Lightspeed Magazine, Issue 183 (August 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 183 of LIGHTSPEED! We're kicking off our science fiction with a tasty new story by Adam-Troy Castro: "Feast of Famine." If you've ever been to a buffet, you know how dangerous it can be to take just a little bit of everything-now imagine what could happen if you were at an infinite buffet in its own pocket dimension. We then pivot in a very different SFnal direction to serve up V.M. Ayala's thrilling cyberpunk story "To Access Seven Obelisks, Press Enter." David Anaxagoras brings us a heartbreaking flash piece about the ways war affects children: "Five Dispatches from Conflict Zone W-924/B Regarding Post-Battle Deployment of A. Thanatensis." And Sarah Langan brings us a flash piece about the cruelty of harvesting our dreams in "The Dream Tourists." Our first piece of original fantasy, "It Might Be He Returns" by Fatima Taqvi, is the story of a young man who learns some terrible truths about fate and equality. For those looking for some exciting swordplay and fascinating magical beings, Christopher Rowe brings us "Savannah and the Apprentice." We also have a flash story ("Dad Went Out to Get the Milk") from Osahon Ize-Iyamu, and another ("Anti-Capitalism vs. the Man of Flowers") from Naomi Kanakia.