Lightspeed: Edited by John Joseph Adams

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May 2024 (Issue 168)

We have original science fiction by Caroline M. Yoachim (“We Will Teach You How To Read | We Will Teach You How To Read”) and Nisi Shawl (“Over a Long Time Ago”). We also have two terrific flash pieces: “The Last Thing They See Is Laika” from Stephen Geigen-Miller and “Chaos Theory” by Ash Howell. Plus, we have original fantasy by Benjamin Peek (“Exit Interview”) and P H Lee (“Richard Nixon and the Princess of the Crows”). We also have a flash story (“Done Deal”) from Rory Harper, and another (“And the Dreams That You Dare to Dream”) from Marissa Lingen. All that, and of course we also have our usual assortment of author spotlights, along with book reviews from our terrific review team.

Cover art by Tithi Luadthong (aka 'Grandfailure') / Adobe Stock Images / original image modified by LIGHTSPEED staff

May 2024 (Issue 168)

Editorial

Editorial, May 2024

by John Joseph Adams

Be sure to read the editorial to get a rundown of this month’s content.

Fantasy

Done Deal

by Rory Harper

As with Robert Johnson, a lot of people who believed in the devil also believed that Jack Malagan had made a deal with him. Jack was a six-string prodigy, getting pulled onstage by the likes of Grohl and Kravitz by the time he was twelve. He could swing the blues as hard as Bonamassa, but it was just the foundation for his love for rock.

Science Fiction

We Will Teach You How to Read | We Will Teach You How to Read

by Caroline M. Yoachim

Author spotlight

This is our story, simplified: Life. Loss. Transformation. Love. Death. Iteration. The first time you get our message, you only / find one thread. It mimics your language in / its simplest form, a single strand of words / laid end to end. You will have to work hard if / you want to understand us properly. You / must learn to hold more than one thread of / language simultaneously in your mind.

Author Spotlight

Author Spotlight: Caroline M. Yoachim

by John Joseph Adams

My academic background is in psychology, and when I was trying to get this story to come together I started reading a bunch of articles on attention, working memory, language acquisition, and more generally how we learn new skills and information. As I was researching, I got it in my head that what I really wanted was to somehow train people to do something that, cognitively, we simply do not do.

Fantasy

Exit Interview

by Ben Peek

Author spotlight

I joined The Ministry in 2009. Before that, I worked in grocery stores, pawn shops, and liquor stores. It was shift work, shit work, all of it minimum wage. I lived in Jasper, in East Texas, and I took what I could get. My husband was a mechanic. We met when we were young, when we were in school, and we married shortly after.

Author Spotlight

Author Spotlight: Ben Peek

by Laurel Amberdine

I’ve worked some bad jobs before. I figure we all have. So it came from that, to a degree.

Nonfiction

Book Review: Ours by Phillip B. Williams

by Aigner Loren Wilson

Looking for your next dystopian read? Check out Ours by Phillip B. Williams.

Science Fiction

The Last Thing They See Is Laika

by Stephen Geigen-Miller

So much for Shapcott’s harbinger of astronautical doom. He hasn’t seen her at all. Or anyone, obviously. There was a lot of chatter just after the accident—Mission Control and half the experts on the planet trying to find a solution, any solution. It’s quiet now. They’ve figured out what he knew from the moment it happened. It’s all down to physics, as usual. Force, kinetic energy, and gravity. The debris that made an unannounced appearance at his EVA.

Fantasy

And the Dreams That You Dare to Dream

by Marissa Lingen

Gemma checks and rechecks the stories and songs, but she can’t find anything that says you have to go back. There’s a lot of stuff about how you should, but most of it is about souls, and Gemma is pretty sure she doesn’t believe in that shit. Souls are for people who fit, and she never has. Souls are what they threaten when you don’t do what you should.

Nonfiction

Book Review: Craft: Stories I Wrote for the Devil by Ananda Lima

by Arley Sorg

Looking for a unique, complex, nourishing reading experience? Arley Sorg says Craft: Stories I Wrote for the Devil by Ananda Lima is a must-read!

Science Fiction

Over a Long Time Ago

by Nisi Shawl

Author spotlight

She should go back inside the watchpod. Maree and Blaise didn’t have to be dead. The air hadn’t been gone that long. And even if their current bodies were hopeless, damaged beyond repair, probably the back-up system was uncorrupted. Probably its uploads of those two—as well as the uploads of all the other prisoners—were just fine. Josie could confirm that, then crawl into her cryo drawer. Shut herself down. But she stayed outside, watching the stars.

Author Spotlight

Author Spotlight: Nisi Shawl

by Laurel Amberdine

“Over a Long Time Ago” is part of a series of short stories centered on an interstellar penal colony called Amends. In the series chronology it’s the second story, though I wrote it next to last. The story’s title is a line from a great Steely Dan song, “Pretzel Logic,” this wonky blues ballad about time travel. There’s this sad feeling of inevitability to the song that I hope to evoke in readers, which is a totally appropriate emotional tone.

Fantasy

Richard Nixon and the Princess of the Crows

by P H Lee

The night before the comet hit, Richard Milhous Nixon awoke restless and well before dawn. He slipped carefully out of bed—Pat needed her rest, ever since the second stroke—and walked in slipper-feet down to the den. He thought he might see what the news was saying—Pat didn’t like it when he watched the news; it always made him angry.

Nonfiction

Book Review: The Price of Redemption by Shawn Carpenter

by Chris Kluwe

Are you ready for a high seas adventure? Then Chris Kluwe recommends Shawn Carpenter’s The Price of Redemption!

Science Fiction

Chaos Theory

by Ash Howell

Author spotlight

I want to tell you everything. I should tell you that you’re the greatest accomplishment our people have ever produced. I should tell you that you’re loved. I should tell you that even when you finally receive this message, I will still miss you every day. None of that is nearly enough. When I first discovered you, I told a friend. I won’t record her hash, in case everything goes wrong, but I call her Ruta. We don’t use our hashes when we whisper out of earshot or in the safety of our own minds.

Author Spotlight

Author Spotlight: Ash Howell

by Laurel Amberdine

I wrote the first draft of this story in late 2022, a few months after the United States Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, effectively removing the nationwide right to abortion. Around that time, my first kid had just turned one, and I was feeling retrospective about that first insane year of parenthood. I was also starting to debate whether I wanted to have a second kid and go through the nightmare that is pregnancy again, especially in the aforementioned political reality.

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