Apex Magazine Issue 73

Apex Magazine #73

by Jason Sizemore (Editor)

Apex Magazine is a monthly science fiction, fantasy, and horror magazine featuring original, mind-bending short fiction from many of the top pros of the field. New issues are released on the first Tuesday of every month.


Edited by Hugo Award-nominated editor Jason Sizemore.


TABLE OF CONTENTS
FICTION
Inhabiting Your Skin--Mari Ness
Proximity--Alex Livingston
Foreclosure--DJ Cockburn
Mud Holes and Mississippi Mules--Malon Edwards (eBook/Subscriber exclusive)


NONFICTION
Building Book Events to Build Community in SFF--Ardi Alspach
Interview with Mari Ness--Andrea Johnson
Interview with Tori K. Roman--Russell Dickerson
Clavis Aurea: A Review of Short Fiction--Charlotte Ashley


POETRY
Entrance--Laura Madeline Wiseman
Peach Baby--Bethany Powell
Interview--John W. Sexton


EXCERPTS
Flex--Ferrett Steinmetz (eBook/Subscriber exclusive)
The Venusian Gambit: Book Three of the Daedalus Series--Michael J. Martinez (eBook/Subscriber exclusive)


Cover art by Tori K. Roman.

ebook

First published May 31, 2015

About the author

I was born the son of an unemployed coal miner in a tiny Kentucky Appalachian villa named Big Creek (population 400). It’s an isolated area with beautiful rolling hills, thick forests, and country folk. I lived in Big Creek until I went to college, spending my weekends cruising the Winn Dixie parking lot of ladies, partying in my cousin’s run-down three room trailer, and being a member of the bad-ass Clay County High School Academic Team.

College was quite a shock for me. Girls! Minorities! Strip clubs! And it didn’t help that I attended Transylvania University, a fairly snotty (but excellent) private college in Lexington, KY (on scholarship… no way my family could have sent me otherwise). I graduated in the standard four years with a degree in Computer Science.

Since 1996, I’ve worked for evil corporations (IBM), dot com dreamers (eCampus.com), The Man (both city and state government), and for The Kids (KY Dept. of Education), and assholes (lots and lots of assholes).

In 2004, I decided my life was boring, that I no longer needed disposable income, and I needed to increase my stress levels. I started Apex Publications, a small press publisher of science fiction, fantasy, and horror. At first it was just a small print zine, then a pro-level online zine, then books, and then ebooks.

I edit anthologies, mostly for Apex (because I’m a control freak). I occasionally do copy editing (when pressed) and have done plenty of acquisition editing over the years.

I also write. I don’t really write enough to leave a mark, but it seems to go well when I do put pen to paper.

Miscellaneous facts about me: left-handed, blue eyes, super geeky, hillbilly accent, near-sighted, and typically in a goofy mood.

Also, and most importantly, I’m not the drunkard all those Facebook photos makes me out to be. It just happens that cameras are always around when I… have libations. Honest!

Reviews

[Jess · Rating 3 out of 5]

Neat, unsettling story by Mari Ness. Whether the smart house is codependent and enabling its inhabitant or even real (or a metaphor) is nicely ambiguous.

[ShingetsuMoon · Rating 5 out of 5]

The theme this month in Apex seems to be interconnectivity. In the first short story, Inhabiting Your Skin, we have a future where all houses are outfitted with artificial intelligence allowing them to think, talk, communicate and serve the humans who inhabit them. At first the story is rather amusing but as you read it takes a progressively darker turn as we see the realities of this dysfunctional relationship and the effect it has on the protagonist.

In Proximity we have a group of people who make their living by stealing metadata from Poole. Any and all bits of information that they can find. People wear their status on their sleeve and have profiles floating above their heads, connecting them to others and bumping up or lowering their status. It's at such a point that people wear special cloths to block out other people from viewing their information. A very thought provoking story about how much data controls us.

In Foreclosure we see the world through the eyes of an insurance agent or bank representative. The world is always divided by those who can pay and those who cannot. But in this world payment for debt takes on a frightening new meaning as the main character finds out in the end.

Flex was a very interesting book excerpt from a work of urban fantasy. Always such a fascinating genre. In this world magic exist but comes with serious drawbacks. Why? Because the universe hates magic. Those who aren't careful using it or those who misuse it find the crash to be dangerous or even deadly when the blowback comes to right the balance of the universe in exchange for the use of magic. It's an interesting idea and definitely a book worth checking out.

The Venusian Gambit: Book Three of the Daedalus Series presented such a mishmash of ideas that it stopped me dead in my tracks before grabbing my attention and sinking it's hooks in me. It's the year 1809 and the best forces England can provide are putting up a brave fight against Napoleon. In space. Actual literal outer space. Apparently the discovery of a special element has lead to ships that can traverse space or the Void. It seems to be a mix of historical fiction, science fiction, and possibly a few traces of fantasy. Whatever the case it was a fascinating except and I definitely plan on checking out the first book on the series.

This was a great issue with some fantastic short stories and book excerpts.

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

A strong issue of Apex that features many stories that hint at horrors or discomforts arising from an increasingly connected world. My favorite story was "Inhabiting Your Skin" a story of AI houses serving the needs of the humans who live within. This kind of story has been done before, but here the common light-heartedness of such tales is turned into something more subtly sinister. I've previously read a story or two from Malon Edwards and had been blown away with his talent and the themes he explores. His "Mud Holes and Mississippi Mules" here is exquisitely written, however the genre and story were just not something I particularly enjoyed.