We are not writing this editorial from Lurie Children’s Hospital as we did so many times in the past. We are in our living room, listening to a David Bowie album and feeling the void where Caitlin should be. We miss her greatly every single day.
In 2017, America changed for the worse, and we became terrified for everyone, but especially for Caitlin. Caitlin, like many, depended on the laws and financial support of our government to exist. From her various medical procedures to her schooling to all of her therapies, she needed the programs and protections that suddenly were all under major threat from cruel authoritarians who wanted her dead.
We fought. We did what we could to battle that darkness for Caitlin and for every vulnerable person targeted by the new American government.
Caitlin survived those four years, though others did not. And for the last few years of her life, the government slowly tried to reverse the terrors of the previous regime.
Everything fell apart again this year. As we write this, bad news story after bad news story streams into our devices every day. It’s extremely hard to keep track of every terrible and illegal thing from this regime. Despair is everywhere.
But as we said last issue:
We fight this fucking darkness. With joy. Kindness. Art. We push back even harder, and we leave nobody behind.
We do this together, Space Unicorns. Together.
In 2017, we published a series of essays to help everyone know what they could do and how to do it. These essays, sadly, are relevant again, and we hope you will give them a read or reread.
“Act Up, Rise Up” by Elsa Sjunneson
“Resistance 101: Basics of Community Organizing for SF/F Creators & Consumers, Volume One: Protest Tips and Tricks” by Sam J. Miller
“A Work of Art Is a Refuge and Resistance” by Dawn Xiana Moon
“#beautifulresistance” by Shveta Thakrar
“Resistance 101: Basics of Community Organizing for SF/F Creators & Consumers—Volume Two: Deepening Your Engagement” by Sam J. Miller
“Meeting with Your Legislators 101 and 201” by Sarah Pinsker
“The Resistance—Becoming a Local Politician” by Kelly McCullough
“Nunca Más” by Yamile Saied Méndez
“After a Revolution” by Dimas Ilaw
“Resistance 101: Basics of Community Organizing for SF/F Creators and Consumers—Volume Three: My First Civil Disobedience” by Sam J. Miller
“Resistance 101: Basics of Community Organizing for SF/F Creators and Consumers— Volume Four: ‘Don’t Let Him Catch You With Your Work Undone’—Activism for the Long Haul” by Sam J. Miller & Jean Rice
“The Shape of the Darkness As It Overtakes Us” by Dimas Ilaw
Great news, Space Unicorns! Six Uncanny Magazine stories are on the 2024 Locus Recommended Reading List! Congratulations to all of the authors!
Best Novelette:
“A Stranger Knocks” by Tananarive Due
“Another Girl Under the Iron Bell” by Angela Liu
“Loneliness Universe” by Eugenia Triantafyllou
Best Short Story:
“Happily Ever After Comes Round” by Sarah Rees Brennan
“Three Faces of a Beheading” by Arkady Martine
“Stitched to Skin like Family Is” by Nghi Vo
Also, congratulations to Uncanny Magazine Poetry Editor Betsy Aoki and Interviewer Caroline M. Yoachim! Betsy’s novelette “And to Their Shining Palaces Go” and Caroline’s short stories “Our Chatbots Said ‘I Love You,’ Shall We Meet?” and “We Will Teach You How to Read | We Will Teach You How to Read” are also on the 2024 Locus Recommended Reading List!
This means you can vote for these stories in the 2024 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 2024 Locus Recommended Reading List! YOUR VOTE ALWAYS COUNTS!
Hugo Award nominations for Seattle Worldcon 2025 are OPEN! Last year was the tenth full year of Uncanny Magazine (Issue 56 through Issue 61). We are extremely proud of the year we had.
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 for editing issues 56–61. (Note: If you are nominating the Thomases in this category, please continue to nominate them together. They are a co-editing team.)
Please also note that essays are eligible for the Best Related Work Hugo Award, and poetry is also eligible for the Hugo Award this year. You can see the list of all of our eligible poetry on this blog post.
As Uncanny is a semiprozine, all of the essays and original art also contribute towards the creators’ Best Fan Writer and Best Fan Artist Hugo Award eligibility.
As always, read widely and nominate the things you loved, Space Unicorns!!!
Space Unicorns! It is time to announce the TOP STORY in our Uncanny Magazine 2024 Favorite Fiction Reader Poll!
It is…. *drumroll*
The short story “Marginalia” by Mary Robinette Kowal!!
Congratulations to Mary Robinette! A SNAZZY CERTIFICATE will soon be on the way!
The rest of the Top Five are:
2- The novelette “Signs of Life” by Sarah Pinsker!
3- The novelette “Another Girl Under the Iron Bell” by Angela Liu!
4- The novelette “Loneliness Universe” by Eugenia Triantafyllou!
5- The short story “Stitched to Skin like Family Is” by Nghi Vo!
Congratulations to everyone!
Don’t forget if you’re nominating for the Nebula or Hugo Awards, we have a list of all of our eligible stories here.
And now the contents of Uncanny Magazine Issue 63! The wonderful cover is Blessed Universe by Galen Dara. Our fabulous new fiction includes “10 Visions of the Future; or, Self-Care for the End of Days” by Samantha Mills, “Butterfly Pavilion” by G. Willow Wilson, “Red, Scuttle When the Ships Come Down” by Wen-yi Lee, “The Prodigal Mother (excerpt from Lessons in Magic and Disaster)” by Charlie Jane Anders, “The Life and Times of Alavira the Great as Written by Titos Pavlou and Reviewed by Two Lifelong Friends” by Eugenia Triantafyllou, “The Island with the Animals” by Stephanie Malia Morris, “Unbury” by Kirsty Logan, and “Infinite Halves” by J.L. Akagi.
Our provocative and compelling essays this month include “Breakout, Ripoff, Genre: How Fiction Outgrows Originality” by John Wiswell, “Crawling out of the Laptop: On Reader-to-Character Interactions and Mixed Reality Storytelling” by Angela Liu, “Ncuti to the Moon Take Two: Reflecting on the Fifteenth Doctor’s First Season” by Amanda-Rae Prescott, and “Green Walls, Castles, and Dark Rides: What I Learned about Worldbuilding from Imagineers” by J.R. Dawson. Our gorgeous and evocative poetry includes “The Birds” by Rafiat Lamidi, “the bud of a dead dream” by Ai Jiang, “Time loop for the day I die.” by Abdulrazaq Salihu, and “Red-Coded and Weary” by Lesley Hart Gunn. Finally, Caroline M. Yoachim interviews Wen-yi Lee and Eugenia Triantafyllou about their stories.
The Uncanny Magazine Podcast Episode 63A features “10 Visions of the Future; or, Self-Care for the End of Days” by Samantha Mills, as read by Erika Ensign, “Butterfly Pavilion” by G. Willow Wilson, as read by Erika Ensign, “The Birds” by Rafiat Lamidi, as read by Matt Peters, and Lynne M. Thomas interviewing Samantha Mills. The Uncanny Magazine Podcast Episode 63B features “The Island with the Animals” by Stephanie Malia Morris, as read by Matt Peters, “Time loop for the day I die.” by Abdulrazaq Salihu, as read by Matt Peters, and Lynne M. Thomas interviewing Stephanie Malia Morris.
As always, we are deeply grateful for your support of Uncanny Magazine. Shine on, Space Unicorns!
© 2025 Lynne M. Thomas & Michael Damian Thomas
