LIGHTSPEED is an online 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.This month's cover art is by Reiko Murakami, illustrating an original science fiction story by A. Merc Rustad and Ada Hoffman ("I Sing Against the Silent Sun"). We also ...

A group of misfit humans and machines fight to stop a conspiracy to exterminate humanity in a future Chicago ruled by a brutal artificial intelligence.The future is ruled by intelligent machines. After a brutal war leaving at least one quarter of the United States still under occupation, the remnants of the American government are negotiating for a permanent peace with a coalition of sophisticated but fascist machines that have besieged the country.Barry Simc...