Nobody would call a yearly referendum about whether or not your business should exist a stress-free process. Every year since 2014, I’ve prepped and coordinated and hoped for the best as I pressed the launch button on another Kickstarter. The current plan is to click it again on July 13, 2026, and launch the Uncanny Magazine Year 13: The Space Unicorn Believes in YOU! Kickstarter. Not only will this be for another year of Uncanny Magazine, but this will include the DIAMOND Issue #75, featuring fiction by authors who previously won an award for an Uncanny Magazine story. How exciting is that?!?!
I’m currently compiling awesome backer rewards from some of the greatest creators in the universe. Every year, it’s a spectacular teeter-totter. Thrilling shenanigans! Watching the numbers go up! But also, nothing is guaranteed. Many magazines have closed recently, and many others have been in precarious shape. Uncanny Magazine this year finally lost all of the subscription money it used to get from the Big Online Retailer. We are extremely dependent on the goodwill and generosity of the Space Unicorn Ranger Corps.
I live in a very strange time in my life right now. I still grieve my late daughter, Caitlin. My amazing and supportive wife, Kirsty, and our kids are on the other side of the Atlantic (it seems this will be the first time in many years that I won’t be with Kirsty during at least part of the Kickstarter). I earn very little money from Uncanny. This all adds to the Kickstarter stress. But!! I still believe in Uncanny Magazine. I feel these stories, essays, poems, interviews, covers, and podcasts are important to people. As the world darkens, having these pieces there for the folks who need them is vital. And you, Space Unicorns, can make it all happen again! Not only for yourselves, but for everybody else out there who doesn’t have the means to financially support the magazine. Every cent helps Uncanny Magazine pay its creators and staff. YOU make Uncanny Magazine possible, Space Unicorns. LET’S COME TOGETHER AND MAKE ANOTHER YEAR OF UNCANNY MAGAZINE!!!
Tremendous news, Space Unicorns!!!
Uncanny Magazine is thrilled to announce that Managing Editor Monte Lin will also be the new Uncanny Magazine Nonfiction Editor! (He will continue to be the Managing Editor in addition to being Nonfiction Editor.)
Monte has been with Uncanny Magazine since September 2021, when he became the Assistant Editor. He’s been the Managing Editor since May 2022, and has won two Hugo Awards in that position. Monte will bring amazing amounts of thoughtfulness, organization, experience, and vision to the nonfiction editing. We are certain Monte will continue Uncanny’s tradition of publishing provocative, thoughtful, and passionate essays. We can’t wait to see what he’s going to do!
Fabulous news, Space Unicorns! The 2025 Shirley Jackson Awards nominees have been announced, and “The Millay Illusion” by Sarah Pinsker is a finalist for the Best Novelette Shirley Jackson Award! Congratulations to Sarah, and to all of the phenomenal finalists!
From the Shirley Jackson Awards website:
Boston, MA (May 2026)—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 2025 Shirley Jackson Awards will be presented in-person on Saturday, July 11, 2026, at 8 p.m. at Readercon 35, Conference on Imaginative Literature, in Burlington, Massachusetts. Readercon 35 Guests of Honor P. Djèlí Clark and David Gerrold will host the ceremony.
Spectacular news, Space Unicorns! “Six People to Revise You” by J. R. Dawson and “The Shadow on the Nest” by Alaya Dawn Johnson are Theodore A. Sturgeon Memorial Award Finalists! And that’s not all! “his love’s ashes on his tongue” by Uncanny Magazine Managing Editor Monte Lin from The Deadlands is also a Sturgeon Memorial Award finalist! Congratulations to J. R., Alaya, Monte, and to all of the finalists!
From File 770:
The Sturgeon Award was established in 1987 by James Gunn, Founding Director of the Gunn Center for the Study of Science Fiction at the University of Kansas, and the heirs of Theodore Sturgeon. The winner will be announced later this summer, and will be presented with their award and a cash prize as a guest of honor at the annual Sturgeon Symposium this October.
Wonderful news, Space Unicorns! “When He Calls Your Name” by Catherynne M. Valente is a finalist for the 2026 Eugie Foster Memorial Award for Short Fiction!
Congratulations to Cat and to all of the finalists!
From their website:
The Eugie Foster Memorial Award for Short Fiction (or Eugie Award) celebrates the best in innovative fiction. This annual award is presented at Dragon Con, the nation’s largest fan-run convention. Starting with the 2020, we will add a video presentation of the award online, along with a reading of a section of each finalist.
The Eugie Award honors stories that are irreplaceable, that inspire, enlighten, and entertain. We will be looking for stories that are beautiful, thoughtful, and passionate, and change us and the field. The recipient is a story that is unique and will become essential to speculative fiction readers.
Don’t forget, Space Unicorns, that Hugo Award voting closes on August 8, 2026 at noon PDT! 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! “Kaiju Agonistes” by Scott Lynch is a finalist for the Best Novelette Hugo Award, “When He Calls Your Name” by Catherynne M. Valente is a finalist for the Best Novelette Hugo Award, “The Millay Illusion” by Sarah Pinsker is a finalist for the Best Novelette Hugo Award, “Six People to Revise You” by J. R. Dawson is a finalist for the Best Short Story Hugo Award, and “10 Visions of the Future; or, Self-Care for the End of Days” by Samantha Mills is a finalist for the Best Short Story Hugo Award! PLUS! “Care for Lightning” by Mari Ness is a finalist for the Best Poem Hugo Award, and “The Mourning Robot” by Angela Liu is also a finalist for Best Poem Hugo Award! Uncanny Magazine (Publisher/Editor-in-Chief 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 Michael Damian Thomas is also a finalist for the Best Editor-Short Form Hugo Award!
Make sure to read widely and vote for the things you love!
And now the contents of Uncanny Magazine Issue 71! The phenomenal cover is Flower Crown by Ejiwa “Edge” Ebenebe. Our fabulous new fiction includes “Leavetaking” by Tia Tashiro, “Learning the Loom” by P. Djèlí Clark, “This Is Just Another Carnaval Love Story” by Jana Bianchi, “The Cinema of Babel” by Sam J. Miller, “Judar of the Island: A Story Told in Four Feasts” by Rida Altaf, and “A Hundred Ways the Story Ends” by Tara Sim. Our reprint this month is “White Lines on a Green Field” by Catherynne M. Valente, originally published in Subterranean Online, Fall 2011. Our provocative and compelling essays this month include “The Strange Worlds Among Us—of Turing, Trans People, and the Road to Laniakea” by Ryka Aoki, “Doctor Who in an Exciting Adventure with AI Slop 1969 AD” by Lizbeth Myles, “This Is Not About AI” by Hana Lee, and “Middle-Aged Love: Rereading in Your Forties and Beyond” by Marissa Lingen. Our gorgeous and evocative poetry includes “Instructions for Becoming Fire” by Chisomaga Umenyi, “Six Views of a Speedster” by Gwendolyn Hicks, “I called the swan down” by Laura Cranehill, and “enough johnnie blue” by E. A. Bourland. Finally, Caroline M. Yoachim interviews P. Djèlí Clark and Rida Altaf about their stories.
The Uncanny Magazine Podcast episode 71A features “Leavetaking” by Tia Tashiro, as read by Erika Ensign. “Instructions for Becoming Fire” by Chisomaga Umenyi, as read by Matt Peters, and Michael Damian Thomas interviewing Tia Tashiro. The Uncanny Magazine Podcast episode 71B features “The Cinema of Babel” by Sam J. Miller, as read by Matt Peters, “I called the swan down” by Laura Cranehill, as read by Erika Ensign, and Michael Damian Thomas interviewing Sam J. Miller.
As always, I am deeply grateful for your support of Uncanny Magazine. Shine on, Space Unicorns!
© 2026 Michael Damian Thomas
