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 155 of LIGHTSPEED! AI has been on everyone's mind lately, so it seems fitting that we're starting the month with a story about artificial intelligence grounded in a very different worldview than today's tech brothers': "Virtually Cherokee" by Brian K. Hudson. Adam-Troy Castro's "Spaceman Jones" is a story about the dangers of interstellar addiction. We also have two terrific flash pieces: "Lament of a Specialist in Interspecies Relations" from Amy Johnson and "Every Bone a Bell" by Shaoni C. White. Bogi Takacs returns with eir fantasy story "Construction Sacrifice," an account of gender, identity, and all the complicated relationships that form within any city. Amanda Helms spins us a tale of trauma and magic in her story "The House, the Witch, and Sugarcane Stalks." In our flash offerings, Derrick Boden discusses inequality and, well, giants in his new story "When the Giants Came Through the Valley." We also have a new flash story from John Wiswell ("So You Want to Kiss Your Nemesis").