Happy New Year, Space Unicorns!
As we tumble into 2026, I’m writing my first editorial of the year at a coffeehouse where I used hang out when I was seventeen. Tomorrow is my fifty-first birthday. This place feels the same as in the 1990s, but I am so very far away from the Michael who wrote terrible poetry here. Still, this is in many ways where I began, and 2026 will be a year of many new starts for me.
In two days, I will be flying to Scotland for Christmas with my amazing fiancée Kirsty and our wonderful family. I am very, very excited. This will be a year of so many phenomenal, loving adventures. I just wish my late daughter, Caitlin, was here to have them with us. She very much loved her final Christmas when Kirsty taught her how to pull a Christmas cracker and introduced her to the UK Christmas music hits. She will always be with us in our hearts.
The coming year will also be another amazing year for Uncanny Magazine. After the open submissions deluge (2800 submissions in three weeks!), I purchased some transcendent stories filled with unforgettable characters, gorgeous prose, and mind-blowing concepts. Our Poetry Editor Betsy Aoki loaded up the year with tremendous poetry, and I know I’ll continue to find the best provocative essays and beautiful cover art. Caroline M. Yoachim will continue to conduct some of the best interviews in the industry. Managing Editor Monte Lin and Assistant Editor Tania Chen will keep everything looking great and moving forward. Podcast Reader Matt Peters, Podcast Producer Steven Schapansky, and Podcast Reader/Producer Erika Ensign will always create wonderful podcasts. This is truly the best team in the universe.
You, Space Unicorns, are why we do this. We’re here so that you can find the stories, poems, essays, interviews, and art that you need. In good times and bad times, we will be here as long as you need us and support us.
Let’s fill 2026 with kindness, art, beauty, love, and resistance to tyranny, Space Unicorns!
Fabulous news, Space Unicorns! “Loneliness Universe” by Eugenia Triantafyllou won the Best Short Story 2025 British Fantasy Award! Congratulations to Eugenia and to all of the finalists and winners!
From the British Fantasy Awards website:
After a crowdsourced suggestion list for eligible works, and then a period of public voting, the shortlist for this year’s British Fantasy Awards has now been confirmed.
These works will now be considered by a jury of peers, with the ultimate winners being announced at an awards ceremony at World Fantasy Convention in Brighton, held from 30 October to 2 November.
To be eligible, works had to have been published for the first time in the English language during the calendar year 2024, anywhere in the world, and must contain some speculative element—though we interpret “fantasy” widely. More details in the awards FAQ, here.
It’s the time of year when people post their year-in-reviews to remind SF/F award voters what they might have missed, and (especially for the Hugo Awards and Nebula Awards) in which categories those stories are eligible. Last year was the eleventh full year of Uncanny Magazine (Issue 62 through Issue 67). We are extremely proud of the year we had.
This year, Uncanny Magazine is still eligible for the Best Semiprozine Hugo Award. Michael Damian Thomas is also eligible for the Best Editor (Short Form) Hugo Award for editing issues 62–67 and content editing the It’s Storytime with Wil Wheaton podcast. (Note: If you are nominating Michael Damian Thomas in this category, please only list Michael. They solo edited Uncanny Magazine in 2025.)
The stories listed on our blog post are eligible in either the short story, novelette, or novella categories of the SF/F awards. If you are a SFWA member nominating for the Nebula Awards, we have eBook copies of these stories available on the SFWA Discord.
Please also note that essays are eligible for the Best Related Work Hugo Award, 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.
This year, poetry is eligible for the Rhysling Award, the Hugo Award, and the Nebula Award. Here is the blog post of all of the poetry published by Uncanny Magazine in 2025 and the appropriate Rhysling Award category.
And now the contents of Uncanny Magazine Issue 68! The phenomenal cover is Faery Frights by Katy Shuttleworth. Our fabulous new fiction includes “The Doorkeepers” by A. T. Greenblatt, “Be My Horse, Ride the Cowboy” by Christopher Caldwell, “I Met You on the Train” by J. R. Dawson, “This Story Does Not Exist” by Kylie Lee Baker, “The Memory Hounds of Bak-Ankham” by A. W. Prihandita, “Words that Wither, Words that Bloom” by Jules Arbeaux, and “Girl Stuff” by Claire Humphrey.
Our provocative and compelling essays this month include “These Stories Teach Us How to Fight” by Dawn Xiana Moon, “Uncanny Interview with Marie Brennan” by Betsy Aoki and Marie Brennan, “I Write in English Because I Can” by Jana Bianchi, and “Frognative Dissonance” by Riley Silverman. Our gorgeous and evocative poetry includes “No Kings / No Soldiers” by A. M. Tuomala, “An underground butterfly” by Aline-Mwezi Niyonsenga, “The Parsley Girl” by Theodora Goss, and “A Field Guide for Broken Sons in Transit” by Joemario Umana. Finally, Caroline M. Yoachim interviews Christopher Caldwell and A. W. Prihandita about their stories.
The Uncanny Magazine Podcast episode 68A features “The Doorkeepers” by A. T. Greenblatt, as read by Matt Peters, “No Kings / No Soldiers” by A. M. Tuomala, as read by Matt Peters, and Michael Damian Thomas interviewing A. T. Greenblatt. The Uncanny Magazine Podcast episode 68B features “This Story Does Not Exist” by Kylie Lee Baker, as read by Erika Ensign, “The Parsley Girl” by Theodora Goss, as read by Erika Ensign, and Michael Damian Thomas interviewing Kylie Lee Baker.
As always, I am deeply grateful for your support of Uncanny Magazine. Shine on, Space Unicorns!
© 2026 Michael Damian Thomas
