“Esteemed readers, This issue of Uncanny is delicious. Almost as delicious as the candy Julia Rios is eating RIGHT NOW.”

—Julia Rios, after I offered candy to Julia on Twitter if she wrote this editorial.

It’s been raining for days in DeKalb, and we’re barely avoiding a flood. Meanwhile, waves of new stories are rolling in after we reopened to short story submissions. If I can wring a bit more out of this wet metaphor, we’re swimming against the current here at the Space Unicorn Ranger Corps Headquarters. (Okay, stopping now.) Convention season is here, and we’re planning some big stuff for August. BIG STUFF. AN OCEAN OF THINGS. A DELUGE.

(Maybe we should offer more candy to Julia to write the rest of this.)

The Thomases were at the Nebula Award Weekend a couple of weeks ago. Shenanigans with other authors and editors included planning a heist of the Tiffany glass dome at the Chicago Cultural Center after we were kicked out of Millennium Park for being there past closing time, many great panels, author arm wrestling at 3 am, epee with plastic spoons at 3:30 am, watching Nick Offerman delight half of the Nebula Awards audience, totally subtle Nebula Awards speeches that certainly weren’t mentioning any kerfuffle, no siree (congratulations to all of the winners and nominees!), and the inaugural Uncanny Magazine Space Unicorn Contributors Pizza Party.

The pizza party was especially fun, with eight or so contributors to Uncanny Year One, the editorial team, and a Kickstarter Backer and his wife who purchased the meal as a backer reward eating delicious Chicago pizza together in our Palmer House hotel room while Caitlin hooted and hollered. One of the things we love about conventions is spending time with the phenomenal creators who we work with online. We know they’re talented and creative from their work, but it’s a blast to find out how they’re genuinely warm, funny, good people.

Next up, the Thomases will be at 4th Street Fantasy and CONvergence in the Twin Cities. These conventions are pretty much our home conventions. This year is especially exciting because Lynne and I are renewing our vows at CONvergence. We’ve been married 15 years, and this is a chance to have a wedding surrounded by many of our closest friends. We promise there will be pictures on the Uncanny Magazine blog.

We want to thank everybody who purchased Weightless Books subscriptions during the sale and all of our amazing new Patreon patrons. So many new members of the Space Unicorn Ranger Corps! We exist because of you and your support. That’s how we can pay our staff and contributors. And thank you for spreading the word on social media. We couldn’t do any of this without you.

We are extremely excited to be sharing this issue of Uncanny Magazine with you. It features Antonio Caparo’s breathtaking cover, Companion Devices. Our new fiction this month includes Mary Robinette Kowal’s haunting tale of sacrifice and love “Midnight Hour,” E. Lily Yu’s powerful statement on art, history, and erasure “Woman at Exhibition,” Shveta Thakrar’s poignant story of friendship, magic, and storytelling “The Rainbow Flame,” Charlie Jane Anders’ groovy “Ghost Champagne,” Sarah Monette’s delightful drabble “The Half–Life of Angels,” and Delilah S. Dawson’s unsettling “Catcall.” Our reprint is Scott Lynch’s “A Year and a Day in Old Theradane.” This novelette is on this year’s Locus Awards shortlist.

Our essays this month includes Natalie Luhrs’s take on SF/F reviewing ethics, Sofia Samatar’s overview of how writers have written queer characters, Michael R. Underwood’s examination of  representation in the Marvel & DC’s Cinematic Universes, plus Caitlín Rosberg’s look at representation in the comics themselves. Our poetry includes C. S. E. Cooney’s rollicking “The Saga of Captain Jens,” Bryan Thao Worra’s diabolical “Slices of Failure in Super Science,” and Sonya Taaffe’s  vivid and gorgeous “Σειρήνοιϊν.” Finally, Deborah Stanish interviews E. Lily Yu and Delilah S. Dawson about their stories.

Podcast 5A features Mary Robinette Kowal’s “Midnight Hour” as read by Amal El–Mohtar, C.S.E. Cooney’s “The Saga of Captain Jens” as read by the author, and Deborah Stanish interviewing Mary Robinette Kowal. Podcast 5B features Charlie Jane Anders’s “Ghost Champagne” as read by C.S.E. Cooney, Sonya Taaffe’s “Σειρήνοιϊν” as read by Amal El–Mohtar, and Deborah Stanish interviewing somebody fantastic.

If you love reading Uncanny as much as we love producing it, please continue spreading the word with your comments, tweets, posts, and messages. Share us with your friends! There will always be room for more members of the Space Unicorn Ranger Corps!

Thank you all so much for your continued support.

“Please enjoy this issue with candy of your own. Mmmm, candy.”

—Julia Rios

© Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas