Snap Judgement is a quarterly live stream featuring three professional editors who offer feedback on the first page (up to 250 words) on unpublished genre short stories submitted by Apex Magazine subscribers and Patreon backers.
This Snap Judgement stream originally aired on Sunday, July 25, 2021. Our host and narrator for the inaugural event was book reviewer Andrea Johnson. Apex Magazine editors Jason Sizemore and Lesley Conner were joined by special guest Mike Allen, publisher and editor of Mythic Delirium Books and the popular Clockwork Phoenix series of anthologies!
HOW IT WORKS
Our narrator reads the submissions aloud to the panel. The excerpts are presented without any identifying information to the panelists and viewers. If at any point our panelists feel they would stop reading and reject the piece, they raise a hand. If all three hands are raised, our narrator stops reading.
Each panelist then provides feedback on the 250-word opening: what works, what doesn’t, and what could be done to improve it. Our panelists gives an honest and truthful assessment of the work, but the feedback is provided in a kind and encouraging manner.
When finished, the narrator reads the randomly selected excerpt. This continues for 90 minutes. Generally, 8 to 12 pieces are evaluated by the panel in that time frame.
Participant Bios
Host & Narrator – Andrea Johnson
Andrea Johnson is a blogger and reviewer of science fiction and fantasy books, cooking, life in the Midwest, and other random things. Her blog is called the The Little Red Reviewer.
Special Guest – Mike Allen
Mike Allen wears many hats: as editor and publisher of Mythic Delirium Books, he’s twice been a nominee for the World Fantasy Award, and he’s a three-time winner of the Rhysling Award for speculative poetry. His writing has also been nominated twice for the Shirley Jackson Award. His other books include the dark fantasy novel The Black Fire Concerto, weird science fiction collection The Spider Tapestries, and poetry collections Strange Wisdoms of the Dead and Hungry Constellations. He’s had new short stories and poetry appear in Lackington’s magazine and The Deadlands. You can follow his exploits as an editor at mythicdelirium.com and as a writer at descentintolight.com.
Lesley Conner & Jason Sizemore
Jason Sizemore is the publisher of Apex Book Company and Apex Magazine. He is a former editor-in-chief of Apex Magazine and currently functions as the editor-in-chief of Apex Book Company.
Lesley Conner is the editor-in-chief of the award-winning genre short fiction publication Apex Magazine.
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