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Lightspeed Magazine, Issue 188
LIGHTSPEED is a digital science fiction and fantasy magazine. In its pages, you will find science from near-future, sociological soft SF, to far-future, star-spanning hard SF-and from epic fantasy, sword-and-sorcery, and contemporary urban tales, to magical realism, science-fantasy, and folktales.
Welcome to issue 188 of LIGHTSPEED! We're starting the issue with a story by writing duo Corey Jae White and Maddison "Mother's Hip." It's set in an all-too-believable future where corporations wage wars and the human consciousness is hackable. Oluwatomiwa Ajeigbe's newest story ("Hunter, Hunter") also riffs on classic SF ideas about work and minds, making it a terrific partner for "Mother's Hip." In both pieces, there's a powerful sense of the organic contrasting against nearly cyberpunk elements, which feels very appropriate for fiction publishing in 2026. This month we've got four great pieces of flash fiction. For SF, we've got Effie Seiberg's new piece "Bots All the Way Down" and Eli Brown's "A Brief Public Announcement." Our fantasy flash pieces both focus on demons and devils. We start off with "Choose Your Own Damnation" by Kehkashan Khalid-which riffs off classic Choose Your Own Adventure novels-and then we have a dark fantasy story we were tempted to publish over at our sister magazine "Academic Neutrality" by M.R. Robinson. We also have two fantasy short stories, of course. Marisca Pichette's "Where the Chicken-Footed Dwell" explores the story of Baba Yaga's hut. Adam-Troy Castro returns to our pages with a touching new story called "The Moving Finger." Plus we have nonfiction, including spotlight interviews with our writers and fresh new book reviews.
Welcome to issue 188 of LIGHTSPEED! We're starting the issue with a story by writing duo Corey Jae White and Maddison "Mother's Hip." It's set in an all-too-believable future where corporations wage wars and the human consciousness is hackable. Oluwatomiwa Ajeigbe's newest story ("Hunter, Hunter") also riffs on classic SF ideas about work and minds, making it a terrific partner for "Mother's Hip." In both pieces, there's a powerful sense of the organic contrasting against nearly cyberpunk elements, which feels very appropriate for fiction publishing in 2026. This month we've got four great pieces of flash fiction. For SF, we've got Effie Seiberg's new piece "Bots All the Way Down" and Eli Brown's "A Brief Public Announcement." Our fantasy flash pieces both focus on demons and devils. We start off with "Choose Your Own Damnation" by Kehkashan Khalid-which riffs off classic Choose Your Own Adventure novels-and then we have a dark fantasy story we were tempted to publish over at our sister magazine "Academic Neutrality" by M.R. Robinson. We also have two fantasy short stories, of course. Marisca Pichette's "Where the Chicken-Footed Dwell" explores the story of Baba Yaga's hut. Adam-Troy Castro returns to our pages with a touching new story called "The Moving Finger." Plus we have nonfiction, including spotlight interviews with our writers and fresh new book reviews.
139 pages, Kindle Edition
Published December 31, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
April 10, 2026
New Gems for 2026?
I found some gems last year in Lightspeed Magazine. Going gem hunting again this year! Starting off with the first issue of 2026.
Academic Neutrality (by M.R. Robinson)
Ok! “Academic Neutrality” caught my attention when people started flaying themselves! Nuts. This is quite a departure from the usual approaches to this old topic of academic neutrality. The theme is timely, given today’s unprecedented government attacks on universities. Dark.
Rating: 2.5/5
Hunter Hunter (by Oluwatomiwa Ajeigbe)
Generation starship? Quadrants? Gaia Two? Mutants, engineers, and hunters? As each new element was introduced in this story, I happily went along for the ride. Some stories are just pleasing to read. Nothing complicated about this, nor should it be.
Rating: 3/5
Choose Your Own Damnation (by Kehkashan Khalid)
Sometimes there are stories we just don’t connect with. There isn’t much nuance as the author delivers a hard-handed lesson about parental expectations, love of family, and academic pressures.
Rating: 1/5
Mother’s Hip (by Corey Jae White and Maddison Stoff)
Creativity comes across from the first paragraph; the angles of the descriptions draw you right in, making you ask: What kind of world am I in? There’s a visceralness to this story I like. “Mother’s Hip” features Hynd, who was once cybernetically integrated into a Lilith-class mothership, where she capably launched child drones in a war not of her making. I dig the alternating timelines, even the first abrupt switch, which I found jarringly effective. After scenes of a dystopian technological war in the Amazon Rainforest, we are immediately introduced to the current timeline: Hynd, now a guitar and noisebox musician playing in dingy bars where most aren’t paying attention to her music. Her stage name, “Mother’s Hip”, signifies her current existence, in which she sings her combat-themed dreamfolk to process the trauma encapsulated in a plot you’ll have to read to find out! :) Raw and original, and infused with dark cyberpunk vibes.
Rating: 5/5
The Moving Finger (by Adam-Troy Castro)
A strangely curious story that features an unknown entity as the narrator. Those who truly connect with it are retroactively erased from existence. The narrator emphasizes that it is not Death and likens itself to the second hand of a clock. It emphasizes that its acts of erasure are not teleological but simply mechanical. An artist named Marisa forms such a connection with the narrator, and the story unfolds . . .
Rating: 2/5
A Brief Public Announcement (by Eli Brown)
A timely read considering the current Artemis II mission on the Orion and the flyby of our Moon. In this short story, the Apollo missions are portrayed as failed military assaults on the Moon, and the Moon King’s severed head was never brought back to Earth. While this “brief public announcement” weighing in at exactly 362 words may seem farcical, is it really, given the announcements coming out of the White House of the US? What’s more insane, speculative fiction or our current reality?
Rating: 1/5
Where the Chicken-Footed Dwell (by Marisca Pichette)
A story about the desire to be invisible to others’ judgements and the remedies we seek. Witches, potions, magic houses, a clever plot, and a toothsome moral to proffer. I think these are all the makings of a good fantasy story, but for one reason or another, I don’t seem to take to these traditional fantasy vibes. My loss, I suppose, whereas another reader will gain more joy from such stories. I do like the central message, so I can imagine a traditional fantasy reader giving this a 5/5 rating. Perhaps we can all aspire to be like this woman of the woods now, dispensing valuable advice won through hard-earned life struggles instead of taking the shortcut paths that lead us astray.
Rating: 2.5/5
Bots All The Way Down (by Effie Seiberg)
‘Hello? Is anyone there?’ writes the narrator bot in white text on a white background, visible only to other bots. And thus, we are in a world where humans are out of the loop, leaving algorithms talking to algorithms. Maybe it’s because I’m steeped in a world where this has already been much talked about, but Effie Seiberg’s little tale could not rivet my imagination nor tiltillate an instructive near-future vision. The story, much like our situation with AI in real life, is sadly too predictable. We’ve already started seeing foundation models train on data scraped from internet sources that were purely foundation-model-generated. Soon, it’ll just be AI agents dealing with AI agents without humans really knowing what’s going on. Great job, guys!
Rating: 1/5
I found some gems last year in Lightspeed Magazine. Going gem hunting again this year! Starting off with the first issue of 2026.
Academic Neutrality (by M.R. Robinson)
Ok! “Academic Neutrality” caught my attention when people started flaying themselves! Nuts. This is quite a departure from the usual approaches to this old topic of academic neutrality. The theme is timely, given today’s unprecedented government attacks on universities. Dark.
Rating: 2.5/5
Hunter Hunter (by Oluwatomiwa Ajeigbe)
Generation starship? Quadrants? Gaia Two? Mutants, engineers, and hunters? As each new element was introduced in this story, I happily went along for the ride. Some stories are just pleasing to read. Nothing complicated about this, nor should it be.
Rating: 3/5
Choose Your Own Damnation (by Kehkashan Khalid)
Sometimes there are stories we just don’t connect with. There isn’t much nuance as the author delivers a hard-handed lesson about parental expectations, love of family, and academic pressures.
Rating: 1/5
Mother’s Hip (by Corey Jae White and Maddison Stoff)
Creativity comes across from the first paragraph; the angles of the descriptions draw you right in, making you ask: What kind of world am I in? There’s a visceralness to this story I like. “Mother’s Hip” features Hynd, who was once cybernetically integrated into a Lilith-class mothership, where she capably launched child drones in a war not of her making. I dig the alternating timelines, even the first abrupt switch, which I found jarringly effective. After scenes of a dystopian technological war in the Amazon Rainforest, we are immediately introduced to the current timeline: Hynd, now a guitar and noisebox musician playing in dingy bars where most aren’t paying attention to her music. Her stage name, “Mother’s Hip”, signifies her current existence, in which she sings her combat-themed dreamfolk to process the trauma encapsulated in a plot you’ll have to read to find out! :) Raw and original, and infused with dark cyberpunk vibes.
Rating: 5/5
The Moving Finger (by Adam-Troy Castro)
A strangely curious story that features an unknown entity as the narrator. Those who truly connect with it are retroactively erased from existence. The narrator emphasizes that it is not Death and likens itself to the second hand of a clock. It emphasizes that its acts of erasure are not teleological but simply mechanical. An artist named Marisa forms such a connection with the narrator, and the story unfolds . . .
Rating: 2/5
A Brief Public Announcement (by Eli Brown)
A timely read considering the current Artemis II mission on the Orion and the flyby of our Moon. In this short story, the Apollo missions are portrayed as failed military assaults on the Moon, and the Moon King’s severed head was never brought back to Earth. While this “brief public announcement” weighing in at exactly 362 words may seem farcical, is it really, given the announcements coming out of the White House of the US? What’s more insane, speculative fiction or our current reality?
Rating: 1/5
Where the Chicken-Footed Dwell (by Marisca Pichette)
A story about the desire to be invisible to others’ judgements and the remedies we seek. Witches, potions, magic houses, a clever plot, and a toothsome moral to proffer. I think these are all the makings of a good fantasy story, but for one reason or another, I don’t seem to take to these traditional fantasy vibes. My loss, I suppose, whereas another reader will gain more joy from such stories. I do like the central message, so I can imagine a traditional fantasy reader giving this a 5/5 rating. Perhaps we can all aspire to be like this woman of the woods now, dispensing valuable advice won through hard-earned life struggles instead of taking the shortcut paths that lead us astray.
Rating: 2.5/5
Bots All The Way Down (by Effie Seiberg)
‘Hello? Is anyone there?’ writes the narrator bot in white text on a white background, visible only to other bots. And thus, we are in a world where humans are out of the loop, leaving algorithms talking to algorithms. Maybe it’s because I’m steeped in a world where this has already been much talked about, but Effie Seiberg’s little tale could not rivet my imagination nor tiltillate an instructive near-future vision. The story, much like our situation with AI in real life, is sadly too predictable. We’ve already started seeing foundation models train on data scraped from internet sources that were purely foundation-model-generated. Soon, it’ll just be AI agents dealing with AI agents without humans really knowing what’s going on. Great job, guys!
Rating: 1/5
February 1, 2026
- Mother’s Hip by Corey Jae White and Maddison Stoff: a sci-fi story about a world where Amazon starts high-scale wars with their technology and drones. a different look at veterans in this unique type of setting
- Choose Your Own Damnation by Kehkashan Khalid: a little short story of choose your own adventures, with the right mix of horror and humor. I'm defintely interested in reading more from this author.
- Author Spotlight: Corey Jae White and Maddison Stoff by Phoebe Barton: It's interesting how I took the story for something and th author's intent was writing about something else. It sparks a discussion of how differently readers can view the same piece of writing.
- Bots All the Way Down by Effie Seiberg: when AIs and bots turn influencers. very interesting.
-Author Spotlight: Effie Seiberg by Robin Jeffrey: seeing what she has to say about using AI in marketing and the downward shift in online services is very interesting and validating, like I'm not just imaginning that something like google search has gotten worse, for example.
-Where the Chicken-Footed Dwell by Marisca Pichette: It's an interesting look at the house with chicken legs from baba yaga's story: that instead of it being the house of the witch, it's the witch itself. also another look at the power of suggestion and magical potions.
- Author Spotlight: Marisca Pichette by Erik Grove: loved this.
-Book Review: Beyond the Glittering World: An Anthology of Indigenous Feminisms and Futurisms
by Arley Sorg: It's a shame that I haven't heard of this anthology, so I'm grateful for this review for putting it on my radar!
-Hunter, Hunter by Oluwatomiwa Ajeigbe: Huh, this can't be the way you're choosing to end the story. Such an abrupt ending, and might I say, not very interesting considering the premise?
-Author Spotlight: Oluwatomiwa Ajeigbe by A Humphrey Lanham: This doesnt really help in understanding why the author decided to cut this story short, but I guess to each his own
- Academic Neutrality by M.R. Robinson: the symbolism is top notch really. a university that signs a deal with the devil in exchange for funds, but people start dropping dead because they can't keep their end of th deal: neutrality
- Book Review: An Arcane Inheritance by Kamilah Cole by Melissa A Watkins: It did get me interested in reading the book
- A Brief Public Announcement by Eli Brown: feels a bit like alternate history/reality of the moon landing. would've loved to see this more fleshed out in a full length novel or even a novella
- The Moving Finger by Adam-Troy Castro: I loved the way the introduction unfolded. the ambiguity of the protagonist is intriguing, and by the end I teared up at the realization. this would be perfect as a short film
- Book Review: Strange Animals by Jarod K. Anderson by Chris Kluwe: This book was already on my tbr, and this review got me intrigued even more
- Choose Your Own Damnation by Kehkashan Khalid: a little short story of choose your own adventures, with the right mix of horror and humor. I'm defintely interested in reading more from this author.
- Author Spotlight: Corey Jae White and Maddison Stoff by Phoebe Barton: It's interesting how I took the story for something and th author's intent was writing about something else. It sparks a discussion of how differently readers can view the same piece of writing.
- Bots All the Way Down by Effie Seiberg: when AIs and bots turn influencers. very interesting.
-Author Spotlight: Effie Seiberg by Robin Jeffrey: seeing what she has to say about using AI in marketing and the downward shift in online services is very interesting and validating, like I'm not just imaginning that something like google search has gotten worse, for example.
-Where the Chicken-Footed Dwell by Marisca Pichette: It's an interesting look at the house with chicken legs from baba yaga's story: that instead of it being the house of the witch, it's the witch itself. also another look at the power of suggestion and magical potions.
- Author Spotlight: Marisca Pichette by Erik Grove: loved this.
-Book Review: Beyond the Glittering World: An Anthology of Indigenous Feminisms and Futurisms
by Arley Sorg: It's a shame that I haven't heard of this anthology, so I'm grateful for this review for putting it on my radar!
-Hunter, Hunter by Oluwatomiwa Ajeigbe: Huh, this can't be the way you're choosing to end the story. Such an abrupt ending, and might I say, not very interesting considering the premise?
-Author Spotlight: Oluwatomiwa Ajeigbe by A Humphrey Lanham: This doesnt really help in understanding why the author decided to cut this story short, but I guess to each his own
- Academic Neutrality by M.R. Robinson: the symbolism is top notch really. a university that signs a deal with the devil in exchange for funds, but people start dropping dead because they can't keep their end of th deal: neutrality
- Book Review: An Arcane Inheritance by Kamilah Cole by Melissa A Watkins: It did get me interested in reading the book
- A Brief Public Announcement by Eli Brown: feels a bit like alternate history/reality of the moon landing. would've loved to see this more fleshed out in a full length novel or even a novella
- The Moving Finger by Adam-Troy Castro: I loved the way the introduction unfolded. the ambiguity of the protagonist is intriguing, and by the end I teared up at the realization. this would be perfect as a short film
- Book Review: Strange Animals by Jarod K. Anderson by Chris Kluwe: This book was already on my tbr, and this review got me intrigued even more
January 20, 2026
A strong start to the year!
My favourite of the bunch was Mother's Hip, with Hunter Hunter being pretty close behind. I also found Bots All the Way Down, Choose Your Own Damnation and A Brief Public Announcement to be enjoyable, playing a bit either with format or content. Academic Neutrality also had something going for it, but I think I would have liked for it to explore the details of the deal with devil a bit more for it to really pop.
My favourite of the bunch was Mother's Hip, with Hunter Hunter being pretty close behind. I also found Bots All the Way Down, Choose Your Own Damnation and A Brief Public Announcement to be enjoyable, playing a bit either with format or content. Academic Neutrality also had something going for it, but I think I would have liked for it to explore the details of the deal with devil a bit more for it to really pop.
February 6, 2026
I felt this was a pretty strong issue. I'm here for the SF/F and for the most part the stories were excellent. Of particular note was Adam-Troy Castro's The Moving Finger and Effie Seiberg's Bots All the Way Down.
Looking forward to the February 2026 issue.
Looking forward to the February 2026 issue.
January 31, 2026
Great magazine. Lots of cool Sci-fi stories and articles.
February 21, 2026
For: 'Bots All the Way Down' by Effie Seiberg
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews