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mxsallybend's review
4.0
First released this past November, Apex Magazine Issue 54 features stories from Bogi Takács, Vajra Chandrasekera, Keffy R.M. Kehrli, and Jim C. Hines; nonfiction pieces from Michael Damian Thomas and Lynne M. Thomas; an interview with Jim C. Hines; poetry from Alexandra Seidel and Rose Lemberg; and cover art by Galen Dara.
First of all, if (like me) you're not accustomed to reading magazines on your e-reader, I must say the presentation is stellar. It looks great, and works very well. In fact, it's very much like reading a short anthology. I've had some bad experiences with magazines, most of them PDFs that required the reader to magnify and scroll around, so the proper e-book formatting here was a very nice surprise.
The 4 short stories here offer a good mix of genres and styles. Recordings of a More Personal Nature by Bogi Takács is an interesting story about memories and stories, the power they hold over us, and the lengths we'll go to remember. The Jackal’s Wife by Vajra Chandrasekera was a fantastically odd tale about faery tale curses and forbidden treasure, love and betrayal, and transformations (both spiritual and physical) with one of the greatest first lines I've read in a long time:
"It ended when Jack found her heart in the midden. It was undigested and wet with saliva, buried in thorny durian husks."
This is a Ghost Story by Keffy R.M. Kehrli didn't really work for me, more because of its structure than its story, but it still does some interesting things with ghosts.
Creature in Your Neighborhood by Jim C. Hines, on the other hand, was absolutely brilliant in its twisted, inappropriate glory. He offers us a very Sesame Street type world, populated by puppets and humans, and introduces a werewolf to the cast. It's a story that's both clever and very, very funny, with several moments that had me laughing out loud. I mean, just try singing one of Rolly's songs to yourself and see if you can keep a straight face:
Arms and legs, arms and legs,
Flying through the air.
Screams and screams and screams and screams
And corpses everywhere.
Hines really gets into the possibilities of such a world, and manages to make the death of puppets both terrible and terribly funny, with things like hollow point bullets, colored silver with crayons, leaving a mess of shredded stuffing and felt. I won't spoil it any further, but it really is a great story.
I'm not a fan of poetry, so I can't really comment on that, but the Thanksgiving fandom piece by Michael Damian Thomas & Lynne M. Thomas was a nice touch, and Maggie Slater's interview with Jim C. Hines was a great piece as well.
Originally reviewed at Beauty in Ruins
First of all, if (like me) you're not accustomed to reading magazines on your e-reader, I must say the presentation is stellar. It looks great, and works very well. In fact, it's very much like reading a short anthology. I've had some bad experiences with magazines, most of them PDFs that required the reader to magnify and scroll around, so the proper e-book formatting here was a very nice surprise.
The 4 short stories here offer a good mix of genres and styles. Recordings of a More Personal Nature by Bogi Takács is an interesting story about memories and stories, the power they hold over us, and the lengths we'll go to remember. The Jackal’s Wife by Vajra Chandrasekera was a fantastically odd tale about faery tale curses and forbidden treasure, love and betrayal, and transformations (both spiritual and physical) with one of the greatest first lines I've read in a long time:
"It ended when Jack found her heart in the midden. It was undigested and wet with saliva, buried in thorny durian husks."
This is a Ghost Story by Keffy R.M. Kehrli didn't really work for me, more because of its structure than its story, but it still does some interesting things with ghosts.
Creature in Your Neighborhood by Jim C. Hines, on the other hand, was absolutely brilliant in its twisted, inappropriate glory. He offers us a very Sesame Street type world, populated by puppets and humans, and introduces a werewolf to the cast. It's a story that's both clever and very, very funny, with several moments that had me laughing out loud. I mean, just try singing one of Rolly's songs to yourself and see if you can keep a straight face:
Arms and legs, arms and legs,
Flying through the air.
Screams and screams and screams and screams
And corpses everywhere.
Hines really gets into the possibilities of such a world, and manages to make the death of puppets both terrible and terribly funny, with things like hollow point bullets, colored silver with crayons, leaving a mess of shredded stuffing and felt. I won't spoil it any further, but it really is a great story.
I'm not a fan of poetry, so I can't really comment on that, but the Thanksgiving fandom piece by Michael Damian Thomas & Lynne M. Thomas was a nice touch, and Maggie Slater's interview with Jim C. Hines was a great piece as well.
Originally reviewed at Beauty in Ruins
scamp1234's review
3.0
Wasnt to impressed by the originals in this one. Jim C Hines reprint was awesome though.
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