25
Jun
“Hideki and the Gnomes” by Mark Lee Pearson is a very short, weird tale that’s similar to previous Apex offerings such as Nathan Rosen’s “I Know an Old Lady”. This one has a definite cadence, an almost Mother Goose feel, even if its meaning is murky.
“Clockwork, Patchwork and Ravens” by Peter M. Ball is a spooky near-fairy tale set in a weird future world where a clockwork man helps save the life of a woman besieged by strange creatures. It’s like something Tim Burton would write, with a dark tempo, men that are more bird than human and an unlikely, determined hero.
This month’s classic reprint is “When Thorns Are the Tips of Trees” by Jason Sanford. Strange and sad, this is a tale of man’s hunt for immortality, that in this case, has led to humans carrying a disease that turns them into trees retaining ghosts of their memories at death, but rendering them unable to touch while alive. Like the delicate, haunted thorn trees themselves this story is at times lovely to behold, showing people treasuring their lost loved ones, and at times creepy with the objectification of the dead and the fear and repulsion of the living for each other.
“Gone Fishin’” by John R. Platt, from the Permuted Press Monstrous anthology, is a classic “big fish” story—unbelievable with a chance catch that’s destined to get away. This story doesn’t ever really throw itself into being the full yarn it could be, and it’s hard to sympathize with a lead who brought all the trouble on himself out of sheer meanness. But it has a few dark and amusing moments, nonetheless.
This Issue also features:
Beauty and Dynamite Essay:
“The Still & The Storm” by Alethea Kontis
Book Junkie Essay:
“Anthologies Like Preditors, Closing In” by Lavie Tidhar
Interrogations:
Fran Friel
T.M. Wright
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