Fiction

Fantasy

New Providence sparkled like fool’s gold in the distance, all gleaming spires and whirring clockwork, nothing like the two-bit townships I usually rode through. My Halfie tensed beneath me, his wolf-hackles rising at the stink of machine oil and steam that drifted our way. I dug my spurs in gentle-like, just enough to remind him who was boss without drawing blood. Been doing that less lately—seemed like we were finally reaching an understanding, him and me.

In Lightspeed Magazine, Issue 191 (April 2026)

Science Fiction

Dad Died on Discord

by Andrew Dana Hudson

When we moved Dad to the care facility, his only complaint was the Wi-Fi. “Laggy,” he called it when he was having a good day. “Fucking piece of shit,” he called it the rest of the time.

At first I was relieved. I’d been worried that he’d bristle at the cramped room, like a zoo animal pacing its enclosure in a sad documentary. But he never said a word about the bedsit quarters or the unfamiliar, ever-churning staff.

In Lightspeed Magazine, Issue 191 (April 2026)

Fantasy

Hell Is Empty

by J.R. Dawson

Author spotlight

And all the devils are here.

“What’s that from?” Millie asks as she gets her coat.

I stand at the back window, looking out. Usually, you can see the downtown skyline from this position. Today, it’s just the hellmouth. A long tube that looks like an esophagus that’s been yanked out of a kaiju and dangles from the ground. Bloody, meaty, smoking.

In Lightspeed Magazine, Issue 191 (April 2026)

Science Fiction

Saint Zero of the Hollows and the Eagle Knight

by V.M. Ayala

Author spotlight

The only sound Zero heard in their helmet was their own hyperventilating and the gentle pings from their pegasus.

> waiting . . .

> communication received

> confirmation of countdown initiation: 30 seconds

In Lightspeed Magazine, Issue 191 (April 2026)

Fantasy

When We Loved Giants

by Sara S. Messenger

Author spotlight

I beg you, let me tell you about my daughter. My brilliant daughter will be one of the four people who survive their airplane crashing into a giant. Or, more accurately, a giant swiping their airplane out of the sky. Perhaps it meant to catch, or caress. My daughter will never know. Usually airlines predict giants ahead of time, from sightings or seismic activity, but this one was not easily seen and quick as a whip, like my daughter.

In Lightspeed Magazine, Issue 190 (March 2026)

Science Fiction

Terms of Enlightenment

by Patrick Hurley

Author spotlight

Jay found himself sitting across from a bearded old man in voluminous maroon robes. “Why are you here?” the robed man asked. “I was sentenced to VSIM rehabilitation by my judge-counselor.” “Yes,” replied the robed man. “You would choose the literal interpretation of the question, wouldn’t you?”

In Lightspeed Magazine, Issue 190 (March 2026)

Fantasy

Lotus Dew for the Emperor’s Tea

by Vanessa Fogg

Author spotlight

The First Emperor was the first and last of true immortals on earth, and no winter touched his realm. No autumn wind blew. His orchards bloomed and fruited and bloomed again. In his court, death and old age were shut out. And every day, he drank a cup of tea brewed in the dew of lotus flowers, which had been collected that morning from the lotuses that grew in a heaven-touched lake at the easternmost point of his palace grounds.

In Lightspeed Magazine, Issue 190 (March 2026)

Science Fiction

An Encounter at the Dawn of the Time War

by JT Petty

This was in August of 2019. A day-old newspaper reported civil wars in Somalia and Yemen. A gunman killed twenty-two people in an El Paso Walmart. Jeffrey Epstein had taken a plea deal, promising to name names, promising to name the name.

In Lightspeed Magazine, Issue 190 (March 2026)

Fantasy

The Tide Folk

by Jennifer Hudak

In summer, when the ocean ebbs at dusk, when the sand turns to glass and it becomes impossible to discern the difference between reflection and sky, the Tide Folk emerge from their pools. You might think, if you clamber on the cliffs searching for those tiny ecosystems the sea leaves behind twice a day, that you can see all there is to see—that you could, if you tried, touch the bottom of the pockets of water with your fingertip.

In Lightspeed Magazine, Issue 190 (March 2026)

Science Fiction

Espie Droger Dreams of War

by Matthew Kressel

Author spotlight

Espie Droger dreams of war. What else can he dream of? There is nothing left. He has dreamed of world travel and expensive Scotch and lithe young women and sudden uncontrollable laughter. But his vitality has seeped from him like fluid from a dying tree. Espie is old. And Espie is tired.

In Lightspeed Magazine, Issue 190 (March 2026)