Lightspeed: Edited by John Joseph Adams

Slide 1: in a fun, witchy font: Magic & Mystery, Amazon Original Stories; Slide 2-5: Fantasy Authors Turn to Crime, Curated by John Joseph Adams: Lists authors Travis Baldree, Sarah Beth Durst, Heather Fawcett, Scott Lynch, Tananarive Due, J.M. Miro, and Robert Jackson Bennet. Slide 6: Small renderings of all seven book covers; Slide 7: a magical cat face with paw prints to the left and right, with the words "The Game is Afoot / July 28".

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Editorial

Editorial: November 2025

by John Joseph Adams

Published in Nov. 2025 (Issue 186) | 231 words

Welcome to issue 186 of Lightspeed Magazine!

Both of the SF short stories this month blend humor with sharp questions about technology. Our first short is “Elegy for Zephyr One” by Gene Doucette, in which a mega-corporation tries out a dangerous Turing test on a spaceship. Joel W.D. Buxton’s newest story, “Operation: Grapevine,” puts the world’s fate in the hands of possibly the world’s most boring man, to hilarious effect. We also have two terrific flash pieces: “How to Set Up Your Mourning Robot” from Angela Liu and “Visible Damage” by Nina Kiriki Hoffman.

Our original fantasy kicks off with a short by Lisa M. Bradley, “In the Zone,” the story of an artist with a surprising power to fight injustice—and the psychic weight of that gift. Tina S. Zhu’s new short (“How to Build a Homecoming Queen: A Guide by a Bad Asian Girl”) tells the tale of a teenage girl whose magical double proves to be the perfect daughter, sister, and robotics team captain. But what happens when creator and creation wind up having different goals?

Our fantasy flash stories include “Beneath the Umdlebe Tree; or, A Vegetable Love Story” by Modupeoluwa Shelle and “The Cold Burning Light of Her” by Sam W. Pisciotta. We also have our usual assortment of author spotlights, along with book reviews from our terrific review team.

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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.