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: July 2020

by John Joseph Adams

Published in Jul. 2020 (Issue 122) | 247 words

Welcome to Lightspeed’s 122nd issue!

Our cover art this month is from Galen Dara, illustrating our first original fantasy short of the month: “Baba Yaga and the Seven Hills,” by Kristina Ten. Is there a place for a centuries-old Russian witch in San Francisco? You’d be surprised!

Mari Ness takes us to Neverland in her piratical tale of “Great Gerta and the Mermaid.” Plus, we have fantasy reprints by Benjamin Rosenbaum (“A Siege of Cranes”) and Kiini Ibura Salaam (“Rosamojo”).

During lockdown, it was hard not to think in terms of apocalypses. Things were so strange, so upended and lonely, that it seemed like the end of, if not the world, normal life. Luckily for us, apocalypse is always on Adam-Troy Castro’s mind. He’s given us a new story about different kinds of apocalypses in “The End of The World Measured in Values of N.”

Ray Nayler returns with an SF original (“The Swallows of the Storm”) about a scientist researching an inexplicable phenomenon. We also have reprints by Tochi Onyebuchi (“Zen and the Art of an Android Beatdown, or Cecile Meets a Boxer: A Love Story”) and Annalee Newitz (“The Blue Fairy’s Manifesto”).

Our nonfiction team brings our usual assortment of author spotlights, along with our book and media review columns. Our feature interview is with Alaya Dawn Johnson. Our ebook readers will also enjoy an excerpt from Ryan Van Loan’s debut novel, The Sin in the Steel.

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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.