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a quarterly live stream featuring three professional editors who offer feedback on the first page (up to 250 words) on unpublished genre short stories submitted by Apex Magazine subscribers and Patreon backers.
Our third Snap Judgement event was Sunday, January 23rd, 2022. Our host and narrator for the event was Alyson Grauer and our special guest panelist was Arley Sorg, a 2021 World Fantasy Award finalist, co-editor of Fantasy Magazine, and senior editor of Locus Magazine!
how it works
Our host will read 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 their hand. If all three hands are raised, our narrator stops reading.
Each panelist then gives feedback on the 250-word opening: what works, what doesn’t, and what could be done to improve it. Don’t expect our panelists to be a mean group, but do expect them to be honest and truthful when it comes to assessing the work.
participant bios
Host & Narrator – Alyson Grauer
Alyson Grauer is an author, actor, and podcaster based out of Chicago. Her first novel, On the Isle of Sound and Wonder, is a steampunk Shakespeare retelling. Her short fiction has appeared in Apparition Lit, Cast of Wonders, and several indie anthologies. Her audio production work can be heard on such podcasts as Skyjacks: Courier’s Call, The Write Mindset, Warda, and the One Shot Podcast Secret Archive. She’s also known for performing at renaissance faires and world-class theme parks. Find her at dreamstobecome.com or on Twitter & Instagram @dreamstobecome.
Special Guest – Arley Sorg
Arley Sorg is co-editor-in-chief of Fantasy Magazine (with Christie Yant) and a 2021 World Fantasy Award finalist. He is also senior editor at Locus Magazine, where he’s been on staff since 2014. He joined the Lightspeed family in 2014 to work on the Queers Destroy Science Fiction! special issue, starting as a slush reader. He eventually worked his way up to associate editor at both Lightspeed and Nightmare. He also reviews books for Locus and Lightspeed, is an interviewer for Clarkesworld Magazine, and a columnist for The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. Arley grew up in England, Hawaii, and Colorado, and studied Asian Religions at Pitzer College. He lives in Oakland and, in non-pandemic times, likes to write in local coffee shops. He is a 2014 Odyssey Writing Workshop graduate.
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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