We’re writing this during a stormy Central Illinois day when we always keep an ear out for a tornado siren. (Thankfully, our house has a Cold War bomb shelter, though wrangling Caitlin and Hugo the Cat downstairs into it is always an adventure.) Our neighborhood is filled with Halloween decorations, and we’re hoping the Great Pumpkin will visit our very sincere pumpkin patch. All of us are well. October is both Caitlin’s and Lynne’s birthdays, so it is fairly celebratory around here.
Speaking of celebrating, this is the first issue of Uncanny Magazine Year 8! Can you believe it?!? Thank you once again to all of our readers, our listeners, the best staff in the universe, our contributors, the Kickstarter Backers, the Patreon Patrons, the subscribers from Weightless Books and Kindle, and to everybody who has ever shared anything they loved from Uncanny. This is your magazine. Without you, Uncanny wouldn’t exist.
Exciting news, Space Unicorns! We have THREE Uncanny Magazine staff announcements!
Uncanny Magazine is thrilled to announce that Meg Elison will be the new Uncanny Magazine Nonfiction Editor! The position was previously held by Elsa Sjunneson, who stepped down after Uncanny Magazine Issue 42 to focus on other career opportunities. Uncanny once again thanks Elsa for her phenomenal work since taking over as Nonfiction Editor with issue 32.
Uncanny Magazine is also thrilled to announce that current Assistant Editor Naomi Day is being promoted to the newly created position of Senior Assistant Editor! Naomi started as Uncanny Magazine’s Assistant Editor with issue 37 and has done a fabulous job. Finally, Uncanny Magazine is thrilled to announce that Monte Lin will be the new Uncanny Magazine Assistant Editor!
We’re very excited about the staff going forward into Uncanny Magazine’s eighth year. We think they will all do fantastic things, and this is going to be one of the best years ever for Uncanny Magazine!
Fabulous news, Space Unicorns! “The Inaccessibility of Heaven” by Aliette de Bodard won the Best Novelette Ignyte Award, and “You Perfect, Broken Thing” by C.L. Clark won the Best Short Story Ignyte Award! A huge congratulations to Aliette and Cherae!
Once again, congratulations to Eugenia Triantafyllou, whose “My Country Is a Ghost” was a finalist for a Best Short Story Ignyte Award, Terese Mason Pierre, whose “Fin” was a finalist for a Best in Speculative Poetry Ignyte Award, Millie Ho, whose “Hungry Ghost” was a finalist for a Best in Speculative Poetry Ignyte Award, and Nibedita Sen, whose “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Excellence” was a finalist for a Best in Creative Nonfiction Ignyte Award!
It was a fabulous ballot. Congratulations to all of the winners and finalists!
Tremendous news, Space Unicorns! “Metal Like Blood in the Dark” by T. Kingfisher is the 2021 WSFA Small Press Award Winner! Congratulations to Ursula and to all of the finalists!
The award honors the efforts of small press publishers in providing a critical venue for short fiction in the area of speculative fiction. The award showcases the best original short fiction published by small presses in the previous year (2020). An unusual feature of the selection process is that all voting is done with the identity of the author (and publisher) hidden so that the final choice is based solely on the quality of the story.
The winner is chosen by the members of the Washington Science Fiction Association.
Are you a member of the Discon III Worldcon? Don’t forget to vote in the Hugo Awards! The deadline for voting is November 19, 2021, 23:59 Pacific Standard Time (November 20th at 02:59 Eastern Standard Time, 07:59 Greenwich Mean Time, and 20:59 New Zealand Daylight Time).
As you may recall, four Uncanny Magazine stories are finalists for the prestigious Hugo Award! “Burn or The Episodic Life of Sam Wells as a Super” by A. T. Greenblatt is a finalist for Best Novelette, “The Inaccessibility of Heaven” by Aliette de Bodard is a finalist for Best Novelette, “Badass Moms in the Zombie Apocalypse” by Rae Carson is a finalist for Best Short Story, and “Metal Like Blood in the Dark” by T. Kingfisher is a finalist for Best Short Story!
Plus, Uncanny Magazine (Publishers/Editors-in-Chief Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas, Managing Editor Chimedum Ohaegbu, Nonfiction Editor Elsa Sjunneson, and Podcast Producers Erika Ensign and Steven Schapansky) is once again a finalist for Best Semiprozine!
Finally, former Nonfiction Editor Elsa Sjunneson is a finalist for Best Fan Writer!
It is an amazing list of Hugo Award finalists, many of whom are Uncanny authors and friends. CONGRATULATIONS TO EVERYBODY!!! Thank you to everyone who nominated these works, and to the hard-working DisCon III staff. We are honored, ecstatic, and overwhelmed. Please vote for the things you love!
Uncanny Magazine co-Editor-in-Chief Lynne M. Thomas plans to attend the convention in person. If you see her, please say hi!
And now the contents of Uncanny Magazine Issue 43! The spectacular cover is For Want of Milk by Grace P. Fong and is based on Grace’s story in this issue! Our new fiction includes John Wiswell’s tale of friendship, trauma, and survival “That Story Isn’t the Story,” Grace P. Fong’s Old West story of kindness and triumph “For Want of Milk,” A. T. Greenblatt’s exploration of identity and dreams “The Stop After the Last Station,” Mary Robinette Kowal’s magical epic journey “Ina’s Spark,” Del Sandeen’s story of pain and growth “For All Those Who Sheltered Here,” Rachel Swirsky’s tale of war and hard decisions “White Rose, Red Rose,” and finally Mari Ness’s humorous holiday romp “The North Pole Workshops.”
Our provocative and compelling essays this month include “Loving the Old Wounds” by Javier Grillo-Marxuach, “Scenes from the Apocalypse” by Dawn Xiana Moon, “Pro Wrestling Is Fake (But You Already Knew That)” by Veda Scott, “What You Might Have Missed” by Arley Sorg, “The Precarious Now” by Marissa Lingen, and “The Matter of Cloud: An Interview with Greer Gilman” by Sofia Samatar. Our gorgeous and evocative poetry includes “POST MASSACRE PSYCH EVALUATION” by Abu Bakr Sadiq, “The Burning River” by Hal Y. Zhang, “Confessions of a Spaceport AI” by Mary Soon Lee, and “Between Childroid + Mother” by Miriam Alex. Finally, Caroline M. Yoachim interviews John Wiswell.
The Uncanny Magazine Podcast #43A features “The Stop After the Last Station” by A. T. Greenblatt, as read by Erika Ensign, “POST MASSACRE PSYCH EVALUATION” by Abu Bakr Sadiq, as read by Matt Peters, and Lynne M. Thomas interviewing A. T. Greenblatt. The Uncanny Magazine Podcast 43B features “For All Those Who Sheltered Here” by Del Sandeen, as read by Matt Peters, “White Rose, Red Rose” by Rachel Swirsky, as read by Erika Ensign, “The North Pole Workshops” by Mari Ness, as read by Matt Peters, “Confessions of a Spaceport AI” by Mary Soon Lee, as read by Erika Ensign, and Lynne M. Thomas interviewing Del Sandeen.
As always, we are deeply grateful for your support of Uncanny Magazine. Shine on, Space Unicorns!
© 2021 Lynne M. Thomas & Michael Damian Thomas
