LIGHTSPEED is a digital 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.

Welcome to issue 178 of LIGHTSPEED! We're kicking off the issue with an original SF short by Cadwell Turnbull: "Dekar Druid and the Infinite Library." Who is Dekar Druid? Why is he trapped inside an infinite library? And how does he move inside the pages of all those books? You'll have to read it to find out. Adam-Troy Castro brings us an epistolary story of linguistic breakdown in his short, "Message in a Babel." Our flash pieces are both about space exploration and its terrible price: "Those Who Seek to Embrace The Sun" from Oluwatomiwa Ajeigbe and "Instructions for Good Boys on the Interplanetary Expedition" by Rachael K. Jones. Our first original fantasy short-"Memories of Temperance" by Anya Ow-takes us into the underworld, as two unhappy spirits wander the afterlife on their own mysterious mission. "The Lexicon of Lethe" by Sunwoo Jeong is about a neighborhood struggling as words begin to vanish off of signs, menus . . . and out of people's minds. We also have a flash story in the form of a dark fairy tale from Jake Kerr ("Pure of Heart"). Nina Kiriki Hoffman brings us our final piece of fantasy flash: "The Shift."