Don’t let the fuckers kill your joy.
If you’re here, you live in the internet world—often a constant stream of horrors, terrors, and misinformation. Hypocrisy is everywhere, and as you look for hope, there is always some sonofabitch who wants you to believe your joy is in bad taste. How can you possibly be joyful when you should always be staring into the abyss?
There are lots of really bad things out there, but battling the evils of the world shouldn’t mean sacrificing all of your joy. If anything, you should work harder to embrace joy, especially when things are scariest.
My daughter, Caitlin, died two years ago. She spent much of her life knowing she had limited time on this planet. Still, nobody had more joy than Caitlin. She laughed and sassed and found joy, even in the PICU as she stumped the specialists. Caitlin taught me to embrace that radical joy, no matter how bleak things seemed on any given day.
I miss her greatly. My grief is still often overwhelming. And yet, there is also a great deal of joy in my life right now, and it’s okay to feel that, too. It doesn’t diminish my love for Caitlin. My joy honors her memory.
So Space Unicorns, keep fighting the good fight. Band together and form amazing communities. But also be like Caitlin, the original Space Unicorn. Always remember to embrace your joy and feed it into your kindness, love, and art. That is how you shine on.
Hugo Award nominations for the LAcon V Worldcon 2026 are OPEN! 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.
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 STORIES in our Uncanny Magazine 2025 Favorite Fiction Reader Poll!
It is…. *drumroll*
A THREE-WAY TIE!!!
The novelette “When He Calls Your Name” by Catherynne M. Valente!
The short story “Barbershops of the Floating City” by Angela Liu!
AND!
The short story “Six People to Revise You” by J.R. Dawson!
Congratulations to Catherynne M. Valente, Angela Liu, and J.R. Dawson! SNAZZY CERTIFICATES will soon be on the way!
The rest of the Top Four are:
2- The short story “10 Visions of the Future; or, Self-Care for the End of Days” by Samantha Mills!
3- The short story “With Her Serpent Locks” by Mary Robinette Kowal!
4- ANOTHER THREE-WAY TIE!!
The novelette “The Millay Illusion” by Sarah Pinsker!
The short story “Unfinished Architectures of the Human-Fae War” by Caroline M. Yoachim!
AND!
The short story “The Teleporting Disaster Fairy” by Rati Mehrotra!
Congratulations to everyone!
Great news! Four Uncanny Magazine stories are on the 2025 Locus Recommended Reading List! Congratulations to all of the authors!
Best Novelette:
“The Shadow on the Nest” by Alaya Dawn Johnson
“Kaiju Agonistes” by Scott Lynch
“The Millay Illusion” by Sarah Pinsker
“When He Calls Your Name” by Catherynne M. Valente
Also, congratulations to Uncanny Magazine Managing Editor Monte Lin! Monte’s short story “his love’s ashes on his tongue” is also on the 2025 Locus Recommended Reading List!
This means you can vote for these stories in the 2025 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 Michael Damian Thomas is 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 2025 Locus Recommended Reading List! YOUR VOTE ALWAYS COUNTS!
And now the contents of Uncanny Magazine Issue 69! The phenomenal cover is Kuolonuni by Broci. Our fabulous new fiction includes “What We Mean When We Talk About the Hole in the Bathroom” by Angela Liu, “Chimera” by Anjali Sachdeva, “When Things Went Bad” by Stephen Graham Jones, “The Woman Who Stole Flowers” by Theodora Goss, “Permanent Press” by Sunwoo Jeong, and “Welcome to Heroism” by John Wiswell.
Our provocative and compelling essays this month include “Bittersweet Endings (for All Who Live to See Such Times)” by Samantha Mills, “Endings and Other Lies” by Jim C. Hines, “What Prose Writers Can Learn from Script Writers (And What Not to Learn)” by Jane Espenson, and “What Does It Mean to Be Immortal?” by Ai Jiang. Our gorgeous and evocative poetry includes “The Mighty Impervious Woman Considers Retirement” by Izzy Wasserstein, “machining of little moons” by Eva Papasoulioti, “The Truth About Wolves” by Marissa Lingen, and “Nuclear Deterrence Doll” by Thomas Mixon. Finally, Caroline M. Yoachim interviews Anjali Sachdeva and Sunwoo Jeong about their stories.
The Uncanny Magazine Podcast episode 69A features “What We Mean When We Talk About the Hole in the Bathroom” by Angela Liu, as read by Matt Peters, “The Mighty Impervious Woman Considers Retirement” by Izzy Wasserstein, as read by Erika Ensign, and Michael Damian Thomas interviewing Angela Liu. The Uncanny Magazine Podcast episode 69B features “The Woman Who Stole Flowers” by Theodora Goss, as read by Erika Ensign, “The Truth About Wolves” by Marissa Lingen, as read by Matt Peters, and Michael Damian Thomas interviewing Theodora Goss.
As always, I am deeply grateful for your support of Uncanny Magazine. Shine on, Space Unicorns!
© 2026 Michael Damian Thomas
