Lightspeed: Edited by John Joseph Adams

LIGHTSPEED & NIGHTMARE Kickstarter graphic. Left side: Bright light blue background with rays (as of light) bursting out from the center. Central image is an open book with a rocket blasting up out of it. Below the book is the LIGHTSPEED magazine wordmark; the word lightspeed is rendered in a orange-to-yellow gradient, with a white outline around it and dropshadow underneath it. Right side: Bright light yellow background with rays (as of light) bursting out from the center. Central image is an open book with a haunted house emerging from it. Below the book is the NIGHTMARE magazine wordmark; the word nightmare is rendered in a dark red to lighter red gradient, with a white outline around it and dropshadow underneath it. Top: the words "LIVE on Kickstarter"

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Editorial

Editorial: January 2020

by John Joseph Adams

Published in Jan. 2020 (Issue 116) | 248 words

Welcome to Lightspeed’s first issue of 2020. It’s our 116th!

This month, both our SF originals wrestle with alternate realities. In “The Men Who Change the World,” writer Christopher East creates an alternate Earth with peace, prosperity . . . and a mysterious corporate entity that’s more than it seems. In our second original short, “She’d Never Had a Name Before,” J.R. Dawson gives her main character the opportunity to meet the sister she never got to grow up with. Will blood prove thicker than dimensionality? We also have SF reprints by duo Jason M. Hough & Ramez Naam (“All Together Now”) and N.K. Jemisin (“The Ones Who Stay and Fight”).

Our original fantasy shorts explore some very unusual travel destinations. First, we have a story by Alexander Weinstein called “Destinations of Joy,” which will make you wish you could hop on a plane headed straight into Alexander’s imagination. Then we have a new story by long-time Lightspeed contributor Adam-Troy Castro: “Fortune’s Final Hand,” which takes us to a gambling town that makes Las Vegas look pretty boring by comparison. Plus, we have fantasy reprints by Kij Johnson (“Story Kit”) and M. Rickert (“Holiday”).

Our feature interview this month is with author Tochi Onyebuchi. We also have our usual assortment of author spotlights, along with our book and media review columns. For our ebook readers, we also have an excerpt from Sarah Kozloff’s A Queen in Hiding.

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John Joseph Adams

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John Joseph Adams is the editor and publisher of the Hugo Award-winning Lightspeed and publisher of its sibling magazine, Nightmare. He’s also the editor of more than fifty anthologies, including the Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy series, Wastelands, A People’s Future of the United States, and the New York Times bestselling Out There Screaming (with Jordan Peele). John is a winner of the Hugo, Stoker, Locus, and British Fantasy awards, and is a ten-time World Fantasy Award finalist. In addition to his short fiction work, he’s the co-creator of The Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy podcast, and for five years he ran a novel imprint for Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Lately, he’s also been working as an editor and game designer on TTRPG projects for Kobold Press, Paizo, and Monte Cook Games. Learn more at johnjosephadams.com.