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Apokrupha Newsletter April 2024

Hello everyone! it has been a busy month here! so let’s start with the release! 

Dominoes

by John Boden

Print on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Dominoes-John-Boden/dp/B0CZ3Q5WY2/

Originally published by our old friends, Shock Totem back in 2013, we are so excited to have this book back in print. This dark, but beautiful tale of the coming apocalypse is illustrated by Yannick Bouchard.

This is one you’ll want on your bookshelves, but don’t take our word for it: 

There’s a level of wordsmithing happening with John that is unparalleled. Images that are shocking and beautiful, and you see the way he has arranged his words and they are these intricate configurations that are just….wow.

— Kristi DeMeester, Author of BENEATH and SUCH A PRETTY SMILE

Gorgeous. Stunning. Bizarre and strange. It’s literary and visual porn, that’s what it is. Not a lot of people will “get it”. But I don’t think it’s to be got. It’s to be experienced.

— Mercedes Murdock Yardley, Author of DARLING and BEAUTIFUL SORROWS

I’ve long been in awe of John Boden’s capacity for distilling profound dread into a single line. Reading this book is like watching someone who has not only pulled back the veil separating our world from the nightmares, but burned it, stomped out the embers, and pissed on the ashes. If I ever had a piece of advice to give, it would be “Don’t let John Boden into your head.”?

— Bracken MacLeod, Author of CLOSING COSTS and STRANDED

Cons Galore!

Two cons, back to back in April. Authorcon III in Williamsburg and Creature Feature Weekend in Gettysburg. Both were fantastic weekends of books, writers and horror. While I may be biased, I recommend adding both to your calendars for next year. 

Also I collected a lot of cards, bookmarks and web URLs to add more blogs to the Sunday Morning Horror News… Expect a large update next month. 

Two more events planned for the year: 

  • Horror on Main
  • Authorcon IV (St Louis)

We hope to see some of you there! 

Coming SOON!

We’ve been working on something for those of you who want to try out this blackout poetry thing. Keep an eye on Jessica McHugh’s Instagram for a sneak peek. 0_0

Final Thoughts

It was a busy month, back to back cons is a lot. I got home from Authorcon, opened my suit case and dumped clothes into the washer. Pulled them from the dryer and put them back in the suit case. It was fun, but I am also glad I don’t do it often. 

We did get a new addition to our table at Creature Feature. 

Follow Along!

Subscribe by email, or follow us on the Fediverse: 

@newsletter@apokrupha.com

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Apokrupha Newsletter February 2024

This month we have some news about the news! Jessica McHugh makes the Stoker ballot and an announcement about a poetry collection by John Boden! 

Quiet Ways I Destroy You

Is on the Stoker ballet! 

Released in 2023, this is the third collection of blackout poetry by Jessica McHugh, and by far the most ambitious. At 155 pieces based on Little Women this book is a tome of poetry, art and photography. 

Comes with a free set of paper dolls! (Not appropriate for children…)

Get it in print and ebook!

and congradulations to everyone on the Stoker ballet this year, it is an amazing list of titles!

Amazon – Bookshop – Kindle – Kobo

(And if you think that covers by Lynne Hansen is amazing, wait to you see the photography by B. Saunders inside)

Sunday! Sunday! Sunday!

The Sunday Morning Horror News is here! 

http://SundayMorningHorrorNews.com

To often the news is coming by at the speed of social media. Miss a post? Was it lost in the river, or a ‘friendly’ refresh from your app? 

The Sunday Morning Horror News is a site designed to help slow down some. Bringing you news every Sunday morning from all over the web. 

This is an aggregator of blog RSS feeds. What does that mean? It means it goes and gets the recent posts from all over the horror internet, and brings them together for an easy read. 

You can subscribe via your own RSS reader as well! Or even better, go to the bottom and grab the links and follow them directly. 

No ads. No trackers. No auto-play anything. And it is even open source, because we are those kinds of nerds here. 

My Eyes Are Just Holograms

We are going to publish a book of poems by John Boden, entitled My Eyes Are Just Holograms

Dark and emotional, Boden has a way with words hard to explain. And I can’t wait to show off these poems. 

We will have more to announce later this year with covers and pre-orders, but we are so excited we needed to share. 

Final Words

As a teaser for the future, I want to say I’ve been working on two titles that will be out this year that are not yet ready for a full announcement, but I cannot wait to show them to you. 

Maybe spend some time finding your favorite pens, just in case. 

Planned Appearances

Here are the events you’ll find an Apokrupha booth this year. This will be updated as we add onto it! 

  • April 19–21 2024 – Creature Feature Weekend, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
  • April 12–14 2024 – AuthorCon III, Williamsburg, Virginia
  • June 28–30 2024 – Horror on Main, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
  • October 4–6 2024 – AuthorCon IV, St Louis, Missouri
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Apokrupha Newsletter – January 2024

Hi folks! Welcome to the first real new newsletter from us. We are going to start off by showcasing some of the things we published in 2023 that you may have missed!

We’ve got some exciting things coming this year too, so don’t worry about that. More poetry, art and weirdness is on the way.

J.F. Gonzalez’s Shadows in the Attic

An Unfinished History of Horror

cover for J. F. Gonzalez's Shadows in the Attic - Cover shows a stylistic house with shadow figures in the attic

Amazon – Bookshop – Kindle

Come and dig beneath the cobwebs, under the dust and through the forgotten boxes with horror historian J. F. Gonzalez.

Collecting non-fiction works from J.F. Gonzalez, Shadows in the Attic takes the reader from Ancient times to the mid-40’s weaving a tale of the history of horror—all the while discussing writers and stories that influenced, that captivated, and cultivated the genre through the centuries.

Includes articles from LampLight, Afraid, Hellnotes and a never before published history of Splatterpunk, with a list of related works.

The Shadows in the Attic Reader

Foundational Classic Horror

cover for Shadows in the Attic Reader, artwork is a stylistic basement of a house with a lamp on one side and the shadow of a large spider on the other

Amazon – Bookshop

This companion anthology to J. F. Gonzalez’s Shadows in the Attic collects dark tales that inspired, frightened and made new ground in the horror genre.

Including writers like M. R. James, Francis Stevens, and Robert W. Chambers, the stories here compliment the rich history, a guided tour through horror’s past.

So come, let us head to the third floor, and dig through the boxes and trunks stored in the attic and see what darkness we can find.

OMG those covers

The Shadows and Reader covers were made by the amazing Lynne Hansen, and look just as amazing in print as they do here.

LampLight RadioPlay

The radio play had its final episode released in January. All good things, and the radio play was such a good thing. An amazing showcase of talent, from the actors to the writers from LampLight Magazine.

Church Fire and Redemption

Based on the story by T.M Morgan, found in Volume 7, Issue 2—A storm hits a small island on the Chesapeake, awakening something from the past.

check out all the episodes of the podcast here

Final Words

I’m still working on the tone for a newsletter that is also a blog post that is also a social media post, but we will get there.

Speaking of, if you are reading this on the site, don’t forget you can sign up to get this in your email or follow us on the Fediverse:

@newsletter@apokrupha.com

Planned Appearances

Here are the events you’ll find an Apokrupha booth this year. This will be updated as we add onto it!

  • April 19-21 2024 – Creature Feature Weekend, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
  • April 12-14 2024 – AuthorCon III, Williamsburg, Virginia
  • June 28-30 2024 – Horror on Main, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
  • October 4-6 2024 – AuthorCon IV, St Louis, Missouri
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Apokrupha Newsletter December 2023

WE ARE DOING THIS LIVE PEOPLE

We have a new newsletter, two new ways of getting it! Two old ways sticking around. This post is mostly a test post to make sure those ways work.

But since it is a public post, let’s talk about what’s new!

We are moving to WordPress Newsletters. The advantage is that it integrates with our site with no changes.

The old list is gone. Which means if you were subscribed to it, you are no longer. Sign up again if you want, or maybe take a break from newsletters after that Black Friday gauntlet.

Fediverse

Most commonly known as Mastodon for the moment, this blog is also now on the Fediverse. Which means if you have a Mastodon account, a Firefish, Plemora, Friendrica or any number of accounts on the Fediverse, just follow this account, and you’ll get these posts there:

@newsletter@apokrupha.com

What’s a Fediverse? I’m glad you asked. Here is a great resource, but the TL;DR, what if Twitter, Facebook, Instagram were all connected, so you only needed on account to see all the accounts?

(And none were corporate owned)

RSS

And, lastly, this site, as all WordPress sites, still uses RSS. You can subscribe to the RSS feed of this site using this URL:

https://apokrupha.com/feed

Three ways to get Apokrupha news delivered to you. Three ways to get updates and announcements about indie horror, strange poetry, submission guidelines and more.

(Sales? Probably those too)

You can, of course, just bookmark our blog page.

apokrupha.com/news

Assuming this live test goes well, the first edition will be out in a few weeks to start catching everyone up on the titles we’ve released in 2023!

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Shadows in the Attic Pre-Order and Cover Reveal

Come and dig beneath the cobwebs, under the dust and through the forgotten boxes with horror historian

J. F. Gonzalez.

Cover art by the amazing Lynne Hansen!

Shadows in the Attic

An unfinished history of horror

Collecting non-fiction works from J.F. Gonzalez, Shadows in the Attic takes the reader from Ancient times to the mid-40’s weaving a tale of the history of horror—all the while discussing writers and stories that influenced, that captivated, and cultivated the genre through the centuries. 

Includes articles from LampLight, Afraid, Hellnotes and a never before published history of Splatterpunk, with a list of related works.

Shadows in the Attic Reader

Foundational Classic Horror 

This companion anthology to J. F. Gonzalez’s Shadows in the Attic collects dark tales that inspired, frightened and made new ground in the horror genre. 

Including writers like M. R. James, Francis Stevens, and Robert W. Chambers, the stories here compliment the rich history, a guided tour through horror’s past. 

So come, let us head to the third floor, and dig through the boxes and trunks stored in the attic and see what darkness we can find. 

Pre-orders

Pre-order today in print and ebook! Both titles will be released on 25 April 2023! 

(We are not sure why there is no Kindle pre-order, but it will be sold for Kindle!)

Shadows in the Attic Print: 

Shadows in the Attic Reader Print

Shadows in the Attic eBook:

Shadows in the Attic Reader eBook

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All Good Things

We have two amazing issues of LampLight coming this year in March and June, filled with writers who have made their first pro-sale. My intuition says that it will not be the last you see of them.

March is out now, get your copy.

The June 2022 issue will be the last.

This June LampLight will be 10 years old; not bad for a small magazine. LampLight has had an amazing run, but it is time for other projects, other adventures.

Editor Jacob Haddon talks more personally about this on his blog post.

Thank you all who helped with the editing, reading, those who subscribed and supported, those who reviewed. LampLight would not have existed without you.

For any who are sad to see us go, there are still 40 issues of amazing dark fiction to read each filled with some of the best fiction I have ever read.

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Strange Nests is out now in Print – Again!

A relaunch of Strange Nests by Jessica McHugh, a book of Blackout Poetry inspired by The Secret Garden. Out now in paperback available all over, get your hands on this beautiful and dark collection of art and poems.

and in expanded eBook Distribution!

About Strange Nests

the secret about dying arrived scrawny. it’s growing stronger & fatter though & whispers,
“go mad.”

Beyond ancient gates, among thorny overgrowth and carnivorous blooms, a raven called Death waits tirelessly for its chance to roost within us. Using scraps of love, remorse, anger, and pain, it weaves. With erasure, memory, and discovery, it binds. And from the garden of wounds that grows within our broken hearts, it builds Strange Nests.

In the follow-up to her Bram Stoker and Elgin Award nominated collection, A Complex Accident of Life, Jessica McHugh uses poetry, design, and illustration to unearth the horrific, consumptive, and transformative nature of grief from the pages of the Frances Hodgson Burnett classic, The Secret Garden.

Jessica McHugh

Jessica McHugh is a novelist, poet, and internationally-produced playwright running amok in the fields of horror, sci-fi, young adult, and wherever else her peculiar mind leads. She’s had twenty-four books published in twelve years, including her bizarro romp, “The Green Kangaroos,” her YA series, “The Darla Decker Diaries,” and her blackout poetry collection, “A Complex Accident of Life.”

Please visit McHughniverse.com for more samples of the McHughniverse.

As well as both A Complex Accident of Life and Home Birth both published by Apokrupha!

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Strange Nests in Print!

The print edition of Jessica McHugh’s follow up to A Complex Accident of Life is here! (Finally)

We had some troubles with the KDP requirements (troubles Complex did not have…); and we are not going to compromise on this book. The book looks fantastic, and just as we want it, through Lulu! This title really shines in print, so we hope you’ll check it out.

Get the Print Edition!

the secret about dying arrived scrawny. it’s growing stronger & fatter though & whispers, “go mad.”

Beyond ancient gates, among thorny overgrowth and carnivorous blooms, a raven called Death waits tirelessly for its chance to roost within us. Using scraps of love, remorse, anger, and pain, it weaves. With erasure, memory, and discovery, it binds. And from the garden of wounds that grows within our broken hearts, it builds Strange Nests.

In the follow-up to her Bram Stoker and Elgin Award nominated collection, A Complex Accident of Life, Jessica McHugh uses poetry, design, and illustration to unearth the horrific, consumptive, and transformative nature of grief from the pages of the Frances Hodgson Burnett classic, The Secret Garden.

With an amazing cover by Lynne Hansen

Out today in eBook, print

And a PDF edition featuring the beautiful full spread of art and poetry available only on Apokrupha.com

Advanced Praise for Strange Nests

“Strange Nests is a brilliant collection of poems that speak in a subtle voice of deep darkness. Jessica McHugh conjures real magic here.”

—Jonathan Maberry, NYTimes bestselling author of Relentless and Ink

“Jessica McHugh finds the deep truths hidden in plain pages. This collection will plant rose bushes in your heart. You’ll feel every bloom and bleed with every thorn.”

—Sarah Read, Bram Stoker Award-Winning author of The Bone Weaver’s Orchard 

“Jessica McHugh’s Strange Nests is a beautiful, somber reflection on life, death, grief, and the bonds between siblings. A wondrous read that will lull you into a lovely breathless silence.”

—doungjai gam, author of glass slipper dreams, shattered

“McHugh’s newest offering of blackout poetry is more than words circled on printed pages, each set of two pages shows the original page covered in beautiful, colorful drawings, the poetry outlined and the second page with the reborn poems. The combination is two pages that visually excites our eyes and new poetry that touches our soul.”

—Linda D. Addison, award-winning author, HWA Lifetime Achievement Award recipient and SFPA Grand Master.

Jessica McHugh

Jessica McHugh is a novelist, poet, and internationally-produced playwright running amok in the fields of horror, sci-fi, young adult, and wherever else her peculiar mind leads. She’s had twenty-four books published in twelve years, including her bizarro romp, “The Green Kangaroos,” her YA series, “The Darla Decker Diaries,” and her blackout poetry collection, “A Complex Accident of Life.”

Please visit McHughniverse.com for more samples of the McHughniverse.

As well as both A Complex Accident of Life and Home Birth both published by Apokrupha!

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LampLight Special Submission Call

Update 9 Nov 2021, we are full, submissions are closed, thank you everyone who responded and supported!

“If accepted, this would be my first pro-sale.”

We are going to take a new turn for the submissions. The criteria to submit will be as follows, the following statement must be true:

“If accepted, this would be my first pro-sale.”

And to make that true, we will be raising our pay scale to match:

6¢ (USD) per word (based on HWA guidelines)
5100 words MAX (firm)

Yes, this lowers the max word count, but that is to keep within budget. So this go-round, we will not take any stories over the word count. We’ve added a 100 word buffer, so target that 5,000 word mark as a max. (For this call, strong 1,500 – 3,000 word stories will fair best.)

One of the things we’ve loved over the years is finding new writers and showcasing them for the first time. These two issues are going highlight new writers and hopefully be just the first of many times you will read their work.

Now, since there will no doubt be some questions, here are some answers:

FAQ

Can I submit a story 5200 words?

No, 5,000 words is the max, with a 100 word buffer.

But what if you just don’t pay for those extra words?

Then it wouldn’t be professional rate, and would miss the intention of the issue.

What if my pro-sale was at a lower pay rate years ago?

If it was the professional rate at the time, it counts as a pro-sale.

What if I’ve had a pro-sale in another form / genre?

If this is your first short story pro-sale then you may submit, even if you’ve had, for example, a professional non-fiction release. If you have short story pro-sales in other genres, however, you are not eligible for these issues.

What’s a ‘Pro-Sale’? In this context?

LampLight is a horror market, so we are going by HWA guidelines for this. A ‘pro-sale’ will be 5¢ per word for a fiction piece, regardless of length. 

This was a flash fiction sale, not a short story sale…

The demarcations between fiction pieces, like flash, short, novelette, are to let the reader know how long they are, and aren’t really different categories. If it was pro fiction sale, it counts.

Submissions

In your cover letter, please add the following statement: “If accepted, this would be my first pro-sale.”

We open up 15 September, so there is time. We are looking for dark, quiet horror. Guidelines are posted here, good luck! We are excited to read your work!

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LampLight Volume 9 Issue 3

April 2021

The new issue of LampLight is here!

A restless ghost searches for answers. What happens when the stage lights are turned off? A strange illness and secrets from the past collide. A garden of second chances. A new mother’s restless night. Memories of a better time, of a better holiday. and directions Joe Langley’s house

Fiction from:

  • Anya Ow
  • Travis Tyler Madden
  • Natasha Pavlitsevits
  • Gillian Knox
  • Lisa Amico Kristel
  • Amanda Michele
  • Victor Sweetser