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.

Vathek (1786) is a novel by William Beckford. Inspired by his travels, Beckford wrote Vathek in French before supervising its translation into English by Reverend Samuel Henley. Recognized as an instrumental work in the popularization of Orientalist fiction, Vathek is an early Gothic novel that influenced such writers as Edgar Allan Poe, Lord Byron, Robert Southey, and H. P. Lovecraft. Born into a royal family, Vathek is appointed the ninth caliph...

Eroticism and gothic horror mingle in the enchanted city of Paradys, where no one remains unchanged The Book of the Damned introduces the city of Paradys, also known as Paradise, or Paradis. In fact, it is three cities, all places of luxury and decay, twisted love and chilling magic, intertwined by an unknown enchantment.   In Stained with Crimson, the first tale of Paradys's inhabitants, poet Andre St Jean encounters a mysterious man who thrusts...

The Last Man (1826) is a dystopian novel by Mary Shelley. Dedicated to the recently deceased Percy Bysshe Shelley and Lord Byron, The Last Man was controversial upon publication and was immediately suppressed by British authorities. Resurrected by dedicated critics and readers, the novel is now recognized as a pioneering work of science fiction and as the first work of dystopian literature to be published in English. The ambitious and semi-autobiographical...

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...

"Long ago, a wealthy man stole an angel and hid her in a chapel, where she remains imprisoned to this day. That's the legend, anyway. A clerical student who's racked up gambling debts to a local gangster is given an ultimatum--deliver the angel his grandfather kidnapped, or forfeit various body parts in payment. And so begins a whirlwind theological paradox--with the student at its center--in which the stakes are the necessity of God, the existence...

With her world facing annihilation, one of three powerful sisters must cross over into a forbidden dimension of vanished gods to confront an all-consuming terror in the continuation of the phenomenal Saga of the Trillium The three royal daughters of the Black Trillium brought a welcomed peace to Ruwenda and the World of the Three Moons by defeating the dark sorcerer Orogastus. Now it is time for Kadiya, the Seeker-Warrior, to return the powerful Three-Orbed...

He stopped, look back, and saw it-the monstrous black thing staring at him from the tree . . .This summer sees the long-anticipated re-issue of The Ceremonies, a celebrated masterpiece from a generation ago, now fully corrected by its author. Chalking up the British Fantasy Award for Best First Novel on its original publication back in 1984, The Ceremonies was hailed by Stephen King as the best horror novel since Peter Straub's Ghost Story. It is...

Some Evils Never Lessen! Branimir emerges from the Netherworld as a living legend and learns the Ash Tree is still in danger from the cursed dagger, kaelandur. An old friend compels Branimir to finish what they started at Melkorka. Once again, the former slave must keep kaelandur out of uncertain hands, while struggling to separate heroes from villains and friends from foes.