Uncanny Magazine Issue 50, January-February 2023

Uncanny Magazine #50

by Lynne M. Thomas (Editor), Michael Damian Thomas (Editor), Ken Liu

The January/February 2023 issue of Hugo Award-winning Uncanny Magazine .

Our landmark Issue 50, a double sized issue! Featuring new fiction by Ken Liu and Caroline M. Yoachim, Mary Robinette Kowal, P. Djèlí Clark, A. T. Greenblatt, A.M. Dellamonica, Eugenia Triantafyllou, Sarah Pinsker, E. Lily Yu, Marie Brennan, Christopher Caldwell, John Wiswell, and Maureen Mchugh. Essays by Elsa Sjunneson, John Picacio, Annalee Newitz, A.T. Greenblatt, Diana M. Pho, and Javier Grillo-Marxuach, poetry by Neil Gaiman, Terese Mason Pierre, Sonya Taaffe, Betsy Aoki, Theodora Goss, Ali Trota, Abu Bakr Sadiq, Elizabeth Bear, and Brandon O'Brien, interviews with Ken Liu and Caroline M. Yoachim by Tina Connolly; interviews with Eugenia Triantafyllou, E. Lily Yu, and Christopher Caldwell by Caroline M. Yoachim, a cover by Galen Dara, and editorials by Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas, and Meg Elison.

About Uncanny Magazine

Uncanny Magazine is a bimonthly science fiction and fantasy magazine first published in November 2014. Edited by 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, & 2022 Hugo award winners for best semiprozine, and 2018 Hugo award winners for Best Editor, Short Form, Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas, Meg Elison, and Monte Lin, each issue of Uncanny includes new stories, poetry, articles, and interviews.

Genres: Fantasy, Short Stories, Science Fiction, Historical Fiction, Speculative Fiction, Fiction, Magical Realism

363 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 3, 2023

About the author

In my day job, I am the Head of the Rare Book & Manuscript Library and Juanita J. and Robert E. Simpson Rare Book and Manuscript Professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, one of the largest public university rare book collections in the country. I used to manage pop culture special collections that include the papers of over 70 SF/F authors at Northern Illinois University. I also teach a Special Collections course as an adjunct in the iSchool at Illinois, and used to do so at SJSU.

I'm an eleven-time Hugo Award winner, the Co-Editor-in-Chief and Publisher of Uncanny Magazine with my husband Michael Damian Thomas. The former Editor-in-Chief of Apex Magazine (2011-2013), I co-edited the Hugo Award-winning Chicks Dig Time Lords, Whedonistas, and Chicks Dig Comics. I moderated the Hugo-Award winning SF Squeecast and contribute to the Verity! Podcast. You can learn more about my shenanigans at lynnemthomas.com.

Reviews

[carol. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read for 'How to Raise a Kraken in Your Bathtub' by P. Djèlí Clark.

Well-written, succinct. Just a little bit uncomfortable, as he does so well. And clever.

https://www.uncannymagazine.com/artic...

[H (trying to keep up with GR friends) Balikov · Rating 3 out of 5]

The link below will take you to the short story, How to Raise a Kraken in Your Bathtub by P. Djèlí Clark with many thanks to GR friend, carol!

Clark likes to teeter on the edge of “steampunk” while presenting us with elaborate fantasy images. This short piece fits right within this approach. “Ambition abhors convention, dear Barnaby—and repetition. I intend to be quite unconventional.” Having shared that, we follow Trevor in how he intends to fulfill this aspiration. The road is paved with the British sense of purpose and the period’s imperialism (and we know where that led).

Trevor has availed himself of the instruction of a “Doctor Bundelkund.” “Through careful study and research Doctor Bundelkund has perfected the means by which to hatch these eggs, and thus resurrect the species.” What could be better than this for Trevor’s ambition and the world at large?

Here is an amusing tale with Victorian trappings and the extra oomph of Clark’s imagination.
https://www.uncannymagazine.com/artic...

Click at your own risk!

[✘✘ Sarah ✘✘ (former Nefarious Breeder of Murderous Crustaceans) · Rating 4 out of 5]

💥 June 24, 2024: “How to Raise a Kraken in Your Bathtub” by P. Djèlí Clark just won the Locus Award for Best Short Story!! 🥳🥳

“How to Raise a Kraken in Your Bathtub” by P. Djélì Clark:

Kraken (duh)! Victorian England! Indoor egg-growing kits that remind me of dodo cloning kits (yay)! Her majesty's navies vs. mermen 😍😍😍! Ambition and rrrrrrevenge and muahahahaha! P. Djélì Clark has done it again! This story is slightly scrumptious indeed! And I need a whole book set in this world! Let's dance and stuff!



➽ This is short. This is FREE. This is here.

[Silvana · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mixed rating:
3 stars for How to Raise a Kraken. Fun but I feel like I want to know more of what happens next.
2 stars for One Man's Treasure. Boring. DNF after 60%.

[Hirondelle (not getting notifications)]

May 13th - I have now read One Man’s Treasure by Sarah Pinsker which is on the short list for the Hugo award for best novelette. A fantasy story, our universe but with industrial magic about the dangers of collecting magical trash from rich wasteful neighbourhoods. Sarah Pinsker is a great writer, and she has the short fiction format totally under her thumb. She gets how to do the worldbuilding and characters within a short word count. It's a very good story, though for my taste the ending (which is good, and fun and adds a punch) does not quite fit the rest of the story. But it's still very good. And of the 6 novelette Hugo finalists, I have now read 4 and they are all good in different ways not sure which one is my favorite or how I would rank them (coin toss?)

March 1st- Read only How to Raise a Kraken in Your Bathtub by P. Djèlí Clark, a kind of Jules Vernes inspired anti-colonialism fantasy. In an alternate victorian London, an ambitious young man gets a kit to raise a kraken in a bathtub in order to (hopefully) make money exhibiting the kraken.

Nothing of the story is particularly original (apart maybe from the nod to Jules Verne, who is not popular enough in english-language culture), the characters are 2 dimensional (if not even less), the point is predictable from the start due to the complete assholery and stereotypical full-of-isms of the main character. The ending is trite, and then with a final scene which IMO is not a good stopping point for a short story, neither in resolution nor in leaving tension on. Basically I was not impressed.

More objectively than things like the objections above, the story seemed to rush over technical details and language and plot logic all in the way to get to its (very foreseeable) conclusion. By this I mean, our abhorrent main character does not read all the manual just because (well, he has all the flaws, right? Maybe that is it), but he manages perfectly to do as vague and anachronistic instructions like "Trevor had followed that method. The water was clean of pollutants and kept at 55 Fahrenheit. Fresh soil had been spread along the tub’s bottom and a complex mix of organic compounds kept the water a tinge of green." and I would have loved to know the mechanics of this, what pollutants meant in that 19th century world, how our main character had rigged that filter and kept temperature constant (wait, he was smart enough for this but not to read the whole manual?) and for goodness's sake "organic compounds" would have definitely taken me me out of the period feeling. More like it, incongruous language, and plot logic holes like our main character gets eaten obviously (come on, we knew that right from his first racist or colonialist or misogynist thought), all through scenes of chaos because kraken are on rampage including eating people, but his family and friends think he run away rather than having had an unexpected accident? People do not think like that, they worry about their loved ones....

This short story is/was a shortlist finalist for best short story. Mileage varies, I was much less impressed with it, but hey random person's opinion. My rating would be 2 stars. Edit in May, it made a bunch of lists for best short story of the year, including the Hugo award. Skimming-rereading the story now I am not detecting hidden depths, I do not get at all whatever the voters, juries saw in this. It's an interesting contrast to the stories in the novelette field, in that the ones I read were all so clearly **good** writing and this just was not.

[Trish · Rating 4 out of 5]

This review is for the short story How to Raise a Kraken in Your Bathtub by P. Djèlí Clark only.

Ah, the uncanny (excuse the pun) atmosphere of a slightly fantastical Victorian London mixed with Verne-esque elements! And yet, few things are ever as dangerous or destructive as a man's ambition!
What happens is pretty much what the title suggests. It's funny to see men like Trevor wanting so much out of life but simultaneously being so stupid that it's not really a mystery why they never amount to much. Naturally, I loved watching what happened to the guy. *chuckles sardonically* And as the title also suggest: what could possibly go wrong?! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Fantastically written and with a healthy amount of dark humour.

You can read (or listen to) the story for free here: https://www.uncannymagazine.com/artic...

[Peter Tillman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating and review is solely for these two stories:
"How to Raise a Kraken in Your Bathtub" by P. Djeli Clark. A project that was all too successful. With an alternate Captain Nemo.

"Doctor P.D. Bundelkund. Prince Dakkar of Bundelkund. A man who lived in the sea, who declared it his dominion, who conspired with Mermen—a man of great ambition, who now waged a war upon the Crown. What elaborate scheme could such a devious mind concoct?"

A delicious bit of faux-Victorian horror. An easy 4 stars. Don't miss! Direct story link: https://www.uncannymagazine.com/artic...

"Cold Relations" by Mary Robinette Kowal. A good story about a troubled family, government magic, and magical healing. 3.5 stars rounded up, recommended reading.

Direct story link: https://www.uncannymagazine.com/artic...

[Brok3n · Rating 3 out of 5]

Two not-bad Hugo finalists

In this issue of Uncanny Magazine I read only two stories: "How to raise a Kraken in your bathtub". by P. Djèlí Clark and "One Man's Treasure" by Sarah Pinsker. These are 2024 Hugo finalists: "Kraken" for Best Short Story and "Treasure" for Best Novelette. They were just OK, not great, and neither would receive my vote for the award. (My votes would be "The Sound of Children Screaming" by Rachael K. Jones for Short Story and "On the Fox Roads" by Nghi Vo for novelette.)

"Kraken" was a disappointment. From the title alone you will guess at the subject and plot of the story. This didn't bother me, because sometimes the best stories in speculative fiction are those that start out obvious, but then break. Well, "Kraken" doesn't break. It was pretty much exactly the story I imagined when I read the title.

"Treasure" was better. It's a story about trash collectors in a world where rich folks have access to magic and magical devices. If you're thinking, "Collecting magical trash sounds hazardous," have yourself a lollipop. It's a fun and imaginative little story, not, in my opinion, Hugo-worthy, but worth the little time to read it.

Blog review.

[urwa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Review for How to Raise a Kraken in Your Bathtub by P. Djeli Clark:

I did not absolutely hate this one unlike the other Hugo nominees I have read so far but once again this was bland and boring and nothing I would remember the past 2 days. About a Victorian man who tries to groom a Kraken at home and things get nasty. That is all that happens.

Review for One Man's Treasure by Sarah Pinkser:

Didn't have much of an opinion about this one. Found it to be very predictable and forgettable. Its about garbage collectors in a world with magic where they have to clean up after rich ppl throwing away their half used magical trinkets and spells.

[Jess · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyed "Cold Relations" by Mary Robinette Kowal and "How to Raise a Kraken in Your Bathtub" by P. Djeli Clark. Elizabeth Bear's poem, "Hel on a Headland" is deeply unsettling and dread-inducingly lovely.

Update: Also loved the hell out of John Wiswell's "Bad Doors" and "One Man’s Treasure" by Sarah Pinsker (the latter read by Matt Peters) and very much enjoyed the poem "The Witch Makes Her To-Do List" by Theodora Goss, all on the Uncanny Magazine podcast.

[Mitticus · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Cold Relations” by Mary Robinette Kowal - 4 stars
magic and ghosts


From the corner of her eye, she saw his shoulders collapse further with a sigh, because it wasn’t an argument he could fight. Wizards, witches, mages…it didn’t matter what you called them, magic users had a tendency to get burned or drowned or beheaded or in the modern day, regulated.

tho More than magicians is about the siblings relashionship, so complicated and convoluted.

[Kab · Rating 4 out of 5]

"How to Raise a Kraken in Your Bathtub" by P. Djèlí Clark ★★★½
"Cold Relations" by Mary Robinette Kowal ★★★★

[Kristen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I came here to read one story and stayed for a bunch of others🤩

How to Raise a Kraken in Your Bathtub - P. Djeli Clark
This short story was so clever and wonderfully done - it was giving Lovecraft but turned way on it’s head (as it should be), and apparently inspired by Jules Verne, too! I think part of the reason I like Clark’s writing so much (besides it perfectly itching that sci-fi/fantasy spot for me) is that I feel like he makes it easier to understand the points he’s trying to make, all while telling a great story.

Cold Relationships - Mary Robinette Kowal
Who ya gonna call? An intense story about magic and sibling relationships. This one had a really cool magic system, reminding me a little bit of the Emperor’s Soul.

Waystation City - A.T. Greenblatt
“In silence, we begin to doubt ourselves”
This was very thought provoking and uncomfortable, and I loved it. Would you rather live in a utopian city with people from every place and time, and change as a person, OR go back home to friends and family, and have to create change around you?
“And then there were those of us who changed, who were changing still, and we were the ones living in the spaces between”

What a Fourteenth Century Legal Case Can Teach Us about Storytelling - Annalee Newitz
This one caught my eye because I recognized the author as that of The Future of Another Timeline. This was an interesting feminist take on the discovery and analysis of a legal case of poet Geoffrey Chaucer.

Read here: https://www.uncannymagazine.com/issue...

[Antonis · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 / 5
This review and rating is only for the short story One Man’s Treasure by Sarah Pinsker. The premise is very unique and interesting! We follow along a married guy working as a garbage collector working on a truck with 2 other people, and going around different routes. And here's the thing... it's those routes and where they take them that make this novelette so interesting. Apparently, this is a alt-universe where magic exists and there are neighborhoods with extremely rich and powerful people that have such abundance of magic and magical items that they throw them in their garbage. Thus, interesting things happen on the days of bulk garbage collection in these routes. Collecting discarded magical items is extremely dangerous and risky.
I found the premise very clever and the setting ripe for a longer length novel. The plot was nothing great, just a quirky presentation of one side or POV of this world & setting. The characters were ok; I suppose I can't expect too much from a story 25 pages long. I was going to give this 4 stars but I felt the ending was quite stupid and rather incredulous. Still, as it's a free and easy to find and read short story, I can only recommend it. Visit Uncanny Magazine's webpage and read this along with many others that might catch your fancy.
3.5 / 5

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid double issue from the Uncanny team. I really enjoyed the following stories:

Flower, Daughter, Soil, Seed by Eugenia Triantafyllou
How to Raise a Kraken in Your Bathtub by P. Djeli Clark
Cold Relations by Mary Robinette Kowal
Silver Necklace, Golden Ring by Marie Brennan
One Man's Treasure by Sarah Pinsker

[tysephine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sarah Pinsker, "One Man's Treasure," 29 pages (kindle) 3.5 stars

P. Djèlí Clark, "How to Raise a Kraken in Your Bathtub," 26 pages (kindle) 3.5 stars

[Marlene · Rating 5 out of 5]

"How to Raise a Kraken in Your Bathtub" by P. Djèlí Clark

The title of this story is the title of the manual that Trevor Hemley receives along with the rather expensive ‘Kraken egg’ that he’s purchased from an advertisement in the back of a magazine. Which all sounds utterly dodgy when you think about it for even half a second – but Trevor Hemley didn’t. Think, that is.

All Trevor thought about was the possibility of fame and fortune, of finally proving to his wealthy father-in-law that he was worthy of the hand of the man’s daughter – even though he already had that hand, along with a lovely home and a secure position all provided by his wife’s father.

Which of course made him feel all that more looked down upon by his wife’s family and their wealthy connections.

So a kraken. Or rather a plan to hatch said kraken in his bathtub, reveal the existence of the long-believed either mythical or extinct kraken to the world, and reap the rewards that Trevor felt were his due. After all, in Trevor’s Victorian Era, the Industrial Revolution was in full swing, fantastic discoveries were being made around the globe by Englishmen of science and daring, and the sun never set on an Empire that reaped the benefits of all the countries to which it believed it was bringing enlightenment while raping their economies and destroying their cultures.

But England is unassailable from without – as history has proven time and again. Which does not mean that it can’t be conquered – or that vengeance can’t be delivered upon it – from within. One crate and one bathtub at a time.

By a monstrous and rapacious creature – in fact a whole horde of them – with appetites as large as empires.

Escape Rating A-: The whole of this story is considerably greater than the sum of its parts, which is merely one part of what makes it so much fun and so thought provoking at the same time.

On the surface, it’s a bit of a funny story about a man whose reach has very definitely exceeded his grasp, as well as a bit of a morality tale about the parting of fools and their money, combined with the message that anything that sounds too good to be true generally is and that people generally get conned because they’ve conned themselves first.

But those messages were delivered in a thrashing of tentacles and teeth which Trevor Hemley certainly deserved. What gives the story its shiver of horror mixed with delicious righteousness is the way that Trevor is merely a part of the deliverance of those messages to a much wider and even more deserving ‘audience’.

Because it’s not really about the kraken after all. Even though it still is. And it’s the double-barrelling of the story, that it’s both the tongue-in-cheek tale of a man who does something really, really stupid and pays for it, AND it’s a story about colonialism where the colonizers get more than a few tentacles of their just desserts.

The title of this is marvelous, eye-catching and true in more ways than one – much like the story it represents. However, that title isn’t the only reason I picked this up yesterday – but it is one of the reasons that I picked it first out of the Hugo Packet for this year’s awards – which leads me straight into the other reasons I chose to read this story to round out a week that’s had a whole lot of ‘meh’ in it.

As a person with at least a Supporting Membership in this year’s World Science Fiction Convention, I have voting rights for the Hugo Awards. In order to be informed about exercising those rights, the Awards committee compiles a packet of ebook versions of as much of the nominated material as the publishers will give them. That packet became available this week and I immediately downloaded the lot.

A lot that included this story by P. Djèlí Clark, whose previous work I have very much enjoyed, and in the case of the whole, entire Dead Djinn Universe (A Dead Djinn in Cairo, The Angel of Khan el-Khalili, The Haunting of Tram Car 015 and the utterly awesome A Master of Djinn) absolutely loved. While there are no djinn in this story, dead or alive, I was still up for some of his work because I knew it would be a gem whether or not it had received a Hugo nod.

All of which is to explain that many of the works that have received Hugo nominations (including another story from this very issue of Uncanny Magazine!) will appear in reviews here over the coming weeks. Based on the works that I have already read, plus this first foray into the nominated shorter works, it’s going to be an excellent year for the Hugos no matter which stories ultimately go home with rockets!

"One Man's Treasure" by Sarah Pinsker

This second entry in my very informal and scattered series of reviews of this year’s Hugo nominated works is focused on one of the nominees in the Novelette category – meaning a story between 7,500 and 17,500 words.

The title isn’t quite as evocative as last week’s “How to Raise a Kraken in Your Bathtub” – which is absolutely one of the most attention grabbing TITLES on the entire ballot. But this one came next because it’s from the same issue of Uncanny Magazine so I decided “Why not?”

For my next pick from the ballot I may have to resort to “Eeny, meeny, miny, moe” – or I will once I get through all the works by my faves that are on the list.

The title of this story, while not quite the claxon warning that Kraken should have been, does bring a scenario to the top of one’s mind – even if it’s a much different scenario – as well as a potentially less dangerous one.

“One man’s trash is another man’s treasure” as the old proverb goes. There’s also a variation about “one man’s meat being another man’s poison” but that’s not nearly as applicable in this story.

Because this is a story about the way that the trash gets taken out in a magically powered world, as seen through the eyes of the garbage collectors.

It’s kind of a “lower decks” story, in other words, a view of the world, not from the top where the movers and shakers do their moving and shaking and where stories are often set, but rather from much nearer to the bottom, where the nitty gritty is very gritty indeed and where shit gets done and disposed of – in this case one truckload at a time.

But this particular story is also a story about class and labor organizing and the rich being different from you and me, and especially from Aden, Blue and Nura.

And it’s a story about karma being a real bitch – but in a way that might just possibly teach someone a few lessons as she goes.

Escape Rating B-: It’s lucky for this story that it is not in the same category as Kraken because in spite of having potentially twice as much space to tell its tale, One Man’s Treasure doesn’t stick the dismount half as well.

The best part of One Man’s Treasure is the world creation and character creation by way of slice of life. On the one hand, it’s fantastically familiar on multiple levels.

While we might not think about how the Wizarding World in Harry Potter gets rid of its trash, it does have to happen somehow. In a magical world where everyone has a bit of magic, and a leisure class that has even more leisure, there would be neighborhoods where more magical detritus got thrown in the trash because there was more available to waste.

The potential of magical trash to be magically dangerous seems high once you think about it for a minute. That the ritzy neighborhoods would be paying good money to make sure that THEIR trash got taken away quietly and with minimal fuss seems obvious. That’s just humans being human in their ugliness.

The garbage collectors themselves, Aden and Blue along with Aden’s girlfriend Nura, represent an entirely different perspective. They’re the ones at the sharp end of the danger. They resent the waste of material and money that could make their lives better – AND they are frustrated by government budgeting – set by those very same rich people who don’t want to see them – that refuse to fund even basic safety equipment for their very dangerous jobs.

The situation is ripe for some kind of labor organizing and class action – which is exactly what happens. The way that situation comes about is woven into every thread of the story – even if the exact triggering point is a disgusting surprise.

But the denouement of the whole story felt a bit rushed, as though the words were running out – they possibly were – and it had to get wrapped. The character who has been lying all along – and for disgusting reasons – gets found out and gets punished. He seems to have an epiphany but we don’t get the chance to find out whether that’s real or whether it stuck.

So I was happily reading along, really liking the characters and loving the way the whole thing was working out and then BOOM it was over but not in a way that really felt like closure. This is a story where the world is terrifically built and just the right balance between familiar and new – but if you want to feel like it came to a solid conclusion you’ll need to decide that in your own head after you’ve finished – even as you wonder whether or not Aden ever lost the fox ears.

Originally published at Reading Reality here and here

[Howard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Originally published at myreadinglife.com.

Time for the next magazine review in my year of short fiction. This one is Uncanny Magazine Issue 50 for January/February 2023. Let's dive right into the story reviews!

The first story, "Collaboration?" by Ken Liu & Caroline M. Yoachim, is experimental. It attempts to tell the story of two beings creating worlds together. In the ebook version they use what they call an accessible version that will work for screen readers. It didn't really work for me. It's a little better on the website but still not my cup of tea. (My rating: 2/5)

Next up is "Cold Relations" by Mary Robinette Kowal. This is by far my favorite story of the year so far. It tells the tale of a brother and sister on opposites sides of the law where magic is concerned. They've become estranged but start to come together in a way that surprises. Emotion-filled storytelling that is both realistic and tugs at the heart. (My rating: 5/5)

"How to Raise a Kraken in Your Bathtub" by P. Djèlí Clark is exactly what it sounds like in the title. A wannabe somebody in the Victorian era mail orders a kraken egg and raises it in his bathtub. As you can imaging, things don't go to plan. The author really brings you into the world of his unlikable protagonist and makes you feel the consequences of his hubris. (My rating: 4/5)

A. T. Greenblatt shows us "Waystation City" through the experience of twins who are seeking to leave it. Everyone arrives without knowing when they will leave. The twins get tired of waiting and seek a guide to get out sooner, as many others have. The feel of the city and how those in it are feeling really shine. (My rating: 5/5)

Imagine a plague-ridden world hollowed out by millions of deaths that has descended into a dictatorial corporate government. Now you are a trans woman living alone in an apartment where you once cared for the now-dead owner. Oh, and "you see dead people", that is ghosts. This is the setup for "Horsewoman" by A.M. Dellamonica. The loneliness amidst all the voices is what came through most to me. (My rating: 3/5)

In "Flower, Daughter, Soil, Seed" by Eugenia Triantafyllou, a mother tells her daughter of the women in her family all the way back to her great great grandmother. The twist here is that they are all flowers. Each generation is a different flower that grew up in a different environment. The love flows through and down to each new generation. (My rating: 4/5)

In "One Man's Treasure" by Sarah Pinsker, the wealthy have so much magic they can afford to throw away its tools and artifacts. The garbage workers need to be careful not to be hexed by the things they pick up. One crew finds a statue that may be more than it seems. This story felt very Agatha Christie to me in all the best ways. (My rating: 4/5)

What if the Jesuits had an enclave on the moon? Why the moon? What would they do there? How would they relate the church authorities? E. Lily Yu explores these questions and more in "The Father Provincial of Mare Imbrium". Like other Jesuits, these are scientists, and they discover something important. But will they be allowed to share their findings? (My rating: 5/5)

A cold, dark man arrives at a small village each month to take one of the women to be his servant for the month. No one ever sees these women again. "Silver Necklace, Golden Ring" by Marie Brennan is the story of one of these women. But she resolves to do something about her situation and takes her fate into her own hands. A well-told fairy tale of female agency in less than ideal circumstances. (My rating: 4/5)

Married husbands accompany a young female magician into the desert to guard her as she undoes the magic  at the request of a recently deceased woman who performed that magic long ago in "Miz Boudreaux’s Last Ride" by Christopher Caldwell. Shades of Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds heighten the fear and foreboding. (My rating: 3/5)

No matter where he lives or tries to escape it, the protagonist of John Wiswell's "Bad Doors" simply cannot get away from the mysterious door that keeps appearing in the walls of his homes. It doesn't help that he is dealing with a global pandemic and an uncle deep into conspiracy theories. Angst and helplessness and frustration are on hand here. (My rating: 3/5)

In "Prospect Heights" by Maureen McHugh, a young woman in a gentrified neighborhood of New York is warned not to turn right out of her apartment. Of course, she does, and as she explores the dilapidated building thinks she sees herself. Nothing really new here for me but the imagery and writing are good. (My rating: 3/5)

One bonus review. I don't normally review the essays in these magazines, though I do read them. I highly recommend from this issue "Building Better Worlds" by Javier Grillo–Marxuach which discusses how world building in fiction works. It deals mostly with film and TV but also applies to writing. It is fantastic resource for any storyteller.

Overall, this was an excellent issue in my opinion. My short fiction ratings average out to 3.75. I'm looking forward to reading more short stories in my February issues!

[Julia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review for "How to Raise a Kraken in Your Bathtub" by P. Djèlí Clark.
https://www.uncannymagazine.com/artic...

Second review for "Waystation City" by A. T. Greenblatt
https://www.uncannymagazine.com/artic...

[Afreen Aftab · Rating 4 out of 5]

MORE FICTION
Horsewoman by A.M. Dellamonica - 3/5 ( a little too dragged out for me)

Collaboration? by Ken Liu & Caroline M. Yoachim - 3/5 (interesting mini concepts only too complex and over complicated)

Waystation City by A. T. Greenblatt - 4/5 (interesting story. Some wayward children vibes but darker)

Flower, Daughter, Soil, Seed by Eugenia Triantafyllou - 3/5 (very sweet. Just not something appealing to me)

How to Raise a Kraken in Your Bathtub by P. Djèlí Clark - 5/5 T Clark does it once again. He truly excels in the short story format. How imaginative and brilliant)

Cold Relations by Mary Robinette Kowal - 3/5 ( This had an interesting premise, an innovative magic system as well as the allusion to the messed up health care system of some countries. But I wish it was a bit more condensed and the writing took me out of the story some times)

Silver Necklace, Golden Ring by Marie Brennan - 2.5/5 (sigh I've never liked this fairy tale or any variation of it e.g. Naomi Novik's Uprooted)

Miz Boudreaux’s Last Ride by Christopher Caldwell - 3/5 (too nice for my cynical heart)

The Father Provincial of Mare Imbrium by E. Lily Yu - 4/5 (okay I'll admit this went a bit over my head. A tussle between science and religion, issues of censorship and AI, advancements in technology, life and scientific discoveries. very very up my alley)

Prospect Heights by Maureen McHugh - 3.5/5 (interesting premise, I wish there was more to it)

One Man’s Treasure by Sarah Pinsker - 4.5/5 ( such an interesting idea to write about the capitalist waste, treatment of labourers, and bureaucratic incompetence in a world of magic)

Bad Doors by John Wiswell - 5/5 (endless number of brilliant metaphors and stories and advice about the authenticity of the science (be it any topic - vaccinations, the roundness of earth etc and people still chose to be dunderheads)

POETRY

I good collection. I liked Driving Downtown by Abu Bakr Sadiq and Kannazuki, or the Godless Month by Betsy Aoki

But my absolute fave was 'To Whomsoever Remains' by Brandon O’Brien. I just love his imagery and words every time.
we thought there was enough tomorrows to go around
and then one cold night we counted too few in our hands.

"[...]I am sorry that you have to read this while the clouds get dark.
but—and reread this whenever the stars cannot be found—
at the very least, in the very worst, we made you, and you are still here.

you. a seed. surviving in this tragic soil.
and mustn’t that be enough?"

EDITORIALS
The Tired Body Problem by Meg Elison - 4/5

ESSAYS
Something in the Way: AI-Generated Images and the Real Killer by John Picacio - 5/5 (highlights one of the biggest problems of AI art viz not just the loss of livelihoods and entire industries but the settling of the masses for mediocrity.
"I’ll find a way forward amidst the carnage. To be clear, that does not mean I will collaborate with AI...What I’m not sure I can survive is that gaping disconnect of the human audience settling for “good enough.”
"Beware of “good enough,” friends. Expect the best from art. Expect originality. Do not settle. Resist. Persist."

The Haunting of Her Body by Elsa Sjunneson - 4/5 (viewing chronic illness as haunting of the body with a focus on Mike Flanagan's Midnight Club...yes thank you.)

What a Fourteenth Century Legal Case Can Teach Us about Storytelling by Annalee Newitz - 5/5 (wow this was so intriguing to read. All the legalese are presented in an understandable way and the essay has made some interesting points.)
"There will always be more interpretations and more perspectives to consider, many of them contradictory. That’s how history works, and that’s how storytelling works. Put another way, good worldbuilding is never finished."

The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm: Audio Writing by Diana M. Pho - 4/5 (this is a great essay on audio fiction and audio dramas. Honestly, these days audiobooks being narrated by celebs rather than pros is more of a miss than a hit. Cause they're not skilled in all that it takes to narrate a book effectively and this essay highlights all the necessities of making a successful audio product)

The Magic of the Right Story by A. T. Greenblatt - 4/5 (very inspiring in a relaxed way)

Building Better Worlds by Javier Grillo–Marxuach - 3/5 (A great essay on collaborative story writing and having a good vision while world-building. The downfall of this essay is that Grillo-Marxuach compares the world-building in franchises like Star Trek, Star Wars, x files or movies like 'children of Men' to that of single quick action movies like 'In Time' and 'Daybreakers' calling the latter inadequate. Like even I know those movies could've done better but that comparison doesn't seem fair. Also, they praise Tolkien's writing because he took 10 years and yet there's no mention of a severe lack of character development in women, or lack of women even)

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Collaboration? (accessible version)” by Ken Liu & Caroline M. Yoachim: This was super weird! I quite like how it tries to do something different with the form but I’m not sure whether I thought the actual story coheres as well as it might.
“Cold Relations” by Mary Robinette Kowal: A master at the top of her game, this story was poignant and brilliant. I really enjoyed it.
“How to Raise a Kraken in Your Bathtub” by P. Djèlí Clark: This one started out a bit weak, but I realised how great it was when the end of the story arrived. Very much enjoyed it.
“Waystation City” by A. T. Greenblatt: This one was not really my bag; I enjoyed it, but it didn’t grab me.
“Horsewoman” by A.M. Dellamonica: I was enjoying it but wondering how it would end, and I’m not sure that the ending worked for me at all.
“Flower, Daughter, Soil, Seed” by Eugenia Triantafyllou: This was slight, but very poetic.
“One Man’s Treasure” by Sarah Pinsker: I really liked this one – not a surprise, perhaps, that Pinsker blew me away but she did.
“The Father Provincial of Mare Imbrium” by E. Lily Yu: I’m not sure I entirely grokked what was going on, but I loved it anyway.
“Silver Necklace, Golden Ring” by Marie Brennan: This was interesting and very Brennan. I can’t decide whether the ending is a happy one.
“Miz Boudreaux’s Last Ride” by Christopher Caldwell: I saw the twist coming a mile off, but I enjoyed this even though it felt pretty by-the-numbers.
“Bad Doors” by John Wiswell: A sort of portal story talking about COVID? I liked it, I’m not sure I’ve seen anyone do horror-fantasy as a way to talk about ‘rona before. I’m not as sure about the ending.
“Prospect Heights” by Maureen McHugh: I really liked this! Reminded me of the Mythos in a way; felt very much like a story that could have been told in The King in Yellow.

[Esther · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my fav issue. Always enjoy reading Uncanny as an overall experience with mix of editorial, non fiction, fiction, poetry, interviews and audio. This issue happened to disappoint me a few times with stories by authors I normally really enjoy that didn’t quite come together for me.

Also, none of the stories quite rose to being just awesome. Of the ones I like, my favs were probably the Greenblatt, Triantafyllou and the Yu.

Perfect for me

Enjoyable, worked for me
“How to Raise a Kraken in Your Bathtub” by Djeli Clark - Fun with enough to make you think.
“Waystation City” by A.T. Greenblatt - What a setting and premise!
“Flower, Daughter, Soil, Seed” by Eugenia Triantafyllou - Lovely images, interesting premise.
“The Father Provincial of Mare Imbrium” by E. Lily Yu - Engaging. Quirky.
“Silver Necklace, Golden Ring” by Marie Brennan - Often enjoy Brennan. Quirky alternative fairy tale.
“Bad Doors” by John Wiswell - Quite enjoyed the main character and his response to magic.

Fine, but didn’t stand out for me
“Cold Relations” by Mary Robinette Kowal. - Another author I often enjoy. But this one didn’t grab me.
“Horsewoman” by A.M. Dellamonica - Some interesting components but didn’t quite come together for me.
“One Man’s Treasure” by Sarah Pinsker - Love lots of her stuff. Interesting aspects but didn’t quite work for me.
“Miz Boudreaux’s Last Ride” by Christopher Caldwell. - Ended up having quite a cute detail in the ending but didn’t engage me for most of it.
“Prospect Heights” by Maureen McHugh.

Not my cup of tea
“Collaboration?” by Ken Liu and Caroline M. Yoachim - Have enjoyed both authors before. Highly experimental. Did not land for me.

[Heni · Rating 4 out of 5]

Horsewoman by A.M. Dellamonica ❌

Collaboration? (accessible version) by Ken Liu & Caroline M. Yoachim ❌

Miz Boudreaux’s Last Ride by Christopher Caldwell❌

The Father Provincial of Mare Imbrium by E. Lily Yu❌

Prospect Heights by Maureen McHugh ❌

One Man’s Treasure by Sarah Pinsker ❌

Bad Doors by John Wiswell ❌ (I think I've read this one before. Doors that appear from nowhere and start kidnapping people, is what I remember about this story)

Waystation City by A. T. Greenblatt
A story about being trapped in the unknown and eventually separated with your loved ones is always eerie. Especially when they go where you cannot follow: through time. 4 ⭐ 

Flower, Daughter, Soil, Seed by Eugenia Triantafyllou
The idea that flowers hold memories is unique, and the writing is engaging. 3 ⭐

How to Raise a Kraken in Your Bathtub by P. Djèlí Clark
This is a strange tale but uniquely enjoyable. I love how naive the protagonist is lol. 4 ⭐

Cold Relations by Mary Robinette Kowal
New way of using necromancy: capturing the ghost (soul) and basically eat it up and use it for energy to fuel your magic. Interesting concept. Also, sibling loves. 4 ⭐ 

Silver Necklace, Golden Ring by Marie Brennan
Love this! The whole story feels like folklore which it probably is. When a scary man comes to you and try to kidnap you, demand an impossible condition so he cannot take you. 5 ⭐

[Norman Cook · Rating 4 out of 5]

“One Man’s Treasure” by Sarah Pinsker
2024 Hugo Award finalist - Best Novelette
4 Stars
This is a tight little story that could easily be much longer, but Pinsker wisely, I think, keeps it short and sweet. It includes commentary about economic class struggles, management/employee relations, bureaucracy, workplace safety, and excessive consumerism in a fun package about trash collectors working in an urban world where almost everyone has some sort of magical abilities. There's even a little murder mystery to keep things interesting.

“How to Raise a Kraken in Your Bathtub” by P. Djèlí Clark
2024 Hugo Award finalist - Best Short Story
4 Stars
This is a nice steampunky mad scientist story that features references to Captain Nemo (aka Nobody). With a mixture of adventure and horror, it demonstrates how hubris and misplaced ambition can destroy not just individuals, but entire societies. The ending is a bit abrupt; I think this scenario could stand to be expanded into a much longer piece.

I did not read any of the other stories in this issue.

[Corrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Uncanny Magazine issue #50 (January/February, 2023). You can read the stories online here https://www.uncannymagazine.com/issue...

I came for Mary Robinette Kowal’s short story Cold Relations and stayed for How to Raise a Kraken in Your Bathtub by P. Djèlí Clark.

Cold Relations is about the relationship between a necromancer and her estranged brother. Loved the use of magic in this one.

In How to Raise a Kraken in Your Bathtub Trevor Hemley, a Victorian getleman of great ambition, endeavors to hatch an illustrious Kraken from an egg he mail-ordered from an advert. Oh, dear. P. Djèlí Cark’s stories are pure delight.

Also read Horsewoman by A. M. Dellamonica and ended this issue with Waystation City by A. T. Greenblatt.

4 Stars

[Angelica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Picked up this issue because of MRK's novelette: https://www.uncannymagazine.com/artic...
[4/5 stars] I enjoyed this story about magic in the modern world. The brand name drops were mostly cute (but why was it important that I know she was using a Swedish dishcloth specifically?) and the way Claudette casts spells by consuming memory was clever. I also enjoyed the tension between her and her brother.

Saw Ken Liu had contributed and also read that: https://www.uncannymagazine.com/artic...
[4? out of 5 stars]
This one was difficult to read on the phone when the content split into multiple columns. (I actually peeked at the accessible version to see if it would've been easier to parse.) But it was so random and poetic, and I especially loved the part where the cat's job was to keep knowledge from the world. Also thought it was fun thinking about how art might look in the future.

P. Djèlí Clark was the other author I recognized: https://www.uncannymagazine.com/artic...
[4/5 stars]
Oh, this was fun. 🦑

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I only listened to the short story Waystation City by A.T. Greenblatt from this magazine collection through the LeVar Burton Reads podcast. In this story, two fraternal twins from 1970s London have mysteriously been transported to the Cafe Liminalité, a 'waystation' that has neither a location or a time period. Everyone caught in this nebulous pocket of time, is eventually given an opportunity to go back home, but the twins ask for a resident's help in getting back early although it is fraught with danger. This story of accepting change grew on me. (Actual review 3.5/5)

[Bradley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review for P. Djeli Clark's "How to Raise a Kraken in Your Bathtub"

Nommed for Hugo this year, I had to give it a chance, and yes, it is quite as good as the title.

We've got a little Lovecraftian/Nemo crossover here with a man of real ambition. Love the old Victorian style, the vanity -- ooooh the vanity -- that would lead a man to go this far.

Muahahahahahaha

Well worth it.

Who'd have guessed that inviting a monster in your home might be disastrous? Why didn't anyone tell him? :)

[Marco · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read the stories separately at different moment in times, but goodreads keeps merging them into the magazine where they first appeared.

One Man's Treasure by Sarah Pinsker. Every year I read all the finalists of the most prestigious science fiction awards (at least in the English speaking world): the Hugo awards. This story is a finalist in the Novelette category. I had previously read and liked a few stories by this author, and I was curious to read this one. It turns out to be the most interesting and enjoyable story by this author I read so far.
One Man's Treasure is set in a world quite like ours, but where magic exists and... it is very expensive. Using this premise the author waves an interesting story that is a reflection of the inequalities of the real world we live in.

How to Raise a Kraken in Your Bathtub by P. Djèlí Clark. Every year I read all the finalists of the most prestigious science fiction awards (at least in the English speaking world): the Hugo awards. This story is a finalist in the Short Story category. I had previously read and loved quite a lot work by this author, and I could not wait to read this one. I was not disappointed.
The story is set in the Victorian England, and it features a misogynistic, xenophobic protagonist that unhappy of his unearned wealth, decides to prove his worth without much effort since he believes he is entitled to it. The tone is often funny and light, and that tempers the horrors of colonialism and "white burden" thinking of the era. A great book, one of my favorites among the finalists this year.

Bad Doors by John Wiswell, a finalist for the 2023 Nebula Awards in the Short Story Category.
I previously read some other short fiction by this author, and I really loved his D.I.Y. Hence when I heard he wrote another short story, and that it was short-listed for the Nebula, I could not resist.
The premise of the story is relatively simple is relatively simple: a mysterious door keeps appearing wherever the narrator goes. What makes the story interesting though is the world where it takes place: it is set in the America of Covid-19 pandemic, disinformation, and conspiracy theories. It reads a little like a dystopian story, yet it is 100% the world we did (and still do) live in.

[Sanoo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read for Cold Relations by Mary Robinette Kowal - March 2024

4 stars - It was written in a hauntingly familiar way that made a sense of loss and sacrifice just pop out, and I realised it was very familiar to the style in The Lady Astronaut of Mars. Even though it was a short story it definitely had quite a bit of emotional punch packed in there.