Lightspeed Magazine, Issue 167 (April 2024): Lightspeed Magazine, #167

By John Joseph Adams

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 167 of LIGHTSPEED! Our science fiction section kicks off with a bang with Endria Isa Richardson's new SF short story "A Pedra," which explores the difficult topic of human experimentation. Susan Palwick turns her attention to the effects of climate change in her story "Mother's Day, After Everything." David Anaxagoras and Rich Larson bring a little levity with their flash pieces, "Under a Star, Bright as Morning" and "Limping Toward Sunrise" (respectively). Our original fantasy work includes "How to Know Your Father Is a God" by Modupeoluwa Shelle. We also have a novelette by Vandana Singh-"Travelers' Tales from the Ends of the World"-that powerfully explores the impact of climate change through a magical lens. We also have a flash story ("Salemo") from David Marino, and another ("a testament to indirection, an enigma, the sun above") from Mitchell Shanklin.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Adamant Press
• Release date: Mar 31, 2024
• ISBN: 9798224131808

John Joseph Adams

John Joseph Adams is the series editor of Best American Science Fiction & Fantasy. He is also the bestselling editor of many other anthologies, such as The Mad Scientist’s Guide to World Domination, Armored, Brave New Worlds, Wastelands, and The Living Dead. Recent books include The Apocalypse Triptych (consisting of The End is Nigh, The End is Now, and The End Has Come), and series editor for The Best American Fantasy and Science Fiction. John is a two-time winner of the Hugo Award and is a six-time World Fantasy Award finalist. John is also the editor and publisher of the digital magazines Lightspeed and Nightmare, and is a producer for WIRED’s The Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy podcast.

Book preview

Title_PageLightspeed Magazine

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Issue 167 (April 2024)

FROM THE EDITOR

Publisher's Note

Editorial: April 2024

SCIENCE FICTION

A Pedra

Endria Isa Richardson

Under a Star, Bright as Morning

David Anaxagoras

Mother’s Day, After Everything

Susan Palwick

Limping Toward Sunrise

Rich Larson

FANTASY

a testament to indirection, an enigma, the sun above

Mitchell Shanklin

How to Know Your Father Is a God

Modupeoluwa Shelle

Salemo

David Marino

Travelers’ Tales from the Ends of the World

Vandana Singh

EXCERPTS

Children of Blood and Bone

Tomi Adeyemi

NONFICTION

Book Review: The White Guy Dies First edited by Terry J. Benton-Walker

Arley Sorg

Book Review: Dazzling by Chikọdịlị Emelụmadụ

Aigner Loren Wilson

Book Review: Of Jade and Dragons by Amber Chen

Chris Kluwe

AUTHOR SPOTLIGHTS

Endria Isa Richardson

Modupeoluwa Shelle

Susan Palwick

Vandana Singh

MISCELLANY

Coming Attractions, May 2024

Stay Connected

Subscriptions and Ebooks

Support Us on Patreon, or How to Become a Dragonrider or Space Wizard

About the Lightspeed Team

Also Edited by John Joseph Adams

© 2024 Lightspeed Magazine

Cover by Tithi Luadthong / Shutterstock

www.lightspeedmagazine.com

Published by Adamant Press

Editorial: April 2024

John Joseph Adams | 184 words

Welcome to issue 167 of Lightspeed Magazine!

Our science fiction section kicks off with a bang with Endria Isa Richardson’s new SF short story A Pedra, which explores the difficult topic of human experimentation. Susan Palwick turns her attention to the effects of climate change in her story Mother’s Day, After Everything. David Anaxagoras and Rich Larson bring a little levity with their flash pieces, Under a Star, Bright as Morning and Limping Toward Sunrise (respectively).

Our original fantasy work includes How to Know Your Father Is a God by Modupeoluwa Shelle. We also have a novelette by Vandana Singh—Travelers’ Tales from the Ends of the World—that powerfully explores the impact of climate change through a magical lens. We also have a flash story (Salemo) from David Marino, and another (a testament to indirection, an enigma, the sun above) from Mitchell Shanklin.

For nonfiction, we’ve got some book recommendations from our book review team and author spotlight interviews with our writers. Ebook readers will enjoy a novel excerpt, too.

It’s another terrific issue, so thanks for reading!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

John Joseph Adams is the series editor of Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy and is the bestselling editor of more than forty anthologies, including Wastelands and The Living Dead. Recent anthologies include Out There Screaming (with Jordan Peele), The Far Reaches (from Amazon Original Stories), Lost Worlds & Mythological Kingdoms, A People’s Future of the United States, and the three volumes of The Dystopia Triptych. A two-time Hugo Award-winner, John is also the editor and publisher of Lightspeed and is the publisher of its sister-magazines, Fantasy and Nightmare. For five years, he ran the John Joseph Adams Books novel imprint for Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Lately, he’s been working as an editor on various roleplaying game books for Kobold Press and Monte Cook Games and as a contributing game designer on books such as Tome of Heroes. Find him online at johnjosephadams.com and @johnjosephadams.

From_the_Editor

Publisher's Note: April 2024

John Joseph Adams | 184 words

Dear Readers,

I owe you an apology. I messed up.

As you likely know, AI-generated texts and images have become a bit of plague in recent times. We've committed to not using such works, but, even when one is diligent, one can be fooled—as it seems we were. The original cover of the April issue was an image we licensed from Shutterstock from Ardea-studio (image ID 2284604323), which, after further review today, I’m pretty confident it is indeed AI-generated.

We used to use Adobe Stock, but switched to Shutterstock last year because Adobe was slow to roll out an AI-generated filter, but Shutterstock had one. Shutterstock’s filter is not all that great, it turns out, and we recently decided to switch back to Adobe Stock because they have since implemented a filter, and it seems to be much better.

A reader emailed one of our vendors today to inquire if they’re okay selling titles with AI-generated art, and they passed that information along to me. I investigated, and it is now my opinion that the reader was correct.

Since AI-generated images became rife, we have been seeking ways to ensure we don’t accidentally license one. There are AI-generated image detectors you can find online, but I tested some and did research, and it seemed—at least at the time—that they generated a fair amount of false positives, so I haven’t relied on using those. Once this reader complaint came to light, I ran the image through Adobe Stock’s Find Similar Image feature, and that found a fair number of images that look very similar, from a variety of users, and Adobe Stock’s filter has them flagged as AI.

I thought we were safe with this image, because the Ardea-studio user’s profile looks like a real graphic artist/designer’s profile to me—though, I note that when I look up that particular image now, it says it is no longer available. This user has their email address in their profile, so I have emailed them, but I didn’t want to wait to reissue a new version of the issue with a new cover. Perhaps there’s some reasonable explanation—like they posted it for sale, then reconsidered the ethics of selling AI-generated art and took it down—and perhaps not. Hopefully the user will reply and let us know; in which case, I will update this note on the Lightspeed website and also include a note in the May issue.

In any case, I deeply apologize for this error, and I will of course strive to not let it happen again. We have previously committed—and remain committed—to not use AI-generated works in the magazines, and we deeply regret that we accidentally let it happen.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

John Joseph Adams is the series editor of Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy and is the bestselling editor of more than forty anthologies, including Wastelands and The Living Dead. Recent anthologies include Out There Screaming (with Jordan Peele), The Far Reaches (from Amazon Original Stories), Lost Worlds & Mythological Kingdoms, A People’s Future of the United States, and the three volumes of The Dystopia Triptych. A two-time Hugo Award-winner, John is also the editor and publisher of Lightspeed and is the publisher of its sister-magazines, Fantasy and Nightmare. For five years, he ran the John Joseph Adams Books novel imprint for Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Lately, he’s been working as an editor on various roleplaying game books for Kobold Press and Monte Cook Games and as a contributing game designer on books such as Tome of Heroes. Find him online at johnjosephadams.com and @johnjosephadams.

Science_FictionOut There Screaming edited by Jordan Peele

A Pedra

Endria Isa Richardson | 4671 words

I believe that if we have any notion at all of what has generally been called human nature, it is because History, like a mirror, holds up for our contemplation, an image of ourselves.

—Edgardo Rodríguez Juliá

Audio Recording, Lydia and Ecco at Insight, February 3, 2134

I didn’t run.

If the boy had not called to you, you would have run.

I would not have run.

• • • •

mãe,

There are few moments that I remember with clarity. From those early days, I recall mostly a vast, pervading numbness. Profound dissociation. I remember Salt. I remember Hog.

At night, I would curl between them. With my eyes closed, I would try to see them as they were just in that moment. I would block out what I knew would be. I would see Salt’s ruddy cheeks and puffy brown hair. His shoulders, just beginning to broaden with muscle. His pale forearms already ropey from physical training. Hog’s deep brown eyes and chapped, gentle lips. The soft tufts of his hair brushing against my cheek as he moved about inside a dream.

You will never meet either of them. You will never meet our child. Your grandchild.

If I still couldn’t sleep, I would look for you. Of course I never found you. If you were in my future, I would have already known.

• • • •

Once, I told Salt and Hog that I had known a mother. A home. What I thought was a family. They were thrown away by their parents, addicts like you, as infants. At school, we were not supposed to say, thrown away. We were supposed to say, offered to the future. But I am not at school any longer. So, they were thrown away by their parents, eaten by Kismet to mine the one true future. They assumed the same was true for me, until I told them that I lived with you until I was eleven. But ah, puberty, eh? The bitch. She came, and broke us. You could not handle me anymore. The aunties and uncles and cousins who had helped grow me, who had (I thought) loved me, raised their machetes and told you—take care of her, or we will. I still remember the certainty of your voice when you said, I will do it myself. You took auntie’s blade. You marched me out of the only home I had ever known. You raised your hand to me, who had never known violence. You said, Run, Lydia, meu coração, run.

• • • •

TIME, November 13, 2134

THE MAN BEHIND THE CURTAIN’S PLAN TO OPEN THE FUTURE

The story of Insight’s first year was one of relentless forward motion: an underground research facility constructed in an undisclosed location, patents filed for what Insight billed as a safer alternative to the drug kite, an army corps of scientists hired, trained, and housed entirely on campus. In the intervening years, however, both Insight and XO seemed to vanish.

This is the first appearance XO has made since then. During this interview, as in our last, XO does not share his image or voice. We meet virtually. His avatar is a slightly built Southeast Asian man clothed in a slim-cut dark blue velour tracksuit. Sunglasses veil his eyes. I am not a terrorist, he begins. He laughs, and it’s jarring. I am interested in terror as a mind-, and therefore time- expanding substance.

I ask him to clarify what he means.

"What can heightened emotions, like terror, teach us about the pliability of time? There are ancient wisdom traditions that suggest that when we confront the unimaginable, and for most people that is something horrifying, that is when we truly are free. Unlocking all futures, not only the ones that are palatable to us, requires absolute freedom."

When I ask him to share the most horrible thing he has ever confronted, he confesses, in a moment of unexpected vulnerability. My mother abandoned me when I was very young. Deep down, I had feared that separation my whole short life. Once it happened, I realized I no longer needed to fear anything. I could be free. I could suddenly imagine many possible futures for myself. My future no longer relied on something I could not control, another person’s presence or absence. I want that freedom for everybody.

• • • •

mãe,

This is how my story begins, if you can call it a beginning. With our plan to escape.

Many of us at school never made it past our first year. We overdosed on kite or any one of the other street drugs, or died because we couldn’t source clean drugs, or the bleak reality that our lives were completely fucking pointless drove us mad. If we made it far enough, we were placed. We tried,