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Uncanny Magazine #67
Uncanny Magazine Issue 67: November/December 2025
The November/December 2025 issue of Hugo Award-winning Uncanny Magazine. Featuring all-new short fiction by Sarah Pinsker, Natalia Theodoridou, Ana Hurtado, Rati Mehrotra, Eleanna Castroianni, Mary Robinette Kowal, and Russell Nichols; essays by Javier Grillo-Marxuach, Mari Ness, Jordan Shiveley, and Marissa Lingen; poetry by Somto Ihezue, Romie Stott, Angel Leal, and Hannan Khan; interviews with Natalia Theodoridou and Eleanna Castroianni by Caroline M. Yoachim; and Paul Lewin’s Mushroom Mother of Us All as the cover; and an editorial by Michael Damian Thomas.
217 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 4, 2025
About the author
Michael Damian Thomas
77 books19 followersMichael Damian Thomas is the two-time Hugo and Parsec Award-winning co-publisher and co-editor-in-chief of Uncanny Magazine with his wife, Lynne M. Thomas. In this role, he has also been a finalist twice for the World Fantasy Award and a finalist for a Locus Award. Michael was a two-time Hugo Award finalist as the former Managing Editor of Apex Magazine (2012-2013), co-edited the Hugo Award finalist essay anthology Queers Dig Time Lords (Mad Norwegian Press, 2013) with Sigrid Ellis, and co-edited the anthology Glitter & Mayhem (Apex Publications, 2013) with John Klima and Lynne M. Thomas. He has also worked as an Associate Editor on numerous books at Mad Norwegian Press, including the Hugo Award-winning Chicks Dig Time Lords (edited by Lynne M. Thomas and Tara O’Shea, 2010) and Hugo Award finalist Chicks Dig Comics (edited by Lynne M. Thomas and Sigrid Ellis, 2012). Michael was additionally a contributor to the SF Squeecast podcast (with Elizabeth Bear, Paul Cornell, Seanan McGuire, Lynne M. Thomas, and Catherynne M. Valente) and was a contributor to the Down and Safe- Blake’s 7 podcast (with Amal El-Mohtar, Scott Lynch, and L.M. Myles).
Michael lives in DeKalb, IL, with his wife Lynne, their daughter Caitlin, and a cat named Marie. Caitlin has a rare congenital disorder called Aicardi syndrome, and Michael works as her primary caregiver.
Michael lives in DeKalb, IL, with his wife Lynne, their daughter Caitlin, and a cat named Marie. Caitlin has a rare congenital disorder called Aicardi syndrome, and Michael works as her primary caregiver.
Ratings & Reviews
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Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
May 28, 2026
2.5 stars. Rating only for The Millay Illusion by Sarah Pinsker, a Hugo Award,.Locus Award and Shirley Jackson Award finalist.
I enjoyed the story overall from the get go but the ending was a bit hurried and only left me wondering, huh, that's it? Always a hit or a miss with Pinsker.
I enjoyed the story overall from the get go but the ending was a bit hurried and only left me wondering, huh, that's it? Always a hit or a miss with Pinsker.
February 28, 2026
A good mix of stories. I really liked Mary Robinette Kowal's "To Speak in Silence", "The Teleporting Disaster Fairy," by Rati Mehrotra, and "The Millay Illusion," by Sarah Pinsker.
January 11, 2026
The Millay Illusion & The Teleporting Disaster Fairy were fantastic stories!
December 28, 2025
Loved The Teleporting Disaster Fairy
January 24, 2026
I backed this on Kickstarter, so I received the issue in advance of publication as part of the campaign.
All of the stories are worth reading, but I particularly enjoyed “The Teleporting Disaster Fairy” by Rati Mehrotra and “To Speak in Silence” by Mary Robinette Kowal.
All of the stories are worth reading, but I particularly enjoyed “The Teleporting Disaster Fairy” by Rati Mehrotra and “To Speak in Silence” by Mary Robinette Kowal.
April 23, 2026
For clarity, I'm reading only Sarah Pinsker's The Millay Illusion from this issue. It's been nominated for the Hugo short this year.
It was refreshing to get a tribute to illusionists in this one. I felt it very appropriate in light of Christopher Priest's death the year prior. (The Prestige author.)
Now, that may or may not have had anything to do with this story, but it certainly felt right. All things considered. :)
It was refreshing to get a tribute to illusionists in this one. I felt it very appropriate in light of Christopher Priest's death the year prior. (The Prestige author.)
Now, that may or may not have had anything to do with this story, but it certainly felt right. All things considered. :)
January 22, 2026
Took me a lot longer to read this than expected but I did enjoy it and its associated podcast episodes. In fiction, I particularly enjoyed ‘Thicker’ by Eleanna Catroianni and ‘To Speak in Silence’ by Mary Robbinette Kowal. In non fiction, I enjoyed Javier Grillo-Marxuach’s essay and the interview with Catroianni.
March 3, 2026
"Who Are You Wearing?" by Russell Nichols
good ideas, but too short to really explore them. good parallelism bracketing it with scenes with the daughter, but it felt like there should've been a chunk more meat between them.
good ideas, but too short to really explore them. good parallelism bracketing it with scenes with the daughter, but it felt like there should've been a chunk more meat between them.
March 17, 2026
Review is for the podcast. If I happen across any other stories from this issue, they will get added and reviewed here, as well.
The Teleporting Disaster Fairy, by Rati Mehrotra - 4 stars - Fascinating and deliberately absurd story about a woman who suddenly starts teleporting into incipient disasters, and has to figure out how to deal with it (and deal with all the various governments, reporters, etc, who are more than a bit upset about it all). I loved the concept, and the ending, but found the prose a bit stilted.
My Duende, by Angel Leal - 3.5 stars - Poem examining a trans person's experience growing up, with (I think) the confusions and problems therefrom personified by a duende (which seems to be something like a mischievous imp), and trying to banish, or at least ignore it, post-transition.
The Millay Illusion, by Sarah Pinsker - 3.5 stars - Period piece about females trying to find a place for themselves in magic. The POV character is told to dress as a boy for her act. She meets Susannah, who is allowed to keep her gender, but only so long as she keeps to comedy. Susannah eventually gets fed up, and, well, it's unclear exactly what she does, but she certainly gets her revenge. While I enjoyed it, I found the language a bit bombastic. This may have been a deliberate choice to reflect the traveling-show-upbringing of the POV character, but it got on my nerves in a few places.
Call Us Boy, by Somto Ihezue - unrated - Listening to this, the words went straight out of my head as soon as spoken. I wound up tracking down the text online and reading it, and... it just doesn't do anything for me. I'm not sure what it's trying to say, other than I don't relate to it at all. As such, I'm going to leave it unrated. I don't dislike it, or like it—I just find it mystifying.
The Teleporting Disaster Fairy, by Rati Mehrotra - 4 stars - Fascinating and deliberately absurd story about a woman who suddenly starts teleporting into incipient disasters, and has to figure out how to deal with it (and deal with all the various governments, reporters, etc, who are more than a bit upset about it all). I loved the concept, and the ending, but found the prose a bit stilted.
My Duende, by Angel Leal - 3.5 stars - Poem examining a trans person's experience growing up, with (I think) the confusions and problems therefrom personified by a duende (which seems to be something like a mischievous imp), and trying to banish, or at least ignore it, post-transition.
The Millay Illusion, by Sarah Pinsker - 3.5 stars - Period piece about females trying to find a place for themselves in magic. The POV character is told to dress as a boy for her act. She meets Susannah, who is allowed to keep her gender, but only so long as she keeps to comedy. Susannah eventually gets fed up, and, well, it's unclear exactly what she does, but she certainly gets her revenge. While I enjoyed it, I found the language a bit bombastic. This may have been a deliberate choice to reflect the traveling-show-upbringing of the POV character, but it got on my nerves in a few places.
Call Us Boy, by Somto Ihezue - unrated - Listening to this, the words went straight out of my head as soon as spoken. I wound up tracking down the text online and reading it, and... it just doesn't do anything for me. I'm not sure what it's trying to say, other than I don't relate to it at all. As such, I'm going to leave it unrated. I don't dislike it, or like it—I just find it mystifying.
Want to Read
May 10, 2026Hugo award finalist for best novelette:
“The Millay Illusion” by Sarah Pinsker
“The Millay Illusion” by Sarah Pinsker
Read
June 15, 2026"The Teleporting Disaster Fairy" was good, as was "Thicker", but I really didn't care for the other stories included in this issue
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews