Lightspeed Magazine, Issue 195 (August 2026‪)‬

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 195 of LIGHTSPEED! Did you know that August 30th is Mary Shelley's 229th birthday? So it seems appropriate that this month, our science fiction is centered around the difficult relationships between creators and the created. A.M. Maris kicks off the month with a story of a bioengineered organism-the eponymous "Legs." In "Ladd's Robot Repair," David Anaxagoras spins us into a gritty cyberpunk future built on the salvaged ruins of our current civilization, featuring a cast of intriguing robotic characters. We also have two terrific flash pieces: "What Do You Mean the Nanobots Formed a Union??" from Joel W.D. Buxton and "The Age of Cancer" by Vajra Chandrasekera. Adelehin Ijasan sticks to the theme with the new fantasy short "Of All Who Dream," about a man looking to create a god . . . with the help of his magically trained grandmother. In "Fragments of the Whole," Brooke Bolander explores a fantastical inner terrain and its inhabitants. We also have a flash story ("Infinite Wishes") from Kristine Kathryn Rusch, and another ("The Goddess of Not Enough") from Susan Palwick.