Strange. Beautiful. Shocking. Surreal. APEX MAGAZINE is a digital dark science fiction and fantasy genre zine that features award-winning short fiction, essays, and interviews. Established in 2009, our fiction has won several Hugo and Nebula Awards. We publish every other month. Issue 129 contains the following short stories, essays, reviews, and interviews. EDITORIALEditorial by Jason Sizemore ORIGINAL FICTIONIt Happened in 'Loontown by Lavie TidharCity...

It has been 4 years since the 1st crisis ripped the town of Bangseong from the Earth. Kyung Joon is a scout of the Church of the ever Loving Christ. Where he needed to identify monsters within the city and report them. Recently he has received a promotion and is asked to head to see the head Pastor Matthew Kim. What lies in store for him? Surely, it couldn't be something dangerous.

Fifty-One Tales is a collection of fantasy short stories by Irish writer Lord Dunsany, considered a major influence on the work of J. R. R. Tolkien, H. P. Lovecraft, Ursula K. Le Guin and others. The first editions, in hardcover, were published simultaneously in London and New York City by Elkin Mathews and Mitchell Kennerly, respectively, in April, 1915. The British and American editions differ in that they arrange the material slightly differently...

Things are heating up. Not a day goes past without Casey fighting for her life. But it's only just the beginning. She's about to come to the attention of some of the vilest gods in town. Casey is thrown head-first into the fight. And the more she fights, the more she learns that not everything is as it seems....Tune in for the thrilling second installment in the action-packed God Given series. It is sure to please fans of Odette C. Bell's Trapped...

"Forty years later, The Changeling is no less haunting and no less visionary than the day it was published, but it has only become clearer that Joy Williams is a virtuosic stylist and a singular thinker--a genius in every sense of the word. When we first meet Pearl--young in years but advanced in her drinking--she's on the lam, sitting at a hotel bar in Florida, throwing back gin and tonics with her infant son cradled in the crook of her arm. But...

Legendary warrior King Tavurek marshals his mercenary army to combat a mighty Volarian host led by a man known to history as the Spear-point. In the blood-bath that follows, there can be only one victor. The final battle between the city state of Kethia and the Volarian Empire, as told by Imperial Chronicler Lord Verniers, is an event shrouded in many secrets and, some say, wrought by servants of the Dark.

After receiving an ominous message about forthcoming demons and doom, Falmagon Sej is sent to retrieve a magical staff to protect the Anshedar. But he has unknowingly fallen in love with the sister of his enemy, and the price for betraying love may be too high for him to stomach. Falmagon's footpath to becoming the Highborn Longwalker is riddled with sorrow, promising an undying hate for himself, unless he can somehow find salvation under the grace...

Jimbo: A Fantasy (1909) is a novel by Algernon Blackwood. Having already established himself as a promising short story writer, Blackwood published his debut novel at the age of 40. A lifelong occultist, Blackwood was interested in the fine line between the human and spiritual realms, often incorporating supernatural elements into his work. Jimbo: A Fantasy is a story of a young boy's out of body experience after sustaining a terrible injury, a narrative...

Vanson never wanted his gift for Stoneshaping to be used as a weapon of war. Convinced that the war's architect--his own brother--would rather see him dead than defiant, he changed his name and crossed the continent to escape his previous life. These days, his main concern is repaying his escalating gambling debts and Vanson is convinced he has everything under control, until a strange woman with a deadly sword rescues him from thugs sent by an...

Dawn's vampiric condition has taken a turn for the worst. Having commited the ultimate sin, Dawn is transfered to the night dorm. Now living amongst the vampires, Dawn tries to adjust to his new way of existing. Though this way of living might come with complications, as the hunter, Aiden, wants to finish what he started. Being more tactical and experinced than him, the only chance Dawn has of defeating him, is to further give into what he has attempted...