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TABLE OF CONTENTS Issue 87, August 2017 FROM THE EDITOR Editorial: August 2017 SCIENCE FICTION Tongue Ashok K. Banker The Sun God At Dawn, Rising From A Lotus Blossom Andrea Kail An Inflexible Truth Christopher East Swing Time Carrie Vaughn FANTASY East of Eden and Just a Bit South Ken Scholes The Shining Hills Susan Palwick A Citizen In Childhood’s Country Seanan McGuire Ink Bruce McAllister NOVELLA Steppin’ Razor Maurice Broaddus EXCERPTS The Clockwork Dynasty Daniel H. Wilson NONFICTION Book Reviews: August 2017 LaShawn M. Wanak TV Review: American Gods Joseph Allen Hill Interview: Annalee Newitz Christian A. Coleman AUTHOR SPOTLIGHTS Ashok K. Banker Susan Palwick Christopher East Bruce McAllister MISCELLANY Coming Attractions Stay Connected Subscriptions and Ebooks About the Lightspeed Team Also Edited by John Joseph Adams © 2017 Lightspeed Magazine Cover by Reiko Murakami www.lightspeedmagazine.com Editorial: August 2017 John Joseph Adams | 756 words Welcome to issue eighty-seven of Lightspeed! Our cover this month is by Reiko Murakami, illustrating a new original science fiction short from Ashok K. Banker (“Tongue”). Our other original SF this month is from Christopher East (“An Inflexible Truth”). We also have SF reprints by Andrea Kail (“The Sun God At Dawn, Rising From A Lotus Blossom”) and Carrie Vaughn (“Swing Time”). Plus, we have original fantasy by Susan Palwick (“The Shining Hills”) and Bruce McAllister (“Ink”), and fantasy reprints by Ken Scholes (“East of Eden and Just a Bit South”) and Seanan McGuire (“A Citizen in Childhood’s Country”). All that, and of course we also have our book and media review columns, spotlights on our fantastic writers, and an interview with Annalee Newitz. For our ebook readers, we also have an ebook-exclusive reprint of the novella “Steppin’ Razor,” by Maurice Broaddus. Our excerpt this month is from Daniel H. Wilson’s new novel, The Clockwork Dynasty, which I luckily got to read in advance. As I said for the cover: “Action-packed and uniquely imagined with robots—and history!—like you’ve never seen before, The Clockwork Dynasty is a thrilling ride from start to finish.” John Joseph Adams Books Update Here’s a quick rundown what to expect from John Joseph Adams Books in 2017: In July, we published Carrie Vaughn’s novel, Bannerless—a post-apocalyptic mystery in which an investigator must discover the truth behind a mysterious death in a world where small communities struggle to maintain a ravaged civilization decades after environmental and economic collapse. Here’s what some of the early reviews have been saying about it: “Skillfully portrays a vastly altered future America. [The] focus on sustainability and responsibility is unusual, thought-provoking, and very welcome.” —Publishers Weekly “An intimate post-apocalyptic mystery [. .] well-crafted and heartfelt.” —Kirkus “A compelling, deft post-apocalyptic tale.” ​—Library Journal “Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower mixed with a modern procedural mystery […] Wonderfully intriguing.” —Thomas Wilkerson, BookPeople “Totally fascinating as a thought experiment and compulsively readable.” —Jenny Craig, Seattle Public Library Also in July, we published Sand by Hugh Howey, a reissue of his acclaimed indie-published novel (which was just announced to be in development as a television show for Syfy, with Gary Whitta and Marc Forster attached): “Magnificent […] After reading Wool, his other post-apocalyptic series, I didn’t think he could repeat the creation of a great world setting filled with characters you instantly care about. But he did.” — SFF World “Sand immerses you in its grubby post-apocalyptic world. […] Howey conjures a credible, brutal future.” —Financial Times In September, we’ll be publishing Retrograde by Peter Cawdron, a hard SF novel about an international colony of astronauts on Mars, who have been prepared for every eventuality of living on another planet except one: What happens when disaster strikes Earth? In October, we’ll be publishing Machine Learning: New and Collected Stories by Hugh Howey, a short story collection including three stories set in the world of Hugh’s mega-hit Wool and two never-before-published tales, plus fifteen additional stories collected together for the first time. In November, we’ll be publishing Molly Tanzer’s Creatures of Will and Temper—a Victorian-era urban fantasy inspired by The Picture of Dorian Gray, in which an épée-fencing enthusiast and her younger sister are drawn into a secret and dangerous London underworld of pleasure-seeking demons and bloodthirsty diabolists, with only her skill with a blade standing between them and certain death. A bit further out, in Spring 2018, we’ll have The City of Lost Fortunes by Bryan Camp, about a magician with a talent for finding lost things who is forced into playing a high-stakes game with the gods of New Orleans for the heart and soul of the city. And then in late 2018, we’ll have Upon a Burning Throne by Ashok K. Banker, an epic fantasy about a group of siblings battling for control of a vast empire while a powerful demonlord pits them against each other. That’s all the JJA Books news to report for now. More soon! • • • • Well, that’s all there is to report this month. Thanks for reading! ABOUT THE AUTHOR John Joseph Adams, in addition to serving as publisher and editor-in-chief of Lightspeed, is the editor of John Joseph Adams Books, a new SF/Fantasy imprint from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. He is also the series editor of Best American Science Fiction & Fantasy, as well as the USA Today bestselling editor of many other anthologies, including The Mad Scientist’s Guide to World Domination, Robot Uprisings, Dead Man’s Hand, Armored, Brave New Worlds, Wastelands, and The Living Dead. Recent projects include: Cosmic Powers, What the #@&% Is That?, Operation Arcana, Loosed Upon the World, Wastelands 2, Press Start to Play, and The Apocalypse Triptych: The End is Nigh, The End is Now, and The End Has Come. Called “the reigning king of the anthology world” by Barnes & Noble, John is a two-time winner of the Hugo Award (for which he has been a finalist eleven times) and is a seven-time World Fantasy Award finalist. John is also the editor and publisher of Nightmare Magazine and is a producer for Wired.com’s The Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy podcast. Find him on Twitter @johnjosephadams. Tongue Ashok K. Banker | 2580 words Namaste, helloji, please to come in. First time visit, so nice you came. Thank you for removing gravity shoes. Please be comfortable, no formality. It is like your home only. What for I can get you? Mineral tea? Carbon Filter coffee? Gel Cola? If it is not in our supply ration, we can send Senthil to fetch from company concessionary on main asteroid. Senthil is our homebot, see, he is understanding our language fully now. Beginning time he was little confuse. Now he is fully understand. You are sure? Okay, ji. Senthil, get for guests three Mineral Tea, extra sweet, Indian chai style. Also some biscoot. What you call them? Cookie. Some cookie. Sweet ones with cream or jelly in middle, like cookie sandwich? Same one, exactly. Good boy, go quickly, come quickly, fly safe. Yes, ji. He will come very soon. How are you finding our house? He gave you directions, no? He gives perfect directions. Third asteroid, then twenty fourth vector, then . Ah, that is best way. Directly store in Nav-system, shuttle brings you here. Sometimes people get confuse. So many asteroids, no? Many families from India Earth here. This full colony mostly come from India Earth only. We first to come, settle, set up ecosystem, geo habitats, build infrastructure. India Earth people expert in going first to new places. He says lovely joke, I say, “You go to any planet in settled universe, you land, first thing they ask you when you come out: ‘What caste, sirji?’” Because India Earth people always sensitive about caste, no? Good joke, yes? I tell you, He is superb with the jokes. Yes, yes, of course, ji, please to ask any question. No shyness. Why formality? It is your house only, ji. Ask anything. Yes, I understand fully. Logical question you are asking. About my appearance. You want to know how come I look like this. Good question. I will answer but I am not so good at speaking so please to excuse my poor elocution. You see, it all was started when I was nine years old, living in Chennai, India Earth. Maybe you are calling it Madras, ji? Same place. I was nine when flower of my womanhood bloomed. You understand, ji? She understands, yes, ji, I became woman at age nine. In our culture, when woman blooms with red flower, she is ready to make marriage. Because red flower means she can carry the pregnancy, so if she can be mother, she can be wife. My culture people are very anxious that once girl becomes marriageable age, she must be married soon. Otherwise, if she goes astray while single girl, then her life is fully ruined. You tell me, which decent gentleman family wants single girl whose reputation spoiled? Naturally. My family wants marry me into good family. Now, you know how situation is in India Earth. Fourteen billion population, all caste problem, religious problem, the genome riot-wars, America Great Corporation using corporate military to do hostile takeovers of countries, Islamic Eco Terrorism, it is very bad state of affairs. My family very particular about caste, family, tradition. Putting advertisements in all ’Streems online. Even off-world ’Streems. I am taking dancing lessons, hire saree consultants, poise, etiquette, English-speaking, all possible prep classes for becoming presentable bride.

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