Uncanny Magazine Issue 12: September/October 2016

Updated to add additional reviews from this issue of Uncanny Magazine Reviews first posted on Fantasy Literature 4.5 stars for The Witch of Orion Waste and the Boy Knight by E Lily Yu, a delightful if slightly cynical fairy tale type of short story This story is free online here In this fairy tale with a bit of a modern twist to it, the old witch of Orion Waste decides it is time for her to go off to new adventures, so she offers her job and hut to the chandler s clerk, who was just making a del [...]

A witch falls for a handsome knight, and, at his request, follows him on his quest to slay dragons Unfortunately, the knight turns out to be both cowardly and fickle We see before she does that her heroic efforts on his behalf are wasted on him.The story wasn t bad, but the allegory regarding bad relationships where women give too much in our world was a bit too obvious for my taste.

My Body, Herself by Carmen Maria Machado4.5 This premise was disturbing but also profoundly interesting A woman dies in a cave, and is present in her body, while another version of herself appears, walking around, speaking a few words, as the years pass I was glued to the e reader page Not a Miracle But a Marvel by Tim Pratt3.5 Even the characters poke a little fun at the setup, when two couples who are dating each other arrive at a lake house for a relaxing, sexy vacation and then one of them d [...]

This is a review for The Witch of Orion Waste and the Boy Knight by E Lily Yu 3 5 Read it HERE.A fairy tale that isn t really a fairy tale, although it involves dragons, knights, witches and spells.

Issue 12 presents creatures in the form of doppelgangers, fairies, and ghosts, witches, ogres and a brain The essays pay homage to Star Trek, my favorite TV show along with Dr Who , and my favorite piece in the issue is a discussion of Alice in Wonderland Syndrome Good issue overall.Fiction My Body, Herself by Carmen Maria Machado A dead girl watches her double learn to talk, and try to escape I always like Machado s stories, even if I rarely get them I often find myself thinking about them long [...]

The stories I recommend the most from this issue The Witch of Orion Waste and the Boy Knight by E Lily Yu 5 is one of my favorite stories of 2016 This allegory on how marriages fail with strong independent women and men that are intimidated by them is brilliant Under One Roof by Sarah Pinkser 4 A locked attic in a new house brings up a circumstance in which a marriage is changed Rooms Formed of Neurons and Sex by Ferrett Steinmetz 4 A really weird story about a brain in a jar that has an intimat [...]

I m really looking forward to Machado s collection.

Not a bad story in the bunch Sarah Pinkster s Under One Roof was creepy good fun and Ferrett s Rooms Formed of Neurons and Sex was a crackin read intriguing and erotic at points, but also very human Probably my favorite story was The Witch of Orion Waste and the Boy Knight the writing here was just lovely.

Excellent issue of an excellent magazine standouts include Carmen Maria Machado s My Body, Herself and the eccentric and sweet sort of Rooms Formed of Neurons and Sex by Ferret Steinmetz Also some smart and moving essays on growing up with Star Trek, Deep Space 9 and SF in general by various authors.

Uncanny Magazine continues to impress and supply the Space Unicorn Corps with great new short fiction and poetry to read The stories in this issue had me thinking and kept me on my toes as I never quite knew what was going to happen as entered new worlds conjure up by some of the top authors in the industry I didn t fully understand the stories but there certainly made me feel things that I could think about later.One of my favorite stories of the issue was the fantasy story The Witch of Orion W [...]

An interesting story, that follows the structure and some of the plot elements of the classic fairy tales, but none of their sexist undertones, and morals This is the story of a woman, escaped from a violent and angry family, that found power in witchcraft, and fell and sacrifice herself for an unworthy knight.

So many good stories in this one Favorites My Body, Herself by Carmen Maria Machado had an incredibly sinister atmosphere Very disturbing but worked oh so well Not a Miracle But a Marvel by Tim Pratt starts a bit tropey but developes in a hilarious direction Under One Roof by Sarah Pinsker had a creepy attic that turned out to be even creepier than what I was expecting it to be The Witch of Orion Waste and the Boy Knight by E Lily Yu might have been my favorite of the lot Maybe sometimes you nee [...]

Another very varied mag the most adult of the issues I ve read The top three were The Witch of Orion Waste and the Boy Knight , the Ogres of East Africa a very nice storytelling conceit in this one , but topping the pile was Not a Miracle but a Marvel set up to be quite a novella short novel, but a surprisingly short but very effective story in the end.

MY BODY HERSELF Carmen Maria Machado NOT A MIRACLE BUT A MARVEL Tim Pratt UNDER ONE ROOF Sarah Pinsker THE WITCH OF ORION WASTE AND THE BOY KNIGHT E Lily Yu ROOMS FORMED OF NEURONS AND SEX Ferrett Steinmetz OGRES OF EAST AFRICA Sofia Samatar

What s better than a romantic weekend in the woods Well Tim Pratt can t leave well enough alone With faery circles, a disappeared car, a game of chance, love, and a waffle ironTo find learn how that works out, become a Patreon member

3 5 Positive My favourite story was Not a Miracle, I loved seeing good poly representation I also liked My Body, Under One Roof, The Witch, and Ogres of East Africa.Negative There were a few stories I didn t like.

A happy poly vacation turns into a journey into faerie to save one of their own Complete with frustrated faerie queen and waffle iron.

My favourite piece in this issue was My Body, Herself by Carmen Maria Machado The prose was a joy to read and I loved the double speak, fantasy, and contemplation that is encased in this story.

Excellent issue I especially enjoyed the Star Trek anniversary essays, and this time I listened to the podcasts as well, which added an extra bit of background that I liked.