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Lightspeed (magazine) facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

Lightspeed is a cool online magazine from America. It's all about fantasy and science fiction stories! John Joseph Adams is the editor and publisher of Lightspeed.

The first issue of Lightspeed came out in June 2010. A new issue is published every single month. Each issue shares four brand-new stories and four stories that have been published before. You can also find interviews with the writers and other interesting articles. All the stories and articles are available for free on the magazine's website. You can also buy the whole issue as an ebook. Plus, Lightspeed has a free podcast where you can listen to some of the stories. Stefan Rudnicki helps make the podcast.

History of Lightspeed

Lightspeed was first started by a publisher named Sean Wallace from Prime Books. John Joseph Adams was the editor from the very beginning. Sean Wallace also published another magazine called Fantasy Magazine. In March 2011, John Joseph Adams also started editing Fantasy Magazine.

In July 2011, Lightspeed became a magazine that qualified for the SFWA. This means writers who publish there can become members of this important group.

In November 2011, John Joseph Adams bought both Lightspeed and Fantasy Magazine from Sean Wallace. From January 2012, the two magazines joined together under the name Lightspeed. Fantasy Magazine stopped publishing on its own, and its team joined the Lightspeed staff.

In September 2013, Lightspeed released its first special issue. It was called "Women Destroy Science Fiction." This entire issue was written and edited only by women! To pay for this special issue, Lightspeed asked for help on Kickstarter. They hoped to raise $5,000 but ended up getting a huge $53,136! Because they raised so much money, Lightspeed was able to create more special issues, like "Women Destroy Fantasy" and "Women Destroy Horror."

Awards and Recognition

Lightspeed magazine has won many important awards for its great stories and content.

It was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Semiprozine in 2011, 2012, and 2013. The Hugo Award is one of the biggest honors in science fiction and fantasy! Lightspeed finally won the Hugo Award in 2014. In 2011, its podcast also won a Parsec Award for a story called "Saying the Names" by Maggie Clark.

Many stories published in Lightspeed have been nominated for other major awards:

  • In 2010, two stories were finalists for the Nebula Award for Best Short Story: "Arvies" by Adam-Troy Castro and "I'm Alive, I Love You, I'll See You in Reno" by Vylar Kaftan.
  • In 2011, "Amaryllis" by Carrie Vaughn was a finalist for the Hugo Award for Best Short Story. Also in 2011, "Her Husband's Hands" by Adam-Troy Castro and "Mama, We are Zhenya, Your Son" by Tom Crosshill were finalists for the Best Short Story Nebula Award. "The Old Equations" by Jake Kerr was nominated for Best Novella.
  • In 2012, "Give Her Honey When You Hear Her Scream" by Maria Dahvana Headley and "The Bookmaking Habits of Select Species" by Ken Liu were both finalists for the Best Short Story Nebula Award.
  • In 2014, "The Litigation Master and the Monkey King" by Ken Liu and "Paranormal Romance" by Christopher Barzak were finalists for the Best Novelette Nebula Award. Also in 2014, "The Sounds of Old Earth" by Matthew Kressel and "Alive, Alive Oh" by Sylvia Spruck Wrigley were finalists for the Best Short Story Nebula Award.

Some stories from Lightspeed were also nominated for the Theodore Sturgeon Award:

  • "Flower, Mercy, Needle, Chain" by Yoon Ha Lee in 2011.
  • "The Old Equations" by Jake Kerr in 2012.
  • "The Bookmaking Habits of Select Species" by Ken Liu in 2013.

Several stories from the magazine have been chosen to be printed again in special books that collect the best writing of the year. These include:

  • The Year’s Best Science Fiction, edited by Gardner Dozois, which included "Flower, Mercy, Needle, Chain" by Yoon Ha Lee, "In-Fall" by Ted Kosmatka, and "Amaryllis" by Carrie Vaughn.
  • The Year’s Best Science Fiction and Fantasy edited by Rich Horton, which featured "Arvies" by Adam-Troy Castro, "No Time Like the Present" by Carol Emshwiller, "Flower, Mercy, Needle, Chain" by Yoon Ha Lee, and "Standard Loneliness Package" by Charles Yu.
  • The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year edited by Jonathan Strahan, which included "The Zeppelin Conductors' Society Annual Gentlemen's Ball" by Genevieve Valentine.
  • Year’s Best SF 16, edited by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer, which featured "How to Become a Mars Overlord" by Catherynne M. Valente, and "The Cassandra Project" by Jack McDevitt.

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