Fantasy Archives - Page 4 of 67 - Lightspeed Magazine

Lightspeed Magazine
Nightmare Magazine

Fantasy Fiction

Memories of Temperance

Night to day. In Diyu, the Earth Prison, Chun Wei opened her eyes. “Day” in the realm of the dead registered only as a less pervasive chill to the stagnant air. Not that Chun Wei needed to breathe any longer. She unfolded from the lotus position she’d rested in, stretching and rubbing her balled fists against her lower back until her spine creaked. The dilapidated Guanyin temple had an intact roof and a semi-intact stone statue, hacked out of rock by denizens still hoping for salvation.

In Mar. 2025 (Issue 178)

Pure of Heart

by Jake Kerr

They were not so much rumors as warnings. Beyond the mountain that overlooked the plateau was an ancient forest, enormous and wild. It was dark and treacherous and full of dangerous animals. The warnings were not about the danger of the beasts, but rather the ancient legend of a knight who entered the forest to pray at a desecrated shrine. Why he decided to pray to a devil or demon was long forgotten, but the response from the evil that lived there was still known to everyone.

In Mar. 2025 (Issue 178)

What We Don’t Know About Angels

by Kristina Ten

Author spotlight

When Clem first realizes she’s a monster, she’s in the gender-neutral bathroom on the fourth floor of the Seattle Convention Center, trying to convince the touchless faucet she exists. She waves her hands under the gleaming tap, then, remembering something Sabrina told her about sensors, spirit-fingers her way down to the base. Tries a little to the left of that, too. A little to the right. Still—and now she’s for sure late—nothing.

In Feb. 2025 (Issue 177)

My Girlfriend Is a Nebula

by David DeGraff

I learned from Bernadette that there are two ways a star can go supernova. The first is in a double star where one partner dies first, turning into a white dwarf, and the surviving partner swells in grief and dumps mass onto the compact star. But the atoms of compact stars can only hold up to a certain limit. The resulting explosion destroys both stars and nothing is left except a thin nebula, returning the atoms to space.

In Feb. 2025 (Issue 177)

Some to Cradle, Some to Eat

by Eugenia Triantafyllou

Author spotlight

There once was a man and his wife who had seven children, all boys. They were all very human and very poor. The youngest boy was so tiny and malnourished that they called him Little Thumb; but though small, he was very clever. Then there came a very bad year, and the famine was so great that these poor people decided to abandon their children in the woods. But that’s not how your story starts. Your story starts with the monster.

In Feb. 2025 (Issue 177)

Standardized Test

by Seoung Kim

DIRECTIONS: Fill in the correct letter with a #2 pencil on the answer sheet. Do not use ink or ballpoint pens. Questions left blank will be marked incorrect. Completely fill in each circle.

In Feb. 2025 (Issue 177)

It Holds Her in the Palm of One Hand, Part 2

by Lowry Poletti

Author spotlight

“You have singularly bad timing, Sun,” Hati says as he leads Sun back into the lab. Glass cabinets overhang black-topped benches. At the end of the aisle, the hatchling is suspended in a tank of proteinaceous fluid. Sun gasps at the sight. It’s only been a few days since the poor thing was eating in the video. “What happened?” She steps past Hati, putting a hand on the glass.

In Feb. 2025 (Issue 177)

An Omodest Proposal

by Andrew Dana Hudson

Esteemed neighbors, emissaries, ambassadors, and dignitaries, I write to you today not only as a statesman but as a scientist. We in the city of Omelas have been exceedingly lucky in recent years. The wars, diseases, and financial instability that have rocked the world have so far passed us by. Partly that’s been due to prudent precautions and smart public investments, but it’s also true that our fine city benefits in unique ways from ancient, dearly-held customs.

In Feb. 2025 (Issue 177)

Chickenfoot Soup

by Marika Bailey

Author spotlight

A scream rises from the bush. One last call to the living: a warning of pain. Katarina’s heard that same sound more times than she’s had hot dinners but still a ribbon of unease unfurls in her gut. She sets her cleaver down for a moment, shifting from one foot to the other.

In Jan. 2025 (Issue 176)

I Eat the Sky for Us

by Vijayalaxmi Samal

Baba’s skin splits open with the sound of thunder. A parent’s intuition, he says, switching on the news. A ticker tape warning runs across the screen telling us to leave, leave, leave. The sky over our home is cracking but Baba will not go. He runs up to the roof instead and grows larger than I ever knew him to be.

In Jan. 2025 (Issue 176)