Lightspeed Magazine Issue 152, John Joseph Adams, Wendy N. Wagner, eds.
Lightspeed is a little heftier than the e-magazines I usually read. I tried this with the idea of adding some different sources to my reading diet this month. Generally good results, in a format familiar from Nightmare magazine, with whom it shares an editor.
In SF, there was a rich helping of stories. First up, Lincoln Michel’s short The Last Serving, which takes the idea you are what you eat to a logical and uncomfortable conclusion. A Guide to Alien Terms Useful in the Human Diaspora is the second “flash” piece, focusing on terms a future space-faring human race might borrow or invent to express new ideas. Thought-provoking beyond its short (1011 words) length. Isabel J. Kim offers what I thought was the most intellectually horrifying story in the magazine in The Narrative Implications of Your Untimely Death, in which reality TV goes to the next level--and then some. Last and not at all least, Jendayi Brooks-Flemister starts off From the Largest Crater slowly and routinely, then builds up as a very long distance relationship takes its toll on the love left behind.
Next up, fantasy. The only clear miss for me in the issue was A Man Walks Into a Bar; or, In Which More Than Four Decades After My Father’s Reluctant Night of Darts on West 54th Street, I Finally Understand What Needs to Be Done. This is only partially the fault of the Guiness Book of World Records contender title. I couldn’t get traction with Scott Edelman’s story, no help from the orange-tinted presence lurking in its pages. Maria Dong’s Braid Me a Howling Tongue, was just under 10,000 words of searing pain and satisfying revenge. A.L. Goldfuss is next with their Between the Stones and the Stars, a quick and fun exploration of the lust, loss and the allure of treasures. Seanan McGuire is a treasure, and In the Deep Woods; The Light Is Different There is a subtle mix of horror influences and the time-honored theme of coming home. Benjamin Peek’s The Ministry of Saturn looks at a deep state of a familiar and yet very different kind, exploring what freedom can mean.
Shifting to nonfiction, we get three book reviews: Aigner Loren Wilson finds Even Though I Knew The End by C.K. Polk to be “the queer supernatural detective noir everyone needs in their life”. Arley Sorg looks at Moses Ose Utomi’s The Lies of Ajungo and finds beauty from the first line. H.G. Parry’s The Magician’s Daughter looks to Chris Kluwe to be delightfully more than its pedestrian title suggests. Rounding things out, Laurel Amberdine conducts author spotlights for Edelman, Dong, Kim and Peek, exploring influence and execution in their work.
All in all, a very worthy way to spend a few quality hours, and good exposure to some folks I wouldn’t otherwise have read.
Smirk factor: All clear: 2 pts (1 -- one -- smirk, correctly used.)
Immersion factor: Shallow water: 1 pt
Writing quality: Above-average: 1.5 pts
Character/plot development: Above-average: 1.5 pts
Innovative/interesting: Above-average: 1.5 pts
Total: 7.5/10 (3.75 stars)
