Apex is a monthly on-line magazine edited by Jason Sizemore among others.
Everything is available in HTML from
the magazine's site,
and it can be bought in various other formats.
Words from the Editor-in-Chief by Jason Sizemore wonders whether to
continue the print edition (it has just enough subscribers to fund
itself, apparently).
Toward a New Lexicon of Augury by Sabrina Vourvoulias has a city
where electricity has been "privatized", i.e. made unavailable, and
non-rich people need a friend with a biodiesel-fuelled generator if
they're going to get power (as in The Windup Girl nobody has solar
cells); and it has the magic of the streets, of the forgotten tias and
aunties and bibis, fighting back against the Man while never becoming
enough of a threat to get stamped on. Either of these would have made
a fine premise for a story; both together, for me, makes this too
crowded, particularly once it becomes clear that the Man has his own
magic.
Godzilla vs Buster Keaton, Or: I Didn’t Even Need a Map by Gary A.
Braunbeck is a meditation on grief, and on a possible way to deal with
it. It feels rather old-fashioned in its approach to computers, and to
life in general, but it's an interesting concept which doesn't go far
enough.
Master Brahms by Storm Humbert has a group of clones living
together, set up to share the memories of the original… but one of
them has been killed. This isn't a whodunnit (though that would have
been an interesting challenge), but more an examination of the
meaningfulness of distinction; its reach exceeds its grasp but it
still manages to have intriguing ideas.
Riding the Signal by Gary Kloster is a reprint from 2012: our
viewpoint character is a mercenary in remote-controlled warfare, but
the violence is about to come home. Quite surprisingly, given the lack
of original ideas here (Forever Peace came out in 1997), there's one
really good bit: the psychological effect of accepting that, yes,
we're naffed and probably going to die here, but we still aren't going
to make it easy for the enemy… but then the story fumbles the
conclusion, making it look as if it's just chapter one of something
larger.
Boy A, Girl A, Slender Man by Paul Jessup considers the
psychological effect of reading news stories about children killing
each other. Are there mythic patterns to them? Doesn't really go
anywhere but at least it's original writing rather than just rehashing
details of the cases.
Words for Thought by A.C. Wise reviews various recent short stories,
one of which I've read; well, this is more summary than review.
Interview with Author Storm Humbert by Andrea Johnson suffers from
the interviewer being too impressed with the story to ask anything
more than standard questions.
Again, no Hugo nominations, though it's a step up overall from last
month.
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