Collecting James – Apex Magazine
4,100 Words Two dozen seemingly identical chips rested atop small black stands, displayed on the shelves like treasure. James reached into the wide rosewood cabinet to inspect one of the pie…
Dolly – Apex Magazine
6,000 words On Sunday when Dolly awakened, she had olive skin and black-brown hair that fell in waves to her hips. On Tuesday when Dolly awakened, she was a redhead, and fair. But on Thursday — on …
The Teratologist’s Brother – Apex Magazine
6,700 Words You can listen to our audio edition of this story here. nude woman, black veil, seated on the stairs she uncovers her face she sees me. — from The Scooby Doo Impasse by Peter Beall I go…
The Laura Ingalls Experience – Apex Magazine
6,200 Words I am on fire. Around me smoke and orange sparks spiral upwards. I feel the heat deep in my titanium bones, but there’s no pain. For a moment, I want to fight the instincts that scream a…
On the Occasion of My Retirement – Apex Magazine
Thank you all—faculty and students, deans and provosts, Ms. President and our board, community members and honored guests for coming today. I suppose I’ll begin with a few prefatory remarks about t…
Agent of V.A.L.I.S. – Apex Magazine
8,200 Words Philip K. Dick — American author (1928-1982) of many novels and short stories. In later years Dick began to believe he was in touch with a cosmic intelligence, which he called V.A.L.I.S…
Screaming Without a Mouth – Apex Magazine
4,300 Words HIRONORI Sun, Dec. 1, 08:57 Want to meet me at Lawson’s? Kasumi’s funeral is today. Oh, sorry, Yukiko. I forgot. How about tomorrow? I can’t think about that now! My best friend just di…
Death Flowers of Never-Forgotten Love – Apex Magazine
1,800 words He rests like frozen time in the coffin—his face embalmed to wax, his cheeks flushed to rouge and an ever-sparkling smile on lips I’d kissed only days ago. Family and friends file by hi…
Kutraya’s Skies – Apex Magazine
7,900 words Shadoua arrived early at his home, just after midnight in the full planetless darkness Kutraya’s farside enjoyed, a darkness he was all too aware of on this night. Only a farside astron…
The Beast at the End of Time – Apex Magazine
4,000 Words As the world marches toward the guillotine of its finale, the sleeping beast shakes loose the slats of its painted unthought and licks the tang of dénouement from its fangs. It stirs up…
Anabaptist – Apex Magazine
4,500 words Men wear hats outside. Black for the winter, brown for the summer. Hat brims are three inches wide. Once a man marries, he grows a beard but shaves his upper lip. Unmarried boys must be…
The Four Gardens of Fate – Apex Magazine
4,700 Words When you ask most psychics why they don’t just learn the lottery numbers and play them ahead of time, they’re going to tell you that’s not how it works. You can’t just get the numbers. …
Razorback – Apex Magazine
5,800 Words Author’s Note: The story of Rawhead and Bloody Bones originated in Europe but migrated to the American South and underwent a local transformation. The definitive folklore version is lik…
Bones of the World – Apex Magazine
4,900 Words Maggie was sitting on an old packing crate by the docks, having tea with a lobster she had named Miss Snips, when Father O’Grady approached her. She heard the light, smart click of his …
Soursop – Apex Magazine
1,900 Words Today, I remembered soursops for 46 seconds. Well, I say ‘remembered,’ but it was more like I bought myself a few seconds of pain-filled pleasure, plugging into some dead guy’s memory f…
The Open-Hearted – Apex Magazine
5,300 Words Palmer was standing at the counter in Chichen Itza Coffee at nine in the morning when he spotted the next big thing. He’d pushed open the blue-papered doors minutes ago to find himself …
The Tomato Thief | Apex Magazine
RT @apexjason: Nothing worse than a tomato thief. Read Ursula Vernon's Hugo-nominated novelette at @apexmag https://t.co/uWIn2yHRcE
That Lucky Old Sun – Apex Magazine
5,200 Words “No school today,” Melanie’s mother said. “No playing outside. If you have to go into another room, you tell me so I can go with you. Can you do that?” Melanie nodded. “Does Christopher…
Riding Atlas – Apex Magazine
5,000 Words They were naked, now, on a dirty mattress. “Neither of you have eaten or drunk anything for twenty-four hours?” Ryan asked, hauling equipment into the room: sloshing plastic buckets, pa…