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 143 of LIGHTSPEED! This month, we return to Ashok K. Banker's Legends of the Burnt Empire series with their novella, "The History of Snakes"-a story so epic we'll be serializing over two weeks. Our other fantasy fiction includes a charming flash piece from Leah Cypess ("The Fairy Godmother Advice Column") and a reprint from Maurice Broaddus ("Dance of Bones"). Our first SF short is a story of climate change, violent apocalypse, and somehow the hope for healing. If you want your heart touched, don't miss "Everything the Sea Takes, it Returns" by Izzy Wasserstein. Phoebe Barton returns to our pages with the swashbuckling SF adventure "A Sword Has One Purpose," and Sandra McDonald dabbles in time travel in her flash story "Advice From The Civil Temporal Defense League." Our reprint this month is from Charlie Jane Anders ("The Day it All Ended"). Our interview team brings us spotlight interviews with our authors, and of course our crew of expert reviewers have provided their latest book recommendations. Our ebook readers will enjoy a book excerpt from KALYNA THE SOOTHSAYER, the debut novel by Elijah Kinch Spector.