John Adams - Lightspeed - Year One

Robert Silverberg—four-time Hugo Award-winner, five-time winner of the Nebula Award, SFWA Grand Master, SF Hall of Fame honoree—is the author of nearly five hundred short stories, nearly one hundred-and-fifty novels, and is the editor of in the neighborhood of one hundred anthologies. Among his most famous works are Lord Valentine’s Castle, Dying Inside, Nightwings, and The World Inside . Learn more at www.majipoor.com.

Bruce Sterlingis the author of many novels, including Islands in the Net, Heavy Weather, Distraction, Holy Fire, The Zenith Angle, The Caryatids , and, with William Gibson, The Difference Engine . He is the winner of three Locus Awards, two Hugos, the John W. Campbell Memorial Award, and the Arthur C. Clarke Award. He is also the editor of the seminal cyberpunk anthology Mirrorshades . Much of his short fiction, which has appeared in magazines such as F&SF and Omni , was recently collected in Ascendancies: The Best of Bruce Sterling .

David Tallermanis the author of around a hundred short stories, many of them published or forthcoming in markets such as Bull Spec, Andromeda Spaceways , Space and Time , Flash Fiction Online , and John Joseph Adams’s zombie best-of anthology The Living Dead . He’s also published poetry (in Chiaroscuro ), film reviews (in Son and Foe) and a comic script (in the award-winning British comic Futurequake .) His first novel, tentatively known as Giant Thief , is currently seeking a good home, and he recently completed the first draft of his second. He can be found online at davidtallerman.net.

Born in the Pacific Northwest in 1979, Catherynne M. Valenteis the author of over a dozen works of fiction and poetry, including Palimpsest , the Orphan’s Tales series, and the crowdfunded phenomenon The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Own Making . She is the winner of the Tiptree Award, the Andre Norton Award, the Mythopoeic Award, the Rhysling Award, and the Million Writers Award. She was a finalist for the World Fantasy Award in 2007 and 2009, and the Lambda and Hugo Awards in 2010. She lives on an island off the coast of Maine with her partner, two dogs, and an enormous cat. Learn more at catherynnemvalente.com.

Genevieve Valentine’s first novel, Mechanique: A Tale of the Circus Tresaulti , is forthcoming from Prime Books in 2011. Her short fiction has appeared in or is forthcoming from: Running with the Pack, The Living Dead 2, The Way of the Wizard, Teeth, Clarkesworld, Strange Horizons, Escape Pod , and more. Her appetite for bad movies is insatiable, a tragedy she tracks on her blog, genevievevalentine.com.

Carrie Vaughnis the bestselling author of the Kitty Norville series. The eighth volume, Kitty Goes to War , is due out in July. She has also written a young adult novel, Voices of Dragons , and a stand-alone fantasy novel, Discord’s Apple . Her short fiction has appeared many times in Realms of Fantasy , and in a number of anthologies, such as Fast Ships, Black Sails and Warriors . She lives in Colorado with a fluffy attack dog. Learn more at carrievaughn.com.

Charles Yureceived the National Book Foundation’s 5 Under 35 Award for his story collection, Third Class Superhero . He has also had work published in Alaska Quarterly Review, Eclectica, The Gettysburg Review, The Malahat Review, Oxford American, and Sou’wester . His first novel, How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe (Pantheon) was published in September. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and two children.

Many thanks to the following:

Lightspeed ’s publisher, Sean Wallace, for publishing Lightspeed and choosing me to edit it.

The brilliant and dedicated Lightspeed editorial team: Molly Tanzer, Esther Inglis-Arkell, Stefan Rudnicki, Christie Yant, Erin Stocks, Stacey Friedberg, and Robyn Lupo. I couldn’t edit the magazine without your support; although only my name goes on the cover and may be recognized by award committees, you guys are every bit as much a part of this as I am. Additionally, a huge thanks goes out to former team members Andrea Kail and Jordan Hamessley—both of whom were with us from the very start and were instrumental in getting Lightspeed off the ground.

Our amazing webmaster Jeremiah Tolbert, for creating such a beautiful design for the magazine, and making all of the behind-the-scenes coding and whatnot work without a hitch.

Our ever-vigilant slush readers: Kate Galey, Andrew Liptak, Shannon Rampe, Caleb Schulz, Moshe Siegel, and LaShawn Wanak.

Our nonfiction writers—including especially our most prolific contributor Genevieve Valentine—for balancing our fiction with some fact.

All of our wonderful artists who provided our covers.

Astronomers Mike Brotherton and Pamela Gay, for not only providing some of Lightspeed’s nonfiction content, but also advising on the astronomical science in some of our stories.

My intern, Rebecca McNulty, for her tireless devotion to the occasionally mundane tasks I assign her, and for always being there when I need her.

My agent, Joe Monti, for the incredible amount of support he’s provided since taking me on as a client—he’s gone above and beyond the call of duty. To any writers reading this: you’d be lucky to have Joe in your corner.

Gordon Van Gelder, for mentoring me, and giving me my start in the field. None of my successes would have been possible without his tuteledge.

My mom, for her endless enthusiasm for all my new projects.

My dear friends Robert Bland, Desirina Boskovich, Christopher M. Cevasco, Douglas E. Cohen, David Barr Kirtley, and Matt London, for all of their support.

The readers and critics who have praised Lightspeed and made our first year such a huge success.

And last, but certainly not least: a big thanks to all of the authors who appear in Lightspeed and in this anthology.

“Gossamer” by Stephen Baxter. © 1995 by Stephen Baxter. Originally published in Science Fiction Age . Reprinted by permission of the author.

“Manumission” by Tobias Buckell. © 2008 by Tobias S. Buckell. Originally published in Jim Baen’s Universe . Reprinted by permission of the author.

“The Elephants of Poznan” by Orson Scott Card. © 2000 by Orson Scott Card. Originally published in Fantastyka . Reprinted by permission of the author.

“Arvies” by Adam-Troy Castro. © 2010 by Adam-Troy Castro. Originally published in Lightspeed Magazine , August 2010. Reprinted by permission of the author.

“Saying the Names” by Maggie Clark. © 2011 by Maggie Clark. Originally published in Lightspeed Magazine , March 2011. Reprinted by permission of the author.

“Mama, We are Zhenya, Your Son” by Tom Crosshill. © 2011 by Tom Crosshill. Originally published in Lightspeed Magazine , April 2011. Reprinted by permission of the author.

“The Passenger” by Julie E. Czerneda. © 1999 by Julie E. Czerneda. Originally published in Treachery & Treason , edited by Laura Anne Gilman and Jennifer Heddle. Reprinted by permission of the author.

“Patient Zero” by Tananarive Due. © 2000 by Tananarive Due. Originally published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction . Reprinted by permission of the author.