It’s a pretty star-studded line up this issue of Apex, with fiction from Lavie Tidhar, Elizabeth Bear, Jason Sanford, and Travis Heermann. Jason Sizemore gives us the complete scoop in his editorial.

Our three original works this month are all over the place thematically. In Lavie Tidhar’s novelette “Agent of V.A.L.I.S.”, the protagonist is a forgotten science fiction writer who gets involved in an adventure containing Philip K. Dick, Jesus Christ, and an all-powerful sentient AI. Jason Sanford’s story “Death Flowers of Never Forgotten Love” posits what if we had the technology to alter our memories of the recently deceased. “Screaming Without a Mouth” by Travis Heerman mines the unsettling fog of J-horror with modern technology in a memorable and depressing manner — a story that our readers will recognize as belonging in no other publication than Apex Magazine.

We welcome Elizabeth Bear back to our pages with “Dolly.” Her reprint about emerging sentience and a murder is a recent classic of the genre.

Russell Dickerson interviews cover artist Vincent Sammy about how to create horror within art without resorting to over-the-top gore. Andrea Johnson questions author Travis Heerman about the use of an epistolary format and productivity. Rounding out the issue are five great poems from five great poets: Rodney Gomez, Caleb J. Oakes, Matthew Chamberlin, Annie Neugebauer, and David Barber.

Our podcast this month is “Death Flowers of Never Forgotten Love” by Jason Sanford.

Here’s the complete TOC, with links to all the free content.

Fiction

“Agent of V.A.L.I.S.” by Lavie Tidhar (Novelette)
“Screaming Without a Mouth” by Travis Heermann
“Death Flowers of Never-Forgotten Love” by Jason Sanford
“Dolly” by Elizabeth Bear (from Asimov’s Science Fiction, January 2011)

Poetry

Naked by Anne Neugebauer
Allegory of the Woman from Earth by Rodney Gomez
BlackRiver by Caleb J. Oakes
Chimney Witch by Matthew Chamberlin
The Sword Excalibur by David Barber

Nonfiction

Words from the Editor-in-Chief by Jason Sizemore
Interview with Travis Heermann by Andrea Johnson
Interview with Vincent Sammy, Cover Artist by Russell Dickerson

Podcast #32

“Death Flowers of a Never-Forgotten Love” by Jason Sanford (13:11 in length)

Apex Magazine is a monthly science fiction, fantasy, and horror publication featuring original short stories, poetry and non-fiction. It is edited by Jason Sizemore and Sigrid Ellis, and released the first Tuesday of every month. In 2012, 2013 and 2014, it was nominated for a Hugo Award for Best Semiprozine.

We last covered Apex Magazine with the February 2016 issue.

Apex Magazine is published by Apex Publications. Issues are available free online, and sold for $2.99 in a variety of digital formats. Subscriptions are just $19.95 for one year (12 issues) in EPUB, Mobi, and PDF formats.

This issue’s cover is by Russell Dickerson. The complete issue is here, and you can buy back issues or subscribe at their website.

Our Mid-March Fantasy Magazine Rack is here. See all of our recent fantasy magazine coverage here.