When John Joseph Adams announced that he’d be editing a new online science fiction magazine, I had high hopes. The magazine, he said, would focus on the kind of stories I like best: science fiction. A mix of originals and reprints, and some non-fiction too. Yeah, baby!
What I didn’t expect was that Lightspeed Magazine would also be a podcast. Twice a month, Lightspeed Magazine is going to publish audio stories. And these are high quality, folks – Stefan Rudnicki and his Skyboat Road crew are producing.
The first two stories of the first issue are online now. The first story, “I’m Alive, I Love You, I’ll See You In Reno” by Vylar Kaftan is provided on audio by Escape Pod (EP 243), with a great reading by Mur Lafferty. (I’m not sure if the connection with Escape Pod is a one-shot promotion thing, or if it will continue.) The story is an intriguing look at a relationship affected by relativistic space travel. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
The second, posted just yesterday, is a new story by Jack McDevitt: “The Cassandra Project”. Stefan Rudnicki narrates the audio version, and it’s fabulous. As the United States prepares for a return trip to the Moon, a photograph of a far-side crater comes to light, taken in 1968 by a Russian spacecraft, that shows a structure near the rim. Later photographs taken by American spacecraft show no such thing. McDevitt unravels the puzzle in satisfactory ooh-wow fashion.
Two stories in and I’m a huge fan of Lightspeed Magazine. May it live long!
Posted by Scott D. Danielson
