Apex Magazine: Issue 40

By Lynne M. Thomas

Apex Magazine is a monthly science fiction, fantasy, and horror magazine featuring original, mind-bending short fiction from many of the top pros of the field. New issues are released on the first Tuesday of every month.

We are a 2012 Hugo Award nominee for Best Semiprozine!

Apex Magazine is a monthly science fiction, fantasy, and horror magazine featuring original, mind-bending short fiction from many of the top pros of the field. New issues are released on the first Tuesday of every month.

We are a 2012 Hugo Award nominee for Best Semiprozine!

Issue 40 features the following content.

Table of Contents
Fiction
"During the Pause" by Adam-Troy Castro
"Sexagesimal" by Katharine E.K. Duckett
"Sacrifice" by Jennifer Pelland
"Sonny Liston Takes the Fall" by Elizabeth Bear

Nonfiction
"Editorial: Blood on Vellum" by Lynne M. Thomas
"Al Snow's Advice for SF Writers" by Peter M. Ball
"An Interview with Adam-Troy Castro" by Maggie Slater

Cover art by Julie Dillon

Apex Magazine is edited by multi-Hugo Award-winning editor Lynne M. Thomas.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Apex Book Company
• Release date: Sep 13, 2012
• ISBN: 9781301639502

Book preview

APEX MAGAZINE

ISSUE 40, SEPTEMBER 2012

EDITED BY LYNNE M. THOMAS

Smashwords Edition

Copyrights and Acknowledgments

Blood on Vellum: Notes from the Editor-in-Chief Copyright @ 2012 by Lynne M. Thomas

Sexagesimal Copyright @ 2012 by Katharine E.K. Duckett

During the Pause Copyright @ 2012 by Adam-Troy Castro

Sonny Liston Takes the Fall Copyright @ 2008 by Elizabeth Bear (Originally appeared in The Del Rey Book of Science Fiction edited by Ellen Datlow, Del Rey, 2008)

Sacrifice Copyright @ 2012 by Jennifer Pelland (Originally appeared in Dark Faith: Invocations edited by Maurice Broaddus and Jerry Gordon, Apex Publications, 2012)

Al Snow’s Advice for SF Writers Copyright @ 2012 by Peter M. Ball

An Interview with Adam-Troy Castro Copyright @ 2012 by Maggie Slater

Publisher—Jason Sizemore

Editor-in-Chief—Lynne M. Thomas

Senior Editor—Gill Ainsworth

Managing Editor—Damian Taylor

Slush Editors—Zakaraya Anwar, Olga Zelenova, Maggie Slater, Sigrid Ellis, Andy Arnold, Travis Knight, Michael Matheson, Eileen Maksym, and Kelly Lagor

Graphic Designer—Justin Stewart

ISSN: 2157-1406

Apex Publications

PO Box 24323

Lexington, KY 40524

Cover Art Surface

By Julie Dillon

Julie Dillon is a freelance illustrator working in Northern California. More of her work can be seen at http://www.juliedillonart.com.

Table of Contents

Editorial

Blood on Vellum: Notes from the Editor-in-Chief

Lynne M. Thomas

Fiction

During the Pause

Adam-Troy Castro

Sexagesimal

Katharine E. K. Duckett

Sacrifice

Jennifer Pelland

Sonny Liston Takes the Fall

Elizabeth Bear

Nonfiction

Al Snow’s Advice for SF Writers

Peter M. Ball

An Interview with Adam-Troy Castro

Maggie Slater

Blood on Vellum: Notes from the Editor-in-Chief

Welcome to Issue 40 of Apex Magazine.

This month, we have some splendid new fiction. Adam-Troy Castro provides a challenging moral twist on the first contact story in During the Pause. Katherine E.K. Duckett buys and sells parcels of lifetimes in Sexagesimal.

Our classic revisited is from Elizabeth Bear, Sonny Liston Takes the Fall, providing a new twist on an old boxing controversy. This issue also includes a bonus story reprinted from the upcoming Dark Faith: Invocations, Jennifer Pelland’s wrenching Sacrifice. Dark Faith: Invocations can be ordered via http://www.apexbookcompany.com/ and other fine retailers.

In nonfiction this month, Peter M. Ball discusses storytelling lessons that can be learned from other fighters, specifically professional wrestlers, and Maggie Slater interviews Adam-Troy Castro about the location of his moral center.

This month’s gorgeous cover is by the delightful Julie Dillon.

By the time this issue debuts, Worldcon will have come and gone, along with the Hugo Awards. What a ride this year has been. No matter the outcome, we are honored to have been part of a stellar group of nominees for Best Semiprozine. We will do our utmost to continue to bring you fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and art worthy of your support. Thank you for coming along with us. We’re glad you’re here. Sit back, relax, and enjoy.

Lynne M. Thomas

Editor-in-Chief

The Apex Book of World SF 2

Edited by Lavie Tidhar

Featuring

Lauren Beukes, Will Elliott, Nnedi Okorafor, Hannu Rajaniemi, Ekaterina Sedia, Andrzej Sapkowski and many others

In The Apex Book of World SF 2, editor Lavie Tidhar collects short stories by science fiction and fantasy authors from Africa and Latin America.

Starred Review

—Publishers Weekly

ISBN: 978-1-937009-05-2

Available at ApexBookCompany.com or most major book vendors

During the Pause

Adam-Troy Castro

Listen.

This message is being transmitted to every member of your species, and to the individuals of the several other intelligent species, observed and unobserved, that share your world with you.

Even those of you now sleeping are now receiving this transmission.

You need to pay attention. What we have to tell you is very important.

Your planet is about to be destroyed.

The means of this destruction is a phenomenon known to us, but not yet observed by you. It is an entirely natural process, albeit one that none of your people have ever observed and that none of your learned scholars have ever considered.

We do not have the time to tutor you in the advanced science you would need to understand what is about to happen. If it helps you to picture the devastation to come, you should imagine an uncontrolled conflagration, incinerating everything in its path and leaving no life behind. This may not be the most accurate of metaphors, as our description of the phenomenon’s initial effects will soon render clear, but it should impress the urgency of our message upon you, so we may move on to the reason we are communicating.

We are aware that you will find this news upsetting, perhaps even shattering. We need you to put your immediate emotional reactions aside, by whatever coping mechanisms your species can muster. Some of you may find comfort in your religions. Our observers have never understood your race’s faith in demons and deities, or your determination to celebrate belief in such beings when that odd aspect of your character has caused you nothing but grief. We could very well spend the next few minutes explaining at length why in our view these hypotheses are highly unlikely, but that would take time we cannot spare. If it helps to