cover image The Best of Abyss & Apex, Vol. 1

The Best of Abyss & Apex, Vol. 1

. Hadley Rille, $15.95 (296pp) ISBN 978-0-9819243-0-4

This uneven anthology from online semiprozine Abyss & Apex collects 30 stories and poems published between 2003 and 2008. In Tony Pi's “Metamorphoses in Amber,” an immortal tries to halt his body from turning female. “In the Season of Blue Storms” by Jude-Marie Green describes an intelligent storm seeking love. In Justin Stanchfield's melancholy “God's Guitar,” an angel sends a man to search for Eric Clapton's missing guitar. Desmond Warzel's clever flash fiction “Wikihistory” records entries to the members' forum of the International Association of Time Travelers. Justin Howe's “City of Beautiful Nonsense” eloquently evokes the otherworldly mood of a city. Most of the other entries are short on speculative ideas and long on literary angst, and too-pat punch-line endings mar a few. (Apr.)