Review by Booklist Review
Multi-award-winning Uncanny Magazine has been the preeminent publisher of speculative short fiction, poetry, and nonfiction since 2014, and is renowned for offering its contributors tremendous creative freedom. Authors published by Uncanny are a roster of the greatest sf writers of the present era: Neil Gaiman, N. K. Jemisin, Charlie Jane Anders, Seanan McGuire, Naomi Novik, and many, many more. The works in this anthology are the best of the best in the genre, from science fiction to fantasy to weird tales to poetry, representing a stunning diversity of styles and perspectives, from the Hugo award-winning Folding Beijing, by Hao Jingfang to a female empowerment parable, Monster Girls Don't Cry, by A. Merc Rustad. Language and family tie into technology and posterity in Restore the Heart to Love, by John Chu; Clearly Lettered in a Mostly Steady Hand, by Fran Wilde visits a nightmarish circus freak show; And Then There Were (N-One), by Sarah Pinsker is what happens when Being John Malkovich meets Agatha Christie. This anthology contains a gluttonous surfeit of narrative riches. The works in this collection are inventive, gorgeous, occasionally difficult, and immensely rewarding. Truly, the best of Uncanny.--John Keogh Copyright 2019 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Hugo-winning editors Thomas and Thomas have assembled some of the most well known, internationally respected, and utterly evocative pieces from Uncanny's five-year history into this substantial and impressive collection. With a wealth of diverse voices, topics, and themes, these pieces attest to the limitless creativity of Uncanny's writers, encompassing N.K. Jemisin's "Henosis," a disorienting and disquieting contemplation of the dangers posed by fans and fame; Fran Wilde's haunting poem "The Sea Never Says It Loves You"; and Charlie Jane Anders's "Ghost Champagne," a bubbly tale of comedy clubs, ghosts, and true love. Many stories exemplify the power of speculative fiction to challenge traditional notions of history (as Sam J. Miller does in "The Heat of Us: Notes Toward an Oral History," reimagining the first moments of the Stonewall riot) and confront the horrors of reality (as both Brooke Bolander's "Our Talons Can Crush Galaxies" and Delilah S. Dawson's "Catcall" do with heartrending honesty). This is an enlivening, enlightening treasure for the magazine's readers and any fans of the genre. Agent: Barry Goldblatt, Barry Goldblatt Literary. (Jan.)
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Review by Library Journal Review
Since 2014, Uncanny magazine's editors, stories, and the publication itself, have won multiple awards. Now, 44 original science fiction and fantasy stories and poems from the first 22 issues have been brought together in one volume. From the short but powerful woman-centered tale "Our Talons Can Crush Galaxies" by Brooke Bolander, to Alyssa Wong's Best Novelette Locus Award-winning fantastical Old West in "You'll Surely Drown Here If You Stay," to Fran Wilde's poem "The Sea Never Says It Loves You," the diverse range of voices, works, and prose show the wealth of creativity, humanity, and talent in today's science fiction and fantasy writers. The introduction from editors Thomas and Thomas show their passion for the genre. VERDICT This delightful volume of imaginative writing will be devoured by genre fans and newcomers alike.--Kristi Chadwick, Massachusetts Lib. Syst., Northampton
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
This shelf-bending collection of 44 stories and poems from Uncanny Magazine's first five years highlights not only the publication's consistent quality, but also the impressive diversity of voices and thematic profundity it showcases.Many of the selections are powered by brass-knuckle social commentary. Sam J. Miller's paranormal-nuanced "The Heat of Us: Notes Toward an Oral History" is set in an alternate New York City on June 28, 1969, the night of the Stonewall Riots, when a police raid of a gay night club sparked an uprising and became the catalyst for the gay rights movement, and which also happened to be "the first public demonstration of the supernatural phenomenon that would later be called by names as diverse as collective pyrokinesis, group magic, communal energy...liberation flame, and hellfire." Constructed from oral interviews with witnesses to the bloody conflict, the story explores the tensions of the time and brilliantly conveys a complexity of emotions, from unbridled rage to despair to love. The last few words will stay with you: "I believe joy is the only thing stronger than sadness." Delilah S. Dawson's "Catcall" is another story with impressive impact, about a young woman named Maria who experiences misogyny on a daily basis. After facing countless assaultsfrom a predatory father at a babysitting gig to a sexist jock in high schoolMaria finally decides that she has had enough and becomes a vehicle for karmic retribution. Hao Jingfang's Folding Beijing (translated by Ken Liu), which won the Hugo Award for Best Novelette, is a conceptually breathtaking science fiction tale that follows Lao Dao, a worker at a waste processing center, as he explores the mysteries of a megacity with three separate Spaces that fold in upon themselves and share the same geographic area in every 48-hour cycle. Featuring standout stories by N.K. Jemisin, Seanan McGuire, and Catherynne M. Valente, among others, there are no weak links in this transcendent anthology.A deliciously diverse sampler of speculative-fiction bonbons, created by some of the most talented literary confectioners on the planet. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
