Welcome to issue seventy-five of Lightspeed!

This month, we have original science fiction by Mercurio D. Rivera (“Those Brighter Stars”) and Jeremiah Tolbert (“Taste the Singularity at the Food Truck Circus”), along with SF reprints by Kameron Hurley (“The War of Heroes”) and Maureen F. McHugh (“Laika Comes Back Safe”).

Plus, we have original fantasy by Adam-Troy Castro (“The Assassin’s Secret”) and Tristina Wright (“The Siren Son”), and fantasy reprints by duo Kevin J. Anderson and Sherrilyn Kenyon (“Trip Trap”) and Delia Sherman (“The Red Piano”).

All that, and of course we also have our usual assortment of author spotlights, along with our book and media review columns.

For our ebook readers, we also have an ebook-exclusive reprint of the novella “The Bone Swans of Amandale,” by C. S. E. Cooney. For our book excerpt this month, we’re pleased to feature the introduction to The Big Book of Science Fiction, edited by Ann and Jeff VanderMeer, out this month from Vintage Books.

World Fantasy Award Finalists Announced

This year’s World Fantasy Award finalists have been announced, and we’re pleased to see that Alyssa Wong’s “nominated for everything” story, “Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers” (Nightmare, Oct. 2015) is nominated in the Short Fiction category. Major congrats to Alyssa! We’re also pleased to see frequent Lightspeed artist Galen Dara is a finalist for Best Artist, so huge congrats to her as well! And, of course, cheers too to all of the other finalists; you can find a complete list of them at locusmag.com.

Inaugural Eugie Award Finalists Announced

Finalists for the inaugural Eugie Foster Memorial Award for Short Fiction (the Eugie Award), which “honors stories that are irreplaceable, that inspire, enlighten, and entertain,” have been announced, and we’re pleased to report that “Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers” by Alyssa Wong (Nightmare, Oct. 2015) is among them!

The winner will be honored at Dragon Con, to be held September 2-5, 2016 in Atlanta, GA. Congrats to Alyssa and to all of the other finalists! For more information about the award, and a complete list of the finalists, visit eugiefoster.com.

Locus Award Winners

ICYMI, the Locus Awards winners were announced in late June. Alas, nothing Lightspeed- or Nightmare-related won, but as they say: it is an honor to be nominated. Alyssa Wong’s “Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers” (Nightmare, October 2015) and Amal El-Mohtar’s “Madeleine”(Lightspeed, June 2015)—both up for best short story—lost to “Cat Pictures Please” by Naomi Kritzer (Clarkesworld), and Brooke Bolander’s “And You Shall Know Her by the Trail of Dead” (Lightspeed, February 2015)—up for best novelette—lost to Neil Gaiman’s “Black Dog” (Trigger Warning). In the editor category, yours truly lost out to David G. Hartwell, who sadly passed away in January. In any case, congratulations again to Alyssa, Amal, and Brooke, and to all of the other finalists, and thanks to all who voted for them (and me). You’ll find a complete list of the winners and other finalists at locusmag.com.

Shirley Jackson Award Winners

The 2015 Shirley Jackson Awards were presented on Sunday, July 10 at Readercon 27. Our only dog in that fight—Surprise! Alyssa Wong again!—alas, did not win. You can find a complete list of the winners and other finalists at shirleyjacksonawards.org.

Worldcon Ahoy

Worldcon is in Kansas City, MO this year, August 17-21. I’ll be there, and Skyboat Media (who, as you may know, also happens to be our podcast producer) will have space in the dealer’s room, where they’ll have a selection of their audiobook titles as well as some JJA-edited and -published materials for sale. I’ll be on some panels, of course, and will be attending the Hugo Awards ceremony, where I will either win or lose another Hugo, and will also see a Lightspeed story either win or lose another Hugo.

John Joseph Adams Books News

In my role as editor of John Joseph Adams Books for Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, I just acquired two books in a new series by Molly Tanzer (author of Vermilion).

The first book is Creatures of Will and Temper, a Victorian-era urban fantasy inspired by The Picture of Dorian Gray, in which épée-fencing enthusiast Evadne Gray and her younger sister are drawn into a secret and dangerous London underworld of pleasure-seeking demons and bloodthirsty diabolists, with only Evadne’s skill with a blade standing between them and certain death.

Publication of book one will likely happen in late 2017. Can’t wait for you all to read it!

Lightspeed Family Book News

Lightspeed’s own Wendy N. Wagner (managing/associate editor) has some good news to report: She just sold a new novel! She had previously published two novels in the Pathfinder Tales series—Skinwalkers and Starspawn—but now we’re pleased to announce that Angry Robot will be publishing her original SF novel called An Oath of Dogs. So please join us in extending HUGE CONGRATS to Wendy, and be sure to pre-order it early…and often! (For more information, check out the B&N profile about the book: bit.ly/oathdogs.)

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That’s all we have to report this month. I hope you enjoy the issue, and thanks for reading!