Uncanny Magazine

Uncanny Magazine
Cover of issue 10, May 2016
EditorLynne M. Thomas
EditorMichael Damian Thomas
Categoriesscience fiction and fantasy
FrequencyBimonthly
FounderLynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas
Founded2014
First issueNovember 4, 2014; 9 years ago (2014-11-04)[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Websiteuncannymagazine.com

Uncanny Magazine is an American science fiction and fantasy online magazine, edited and published by Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas, based in Urbana, Illinois.[2] Its mascot is a space unicorn.[3]

The editors-in-chief, who originally edited Apex Magazine from 2012–2013, chose the name of the magazine because they say it "has a wonderful pulp feel", and like how the name evokes the unexpected.[4] They created the magazine "in the spirit of pulp sci-fi mags popular in the 1960s and '70s."[2]

Uncanny has been published bimonthly, beginning in November 2014, after receiving initial funding through Kickstarter.[5] It continues to fund itself through crowdfunding as well as subscriptions, which numbered 4,000 in 2017.[6][2]

The magazine publishes original works by authors such as Neil Gaiman, Elizabeth Bear, Paul Cornell, Catherynne M. Valente, Charlie Jane Anders, Seanan McGuire, Mary Robinette Kowal, Javier Grillo-Marxuach, Alex Bledsoe, Nalo Hopkinson, Jane Yolen, Naomi Novik, N. K. Jemisin, G. Willow Wilson, Carmen Maria Machado, Amal El-Mohtar, Ursula Vernon, Kameron Hurley and Ken Liu, and published early stories by Alyssa Wong and Brooke Bolander.[7][2] Each issue includes new short stories, one reprint, new poems, non-fiction essays, and a pair of interviews.[6] The magazine pays its authors and artists.[6] It also produces a podcast where some of the magazine's content is read aloud.[8] They have a staff of 10 editors and receive between 1,000 and 2,000 submissions every month.[2]

In 2018, they published a disability-themed issue called Disabled People Destroy Science Fiction with content exclusively from disabled creators.[9] This was a continuation of the Destroy series originally from Lightspeed magazine; in it, the authors and illustrators envisioned "a truly accessible future is one that features rather than erases the disabled mind and body".[9] The issue won an Aurora Award for Best Related Work in 2019.[10][11]

  1. ^ Studios, Clockpunk. "Uncanny Magazine Issue One". Uncanny Magazine. Archived from the original on February 28, 2019. Retrieved February 27, 2019.
  2. ^ a b c d e Mitchell, Tim (February 8, 2021). "Sci-fi-focused Uncanny Magazine takes up residence in Urbana". The News-Gazette. Archived from the original on October 20, 2021. Retrieved February 8, 2021.
  3. ^ Thomas, Lynne M.; Thomas, Michael Damian (July 28, 2016). "A Space Unicorn Tale: The REAL Story Behind the Creation of Uncanny Magazine". Tor.com. Archived from the original on July 29, 2016. Retrieved February 8, 2021.
  4. ^ Thomas, Lynne M.; Thomas, Michael Damian (August 27, 2014). "Why We're Creating Uncanny, a Real Magazine with a Fake History (and a Space Unicorn)". Tor.com. Archived from the original on August 17, 2015. Retrieved February 8, 2021.
  5. ^ Mandelo, Lee (November 11, 2014). "Short Fiction Spotlight: Uncanny Magazine #1". Tor.com. Archived from the original on March 24, 2016. Retrieved February 27, 2019.
  6. ^ a b c Liptak, Andrew (August 6, 2020). "Uncanny Magazine Launches Kickstarter For Year Seven". Tor.com. Archived from the original on August 6, 2020. Retrieved February 8, 2021.
  7. ^ Studios, Clockpunk. "Authors Archive". Uncanny Magazine. Archived from the original on November 20, 2014. Retrieved February 27, 2019.
  8. ^ "Podcasts Archives". Uncanny Magazine. Archived from the original on November 20, 2014. Retrieved February 8, 2021.
  9. ^ a b Holder, Matthew (2020). "Imagining Accessibility: Theorizing Disability in Disabled People Destroy Science Fiction". Disability Studies Quarterly. 40 (3). doi:10.18061/dsq.v40i3.6685. ISSN 2159-8371. Archived from the original on February 8, 2021. Retrieved February 8, 2021.
  10. ^ "2019 Aurora Awards Winners". Locus Online – The Magazine of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Field. October 20, 2019. Archived from the original on October 20, 2019. Retrieved February 8, 2021.
  11. ^ "Fight On, Space Unicorns: Disabled People Destroy Science Fiction – Chuck Wendig: Terribleminds". Chuck Wendig. August 15, 2017. Archived from the original on August 18, 2017. Retrieved February 8, 2021.