Welcome to Apex Magazine issue 153.
As we enter beach reads season and a lot readers are stuffing their TBR with light, breezy, fun reads, we’re bringing you an issue that is the exact opposite. The original fiction in this issue tackles difficult subjects such as women’s bodily autonomy, suicidal ideation, abusive relationships, and homophobia. It is dark and beautiful in a haunting fashion that is pure Apex.
In “The Bathhouse for Long Life,” Claire Jia-Wen explores mother-daughter relationships and a woman’s right to choose when and how she has a child. The world-building throughout this story is expansive, and while we only get to see a small part of it within this story, it’s a universe I would love to explore through more stories.
Beth Dawkins returns to Apex Magazine with a story called “Glass.” This is a short piece—coming in at just over 1,000 words—but within that small space Dawkins brings to life an emotionally abusive relationship that leads to the narrator harming themselves. The story is poetic and beautiful.
“My Suicides” by Debbie Urbanski is not an easy read. To be honest, I thought about this story for a long time before finally accepting it. As if the title wasn’t clear, this is a story about suicidal ideation and personification of those thoughts. It is raw and honest in a way that society rarely is about this difficult situation that touches so many people’s lives. While I know this story won’t be for everyone, it’s one that I feel is truly important. After reading this story, please make sure you come back to read Marissa van Uden’s interview with Debbie.
You know those stories that reveal more about themselves the more times that you read them? Like, you read them once and see one layer, but on a second read another layer becomes apparent, and more and more as you go over the story again and again. That is the type of story “Seventeen Beats, and the Chirping Stops” by Christian Ramirez Ramos is. I have read the story several times at this point, and each time I discover some new facet of it. This story is rich and layered and wonderful. I don’t want to say anything more about it, because I don’t want to influence the way the story reveals itself to you.
Our flash fictions this issue are lyrical stories about loss, each in their own way. Our CAT GOT YOUR TONGUE story, “In Your Diminishing Tongue” by Indigo Rue, is unexpected and rich. “The Vigil of the Tenth Air”, by Surya Ramkumar, for our INTERRUPTED RITES theme has a quiet grief to it that ends on a hopeful note. And finally, “Of Brackens and Cowries”, by Jana Bianchi, for our DRESS CODES theme, explores need and want, grief and longing.
Our classic fiction is by Chris Campbell and Somto Ihezue. We have essays by Marie Vibbert and Ivy Grimes. Plus, author interviews with Claire Jia-Wen and Debbie Urbanski. Bradley Powers discusses art with cover artist Valentina Paz.
If you frequent many bookish spaces, you can become bombarded with a lot of opinions on how you should be a reader. Whether that’s telling you how many books you should be reading, what types, or that if you reading romance or thrillers then you’re not a real reader. So much of the discourse around reading can be very invalidating and that really bothers me.
No matter what type of reader you are, there will be someone out there who will say you’re doing it wrong. You aren’t reading the right books or enough books. Or you’re reading too many books, so there’s no way you’re actually absorbing what you’re reading. In a world where a lot of us are feeling very anxious, overwhelmed, and uncertain of everything going on, I want to tell you that you are reading correctly. I don’t care if you read one book last year or 300. Or if you listen to audiobooks, use an eReader, or prefer paperbacks. I don’t care if you only read monster smut (L. Eveland’s Monsters in My Bed series is SOOOO good!) or celebrity memoirs (Danny Trejo’s if great) or classics (I just finished The Count of Monte Cristo and it was fantastic). Reading should be a joy. So read what makes you happy and let go of the judgement others may heap on you.
Embrace the reading joy!
Until next issue,
Lesley Conner
Editor-in-Chief