Lightspeed: Edited by John Joseph Adams

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January 2024 (Issue 164)

We have original science fiction by Benjamin Peek (“Shadow Films”) and David Anaxagoras (“We Shall Not Be Bitter at the End of the World”). We also have a flash story (“Five Views of the Planet Tartarus”) from Rachael K. Jones, and another (“Night Desk Duty at the Infinite Paradox Hotel”) from Aimee Ogden. Plus, we have original fantasy by Sloane Leong (“A Saint Between the Teeth”) and Adam-Troy Castro (“Farewell to Faust”). We also have two terrific flash pieces: “In the Tree’s Hollow, a Doe” by Lowry Poletti  and “To Be a Happy Man” from Thomas Ha. All that, and of course we also have our usual assortment of author spotlights, along with book reviews from our terrific review team. Our ebook readers will also enjoy an excerpt from Amy Avery’s new novel The Longest Autumn.

Cover art by Warmtail / Shutterstock

January 2024 (Issue 164)

Editorial

Editorial: January 2024

by John Joseph Adams

Be sure to check out the editorial for a discussion of this month’s content.

Science Fiction

Five Views of the Planet Tartarus

by Rachael K. Jones

Author spotlight

Once a decade, a titanium-nosed shuttle plows through the rings of the planet Tartarus with a new batch of prisoners destined for the Orpheus Factory. The debris that makes up the rings is so thick that it thunders like a hailstorm, deafening the passengers. As the orbiting debris bounces and scrapes against the hull, the prisoners squeeze their eyes closed

Author Spotlight

Author Spotlight: Rachael K. Jones

by Laurel Amberdine

It seems to me like most good advice on writing boils down to 1) read widely, and 2) write. But I wish more people understood that all published writing is an optical illusion, a magic trick that looks effortless but is in fact the product of endless rehearsal, practice, and revision.

Fantasy

A Saint Between The Teeth

by Sloane Leong

Author spotlight

Kharatet moistens his sightless eyes with his tongue as he draws his finger across the limestone tablet glyphs. His audience today is a clutch of toddling nymphs, motionless save for their short tails rippling the shallow water impatiently. It’s a good age to read to, while the little ulmuns are still young enough.

Author Spotlight

Author Spotlight: Sloane Leong

by Laurel Amberdine

This story was inspired by the ecology of animals like the olm, a unique cave-dwelling salamander, and the honeypot ant. One of my favorite things to do in speculative stories is interweave non-human lives, ecologies and cultures into our human ones.

Science Fiction

Shadow Films

by Ben Peek

Author spotlight

Alvin’s scripts arrived in yellow envelopes. They were hand delivered, placed inside his letter box as if part of the regular mail, but with no address or stamps on it. The scripts were typed on unlined paper. They were short, never longer than a page, never more than a scene. The scene would be set inside a shop, or a bar.

Fantasy

In the Tree’s Hollow, a Doe

by Lowry Poletti

Finneus Lark finds the man nestled inside of the abdominal cavity of a doe, his skin so pale that his veins are like spiderwebs. Slick with visceral fluid, leaves and petals cling to the man’s bird-boned wrists. His face, haloed by damp curls and crowned by the doe’s diaphragm, is so peaceful he might as well have been asleep.

Author Spotlight

Author Spotlight: Ben Peek

by Laurel Amberdine

I like films. Sometimes, when I watch a film I try and figure out what the extras are saying in the background. It’s usually with films I’ve seen before. I’ve worked as an extra before so I know it’s mostly nothing, but once you start thinking about this, it takes you places.

Nonfiction

Book Review: Womb City by Tlotlo Tsamaase

by Aigner Loren Wilson

Aigner Loren Wilson review’s Tlotlo Tsamaase’s genre-blending Africanfuturist novel, Womb City.

Science Fiction

Night Desk Duty at the Infinite Paradox Hotel

by Aimee Ogden

“Good evening, sir,” Dave says pleasantly, hiding his crossword puzzle under his computer keyboard, as the front door chimes. “Do you have a reservation?” “Afraid not.” The guest fiddles with his suitcase. “I saw the No Vacancy sign, but I gotta ask—” “No problem at all.” Dave’s keyboard clatters busily, a series of well-practiced keystrokes.

Fantasy

Farewell to Faust

by Adam-Troy Castro

Posit a man. He could be any man. She could be a woman. They could be any human being anywhere on the spectrum. The story would play out the same. This is, however, entirely the creation of a writer who has written plenty of formidable women, and so he exerts authority for this one time and says that this is a man,

Nonfiction

Book Review: The Black Girl Survives in This One (edited by Desiree S. Evans & Saraciea J. Fennell)

by Arley Sorg

Arley Sorg reviews The Black Girl Survives in This One: “A YA anthology of horror stories centering Black girls who battle monsters, both human and supernatural, and who survive to the end.” Find out if it’s for you, too!

Science Fiction

We Shall Not Be Bitter at the End of the World

by David Anaxagoras

Author spotlight

It’s my twelfth birthday and we’re all waiting for Wormwood and everyone is here and I mean everyone. Me and Mom and Dad and Big Pa which is my grandpa who was the strong man at one of the last traveling carnivals in America, and Bigfoot of course, and a swarm of killer bees collectively named Kyle who aren’t really so mean.

Fantasy

To Be a Happy Man

by Thomas Ha

My son tells me that there’s a man in the house, someone he hears well after the lights are out, in the narrower halls or maybe at the far side of the den—a gait and creak he’s certain isn’t me or his mom, since he can hear us both breathing heavily and tossing in our sleep.

Author Spotlight

Author Spotlight: David Anaxagoras

by Laurel Amberdine

This story grew out of a writing process I was experimenting with last year where I would write each morning to a prompt nonstop for ten minutes. The idea was just to gather a little more raw story material to work with. I also should confess that I was looking for an excuse to write longhand and make use of my modest collection of fountain pens and inks.

Nonfiction

Book Review: Snowglobe by Soyoung Park

by Chris Kluwe

If you’re looking for an exciting SF dystopic read, Chris Kluwe thinks you should check out Snowglobe by Soyoung Park (translated by Joungmin Lee Comfort).

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