Welcome to Uncanny: A Magazine of Science Fiction and Fantasy
Three-time Hugo Award-winner Lynne M. Thomas (Apex Magazine, Chicks Dig Time Lords, Glitter & Mayhem) and three-time Hugo Award nominee Michael Damian Thomas (Apex Magazine, Queers Dig Time Lords) are launching year one of a new professional online SF/F magazine: Uncanny: A Magazine of Science Fiction & Fantasy.
Click here to support our Kickstarter!
Each issue will contain new and classic speculative fiction, fiction podcasts, poetry, essays, art, and interviews.
Our Philosophy:
We are geeks who have spent the past several years creating and sharing work that gets us excited.
Whether it’s sharing true, personal stories of how the community that loves Doctor Who changes lives in Chicks Dig Time Lords and Queers Dig Time Lords or examining humanity at its worst through the horrific stories in Apex Magazine, or throwing a massive, Kickstarter-funded science fictional party through Glitter & Mayhem‘s stories of the dark side of night life and roller derby (because what is more awesome than aliens and roller derby?), we’ve done our best to bring you stories and images that stay with you, because they feel like they were made just for you.
We think that the best science fiction and fantasy literature combines astonishing ideas, strong characterization, excellent, gorgeous writing, and distinctive, diverse points of view from around the world.
We particularly love the stories that we can’t stop thinking about, and talking about, because of how they made us feel. We sought out these kinds of stories constantly–they feel as rare as unicorns, and getting to share them with our readers is awesome like a space unicorn (hence our new mascot).
We want to take our experiences producing bestselling, award-winning nonfiction anthologies, and two years of a highly popular, award-nominated magazine, and combine them to create a new online magazine, that reflects what we’ve learned, and takes it even further.
Space unicorns for everyone!
We’re calling it Uncanny, because we want to produce a sensational magazine that feels like you’ve been here before, in the best way possible. Uncanny will have stories, prose, poetry and cover art that make you feel, and stays with you after you’ve read the issue.
Here’s a preview of some of our cover art, in this case, by Tran Nguyen:
Year One Contributors: (So far)…
For year one, we have solicited original short fiction, poetry, and nonfiction from Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy Award winning and nominated authors including:
- Charlie Jane Anders (“Six Months, Three Days”)
- Paul Cornell (Doctor Who, London Falling)
- Amal El-Mohtar (“The Green Book”)
- Maria Dahvana Headley (Queen of Kings)
- Kat Howard (“Breaking the Frame”)
- Mary Robinette Kowal (Glamourist Histories)
- Ken Liu (“Paper Menagerie”)
- Scott Lynch (Gentlemen Bastards)
- Sofia Samatar (A Stranger in Olondria)
- Rachel Swirsky (“If You Were A Dinosaur, My Love”)
- and Catherynne M. Valente (Deathless).
We plan to showcase original poetry by
… and essays by
Uncanny will also feature cover art by Carrie Ann Baade, Julie Dillon, Galen Dara,Tran Nguyen, and Matthew Dow Smith.
More preview art, this time by Julie Dillon!
There will also be slots for unsolicited submissions. We are deeply committed to finding and showcasing new voices in our genre from around the world.
How You Can Get Uncanny:
Uncanny issues will be published as eBooks (mobi, pdf, epub) bimonthly on the first Tuesday of that month through all of the major online eBook stores. Each issue will contain 4-6 new short stories, 2 reprinted stories, 2 poems, 2 nonfiction essays, and 2 interviews, at minimum. We are currently working on providing additional exclusive content just for subscribers.
Subscribers and those purchasing single issues get each issue (ex: Nov/Dec 2014 is our first planned issue) in its entirety up front, no waiting.
Those reading online for free will have to wait a week for the first half of the issue, and a month for the second half, to appear on the second Tuesday of each month (of November and December, respectively in our example).
We will also be producing a monthly fiction podcast.
How are we funding Uncanny?
We are fundraising through Kickstarter to cover the start up costs for launching a professional online magazine. We intend to pay our writers $ .08 per word for original fiction, our poets $30 per poem, and our essayists $50 per essay, and our artists $60 per reprinted artwork. In addition to paying our contributors, our budget includes hiring Clockpunk Studios to set up, design and host a robust website; podcast production and hosting costs; and covering backer rewards and Kickstarter fees.
Help us bring the Uncanny to life by backing our Kickstarter! Fundraising will run July 29 – August 28, 2014.