Uncanny Magazine Issue 68: January/February 2026

by Michael Damian Thomas, A.T. Greenblatt, Christopher Caldwell

The January/February 2026 issue of Hugo Award-winning Uncanny Magazine. Featuring all-new short fiction by A. T. Greenblatt, Christopher Caldwell, J. R. Dawson, Kylie Lee Baker, A. W. Prihandita, Jules Arbeaux, and Claire Humphrey; essays by Dawn Xiana Moon, Betsy Aoki and Marie Brennan, Jana Bianchi, and Riley Silverman; poetry by A. M. Tuomala, Aline-Mwezi Niyonsenga, Theodora Goss, and Joemario Umana; interviews with Christopher Caldwell and A. W. Prihandita by Caroline M. Yoachim; Katy Shuttleworth’s Faery Frights as the cover; and an editorial by Michael Damian Thomas.

Genres: Fantasy, Science Fiction

185 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 6, 2026

About the author

Michael 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.

Reviews

[Amy Mills]

I've listened to the stories from the #68A and B podcast episode here, and am reviewing those. If I get to anything else from this issue, I'll add it later. I'm giving the rating of my highest rated story for now.

This Story Does Not Exist, by Kylie Lee Baker (4 stars) - Wow. An impressive exploration of AI, and profiteering, and human callousness. Very well-written, and chilling. The only reason I'm not giving it 5 stars is that there's no real reason for the AI to be in human form, and that bothers me. It works great for the story, just... I can't make real-world sense of it. YMMV.

The Parsley Girl, by Theordora Goss (3 stars) - Interesting, and more plausible, take on the Rapunzel story (possibly other fairy tales, but Rapunzel stood out the most), where the 'girl' has agency and the 'prince' has no idea what he's getting into. It didn't quite vibe for me, but I liked the idea behind it.

The Doorkeepers, by A. T. Greenblatt (4 stars) - Fascinating time-travel-loop tale, where a company has made stable time loops that people can pay to visit. Theoretically, these shouldn't affect the timeline... but, well, seeing a possible future may result in different choices. The titular Doorkeepers are the guides who let people in and out and otherwise supervise... and have to experience each time loop many many times, to the detriment of their mental health. Quite enjoyable, and, despite some early bleakness, it ends on a positive note.

No Kings / No Soldiers, by A. M. Tuomala (4 stars) - Very short but poignant refutation of many militaristic myths.

[Dana]

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 Doorkeepers” by A.T. Greenblatt and “The Parsley Girl” by Theodora Goss.

And everyone needs to read "These Stories Teach Us How to Fight" by Dawn Xiana Moon: https://www.uncannymagazine.com/artic...

[Heni]

Be My Horse, Ride the Cowboy by Christopher Caldwell 3 ⭐

Girl Stuff by Claire Humphrey 1 ⭐

The Doorkeepers by A. T. Greenblatt 3 ⭐

I Met You on the Train by J.R. Dawson
The obsession, the longing, the yearning, the psycopathy! perfect! 5 ⭐

Words That Wither, Words That Bloom by Jules Arbeaux 5 ⭐

The Memory Hounds of Bak-Ankham by A. W. Prihandita 3 ⭐

This Story Does Not Exist by Kylie Lee Baker ❌

[Esther]

An enjoyable issue. This one felt like it was back to everything I love about Uncanny. Stand out story for me was the Prihandita but I really enjoyed the whole issue.

[Thia Reads A Lot]

No new favourites, although "This Story Does Not Exist" and "I Met You on the Train" were quite good.