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Now that we’ve bid 2010 goodbye, it’s time to take a fond look back. We had an excellent year for fiction and many of our stories have been picked up for Best Of volumes. We’d like to give our readers the chance to tell us what their favorite stories are, though. You’re the reason we can keep publishing amazing stories, so you should get a say. Thus, our first annual Lightspeed Magazine Story Poll!
The original character is a ghost who is specialized in examining and identifying antiques; she has the red and golden dress code, and she rides a purple, magically enchanted sword with symbols on it.
Welcome to issue nine of Lightspeed! On tap this month… Fiction: “Long Enough and Just So Long” by Cat Rambo, “The Passenger” by Julie E. Czerneda, “Simulacrum” by Ken Liu, “Breakaway, Backdown” by James Patrick Kelly. Nonfiction: “When the Chatbots Come to Greet Us” by Genevieve Valentine, “Feature Interview: “Digital Lifeforms” by Andrew Penn Romine, “Where’s My Holovision” by Jeff Hecht, and “Colonizing the Solar System in Four Easy Steps” by Nicholos Wethington.
Let’s face it. We’re doomed. Our species’ greatest scientists have admitted as much—if we don’t find a way off this rock, the human race is facing extinction.
This is science fiction. As far as we know, it is not only not true, but probably impossible. Most SF ideas fall into this category. It’s simply a cool idea, and who knows?
With fantasy, you get the luxury of control. Every aspect of the world can be manipulated for your purpose, and the reader is willing to suspend disbelief to a much larger degree than with science fiction.
Tempted women. An ultimate (forbidden?) knowledge. The scent and taste of an apple. The fear that it may have all happened before, and been Science Fiction back then too.
Considering that the human brain comes equipped with the desire as well as all the necessary neurological equipment to get us high, it’s not surprising that ever since humanity began, we’ve been searching out creative ways of doing so.
Rural isolation lends itself to clandestine activities; so does Nevada’s laissez-faire brand of rugged individualism. Were I writing the story now, I’d have to explain why Welly’s selling pot instead of meth.
Social networking has become one of the most widespread phenomena of the last decade. It’s already revolutionized advertising, customer service, and the news. It’s not going anywhere.
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