Scan barcode
richardleis's review against another edition
5.0
Lightspeed’s May 2020 issue includes stories by some of my favorite authors, and some new favorites.
Charlie Jane Anders smashes together genres and crafts characters that leap off the page. “Rager in Space” is a story about two party girls heading into space who just might save all of humanity. What I love about Anders’ characters is her sympathy toward them even while she complicates them and their relationships and the situations they find themselves. These are individuals, not stereotypes, and they always seem so real to me despite the science fiction or fantasy trappings of their worlds. The characters in this story are no exception.
Carmen Maria Machado’s stories always evoke such potent magic through the transgressions of characters. In “I Bury Myself”, the narrator does just that, and what follows is a personal and introspective but cosmic examination of the nature of death and life.
The little girl and her reactions and dialogue in “We Are Where the Nightmares Go” by C. Robert Cargill are delightful, in the vein of heroes from other portal fantasies, but in this story Cargill goes for something darker and more complicated by the end.
“The Time Traveler’s Advice to the Lovelorn” by Adam-Troy Castro mixes science fiction elements with fantasy to great something almost like a fairy tale, albeit with more dimensional characters. I entirely missed the ending; ten minutes later it finally dawned on me what had actually happened. It was a silly lapse, but I was all the more delighted when the lightbulb went on.
“The Fenghuang” by Millie Ho and “Melting Like Metal” by Ada Hoffmann feature characters confronting atypical bodies and minds in vivid realistic or fantastic worlds. There’s a beautiful love story in “The Fenghuang” and fierce battle and persistence in “Melting Like Metal” that engrossed me.
Both “One Hundred Sentences About the City of the Future: A Jeremiad” by Alex Irvine and “Destinations of Love” by Alexander Weinstein play with form and subvert typical narratives in imaginative and compelling ways. All of the writers in this issue are pushing speculative fiction in diverse directions that make me so happy and leave me awestruck.
When I finish a story, I immediately jump to the author interview, if included. These interviews are always informative and eye-opening. There’s also an interview with Stephen Graham Jones, who I have been hearing so much about lately. I’m eager to read his novels. LaShawn M. Wanak’s book reviews are thoughtful and make me want to pick up the books yesterday. Jeremiah Tolbert and Matthew Tolbert’s overview of Dungeons & Dragons and review of Dungeons and Dragons Young Adventure’s Guide Series is wonderful.
Galen Dara's cover artwork is gorgeous, as always. Here, it adapts and interprets “The Time Traveler’s Advice to the Lovelorn” in a captivating way. You just have to pick up and read an issue with artwork like this.
Charlie Jane Anders smashes together genres and crafts characters that leap off the page. “Rager in Space” is a story about two party girls heading into space who just might save all of humanity. What I love about Anders’ characters is her sympathy toward them even while she complicates them and their relationships and the situations they find themselves. These are individuals, not stereotypes, and they always seem so real to me despite the science fiction or fantasy trappings of their worlds. The characters in this story are no exception.
Carmen Maria Machado’s stories always evoke such potent magic through the transgressions of characters. In “I Bury Myself”, the narrator does just that, and what follows is a personal and introspective but cosmic examination of the nature of death and life.
The little girl and her reactions and dialogue in “We Are Where the Nightmares Go” by C. Robert Cargill are delightful, in the vein of heroes from other portal fantasies, but in this story Cargill goes for something darker and more complicated by the end.
“The Time Traveler’s Advice to the Lovelorn” by Adam-Troy Castro mixes science fiction elements with fantasy to great something almost like a fairy tale, albeit with more dimensional characters. I entirely missed the ending; ten minutes later it finally dawned on me what had actually happened. It was a silly lapse, but I was all the more delighted when the lightbulb went on.
“The Fenghuang” by Millie Ho and “Melting Like Metal” by Ada Hoffmann feature characters confronting atypical bodies and minds in vivid realistic or fantastic worlds. There’s a beautiful love story in “The Fenghuang” and fierce battle and persistence in “Melting Like Metal” that engrossed me.
Both “One Hundred Sentences About the City of the Future: A Jeremiad” by Alex Irvine and “Destinations of Love” by Alexander Weinstein play with form and subvert typical narratives in imaginative and compelling ways. All of the writers in this issue are pushing speculative fiction in diverse directions that make me so happy and leave me awestruck.
When I finish a story, I immediately jump to the author interview, if included. These interviews are always informative and eye-opening. There’s also an interview with Stephen Graham Jones, who I have been hearing so much about lately. I’m eager to read his novels. LaShawn M. Wanak’s book reviews are thoughtful and make me want to pick up the books yesterday. Jeremiah Tolbert and Matthew Tolbert’s overview of Dungeons & Dragons and review of Dungeons and Dragons Young Adventure’s Guide Series is wonderful.
Galen Dara's cover artwork is gorgeous, as always. Here, it adapts and interprets “The Time Traveler’s Advice to the Lovelorn” in a captivating way. You just have to pick up and read an issue with artwork like this.
faesissa's review
fast-paced
2.75
My standout story in this issue was 'We Are Where The Nightmares Go' by C. Robert Cargill. Loved the Horror-Fantasy vibes of it.
goranlowie's review
3.0
Decent!
Standouts for me:
– “The Equations of the Dead” by An Owomoyela
– “Swear Not by the Moon" by Seanan McGuire
– “Complete Exhaustion of the Organism” by Rich Larson
Standouts for me:
– “The Equations of the Dead” by An Owomoyela
– “Swear Not by the Moon" by Seanan McGuire
– “Complete Exhaustion of the Organism” by Rich Larson
crunden's review
5.0
We Are Where the Nightmares Go and Other Stories by C. Robert Cargill was reprinted in the latest issue of [b:Lightspeed Magazine: May 2020, #120|53449323|Lightspeed Magazine May 2020, #120|John Joseph Adams|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1589977813l/53449323._SY75_.jpg|81478723] and is available online here. Cargill's story is originally from [b:We Are Where the Nightmares Go and Other Stories|39295152|We Are Where the Nightmares Go and Other Stories|C. Robert Cargill|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1529081648l/39295152._SY75_.jpg|56628930]. Also, I love absolutely in love with Lightspeed's latest cover. GORGEOUS.
The door is at the end, but there’s not only one path to it. Every way you walk is a path, and all of those paths lead to the door. Some of them just take much longer than others. Some of them are more difficult than others. There are some paths so scary, even I never wander them. This is a land of lost children, filled with children who never find the door and those who have lost themselves trying to find it.
This blew my mind, oh my gosh! It's so creepy and nightmarish and poetic. I absolutely loved it. A little girl crawls into a door under her bed and is transported to the land where nightmares go and has to find her way back out again. She employs the help of a frightening clown whom she dubs Siegfried, and together they go from nightmarish locale to nightmarish locale, trying to outsmart The Thing on the Other Side of the Door, who won't let the girl (or anyone else) out of the nightmare land.
Most dreams fade into nothing, drifting away like wisps of smoke. But some dreams, they last. They take root in the soul and hold strong against the tide. The nightmares that survive, the ones that come from the darkest places of your heart and refuse to fade away, they have to go somewhere. So they end up here, cast out like the trash, dumped where no one knows where to look, in the dark space beneath your bed.
For a horror story, it really reads so wonderful. The prose is beautiful and evocative. I'm definitely going to be reading more by C. Robert Cargill.
The door is at the end, but there’s not only one path to it. Every way you walk is a path, and all of those paths lead to the door. Some of them just take much longer than others. Some of them are more difficult than others. There are some paths so scary, even I never wander them. This is a land of lost children, filled with children who never find the door and those who have lost themselves trying to find it.
This blew my mind, oh my gosh! It's so creepy and nightmarish and poetic. I absolutely loved it. A little girl crawls into a door under her bed and is transported to the land where nightmares go and has to find her way back out again. She employs the help of a frightening clown whom she dubs Siegfried, and together they go from nightmarish locale to nightmarish locale, trying to outsmart The Thing on the Other Side of the Door, who won't let the girl (or anyone else) out of the nightmare land.
Most dreams fade into nothing, drifting away like wisps of smoke. But some dreams, they last. They take root in the soul and hold strong against the tide. The nightmares that survive, the ones that come from the darkest places of your heart and refuse to fade away, they have to go somewhere. So they end up here, cast out like the trash, dumped where no one knows where to look, in the dark space beneath your bed.
For a horror story, it really reads so wonderful. The prose is beautiful and evocative. I'm definitely going to be reading more by C. Robert Cargill.
More...