What I’m Reading: Apex Magazine 121

Before you say anything, YES I’ve posted a few of these What I’m Reading posts in a row. I’m in-between reviews at the moment and will have one go up as part of a book tour next week. I also happen to be reading two things at once which is abnormal for me. Anyway, here’s another What I’m Reading post, this one about Apex Magazine issue 121.

Apex Magazine Issue 121
Cover Art by Vicki Be Wicked
Cover Design by Justin Stewart

Apex Magazine is a bi-monthly zine that publishes, “short stories filled with marrow and passion, works that are twisted, strange, and beautiful. Creations where secret places and dreams are put on display.” Here’s what they say about their mission…

We strive to entertain you with interesting, diverse, and thought-provoking fiction. Our goal is to challenge your perceptions, rattle your beliefs, and shake you free of the expected path.

We want you to read our content and then afterwards think now that’s only a story you’d find in Apex Magazine.

Apex Magazine Mission Statement

I first discovered Apex Magazine with issue 105 from February 2018 which included Alix E. Harrow’s story “A Witch’s Guide to Escape: A Short Compendium of Portal Fantasies” which went on to win a Hugo Award. I like to think of Apex as my local zine as it’s kinda based hear in Lexington (or at least this is where its editor-in-chief is from) and that makes me want to support it even more. I picked up a couple more issues in 2018 which I enjoyed but I didn’t become a subscriber because…well because I got lazy. Then in 2019 the magazine went on a hiatus due to some health issues experienced by its editor-in-chief. In 2020 Apex launched a successful Kickstarter campaign to relaunch itself in 2021. I decided to go all in and pledged enough for a subscription to the entire year. This is the first of 6 bi-monthly issues that will be published in 2021.

This issue includes new fiction by Fargo Tbakhi, P. H. Lee, Cassandra Khaw, Alix E. Harrow, Elana Gomel, Merc Fenn Wolfmoor Charles Payseur and as well as other stories by Tonya Liburd and LH Moore. There’s non-fiction by Usman T. Malik, Malka Older, and AC Wise. There’s also interviews of Fargo Tbakhi and P H Lee by Andrea Johnson, and of cover artist Vicki be Wicked.

I’m reading through the issue slowly, one story a week or so and just sort of enjoying it in small doses as I work through my books. So far I’ve read “Root Rot” by Fargo Tbakhi, “Your Own Undoing” by P H Lee, “Love, That Hungry Thing” by Cassandra Khaw, and “Mr. Death” by Alix E. Harrow. I’ve enjoyed them all and absolutely LOVED “Mr. Death.” Click the link for the review. That story broke me and mended me all in the space of a few pages.

I can’t wait to finish issue 121 and eagerly anticipating issue 122 which just had a cover reveal.

Apex Magazine Issue 122
Cover art by Thomas Tan
Cover Design by Justin Stewart

I hope to post additional reviews of stories out of Apex. I’d love to do at least one from each issue. We’ll see how it goes. But review or not, I know I’ll get to experience some great short fiction in a zine that in my opinion punches above its weight class. I hope more readers decide to pick up Apex Magazine this year and get to join in the experience.

If you read Apex or have a subscription let me know. I’d love to chat with you about the stories you love, whether they lift you up, break you, or make you ponder what could be.

– Jason

Short Fiction Review: Mr. Death

I don’t normally review short fiction but I do hope to change that in 2021. Why? Well, because short fiction can be utterly amazing and move you to tears. Some of my new favorite authors are those I first came across because of their short fiction. One of those authors is Alix E. Harrow whose short story “A Witch’s Guide to Escape: A Short Compendium of Portal Fantasies” from issue 105 of Apex Magazine won the Hugo Award for Best Short Story.

Harrow has written a number of short stories the last few years and I eat them up. Her latest, “Mr. Death” comes in the recently relaunched Apex Magazine issue 121. For those who don’t know, Apex Magazine went on a hiatus in 2019 due to health issues experienced by its editor-in-chief. After a Kickstarter campaign in 2020 the zine has been relaunched with 6 new issues coming this year. The first issue (no. 121) dropped last week.

Short Story Review: The Sycamore and the Sybil

I really ought to review more short stories. I mean yeah, sure, that would mean I’d have to read more short stories but that’s not the point. Well, it is kinda the point. Anyway, I want to tell you about a short story in the March/April 2020 issue of Uncanny written by Alix E. Harrow called “The Sycamore and the Sybil.”

It’s a story about a woman who turned herself into a Sycamore tree along the banks of the Big Sandy River, and another young woman named Kat who is pursued by a “wolf,” a man who isn’t the best of men. It’s a story about fighting for yourself, and women who aren’t going to let themselves be mistreated and abused anymore. It’s a story about women helping women. And it’s a story about spells and witchcraft and…well…magic.

I read “The Sycamore and the Sybil” when it was first published as I tend to read anything by Harrow as soon as I can get my hands on it. I loved it at the time and tweeted about it

So that’s basically my review…

“It is painful and stunning and powerful. Harrow wields magic in her stories gifted by the muses. Read, dance, and burn it all down.”

What I didn’t know at the time was “The Sycamore and the Sybil” is set in the same world as The Once and Future Witches. 

Yep…Harrow snuck something by us back in March, a quick peak into the witchy setting she created in her most recent novel set to be released later this month.

In my review of The Once and Future Witches I noted how it, “is more like some of her short stories, poetic at times and still very rich, but more pointed and focused on a mood or emotion.” When I wrote that I was thinking partly about this story! It was sitting there in the back of my mind as one of a few examples of Harrow’s short work and how tightly focused they can be in relation to mood and emotion and the way they just hit you in the gut. Harrow was casting a little spell months in advance and we didn’t have a clue.

“The Sycamore and the Sybil” is set in Crow County along the Big Sandy, one of the locations of The Once and Future Witches. In it you’ll find a number of references to things in the novel, some overt and others very subtle. If you read the short story first you’ll get a hint of what’s in store for you when you read the book…but just a hint. If you read the book first then turn to the story you’ll find all manner of things to make you smile and maybe even shed a tear as you remember events and characters from the novel. Either way I recommend you read both because they are fantastic.

Anyway, just wanted to pass that along. Hope you enjoy the read.

– Jason

Book Haul: February 2020

It’s time for another Book Haul post. One of my blogging goals for 2020 is to be to be more intentional about Book Haul posts. I’m aware that it’s possible nobody cares about the books I’ve bought or received, but I kinda like when bloggers post these because it not only puts new books in front of my eyeballs that I might not be aware of, but they also give me an idea of the blogger’s tastes. For my purposes a Book Haul post can include any book I’ve come to possess, not just those I buy, so arcs requested or just sent from publishers will be listed as well.

Interview With Lesley Conner About Invisible Threads

I’ve got a little something different for everyone today. Lesley Conner, the Managing Editor for Apex Book Company is joining me to discuss a new project that has me really excited…Invisible Threads: An Anthology About Defying Social Threads; a speculative fiction anthology about overcoming the insidious social, cultural, and economic threads that hold us back. Be sure to check out the Kickstarter link at the bottom of the page before you go.

Vintage Science Fiction Month: Anthologies

January is Vintage Science Fiction Month!

It’s a month dedicated to reading, watching, blogging, or talking about anything vintage science fiction. There isn’t a hard and fast rule for what makes it “vintage” but a general guideline is if it was created in 1979 or earlier then you’re good. Some people will just choose something created before their birth year. The rules aren’t hard and fast. The point is to have fun.

It was started by Andrea over at the Little Red Reviewer and is now co-hosted by Jacob over at Red Star Reviews. There’s also a Twitter account you can follow @VintageSciFi_.

Today I’m excited to invite Andrea Johnson to the blog for a guest post to discuss an often overlooked Vintage Sci-Fi Month reading option…anthologies.

Waiting On Wednesday: The Family Blood

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme originally hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine and continued now by Tressa at Wishful Endings under the heading “Can’t Wait Wednesday” where readers and bloggers share and discuss books they are excited about reading and which have generally not yet been released. I’m sticking with “Waiting On Wednesday” just because I like the way it rolls off the tongue.

Fans of the blog will know how much I loved Quenby Olson’s supernatural/horror novel The Half Killed. If you’re not a regular follower check out my review in the link in the previous sentence. Here’s the blurb from the back cover of that one:

“Dorothea Hawes has no wish to renew contact with what lies beyond the veil. After an attempt to take her own life, she has retired into seclusion, but as the wounds on her body heal, she is drawn into a world she wants nothing more than to avoid.

She is sought out by Julian Chissick, a former man of God who wants her help in discovering who is behind the gruesome murder of a young woman. But the manner of death is all too familiar to Dorothea, and she begins to fear that something even more terrible is about to unleash itself on London.

And so Dorothea risks her life and her sanity in order to save people who are oblivious to the threat that hovers over them. It is a task that forces her into a confrontation with her own lurid past, and tests her ability to shape events frighteningly beyond her control.”

As I said in my review, it’s story that will seduce you. I absolutely love Olson’s dark, intimate, and immersive writing style and the Victorian setting. It was a five star read for me, and I’ve been waiting on a follow-up novel for months. Unfortunately this isn’t a Waiting On Wednesday post about book two in the series. From what I understand Olson is working on that story, but it isn’t ready yet. She did write a short story though…and that’s what this post is about

Still Around…Still Reading…

In case you were wondering, yeah I’m still here. As I mentioned a few weeks ago in my Is The Month Over Yet post things have gotten a little hectic around here. Between the kids’ extra-curricular activities and a crazy busy work schedule that hasn’t calmed down for nearly a month my average night lately has me sitting down to relax somewhere between 9:00 and 10:00 PM. At that point I just don’t have it in me to blog. The weekends haven’t been much better. Now don’t get me wrong I’m not really complaining…well maybe a little…but seriously I enjoy the kids’ stuff and being busy at work is good job security (in theory) so I’m only partially complaining.

Now, I may be too tired to blog, but I’m not too tired to read! Which means I’m starting to get way behind on reviews, not just random posts about anything book related. And I feel really bad about this guys. Most of what I’ve been reading lately are books I’ve either requested, or that have been sent to me by a publisher/publicist (which I agreed to accept)…which means I kinda owe it to them to get the reviews done. The only problem is my best time to write is on the weekend and I will probably be working the next couple of weekends. This sucks. But whatever, it is what it is.

Anyway, below is what I’ve been reading and what I hope to get reviews up about soon.

Smoke Eaters by Sean Grigsby

Dragons VS Firefighters. Need I say anything else? I really enjoyed this one. Fun sci-fi/fantasy mash-up with hints of Ghostbusters. If you don’t want to wait for the review just know that I really liked it and think you will too. Unless you don’t like dragons or firefighters, or ghostbusters…but then you’d just be weird.

 

 

The Song Of All by Tina LeCount Myers

Fantasy in a Scandinavian setting. Have I ever told you how much I like snow? I kinda love it. This book actually hit on a bunch of my reading goals for the year. Debut author…check. Non-western European setting…check. Independent/small press or self-published author…check. Books with snow…check. OK that last one wasn’t on the list but c’mon. I even ended up with an extra copy of this one and held my first book giveaway. The problem was I didn’t really like it. I’m still trying to figure out why and how I want to review it. Like is it just not for me or something else? Stay tuned…

Apex Magazine: February 2018 Issue

One of my goals this year is to read more short fiction. One solution to that has been to buy more short story collections in book format. The other solution I hit upon…crazy I know…was reading some sci-fi/fantasy magazines. Then two things happened. I discovered Apex is published right here in Lexington, and I read one of the short stories for the month and absolutely loved it. So I bought the issue. This will be my first review of a magazine and I’m kind of excited about the different format.

Gedlund: A Tale Of The Verin Empire by William Ray

This is my current read and I’m about half-way through. So far I’m loving it. It’s blackpowder fantasy (which I thoroughly enjoy) with goblins, elves, and the undead. yeah.

Ray has also done his homework when it comes to some of the details of 19th century army life and it gives me all the feels. In a previous life I was a re-enactor (story for another day) and as I read I’m like “that! exactly that!” Ah memories. Anyway I’m really looking forward to the second half of the book.

Well that’s it for now. I’m gonna try really hard to get a new review up sometime in the next week.  But then again I had said I wanted to get one posted last weekend and it didn’t happen. We’ll see. In the meantime happy reading, and let me know what you’ve been enjoying lately.