February 2009’s Apex Magazine is not for the faint of heart, as two of its three stories feature fairly graphic depictions of sexual abuse. Consider yourself forewarned.

In “Tearing Down Tuesday” by Steven Francis Murphy, Kyle has stayed with the local fix-it woman, Audrey, since his father was killed and his mother left town. Amid rumors and whispers of blame from the townsfolk, Kyle counts on the crusty Audrey and clings to his only friend, Tuesday, an old, sentient robot from the turn of the 21st century. When Tuesday starts parking himself on railroad tracks and sliding into ponds, Audrey threatens to sell him for parts. So Kyle makes a devil’s bargain with a so-called man of God to save his friend from oblivion. But the real damage may already be done.

Overall, “Tearing Down Tuesday” is a poignant tale of lost innocence and the power of memory. Although there are some bumpy spots—I found the repeated use of “the teenager” to describe Kyle distracting—this is a memorable and thought-provoking piece.

Gord Sellar’s “Cai and Her Ten Thousand Husbands” also deals with exploitation, this time of women in a futuristic, war-torn China. The unnamed narrator, captured as a girl with her schoolmates by conquering soldiers, has lived over one hundred years as a cai, a “bride” held in common by men calling themselves peng-zu after a legendary long-life figure. Despite the effects of the mind control practiced by her captors, she begins to realize its source and how she might entangle the peng-zu in their own chains.

This is a vivid, engrossing tale, told in wrenching detail. Its subject matter is brutal, but its heroine rises above her situation with a strength and grace that is apparent in her voice from the beginning.

While Lavie Tidhar’s “Dark Planet” provides relief from uncomfortable subject matter, it is challenging in its own way. Chamberlain, sent on a dangerous mission in the jungle of an unrecognized “evil” planet, has already lost both of his comrades to horrible fates when he’s faced with almost certain death himself—in the form of an exploding insect. But he is inexplicably saved—by one of the enemies he’s been sent out to kill—and from that strange creature learns his true purpose.

“Dark Planet” offers a fresh vision, a solar system of six planets—and another that must not be mentioned—of people whose origins are perhaps ours, and of unique and amazing life forms with whom to engage. Like the planet Fly, the story does not offer up its secrets easily, but is well worth a second read, and suggests a world of great promise for the author to explore in future stories.