Welcome back! Join me as I pull back the curtain to share whats been going on Beyond the Outer Realm!
The year started off with a bang! The relaunch of Siphon and the release of FANGS were well received near and far but let’s move on what’s coming up shall we?
Now, it’s possible you haven’t heard via one of our various Social Media accounts but APPALACHIAN HORROR is pretty much done! There are a few tweaks that are being made but for all intents and purposes, it’s done. The cover looks amazing (design by A.A. Medina) and guest editor Bo Chappell did a phenomenal job curating the talent as well as providing all the interior art as well. Here’s the cover again–just can’t help showing it off.
Stay tuned for that May 15th, 2019.
We’re ramping up content on our website. Surprise! If you haven’t received a response from us for a while–don’t worry we’re working on it. We’ve been laying the ground work for something bigger that we think you’ll like–more on that a little later.
FLASH FICTION: We’re in it. We’re about it. Bring it on. Maura Yzmore’s story, The Gold and Sand of Dhahab, really kicked things off right with an extremely strange and sinister tale. With that said, we’re officially open for Flash Fiction. Check out our Submissions page for those guidelines.
NON-FICTION: We’re also going to be increasing our content with Book Reviews and Articles from three new contributors that have joined the team. I’m sure you recognize their names from the horror community. 
Be sure to welcome them to the team next time you see them around the Realm!
Now, just because we’ve added a few members to our team, doesn’t mean we’re closing down submissions to Non-Fiction content. We’ll happily look at any Movie, Book, or TV review as well as read any Article you wish to submit.
PODCASTS: Say what? Yep! That’s right. We’ve wanted to expand the Realm into other types of media since Aphotic Realm’s inception. However, this was more a long term goal. Well, stars aligned and an opportunity came a long and we are very happy to announce that Leo X. Robertson will be bringing back his long running, Losing the Plot and partnering with us! What does that mean exactly? Well, it’s the same old podcast that you love, just produced by Aphotic Realm. We’re excited to be working with Leo on this venture. Stay tuned for more as we get everything lined up–however, I can say, expect the first episode to drop sometime in May.
There are a few other projects in the works as well– but more on those at a later date.
STORE: Soon we’re going to have all kinds of merchandise with brand new designs all on our very own site! Some of you may have seen one of the early designs that got blasted around to all of our social media pages. We should have the first design/proof from the printer soon to verify quality and such. We’ll keep you posted as we know more and of course, when this goes LIVE!
PATREON: The theme with this post is expansion. We’re really expanding our horizons. In 2018 we started offering token payments on our smaller anthologies and that felt like a great start but we want to do more. We also wanted to create a fun and interactive way to provide more to you all. Patreon was the obvious choice. The money given by our Patrons will help alleviate the costs involved with Aphotic Realm as well as working our way from token payments to pro-rates as we’ve always desired.
One other change Patreon brings will be to our Free To Read section of our Fiction Stories. Our entire Archive will be moving to Patreon exclusive save for the last handful of stories. So as I dive into the breakdown of the packages, when I say, “Story Archive” I’m referring to the Patreon exclusive story archive.
Without further ado, here are tiers we will be launching with on Patreon:
- REALMER $1.00/Month:
- Instant Access to the Story Archive on AphoticRealm.com
- Early Access to multimedia content. Including, but not limited to: podcasts and videos.
- Participation! Including, but not limited to: voting on future Aphotic Realm Magazine issue and anthology themes and cover art.
- A SHOUT OUT in all future Aphotic Realm Magazine issues and anthologies.
- WANDERER $3.00/Month:
- Everything from the Realmer Tier (above)
- PLUS! Access to digital downloads of all books – excluding magazine issues – like Tales From The Realm, Grimdark Grimoires: Volume One, the upcoming Appalachian Horror edited by Bo Chappell, and A. A. Medina’s debut novella, Siphon. This also includes any future publications that will be available for download one month after the official publication date.
Those are our initial tiers as we gage interest and pave the way to do more. At this time we have two “stretch goals” in the form of additional tiers.
Once we get to 25 Patrons, the Dweller Tier will unlock. The Dweller Tier, once unlocked, will be as follows:
- DWELLER Tier
- Everything from Realmer and Wanderer Tiers
- PLUS! Aphotic Realm Magazine Subscription (physical copies). Issues are published in March, July, and November. *
*[Note: must be an active Dweller for two months prior to the publication date of the forthcoming issue before subscription is officially activated. Example: Unlocking The Dweller Tier in January will make your first issue of the subscription start the following March, but unlocking in March, you will get the following July issue sent to you.]
Once we get to 50 Patrons, the Zealot Tier will unlock.
- ZEALOT Tier
- Everything from Realmer, Wanderer, and Dweller Tiers
- PLUS! Physical copies of all future anthologies and books – must unlock this tier one month prior to official publication date to qualify.
- As long as there are (15)fifteen Patreons within The Zealot Tier, at the time of a magazine release (March, July, November) a Zealot drawn at random will receive a package of assorted merchandise – such as shirts, stickers, pins, bookmarks, etc. – pertaining to Aphotic Realm and/or the current issue’s theme.
If this sounds like something you’re interested in, check it out here! www.patreon.com/AphoticRealm/
So that was a lot to throw at you! In summary: we’re planning on more content, podcasts, fiction, non-fiction, and Patreon. We couldn’t be more excited to bring all of this to you!
Let us know what you think! See you around the Realm!
Stay Strange,
Dustin
The Aphotic Realm Team
