Lightspeed Magazine, Issue 197 (October 2026)

We have science fiction offerings by Adam-Troy Castro (“The Raspberry Manifesto of Professor Warana”) and Rob Cameron (“Ice Like Honey”), the latter of which we’re publishing in partnership with Dartmouth University and MIT Press (see below). Our two science fiction flash pieces are: “Guidance” by Martin Cahill and “Master/Slave Couple Seeking Physicist to Feed to a Black Hole” by Arden Powell. Our original fantasy offerings are by Ben Peek (“Frankenstein, Again”) and Marissa Lingen (“Until the Cure”). Our two fantasy flash pieces are: “All the Shapes We Have Ever Been” by Kehkashan Khalid and “Congratulations on your Magic Sword”” by John Wiswell. We will also have our usual assortment of author spotlights, along with book reviews from our review team. It’s another great issue, so be sure to check it out.

Cover art by Tithi Luadthong (aka Grandfailure)

Lightspeed Magazine, Issue 197 (October 2026)

Editorial

Editorial: October 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!

Publishes Online on 10/1

Editorial

Announcement: We’re currently running a Kickstarter that ends Oct. 15.

by John Joseph Adams

On September 15, 2026, we launched our first Kickstarter campaign in more than a decade, to fund Year 17 of Lightspeed and Year 15 of Nightmare. It ends October 15, so join us now for a year of new short fiction from some of the biggest stars in science fiction, fantasy, and horror, including: Charlie […]

Science Fiction

The Raspberry Manifesto of Professor Warana

by Adam-Troy Castro

Something has happened. It is amazing. It is unheard-of and inconceivable. It is many, many, many things, gathering a plethora of adjectives that indicate its ability to cause astonishment and confusion among those who behold it. It is a mountain-sized edifice of awe. Whether it is horrific, tragic, or a leap forward has yet to be decided.

Nevertheless, it has happened.

Publishes Online on 10/1

Fantasy

Congratulations on your Magic Sword™

by John Wiswell

Congratulations on your Magic Sword”! For all inquiries as to its powers and perils, please consult the Virtue Exercises Manual”. However, we know new users sometimes get in over their heads. That’s why messages like this may appear on your blade. If you see such a message, heed it promptly, and everything will be fine. Welcome to heroism. We’ve been waiting for you!

Publishes Online on 10/1

Science Fiction

Guidance

by Martin Cahill

Later, when the cameras were off and he was alone with his wife, hands still shaking from the cocktail of adrenaline, fear, shame, guilt, and vodka he’d been partaking of all day, he started to tell her the truth. Even then, he only spoke it in the dark, so overwhelming were his emotions that he could not bear to be seen.

“The truth,” she said, prompting him, trying to draw him from the enveloping gloom of their bedroom.

Publishes Online on 10/8

Fantasy

Until the Cure

by Marissa Lingen

The golem who cares for my mother is patient, as I am not patient. The golem who cares for my mother is kind. It is precise. I took everything I wanted to be as a daughter, and am not, and I put it into the golem. I’m still afraid I am failing her.

Publishes Online on 10/8

Author Spotlight

Author Spotlight: Marissa Lingen

by Phoebe Barton

I had the honor to live near three of my closest elders as they were dying, my grandmother and my great-aunt, and great-uncle who were basically my grandparents on their side of the family. I wrote “Until the Cure” while they were still with us, while I could still spend a lot of time with them. We were fortunate that all three of them were themselves until the very end, but I know not everyone is nearly that fortunate.

Publishes Online on 10/8

Nonfiction

Book Review: Strange Lights by Mira González

by Chris Kluwe

A strange and emotional story of wanting to belong and finding your place in society. Chris Kluwe recommends Mira González’s Strange Lights.

Publishes Online on 10/8

Science Fiction

Master/Slave Couple Seeking Physicist to Feed to a Black Hole

by Arden Powell

You are:

A disillusioned mathematical physicist with a wet open mind.

Desperate for knowledge.

A neo-masochist.

A willing sacrifice.

Publishes Online on 10/15

Author Spotlight

Author Spotlight: Arden Powell

by Erik Grove

I was reading quantum theory nonfiction and watching Brian Cox’s black hole videos (for my own entertainment, not work-related) and all that information needed an outlet. Adding the Lovecraft mythos felt like a natural progression born of thinking too much about deep-space phenomena. I’m not a physicist and I don’t write hard SF, so when I learn about neat scientific discoveries, I have to communicate my enthusiasm via weird spec-fic flash fiction.

Publishes Online on 10/15

Fantasy

Uncanny Jack

by Susan Palwick

Everyone thinks the uncanny folk steal children, but they steal adults too, steal their minds and memories, put their own folk where ours used to be. The new folk don’t know their loved ones, don’t know what a toilet is, don’t know how to deposit a check. Of course they don’t. Why would they? They didn’t need any of that, didn’t know any of those people, where they came from.

Publishes Online on 10/15

Nonfiction

Book Review: Lo que nos siguió a casa; Something Followed Us Home: Tales of Latiné Horror by Cynthia Pelayo, ed.

by Arley Sorg

Cynthia Pelayo has edited an anthology featuring some of the hottest Latiné horror writers, including Agustina Bazterrica, Mónica Ojeda, and more. Reviewer Arley Sorg gives you the rundown.

Publishes Online on 10/15

Fantasy

Ice Like Honey

by Rob Cameron

Part 1: Bubble Metropolis

Night falls around you. The city redshifts into coral-snake shades as monuments and modernist architecture of government buildings fracture the horizon. Low-orbit satellites command it so, and Washington, DC Nocturnal awakens. Across the capital, lights and data connections ripple with staccato rhythms, a hangover from last night’s unseasonal double blackouts.

Publishes Online on 10/22

Author Spotlight

Author Spotlight: Rob Cameron

by Robin Jeffrey

Of all the “punks” or “SF” genres out there, solarpunk is the most functional and relevant. It’s the one we can plant seeds in right now and grow something anti-dystopian. But to do that, it needs to build itself some cultural capital. It needs to be popular. Noir is popular. Therefore, solarpunk noir. It’s not that far a stretch at all.

Publishes Online on 10/22

Fantasy

All the Shapes We Have Ever Been

by Kehkashan Khalid

You have always guarded the tower, even before the king left the first orphan-daughter under the apple tree. Curled around its pearlescent moon dome, your black scales invisible against the night sky, your red eyes watch the courtyard where a little girl paces left then right and then stands in the middle, utterly lost.

Publishes Online on 10/22

Author Spotlight

Author Spotlight: Kehkashan Khalid

by Delia Cullity

I’ve always been obsessed with shapeshifting magic. I mean Mystique is my favorite X-men character. Part of it comes from Dastaan-e-Amir Hamza and Pakistani fairy tales about Koh-e-qaaf and shapeshifting devs. Part of it comes from stories like The Last Unicorn, which is one of my favorite books ever. When I was ten years old, I actually wrote a novel about a shapeshifting character, and then consigned it to the dustbin because I didn’t believe it was any good. I plan to bring that novel to life someday.

Publishes Online on 10/22

Nonfiction

Book Review: Where We Go at Night by Ikwo Ntekim

by Melissa A Watkins

Melissa A. Watkins recommends Where We Go at Night for fans of messy and morally ambiguous fae stories.

Publishes Online on 10/22