Welcome to issue eleven of Lightspeed!

In case you missed it last month, we here at Lightspeed HQ have been buzzing about the exciting news that two of our stories—“I’m Alive, I Love You, I’ll See You in Reno” by Vylar Kaftan and “Arvies” by Adam-Troy Castro—have been named finalists for the Nebula Award. We are hugely honored that these two stories have been selected as finalists for one of our field’s most prestigious awards, so we would like to extend our most heartfelt congratulations to Vylar and Adam-Troy. (For the full list of nominees, visit sfwa.org.)

With that out of the way, here’s what we’ve got on tap this month:

April 5

In “All That Touches the Air,” author An Owomoyela explores the boundaries of differing moralities, as humanity tries to live alongside an unlikely ally—a parasitic being that believes only in natural law.

While alien parasites are fun to read about, there are plenty of real parasites right here on Earth. And Wendy Wagner will make your skin crawl when she tells you about them in “Parasitic Puppet-Masters.”

April 12

In “Maneki Neko” Bruce Sterling takes us to a networked Tokyo, where strangers offer anonymous gifts, and what is needed is freely given without question. (Reprint)

Then, Jeff Lester explores the idea of the “gift-economy” as it exists in the real world and in other fictions in “TANSTAAFL: There Ain’t No Such Thing as a Free Lunch.”

April 19

Tom Crosshill brings us a story of a boy, his dog, a lab, and many universes in “Mama, We are Zhenya, Your Son.”

In this universe, Brad Deutsch takes us on a guided tour of quantum mechanics and the multiple universes in “The Many Worlds Interpretation Theory: Having Your Cake and Eating it Two, and Three, and Four…”

April 26

“Velvet Fields,” by Anne McCaffrey, is a tale of a newly-settled world, the consequence of ignorance and the price people of conscience might pay for it. (Reprint)

And in our feature interview this month, Erin Stocks talks with Hugo Award-winner Elizabeth Bear about genre boundaries, generation ships, and how to make ginger beer.

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That about does it for our fiction and nonfiction selections for April, but be sure to also look for our author and artist spotlights, and keep an ear out for our podcasts.

So that’s our issue this month. Thanks for reading!