LIghtspeed Magazine: edited by John Joseph Adams

Latest Science Fiction Story

Dad Died on Discord

When we moved Dad to the care facility, his only complaint was the Wi-Fi. “Laggy,” he called it when he was having a good day. “Fucking piece of shit,” he called it the rest of the time.

At first I was relieved. I’d been worried that he’d bristle at the cramped room, like a zoo animal pacing its enclosure in a sad documentary. But he never said a word about the bedsit quarters or the unfamiliar, ever-churning staff.

Latest Fantasy Story

Six-Gun Vixen and the Machinist of Doom Valley [Part 1]

by Ashok K. Banker

Author spotlight

New Providence sparkled like fool’s gold in the distance, all gleaming spires and whirring clockwork, nothing like the two-bit townships I usually rode through. My Halfie tensed beneath me, his wolf-hackles rising at the stink of machine oil and steam that drifted our way. I dug my spurs in gentle-like, just enough to remind him who was boss without drawing blood. Been doing that less lately—seemed like we were finally reaching an understanding, him and me.

Latest Nonfiction

Book Review: Sauúti Terrors Eugen Bacon, Stephen Embleton, and Cheryl S. Ntumy, eds.

by Arley Sorg

Arley Sorg recommends the new Flame Tree Collections anthology Sauúti Terrors.

Saint Zero of the Hollows and the Eagle Knight

by V.M. Ayala

The only sound Zero heard in their helmet was their own hyperventilating and the gentle pings from their pegasus.

> waiting . . .

> communication received

> confirmation of countdown initiation: 30 seconds

Update on Rules for the Spatiotemporal Use of Campus Spaces

by Andrea Kriz

Dear Members of the Community,

As we begin yet another fall semester in the throes of the rogue timestream unleashed on our campus, I cannot help but take a moment to marvel at just how vibrant our community has become. In addition to our current residents, our University’s campus grounds and buildings have come to support thousands of students, staff, affiliates, and visitors from past, future, as well as alternate Universities.

(available on 4/23) | Buy Ebook To Read it Now

Empathetic Psychosis

by Justin C. Key

Personality Disorder (Not Otherwise Specified)

My patients called me Dr. Holloway. My friends called me Jason. I won’t tell you what my three ex-wives called me but I’m sure you can guess. I was a psychiatrist (and a damn good one seventy percent of the time).

My adult life had been full of restarts, reinventions, and rehabilitations. This new beginning, though . . . this was supposed to be different. I’d taken a job at Margins Treatment Center in sunny Los Angeles as the Clinical Director.

(available on 4/30) | Buy Ebook To Read it Now

Hell Is Empty

by J.R. Dawson

And all the devils are here.

“What’s that from?” Millie asks as she gets her coat.

I stand at the back window, looking out. Usually, you can see the downtown skyline from this position. Today, it’s just the hellmouth. A long tube that looks like an esophagus that’s been yanked out of a kaiju and dangles from the ground. Bloody, meaty, smoking.

Six-Gun Vixen and the Machinist of Doom Valley [Part 2]

by Ashok K. Banker

The sun was sinking toward the horizon like a brass penny dropped in muddy water by the time I rode back into New Providence. My Halfie’s mechanical shoes struck sparks off the metal road plates, each impact sending little jolts of pain through my spine. Those hours of riding and tracking had taken their toll, but it wasn’t the kind of tired that sleep could fix. The kind of weary that comes from knowing too much, seeing too clear.

(available on 4/23) | Buy Ebook To Read it Now

Time Management

by P.A. Cornell

On the morning Gwen woke with the ability to manipulate time, it was already too late. She didn’t immediately realize she could stretch or compress time—that would come later. At first, all she knew was Dianne was gone, and she wasn’t coming back.

(available on 4/30) | Buy Ebook To Read it Now