Editor John Joseph Adams writes to tell us the August issue of Lightspeed Magazine is now underway. The webzine is “serialized throughout the month, for free online, but it is also available directly from Prime Books in DRM-free ePub format, and is also available in Kindle, iBooks, and Mobipocket formats from external vendors, or from Fictionwise, which offers a variety of formats. So if you don’t want to wait for the content to be released on the site throughout the month, or you’d just like a handy, downloadable version of the magazine on your favorite handheld electronic reading device, you can buy the ebook edition for just $2.99.”
He also offers the schedule for August (by post date), with some editorial teasers of the content. The first pieces of fiction and nonfiction are available now.
3 August: Catherynne M. Valente teaches us “How to Become a Mars Overlord”, with her step-by-step program that enables each and every one of us to find the right Mars for us to rule over. (Original) After that look at fictional Marses, we have “Dead Mars”, a fascinating article by “Astronomy Cast’s” Dr. Pamela Gay in which she tells us how Mars, now dead, once lived, and how we might make it live again. Plus, an author spotlight on Catherynne M. Valente.
10 August: Tananarive Due tells the tragic story of “Patient Zero” in her chilling account of a child being raised in isolation, ignorant of an apocalyptic infection raging in the outside world. (Reprint) Carol Pinchefsky, meanwhile, brings us “Bangs & Whimpers: A Look at the Top Five Doomsday Scenarios” and explains why we may or may not have to worry about them. Plus, an author spotlight on Tananarive Due.
17 August: In the audacious “Arvies”, author Adam-Troy Castro tells the story of a post-poverty utopia in which everybody lucky enough to be plugged into the society’s opportunities gets to do whatever the heck they want to do with their lives, indulging their slightest whims—including living their lives inside a living womb. (Original) You won’t want to miss Lightspeed nonfiction editor Andrea Kail’s interview with multiple award-winning author Robert J. Sawyer, in which he discusses the possibility of the internet becoming sentient, religion’s place in science fiction, and what it was like watching his novel FlashForward adapted into a television program. Plus, an author spotlight on Adam-Troy Castro.
24 August: And for our final fiction selection of the month, we present “More Than the Sum of His Parts” by Joe Haldeman, an examination of one man’s transformation from human to cyborg that asks the question: As a person becomes less and less organic, might they become less and less human? (Reprint) And last, but not least, we have an exploration of the cutting-edge science being done today in the field of prosthetics and cybernetics from author Matt London, in which he tells of an amputee mountain climber who designed and built his own bionic legs and explains how the Six Million Dollar Man would have been a bargain at that price if he were (re)built today. Plus, an author spotlight on Joe Haldeman.