Best of Apex Magazine: Volume 1 edited by Jason Sizemore and Lesley Conner

Twenty-one stories of the future and all of them pure fantasy.  Short stories are my favorite reads, how could I pass this one up?

Library Thing and Apex Publications gave me the opportunity to read this collection for review (thank you).  It has been published, so you can grab a copy now.

This collection has a wide variety of stories.  Some focus on myths, some on sex, some on strange things the future may hold and some really got my attention.

Here's the list of stories:

    Jackalope Wives by Ursula Vernon (Issue 56)

    If You Were a Dinosaur, My Love by Rachel Swirsky (Issue 46)

    The Green Book by Amal El-Mohtar (Issue 18)

    Candy Girl by Chikodili Emelumadu (Issue 66)

    Falling Leaves by Liz Argall (Issue 60)

    A Matter of Shapespace by Brian Trent (Issue 51)

    Blood from Stone by Alethea Kontis (Issue 43)

    Sexagesimal by Katharine E.K. Duckett (Issue 40)

    Keep Talking by Marie Vibbert (Issue 67)

    Going Endo by Rich Larson (Issue 74)

    Remembery Day by Sarah Pinsker (Issue 72)

    Pocosin by Ursula Vernon (Issue 68)

    She Gave Her Heart, He Took Her Marrow by Sam Fleming (Issue 79)

    L’esprit de L’escalier by Peter M. Ball (Issue 16)

    The Performance Artist by Lettie Prell (Issue 44)

    Advertising at the End of the World by Keffy R.M. Kehrli (Issue 3)

    Armless Maidens of the American West by Genevieve Valentine (Issue 39)

    Blood on Beacon Hill by Russell Nichols (Issue 78)

    Build-A-Dolly by Ken Liu (Issue 47)

    Still Life (A Sexagesimal Fairy Tale) by Ian Tregillis (Issue 17)

The last story in the book was chosen by the readers of the magazine.  What I found most interesting was the fact that my favorite stories were the first and last in the book.

Jackalope Wives is haunting and sounds like the old tales storytellers in Indian Tribes tell.  It sticks with you.

The last story is "She Gave Her Heart, He Took Her Marrow" by Sam Fleming.  I was amazed that I picked the same story other readers did.  I'm usually out in left field and not in the pack but this time our tastes were the same.  This is another haunting story that sticks with you.

None of the stories are boring.  All them had their own flavor and each of the authors engaged your brain.  I like reads like that.  Give it a try and pick your own favorite stories.  Feel free to tell me what you liked best since I told you which ones I did.