Welcome to issue twenty of Nightmare!

Awards season continues, and we are pleased to announce that our sister-magazine Lightspeed is again a Hugo Award finalist for best semiprozine, and your humble editor is again a nominee for best editor, short-form. I am extremely honored to be nominated again (that’s four times in a row for both me and Lightspeed!), so please allow me to say a big THANK YOU to everyone who voted for us. You can see a full list of the other nominees at loncon3.org/2014hugos.php.

Speaking of awards, as you have probably heard, Lightspeed has four Nebula finalists this year: “Paranormal Romance” by Christopher Barzak, “The Litigation Master and the Monkey King” by Ken Liu, “The Sounds of Old Earth” by Matthew Kressel, and “Alive, Alive Oh” by Sylvia Spruck Wrigley. For a complete list of the finalists, visit SFWA.org. The winners will be announced at the SFWA Nebula Awards Weekend, May 15-18, in San Jose, California.

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In case you missed the news last month, I just wanted to mention that my new anthology—Robot Uprisings, which I co-edited with Robopocalypse author Daniel H. Wilson—is now available. It’s about just what you would suspect based on the title—namely: robots, uprising! It’s got a great lineup, featuring all-new, never-before-published stories by Robin Wasserman, Seanan McGuire, Scott Sigler, Charles Yu, Anna North, Genevieve Valentine, among others, plus a new novella by my esteemed co-editor, Daniel. If you’d like a sneak peek at the anthology, the complete text of Scott Sigler’s story, “Complex God,” appears in the April issue of Lightspeed. Visit johnjosephadams.com/robot-uprisings for other free samples or if you just want to learn more.

You remember last month when I said I don’t rest on my laurels? Well, just to drive that point home, I have another new anthology out this month. On May 13, Titan Books will publish Dead Man’s Hand. It’s full of weird-western goodness, and it has a great lineup, featuring all-new, never-before-published stories by Kelley Armstrong, Seanan McGuire, Elizabeth Bear, Alastair Reynolds, Jonathan Maberry, Joe R. Lansdale, Tad Williams, Hugh Howey, and many more. If you’d like a sneak peek at this anthology, the complete text of Rajan Khanna’s story, “Second Hand,” appears in Lightspeed’s May issue. Additionally, Fred Van Lente’s story in the May Lightspeed (“Willful Weapon”) takes place in the same world as his Dead Man’s Hand story, “Neversleeps.” Visit johnjosephadams.com/dead-mans-hand or your favorite book retailer for more information.

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With our announcements out of the way, here’s what we’ve got on tap this month:

We have original fiction from Damien Angelica Walters (“This Is the Way I Die”) and Adam-Troy Castro (“In the Temple of Celestial Pleasure”), along with reprints by Chesya Burke (“I Make People Do Bad Things”) and Miranda Siemienowicz (“Dress Circle”).

We also have the latest installment of our column on horror, “The H Word,” plus author spotlights with our authors, a showcase on our cover artist, and a feature interview with Nancy Holder.

This issue is sponsored by our friends at Samhain Publishing. This month, look for The Blue Classroom by Rod Labbe (of which you can also read an excerpt in our ebook edition this month). You can find more from Samhain at www.samhainpublishing.com.

That’s about all I have for you this month. Thanks for reading!