Summary: Abyss & Apex, 2009
Summary: Abyss & Apex, 2009
Abyss & Apex is an e-zine available at www.abyssandapex.com. They have been publishing on a regular quarterly schedule the past five years (having published more frequently, but with some wobbles, in previous years). Wendy Delmater is the Editor-in-Chief.
They published a total of 23 stories this year. The total word count was about 108,000. same as last year. Four novelettes, the rest short stories, three of them being "short-shorts". I should note that they publish quite a lot of poetry as well, some of it quite good.
My favorite stories this year included, from the first quarter, Richard Foss’s "Incarnation in the Delta", in which the Buddha’s brother Larry has been reincarnated as a banjo player in the ‘30s Deep South. Also, "Letter Found In A Chest Belonging To The Marquis de Montseraille Following The Death Of That Worthy Individual", by Marie Brennan, which movingly tells of a man’s love for his wife and their involvement in a rebellion, which led to her death -- and how he tried to fix that. From the second quarter, "The Midnight Girls", by Lisa A. Koosis, in which a young woman fleeing an abusive past takes an art class, where the teacher shows her a way of escape. But perhaps pure escape is not what she wants. From the third quarter, Richard A. Lovett's "Carpe Manana", which in a '50s Galaxy manor explores the social implications of an SFnal invention -- a statis box, in ways thoughtful and often scary. From the fourth quarter, "Mirror Girl" by Paul Carlson, a nice piece about a girl growing up under mysterious circumstances (that most SF readers will quickly cotton to).
Other nice work came from Lavie Tidhar, Aliette de Bodard, David Sakmyster, and Caren Gussoff.
And the gender count ... 9 of 23 stories (39%) were by women. (In 2008, 57%, in 2007 27%, so this fits right in between).
SF/Fantasy split -- perhaps 13 of the 23 stories qualify as SF -- so 56.5%, very similar to last year's 59%.
Abyss & Apex is an e-zine available at www.abyssandapex.com. They have been publishing on a regular quarterly schedule the past five years (having published more frequently, but with some wobbles, in previous years). Wendy Delmater is the Editor-in-Chief.
They published a total of 23 stories this year. The total word count was about 108,000. same as last year. Four novelettes, the rest short stories, three of them being "short-shorts". I should note that they publish quite a lot of poetry as well, some of it quite good.
My favorite stories this year included, from the first quarter, Richard Foss’s "Incarnation in the Delta", in which the Buddha’s brother Larry has been reincarnated as a banjo player in the ‘30s Deep South. Also, "Letter Found In A Chest Belonging To The Marquis de Montseraille Following The Death Of That Worthy Individual", by Marie Brennan, which movingly tells of a man’s love for his wife and their involvement in a rebellion, which led to her death -- and how he tried to fix that. From the second quarter, "The Midnight Girls", by Lisa A. Koosis, in which a young woman fleeing an abusive past takes an art class, where the teacher shows her a way of escape. But perhaps pure escape is not what she wants. From the third quarter, Richard A. Lovett's "Carpe Manana", which in a '50s Galaxy manor explores the social implications of an SFnal invention -- a statis box, in ways thoughtful and often scary. From the fourth quarter, "Mirror Girl" by Paul Carlson, a nice piece about a girl growing up under mysterious circumstances (that most SF readers will quickly cotton to).
Other nice work came from Lavie Tidhar, Aliette de Bodard, David Sakmyster, and Caren Gussoff.
And the gender count ... 9 of 23 stories (39%) were by women. (In 2008, 57%, in 2007 27%, so this fits right in between).
SF/Fantasy split -- perhaps 13 of the 23 stories qualify as SF -- so 56.5%, very similar to last year's 59%.