Apex Science Fiction and Horror Digest – Vol. 1 Issue 7 – Fall 2006 – ISSN 1553-7269 - PO Box 2223. Lexington, KY 40588-2223 – Website.

Table of Contents: Fiction: Grass Land by Michael Laimo * Children at Play by Joshua Steiner * How to Raise a Human by Deb Taber * Promise Them Aught by Marlissa Campbell * The Tow by James Reilly * Kissing Cousins by Neil Ayres * That Old Sandlands Fever by Douglas F. Warrick * Doxies by Brandon Alspaugh * The Death of Self: Temple III by Steven Savile * The Minotaur's Rabbit by Beth Wodzinski Poem: Crypt Keeper’s Curse is a Muse by Brandy Schwan Non-Fiction: Interview with Tim Powers * Interview with Michael Laimo * Much Ado About Driving by Alethea Kontis * Androids and Other Undead by Lavie Tidhar

As is frequently the case, this issue of Apex is a mixed bag of stories that worked and those (for me, at least) that didn't.

"Grassland" by Michael Laimo is an OK tale of a astronauts stranded on a deadly planet with some very imaginative monsters. "Children At Play" by Joshua Steiner is a series of stories of monsters engulfing people but not in a particularly interesting way. "How to Raise a Human" by Deb Taber is a nice little story about a different kind of class project. Marissa Campbell's "Promise Them Anything" is a nice little turn on the Pied Piper story. In "The Tow", James Reilly gives us a chilling story about one of those bad "out in the middle of nowhere" experiences.

"Kissing Cousins" by Neil Ayres is a muddled story which seems to have a lot going on but very little of it detailed so one can get a sense of the story. I liked "That Old Sandlands Fever" by Douglas F. Warrick, another version of the Old West showdown. "Crypt Keeper's Curse is a Muse" by Brandy Schwan is a nice little poem. The idea behind "Doxies" by Brandon Alspaugh is something very different: What happens to the children sired by time-travelers? This makes for a clever little story. I will review "The Death of Self: Temple Part III" by Steven Savile when all the parts are completed. Finally. "The Minotaur's Rabbit" by Beth Wodzinski is a good little short-short about a disaster on a spaceship.

So the good stories easily outweigh the ones I didn't like and I'll recommend this magazine to those that like experimental fiction.

(Source: Apex Publications LLC)