The weather is ping–ponging between snow, rain, and sun today, so clearly we are writing this during a Chicago April. Despite the wacky weather, the daffodils and tulips are still fighting the elements in front of our Sears catalog house to declare THEY ARE NOT GIVING UP ON THIS SPRING THING. Before we know it, the Thomases will be walking to the gorgeous, newly remodeled DeKalb Public Library to check out this year’s Hugo Award–nominated novels. (At least the ones we don’t already own.)
For along with the budding of trees, award season is in full bloom. As we type this, the Hugo nominating period is over, and the Nebula winners are already in an envelope on SFWA’s orbiting satellite headquarters. (If you are attending the SFWA Nebula Conference, please say hi to the Thomases and Michi!)
Yes, we buried the lede a bit. UNCANNY MAGAZINE IS A FINALIST FOR THE BEST SEMIPROZINE HUGO AWARD! We are beyond thrilled about this. There are so many great magazines in that category. We are truly, truly honored to be a finalist in our very first year of eligibility. And that’s not all! Hao Jingfang’s “Folding Beijing” (translated by Ken Liu) is A FINALIST FOR THE BEST NOVELETTE HUGO AWARD AND A FINALIST FOR THE STURGEON AWARD! We wish huge congratulations to Jingfang and Ken!
We are so, so proud of our 2015 issues. Many of our remarkable stories, essays, poems, and covers have been nominated for different awards, or have been included in Year’s Best collections. For the first complete year of a new magazine, this is a phenomenal accomplishment. We truly are grateful to work with the best creators and staff in the world.
The accolades are great, but that’s not what is most important to us. When we created Uncanny, we wanted it to be a place for community—readers and creators making and consuming art, beauty, kindness, insight, challenges, and gorgeous emotions. After 10 issues, what means the most to us is the wonderful enthusiasm we see from our readers and creators. People are giddy about each issue, talking about their favorite pieces, recommending things to friends, and there seems to be a general feeling that Uncanny is a gathering place for a marvelous, diverse SF/F community. That is the greatest award of all.
So, do you want to help support the continuation of this community? WE’RE RECRUITING NEW MEMBERS TO THE SPACE UNICORN RANGER CORPS!
As you know, Uncanny Magazine is trying to find as many revenue streams as possible so we can begin purchasing submissions for Year Three. We need YOUR HELP to SPREAD THE WORD!
There are many ways to join:
1. There is a Subscription Drive going on at Weightless Books for a year’s worth of Uncanny Magazine eBooks! The drive will run from May 3—May 17. For that limited time, you can receive a year’s worth of Uncanny for $2 off the regular price! We will have some nifty giveaways for a few lucky new or renewing subscribers at particular milestones, too. (T–shirts! Back issues! Fancy custom tea blends! Tote bags!). AND ALL NEW AND RENEWING WEIGHTLESS SUBSCRIBERS WILL GET AN EXCLUSIVE COLOR VINYL SPACE UNICORN RANGER CORPS STICKER!
2. The Uncanny Magazine Patreon! Do you love our magazine and podcast and want to see them continue, but aren’t interested in an eBook subscription? This is an excellent way to support our magazine! You can support us for as little as $1 per month! And you can get UNCANNY SWAG at other levels!
3. You can subscribe through Amazon Kindle! It’s simple and easy and every wonderful Uncanny eBook issue magically arrives on day of release on your Kindle without any fuss!
If just 10 percent of our online readers purchase subscriptions or back us on Patreon, we could immediately fund Year Three.
Finally, here are the magnificent contents of our tenth issue! Our outstanding original cover this month is from Galen Dara and is called “Bubbles and Blast Off.” Our fiction this month includes Seanan McGuire’s haunting tale of first contact and misunderstandings “Ye Highlands and Ye Lowlands,” Kat Howard’s evocative tale of death and duty “The Sound of Salt and Sea,” JY Yang’s tale of longing “The Blood That Pulses in the Veins of One,” Alyssa Wong’s gut–wrenching western, “You’ll Surely Drown Here If You Stay,” and the struggle to overcome a family curse in Haralambi Markov’s “The Drowning Line.” Our reprint this month is the inimitable Kameron Hurley’s “The Plague Givers.”
Our essays this month include Foz Meadows examining inclusivity trends in television and film, Tanya DePass asking where gamers find community, and Sarah Monette and Stephanie Zvan celebrating the 30th anniversary of the film Labyrinth through two different lenses. Our new poetry includes Beth Cato’s evocative, stunning “Deeper Than Pie,” M Sereno’s pointed “Brown woman at Safety Beach, Victoria, in June,” and Isabel Yap’s powerful “Alamat.” All of this excellent new fiction and poetry is rounded out with Deborah Stanish’s in–depth interviews with Kat Howard and Alyssa Wong.
Podcast 10A features Amal El–Mohtar reading Seanan McGuire’s “Ye Highlands and Ye Lowlands,” Erika Ensign reading Beth Cato’s “Deeper Than Pie,” and Deborah Stanish interviewing Seanan McGuire. Podcast 10B features Heath Miller reading Haralambi Markov’s “The Drowning Line,” Erika Ensign reading Isabel Yap’s “Alamat,” and an interview conducted by Deborah Stanish.
Finally, the circle of Submission Editor life continues. After some amazing work, Andrea Berns, Arkady Martine, Elizabeth Neering, K.E. Bergdoll, and Jen R. Albert are all leaving us. We wish them well in all of their future endeavors. But there is happy news! We have been joined by new Submission Editors Eileen Wu, Susheela Bhat Harkins, and Heather Leigh. Welcome, new Space Unicorns.
Please enjoy the latest issue of Uncanny Magazine, and thank you all so much for your continued support.
© 2016 by Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas
