Lightspeed: Edited by John Joseph Adams

LIGHTSPEED & NIGHTMARE Kickstarter graphic. Left side: Bright light blue background with rays (as of light) bursting out from the center. Central image is an open book with a rocket blasting up out of it. Below the book is the LIGHTSPEED magazine wordmark; the word lightspeed is rendered in a orange-to-yellow gradient, with a white outline around it and dropshadow underneath it. Right side: Bright light yellow background with rays (as of light) bursting out from the center. Central image is an open book with a haunted house emerging from it. Below the book is the NIGHTMARE magazine wordmark; the word nightmare is rendered in a dark red to lighter red gradient, with a white outline around it and dropshadow underneath it. Top: the words "LIVE on Kickstarter"

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Editorial

Editorial: January 2025

by John Joseph Adams

Published in Jan. 2025 (Issue 176) | 280 words

Welcome to issue 176 of Lightspeed Magazine!

Sometimes science fiction interrogates the far future of humanity, and sometimes it speaks to what might happen next week. Our original short stories this month straddle this divide. We kick off the month with “Tell Them a Story to Teach Them Kindness” by B. Pladek, which wrestles with the potential effects of generative AI on literature and education. It feels like it could have come out of tomorrow’s news. Meanwhile, Filip Hajdar Drnovšek Zorko’s new story, “Dyson Spheres of the Vaba Cluster,” is about interstellar space exploration—still the stuff of the far future . . . for now. We also have two exciting new flash pieces: “The Exquisite Pull of Relentless Desire” from Will McMahon and “After the God Has Moved On” by Kate Elliott.

For fantasy shorts, we have “Bone and Marrow, Woven Into Song” by Neon Yang, a story about the intersection of magic, technology, religion, and . . . fungi. Marika Bailey also brings us fiction about something you might associate with dinner: “Chickenfoot Soup.” But this soup is a heady broth filled with magic and tough relationships—and a visit from Baba Yaga! We also have two riveting flash stories, including the thought-provoking “A Heap of Petrified Gods” by Adelehin Ijasan (a meditation on the immigrant experience) and Vijayalaxmi Samal’s “I Eat the Sky For Us,” an eloquent allegory about life with a harmful parent.

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

We’re so glad to be starting the year with all of you, and so excited about the fantastic state of speculative fiction.

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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.