<p><em>Strange. Beautiful. Shocking. Surreal.</em></p> <p>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.</p> <p>We publish every other month.</p> <p>Issue 130 contains the following short stories, essays, reviews, and interviews.</p> <p>EDITORIAL<br> Musings from Maryland: Editorial by Lesley Conner</p> <p>ORIGINAL FICTION<br> Nine Theories of Time by Spencer Nitkey<br> To Live and Die in Dixieland by Russell Nichols<br> The First Promise We Break by Risa Wolf<br> Tenure by Devon Mihesuah<br> It Rises and Falls and Rises Again by RJ Taylor<br> Strata by Benjamin Blattberg</p> <p>CLASSIC FICTION<br> An Arc of Electric Skin by Wole Talabi<br> In the Garden of Ibn Ghazi by Molly Tanzer</p> <p>NONFICTION<br> Always and Forever by Milton J. Davis<br> Never Let the Light Go Out by Linda D. Addison</p> <p>REVIEWS<br> Words for Thought: Short Fiction Review by A.C. Wise<br> Book Review: A Spindle Splintered Alix E. Harrow (reviewed by Lesley Conner)<br> Book Review: Sweep of Stars by Maurice Broaddus (reviewed by Tracy Robinson)</p> <p>INTERVIEWS<br> Interview with Author Spencer Nitkey by Andrea Johnson<br> Interview with Author RJ Taylor by Andrea Johnson<br> Interview with Cover Artist JR Slattum by Bradley Powers</p>

Third Flatiron Anthologies presents "Master Minds," a new collection of science fiction/fantasy/horror short stories that consider the different meanings of intelligence.It's Question Time: What is intelligence, anyway? Who has it? Who wants it? Can humans recognize it in other species? Come the Singularity, will humans survive? Is survival only for the fittest? What will newly sentient creations want to do first? Can we love machines, and can they love us back? Could the 'Mozart effect' of music transform us? Are the super-intelligent more likely to be tormented by issues like happiness and the meaning of life?New and established speculative fiction writers offer a mind-boosting exploration of sentience and sapience. Contributors include Cherith Baldry, Lela E. Buis, Martin Clark, Ellen Denton, Robin Wyatt Dunn, William Huggins, Elliotte Rusty Harold, Jason Lairamore, Vince Liberato, Patrick McCarty, Russell Nichols, Konstantine Paradias, and NM Whitley.