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Uncanny Magazine #56
Uncanny Magazine Issue 56: January/February 2024
The January/February 2024 issue of Hugo Award-winning Uncanny Magazine.eaturing new fiction by Mary Robinette Kowal, Jordan Taylor, Jana Bianchi, Natalia Theodoridou, Ana Hurtado, Cheri Kamei, and Angela Liu. Essays by John Scalzi, Alex Jennings, Cecilia Tan, and Amanda Wakaruk and Olav Rokne, poetry by Ali Trota, Ai Jiang, C.S.E. Cooney, and Sodïq Oyèkànmí, interviews with Jordan Taylor and Natalia Theodoridou by Caroline M. Yoachim, a cover by Galen Dara, and an editorial by Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas.Uncanny Magazine is a bimonthly science fiction and fantasy magazine first published in November 2014. Edited by 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2022, 2023 Hugo award winners for best semiprozine, and 2018 Hugo award winners for Best Editor, Short Form, Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas, and Monte Lin, each issue of Uncanny includes new stories, poetry, articles, and interviews.
- GenresFantasyScience Fiction
199 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 2, 2024
About the author
Mary Robinette Kowal
230 books5,167 followersMary Robinette Kowal is the author of the Lady Astronaut Universe and historical fantasy novels: The Glamourist Histories series and Ghost Talkers. She’s a member of the award-winning podcast Writing Excuses and has received the Astounding Award for Best New Writer, four Hugo awards, the RT Reviews award for Best Fantasy Novel, the Nebula, and Locus awards. Stories have appeared in Strange Horizons, Asimov’s, several Year’s Best anthologies and her collections Word Puppets and Scenting the Dark and Other Stories.
Her novel Calculating Stars is one of only eighteen novels to win the Hugo, Nebula and Locus awards in a single year.
As a professional puppeteer and voice actor (SAG/AFTRA), Mary Robinette has performed for LazyTown (CBS), the Center for Puppetry Arts, Jim Henson Pictures, and founded Other Hand Productions. Her designs have garnered two UNIMA-USA Citations of Excellence, the highest award an American puppeteer can achieve. She records fiction for authors such as Seanan McGuire, Cory Doctorow and John Scalzi.
Mary Robinette lives in Nashville with her husband Rob and over a dozen manual typewriters.
Her novel Calculating Stars is one of only eighteen novels to win the Hugo, Nebula and Locus awards in a single year.
As a professional puppeteer and voice actor (SAG/AFTRA), Mary Robinette has performed for LazyTown (CBS), the Center for Puppetry Arts, Jim Henson Pictures, and founded Other Hand Productions. Her designs have garnered two UNIMA-USA Citations of Excellence, the highest award an American puppeteer can achieve. She records fiction for authors such as Seanan McGuire, Cory Doctorow and John Scalzi.
Mary Robinette lives in Nashville with her husband Rob and over a dozen manual typewriters.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
February 16, 2024
I read "Marginalia" by Mary Robinette Kowal. Loved it! Great setting, characters, and story, with a very poignant element.
July 27, 2024
Marginalia by Mary Robinette Kowal - A former servant of the local nobility cares for her ailing mother and younger brother on a farm. Things turn upside down when the region is terrorized by a giant snail monster. This is classic fantasy through and through. No real complexity or serious commentary (some light discussion of class and gender). Feels like Kowal opened up the D&D Mobster Manual and found and interesting monster to base a story off of. But the prose is strong throughout and an absolute joy to read. Highly recommended. Favorite of the issue.
A Recipe for Hope and Honeycakes by Jordan Taylor - A faerie leaves their home to resettle amongst a human population, but is met with suspicion. A particularly harsh winter requires the community to come together. This one was more of a grower - I enjoyed it the more I sat with it. Has something to say about community and belonging. I particularly liked Pam’s cameo. Highly recommended.
Do Houses Dream of Scraping the Sky? by Jana Bianchi - A woman clears out her grandmother’s sentient house following her grandmother’s passing. A mournful if intriguing story. The house has more personality than you would think. Felt more like a snapshot than a full story. Recommended.
An Elegy of Soil by Natalia Theodoridou - A daughter comes back to visit her father in his final days only to find him coughing up soil. She must unravel the mystery of his disconcerting symptoms and how the mountain figures into it all. Intriguing idea, but poor execution. The prose is strong enough as an academic exercise but a slog to get through. Would have worked better as a short story than novella. Not recommended.
La mandíbula del río by Ana Hurtado - A woman (awkwardly) joins her best friend on a romantic getaway as a third wheel. While there she deals with a troubling (recent) past and runs into some mysterious denizens of the jungle. More relational drama than SFF. I found the drama interesting, but the fantastical elements to be lacking.
The Feast of Baku & Yume no Seirei by Cheri Kamei - Monsters traipse through the city seeking unsuspecting citizens for sustenance. As is often the case near the end of the stories in a given issue of Uncanny, this story is more experimental than the others - I believe with diminishing returns. Not recommended.
A Contract of Ink and Skin - A tattoo-like ritual involves and ink that longs to be more than just decoration. Another experiment, but short enough that it was relatively painless.
A Recipe for Hope and Honeycakes by Jordan Taylor - A faerie leaves their home to resettle amongst a human population, but is met with suspicion. A particularly harsh winter requires the community to come together. This one was more of a grower - I enjoyed it the more I sat with it. Has something to say about community and belonging. I particularly liked Pam’s cameo. Highly recommended.
Do Houses Dream of Scraping the Sky? by Jana Bianchi - A woman clears out her grandmother’s sentient house following her grandmother’s passing. A mournful if intriguing story. The house has more personality than you would think. Felt more like a snapshot than a full story. Recommended.
An Elegy of Soil by Natalia Theodoridou - A daughter comes back to visit her father in his final days only to find him coughing up soil. She must unravel the mystery of his disconcerting symptoms and how the mountain figures into it all. Intriguing idea, but poor execution. The prose is strong enough as an academic exercise but a slog to get through. Would have worked better as a short story than novella. Not recommended.
La mandíbula del río by Ana Hurtado - A woman (awkwardly) joins her best friend on a romantic getaway as a third wheel. While there she deals with a troubling (recent) past and runs into some mysterious denizens of the jungle. More relational drama than SFF. I found the drama interesting, but the fantastical elements to be lacking.
The Feast of Baku & Yume no Seirei by Cheri Kamei - Monsters traipse through the city seeking unsuspecting citizens for sustenance. As is often the case near the end of the stories in a given issue of Uncanny, this story is more experimental than the others - I believe with diminishing returns. Not recommended.
A Contract of Ink and Skin - A tattoo-like ritual involves and ink that longs to be more than just decoration. Another experiment, but short enough that it was relatively painless.
January 8, 2024
Long time since I read a Science Fiction and/or Fantasy magazine from cover to cover (er, nowadays from start to end web pages), back in the 90s-2000s I used to read two or three every month (Analog SF&Fact, The Magazine of SF and Fantasy among others).
As this one features a column by John Scalzi (one of my preferred authors) and is available for free[1], I decided to give it a try -- and after reading the first half, the experience was not bad, but wasn't great either: there were a jewel or two in there, but most of it wasn't good, at really not for my tastes. Overall, my rating for this first half is 2.5/5, which I round up to 3 stars.
I might give the other half a try on Feb 6th, which is when they will make it available for non-subscribers/contributors; if I do, I will come back here and post an update.
For my story-by-story (and column-by-column) notes, see here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... (if you're reading this in a mobile browser, remember to set it to desktop mode -- out access it on your computer -- otherwise GoodReads will hide all the notes)..
[1] https://www.uncannymagazine.com/issue...
As this one features a column by John Scalzi (one of my preferred authors) and is available for free[1], I decided to give it a try -- and after reading the first half, the experience was not bad, but wasn't great either: there were a jewel or two in there, but most of it wasn't good, at really not for my tastes. Overall, my rating for this first half is 2.5/5, which I round up to 3 stars.
I might give the other half a try on Feb 6th, which is when they will make it available for non-subscribers/contributors; if I do, I will come back here and post an update.
For my story-by-story (and column-by-column) notes, see here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... (if you're reading this in a mobile browser, remember to set it to desktop mode -- out access it on your computer -- otherwise GoodReads will hide all the notes)..
[1] https://www.uncannymagazine.com/issue...
April 14, 2024
Do Houses Dream of Scraping the Sky? by Jana Bianchi
Rather pointless: an animate house, mourning grandchild. I've read too many of them. 1 ⭐
A Contract of Ink and Skin by Angela Liu
Lol the title is so funny (iykyk). Anyway, the Ink concept is interesting but sadly it's too short so it lacks context. 1 ⭐
Marginalia by Mary Robinette Kowal
This is a simple fantasy story, feel-good adventure with a neat and happy ending. Not bad. 2.5 ⭐
A Recipe for Hope and Honeycake by Jordan Taylor
*Sigh 1 ⭐
Rather pointless: an animate house, mourning grandchild. I've read too many of them. 1 ⭐
A Contract of Ink and Skin by Angela Liu
Lol the title is so funny (iykyk). Anyway, the Ink concept is interesting but sadly it's too short so it lacks context. 1 ⭐
Marginalia by Mary Robinette Kowal
This is a simple fantasy story, feel-good adventure with a neat and happy ending. Not bad. 2.5 ⭐
A Recipe for Hope and Honeycake by Jordan Taylor
*Sigh 1 ⭐
February 4, 2024
This review is for Marginalia by Mary Robinette Kowal (goodreads keeps merging the story with the magazine where it was first published, even if it is available separately).
I had previously read and enjoyed this author's sci-fi work, but this is the first time I read one of her fantasy stories. There are clearly some of her signature themes mixed in, for example the exploration of gender roles, but it reads very different from her usual work. It's an enjoyable and good story, with an original "monster". Who needs dragons when you have giant acid snails?
I had previously read and enjoyed this author's sci-fi work, but this is the first time I read one of her fantasy stories. There are clearly some of her signature themes mixed in, for example the exploration of gender roles, but it reads very different from her usual work. It's an enjoyable and good story, with an original "monster". Who needs dragons when you have giant acid snails?
June 20, 2024
I read Jana Bianchi’s “Do Houses Dream of Scraping the Sky?” Lovely bittersweet story with a happy ending. Available here.
Read
June 20, 2024No new favourite in this issue.
July 15, 2024
I love this magazine, I've found so many authors I love via uncanny.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews