Violet Lichen Books

Apex Book Company is delighted to announce the launch of a new imprint, Violet Lichen Books, to be headed by Editor-in-Chief Marissa van Uden. Violet Lichen Books aims to publish unique novella-length horror, and dark fiction, focusing especially on New Weird, Weird, folk horror, eco-horror, and eco-science-fiction. 

Inspired by the mysterious beauty of lichens growing in shadowy woods and the surreal drama of violet shades in nature, Violet Lichen fully embraces the weird, strange, and uncanny. It aims to leave readers feeling a little changed and disquieted, as if they have just emerged from under a strange spell.

Violet Lichen’s goal is to work closely with authors in an ethical and caring way, and to get more brilliant, weird fiction into more readers’ hands. We hope to have our launch title in mid-2025.

Violet Lichen will be distributed via Diamond Books Distributors through Apex Publications.

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About the Editor: Marissa van Uden is a New Zealander who is now living her best bog-witch life in rural Vermont, in a little cabin in the woods. She’s a professional manuscript editor with more than 15 years experience, a staff interviewer at Apex Magazine, and an anthologist (Apex Magazine’s Strange Microfiction series and The Off-Season: An Anthology of Coastal New Weird – forthcoming). Her stories have appeared in Vastarian, Dark Matter Magazine, and others. She loves weird and disquieting fiction, all the creatures, and eerie forests filled with strange fungi.