Lightspeed Magazine, Issue 144 (May 2022)

LIGHTSPEED is a digital science fiction and fantasy magazine. In its pages, you will find science fiction: from near-future, sociological soft SF, to far-future, star-spanning hard SF--and fantasy: from epic fantasy, sword-and-sorcery, and contemporary urban tales, to magical realism, science-fantasy, and folktales. Welcome to issue 144 of LIGHTSPEED! This month we kick off our SF shorts with a story ("Nobody Ever Goes Home to Zhenzhu") by Grace Chan that proves that family is important-but crew more so. Tobias S. Buckell will make you do a better job sorting your recyclables and composting in his new short, "The Plastic People." It's a grim warning about our future that will tweak your darkest funny bone. We also have a flash piece ("It Came Gently") from Aigner Loren Wilson, along with an SF reprint by Peter Watts ("Test 4 Echo"). What if fairies were real and worried about both climate change and how to pay the rent? Andi C. Buchanan's new fantasy story "If We Do Not Fly at Sunset" sprinkles magic on the mundane, with poignant results. Lina Rather blends cottagecore with epic fantasy in her dark story "The Cheesemaker and the Undying King," which will have you rethinking everything you thought you knew about medieval-inspired fantasy. We also have a flash piece ("Magical Girl Burnout Bingo") from Lauren Ring. Our fantasy reprint is by Jonathan Maberry ("The Hammer of God"). All that, and of course we also have our usual assortment of author spotlights, along with book reviews from our terrific review team. Our ebook readers will also enjoy an excerpt from T. Kingfisher's new novel NETTLE & BONE.