I’m writing this editorial after dropping off three garbage bags of doctor and hospital bills, insurance company explanations of benefits, and medical reports at the bank’s free shredding day. The weight of the changes is hitting me. These are not good memories of my late daughter, Caitlin, but they told a part of her story and major part of mine. The guy at the bank gave me a free water.
Changes are often difficult for me, and this paperwork represents a thousand fears and battles. This shredding chronicled every twist and turn in Caitlin’s health as we tried to get her just a few more months of love and adventures. This is also the record of all of my caregiving struggles as I fought misbilling, denials, and medical mysteries. So many of these notes and papers consumed my thoughts at the time, and now they will all be gone forever. Another link to the life I had caregiving my amazing and wonderful daughter is gone. But also, it feels good to have these reminders of difficult and frustrating conflicts out of my life.
Changes are often very complicated.
The world is in the middle of many changes. Many are terrible, and some are wonderful. The world of Science Fiction and Fantasy magazines always reflects reality. It’s a time of massive uncertainty. Multiple magazines find it difficult to continue due to precarious funding. Hopefully, we will all find ways to change in order to guarantee our futures.
Uncanny Magazine exists because of your support, Space Unicorns, and the plan is to run another Kickstarter to fund Year 12. We want to continue to bring you passionate SF/F fiction and poetry, gorgeous prose, provocative nonfiction, and a deep investment in the diverse SF/F culture. Uncanny still believes there’s plenty of room in the genre for tales that make you feel.
Please keep watching our social media accounts for more information!
Fabulous news, Space Unicorns! “A Stranger Knocks” by Tananarive Due is a Best Novelette Locus Award finalist, “Another Girl Under the Iron Bell” by Angela Liu is a Best Novelette Locus Award finalist, “Loneliness Universe” by Eugenia Triantafyllou is a Best Novelette Locus Award finalist, “Three Faces of a Beheading” by Arkady Martine is a Best Short Story Locus Award finalist, and “Stitched to Skin like Family Is” by Nghi Vo is a Best Short Story Locus Award finalist! Congratulations to everyone!!! Plus, Uncanny Magazine is a Best Magazine Locus Award finalist, and Lynne M. Thomas & Michael Damian Thomas are a Best Editor Locus Award finalist!
And that’s not all! Uncanny Magazine‘s Interviewer Caroline M. Yoachim’s “We Will Teach You How to Read | We Will Teach You How to Read” is a Best Short Story Locus Award finalist!
We are so honored!
A huge congratulations to all of the phenomenal finalists!
Wonderful news, Space Unicorns! Two Uncanny Magazine stories are Ignyte Awards finalists! “A Stranger Knocks” by Tananarive Due is a finalist for the Outstanding Novelette Ignyte Award, and “¡Sangronas! Un Lista de Terror” by M. M. Olivas is a finalist for the Outstanding Novelette Ignyte Award!
Also, congratulations to Uncanny Magazine Interviewer Caroline M. Yoachim! Caroline’s story “We Will Teach You How to Read | We Will Teach You How to Read” from Lightspeed Magazine is a finalist for the Outstanding Short Story Ignyte Award!
It is a fabulous ballot! Congratulations Tananarive Due, M. M. Olivas, Caroline M. Yoachim, and to all of the finalists!
From the Ignyte Award website:
Voting for the 2025 awards opens June 9th – August 15th, 2025 at 11:59PM EDT.
Whenever possible, we will provide the purchase or read links for finalist titles in the hopes that you will engage the works before voting. We will generally provide links to listings on bookshop.org or links to purchase or read directly on publisher or author website. Amazon links are only provided if no other links are available. We also maintain a list of the small presses responsible for publishing the current year’s finalists in the hopes that you will support their work.
The short list is derived from 20 BIPOC+ voters made up of SFF community members and previous award winners, of varying genders, sexualities, cultures, disabilities, and locations throughout the world. They are referred to as the Ignyte Awards Committee. The kidlit categories (Young Adult and Middle Grade) each had an additional 5 judges from the age demographics ideally targeted by each of those categories. We thank those kids and their guardians for participation in this process. No active staff members of FIYAH Literary Magazine work with or administer the Ignyte Awards.
The Committee was not limited to selections authored or otherwise created by BIPOC. Public voting on the shortlist does not permit write-in nominations. Each year, we ask winners to be part of the subsequent year’s committee to ensure fresh perspectives and to help prevent repeated nominations of the same popular authors as recognized in many other genre awards.
Stupendous news, Space Unicorns! The 2024 Shirley Jackson Awards nominees have been announced, and “Three Faces of a Beheading” by Arkady Martine is a finalist for the Best Short Story Shirley Jackson Award! Congratulations to Arkady, and to all of the phenomenal finalists!
From the Shirley Jackson Awards website:
Boston, MA (June 2025) — In recognition of the legacy of Shirley Jackson’s writing, and with permission of the author’s estate, The Shirley Jackson Awards, Inc. has been established for outstanding achievement in the literature of psychological suspense, horror, and the dark fantastic.
The Shirley Jackson Awards are voted upon by a jury of professional writers, editors, critics, and academics. The awards are given for the best work published in the preceding calendar year in the following categories: Novel, Novella, Novelette, Short Fiction, Single-Author Collection, and Edited Anthology.
The 2024 Shirley Jackson Awards will be presented in-person on Saturday, July 19 at 8pm at Readercon 34, Conference on Imaginative Literature, in Quincy, Massachusetts.
Don’t forget, Space Unicorns, that Hugo Award voting closes on Wednesday, July 23, 2025, 11:59 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time! All of the Uncanny Magazine materials are available in the Hugo Award Packet and online.
As a reminder, five Uncanny Magazine stories are finalists for the prestigious Hugo Award. “Loneliness Universe” by Eugenia Triantafyllou is a finalist for the Best Novelette Hugo Award, “Signs of Life” by Sarah Pinsker is a finalist for the Best Novelette Hugo Award, “Marginalia” by Mary Robinette Kowal is a finalist for the Best Short Story Hugo Award, “Stitched to Skin like Family Is” by Nghi Vo is a finalist for the Best Short Story Hugo Award, and “Three Faces of a Beheading” by Arkady Martine is a finalist for the Best Short Story Hugo Award. Plus, “We Drink Lava” by Ai Jiang is a finalist for the Best Poem Hugo Award, and “there are no taxis for the dead” by Angela Liu is a finalist for the Best Poem Hugo Award. Also, Uncanny Magazine (Publishers/Editors-in-Chief Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas, Managing Editor Monte Lin, Poetry Editor Betsy Aoki, and Podcast Producers Erika Ensign and Steven Schapansky) is once again a finalist for Best Semiprozine, and Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas are also finalists for the Best Editor-Short Form Hugo Award.
Finally, Uncanny Magazine Interviewer Caroline M. Yoachim’s “We Will Teach You How to Read | We Will Teach You How to Read” from Lightspeed Magazine is a finalist for the Best Short Story Hugo Award.
Make sure to read widely and vote for the things you love!
And now the contents of Uncanny Magazine Issue 65! The wonderful cover is The Duet by Nilah Magruder. Our fabulous new fiction includes “The Diner at the Intersection of Duty and Despair” by John Chu, “When He Calls Your Name” by Catherynne M. Valente, “Finer than Silk, Brighter than Snow” by Shveta Thakrar, “The Garden” by Emma Törzs, “Whalesong” by Daniel H. Wilson, “The Terrarium” by Jordan Taylor, and “The Best Way to Survive a Tiger Attack” by A. W. Prihandita.
Our provocative and compelling essays this month include “The Disneyfication of Storytelling” by J. R. Dawson, “Better Earnestness Through Incantation—Speculative Poetry and Sincerity” by Brandon O’Brien, “What’s a Novel Idea? What’s a Short Story Idea? I Used to Know the Difference” by Charlie Jane Anders, and “Precarious Work in Precarious Futures” by Amanda Wakaruk and Olav Rokne. Our gorgeous and evocative poetry includes “Soft, Your Grief, and Leporine” by Lora Gray, “Psycho-Journey of the Cyborg-in-Therapy” by Shankar Narayan, “Seaside Prophets” by Avra Margariti, and “Wishbone” by Prosper C. Ìféányí. Finally, Caroline M. Yoachim interviews Catherynne M. Valente and Daniel H. Wilson about their stories.
The Uncanny Magazine Podcast Episode 65A features “The Diner at the Intersection of Duty and Despair” by John Chu, as read by Matt Peters, “Soft, Your Grief, and Leporine” by Lora Gray, as read by Erika Ensign, and Michael Damian Thomas interviewing John Chu. The Uncanny Magazine Podcast Episode 65B features “The Garden” by Emma Törz, as read by Erika Ensign, “Wishbone” by Prosper C. Ìféányí, as read by Matt Peters, and Michael Damian Thomas interviewing Emma Törz.
As always, we are deeply grateful for your support of Uncanny Magazine. Shine on, Space Unicorns!
© 2025 Uncanny Magazine
