Lightspeed Magazine, Issue 192 (May 2026)

We have original science fiction by Sam W. Pisciotta (“The Star Where We Meet”) and Kristine Kathryn Rusch (“The Test of Time”). We also have two terrific flash pieces: “The Knacker Man” from Scott Dalrymple and “The Stars Look Away From This Vessel” by dave ring. Plus, we have original fantasy by Melissa A Watkins (“Sarah’s Laugh”) and Ada Hoffmann (“Ten Unsent Letters to the Dark Lord”). We also have a flash story (“The Aerialist”) from Yoon Ha Lee, and another (“The Last Season of Your Life”) from Christopher Barzak. All that, and of course we also have our usual assortment of author spotlights, along with book reviews from our terrific review team. It’s another great issue, so be sure to check it out.

Cover art by Warmtail

Lightspeed Magazine, Issue 192 (May 2026)

Editorial

Editorial: May 2026

by John Joseph Adams

Be sure to check out the editorial for a rundown of this month’s content and for all of John Joseph Adams’s media and book recommendations!

Science Fiction

The Knacker Man

by Scott Dalrymple

A year of living in the ground had not accustomed Moyer to the smell. He wondered how the French, who’d been at this business so much longer, could stand it. But if the officers who had trained his unit in the intricacies of trench life were any indication, they were so weary and battered as to scarcely notice the world around them any longer.

Publishes Online on 5/7

Fantasy

Sarah’s Laugh

by Melissa A Watkins

Everyone knows the Walls around the cities fell. What some people don’t remember is that the first one fell because of a laugh. It sounded like a ringing bell. Not like it came out of a baby at all. That was the first thing I told the scholar boy. He was a grown man, a researcher. He looked it, too. Big round glasses, chubby cheeks, curly hair.

Publishes Online on 5/7

Author Spotlight

Author Spotlight: Melissa A Watkins

by A Humphrey Lanham

Like a lot of people, my head is buried in news and social media and talks with my neighbors. I’m always in the center of the most politically awkward conversation at the con bar, but I can’t point to too many specific references that inspired this story. It kind of came out of the subconscious soup that paying attention to the world cooks up.

Publishes Online on 5/7

Science Fiction

The Star Where We Meet

by Sam W. Pisciotta

The most surprising thing about my journey (well, the first most surprising thing) is that the dream I experienced while traveling lasted a thousand years, a single dream stretching all the way to the Iota star in the Gemini constellation. I dreamt of Bindi, my childhood dog, a heeler and pointer mix who used to follow me everywhere; now it seems, she’s even followed me to this distant star.

Publishes Online on 5/14

Author Spotlight

Author Spotlight: Sam W. Pisciotta

by Robin Jeffrey

This story very much started from its opening paragraphs, which spilled easily onto the page. It followed pretty quickly that the narrator had been dreaming about his dog and mother, even though he knew that he never had a dog and couldn’t remember his mother. At that point, I thought, Oh my gosh! What’s going on here? What is this story about?

Publishes Online on 5/14

Fantasy

The Aerialist

by Yoon Ha Lee

The typewriter proved, at first glance, to be a poor investment for a daring aerial escape. Kallista had been drawn to the typewriter from the moment she viewed it languishing in a Museum of Curioddities, a pun that 3% of Pennon City’s citizens might appreciate, if one rounded to the nearest human. The jury was out as to whether the placard’s sententious overview of Strange Olde Anti-Fae Percussive Instruments was someone’s idea of trolling or, equally likely, an exercise in mellifluous snake oil.

Publishes Online on 5/14

Nonfiction

Book Review: The Quarter Queen by Kayla Hardy

by Arley Sorg

Reviewer Arley Sorg recommends The Quarter Queen for fans of Sinners and American Horror Story: Coven.

Publishes Online on 5/14

Science Fiction

The Stars Look Away From This Vessel

by dave ring

Draw a rectangular shape. Put a cylinder around it. Add a few small rectangles to any lines, such that they straddle them. At least one on the rectangle, and another on the cylinder. These are airlocks. The engine should look like a lighter stacked on top of a pack of cigarettes; don’t take too long drawing it, but make sure you color it in red, and then draw over it with a black marker.

Publishes Online on 5/21

Fantasy

Ten Unsent Letters to the Dark Lord

by Ada Hoffmann

1. I’m sorry, my lord.

2. I miss the sound of your voice, deep enough to shake the mountain fortress’s stones. I miss feeling it rumble in the soles of my feet. I miss the glow of your eyes while you paced the Chamber of Mysteries, lava burning in the pools below and the pointed arc of your throne at your back.

Publishes Online on 5/21

Author Spotlight

Author Spotlight: Ada Hoffman

by Phoebe Barton

“Ten Unsent Letters to the Dark Lord” originated at Can*Con 2024. There was a masterclass workshop at the convention called “Write a Story in a Weekend,” hosted by Brandon Butler and David Schultz of the Toronto SFF Writers Group. I like writing challenges, and I like deadlines, and I decided that writing the first draft of a whole short story in forty-eight hours while also attending a convention sounded like exactly the kind of bad idea I would enjoy.

Publishes Online on 5/21

Nonfiction

Book Review: The Republic of Memory by Mahmud El Sayed

by Melissa A Watkins

Melissa A Watkins recommends The Republic of Memory, a SF novel full of twists and turns and detailed world-building.

Publishes Online on 5/21

Science Fiction

The Test of Time

by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

Advanced Temporal Disruption

Timed Midterm

Instructions:

Time Allotted: 130 minutes
No Breaks Allowed
No Outside Devices Allowed

Publishes Online on 5/28

Author Spotlight

Author Spotlight: Kristine Kathryn Rusch

by Robin Jeffrey

I have been a professional writer since I was sixteen—which is fifty years now. I have always wanted to write. I think it comes from being the youngest of four. One of my earliest memories is of five adults (my parents and siblings) sitting in the living room reading, while I went from person to person begging them to play. They were reading instead.

Publishes Online on 5/28

Fantasy

The Last Season of Your Life

by Christopher Barzak

On a wooded hillside outside Pittsburgh, where the rivers braid together and the bridges flash yellow in the sun, there stands an old private school no one ever remembers enrolling in. Ivy grips its cracked bricks. Moss blurs the leaded windows. To almost anyone looking, it appears abandoned. Unless they are the newly dead. If that is the case, it is more of an inevitability.

Publishes Online on 5/28

Nonfiction

Book Review: The Dorians by Nick Cutter

by Chris Kluwe

Reviewer Chris Kluwe says, “If you’re looking for an escape from the horrors of everyday life into the horrors of classic human hubris, you can’t go wrong with The Dorians.”

Publishes Online on 5/28