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.