Uncanny Magazine

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{{Short description|American sci-fi and fantasy online magazine}}

{{Infobox magazine

| title = Uncanny Magazine

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| image_file = Uncanny_magazine_issue_10_cover_med_resolution.jpg

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| image_caption = Cover of issue 10, May 2016

| editor = Lynne M. Thomas

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| editor2 = Michael Damian Thomas

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| category = science fiction and fantasy

| frequency = Bimonthly

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| founder = Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas

| founded = 2014

| firstdate = {{Start date and age|2014|11|04}}{{Cite web|url=https://uncannymagazine.com/issues/uncanny-magazine-issue-one/|title=Uncanny Magazine Issue One|first=Clockpunk|last=Studios|website=Uncanny Magazine|access-date=February 27, 2019|archive-date=February 28, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190228065742/https://uncannymagazine.com/issues/uncanny-magazine-issue-one/|url-status=live}}

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| country = United States

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| language = English

| website = {{URL|uncannymagazine.com}}

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Uncanny Magazine is an American science fiction and fantasy online magazine, edited and published by Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas, based in Urbana, Illinois.{{cite web | last=Mitchell | first=Tim | title=Sci-fi-focused Uncanny Magazine takes up residence in Urbana | website=The News-Gazette | date=February 8, 2021 | url=https://www.news-gazette.com/news/sci-fi-focused-uncanny-magazine-takes-up-residence-in-urbana/article_7f6772de-9343-5b3a-9a57-421b8ea5c420.html | access-date=February 8, 2021 | archive-date=October 20, 2021 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211020223713/https://www.news-gazette.com/news/sci-fi-focused-uncanny-magazine-takes-up-residence-in-urbana/article_7f6772de-9343-5b3a-9a57-421b8ea5c420.html | url-status=live }} Its mascot is a space unicorn.{{cite web | last1=Thomas | first1=Lynne M. | last2=Thomas | first2=Michael Damian | title=A Space Unicorn Tale: The REAL Story Behind the Creation of Uncanny Magazine | website=Tor.com | date=July 28, 2016 | url=https://www.tor.com/2016/07/28/a-space-unicorn-tale-the-real-story-behind-the-creation-of-uncanny-magazine/ | access-date=February 8, 2021 | archive-date=July 29, 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160729161130/https://www.tor.com/2016/07/28/a-space-unicorn-tale-the-real-story-behind-the-creation-of-uncanny-magazine/ | url-status=live }}

The editors-in-chief, who originally edited Apex Magazine from 2012–2013, chose the name of the magazine because they say it "has a wonderful pulp feel", and like how the name evokes the unexpected.{{cite web | last1=Thomas | first1=Lynne M. | last2=Thomas | first2=Michael Damian | title=Why We're Creating Uncanny, a Real Magazine with a Fake History (and a Space Unicorn) | website=Tor.com | date=August 27, 2014 | url=https://www.tor.com/2014/08/27/why-were-creating-uncanny-a-real-magazine-with-a-fake-history-and-a-space-unicorn/ | access-date=February 8, 2021 | archive-date=August 17, 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150817113628/https://www.tor.com/2014/08/27/why-were-creating-uncanny-a-real-magazine-with-a-fake-history-and-a-space-unicorn/ | url-status=live }} They created the magazine "in the spirit of pulp sci-fi mags popular in the 1960s and '70s."

Uncanny has been published bimonthly, beginning in November 2014, after receiving initial funding through Kickstarter.{{Cite web|url=https://www.tor.com/2014/11/11/short-fiction-spotlight-uncanny-magazine-1-maria-dahvana-headley-christopher-barzak/|title=Short Fiction Spotlight: Uncanny Magazine #1|first=Lee|last=Mandelo|date=November 11, 2014|website=Tor.com|access-date=February 27, 2019|archive-date=March 24, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160324075419/https://www.tor.com/2014/11/11/short-fiction-spotlight-uncanny-magazine-1-maria-dahvana-headley-christopher-barzak/|url-status=live}} It continues to fund itself through crowdfunding as well as subscriptions, which numbered 4,000 in 2017.{{cite web | last=Liptak | first=Andrew | title=Uncanny Magazine Launches Kickstarter For Year Seven | website=Tor.com | date=August 6, 2020 | url=https://www.tor.com/2020/08/06/uncanny-magazine-launches-kickstarter-for-year-seven/ | access-date=February 8, 2021 | archive-date=August 6, 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200806215744/https://www.tor.com/2020/08/06/uncanny-magazine-launches-kickstarter-for-year-seven/ | url-status=live }}

The magazine publishes original works by authors such as Neil Gaiman, Elizabeth Bear, Paul Cornell, Catherynne M. Valente, Charlie Jane Anders, Seanan McGuire, Mary Robinette Kowal, Javier Grillo-Marxuach, Alex Bledsoe, Nalo Hopkinson, Jane Yolen, Naomi Novik, N. K. Jemisin, G. Willow Wilson, Carmen Maria Machado, Amal El-Mohtar, Ursula Vernon, Kameron Hurley and Ken Liu, and published early stories by Alyssa Wong and Brooke Bolander.{{Cite web|url=https://uncannymagazine.com/authors/|title=Authors Archive|first=Clockpunk|last=Studios|website=Uncanny Magazine|access-date=February 27, 2019|archive-date=November 20, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141120091208/https://uncannymagazine.com/authors/|url-status=live}} Each issue includes new short stories, one reprint, new poems, non-fiction essays, and a pair of interviews. The magazine pays its authors and artists. It also produces a podcast where some of the magazine's content is read aloud.{{cite web | title=Podcasts Archives | website=Uncanny Magazine | url=https://uncannymagazine.com/type/podcasts/ | access-date=February 8, 2021 | archive-date=November 20, 2014 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141120091315/https://uncannymagazine.com/type/podcasts/ | url-status=live }} They have a staff of 10 editors and receive between 1,000 and 2,000 submissions every month.

In 2018, they published a disability-themed issue called Disabled People Destroy Science Fiction with content exclusively from disabled creators.{{cite journal |last1=Holder |first1=Matthew |title=Imagining Accessibility: Theorizing Disability in Disabled People Destroy Science Fiction |journal=Disability Studies Quarterly |date=2020 |volume=40 |issue=3 |url=https://dsq-sds.org/article/view/6685/5709 |access-date=February 8, 2021 |issn=2159-8371 |doi=10.18061/dsq.v40i3.6685 |doi-access=free |archive-date=February 8, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210208040953/https://dsq-sds.org/article/view/6685/5709 |url-status=live }} This was a continuation of the Destroy series originally from Lightspeed magazine; in it, the authors and illustrators envisioned "a truly accessible future is one that features rather than erases the disabled mind and body". The issue won an Aurora Award for Best Related Work in 2019.{{cite web | title=2019 Aurora Awards Winners | website=Locus Online – The Magazine of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Field | date=October 20, 2019 | url=https://locusmag.com/2019/10/2019-aurora-awards-winners/ | access-date=February 8, 2021 | archive-date=October 20, 2019 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191020225130/https://locusmag.com/2019/10/2019-aurora-awards-winners/ | url-status=live }}{{cite web | title=Fight On, Space Unicorns: Disabled People Destroy Science Fiction – Chuck Wendig: Terribleminds | website=Chuck Wendig | date=August 15, 2017 | url=http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2017/08/15/fight-on-space-unicorns-disabled-people-destroy-science-fiction/ | access-date=February 8, 2021 | archive-date=August 18, 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170818051218/http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2017/08/15/fight-on-space-unicorns-disabled-people-destroy-science-fiction/ | url-status=live }}