A group of misfit humans and machines fight to stop a conspiracy to exterminate humanity in a future Chicago ruled by a brutal artificial intelligence.The future is ruled by intelligent machines. After a brutal war leaving at least one quarter of the United States still under occupation, the remnants of the American government are negotiating for a permanent peace with a coalition of sophisticated but fascist machines that have besieged the country.Barry Simc...

A thrilling adventure in a world one step away from total subjugation by machines After long years of war, the United States has sued for peace, yielding to a brutal coalition of nations ruled by fascist machines. One quarter of the country is under foreign occupation. Manhattan has been annexed by a weird robot monarchy, and in Tennessee, a permanent peace is being delicately negotiated between the battered remnants of the U.S. government and an envoy of implacable machines. Canadian busi...

LIGHTSPEED is an online 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.This month's cover art is by Reiko Murakami, illustrating an original science fiction story by A. Merc Rustad and Ada Hoffman ("I Sing Against the Silent Sun")...