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)…

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