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Darian Bianco

@darianbianco.bsky.social
86 followers 50 following 15 posts

Managing Editor at Apex Book Company. Writer. Reader. Teacher. Coffee Addict. Dog Mom. Rep: @allielevick.bsky.social

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Reposted by Darian Bianco
Apex Magazine and Book Company @apexmag.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
The Apex Magazine 2027 Kickstarter is ALIIIVE! 🎉🎉🎉 we have short story critiques, backer-exclusive anthologies, fresh new merch (which you can check out below) and more, PLUS a brand new Q&A with @lightspeedmagazine.com and @nightmare-magazine.com! ⬇️ www.kickstarter.com/projects/ape...
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RossyDoesDrawings (commissions open) @rossydoesdrawings.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Time of man over. It goblin time now.
a drawing of a goblin who is roaring, with their hands raised
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Apex Magazine and Book Company @apexmag.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Apex Book Company is thrilled to announce the acquisition of Far More Than Feather and Bone by @catherinemccarthy.bsky.social! 🦉🎪🔮 Faustian bargains, a dreamlike carnival, and sealing cosmic breaches throughout the land — a mix of horror, portal fiction, and Welsh folklore you won't want to miss! 🌟
apexbookcompany.com
Press Release: Apex Book Company Acquires FAR MORE THAN FEATHER AND BO
For Immediate Release September 4thLexington, KY: Apex Book Company is excited to announce the acquisition of Far More Than Feather and Bone by Catherine McCarthy. Pitched as blending the Faustian bar...
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Kendra, spooky version @kendrawcandraw.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Tim Curry and Dolly Parton have taught us not only that you should be bigger, weirder, gayer, and freakier, but also that those qualities are what people will love about you. The things that make you strange and amazing are the things that will resonate with other strange and amazing people
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Sarah Andersen @sarahseeandersen.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
The image is of a four panel comic.
Panel one shows a bone. The bone says, "I make stem cells!"
Panel two shows a pancreas. The pancreas says, "I make insulin!"
Panel three shows the bone and pancreas and now a brain. The brain says "I make scenarios!"
Panel four shows the bone, pancreas, and brain. The brain is on fire.
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Apex Magazine and Book Company @apexmag.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
Apex is thrilled to announce the acquisition of BLESSINGS FROM WAR ISLAND by @scribblermiller.bsky.social! 🎉 For fans of John Wiswell and Martha Wells comes an anti-capitalist contemporary fantasy in which an ancient autistic war goddess faces her mightiest foe: predatory lenders ⚔️💰🕊️ Out July 2027!
apexbookcompany.com
Press Release: Apex Book Company Acquires BLESSINGS FROM WAR ISLAND by
For Immediate Release July 3rd, 2026Lexington, KY: Apex Book Company is excited to announce the acquisition of Blessings from War Island by Janna Miller. Pitched as resting between the literary style ...
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Apex Magazine and Book Company @apexmag.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
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...
Violet Lichen Books OPEN TO QUERIES. We are seeking: speculative ecofiction, folk horror, weird and New Weird, literary scifi. 30-45k words. Closes June 30th, 2026.

Read the full guidelines: www.violetlichen.com/submissions
Query Portal: www.querytracker.net/query/violetlichen
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Apex Magazine and Book Company @apexmag.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
We're so excited to share Sally's historical fantasy novella with readers next May! 🎉 Look forward to long nights in a midwife's woodland cottage, motherly bears and wolves, and a child raised by the forest itself 🌿🍼🌰 Full description available in our press release below.
apexbookcompany.com
Press Release — Apex Book Company Acquires THEY ARE ALL HER CHILDREN b
For Immediate Release 5/8/26Lexington, KY: Apex Book Company is excited to announce the acquisition of They Are All Her Children by Sally Sultzman. Pitched as Premee Mohamed's The Butcher of the Fores...
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Reading Is Sexy @readingissexy.bsky.social · 02/05/2026
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@OldAndCranky @oldandcranky.bsky.social · 17/04/2026
I love reading novels. I’m always amazed by folks who don’t read fiction. There is nothing better, to me, than being in the middle of a book that you can’t wait to return to. It’s like living two lives at once.
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Beca Dreadful 🖤🌙 @becadreads.bsky.social · 09/04/2026
(•_•) <) )╯i do not / \ (•_•) \( (> want AI / \ (•_•) <) )╯near my books / \ 💙📚 #booksky
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Social Scott @social-scott.bsky.social · 27/03/2026
#books #reading #writingcommunity #wolves #funny #booksky
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Apex Magazine and Book Company @apexmag.bsky.social · 19/03/2026
"What I love most about the world of Plague Birds is how many dreams and ideas it contains." 💬 @jasonsanford.bsky.social and Apex Managing Editor @darianbianco.bsky.social discuss the origins of PLAGUE BIRDS in a new three-part interview series, out now on the Apex blog!
apexbookcompany.com
Interview Series with Jason Sanford! Part One: The Past
The reissue of Jason Sanford's Nebula and Philip K. Dick Award-nominated novel, Plague Birds: The Red Day Edition, will be coming out this June. In anticipation and celebration, we're doing a series o...
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Trung Le Nguyen @trungles.com · 26/02/2026
I know it’s difficult right now, but I insist that you seek and enjoy beautiful things, even if it seems frivolous or irresponsible in the face of overwhelming horror. I want you to feed yourself artistically, spiritually, and literally, because you can’t Do The Work when you’re starving.
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Trung Le Nguyen @trungles.com · 31/01/2026
It always feels like all the wrong people die, but I think it’s because there are far more beloved people than there are bastards.
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The Haunted Bookshop @thehauntedbookshop.com · 19/01/2026
Look, there are two things killing bookstores, and neither one is ebooks. One is rent. The other is *waves hands vaguely* everything costing too damn much.
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Sarah Kurpiel @sarahkurpiel.bsky.social · 02/01/2026
Resolutions | Lucky Bug comic no. 15 If you'd like to receive Lucky Bug comics in your inbox, sign up for my email newsletter, Say It with Pictures: sarahkurpiel.substack.com
Four panel comic: Panel 1: Sporting a party hat, Terrance (spider) shows Penny (ladybug) a list of things he plans to change about himself in the new year. Panel 2: Penny thinks to herself, "I should make a list too." Panel 3: Penny writes a list. Panel 4: Penny shows Terrance a list of things she likes about him.
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Darian Bianco @darianbianco.bsky.social · 01/01/2026
Working on a spec project that I always describe as BRIDGE TO TERABITHIA, but with the kids all grown up. Spent all December resting, now it’s time to jump back in!
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CL Hellisen @clhellisen.com · 28/12/2025
We really need to bring back a focus on reading comprehension
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The Fake History Hunter @fakehistoryhunter.net · 23/12/2025
On a totally unrelated note, did I mention I wrote a book?
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Josh Cook @joshthelibromancer.bsky.social · 21/12/2025
You start to get cynical & bitter & then you find out one of your state's snow plows this year is named Clearopathra & you remember there is no limit to human brilliance
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Mike Z @mikez.bsky.social · 21/12/2025
On the first night of winter, St. Nautilus flies through the air, pelting good children with candy and dousing the naughty ones in ink.
A drawing of a cephalopod in a Santa hat hovering over a town, dropping candy.
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Lee Knox Ostertag @leeknoxostertag.bsky.social · 18/12/2025
what I want trans kids, queer kids, and gender nonconforming kids to know: you are loved you are so much more powerful than the ghouls using your healthcare as a political pawn, and you WILL outlive them (they know this, and it is why they're attacking you)
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Roxane Gay @roxanegay.bsky.social · 13/12/2025
Each semester I go in my classroom and I try to figure out what we would use to block the doors, if it would be safe to crawl out the windows, where we could hide if there was a mass shooter in campus. It’s such an indictment of this country how we have normalized these preventable tragedies.
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Better Things Are Possible @internethippo.bsky.social · 09/12/2025
One of the many reasons AI can't produce good writing is it can't hate its own writing. It can't think to itself "Maybe I'm illiterate" during the writing process. And that's essential
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Apex Magazine and Book Company @apexmag.bsky.social · 02/12/2025
Nominations for ECO25 are OPEN 🌍🌱✨ We look forward to reading your best 2025 ecofiction! Get the full details in our blog post announcement below ⬇️ Full guidelines: apexbookcompany.moksha.io/publication/... Submission Portal: apexbookcompany.moksha.io/publication/...
apexbookcompany.com
Nominations for ECO25 Now Open!
ECO: The Year’s Best Speculative Ecofiction is an annual showcase of some of the most compelling and thought-provoking ecofiction published every year. If you published speculative ecofiction in 2025 ...
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Apex Magazine and Book Company @apexmag.bsky.social · 18/11/2025
🌼🌒🌓🌔 HAPPY ECO EQUINOX 🌖🌗🌘🌼 ECO24: THE YEAR'S BEST SPECULATIVE ECOFICTION has been released into the world! We are honored to share these author's stories with you, and look forward to continuing the legacy of ECO for many years to come. 🍄💜 👽🖤 Order ECO24: www.apexbookcompany.com/products/eco...
"ECO24: THE YEAR'S BEST SPECULATIVE ECOFICTION. OUT NOW. www.apexbookcompany.com"
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andy vs. @im-all-id.me · 02/11/2025
I don't want AI. I want to stop filling out my entire medical history every time I go to the same doctor
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Saeed Jones @theferocity.bsky.social · 15/10/2025
To become dependent on ChapGPT is to evacuate yourself from your own life. YIKES, no thanks. I’m gonna be alive inside every damn thing I do, even and especially the ish I don’t wanna do.
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Apex Magazine and Book Company @apexmag.bsky.social · 01/10/2025
Apex Magazine 2026 is A Project We Love on Kickstarter!! ❤️🍾🥂🎉 Thank you to everyone who's donated so far! If you haven't checked us out yet, don't be shy! There's room for everyone at the monster mash 👻🪦 www.kickstarter.com/projects/ape...
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Lesley Conner @lesleyconner.bsky.social · 30/09/2025
Apex stands with @kickstarterunited.org . We're planning to go ahead with launching our Kickstarter tomorrow because they said to do this on their GoFundMe page. You can read our full announcement here: www.apexbookcompany.com/a/blog/apex-...
apexbookcompany.com
Kickstarter Announcement
As you probably know, Apex Magazine is launching our Kickstarter to fund 2026 tomorrow, October 1st. Today it came to our attention...
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Apex Magazine and Book Company @apexmag.bsky.social · 26/09/2025
New Patreon Post: "Apex in October 2025" 🧛🎃👻 Check out the PACKED lineup of events we have in store!! And get all the info about our 2026 Kickstarter, guidelines for our open submission period, and the COVER REVEAL for our October issue of Apex Magazine! 🖼️ You don't want to miss this one!! ⬇️
patreon.com
Apex in October 2025 | Apex Books & Apex Magazine
Get more from Apex Books & Apex Magazine on Patreon
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Apex Magazine and Book Company @apexmag.bsky.social · 26/09/2025
APEX MAGAZINE OCTOBER ISSUE COVER REVEAL!!! 🎉🎃🌳 Starring the whimsical, Autumnal comfort of "Hedge Grandmother" by @natasailincic.bsky.social! 🎨🖼️ Cover Design by Justin Stewart. For more information on our upcoming issue, read "Apex in October 2025" on www.patreon.com/posts/apex-i...
A painting of a grandmother growing out of a hedgerow at night. A cloud of golden fireflies floats out of her ribcage.
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Better Things Are Possible @internethippo.bsky.social · 08/08/2025
All my friends should be made to live walking distance from me. I don't care if this massively upends their lives
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sithiaditu @sithiaditu.bsky.social · 21/09/2025
Do you remember.... m.youtube.com/watch?v=Gs06...
m.youtube.com
Earth, Wind & Fire - September (Official HD Video)
YouTube video by EarthWindandFireVEVO
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Apex Magazine and Book Company @apexmag.bsky.social · 03/09/2025
And just when you thought our great news was over 👀👀👀... We're holding an OPEN READING PERIOD for novella and novel submissions November 3RD-14TH! Bring us your best strange fantasy, beautiful horror, and surreal scifi! 🖤👽 Full details in the link below! ⬇️ www.apexbookcompany.com/pages/submis...
apexbookcompany.com
Submissions
2025 has been a standout year in terms of the amazing projects we've been able to publish at Apex Book Company. We've had the pleasure of giving homes to titles such as ChloroPhilia, The Map of Lost P...
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Kelly Turnbull @coelasquid.bsky.social · 31/08/2025
Sometimes we’re unsatisfied with a thing we made because when it only existed in our head, we saw all the things it could have been and when it’s done we know all the things that it isn’t, but we can’t see the way it expands into a million new things when someone else unpacks it in their head. 🖊️🦑
Frustrated little dude gripping a pencil saying “how do I pack this down into something I can actually share?” While swirling rainbows labeled “INFINITE POTENTIAL” float around them.

Little dude frowns at a tiny grey box, exclaiming “all that work for THIS?!”

Little dude shoves the grey box into another little guy’s hands; Frowning, stomping off, and saying “Here you go, I made this, it sucks.”

Second little dude cracks open the box, swirling rainbows project out onto their face.

Second little dude stares in awe at all the swirling rainbows now floating around them.
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Apex Magazine and Book Company @apexmag.bsky.social · 27/08/2025
THE SUPERBLOOM HAS ARRIVED 🏵️🌹🪷🌻🌷🌼💮 @marissavu.bsky.social and the Violet Lichen team are thrilled to present the cover for ECO24: THE YEAR'S BEST SPECULATIVE FICTION! 🌿 Cover Art: @tropicalgloom.bsky.social Cover Design: Mikio Murakami @ Silent Q Design
Cover art featuring a large, extraterrestrial pink hibiscus. Text reads in geometric font: "The Year's Best Speculative Ecofiction. ECO24. Edited By Marissa van Uden"
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Emily✨ @emilyoram.bsky.social · 22/08/2025
I’m afraid to say this is very attractive. Got to love a passionate nerd. He knows his shit.
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Apex Magazine and Book Company @apexmag.bsky.social · 20/08/2025
THE TIME IS NIGH DO NOT LOOK AWAY FOR WE ARE BLESSED WITH BLOSSOMS AUGUST 27TH THE SUPERBLOOM BEGINS 🌱🍄🌓👁🌿☁️ 🌷👁🫧🌳👁👁🌼👁🌲👁👁👁👁
grainy camera footage of a sprouting plant with long tendrils. Text in top right corner reads:
"Observation Report #1
exohibiscuc pholiota fumo
- No sigh of decay or disease on flower bud or tendrils
- Continues to emit spores; sample collected for testing
- Minimal DNA similarities to catalogued species
- Approximate time until bloom: (7) Days
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Thomas Lecaque @tlecaque.bsky.social · 19/08/2025
"How bad slavery was" is worse. Much worse. Much worse than you think, much worse than you're taught, much worse than museums depict. Worse.
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Gwenda Bond @gwenda.bsky.social · 04/08/2025
Psst, Lexington peoples! We're throwing a party at the Loudon House later this month -- free and fun will be had! (Shiny graphic by @joshaboldt.bsky.social!)
Nevermore Literary Carnival 

Come one, come all. Step right up…and venture into the Nevermore Literary Carnival, where language comes alive and the words take center stage. Hosted by the Lexington Writer’s Room, this one-of-a-kind event invites you to explore an interactive world of literary fun—from crafting poems with magnetic words and blackout pages to clacking out your thoughts on vintage typewriters. Meet local writers and listen to them read, or step up to the open mic and deliver your own reading. Spin the Plot Twister prize wheel for a chance to win bookish goodies, gift cards, and other mysterious surprises. Whether you're a seasoned writer or just lit-curious, the Nevermore Carnival is open to all who believe in the magic of the written word.

Where: The Loudon House, 209 Castlewood Dr, Lexington, KY 40505
When: August 22nd, 2025 from 6-9pm, Open Mic at 7:30 p.m.
What: Come to write, come to read, come to listen, come to win. Live music by Paradocx. Daughter’s Southern Food Truck and West Sixth Brewing will be on site. Costumes welcome, but not required.
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Nat Cassidy @natcassidy.bsky.social · 24/07/2025
Among the greatest promotional photos of all time are these for the 1990 television movie of IT, where it looks like a prestige legal drama about a firm of hot young lawyers and one associate who likes to dress up like a clown.
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The Other Happy Place @theotherhappyplace.bsky.social · 29/04/2025
Being an artist is like "when i finish this art project i am going to reward myself for working so hard by making this new art project" Over and over until you die.
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Ville Sinkkonen @villesinkkonen.bsky.social · 26/06/2025
Once more some mammoths
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Roxane Gay @roxanegay.bsky.social · 19/06/2025
Yes. I am right. I am seeing how Chat GPT is ruining students critical thinking and writing skills in real time. It is not the future. It is a tool designed to render the populace helpless, to make people doubt their innate intelligence, and to foster overreliance on technology.
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Elias Eells- Bar Cart Bookshelf @eliaseells.bsky.social · 05/06/2025
It’s my birthday and in true hobbitish fashion, I want to give a gift to you! Like, reskeet, and follow to win a signed copy of COCKTAILS AND CONSOLES. After all, it’s not a party without great games and delicious drinks. Cheers!
Self portrait on the porch holding a copy of COCKTAILS AND CONSOLES by Elias Eells (illustrated by Solji Lee)
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John Scalzi @scalzi.com · 23/05/2025
1. Every once in a while I’ll read about or be told about or see nominated for an award a novel that, when I read it for myself, I don’t understand what the fuss is about; it’s something I don’t find particularly interesting or worthy of the praise. And when that happens, do you know what I do?
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Apex Magazine and Book Company @apexmag.bsky.social · 29/04/2025
The fog has cleared. The gates are open. Welcome to THE MAP OF LOST PLACES. ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK. ☠️☠️☠️ www.apexbookcompany.com/products/the...
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Apex Magazine and Book Company @apexmag.bsky.social · 21/03/2025
Thank you to author @cristinajurado.bsky.social for sitting down with Apex Managing Editor @darianbianco.bsky.social to chat about her recently-published ecohorror novella, CHLOROPHILIA! Purchase your copy of CHLOROPHILIA here: www.apexbookcompany.com/products/chl... Watch the interview below! 📺⬇️
youtube.com
LIBRISIMO ESPECIAL Cristina Jurado
YouTube video by CJ
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