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Lightspeed Magazine, March 2013
Lightspeed is an online 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.
In this month's issue, we have original science fiction by Jake Kerr ("Biographical Fragments of the Life of Julian Prince") and Rich Larson ("Let's Take This Viral"), along with SF reprints by Holly Phillips ("Three Days of Rain") and Angélica Gorodischer ("The Sense of the Circle").
Plus, we have original fantasy by Sarena Ulibarri ("The Bolt Tightener") and Lisa Tuttle ("The Dream Detective"), and fantasy reprints by Felicity Savage ("Ash Minette") and Karen Joy Fowler ("Lily Red").
For our ebook readers, our ebook-exclusive novella is "Things Undone" by John Barnes, and of course we have our usual assortment of author and artist spotlights, along with feature interviews with acclaimed authors Philip Pullman and Angélica Gorodischer.
In this month's issue, we have original science fiction by Jake Kerr ("Biographical Fragments of the Life of Julian Prince") and Rich Larson ("Let's Take This Viral"), along with SF reprints by Holly Phillips ("Three Days of Rain") and Angélica Gorodischer ("The Sense of the Circle").
Plus, we have original fantasy by Sarena Ulibarri ("The Bolt Tightener") and Lisa Tuttle ("The Dream Detective"), and fantasy reprints by Felicity Savage ("Ash Minette") and Karen Joy Fowler ("Lily Red").
For our ebook readers, our ebook-exclusive novella is "Things Undone" by John Barnes, and of course we have our usual assortment of author and artist spotlights, along with feature interviews with acclaimed authors Philip Pullman and Angélica Gorodischer.
231 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 28, 2013
2 people are currently reading
92 people want to read
About the author
John Joseph Adams
367 books986 followersJohn Joseph Adams is the series editor of BEST AMERICAN SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY. He is also the bestselling editor of many other anthologies, such as ROBOT UPRISINGS, DEAD MAN'S HAND, BRAVE NEW WORLDS,WASTELANDS, and THE LIVING DEAD. Recent and forthcoming books include WHAT THE #@&% IS THAT?, OPERATION ARCANA, PRESS START TO PLAY, LOOSED UPON THE WORLD, and THE APOCALYPSE TRIPTYCH (consisting of THE END IS NIGH, THE END IS NOW, and THE END HAS COME). Called “the reigning king of the anthology world” by Barnes & Noble, John is a two-time winner of the Hugo Award (for which he has been nominated nine times), is a seven-time World Fantasy Award finalist, and served as a judge for the 2015 National Book Award. 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. You can find him online at www.johnjosephadams.com and on Twitter @JohnJosephAdams.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
May 18, 2025
Read for "The Bolt Tightener" by Sarena Ulibarri
Loved the ending. I want to find out what happens next!
Loved the ending. I want to find out what happens next!
April 26, 2017
Got this as part of a Humble Bundle in 2015, I think. Finally got around to it. There were some really great and moving stories in here. As usual with anthologies, a collection of my status updates:
"Things Undone" (Novella) - That was a crazy emotional ride. We often read time travel stories concerned with what might change.
This one takes place in the alternate world in which a discovery changes the progress of technology completely. A catastrophic time travel event takes place and we follow investigators trying to root out what happened.
"Midnight Blue-Light Special" (novel excerpt) - First few chapters of a pretty darned interesting-looking book. The premise: a woman is part of a multi-generational cryptozoologist family that helps and catalogs the "monsters". And to make ends meet, our protagonist also works as a dancer at a burlesque club in Manhattan. If I didn't already have such a ridiculously long to-read list...
Interview with Angelica Gorodischer: insight into Argintenean SF. According to this author there isn't much of it. Odd, I thought everyone would have stories that speculate about tech or the future.
Interview with Philip Pullman: Discussion of various books he's written, teaching in England, and an example of being an athiest and respectful of religion.
Artist Showcase: Matt Thkocz - Cover Artist for this issue
**Fantasy**
"Lily Red" - A woman leaves life behind and goes to a small town. Metaphors for love, attraction, and gender.
Ash Minette - So far, a family of 3 girls born into wealth suffers a reversal of fortunes. They get invited to a ball by a baron that doesn't realize the family is no longer noble. The two older girls go, leaving their younger sister - under the excuse that the rich are more evil than the mundane. Turns out it's a retelling of Cinderella.
"The Dream Detective" - This took a wildly different turn than the early parts suggested it might. It's a neat urban fantasy tale with a great ending. Good use of the short story form.
** Science Fiction **
"Biographical....Prince" (SF) - I always enjoy when an author doesn't use straight narrative to tell a story. Blog posts,newspaper clippings, etc have specific goals that don't align perfectly with story-telling. This story was in the form of the Wikipedia page of an author in a post-apocalyptic Earth. Like good SF lots of uncomfortable themes that help us reflect on today. Even more relevant with the Syrian Crisis going on now.
"Three Days of Rain" - A moody piece about a city in Latin America where all the water has dried up. There's a background story about whether to stay or go, but the main story is just about living and doesn't really have any plot. Still, a good read.
"Let's Take this Viral" - So much to say about this. Lots of post-cyberpunk fiction has these worlds where everyone can do every drug because tech keeps us alive anyway. Also common theme of the lack of death leading to boredom leading to crazier stunts. This one hit me hard, emotionally, though. Especially the ending. Great example of an author doing short fiction so well;gets you to care about someone you just met.
"The Sense of the Circle" - A bit of an archeological mystery set on another world. The literary style is quite different, which makes sense as the author is South American. Some of the turns of phrase were odd - perhaps from translating idioms? Neat.
Author Spotlight: John Barnes - Interview with the author of "Things Undone" - this is the kind of interview I love with authors. Too often they focus on trivialities, but this one plumbed the depths of what was most fascinating about the story in the magazine.
Author Spotlight: Karen Fowler - "Lily Red" - put it into a bit of perspective and made me like it more.
Author Spotlight: Sarena Ulibarri - "The Bolt Tightener" - interesting, but no new ways of viewing the story.
Author Spotlight: Felicity Savage - "Ash Minette" - neat getting her opinion of tropes and when they're helpful and how best to work with them in speculative fiction.
Author Spotlight: Lisa Tuttle - "Dream Detective" - neat little story of how she got the idea
Author Spotlight: Jake Kerr - "Biographical....Prince" - cool interview about how he decided to use Wikipedia to tell the story
Author Spotlight: Kevin McNeil - "Three Days of Rain" - a look into the mindset of the author when he wrote the story
Author Spotlight: Rich Larson - "Let's Take this Viral" - wow, he wrote that story quickly and it was so great.
Author Spotlight: Angelica Gorodischer - a few tidbits on the story.
"Things Undone" (Novella) - That was a crazy emotional ride. We often read time travel stories concerned with what might change.
This one takes place in the alternate world in which a discovery changes the progress of technology completely. A catastrophic time travel event takes place and we follow investigators trying to root out what happened.
"Midnight Blue-Light Special" (novel excerpt) - First few chapters of a pretty darned interesting-looking book. The premise: a woman is part of a multi-generational cryptozoologist family that helps and catalogs the "monsters". And to make ends meet, our protagonist also works as a dancer at a burlesque club in Manhattan. If I didn't already have such a ridiculously long to-read list...
Interview with Angelica Gorodischer: insight into Argintenean SF. According to this author there isn't much of it. Odd, I thought everyone would have stories that speculate about tech or the future.
Interview with Philip Pullman: Discussion of various books he's written, teaching in England, and an example of being an athiest and respectful of religion.
Artist Showcase: Matt Thkocz - Cover Artist for this issue
**Fantasy**
"Lily Red" - A woman leaves life behind and goes to a small town. Metaphors for love, attraction, and gender.
Ash Minette - So far, a family of 3 girls born into wealth suffers a reversal of fortunes. They get invited to a ball by a baron that doesn't realize the family is no longer noble. The two older girls go, leaving their younger sister - under the excuse that the rich are more evil than the mundane. Turns out it's a retelling of Cinderella.
"The Dream Detective" - This took a wildly different turn than the early parts suggested it might. It's a neat urban fantasy tale with a great ending. Good use of the short story form.
** Science Fiction **
"Biographical....Prince" (SF) - I always enjoy when an author doesn't use straight narrative to tell a story. Blog posts,newspaper clippings, etc have specific goals that don't align perfectly with story-telling. This story was in the form of the Wikipedia page of an author in a post-apocalyptic Earth. Like good SF lots of uncomfortable themes that help us reflect on today. Even more relevant with the Syrian Crisis going on now.
"Three Days of Rain" - A moody piece about a city in Latin America where all the water has dried up. There's a background story about whether to stay or go, but the main story is just about living and doesn't really have any plot. Still, a good read.
"Let's Take this Viral" - So much to say about this. Lots of post-cyberpunk fiction has these worlds where everyone can do every drug because tech keeps us alive anyway. Also common theme of the lack of death leading to boredom leading to crazier stunts. This one hit me hard, emotionally, though. Especially the ending. Great example of an author doing short fiction so well;gets you to care about someone you just met.
"The Sense of the Circle" - A bit of an archeological mystery set on another world. The literary style is quite different, which makes sense as the author is South American. Some of the turns of phrase were odd - perhaps from translating idioms? Neat.
Author Spotlight: John Barnes - Interview with the author of "Things Undone" - this is the kind of interview I love with authors. Too often they focus on trivialities, but this one plumbed the depths of what was most fascinating about the story in the magazine.
Author Spotlight: Karen Fowler - "Lily Red" - put it into a bit of perspective and made me like it more.
Author Spotlight: Sarena Ulibarri - "The Bolt Tightener" - interesting, but no new ways of viewing the story.
Author Spotlight: Felicity Savage - "Ash Minette" - neat getting her opinion of tropes and when they're helpful and how best to work with them in speculative fiction.
Author Spotlight: Lisa Tuttle - "Dream Detective" - neat little story of how she got the idea
Author Spotlight: Jake Kerr - "Biographical....Prince" - cool interview about how he decided to use Wikipedia to tell the story
Author Spotlight: Kevin McNeil - "Three Days of Rain" - a look into the mindset of the author when he wrote the story
Author Spotlight: Rich Larson - "Let's Take this Viral" - wow, he wrote that story quickly and it was so great.
Author Spotlight: Angelica Gorodischer - a few tidbits on the story.
February 3, 2024
For Lily Red, an atmospheric and weird-fiction-y mythic fic story by Karen Joy Fowler, and The Dream Detective, a very neat (and a little bit creepy) speculative fantasy piece by Lisa Tuttle.
April 17, 2013
The reprint of John Barnes novella "Things Undone" was pretty good but the rest of the stories were really not my cup of tea...
So giving this 2 stars
So giving this 2 stars
Read
July 5, 2022Placeholder for "Let's Take This Viral" by Rich Larson
April 24, 2013
Not much to say, as I'm tired of jotting out these little reviews at the moment. Awesome time travel novella by John Barnes, "Things Undone".
Loved the two fantasy short stories that largely focused on imagery/setting, "The Bolt Tightener" and "Three Days of Rain". And the sci-fi that really worked for me was "The Dream Detective", "Biographical Fragments of the Life of Julian Prince", and "Let's Take This Viral". So a really all-around great issue.
The two fairy tale twists and the novel excerpt didn't work for me so well, and I got confused by The Sense of the Circle.
Loved the two fantasy short stories that largely focused on imagery/setting, "The Bolt Tightener" and "Three Days of Rain". And the sci-fi that really worked for me was "The Dream Detective", "Biographical Fragments of the Life of Julian Prince", and "Let's Take This Viral". So a really all-around great issue.
The two fairy tale twists and the novel excerpt didn't work for me so well, and I got confused by The Sense of the Circle.
March 14, 2013
Review to come after I post my story-by-story reviews on my Livejournal.
* * ** *
No real disappointments in this issue. I think I enjoyed (even if I didn't completely understand the mechanics of) the John Barnes novella the most, as well as the Fowler, Ulibarri and Savage pieces, but there wasn't a single story I felt let down by this time out.
Individual story reviews can be found here: http://365shortstories.livejournal.co...
* * ** *
No real disappointments in this issue. I think I enjoyed (even if I didn't completely understand the mechanics of) the John Barnes novella the most, as well as the Fowler, Ulibarri and Savage pieces, but there wasn't a single story I felt let down by this time out.
Individual story reviews can be found here: http://365shortstories.livejournal.co...
July 9, 2015
There are some interesting stories in here. The interview with Phillip Pullman, however, kind of makes me not want to read his work since he criticizes J.R.R. Tolkien negatively for not tackling issues of human sexuality.
March 27, 2013
Just so so for this issue. Only stand out story had to be Biographical Fragments by Jake Kerr.
March 27, 2013
With next month's issue just round the corner, I think I'm done with this month's now.
August 10, 2016
The Bolt Tightener was my favourite short story in this issue. Superb!
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews