Space Unicorn Ranger Corps!

Today is the day. Uncanny Magazine Issue 1 is now available to everybody at unannymagazine.com or at online eBook retailers! Please spread the word!

Here are the pieces of Issue 1 that are available on our shiny new website (designed by the phenomenal Jeremiah Tolbert) today:

(Cover by Galen Dara)

Editorial

The Uncanny Valley- Editorial by Lynne M. Thomas & Michael Damian Thomas

New Fiction

Maria Dahvana Headley- “If You Were a Tiger, I’d Have to Wear White”

Ken Liu- “Presence”

Max Gladstone- “Late Nights at the Cape and Cane”

Classic Fiction

Jay Lake- “Her Fingers Like Whips, Her Eyes Like Razors”

Nonfiction

Sarah Kuhn- “Mars (and Moon and Mercury and Jupiter and Venus) Attacks!”

Worldcon Roundtable featuring Emma England, Michael Lee, Helen Montgomery, Steven H Silver, and Pablo Vazquez

Poetry

Neil Gaiman- “Kissing song”

Amal El-Mohtar- “The New Ways”

Interviews  

Maria Dahvana Headley, Interviewed by Deborah Stanish

Beth Meacham on Jay Lake, Interviewed by Lynne M. Thomas

Thanks to our Kickstarter Backers

Podcast

Episode 1: Editors’ Introduction, Maria Dahvana Headley’s “If You Were a Tiger, I’d Have to Wear White” and Amal El-Mohtar’s poem “The New Ways” (both read by Amal), and an interview with Maria conducted by Deborah Stanish.

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The entire issue can be purchased as an eBook at Amazon, Kobo, and Weightless Books (our preferred retailer). Weightless Books is also offering yearly subscriptions.

The rest of the free online content will be available on December 2nd.

Thank you again for all of your support and generosity. You made this possible.

Best,

Lynne, Michael, & Michi

Why yes, Lynne and I are launching a new magazine. 😀

You can find the Kickstarter here.

Uncanny: A Magazine of Science Fiction & Fantasy

Three-time Hugo Award-winner Lynne M. Thomas (Apex Magazine, Chicks Dig Time Lords, Glitter & Mayhem) and three-time Hugo Award nominee Michael Damian Thomas (Apex Magazine, Queers Dig Time Lords) are launching year one of a new professional online SF/F magazine: Uncanny: A Magazine of Science Fiction & Fantasy. 

Each issue will contain new and classic speculative fiction, fiction podcasts, poetry, essays, art, and interviews.

Our Philosophy:

We’re geeks who have spent the past several years creating and sharing work that gets us excited.

Whether it’s sharing true, personal stories of how the community that loves Doctor Who changes lives in Chicks Dig Time Lords and Queers Dig Time Lords, publishing haunting, lyrical, and devastating stories in Apex Magazine, or throwing a massive, Kickstarter-funded science fictional party through Glitter & Mayhem‘s stories of the dark side of night life and roller derby (what’s more awesome than partying aliens and roller derby?), we’ve done our best to bring you stories and images that stay with you, because they feel like they were made for you.

We think that the best Science Fiction and Fantasy literature combines astonishing ideas, strong characterization, gorgeous writing, and distinctive points of view from around the world.

We love the stories that we can’t stop thinking and talking about, because of how they made us feel.  We’re taking our experiences and using them to create a new online magazine.

We’re calling it Uncanny, because we want to produce a sensational magazine that feels like you’ve been here before, in the best way possible.

These kinds of stories feel as rare as unicorns. Getting to share them with our readers as editors is awesome like a space unicorn (hence our mascot).

Space unicorns for everyone!

Here’s a preview of some of our cover art, in this case, by Tran Nguyen:

(This is available as postcards and prints for some backers).

Year One Contributors: (So far)…

For year one, we’ve solicited original short fiction, poetry, and nonfiction from Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy Award winning and nominated authors including: 

L-R: (row 1) Amal El-Mohtar (photo credit: Stephanie J. Boland), Sofia Samatar (photo credit: Adauto Araujo), Charlie Jane Anders, Liz Argall, Rachel Swirsky (photo credit: Folly Blaine); (row 2) Maria Dahvana Headley, Mary Robinette Kowal (photo credit: Rod Searcey), Neil Gaiman (photo credit: Kimberly Butler), Scott Lynch; (row 3) Catherynne M. Valente, Paul Cornell, Ken Liu, Kat Howard (photo credit: Tia Mansouri), Hao Jingfang, E. Lily Yu.

• Charlie Jane Anders (“Six Months, Three Days”)
• Liz Argall (“Mermaid’s Hook”)
• Paul Cornell (Doctor Who, London Falling)
• Amal El-Mohtar (“The Green Book”)
• Maria Dahvana Headley (Queen of Kings)
• Kat Howard (“Breaking the Frame”)
• Hao Jingfang (Ken Liu, translator)
• Mary Robinette Kowal (Glamourist Histories series)
• Ken Liu (“Paper Menagerie”)
• Scott Lynch (Gentlemen Bastards series)
• Sofia Samatar (A Stranger in Olondria)
• Rachel Swirsky (“If You Were A Dinosaur, My Love”)
• Catherynne M. Valente (Deathless)
• E. Lily Yu (“The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees”)

We plan to showcase original poetry by

• Neil Gaiman
• Emily Jiang
• Rose Lemberg
• Mari Ness
• Sonya Taaffe
• and Bryan Thao Worra

… and essays by

• Jim C. Hines
• Kameron Hurley
• Sarah Kuhn
• Julia Rios
• Diana Pho
• and Tansy Rayner Roberts.

Uncanny will also feature cover art by

• Carrie Ann Baade
• Julie Dillon
• Galen Dara
• Tran Nguyen
• and Matthew Dow Smith.
• Special thanks to Katy Shuttleworth, who created our logo.

More preview art, this time by Julie Dillon!

(This is available as postcards and prints for some backers).

There will also be slots for unsolicited submissions. We’re deeply committed to finding and showcasing new voices in our genre from around the world.

How You Can Get Uncanny:

Uncanny issues will be published as eBooks (MOBI, PDF, EPUB) bimonthly on the first Tuesday of that month through all of the major online eBook stores. Each issue will contain 4-6 new short stories, 2 reprinted stories, 2 poems, 2 nonfiction essays, and 2 interviews,at minimum. We are currently working on providing additional exclusive content just for subscribers.

Subscribers and those purchasing single issues get each issue (ex: Nov/Dec 2014 is our first planned issue) in its entirety up front, no waiting.

Those reading online for free will have to wait a week for the first half of the issue, and a month for the second half, to appear on the second Tuesday of each month (of November and December, respectively in our example) at http://uncannymag.com/.

We will also be producing a monthly fiction podcast.

How We Will Use the Funding:

We are fundraising to cover the start up costs for launching a professional online magazine. We intend to pay our writers $ .08 per word for original fiction, our poets $30 per poem, and our essayists $50 per essay, and our artists $60 per reprinted artwork. In addition to paying our contributors, our budget includes hiring Clockpunk Studios to set up, design and host a robust website; podcast production and hosting costs; and covering backer rewards and Kickstarter fees.

Stretch Goals:

• At $27,000, we will commission original cover art from Tran Nguyen
• At $28,000, we will commission original cover art from Galen Dara
• At $30,000, we will commission 2 additional essays per issue
• At $33,000, we will be able to add one additional original story per issue
• At $36,000, we will be able to add two additional original stories per issue

Well, this year has flown by, except for the parts that were excruciating like living at the hospital.

Yesterday Caitlin had her 3-month check-up appointment with the orthopaedic surgeon. He is extremely pleased with Caitlin’s progress. Essentially, Caitlin is back to where she was before the surgery, but now she can sit again. Everything looks great to him, so just one more month using her brace for transfers.

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Quick plug. Mad Norwegian Press is having an eBook sale on the Hugo-nominated Queers Dig Time Lords. It’s currently just $4.95 at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

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Things are quietly getting back to normal at the Thomas household. We’ve been at conventions over the last couple of weekends. It’s been wonderful seeing friends and meeting new people, but we are fairly exhausted. To be fair, we’ve been exhausted for months. 🙂

Lynne and I are slowly working on some things. We’re hoping to ramp up next week once Lynne finishes some projects at the day job.

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I have new professional photos! They should be up in a week or so.

I was nominated for two Hugo Awards!

BEST RELATED WORK 
Queers Dig Time Lords: A Celebration of Doctor Who by the LGBTQ Fans Who Love It Edited by Sigrid Ellis & Michael Damian Thomas (Mad Norwegian Press)

BEST SEMIPROZINE 
Apex Magazine edited by Lynne M. Thomas, Jason Sizemore, and Michael Damian Thomas

Lynne is also nominated for:

BEST FANCAST
Verity! Deborah Stanish, Erika Ensign, Katrina Griffiths, L.M. Myles, Lynne M. Thomas, and Tansy Rayner Roberts

Finally, Rachel Swirsky’s Apex Magazine story “If You Were a Dinosaur, My Love” was nominated for the Best Short Story Hugo Award and Nebula Award! This is the first time a story that I co-edited has been nominated for a major award. I am SO HAPPY for Rachel!

I’m absolutely honored and overwhelmed.

We are extremely proud of QDTL & our run at Apex Magazine. We worked with phenomenal people. We couldn’t have done it without such amazing contributors and co-editors. 

Lynne and I were finally at a live Hugo Awards announcement at Minicon. It was fun hearing it with our friends. We were also able to celebrate with a nice dinner  that became wonderfully raucous.

It’s been a rough year, so this really means a lot to us. Now all we have to do is figure out how to be in London for the ceremony. 🙂

Look, it’s a schedule for Minicon (4/18-4/20, Bloomington, MN)!

Fandom or Fandoms? Friday 4:30 pm Ver 3/4

Is SF Fandom one monolithiic thing or a collection of sub-fandoms? Is there a generational difference? “My fandoms are -“

Rachel Kronick (m)
Elise A. Matthesen
Michael Lee
Michael Damian Thomas
Neil Rest

Hands On Research, Friday 5:30 pm Krushenko’s Ver 7/8

The best way to write about something is by attempting to do it, but the problem with doing research is that it can be easy to let the research take over the story. How do we balance the story with the fun factoids and tidbits we learn, while doing things we plan on incorporating into our novels? How does doing it ourselves lend authenticity and credibility to the story? We would like to have some editors on this panel as well as writers.

Aimee Kuzenski
Ctein
Deanna Sjolander
Blake Hausladen
CJ Mills
Lynne M. Thomas

SF Squeecast Live Recording!, Saturday 6:30 PM Ver 5/6

Guest of Honor Catherynne M. Valente, Elizabeth Bear, Michael Damian Thomas and Lynne M. Thomas bring the legendary SF Squeecast to Minicon

Rock & Roll in Speculative Fiction — It’s Hip to be Square, SUN 2:30 PM Krushenko’s

When we think of fantasy or the future, we don’t think of rock and roll. Starting in the 1950’s, sf has combined the influences of hedonistic young whippersnappers with fantastic narratives. A discussion on the rebellious spirit of rock and its influence.

Greg L. Johnson (m)
Michael Damian Thomas
Lynne M. Thomas
Nate Bucklin
Neil Rest

The picture tells the story. That is Caitlin sitting up straight and unassisted 2 1/2 months after her spinal fusion surgery. 🙂

$300,000 or so worth of medical procedures have done what they were supposed to do. Caitlin can sit again without discomfort, tipping, or organ compression. (Insurance has covered everything.)

Last week was supposed to be her return to school, but we had some rough days and nights of Cait being manic, not sleeping, and throwing up. Thankfully she was better by Sunday.

This week Caitlin managed to make it to school Monday to Tuesday. She also had great days! We received only happy notes about Caitlin smiling, giggling, and interacting with her friends.

This has been an extremely rough few months for all of us. We couldn’t have managed it without all of the help and support from our friends. Thank you all for everything. ❤

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Now that things are getting back to normal for Lynne & me, we’re starting to plan for the future. We did our first SF Squeecast together, and it was a blast. We love our partnership. We really make the other one better, and last year was extremely successful for us as editors. It’s wonderful to see so many stories, essays, and poems we worked on together (and with others) get award recognition, Locus recommendations, and reprinted in year’s best anthologies.

It’s time to start the next thing. 🙂

Now that things are returning to normal, I thought it would be a good idea to post my convention schedule for 2014. I’m an OFFICIAL GUEST at TWO conventions this year as part of the SF Squeecast, Phoenix Comicon and Windycon! 🙂

We are sadly missing Wiscon this year. As you can see, Lynne and I are guests at Phoenix Comicon the next weekend. Now that we have to take Caitlin with us to conventions, we decided that two weekends in a row would be too much for her to tolerate. It would also be extremely hard on Lynne and me.

We might be at C2E2, but that hasn’t been decided yet.

Minicon, April 18-20, Bloomington, MN

Joss Whedon: A Celebration, May 3, DePaul University, College of Communication, Chicago, IL

Phoenix Comicon (Guest with the SF Squeecast), June 5-8, Phoenix, AZ

CONvergence, July 3-6, Bloomington, MN

Loncon (Worldcon), August 14-18, London, UK

Windycon (Social Media Guest of Honor with the SF Squeecast), November 14-16, Lombard, IL

Chicago TARDIS, November 28-30, Lombard, IL

Today is Caitlin’s last day of school before the spinal fusion surgery. By the time Caitlin goes back to school in 7 weeks or so, it will be springtime and warm. Today it felt like -23 F as we put her on the bus.

I believe the kids at school will be doing fun things for her today. Some of her friends are also taking her to see Frozen this weekend.

I can’t tell you how much it means to us that Caitlin has friends at school. Since Lynne and I grew up at a time when kids with disabilities were hidden and separated from the other children, we weren’t sure that the other kids would ever accept her. Instead, Caitlin has a clique who invites her to parties, reads to her nearly every day, and covers the armrest of her wheelchair with Rainbow Loom rubber band bracelets. She has her own life, just as it should be. ❤

One plus about her not going to school is that it will give Waste Management and the district some time to fix the landfill mess. The IEPA determined that Waste Management broke state law. We’ll see what the school district does next.

At this point, we’ve done pretty much everything we need to do before going to the hospital. Caitlin’s pre-op pediatrician appointment went well. Caitlin is as healthy as possible. Other than some tense driving due to snow, it was an uneventful visit.

I will double-check paperwork today, but we’re pretty much down to cleaning and packing.

In case you are curious, Caitlin’s Aicardi syndrome sister Annie went through the surgery last month. Her mom has been keeping a detailed blog about the entire experience.

You can also watch a video of this type of surgery here.

Thank you again for your support this week and offers of support over the next few weeks. We really couldn’t get through this without our friends.

Many people have asked us what they can do to help during the surgery and recovery. We tend to not ask for much, but we realize that friends and family often feel like they need to do something. (And yes, the support helps a lot.)

Here’s what you can do:

1- Just remain your awesome, supportive selves. Kindness and compassion go a long way. We love Internet hugs!

2- You can visit us at Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago. We would rather not have visitors on Tuesday while Caitlin is having surgery, but everybody is welcome after that. We should be there 5-7 days.

We would especially appreciate meals. Lynne and I will both be there, and the cafeteria is meh.

Please let us know if you’re coming. 🙂

3- We would LOVE visitors to our house. We will be pretty much stuck at home for 6 weeks or so as Caitlin recovers. Friends stopping by is greatly appreciated. Once again, we also won’t say no to food.

4- Caitlin loves cards if you would like to send one. She doesn’t need anything, but she has an Amazon wish list if you feel like buying her a little something.

Thank you again for all of the support and love.

We are starting to get a little stressed out.

We have 8 days until Caitlin’s spinal fusion surgery. So far, all of the pre-op doctors’ visits have been okay. The pulmonologist cleared Caitlin for surgery. (Yay healthy lungs!) We have one more appointment with the pediatrician on Wednesday, and then her final blood work on Monday.

The only weirdness was the SURPRISE ER visit last week after Caitlin and her entire elementary school were exposed to a gas leak from the landfill next door. It was an extremely scary day, and there are still many unanswered questions about what the kids were exposed to, how it happened, and how the school responded after assurances in 2010 that they had an emergency plan for such things. (Here are the newspaper articles.) At the hospital, it was determined that Caitlin and the kids had been exposed to low levels of carbon monoxide, but the levels in her blood were still in the safe range. She HATED the oxygen mask.

In other news, a colleague/friend of Lynne’s held a fundraiser with her Girl Scout troop at a pizza place for Caitlin. It was quite wonderful. They wanted to do something for Caitlin before her surgery, and decided that the best thing they could do was get Caitlin her first iPad. It was a smashing success.

We really couldn’t do all of this without our family and friends. ❤