I am a mermaid. I have always been a mermaid. As someone with cerebral palsy, my legs have always been somewhat questionable. On land, they could tire at any moment, prompting me to sit down wherever I happened to be, even if that was the floor of a department store. They could (and did) cause […]
I get nervous when I first encounter disability in a narrative. Doubly so in genre narratives. It’s an unfortunate response. I should rejoice—representation matters, and I truly believe that. I co-edited Disabled People Destroy Science Fiction because I believe it. But when I encounter disability in a story, I think: why is the author including […]
So, you have a protagonist with a prophecy hanging over their head. Or maybe someone they loved got snatched up by a sorcerer. Or they wandered into the wrong part of the forest. Or they were curious and accidentally stumbled through a portal into a secret world. These things do happen. The call of adventure […]
(Editors’ Note: Speech portions appear in the order in which they were given at the awards ceremony.) We are deeply honored by this Hugo Award. It was a fantastic group of finalists. Uncanny Magazine is the work of numerous people, so we want to thank our 2018 regular staff of Michi Trota, Mimi Mondal, Erika […]
I love fairy tales. Admittedly, they don’t always love me back. Fairy tales can startle people who aren’t used to them. We’re now a little too influenced by Disney, a company known for bowdlerizing already bowdlerized versions of the stories. You have to step outside the Disney bubble to find fairy tales in their full […]
I was waiting for a table at the restaurant as the lunch rush started, the waiter explaining the various stations—appetizers, soup, main course, desserts—when the bow-tied man added, “The brown cheese is infused with Guinness beer and the pink cheese is infused with pork rinds.” Cheese infused with pork rinds! What a disgustingly absurd food […]
Uncanny Magazine would like to thank the following people for supporting us on Patreon. This magazine would not be possible without their support. Space Unicorn Ranger Corps COMMANDERS Melanie Ashford, Rachel Caine, Scott Day, Bliss Ehrlich, Alex Eiser, Alexander M Henderson, Crystal Huff, Marzie Kaifer, justin livernois, Jayme Lundeen, Kevin Lyda, William T. McGeachin, Kate […]
I write fiction; specifically, I write fantasy, and I have a disability. I love visiting other worlds full of magic and sorcery, populated with paladins and rogues, ghosts and princesses, and, of course, dragons. Never forget the dragons. But what I struggle with, and what I think many authors with identities that are “other” struggle […]
Thought experiments are tools. Some thought experiments are like power saws with no blade guards: you can see what someone wanted to do with them, but they’re still a terrible idea and likely to get blood everywhere. Science fiction has a history of loving thought experiments not wisely but too well. A “hard choices” narrative […]
Do you ever have that moment where you look in the mirror, and you really see yourself? Not just the outfit that you wear, or the makeup you just did, or the new haircut that you got—but the person who you’ve become while you weren’t paying attention? While you were too busy working on your […]