Lectori salutem.
By the time you are reading this, balmy summer weather (or scorching heat waves) have enveloped Europe and the Sci Phi crew disperses for the vacation season. But not before the highlight of our annual sci-fi calendar: the 2026 EuroCon in Berlin, Germany, where on 2-5 July the old continent’s fandom of speculative literature and the fantastic arts gather for four days of non-stop geeky networking and bonding over our favourite speculative hobbies.
Sci Phi Journal is heavily involved in the programme, with our regular columnist Mina presenting on recursive time loops, cover artist Dustin exhibiting his work and talking about solarpunk, co-editor Mariano lecturing on the history of high fantasy, and Ádám chairing two panels, including that of SF magazine editors, and speaking on another three, from SF philosophy to post-Soviet science fiction.
In this sociable spirit, the present issue of Sci Phi is perhaps also more emotionally relatable than readers may be used to. Our fiction authors bring you stories ranging from the intimate and physical to the epic and incorporeal. They remind us that words have power, whether tattooed on the flayed skin of a traveller of multiverses or spoken hastily in the medical bay of a star freighter. But so do numbers, from universal constants that move worlds with each decimal shift, to the barely measurable flicker of the first halo to grace an alien brow.
These tales are flanked by two essays: one on reading the Book of Mormon as a masterwork of high fantasy, and another about the need for sci-fi ‘with heart’. (Hitherto not our customary editorial stance, as you may remark, but we are glad to introduce different perspectives.)
We hope you enjoy this literary journey, and look forward to encountering some of our readers and authors in person at EuroCon, to confabulate either at our various panel discussions by day or over a stein of Teuton ale under the night sky.
Speculatively yours,
Sci Phi co-editors and crew
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