Lightspeed Magazine, Issue 192 (May 2026)

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 192 of LIGHTSPEED! If you love SF about time travel and alternate realities, this month is going to delight you. Our first SF short is "e;The Star Where We Meet"e; by Sam W. Pisciotta, a tale of family, space travel, and the shifting nature of reality. Then we've got "e;The Test of Time,"e; a new SF novelette from Kristine Kathryn Rusch containing all the SFnal crunchiness of time travel paradoxes inside a delicious academia setting. It's like the Reese's peanut butter cup of SF novelettes! We also have a couple of unsettling flash stories: "e;The Knacker Man"e; from Scott Dalrymple and "e;The Stars Look Away From This Vessel"e; by dave ring. Our fantasy works include "e;Sarah's Laugh"e; by Melissa A Watkins, a powerful and timely story of resistance. Ada Hoffman serves up the grimly insightful "e;Ten Unsent Letters to the Dark Lord."e; We also have flash pieces from Yoon Ha Lee ("e;The Aerialist"e;), and Christopher Barzak ("e;The Last Season of Your Life"e;).