william f. nolan – Michele Lee

Apex Digest #9

Apex Digest Issue 9 promises to be moody and discomforting from the first glance at its stormy cover, strongly reminiscent of Van Gogh’s Starry Night. It’s a bit of a new taste from the last few issues, a departing from a mild science fantasy trend toward a sort of mental sci-fi.

First up is The Sum of His Parts by Kevin J. Anderson. Not only is this story about a familiar patchwork man it also is patchwork in its structure. It works very well. The minimal interludes serve perfectly as a break between point of view changes and a hint of what will happen next. They serve as threads, weaving a series of seeming coincidences together. The story doesn’t end there. Also hidden inside is a spiral of related stories, to which the true extent only becomes clear as the reader grows closer to the end. Not only did I enjoy the story in this story, I also truly enjoyed seeing the structure and tales within tales aspects being played with and pulled off so successfully.

The End of Crazy by Katherine Sparrow is the height of the mental science fiction slant in this issue. The story follows a couple, “cured” of their mental disabilities by a miracle treatment but faced with a future that requires them to sacrifice the treatment, and possibly their sanity, for a better life. They learn very quickly that moving past their mental limitations takes effort and willpower, not just the latest quick fix. I enjoy the conflict between “is it real or is it in your head” and this story is all about that. It also has moments both of fearing falling into a mental skew and moments of wondering what’s so good about normal after all.

The Gunslinger of Chelem by Lavie Tidhar is a great follow up to The End of Crazy. The focus changes to dreams becoming real rather than the paranoid delusions of insanity becoming real. Then it moves outside of chaos and into lucidity, rules that must be figured out and conquered to end a sort of ruthless REM pit. Plus I got a kick out of scifi with a classic western theme. Sort of like Back to the Future 3, only better.

Locked In by Mary Robinette Kowal is a nasty bit of text wedged into this issue. The other stories were safe, but this one is downright dangerous. The hazard comes, not from technology spinning out of control, but people’s faith in technology being far misplaced. The true evil is in the people, not the tool. The darkness in this piece snuck up on me. This one is a powerful, short piece, not to be missed.

Projector by Daniel LeMoal comes next. The dark slant here is everywhere, from the desperation and abuse of the junkies who serve as central characters, to their those abusing them, the people set up to be their victims, the drug itself and the one dangerous power that is the reason the druggies were put in their situation in the first place. There is no good escape, not for the junkies who are set up to fail, nor for their desperate target, nor for the true villain of the story, hidden until it’s far too late for anyone to break free.

I enjoyed At the 24-Hour by William F. Nolan more than his contribution to the last issue. Both are well written, but At the 24-Hour has the last minute evil, like Locked In, that I enjoy. I also think this story is a better fit for Apex.

Pyramus and Thisbe by Jeremy Adam Smith is a strange tale, a retelling of a classic Greek myth. It fits well with The Sum of His Parts, a retelling of Frankenstein. But ultimately I feel I missed something in this story. The writing is lovely, but I never quite grasped the setting, nor the relevance of the humans’ hatred of him simply for being a machine. It brings conflict, and even realistic conflict, but there was no explanation as to why the humans hated him so, nor why he appeared to spontaneously hate himself.

Sufficiently Advanced by Bev Vincent brings the issue out of the esoteric and puts the reader into a darkly ironic world where what we find unreal is mundane and what we are accustomed to put a crash survivor in terrible danger. Bev proves that just because you escape doesn’t mean you survive.

Don’t Show Your Teeth by Rob D. Smith is a neat little tale about fascination with the past in the future. I would have liked to have learned more about why Perri finds the scum covered teeth so fascinating. What is it about the story’s present that makes the era the teeth came from worth the obsession? I’m afraid ultimately I just didn’t feel the paranoia of the main character through most of the story so the end didn’t feel like a culmination of the events as much as an end.

I took a sneak peak at Cain XP11 by Geoffrey Girard, though I had planned to wait until I had all four parts before reading it. I’m not sure I’ll be able to wait now. The story appears to be a “who’s the more evil” tale of scientists who clone the world’s most know serial killers, not to settle the nature vs. nurture, but to play god with their genes, and, as always, for money. The story is told primarily from the point of view of the man charged with cleaning the mess up, figuratively not literally. The prose doesn’t jump out and beat you the way Steven Saville’s did in the first serialized work in Apex. But it’s like watching a train wreck in slow motion. Delight fun in the vein of “If only the character knew what I think I know.” I look forward to reading the rest.

The Parting Shot for Apex Digest #9 is Sonorous by Paul Abbmondi. I have to say it’s the first time I’ve been satisfied with a published piece that I’ve read in second person. I instantly thought of Gabriel’s horn, only scifi, reproduced like a clone of an artifact. The story didn’t entirely lean that way, but I enjoyed the lovely imagery that surfaces in the tale.

Issue Seven felt like it lead into Issue Eight. But this one, #9, seems to have departed for a new goal, one I’ll be glad to ride along to.

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March 25

Apex Digest #8

Alas, the blogs are all touting the availability and greatness of Apex Digest Issue 9 and I expect it to stare up at me from my mail box, horrified that it’s been stuck with me, as early as, well any day now. So I figure it’s about time I do my review of Issue 8.

First, I have to say this grinning, empty-eyed cover depicting Jennifer Pelland’s Blood Baby is my favorite so far. The evil-yet fun expression on the little beasts face makes me grin every time I see it.

This Issue starts out with a big gun, Tom Piccirilli’s Madness Blows the Winds of History. I have to say that it took me two tries to get into this one. Even once the story swept me in this story feels hardwired to a place that feels alien to me. It’s on a different wavelength than any of the stories I’ve read. Madness Blows the Winds of History is a dark weaving of future worlds and infinite time lines. The possibilities in this tale are dizzying. The tragedy that manipulates Tolbalt Tre, sending him into endless worlds to punish the people responsible for his pain. Ultimately this a story about heartache driving men, and aliens, to blindness.

The infamous Blood Baby, by Jennifer Pelland, is next up. Just as it took me two tries to get close to Piccirilli’s wavelength it took me two more to adjust to the urban fantasy tale of which I’d heard so much. More than just enjoying the actual tale in this case, I also enjoyed the spirit behind it. Pelland touches on one of the few remaining taboos left in modern horror. She also viciously shows us readers the true meaning of sacrifice, forgotten in much of today’s fantasy, and the corruption of fantasy by modern mores.

Matt Wallace’s A Place of the Snow Angels comes next, returning the issue back to threads of science fiction. This story sets up religion and science in the race for a messiah, hoping he can save the world from advancing winter. Who’s the real savior doesn’t matter, not to the story and not in the story, as both camps forget about a little thing called free will. This is a beautiful tale not of who’s write or wrong, but about who is determined.

Genesis Six by Shane Jiraiya Cummings is an excellent follow up, capturing both the religious threads and the beautiful language of the previous story and softening it with more fantasy than technology. The true darkness of this story comes not from the fact that it opens at the end of the world, but rather from the loss the characters suffer after the end and the who and why behind the destruction of the world.

The Death Singer by John B. Rosenman brings the issue back toward scifi with another lovely tale of inequality. This story proves that “even” isn’t always “fair”. The idea of someone who can translate one’s life and soul into a song really brought me into this story. Rosenman enchanted me as I read before giving me that smack of darkness at the end. I rather like stories where the end colors the whole tale in reflection.

Mommy, Daddy, and Mollie by William F. Nolan is a straight horror piece. It meshes well with the earlier Blood Baby in the theme of evil kids. While pleasingly creepy, I can’t say this was my favorite piece of the issue.

Last Chance Morning by Timothy Waldron Semple was a bit of a disappointment because I began to look forward to seeing someone smished. The story is a sneaky little thing though, because it’s not really about “humane execution” at all. Though I wondered how Semple’s chilly con ended up in the pen to begin with after taking in the whole story I have some pretty nasty theories.

Babble by M.M. Buckner was also a sneaky story, not fully coming together until the end. But when all the cards are shown I ended up feeling like I’d been hit in the head with a hammer (or perhaps a broke bottle). In all genres paranormal plots are typically my favorites so I really enjoyed the building, almost voyeuristic (or more accurately audio-voyeurism) feel to the story, only to have it twist out of my greedy little grasp and land a good blow to my noggin.

Temporal Spider, Spatial Webs by Lavie Tidhar bleeds back toward the way the issues started, with Tom Piccirilli’s Madness Blows the Winds of History. Including this harder scifi piece gives the whole issue a circular feel. I liked this piece, but it felt too short to me. It seems that this story screams to be spoken not just text. Like Piccirilli’s story this, too, seems to be coming from a completely alien point of view, a space spider attracted to the web of communication as we pidly humans stretch across the known universe.

As far as parting shots go the typical Apex Digest wrap up has always been sadly ironic, or potently depressed. Worlds by Aaron Gudmunson is almost vicious. It does a fine job, leaving me with a feeling of being slashed at.

I also want to add a kudos to the artists behind this issue. I love the layout, and the visuals in this issue. I always talk about the stories, but this time around I’m sending out a resounding “horah!” to the artist as well.

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March 24

Talebones #35, Summer 2007

“Wolf Song” by William F. Nolan kicks off the 35^th issue of Talebones. A traditional, movie-style werewolf tale, straight from classic Wolfman movies, in it, a cold young boy, already in a dispassionate family, is attacked by a werewolf. But instead of experiencing horror at his full moon changes, he finds a chilling joy in it. In fact, Donny only seems to feel anything when he’s biting into some poor victim’s throat. More comfortable by far with his runs in the woods and with hard facts and figures, Donny eventually finds himself drawn to a coworker, Edith. With what is best termed “a strong attachment” also comes concern that he might one day be facing his darling Edith while fanged and furred. “Wolf Song” ends somewhat abruptly, as many werewolf tales do, with blood, moonlight, and sharp teeth.

With “Landing Day” by Michael Canfield, the issue jumps from classic horror to social science fiction. Two stories in one, the first follows a triumph of humanity that echoes the first moon landing. April Greer is part of a two-person exploratory team, the first to walk on an ethereal new planet, across our solar system. The second occurs on Earth, where Tom Greer takes advantage of the holiday and slips into a bank for enough cash to keep running, getting distracted by the televised account of his daughter’s landing. The story muses on whether Tom’s darker nature predestines April to bad happenings as well. Can luck cross bodies with DNA and determine the best or worst of a person, before they even have a will of their own to exercise?

“Two” by Jack Skillingstead continues the science fiction trend. Reminiscent of Deb Taber‘s “How To Raise a Human,” it focuses more on the science fiction angle than the social one. Bingo is a human secretly created and raised by something that calls itself Rogue. Whatever or wherever Rogue’s people are, he scorns their fear of humans. Certainly one human can’t make too much of a mess of things?

“Sweep Me To My Revenge” by Darrell Schweitzer is an amusing story of time travel, rivalry, and Shakespeare. A Shakespearian professor ventures into the University’s equivalent of a time machine. The time travel in question isn’t to save the world or prevent some great event from happening. It’s petty, vindictive, and in the end, the impact is lost on all but the irritated professor himself. That doesn’t stop this from being a good tale.

The next story, “Mildred’s Garden” by James C. Glass is one of the best of the issue. What could have been a pretty horror story turns out to be more of a strange urban fantasy. After her husband dies and her daughter becomes far to busy with her own life, all Mildred has is her garden. Her plants keep her busy; they become like her children. Even weeds and invasive plants have a home in Mildred’s garden. What doesn’t have a place, however, is the neighbor’s son, whose pranks and destructive behavior get more than just Mildred angry with him.

“The Old Husband’s Tale” by Patricia Russo is another tale with subtle fantasy veins. Short but lovely, it focuses on a husband who has learned too much about his wife and must choose what it means for them. Saying anything more might spoil this one.

“Death Comes But Twice” by Mary Robinette Kowal is a style of horror (with a spike of science fiction) not seen often today. Obviously rooted in classics like Robert Louis Stevenson‘s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Bram Stoker‘s Dracula, this tale of a medical experiment to ward off death addresses the reader directly and has a dark finale and the fine writing that readers have come to expect from Kowal.

“A Little Animal Throb” by Andrew Tisbert is possibly the best story in this issue. A take off of classic ghost tales, Tisbert mentions that it came from a dream. The prose is definitely dreamlike, pulling the reader in and making the experience surreal with effective point of view shifts. The story speaks of the loneliness of isolation, and of invisibility, before showing the reader that there’s a dark point to the plot.

“Iron Ties” by Hayden Trenholm is a dark tale with a streak of the paranormal in it. Beginning with a feeling of not belonging, of being lost to one’s own history, it builds from there. David is the axis and enabler to his little family of three. The sane one, comparatively, among the druggies, thieves, and prostitutes, he’s the one who makes sure the needs of his family are met. He tries to walk the line between indulging their needs and preventing them from losing themselves to their own dark sides. It’s a line David walks better than expected as the story builds to a close and he faces a choice between his answers and another’s path.

Originally posted at Tangent Online.

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