Lightspeed (magazine)

***Lightspeed*** is an American online fantasy and science fiction magazine. John Joseph Adams edits and publishes the magazine. The first issue was published in June 2010 It is published every month. The magazine publishes four new, original stories and four reprints in every issue. It also includes interviews with the authors and other nonfiction. All of the content published in each issue is sold as an ebook and for free on the magazine's website. _Lightspeed_ also makes a free podcast with some stories. Stefan Rudnicki produces the podcast.

## History

_Lightspeed_ was started by publisher Sean Wallace of Prime Books with John Joseph Adams as editor. Wallace also published  _Fantasy Magazine._ Adams also started to edit _Fantasy Magazine_ from March 2011. _Lightspeed_ became an SFWA-qualifying market in July 2011.

In November of 2011 Adams purchased _Lightspeed_ and _Fantasy Magazine_ from Wallace. From January 2012 issue, both magazines were combined with the name _Lightspeed._ _Fantasy Magazine_ stopped publishing. The _Fantasy Magazine_ staff was also absorbed into _Lightspeed_.

In September 2013, _Lightspeed_ published their first Special Issue. It was called "Women Destroy Science Fiction", an anthology entirely written and edited by women. Lightspeed got $53,136 from a Kickstarter to pay for the special issue. This was much more than their goal of $5,000. The additional funds allowed _Lightspeed_ to publish further volumes, entitled "Women Destroy Fantasy" and "Women Destroy Horror."

## Awards and recognition

_Lightspeed_ was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Semiprozine in 2011 and 2012, and, 2013, and won the Hugo in 2014. In 2011 its podcast was awarded a Parsec award for Maggie Clark's "Saying the Names."

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

Some stories were nominated for the Theodore Sturgeon Award: Yoon Ha Lee's "Flower, Mercy, Needle, Chain" in 2011, Jake Kerr's "The Old Equations" in 2012, and Ken Liu's "The Bookmaking Habits of Select Species" in 2013
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Several stories from the magazine have been printed again in anthologies showing excellent writing:
- _The Year’s Best Science Fiction_, edited by Gardner Dozois, "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, "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, "The Zeppelin Conductors' Society Annual Gentlemen's Ball" by Genevieve Valentine
- _Year’s Best SF 16_, edited by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer, "How to Become a Mars Overlord" by Catherynne M. Valente, and "The Cassandra Project" by Jack McDevitt