Apex Magazine is a monthly science fiction, fantasy, and horror magazine featuring original, mind-bending short fiction from many of the top pros of the field. New issues are released on the first Tuesday of every month. TABLE OF CONTENTS Fiction Aishiteru Means I Love You—Troy Tang She Gave Her Heart, He Took Her Marrow—Sam Fleming The Phylactery—Nick Mamatas Memory Tree—Jes Rausch Nemesis—Laird Barron A Letter to Santa—Melanie Rees (Christmas Invasion Flash Fiction Winner) Christmas is Coming—Gina L. Grandi (Christmas Invasion Flash Fiction Winner) Reconstituted—Marlee Jane Ward (Christmas Invasion Flash Fiction Winner) Nonfiction Shiny Books and Corinthians: Writing Historical Fiction without Cliches—Jennie Goloboy Interview with Author Sam Fleming—Andrea Johnson Interview with Artist Irek Konior—Russell Dickerson Poetry Grotesque—J.J. Hunter Myrrh, and the Sun—Lara Ek Editorial Words from the Editor-in-Chief—Jason Sizemore