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 confirms that 80
subscribers isn't enough to pay for the print edition.
The Pulse of Memory by Beth Dawkins has a fine central conceit: on a
generation ship, when you get old enough you're fed to the fish, who
capture your stored memories. When they come of age, children catch
and eat a fish, and gain those memories. It's a way of making sure
vital knowledge is passed on. But while the story builds up towards a
narrative of rebellion, it sputters out without anyone achieving
anything.
The Great Train Robbery by Lavie Tidhar is a psychedelic story of a
dream-world, and the train that runs across it. It's full of
unexplained terms and really feels more like a wallow in imagery than
like anything that's supposed to make sense – even the idea that some
people in this world take drugs to experience visions of "themselves"
in a grey and mundane world isn't really developed. It feels more like
a trailer for a book than a story in itself.
The Small White by Marian Coman tells of weirdness in pre-collapse
Romania; again, good imagery but it doesn't go anywhere.
Bone Song by Aja McCullough is a short piece that fits on the side
of The Bonny Swans: how does the miller feel about the instrument
he's made? It's a study in minature of the positive side of obsession,
and really rather fine.
With These Hands by LH Moore is a tale of the slaves building what
will one day be the White House; weird magical people do… something.
Writing Wrongly by Daniel M. Bensen describes how he got back into
writing after various surgeries related to a bowel cancer.
Words for Thought with A.C. Wise feels like cheating notes on each
story, in case you're called on to talk about them but don't want to
take the time read them for youself. It probably doesn't help that I
haven't in fact read any of the stories that are mentioned.
Interview with Author Beth Dawkins by Andrea Johnson is sadly
shallow.
Last month I said "If the next issue isn't at least a bit better I'll
probably stop reading regularly", but while Bone Song isn't
substantial enough to get a Hugo nomination it is why I'll come back
next month.
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