Apex Publications Announces Upside Down: Inverted Tropes in Storytelling

upsidedown001-minFollowing a successful Kickstarter campaign, Apex Publications has released Upside Down: Inverted Tropes in Storytelling edited by Jaym Gates and Monica Valentinelli. Over two dozen authors chose a tired trope or cliché to challenge and surprise readers through their work.

Each author in this collection has examined a specific trope or cliché that includes:

  • Chainmaille Bikini
  • The Magical Negro
  • The Super Soldier
  • The Chosen One
  • Guys Smash, Girls Shoot
  • Love at First Sight
  • Damsels in Distress
  • Heroine Loves a Bad Man
  • Yellow Peril
  • The Black Man Dies First
  • The Villain Had a Crappy Childhood
  • The City Planet
  • Prostitute with a Heart of Gold
  • The Singularity Will Cause the Apocalypse
  • First Period Panic
  • Girlfriend in the Refrigerator
  • Retired Pro’s “Last” Job

And each author tells what these tropes mean to them and what inspired their story.

Contributors include Maurice Broaddus, Adam Troy-Castro, Delilah S. Dawson, Shanna Germain, Sara M. Harvey, John Hornor Jacobs, Rahul Kanakia, Alethea Kontis, Valya Dudycz Lupescu, Haralambi Markov, Kat Richardson, Nisi Shawl, Ferrett Steinmetz, Anton Strout, Michael Underwood, and Alyssa Wong.

Upside Down is editor Jaym Gates’s (War Stories) second anthology with Apex Book Company, and it is the first for editor Monica Valentinelli.