Harper is offering a series of free short stories, one a week at www.fiftytwostories.com
Click to read
“A Night at the Empire” by Joy Marchand kicks off the last issue of Apex Magazine for 2008. It begins with a familiar dream, a slightly distorted version of Len’s work day. As readers follow Len through a real day at the post office they can easily start to sympathize with his hatred for the cold, impersonal embrace of technological doodads that travel like parasites with everyone around him. But the wonder years of yesterday hold no comfort in their vice grip either. “A Night at the Empire” is simultaneously beautiful and creepy, and a perfect reminder in this holiday season that the past is sometimes better left behind us.
“Organ Nell” by Jennifer Pelland is the tale of a woman exploited by the medical industry, a woman who has saved countless lives, or possibly the tale of a strange genetic mutation. True to Pelland style there’s a lot layered into this mixed interview style story of a destitute woman who is selling her body in an entirely different way. In only a paragraph or two per character Pelland spins not just a large tale, but dozens of small ones with characters every bit as real than Organ Nell herself.
“The Barrow-Maid” by Christine Morgan is a Norse-flavored tale of Sveinthor the Unkillable, who though he dies in the opening, is truly unkillable in a Permuted Press way. But this tale is more than just a battle tale, or a zombie tale. It captures a sense of honest and loyal love that historians often leave out of Viking legends. Originally printed in History is Dead here’s another tale worth rereading.
The last piece of fiction for this issue is Anil Menon’s “Harris On the Pig: Practical Hints For the Farmer”. A strange, tech-heavy tale of a future pig farmer being terrorized by someone akin to a hardcore PETA activist, there are more twists and turns here than in a brick of ramen. Despite the complex scope of the tale there’s a feel of hyper focus, of only a small bit being shown to the reader. This feel adds a lot to the narrow-mined, superior mindset of the narrator. Like most excellent tales this one dwells in a muddled moral gray space where neither side is exactly wrong, but they aren’t by any stretch right either.
This issue also features:
Confessions of a Book Junkie #12: Rumours of the death have been somewhat premature (or, on the difference between print and digital storage) by Lavie Tidhar
An Interview with Michael A. Burstein
Popped Culture: Doomsgiving by Justin Stewart
David Niall Wilson has been offering free shorts on his Red Room page. My favorite so far is here.
As usual free shorts are a great chance to try out an author stype before taking the plunge with a full novel.
28
Nov
The November edition of Apex Magazine (again, which is a completely free webzine) starts with William T. Vandemark’s “A Splash of Color”. A teched out tribute to art it speaks of both the potential and the danger when every bit of us can become artistic medium. Stories of body parts and fluids used in paintings are easy to find in the horror genre, but none are like this one and can barely dream of ever being so.
In “The New Breed” Michael A. Burstein tackles reproductive rights in a world where our planet has been conquered and is run by aliens. While more could have been done with the climax and end, matching it to the layered depths set up at the opening of the story, Burstein expertly captures the difficulty of decision making when none of the options are good.
“Take Your Daughters to Work” by Livia Llewellyn brings a sinister Elder Gods feel to a world that’s part science fiction and part throwback to an era of steam and industry. Sadie approaches the tradition of going to work with her father with pride and bit of worry. He’s the boss after all, and she needs to be worthy of him. Llewellyn pushes the twisted feel readers get while Sadie observes the city and her father’s work all the way to the end without relenting or depending on a twist ending.
“Behold: Skowt!” by Jason Heller is a crude and beautiful tale of the streets in the future world where the have-nots are as proportionately worse off as the haves are better, compared to our world. Skowt is the hard as stone alter ego of a boy living on the streets who aspires to only one thing, one glorious act which will make the world finally notice him. It’s raw, in an intense, effective way reminiscent of S.P. Somtow’s harsh urban fiction.
“The Moribund Room” by Carol Lanham first appeared in History is Dead, a wonderful anthology of historical zombie tales. The dark love story, heavy on the morbid, holds up to multiple readings and the prose still holds magic after all is illuminated.
It should also be pointed out that Apex Magazine is more than just fiction. Each issue also features columns, interviews and essays both genre-clectic and general literacy-based.
Apex Publications, in addition to offering a free online magazine, is now offering free samples from most of its books and anthologies as well.
Who can enter: Any one who has never published a story and is not under contract by Fall 2009
What to enter: SF/F/H/new weird, etc short story 2000 words or less
Prize: $100 and publication in Bantam Spectra’s promo magazine for Comic Con 2009
Is this another one of those “We take all your rights” contests? NO! Bantam takes first rights to publish and nonexclusive rights to reproduce (online etc). At $100 for a max of 2000 words this is a professional sale.
But? But they really do want works by people who have never, ever been published before. The fine print even says that the story cannot have been submitted to a market before and cannot have been posted online. Make sure to read the full contest rules (because the method of submission is hidden in them) and know what you are getting into with this contest. However, IMHO it can be a great opportunity as the winner will get an official pro sale and have their work distributed along side Bantam’s biggest promoted pros at Comic Con.
“The American Dead” by Jay Lake (September 1, 2008) is the south of the border tale of a man living in horror whose greatest dream is to be American. Sex charged, but not sexy it walks a fine line between many things; science fiction and real, tragic and beautiful, hopeless and escapism, exotic and familiar. While many of Apex’s stories are not for the faint of heart this one strikes in different, mournful, ways.
Where other stories are the battle “The Limb Knitter” by Steven Francis Murphy (September 8, 2008) is waiting in the trenches through the fight. Perhaps adding to the feel of the story are the nonstop descriptions of a place, a fight, and beings that are otherworldly enough to prevent the reader from gaining their bearings, making it hard to explain what the story is about other than the human spirit’s desire to survive despite the wicked horrors and crushing losses dealt to them. There is a love story of sorts, and lots of horror. A future world that seems to be all front line fighting where humans are repaired as basically as required or recycled into future forces. But at times it’s hard to follow and often it’s a bit to much, which very well may be the point to this war story.
Mary Robinette Kowal’s “Scenting the Dark” (Apex Online-Aug. 24) is enchanting, if not for the story itself, then for the intriguing use of a blind main character. An apt metaphor for a human exploring a new planet with only a few supports, this tale of space tragedy is textually vibrant, all without using the sense of sight.