Lightspeed Magazine, October 2015

by John Joseph Adams (Editor), Maria Dahvana Headley (Contributor), Adrian Tchaikovsky (Contributor)

CONTENTS

Short Stories - Science Fiction
"Solder and Seam" by Maria Dahvana Headley
"Children of Dagon" by Adrian Tchaikovsky
"Time Shards" by Gregory Benford (reprint)
"Water Rights" by An Owomoyela (reprint)

Short Stories - Fantasy
"The Fiddler of Bayou Teche" by Delia Sherman (reprint)
"The Invention of Separate People" by Kevin Brockmeier (reprint)
"Tragic Business" by Emil Ostrovski
"The Karen Joy Fowler Book Club" by Nike Sulway

Novella (Subscription / eBook exclusive)
"Slow Music" by James Tiptree Jr.

Novel Excerpts (eBook exclusives)
"Silver on the Road" by Laura Anne Gilman
"A Borrowed Man" by Gene Wolfe

Lightspeed Magazine, october 2015 #65
Edited by John Joseph Adams
Cover Art (& Gallery & Artist Spotlight): Blaithiel

Genres: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Short Stories

470 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 30, 2015

About the author

John Joseph Adams is the series editor of BEST AMERICAN SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY. He is also the bestselling editor of many other anthologies, such as ROBOT UPRISINGS, DEAD MAN'S HAND, BRAVE NEW WORLDS,WASTELANDS, and THE LIVING DEAD. Recent and forthcoming books include WHAT THE #@&% IS THAT?, OPERATION ARCANA, PRESS START TO PLAY, LOOSED UPON THE WORLD, and THE APOCALYPSE TRIPTYCH (consisting of THE END IS NIGH, THE END IS NOW, and THE END HAS COME). Called “the reigning king of the anthology world” by Barnes & Noble, John is a two-time winner of the Hugo Award (for which he has been nominated nine times), is a seven-time World Fantasy Award finalist, and served as a judge for the 2015 National Book Award. John is also the editor and publisher of the digital magazines LIGHTSPEED and NIGHTMARE, and is a producer for Wired's THE GEEK'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY podcast. You can find him online at www.johnjosephadams.com and on Twitter @JohnJosephAdams.

Reviews

[Stephanie]

The Karen Joy Fowler Book Club, by Nike Sulway. 4 stars. short story.

[Hirondelle (not getting notifications) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just read Children of Dagon by Adrian Tchaikovsky.

I have not read much Lovecraft at all (I am not actually sure how many short stories, in between other things. That is part of the reason I am entering, journaling these short stories I am reading individually, I might well forget totally having read them).

I had to google to figure out what the Lovecraft part was, seems very explicit if you know context - and if you do not, it is moody and wordy and quite lovecraftian in love of language and detail. As it is, seems purely hard sf story, it is very good (Adrian Tchaokovsky can write very well at any length about the many ideas that struck him), but it is perhaps too short (I almost never say this), and not enough character, or worldbuilding development. Very good, but feels not enough.

[Steven Ng · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Children of Dagon" Adrian Tchaikovsky

[Esther · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable edition of this magazine. Some editions have loads of stories that fly right past me, but this one had a good mix of different types of stories which worked for me. Turns out most of my favourites from this edition were reprints but it is always good to come across a story you enjoy, whether written recently or not.

On the non-fiction side, the interview with Marc Goodman, author of Future Crimes: Everything Is Connected, Everyone Is Vulnerable, and What We Can Do About It, was fascinating and chilling.

Perfect for me

Enjoyable, worked for me
"Solder and Seam" by Maria Dahvana Headley - A farmer builds a whale in his field. Odd and atmospheric but in a resonant way as always from this author.
"Children of Dagon" by Adrian Tchaikovsky - The world has ended and sea-men stand to inherit the earth. Interesting look at identity and affiliation.
(*) "Water Rights" by An Owamoyela [reprint] - A near-Earth story about patterns of dependence and the balance between survival and our dreams.
(*) "The Fiddler of Bayou Teche" by Delia Sherman [reprint] - Atmospheric tale of a girl living in a swamp and what happens when she meets the trickster in her adoptive mother's tales.
"The Karen Joy Fowler Book Club" by Nike Sulway - I enjoyed reading this story but I imagine I probably missed a lot. There seemed to a lot of references that I didn't quite get.
(*) "Slow Music" by James Tiptree, Jr [novella - reprint] - Human beings have gone to the stars at the cost of much of what they are. After a young man meets a woman who wants to preserve humanity, what will he choose?

Fine, but didn't resonate
"Time Shards" by Gregory Benford [reprint] - Interesting insight into time capsules and getting messages from other times. Themes didn't really speak to me.
"The Invention of Separate People" by Kevin Brockmeier [reprint] - Interesting thought experiment about how whether love is about what we know or what we don't.
"Tragic Business" by Emil Ostovski - A reincarnation tale about chasing after what we want. Didn't get this.

Not my Cup of Tea

[BobA707 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short Stories - Science Fiction
"Solder and Seam" by Maria Dahvana Headley 3.5
"Children of Dagon" by Adrian Tchaikovsky 3
"Time Shards" by Gregory Bedford 4
"Water Rights" by An Owomoyela 3.5

Short Stories - Fantasy
"The Fiddler of Bayou Teche" by Delia Sheridan 2
"The Invention of Separate People" by Kevin Bruckheimer 2
"Tragic Business" by Emil Ostrovski 2
"The Karen Joy Fowler Book Club" by Nike Subway 2

Novella (Subscription / eBook exclusive)
"Slow Music" by James Tiptree Jr. 3.5

Novel Excerpts (eBook exclusives)
"Silver on the Road" by Laura Anne Gilman ok
"A Borrowed Man" by Gene Wolfe ok

Overall SF pretty good, Fantasy very poor. The novel excerpts were interesting but not quote my cup of tea.