Lightspeed Magazine, Issue 185 (October 2025)

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 185 of LIGHTSPEED! Our science fiction short stories this month are both set in space, but that's about all they have in common. "O Mechfighter, O Starsinger," by Osahon Ize-Iyamu, is a dramatic story about imperialism, human trafficking, and learning to be a mech pilot. Megan Chee's "Everyone Hates the Auditor" is the story of bureaucracy at its finest. They're two great flavors of science fiction that are even more fun when paired together. Our flash pieces include the surprising "The Porniest Porn in Porntown" by Stephen Graham Jones and "Thaw" by An Owomoyela. If you enjoy dark academia, then "Dirge and Gleam" by Micah Dean Hicks is just the short story for you. We also have a story of a dark avenger: "Drosera regina" by A.L. Goldfuss-and if you know anything about biology, you'll have an idea what kind of creature this story is about. Our flash pieces include "At the Bottom of the Bonfire" by Martin Cahill and "Dating Fortune" from Sean McMullen.