Uncanny is a bimonthly on-line magazine edited by Lynne M. Thomas
and Michael Damian Thomas.
Everything is available in HTML from the magazine's
site,
and it can be bought in various other formats.
"The Blur in the Corner of Your Eye" by Sarah Pinsker has a crime
novelist staying at an isolated cabin to finish her latest book, and
her assistant who's… maybe too good to be true? A dead body turns up,
and things escalate. It's a very good situation, and the people and
the dialogue work very well; if only there were a bit more of a plot
beyond "so that's what's going on, now the story ends".
"Big Box" by Greg van Eekhout offers all the storybook deals in one
convenient shop, including things like "pants that shave six inches
from your waistline and every time you wear them shave four hours off
your life". But that's it; it's one core idea and a list of examples,
with just a tissue of a narrator to make it a "story".
"Compassionate Simulation" by Rachel Swirsky and P. H. Lee is the sort
of story I'm coming to expect from Swirsky, from the point of view of
a computer simulation of a dead estranged daughter – which has full
access to her memories and thought patterns. So what it's about,
naturally, is violent abuse. (Second-person present doesn't endear it
to me either.)
"A Champion of Nigh-Space" by Tim Pratt is some honest fun for a
change, in which the narrator's girlfriend turns out to be a warrior
defending the multiverse. It doesn't particularly make sense, but it's
good plain escapist fantasy, and I could easily see it becoming the
first chapter of a novel.
"The Migration Suite: A Study in C Sharp Minor" by Maurice Broaddus is
a series through history of vignettes of black people moving to new
homes; it feels to me too consciously worthy, but may work better for
other readers.
"How the Trick Is Done" by A.C. Wise is a lush and dark fantasy of the
magician, and the bullet-catching trick, and the people left in the
magician's wake. The people are excellent, and it even has a plot and
a conclusion.
"On the Impurity of Dragon-kind" by Marie Brennan is a tie-in to her
series; Lady Trent's fifteen-year-old son debates on the subject of
whether (all, or some) dragons should be considered scripturally
unclean. I don't remember the invented religion in the one of her
novels I've read being so blatantly derived from Judaism, but that's
very much the model here; it's mildly fun but goes on too long.
"If Love Is Real, So Are Fairies" by Cynthia So is the one of the four
pieces of poetry in this issue that had something to say to me.
"The Uncanny Valley" by Lynne M. Thomas & Michael Damian Thomas is a
short meditation on resilience.
"The Gang’s All Here: Writing Lessons from The Good Place" by Tansy
Rayner Roberts is mostly "gosh, this show is wonderful" but tries to
draw a few generally-applicable points.
"The Better Place" by Karlyn Ruth Meyer is a consideration of the
effect the show has had on the author and her friends, and how to use
its ideas in real life. It works rather better than the previous piece.
"Was Trials of Mana Worth Growing Up For?" by Aidan Moher is
computer-gaming nostalgia (a game published for the SNES in Japanese
in 1995 has finally been translated into English). Doesn't really have
much to say beyond "I like it, but I'm not the person I was in 1995".
"Sir Elsa of Tortall, Knight of the Realm" by Elsa Sjunneson-Henry
(whose name I'm suddenly seeing everywhere, after I ran into her at a
Worldcon panel) looks at how a young girl's projection into a Tamora
Pierce book has remained with her in later life. To me this is the
sort of thing one might do, but not talk about, but clearly it works
for the author.
"Beware the Lifeboat" by Marissa Lingen starts from the mindset of
The Cold Equations to encourage people to remember compassion,
because strict allocation systems and "hard decisions" are never as
logical and dispassionate as they pretend to be.
"Interview: Greg van Eekhout" and "Interview: Maurice Broaddus" by
Caroline M. Yoachim both avoid asking any hard questions; they're more
puff pieces for the authors than anything more.
I may perhaps nominate the Pinsker, and will probably nominate the
Pratt and the Wise.
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