Lightspeed Magazine, Issue 132 (May 2021) - Lightspeed Magazine, #132

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 LIGHTSPEED's 132nd issue! This month we kick off the SF shorts with an alien visitor who's not like the other ETs. In fact, Gene Doucette's new story "Hypnopompic Circumstance" will have you rethinking the stories you've heard about UFOs, alien abduction-and maybe your life. In our other original SF short, "There Are No Hot Topics on Whukai," Andrea Kriz brings us a story about pop culture, social media, and the pain of colonialism in the far future. We also have some great reprints from Rich Larson ("Carnivores") and Nelson Rolon ("Saudade"). Our original fantasy includes the story of Chicago's most dangerous day spa-"Bones in It," by Kristina Ten-and a tale of sand and magic in Howard Andrew Jones' "The Palace in the Moonlight." Our fantasy reprints are by Kat Howard ("An Invitation to a Burning") and Carrie Vaughn ("Dead Men in Central City"). 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 THE BLACKTONGUE THIEF by Christopher Buehlman.