Urbana is yo-yoing between normal winter and the new creepy warmth of climate change. Caitlin remains home, healthy (barring a cold), and back to school, but the Uncanny Thomases remain fairly stressed out as we recover from the medical nightmares, search for a new house, and get caught up in all of the national and international elections and politics.
One nice thing over the last two months, though, has been the Best of Uncanny book tour. We want to thank the publisher, Subterranean Press, who provided the books to the bookstores; all of the authors who joined us (Caroline M. Yoachim, E. Lily Yu, Fran Wilde, Sarah Pinsker, C. S. E. Cooney, Shveta Thakrar, Sara Cleto, Ali Trotta, K.M. Szpara, Merc Fenn Wolfmoor, and Kelly McCullough); the bookstores (University Book Store in Seattle, WA; Shakespeare & Co. in Philadelphia, PA; Illini Union Bookstore in Champaign, IL; and Uncle Hugo’s Science Fiction Bookstore in Minneapolis, MN); and finally all of the friends and readers who came to each event.
Editing and publishing Uncanny Magazine has many rewards, but we don’t often have a chance to directly interact with our readers. It meant a lot to us to know the magazine has touched so many lives. It also meant a lot to us that so many of you were kind about all of Caitlin’s recent health issues. You are all truly magical, Space Unicorns.
Which brings everything back to those stressors in our life. The world is scary, but there are still so many good people in it. Communities brought together by kindness and art have more power than those formed of hate and spite. The time is now to fight back and create change—at the ballot boxes and everywhere else in the world. WE CAN DO THIS, YOU MAGNIFICENT SPACE UNICORNS!!!
(And by “this” we mean checking your voter registration and voting, in particular. Please.)
Outstanding news, Space Unicorns! FOUR Uncanny Magazine stories are finalists for the prestigious Nebula Award from the Sciyence Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America! “The Blur in the Corner of Your Eye” by Sarah Pinsker is a finalist for Best Novelette, “The Dead, In Their Uncontrollable Power” by Karen Osborne is a finalist for Best Short Story, “How the Trick Is Done” by A.C. Wise is a finalist for Best Short Story, and finally “A Catalog of Storms” by Fran Wilde is a finalist for Best Short Story!
Also, the Fate Accessibility Toolkit by Uncanny Magazine Nonfiction Editor Elsa Sjunneson from Evil Hat Productions is a finalist for Best Game Writing, and “The Archronology of Love” by Uncanny Magazine Interviewer Caroline M. Yoachim from Lightspeed Magazine is a finalist for Best Novelette!
Congratulations to Sarah, Karen, A.C., Fran, Caroline, and Elsa!
It is an amazing list of finalists, many of whom are Uncanny authors and friends. CONGRATULATIONS TO EVERYBODY!!!
From the SFWA Nebula Award announcement:
The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA, Inc.) is pleased to announce the finalists for the 55th Annual Nebula Awards, including the Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation, the Andre Norton Award for Outstanding Young Adult Science Fiction or Fantasy Book. The awards will be presented in Woodland Hills, CA at the Warner Center Marriott during a ceremony on the evening of May 30th.
Fabulous news, Space Unicorns! ELEVEN Uncanny Magazine stories and The Best of Uncanny are on the prestigious 2019 Locus Recommended Reading List! WE ARE SO CHUFFED! Congratulations to all of the authors!
Best Anthology:
The Best of Uncanny, Lynne M. Thomas & Michael Damian Thomas, eds. (Subterranean)
Best Novella:
“A Time to Reap,” Elizabeth Bear
Best Novelette:
“Nice Things,” Ellen Klages
“The Blur in the Corner of Your Eye,” Sarah Pinsker
Best Short Story:
“Lest We Forget,” Elizabeth Bear
“The Migration Suite: A Study in C Sharp Minor,” Maurice Broaddus
“Canst Thou Draw Out the Leviathan,” Christopher Caldwell
“Before the World Crumbles Away,” A.T. Greenblatt
“Dustdaughter,” Inda Lauryn
“On the Lonely Shore,” Silvia Moreno-Garcia
“The Dead, In Their Uncontrollable Power,” Karen Osborne
“A Catalog of Storms,” Fran Wilde
This means you can vote for these stories in the 2020 Locus Poll and Survey which determines the Locus Awards! Voting is FREE TO ALL! Along with these stories, Uncanny Magazine is also eligible for a Locus Award in the Best Magazine or Fanzine category, and Lynne M. Thomas & Michael Damian Thomas are eligible in the Best Editor – Pro or Fan category! Vote for the things you liked, and you can even write in things that didn’t make the 2019 Locus Recommended Reading List! YOUR VOTE ALWAYS COUNTS!
Space Unicorns! It is time to announce the TOP STORY in our Uncanny Magazine 2019 Favorite Fiction Reader Poll!
It is…*drumroll*
The novelette “Away With the Wolves” by Sarah Gailey!
Congratulations, Sarah Gailey! A SNAZZY CERTIFICATE is on the way!
The rest of the Top Five are:
2- IS A TIE!!!
“The Dead, In Their Uncontrollable Power” by Karen Osborne!
“A Mindreader’s Guide to Surviving Your First Year at the All-Girls Superhero Academy” by Jenn Reese!
3- “A Catalog of Storms” by Fran Wilde!
4- “How the Trick Is Done” by A.C. Wise!
5- “This Is Not My Adventure” by Karlo Yeager Rodríguez!
Congratulations to Karen, Jenn, Fran, A.C., and Karlo!
Thank you to everybody who voted!
Hugo Award nominations are now open! If you are an eligible member of Dublin 2019 or CoNZealand, you should already have your membership and voting information so you can start nominating online!
This year, Uncanny Magazine is still eligible for the Best Semiprozine Hugo Award. Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas are also still eligible for the Best Editor (Short Form) Hugo Award. (Note: If you are nominating the Thomases in this category, please continue to nominate them together. They are a co-editing team.)
You can see all of the eligible Uncanny Magazine stories and their appropriate categories here!
Just one Thomas traveling this month. Michael will be at ICFA, March 18-21, in Orlando, Florida. The Uncanny Penguin will also be there along with the ICFA alligator! They are all planning on celebrating their convention anniversary by making as many animal friends as possible!
And now the contents of Uncanny Magazine Issue 33! The spectacular cover is Wild Blue Yonder by Galen Dara. Our new fiction includes Kelly Robson’s naughty Cold War spy intrigue “So You Want to Be a Honeypot,” Alix E. Harrow’s tale of a magic tree, independence, and revenge “The Sycamore and the Sybil,” Christopher Caldwell’s lyrical story of family, work, and discovery “If Salt Lose Its Savor,” Nicole Kornher-Stace’s looping heist adventure “Getaway,” L. Tu’s powerful take on invasion and forced assimilation “If You Want to Erase Us, You Must Be Thorough,” and Natalia Theodoridou’s haunting tale of a vampire traveling on a long space journey “Georgie in the Sun.” Our reprint is Rebecca Roanhorse’s “Harvest,” originally published in the 2019 anthology New Suns: Original Speculative Fiction by People of Color.
Our provocative and compelling essays this month include “Toss a Coin to Your Bitcher” by Suzanne Walker, “One Year Older” by Michi Trota, “Monsters at the End of the Sewer: Buffy’s Sixth Season is Now” by Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam and “The Assassination of Professor X: The Destruction of Marvel’s Most Famous Disabled Character” by John Wiswell. This month also includes a new editorial column by Nonfiction Editor Elsa Sjunneson called
“Imagining Place: New York, New York. It’s a Hell of a Town.” Our gorgeous and evocative poetry includes “Other Worlds to Save” by Beth Cato, “Hungry Ghost” by Millie Ho, “behind the self-help section” by D.A. Xiaolin Spires and “Νόστιμον Ήμαρ” by Eva Papasoulioti. Finally, Caroline M. Yoachim interviews Alix E. Harrow and Natalia Theodoridou about their stories.
The Uncanny Magazine Podcast 33A features “So You Want to Be a Honeypot” by Kelly Robson as read by Joy Piedmont, “Other Worlds to Save” by Beth Cato as read by Erika Ensign and Lynne M. Thomas interviewing Kelly Robson. The Uncanny Magazine Podcast 33B features “Getaway” by Nicole Kornher-Stace as read by Erika Ensign, “behind the self-help section” by D.A. Xiaolin Spires as read by Joy Piedmont, and Lynne M. Thomas interviewing Nicole Kornher-Stace.
As always, we are deeply grateful for your support of Uncanny Magazine. Shine on, Space Unicorns!
© 2020 Uncanny Magazine
Lynne and Michael are the Publishers/Editors-in-Chief for the four-time Hugo and Parsec Award-winning Uncanny Magazine.
Eight-time Hugo Award winner Lynne M. Thomas was the Editor-in-Chief of Apex Magazine (2011-2013). She co-edited the Hugo Award-winning Chicks Dig Time Lords (with Tara O’Shea) as well as Whedonistas (with Deborah Stanish) and Chicks Dig Comics (with Sigrid Ellis).
Along with being a five-time Hugo Award-winner, Michael Damian Thomas was the former Managing Editor of Apex Magazine (2012-2013), co-edited the Hugo-finalist Queers Dig Time Lords (with Sigrid Ellis), and co-edited Glitter & Mayhem (with John Klima and Lynne M. Thomas).
Together, they solve mysteries.