Lightspeed: Edited by John Joseph Adams

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Editorial

Editorial: August 2025

Welcome to issue 183 of Lightspeed Magazine!

We’re kicking off our science fiction with a tasty new story by Adam-Troy Castro: “Feast of Famine.” If you’ve ever been to a buffet, you know how dangerous it can be to take just a little bit of everything—now imagine what could happen if you were at an infinite buffet in its own pocket dimension. We then pivot in a very different SFnal direction to serve up V.M. Ayala’s thrilling cyberpunk story “To Access Seven Obelisks, Press Enter.” David Anaxagoras brings us a heartbreaking flash piece about the ways war affects children: “Five Dispatches from Conflict Zone W-924/B Regarding Post-Battle Deployment of A. Thanatensis.” And Sarah Langan brings us a flash piece about the cruelty of harvesting our dreams in “The Dream Tourists.”

Our first piece of original fantasy, “It Might Be He Returns” by Fatima Taqvi, is the story of a young man who learns some terrible truths about fate and equality. For those looking for some exciting swordplay and fascinating magical beings, Christopher Rowe brings us “Savannah and the Apprentice.” We also have a flash story (“Dad Went Out to Get the Milk”) from Osahon Ize-Iyamu, and another (“Anti-Capitalism vs. the Man of Flowers”) from Naomi Kanakia.

Our nonfiction team has brought us spotlight interviews with our fantastic authors, and of course our book review team is recommending an array of great new books.

John Joseph Adams

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John Joseph Adams is the series editor of Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy and the New York Times bestselling editor of more than forty anthologies, such as Wastelands, A People’s Future of the United States, and Out There Screaming (with Jordan Peele). He is also editor (and publisher) of the Hugo Award-winning magazine Lightspeed and is publisher of its sister-magazines Nightmare and Fantasy. Called “the reigning king of the anthology world” by Barnes & Noble, John is a two-time winner of the Hugo Award, a winner of the Stoker,  Locus, and ENNIE awards, and 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 was the editor of the John Joseph Adams Books novel imprint for Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Lately, he’s been working as an editor on various TTRPG projects for Kobold Press and Monte Cook Games and as a contributing game designer on books such as Kobold Press’s Tome of Heroes. Learn more at johnjosephadams.com.

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