Lightspeed: Edited by John Joseph Adams

Slide 1: in a fun, witchy font: Magic & Mystery, Amazon Original Stories; Slide 2-5: Fantasy Authors Turn to Crime, Curated by John Joseph Adams: Lists authors Travis Baldree, Sarah Beth Durst, Heather Fawcett, Scott Lynch, Tananarive Due, J.M. Miro, and Robert Jackson Bennet. Slide 6: Small renderings of all seven book covers; Slide 7: a magical cat face with paw prints to the left and right, with the words "The Game is Afoot / July 28".

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Editorial

Editorial: August 2024

Welcome to issue 171 of Lightspeed Magazine!

It’s hard to think of two topics more SFnal than time travel and robots, and so we’re delighted to present this month’s two extremely science fictional short stories. Richard Thomas gives time travel a spooky spin his new tale “The Darkness Between the Stars.” Archita Mittra spins a tale of android friendship in her story “The Quality of Mercy Is Not Strain’d.” We also have two terrific flash pieces: “Resistance” from Cat Rambo and “Under the Skin” by Deborah L. Davitt.

Astronomy can’t shake its connections to the gods, not when so many constellations are named for mythological entities, and Dominique Dickey delves into both topics in their hard-hitting fantasy tale “Look at the Moon.” Oluwatomiwa Ajeigbe turns our gaze away from the sky in his magical story “Child of the River.” We also have a flash story (“Mud Maidens Rise”) from K.A. Wiggins, and very special fairy tale retelling (“What’s in a Name”) from Matthew Hughes.

All that, and of course we also have our usual assortment of author spotlights, along with book reviews from our terrific review team.

It’s another terrific issue—thanks for reading!

John Joseph Adams

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John Joseph Adams is the editor and publisher of the Hugo Award-winning Lightspeed and publisher of its sibling magazine, Nightmare. He’s also the editor of more than fifty anthologies, including the Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy series, Wastelands, A People’s Future of the United States, and the New York Times bestselling Out There Screaming (with Jordan Peele). John is a winner of the Hugo, Stoker, Locus, and British Fantasy awards, and is a ten-time World Fantasy Award finalist. In addition to his short fiction work, he’s the co-creator of The Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy podcast, and for five years he ran a novel imprint for Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Lately, he’s also been working as an editor and game designer on TTRPG projects for Kobold Press, Paizo, and Monte Cook Games. Learn more at johnjosephadams.com.