In this issue, things fall apart: Relationships, societies, religious systems. Dreams and hopes, bodies and minds all pay the price for the choices we make to try to get ahead.

Rachel Swirsky’s visceral “Decomposition” tells the disturbing story of when a villain returns home. Rahul Kanakia’s “Tomorrow’s Dictator” examines just how much of ourselves we sacrifice for the work we do. Our classic revisited this month is Nnedi Okorafor’s “The Chaos Magician’s Magical Chemistry Set,” which shows what happens when the barriers between magic and science become permeable.

In our nonfiction this month, Maggie Slater interviews Rachel Swirsky about her writing process, and Tim Akers explains how and why the depictions of religions in SF/F so often break down. Our stunning cover art this month is by surrealist artist Naoto Hattori.

The news here at Apex Magazine has been pretty darned good lately. We’re deeply honored to be nominated for a 2012 Hugo Award for Best Semiprozine, and are looking forward to WorldCon in August/September. This is our very first Hugo nomination, and we are in august company indeed, alongside Interzone, Lightspeed, Locus, and the New York Review of Science Fiction. Congratulations to all of the other nominees. I’d like to especially thank all of the Apex Magazine staff and contributors for all of their hard work that had led to this honor. We are also pleased to congratulate Damian Taylor on his promotion to Managing Editor of Apex Magazine, as he takes on a larger role in running our day-to-day business.

I hope that you enjoy this issue of Apex.

Lynne M. Thomas
Editor-in-Chief