May 2019 (Issue 108)
Our cover this month is from the multi-award-winning artist Julie Dillon, and it served as the inspiration for Kathleen Kayembe's science fantasy novelette "The Ocean That Fades Into Sky." We also have a new fantasy short from Adam-Troy Castro called "The Minor Superhero at Home, After His Series Ends," and reprints by Debbie Urbanski ("The Portal") and Kurt Fawver ("The Convexity of Our Youth"). Our original SF shorts are Rati Mehrotra ("This Way to Paradise") and Matthew Kressel ("Truth Is Like the Sun"). Our SF reprints are from Max Gladstone ("The Iron Man") and Nancy Kress ("Cocoons"). In the nonfiction department, we have our usual assortment of author spotlights. Our feature interview is with frequent Lightspeed contributor Ashok K. Banker. We also have the latest installments in our book and media review columns. And if you're an ebook reader, you'll get to enjoy an ebook-exclusive reprint of "Fallow" by Sofia Samatar, and an excerpt from An Illusion of Thieves by Cate Glass.
Cover art by Julie Dillon
In This Issue: May 2019 (Issue 108)
Be sure to check out the editorial for a rundown of this month's terrific content, plus all our news and updates.
by Nancy Kress
A recon detail brought in another one just after dawn. The soldiers had donned full biohazard suits; nothing could convince them that this wasn't contagious. They set the body on a gurney. I wheeled it into a quarantine room and inspected it. This time, for the first time, it was a child. A girl, about eleven years […]
The Ocean That Fades Into Sky
by Kathleen Kayembe
Although it takes constant effort for Coasts to mold herself into a human body when none live on her shores, and a far greater effort—even with her mother's help—to sustain a flight of giant sea turtles across hundreds of miles, for once she is grateful; the focus required keeps her thoughts from the empty space beside her where Obsequies should be. There are three women Coasts loves more than anyone on the whole of Uloh-la, and Obsequies, her lover, is one of them. Her mother, in the guise of the turtle beneath her, is another. Both of them are mad at her. Dwellings, the third, would be angry too, if Coasts told her the truth.
Illustrated by Julie Dillon
Janina Edwards
https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/podcasts.lightspeedmagazine.com/podcast_412-The_Ocean_That_Fades_Into_Sky-Kathleen_Kayembe.mp3
Author Spotlight: Kathleen Kayembe
This was written for a gorgeous illustration by Julie Dillon, but the sea turtles paired with the second moon took a while to work themselves out in my head, so it took a few months of worldbuilding to discover the story I wanted to write: One about a lesbian relationship wherein, during a separation, both partners wonder whether it might be better for the other if they weren't dating. As with so many ideas that become finished pieces, that initial idea got the writing started, but another aspect of the story eventually took center stage.It took a while for me to find it though.
This Way to Paradise
by Rati Mehrotra
The mountains were beautiful, even though the roads that took you there were broken. Even though the whole world was broken. Tara sat on the side of the pitted road, soaking in the autumnal sun, gazing at the distant snow-capped peaks in awe. Forgetting, for the moment, the ache in her feet and the emptiness in her stomach. "The Sivalik Range, children," said Anju, pointing at the green hills that rose around them. "The word literally means the 'tresses of Shiva.' Cross the valley, and you stand at the feet of Pir Panjal, the inner Himalayas."
Justine Eyre
https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/podcasts.lightspeedmagazine.com/podcast_413-This_Way_to_Paradise-Rati_Mehrotra.mp3
by Debbie Urbanski
The second portal to Mere had been two feet high and three feet across. Amber knew this because later she returned to that exact spot beside the woods and measured where the portal had been using her wooden school ruler. She did not know the size of the first portal because she had been much younger that first time—just six; she was seventeen now—and so she had overlooked many important details. In the back of her notebook she recorded the second portal's measurements, and beside those numbers she drew a crude sketch of the surrounding landscape, indicating the portal's precise former location.
Author Spotlight: Rati Mehrotra
by Adanze Asante
The experience of refugees the world over is sadly the same: Fleeing from conflict and persecution, all they want is safety for themselves and their children—a chance at a normal life, such as you and I might take for granted. As of 2018, there were over sixty-eight million displaced people in the world. A "zero-tolerance" policy essentially means damning them and their dreams of a safe home, far from violence. So many people the world over lack the most basic necessities: clean water, adequate food, a roof over their heads that won't get blown up during the night.
Book Reviews: May 2019
by LaShawn M. Wanak
This month, LaShawn M. Wanak will be reviewing The GamesHouse by Claire North, Middlegame by Seanan McGuire, War by Michelle West, and Terminal Uprising by Jim C. Hines.
Truth Is Like the Sun
by Matthew Kressel
Pop-star uber-sensation Jaim Janan rockets off to promote their third album atop a SpaceX Dragon VII capsule today, where they will stream a live musical performance from orbit, some 350 kilometers above the Earth. Before today's launch, when asked if they were feeling nervous about the trip, the young pop star coolly responded, "Truth is like the sun. You can shut it out for a time, but it ain't goin' away." It's not clear how many of Jaim's obsessive fans, or "Janatics" as they are sometimes known, recognized the star was quoting twentieth-century pop legend Elvis Presley [click for bio]. But by mid-afternoon #TruthIsLikeTheSun was the most popular hashtag on Twitter.
The Convexity of Our Youth
by Kurt Fawver
The children of Burke's Point Elementary can't be blamed. When the orange ball rolled onto their playground, they couldn't have known what it was. We didn't discuss the orange ball with them, didn't explain to them its importance, its danger. We didn't even tell them it existed, though some of them had undoubtedly heard vague rumors about it from sadistic older siblings and precocious cousins with little parental supervision. We wanted to turn a blind eye to the orange ball, hoping that what we didn't acknowledge couldn't touch our lives. If we didn't speak of it then surely it would have no reason to seek us out.
Author Spotlight: Matthew Kressel
by Gordon B. White
My father woke me up on April 12, 1981 to watch the very first Space Shuttle launch. I remember how it affected me and filled me with such pride and awe that we as a species were able to do that, to send human beings into space on a plane atop a column of fire. Fast forward to today, when we're making leaps and bounds in space technology, but the public has mostly lost interest in it, at least it seems that way from my limited vantage point. And I thought, what would be better to grab the public's imagination than a pop star performing songs in space?
Media Review: May 2019
by Christopher East
This month, reviewer Christopher East compares the novel and the two animated adaptations of the fantasy classic, Watership Down.
The Iron Man
by Max Gladstone
The boy stopped playing after his Mom and Dad chained the iron man to the Kingdom's heart. The boy used to run alone and brave through the welt within the walls, and even ranged as far as the borders of the wood. He tossed the ball his mother gave him into the sky, gold against blue with the sun behind, and laughing, caught it again. The ball purred in his grip. Sometimes he asked it questions—how to build a puppet, how to open the castle gates, how to change the color of the sky— and it answered. How questions were the ball's job; why questions were Mom-and-Dad's.
https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/podcasts.lightspeedmagazine.com/podcast_414-The_Iron_Man-Max_Gladstone.mp3
The Minor Superhero, at Home after His Series Ends
by Adam-Troy Castro
He has a superhero name. It's as stupid as every other superhero name. It's not something you can comfortably call another person in casual conversation. Just try to have a normal-sounding talk with some of the guys in the Liberty Force. "So, hello, uh, Pile-Driver Man. And, how are you doing, Dynamic Woman?" You can't. You honestly can't. You need to have a superhero name, and so he has one, bestowed upon him by others when he lagged too long in coming up with one for himself. It still seems vainglorious to him.
https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/podcasts.lightspeedmagazine.com/podcast_415-The_Minor_Superhero_at_Home_after_His_Series_Ends-Adam-Troy_Castro.mp3
Author Spotlight: Adam-Troy Castro
I have always loved the obscure superheroes who exist at the fringes of the Marvel and DC Universes, taking care of their little corners of creation—and indeed I note that Marvel's Luke Cage, Daredevil, and Spider-Man are very much within this tradition, despite forces that sometimes draw them to more universal concerns. I was a deep fan of Squirrel Girl before she hit the big time, and when writing Spider-Man I did my little bit—unappreciated—to expand the fame of Razorback, the hero whose helmet is a giant pig head.
Interview: Ashok K. Banker
Ashok K. Banker is the author of more than sixty books, including the internationally acclaimed Ramayana Series. His works have all been bestsellers in India and have sold around the world. He is also the author of many short stories, including the Legends of the Burnt Empire series (published in Lightspeed), which takes place in the same world as Upon a Burning Throne. He lives in Los Angeles and Mumbai.