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.

This month, Carolyn Ives Gilman takes citizen science to the stars in her original science fiction short "On the Shores of Ligeia." Our other SF short, "My Children's Home," by Woody Dismukes, paints a picture of a far future orphanage with disturbing social implications. We also have SF reprints by Violet Allen ("The Synapse Will Free Us From Ourselves") and Charlie Jane Anders ("A Temporary Embarrassment in Spacetime"). Maria Romasco Moore brings us our first original fantasy short--"Self Storage Starts with the Heart"--which gives us a plastic-wrapped solution to loneliness. Of course, Ashok K. Banker's series continues with "A Hundred Thousand Arrows," a short story hinging on a very thrilling chariot race. We also have fantasy reprints by Richard Kadrey ("Ambitious Boys Like You") and Kat Howard ("Those Are Pearls"). All that, and of course we also have our usual assortment of author spotlights, along with our book and media review columns. For our ebook readers, we have an ebook-exclusive reprint of the SF novella "Of Love and Other Monsters," by Vandana Singh, and an excerpt from Arkady Martine's new novel A MEMORY CALLED EMPIRE.