The first original fiction offering is “Last Stand of the Ant Maker” by Paul Jessup, the tale of a highly focused man and an apocalypse. Surreal and succinctly charming, but also completely unexplained readers, will either get this story, or find it pretty, but be just as confused about things when it ends.

“City of Refuge” by Jerry Gordon follows. Scoffing at the idea that Apex doesn’t do zombies, this tale is evocative of Kim Paffenroth’s style, mixing the undead and religious, with no faith, however, in the benign nature of religion. It centers on a mind reader who can communicate with the Fallen, who has hopes of a future time where the Fallen and humans can live together rather than as enemies. “City of Refuge” is, if anything, too tight and self contained, like a bite of dark chocolate when one could do with a whole bar.

Catherynne M. Valente’s “The Days of Flaming Motorcycles” also begins with zombies, but also with a lighter tone. Don’t expect it to stay that way, though, as Valente takes readers on a dark voyage about the meaning of faith and the existential truth behind the apocalypse. Not your average zombie story, Valente’s story is as beautiful, unique and dark as the rest of the issue.

The June Issue opens with “Laika’s Dream” by Holly Hight.  A broken, scattered narrative about a professor, his daughter with Down’s Syndrome and a student determined to be a genius despite being diagnosed with schizophrenia, this tale appears to be about science and creation and, of course, death. But it’s really about several characters’ quests to be worthy people, not defined by their labels or the conventions of society around them. A very interesting read, indeed.

“Sol Alseep” by Naomi Libicki (also available as an audio story ) is an odd story. It takes place on a space ship, beginning with the rape of the title character, and becoming increasingly dreamy and surreal as it moves on. As with the first tale, there isn’t a traditional story, with a beginning middle and end here, but rather Libicki captures the sad, dissociative feeling that trauma inflicts on people, space travelers or not.

Jeff Carlson’s “Long Eyes” is a reprint, lead by another character suffering from an inability to fit in with her community. Genetically bred for one job, Clara now lives in a kind of symbiosis with a ship venturing into the far reaches of space looking for potentially habitable planets for expansion. What she finds on a barely habitable planet, however, surprises and saddens her. “Long Eyes” is an excellent match for the feel of the other tales.

Finally is a piece from the archives, “The Thing in the Refrigerator That Could Stop Time” by Matthew Kressel, where you’ll find neither far off planets nor space ships, but lots of personal darkness.

Apex is available to read for free online, on Smashwords.com for whatever you want to pay for it and for the Kindle for $.99. A worthy read, for SF and dark fiction lovers, and another way to support the pro markets of the genre field.

Kowal’s novelette, “The Bride Replete”, is the first of her pieces to appear (in two parts, so make sure to read it all). In this story a family of reptilian characters, from the point of view of the youngest Pimi, travels away from their homelands seeking prestige and marriage to establish a new branch of their family. The matriarch’s plans are quickly disturbed, first by the cultural differences between the two lands, then by a band of raiders. Pimi then finds herself a captive of a hostile tribe, forced to expand her croup unnaturally fast to serve as a larder and concubine for the Councilor who had her captured in the first place. “The Bride Replete” flirts with issues of societal views of body image and perceptions of nobility the same way it toys around with the definitions of science fiction and fantasy. Not one, nor the other, yet not exactly both, it’s not a typical Apex story, but it is alien and beautiful.

“Beyond the Garden Close” (also by Kowal) is definitely more science fiction, pitting a woman on a space ship in a trial for the right to bear a child. Lena has the added drive of wanting to win the right to breed for the sake of her lover, Phoebe. Making child rearing a game, and twisting the reproduction drive of people has its consequences though, if not on the ship’s occupants as a whole then on Lena as an individual.

Finally from Kowal is a pair of Apex reprints, which are indeed Apex reprints. “Scenting the Dark” from the one of the first issues of Apex Magazine is the title story from Kowal’s first collection. The tale holds up to multiple readings and remains one of the few, and best written, examples of disabled main character stories.

“Horizontal Rain” first appeared on one of the older print versions of Apex. Not a science fiction tale at all, but a modern fantasy one, it centers on a building site in Iceland besieged by creatures of legend.

In many ways this issue of Apex is softened by Kowal’s style, though it’s still veined with the dark.

On the non-Kowal side of things, this issue also offers up two Apex poems; “Exobiology” by F.J. Bergmann, a musing tale of alien insects and their hive-religion; and “Interstellar” by Freeman Ng which is the most traditional, dark-edged Apex story in this bunch.

For readers that might shy away from Apex due to the darker nature of their tales, or who might prefer fantasy to science fiction, this is a stand out issue that might be more to your liking.

The fiction offerings include; “Wondrous Days” by Genevieve Valentine, a disturbing tale about a scientifically engineered end of the world, in Mayan fashion, designed to reset things and fix the problems humans inflicted on the planet; and “White Christmas” by James F. Reilly, a story it seems we can all relate to this particular winter, where the end comes in a blanket of snow and human desperation, yet somehow fails to completely suppress the human spirit.

The February 2010 issue kicks off with “p.a. chic” by Tobias Amadon Bengelsdorf. Birthing the wisest bit of advice to come from Apex in a while, “Dystopia is best viewed from a distance.” this tale is strongly reminiscent of Matheson’s I Am Legend, without the company of mutation and monsters.

“The Lady or the Tiger” by J.M. McDermott is a science fiction farming tale, strongly familiar to the style of Rudyard Kipling, and his peers of the late 1800s era. A juxtaposition of that strong, exotic storytelling style, and a landscape of alien planets and crash landings the elements are blended well and make for a very interesting read.

“The Killing Streets” by Colin Harvey rounds out the February issue. A strongly spun tale of a future where government “precautions” (and secrecy) and bio lab mucking about have resulted in the city streets being haunted by disease and a species of mole-like animal that eats human prey. Despite the drastic (but not terribly far-fetched) world differences, Thom is facing real, modern problems; struggling to care for an aging parent, and deciding whether to live with the woman he loves, but who can’t support the family she already has, and remaining in his existing marriage with a woman he no longer loves, but who keeps him comfortably supported. The focus is on the emotional life of the story, making this tale easier to relate to than some of the other science fiction tales out there.

Apex Magazine continues to delivers fine fiction and appears to have also taken on the task of challenge itself to change its tempo and tune in its quest for excellence.

The December 2009 issue of Apex starts off with “59 Beads” by Rochita Loenen-Ruiz. This tale of technology enhancing artistic ability and definition reminds me very much of Paolo Bacigalupi’s “The Fluted Girl”. Exploitation, perversity and passion fuse together in this tale of a girl willing to give everything she is up for the health of her sister.

James L. Sutter’s “Overclocking” focuses on a series of slices from the life of a drug dealer in a future where drugs are codes that can be jacked into a human brain and bad code means more than just a bug in Vista. A fast, and in ways, cold read, this is a good choice for readers who want a short, hard taste of Apex before deciding to commit.

Also short and hard, “Exit” by Jeff Carlson is a virus tale with little meat to spare. Tight and to the point it nevertheless hits hard, and will appeal to the zombie apocalypse fans out there.

The December’s issue also includes and editorial from Apex Editor-in-Chief Jason Sizemore as well as interview with Nicholas Buckman and B.J. Burrow.