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: March 2023

Welcome to issue 154 of Lightspeed Magazine!

If you discovered a way to pull material from other versions of our world, what would you want to grab? Cash? Treasure? Board games? Well, we have an original science fiction story by Daniel H. Wilson—“Crystalline”—with just that situation. You’ll have to read it to find out what the characters go looking for!

We’re happy to have Peter Watts return with a new short story called “Contracting Iris.” If you like your SF with a side of unsettling epidemiology, this story will definitely tickle your fancy. We also have two terrific flash pieces: “One Pinch, Two Pinch” from Beth Goder and “Four Years Minus Twelve Days” by Samantha Murray.

Oyedotun Damilola Muees brings us a climate fantasy story (“The Chosen Six”) rich with original solutions for our planet’s biggest troubles. We also have a new short story from Benjamin Peek (“The Ministry of Saturn”), which features an organization specializing in the strange and supernatural. We also have a flash story (“Every Little Change”) from Aimee Ogden, and another (“Our Exquisite Delights”) from Megan Chee.

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, so thanks for checking it out!

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.