RogerBW's Blog

Apex 119, April 2019 22 May 2019

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. (But I gather that it's stopping with the May issue, so don't rush to subscribe.)

Words from the Editor-in-Chief by Jason Sizemore says that he's back in the saddle after mandibular surgery.

Professor Strong and the Brass Boys by Amal Singh has oppressed robots discovering that they're oppressed, and trying to break free of it. Naturally it stops just when an important decision would be made; the atmosphere is decent, but I don't like the lack of plot.

All Votes Will Be Counted (We Promise) by Paul Crenshaw seems to be trying to be a cautionary tale about how we need politicians. In its world, they've been replaced by instant democracy: everyone has to get together for a vote a few times a week, but spoiling your ballot paper gets you a visit from the Feds, and because everyone votes all the time and treats it as a game, nobody much cares when the ballot for war doesn't have a "no" tickbox. Interesting ideas but it fails to be more than a cautionary tale.

Face by Veronica Brush works a little too obviously towards its twist in the tail, but does a decent job getting there.

A Fool's Baneful Gallantry by Derek Lubangakene is fantasy, about a doomed party on a quest during which everything goes wrong. It's all very grim and miserable and while there is some redeeming virtue, I kept being thrown out of the flow by the odd use of language. Could have used an editor.

Only problem with that plan was getting Adzala away from the Amghar, who though burdensome, could speak the tongue of the shadowbinderfolk, without which Jasiri and Mikaya would surely be slain.

(It's Adzala who speaks it, not the Amghar.)

She needs to … ride northwards—north be south of where the sun westers.

(Huh?)

The Pros and Cons of Stage Directions by Alethea Kontis reveals that when Kontis is reeling off dialogue she punctuates it with stage directions (she was briefly a child star) rather than more serious non-dialogue description, then has to go back and revise it.

Interview with Author Amal Singh by Andrea Johnson doesn't add much to the story.

Again, nothing that grabs me in this issue.

[Buy this at Amazon] and help support the blog. ["As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases."]

Previous in series: Apex 118, March 2019 | Series: Apex | Next in series: Apex 120, May 2019

Comments on this post are now closed. If you have particular grounds for adding a late comment, comment on a more recent post quoting the URL of this one.

Search
Archive
Tags 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 3d printing action advent of code aeronautics aikakirja anecdote animation anime army astronomy audio audio tech base commerce battletech beer boardgaming book of the week bookmonth chain of command children chris chronicle church of no redeeming virtues cold war comedy computing contemporary cornish smuggler cosmic encounter coup covid-19 crime crystal cthulhu eternal cycling dead of winter doctor who documentary drama driving drone ecchi economics en garde espionage essen 2015 essen 2016 essen 2017 essen 2018 essen 2019 essen 2022 essen 2023 existential risk falklands war fandom fanfic fantasy feminism film firefly first world war flash point flight simulation food garmin drive gazebo genesys geocaching geodata gin gkp gurps gurps 101 gus harpoon historical history horror hugo 2014 hugo 2015 hugo 2016 hugo 2017 hugo 2018 hugo 2019 hugo 2020 hugo 2021 hugo 2022 hugo 2023 hugo 2024 hugo-nebula reread in brief avoid instrumented life javascript julian simpson julie enfield kickstarter kotlin learn to play leaving earth linux liquor lovecraftiana lua mecha men with beards mpd museum music mystery naval noir non-fiction one for the brow opera parody paul temple perl perl weekly challenge photography podcast politics postscript powers prediction privacy project woolsack pyracantha python quantum rail raku ranting raspberry pi reading reading boardgames social real life restaurant reviews romance rpg a day rpgs ruby rust scala science fiction scythe second world war security shipwreck simutrans smartphone south atlantic war squaddies stationery steampunk stuarts suburbia superheroes suspense television the resistance the weekly challenge thirsty meeples thriller tin soldier torg toys trailers travel type 26 type 31 type 45 vietnam war war wargaming weather wives and sweethearts writing about writing x-wing young adult
Special All book reviews, All film reviews
Produced by aikakirja v0.1