat with Marissa van Uden, publisher at Violet Lichen press: dragonfly.eco/eco24-25-the... Violet Lichen publishes dark, #literary, #weird books and focuses on speculative #ecofiction, weird and new weird, and moody science fiction with uniquely memorable characters
Cover reveal for THEY CALL THE PLACE WILD by the amazing @raemariz.bsky.social!! 🖤🌿🦋🐜🍄🖤
Apex Magazine and Book Company@apexmag.bsky.social · 4mo ago“Welcome to Haven, child. The folk’s final refuge in this part of the world.” 🌲🪶 Apex Book Company and Violet Lichen Books are thrilled to reveal the cover of THEY CALL THE PLACE WILD by @raemariz.bsky.social, with spectacular cover art and design by Misha Chernov 🦋👁️🐦⬛ Coming February 2027!
"As a thirtysomething bookworm who comes across as a younger adult-under-construction . . . Jane is a character after my own heart." 💜🌌 Thank you to @alicemcalicepants.ohai.social.ap.brid.gy for the wonderful review of THE CELLAR BELOW THE CELLAR by @ivygrimes.bsky.social! Full review here ⬇️
Review: The Cellar Below the Cellar by Ivy Grimes
Thoughtful book reviews
draliceviolett.com
Hi! I'm a first reader at @apexmag.bsky.social. I've read 1,668 stories for Apex. This is the best one. www.apexbookcompany.com/a/blog/apex-...
My Suicides
I don’t know if, in the beginning, it was that they promised me anything, or if I imagined they promised me something. At the...
apexbookcompany.com
This book is beautiful - I read an early draft and knew it was special. Can't wait to read a final version
Apex Magazine and Book Company@apexmag.bsky.social · 4mo agoYou never know what you'll discover in the forest...or what will discover you 🦋👁️🐦⬛ Experience a surreal new fairytale brimming with strange sisters, trickster spirits, and a primeval forest that never lets you go 🌀🌲 the full cover of THEY CALL THE PLACE WILD by @raemariz.bsky.social drops tomorrow!
ICYMI, ECO25 editor Marissa Van Uden chose two stories from Reckoning 9 to include in The Year's Best Speculative Ecofiction: "The Piano Player Has Eight Arms" by @ideofmarch.bsky.social and "We Will Not Dream of Coral" by @mariocoelho.bsky.social! Congratulations, friends!
Apex Magazine and Book Company@apexmag.bsky.social · 5mo agoApex and Violet Lichen are thrilled to reveal the final Table of Contents for the next installment of our ECO anthology series, ECO25! 🌱🎉 Narrowing down our exceptional shortlist was incredibly difficult, and we thank and congratulate all who submitted their stories to us! Se the full TOC below! 🧵
