Website: uncannymagazine.com

"By Claw, By Hand, By Silent Speech" Author: Elsa Sjunneson-Henry & A. Merc Rustad Main Characters: Ellery Main Elements: Science Fiction - Dinosaurs "You Can Make a Dinosaur, but You Can’t Help Me" Author: K.M. Szpara Main Characters: Emmerick Owens, Leo Main Elements: Science Fiction - Dinosaurs "Bones in the Rock" Author: R.K. Kalaw Main Characters: Tenea Main Elements: Science Fiction - Dinosaurs "Red Lizard Brigade" Author: Brit E. B. Hvide Main Characters: Oslip Main Elements: Science Fiction - Dinosaurs "The Emigrants’ Guide to Oregon, California, and the Unknown" Author: Monica Valentinelli Main Characters: Elias, Constance Main Elements: Science Fiction - Dinosaurs "Give the People What They Want" Author: Alex Bledsoe Main Characters: Barber, Holden, Detective Long Main Elements: Science Fiction - Dinosaurs "Everything Under Heaven" Author: Anya Ow Main Characters: Kee, Sarnai Main Elements: Science Fiction - Dinosaurs "The Tale of the Three Beautiful Raptor Sisters, and the Prince Who Was Made of Meat" Author: Brooke Bolander Main Characters: Allie, Betty, Ceecee Main Elements: Fantasy - Dinosaurs "Nails in My Feet" Author: Mary Robinette Kowal Main Characters: Unnamed Puppet Main Elements: Fantasy - Dinosaurs Poetry The One by Brandon O’Brien Octavia’s Letter to Marcus Anthony on the Discovery of His Faithlessness by Cassandra Khaw The Year We Got Rid of Our Ghosts by Ali Trotta FIND A HOT ASIAN GIRLFRIEND NEAR YOU by Cynthia So Expecting a Dinosaur by Mari Ness Non-Fiction Joy and Applause by Alasdair Stuart Island Futures by Tobias S. Buckell The Seduction of Numbers, the Measures of Progress by Marissa Lingen Thirteen Reasons Who: A Timeline of a Question by Tansy Rayner Roberts Interview: K.M. Szpara by Caroline M. Yoachim Interview: Anya Ow by Caroline M. Yoachim

This issue has stories that all more or less exist in the same "world". The premise is the Owen Corporation that has figured out how to open portals to different times or worlds, with the result that dinosaurs from our past have scattered around our world in different times, places, and have even spread into worlds other than our own. The range of concepts was was fun and kept things interesting, though some did better than others, some barely even tying into the core theme, some barely having dinosaurs (and I guess people have a fascination with raptors in particular, most stories included those). Anyway, on to the stories:

"By Claw, By Hand, By Silent Speech" revolves around a deaf scientist how tries to teach sign language to a velociraptor.

"You Can Make a Dinosaur, but You Can’t Help Me", ok I'm not a prude but when you open the story up and it starts with two people who identify as male (one in a skirt and the other is physically female) discussing which dinosaur themed dildo to use...and I happen to be riding on a crowded bus with people possibly reading over my shoulder, it's a little awkward :) I liked the fact that the author decided to use Emmerick, Owens' son, as the main character giving it the strongest tie-in to the shared concept.

"Bones in the Rock" is an unusual tale of a raptor who watches the world end with his/her mate and makes a deal with a tar pit to be reincarnated ten times in an attempt to find the bones of her love to reincarnate her as well. In her ninth life, Tenea is working for the Owen Corporation as a paleontologist but things don't go as expected. Interesting how the author put a raptor's thoughts into a human body.

"Red Lizard Brigade" before there was Owen Corporation, there were the Soviets who actually developped the portal technology and were planning to train dinosaurs to be weapons of war. But in a way it wasn't about that, it was about the two main characters, their relationships, their choices about love and loyalty.

"The Emigrants’ Guide to Oregon, California, and the Unknown" takes place in our past on the Oregon Trail. The dinosaur aspect is minor, in fact Constance is just a "weird bird" to everyone. It's one of those stories where you can't quite figure out what is going on, nor what happened in the end.

"Give the People What They Want", apparently what people want is dino-porn, the frantic group mating of raptors. So Barber, security guard at Owen Corporation gives Holden access to the portal to go back in time and record it. They get caught when a horny male raptor follows Holden back. Interesting twist at the end.

"Everything Under Heaven" takes place somewhere in Asia in the past. A cook seeing a new kind of meat, and a warrior seeking revenge and redemption find each other as they journey towards the "Gate" from which issue "dragons". Together they discuss their pasts and form a friendship, or perhaps something more, as they try to free themselves from a past that haunts them.

"The Tale of the Three Beautiful Raptor Sisters, and the Prince Who Was Made of Meat" is a Hugo nominated story but I have to say, I didn't see anything novel in it, Robert Munsch wrote something similar (the Paperbag Princess) decades ago. I guess I'm a little tired of stories where the women are cleve and bright but are under the control of dumb men. And I mean dumb. When the prince makes a decision everybody celebrates because he's too dumb to otherwise make decisions. Don't get me wrong, we need strong women stories for our girls to read but what should our children take away from this story? Girls rule and boys drool? That's not fair either. I mean if someone wrote a story about a dumb woman everyone would jump on them, so why is it ok to write about dumb men, isn't that sexist too. It's a straw man argument, a fake villain for the protagonist to go up against. Shouldn't we be writing stories about what we really want to see happen in the future, men and women being equals and working together and treating each other well? After all, I wouldn't blame boys for not wanting to read these stories since they always make the males look stupid and idiotic, so I wouldn't blame them from running in the other direction from female protagonist stories. And I'm also not impressed with the princess' decision to abandon everything to live with the three raptor sisters, and be naked in a hut in the woods. I mean great, girl wants to live her own life and be free, but she did abandon the entire kingdom to the dumb prince when she, as the princess, was in a position to protect the people from him. What about a tale of duty, and sacrifice instead of selfishness? Basically she chose herself over everyone else, this isn't a MeToo story, this is a MeFirst story. It probably wouldn't have bothered me if it wasn't nominated for an award, but the only reason I could see it being nominated was because of the "Hey, strong women here, we must be politically correct and nominate it". The raptor sisters were cool though, too bad it wasn't a story about them instead of the "amazing princess and the lame prince". And for what it's worth, it barely ties into the theme as there is no mention of portals or Owen Corporation, the raptors are just there.

"Nails in My Feet" barely meets the criteria of this collection, there's no Owen Corporation, no time travel, no dinosaurs even. The dinosaur in this case is a puppet, sitting on a shelf considering the lack of a lasting legacy. Unlike the cartoon characters that can be stored on animated cells for years, his foam has degraded so much that he'll probably disintegrate if touched. It was however still an interesting story.