The Best of Abyss & Apex: Volume One, edited by Wendy S. Delmater

The Best of Abyss & Apex: Volume One is an anthology of stories and poems edited by Wendy S. Delmater and first published on the Abyss & Apex magazine website between 2003 and 2008. As the title of the webzine might suggest, Delmater has drawn widely from the science fiction and fantasy landscape, and from short flash fiction up to 10K novelettes.

“The Night the Stars Sang Out My Name” by Ken Scholes follows a soldier’s escape from alien captivity. The 30-year veteran has an artificial intelligence called Eddie in his head that can talk to him and maybe take control in combat situations. Told partly through fractured conversation between the soldier and the AI, the sparse style leaves the reader to fill in much of the background. The soldier is suffering from the stress of interrogation prior to his escape, and the AI seems similarly damaged. It’s a fairly grim study of someone at the point of breaking. Depressing, but nicely done in just four pages.

“Interfaith” by Lisa Mantchev imagines a domestic scenario for the gods. The identity of the mother is not clear at first. She is a goddess, married to the “Catholic God,” but it seems they have recently separated. An infestation of angels flaps around the house while she tries to get her daughter, Justine, off to catch the school bus.

God, who has been neglecting his daughter, pays a visit but only makes matters worse. The goddess is reverting to her roots, and the daughter embarks on an experimental phase. It’s a wry look at what might happen if one were to mix faiths, and the domestic metaphor is entertaining. I suspect it will resonate for many, but for all its cleverness, its weakness is that the characters are symbols and metaphors rather than people I can really care about.

“Godspeed, Inc.” by Vincent Miskell takes us on a widescreen space opera romp. The Godspeed company has had to stop using its faster-than-light Q-drives after the planet Pluto was unfortunately lost through a rift in space. Now sweeper ships are deployed to mend space-time. Naomi, the sole occupant of one such sweeper ship, finds she is the only hope to save Earth and Mars from destruction when a “something really big” appears through a new rift and starts moving through the solar system.

With radio help from a friend on Mars, Naomi hatches a desperate plan to save the day. A section on the Umbriel moon of Uranus, in which Naomi has to carry out spaceship repairs, is the kind of old-school SF one rarely sees these days. Naomi also recruits help from fellow Godspeed sweeper shipman Leo, but can he be trusted?

Realism is kept at a distance, though readers unfamiliar with certain corners of the solar system might learn a thing or two. I wonder whether a slightly more sombre tone might have worked better, as it does have a rather throwaway feel. Still, if it’s not deep, it is certainly fun. If you want to see an intrepid star pilot being chased through the solar system, with time running out and the fate of mankind at stake, then this is one for you.

“Metamorphoses in Amber” by Tony Pi begins with an attempted heist of a Fabergé egg. The thief is an immortal living under the identity of an art dealer called Felix Lea, and while he does escape with the egg, he is shot and collapses into the Thames River. To save himself, he must draw on the power that sustains the immortals, a “metamorphic energy” caught and distilled in amber for millions of years.

The heist is the latest move in a long-running feud between Lea and another immortal called Mantis. Lea’s celebrations are cut short when he starts to develop a rash on his skin, the first signs of a mysterious transformation known as the Widowing, which will see him irreversibly transformed from male to female.

Lea suspects that the Fabergé theft might have been a trap and recruits the aid of another immortal named Spider to broker a truce with Mantis, the only person who might have a cure for the Widowing. But will the cure be even worse than the disease? Tony Pi seems to have researched everything you could ever want to know about amber, and constructs a complex mythology and a compelling tale.

“City of Beautiful Nonsense” by Justin Howe is the shortest flash piece in the book. Sitting on a single page, it has a poetic sensibility and effectively conjures up the ghost of a city of commuters riding subway lines. I particularly enjoyed the sense of a blurring of time when looking back on a society of long ago.

In “New Spectacles” by Will McIntosh, Tristan Sanders’s family gathers to endure the imminent death of his terminally ill grandfather. In his role as a criminal investigator, Tristan has access to a new voice analysis technology. The Poly-Layer Voice Analysis (PLVA) glasses analyse a person’s speech patterns and deduce the mood and intent of the speaker, effectively a portable lie detector, and displays the results in the periphery of the wearer’s vision.

When Tristan inadvertently (or perhaps deliberately) forgets to change back to his normal glasses on leaving work to join his family, he learns more than he bargained for about his grandparents, and later he learns something unexpected about his wife, Lana.

This is a sombre tale on the subject of compromise and acceptance of a situation that might not be everything we would hope for. It sits at the mundane end of the SF spectrum, and though I enjoyed it very much, I can’t help observing that McIntosh could have chosen to explore the same territory without resorting to PLVA glasses.

In “The Devil You Know” by Heidi Kneale, Mrs. Timmor has breakfast with the Devil. This is one of those where the Devil meets a woman and gets more than he bargained for. At less than 500 words, there is nothing startlingly original here, but Kneale succeeds in reversing reader expectations in more ways than one.

Karl Bunker shows that SF and romance can be combined to good effect in “Nomad.” Jack, a software engineer, notices a woman in a UNSA uniform, a “real bona fide spacer,” getting drunk in a bar. When he later finds her passed out in the parking lot, he decides to help her home. But she is unable to tell him where she lives, and in the end, he has to resort to taking her back to his own home.

She sleeps for a long time as he occasionally watches over her. When eventually they are able to talk, he discovers her name is Madi and why she is on Earth. Although she only has two weeks shore leave, they begin a relationship, and then events take an unexpected course for each of them. If there is a weakness, it is in the thinly sketched backstory of the characters and the world. I have no idea what Madi actually does on her space missions, for example.

SF purists might complain that the basic plot of this could easily have been written without the science fictional stage dressing. Perhaps this is a criticism that could be aimed at any romantic plotline, and perhaps this is why I don’t often seem to see them in the SF magazines. But in this case, the drama does play out to a satisfying SFnal conclusion.

In “Stories of the Alien Invasion” by Manek Mistry, non-hostile alien creatures resembling “small piles of sticks” invade Earth. One of the perpetual difficulties facing SF writers is the problem of depicting aliens that are truly alien, while still delivering something of interest to a human reader. In this case, Mistry shows encounters with the aliens from the point of view of a separated human couple, Nick and Julie.

Nick has never recovered from Julie leaving him. Julie now has a serious, possibly terminal, illness. Nick first encounters the aliens in a coffee shop. Julie first meets them in a medical examination room. One of the major differences between the aliens and humans is revealed to be their attitude towards life and death. They seem to be incapable of caring one way or the other.

I really enjoyed this one. The aliens have a profound effect on Nick and Julie. The characters are very believable and the mix of mundane and weird makes for a fresh reading experience. Mistry also succeeded in wrong-footing me with the ending.

“A Clockwork Break” by Shawn Scarber paints a sympathetic picture of Angie, a woman who works at a sewing machine in a factory in Lowell. Angie is considering an offer to follow her brother to Boston to live and work as governess to his children. But when she encounters a mechanical sparrow with a damaged wing, perhaps she will be brought closer to the true object of her desire. In a brief but winning fable, Scarber does an excellent job of capturing Angie’s point of view with passages such as:

She expected the bird to weigh more, perhaps as much as a man’s pocket watch, but it weighed the same as a child’s cotton sleeve.

In “The Knife” by Jason L. Corner, Jessica Chen and other visitors from Earth have been stranded for two years on the planet Esef following the destruction of the Gate joining the two planets. When Chen discovers a stone knife hidden by her son, she goes to Ziggaut, the Earth-Eosfi Liaison, to try to discover its significance. Ziggaut reveals that all children are expected to undergo a dangerous Eosfi coming-of-age ritual. Failure to do so will have consequences for the Earth community.

With the introduction of Ziggaut, what had looked like a bleak mood piece takes on a more comedic tone. Corner later attempts to recapture the darker mood of the beginning, but unfortunately, the tension and menace are lost. He does a good job with the worldbuilding—huge trees covering the landscape—and with the contrast of human and alien customs. But I was bothered by some point-of-view glitches, the uneven tone, and a disappointing ending: Chen does an abrupt U-turn in the argument she’s been making throughout, and we get a rushed explanation for the sabotage of the Gate. A lack of foreshadowing for these events means neither is convincing.

Lindsey Duncan’s “Hour by Hour” has an intriguing premise. The “Hours” in question are a circle of priestesses charged with the responsibility to “steady the course of time and keep Fate in its banks.” When the king of Alzhara receives warning of his own death, he sends a message to Quiramene asking her to summon the Hours to look into the future and determine the identity of the murderer to be. But when they do, Quiramene finds her own destiny intertwined with that of the king. And the fate of the Hours rests in her hands.

Fascinating though this all is, there is too much going on for a short story to sensibly contain it. And it does not help that Duncan also crams in far too many characters. Many of the Hours get names and dialogue but are otherwise indistinguishable from one another. Plus we have the king, his three children, and various other minor characters. This had the potential of being truly memorable, but as it is, only one character really shines through. It would be a great shame if Duncan has no further plans for the Midnight Hour.

“In the Season of Blue Storms” by Jude-Marie Green flips back and forth between two narrative strands. In one, Samma and Pachan arrive at an unnamed planet to survey it for signs of life. In the other, the planet’s sentient weather storms battle each other for survival and dominance. Will Samma and Pachan recognise the storms as a life-form before authorisation is given to mine the planet?

I very much enjoyed the writing in the sections focused on the storms. Green conjures up brilliantly dramatic passages. The sections on the survey ship are less successful, though, with a weak plot about the Versys mining corporation possibly splitting up the partnership of Samma and Pachan. They are a rather dull couple compared with the fascinating storms circling the planet below.

Deities seem to be regular customers at the coffer bar where Ben works in Jon Hansen’s “Goddess.” When the goddess of the title walks in one day and actually takes an interest in him, Ben is savvy enough to know that such interest from the divine tends to lead to serious trouble. But is there something more holding Ben back when the goddess suggests retiring to somewhere more private? Short and sweet, and outrageously calculated to win the hearts of women everywhere.

“When Maxwell’s Demon Met Schrödinger’s Cat” by Jack Hillman didn’t work for me on any level, though it starts promisingly. The narrator is a “staff psychologist” on a deep space research station. Sadly, there is no depth at all to this character who has no name, a gender I can only guess at (probably male), and demonstrates no actual skill in psychology that I could see.

The real focus is on the research scientists on the station, but they are no more convincing, behaving in an unbelievably reckless manner throughout. The station commander is predictably exasperated by their behaviour, as anyone would be, worrying in particular about a Dr. Stamford, who hides away in his lab conducting potentially dangerous experiments. Then we have Dr. Elizabeth Connors, a shy, lovesick cryonics expert besotted with the more eminent Stamford. Connors is one of the most cringe-worthy characters I’ve come across in some while, although partially redeemed when it is she who provides an idea that might rescue Stamford’s failing research. Anyone unfamiliar with either Maxwell’s Demon or Schrödinger’s Cat will find little insight into either.

“Fading Away” by Jay Lake wears its heart very firmly on its sleeve. A boy meets a ghost in the park, a fat man in a white sparkling suit. He takes the ghost home to meet his mother, who is dying of cancer. It’s a slight tale lasting only a few pages, but unfolds with careful precision. Significant details, such as the boy’s name, might telegraph the plot a little, but nevertheless, it feels right.

“The Man Behind the Curtain” by Joseph Paul Haines has a similar contemporary urban setting. After the death of his mother, Davey attends the funeral. Only four of her eight children are there, none of them having much love for the abusive woman. Davey is particularly sad that his sister, Suzi, does not attend. She had left home many years earlier when Davey was still a child. Davey is convinced that Suzi had magical powers, because of an incident in their childhood when Davey believes Suzi gave him the power to fly from the family porch stairs to their neighbour’s yard.

Davey wants that magic back in his life. He finds a clue to Suzi’s whereabouts and follows it, which eventually leads him to Seattle, the Emerald City. Weird things happen, and it becomes difficult to tell the difference between dream and reality. It seems Suzi left in search of “the wizard.” There are a number of references to The Wizard of Oz.

It’s all very well written, and builds to an ending that is perhaps best described as an extravagant flourish, if not entirely a perfect culmination of everything that has gone before.

“God’s Guitar” by Justin Stanchfield continues the urban fantasy style of the previous two stories, but is perhaps more self-consciously trying to be “cool,” starting as it does with the Angel of Rock telling Matt Torrence where to find “the guitar.” Much as he might like to ignore this visitation and pretend that it didn’t happen, Matt continues to receive the same message everywhere he looks. He is to go to Bruce’s Pawn on Arizona Street. Eventually, he hooks up with two friends and does as requested. Having retrieved the “Cherry Sunburst Les Paul” guitar, his next task is to return it to its rightful owner. So begins a reluctant road trip for the three men.

There are further angelic visitations, and when they meet Denise, a girl who might be in desperate need of their help, the trip becomes about more than just returning a guitar. This is a highly accomplished and beguiling piece of writing, and it is easy to see why Stanchfield is attracting attention with his short fiction.

“Unicorn’s Rest” by Jill Knowles is a more traditional kind of fantasy fare. Jenna’s sister brings the news that her twin brother, Janek, has been arrested for poaching. She finds her father at the local inn, but only in time to learn that Janek, as a repeat offender, is to be sentenced to six months in gaol or a fine of 50 gold pieces. The only way to find such a huge sum of money is if they can claim a bounty offered to anyone who can capture a live unicorn. Her father sends the reluctant Jenna out to capture the unicorn, but she blames her brother for the poor fortunes of the family, and her parents for continuing to support him. Night after night she allows the unicorn to go free. Meanwhile, she meets a mysterious seller of magic potions, who perhaps offers the possibility of a different life.

There is nothing very surprising about any of this, cobblestone streets and all. Jenna shows some spirit, and I like that she takes charge of her own fate, but the ending seemed far too convenient.

“The Sea a Deeper Black” by Tim Pratt is whimsical and strange. Charles is taking a walk on the beach when a stranger asks him if he would like to buy an encounter with a god. He also claims that his dog is actually a priestess trapped in dog form. The two men continue talking, and Charles learns a little about the other, Jake, and the history of the priestess and the god. Since Charles had been considering suicide anyway, he decides he might as well buy an encounter with the god. The cost is everything he has on him, but what might be gained in return? There is an underlying feeling of optimism at work here, a sense that good things will happen if only we believe.

“Museum Beetles” by Simon Kewin has an unusual narrative structure, following a succession of museum curators over generations. It appears at first glance to be about the growth of a beetle colony over that time, and their gradual destruction of the museum and its records. But in fact, there is another narrative arc here, and it is leading to the point where the people inside the museum will understand something new about their situation, and see a new possibility for their future. The reader, of course, makes the same discovery, and Kewin judges the reveal to perfection. This is beautifully written, fascinating, and one of the highlights of the book.

To end this anthology, we have “Wikihistory” by Desmond Warzel, which consists of a series of entries from the Members’ Forum for the International Association of Time Travelers. In the first entry, FreedomFighter69 boasts they have assassinated Adolf Hitler during the opening of the 1936 Olympic Games. In the next entry, SilverFox316 reports that she has fixed things back as they were and requests that FreedomFighter69 please read IATT Bulletin 1147.

Further attempts by IATT members to kill Hitler lead to an increasingly exasperated SilverFox316. She tries to make them understand: No Hitler means no Third Reich, no World War II, no rocketry programs, no electronics, no computers, no time travel. Nevertheless, it continues, leading to complaints about inappropriate forum entries, and so on. The lighthearted satire works well, and it’s a sweet way to end the book.

Abyss and Apex regularly publishes poems alongside the fiction on its website. It’s not in my remit to review poetry, but I will just mention that this Best Of collects nine of the poems. The best of the bunch are by Pam McNew and Rachel Swirsky.

The Best of Abyss & Apex: Volume One is undoubtedly a high-quality collection of stories. With the emphasis on diversity rather than narrow focus, it is perhaps inevitable that a couple of them didn’t work for me, but most did. On the evidence here, Abyss & Apex is a webzine well worth reading and supporting, and fans of bound paper should greatly enjoy this print version.

Publisher: Hadley Rille Books (April 2009)
Trade paperback: 296 pages
ISBN: 978-0981924304