Website: uncannymagazine.com

"How to Swallow the Moon" Author: Isabel Yap Main Characters: Anyag, Amira, Lisoryo Main Elements: Fantasy - Folklore "An Account of the Land of Witches" Author: Sofia Samatar Main Characters: Arta, Taharqo of Qorm, Verken, Sagal Said Main Elements: Fantasy - Witches "The Rose MacGregor Drinking and Admiration Society" Author: T. Kingfisher Main Characters: Rose MacGregor Main Elements: Fantasy - Fairies "The Thing About Ghost Stories" Author: Naomi Kritzer Main Characters: Leah Main Elements: Fantasy - Ghosts "My Name Is Cybernetic Model XR389F, and I Am Beautiful" Author: Monica Valentinelli Main Characters: Robert Brandt, Hal, Model XR389F Main Elements: Science Fiction - AI "Monologue by an unnamed mage, recorded at the brink of the end" Author: Cassandra Khaw Main Characters: Unnamed Main Elements: Fantasy - Wizards Poetry smile by Beth Cato cardioid by Hal Y. Zhang Osiris by Leah Bobet Translatio by Sharon Hsu Non-Fiction Jewish Science Fiction and Fantasy: A Primer by Steven H Silver ConCrit in Comments Only: What Writing Fanfiction Taught Me as an Editor by Diana M. Pho There and Back Again by Sarah Goslee Through a Painted Door: An Ode to Children’s Science Fiction/Fantasy Art by Nilah Magruder Interview: Isabel Yap by Caroline M. Yoachim Interview: Monica Valentinelli by Caroline M. Yoachim

Of the non-fiction articles, I found "There and Back Again" poignant. I'd read Lord of the Rings as a kid, but only when I re-read it as an adult (after suffering some losses of my own) did I really understand Frodo's story. That things keep moving forward, you may save the world and win the war, but the Elves will still leave and you don't feel your home is your home anymore. And whether the war you are fighting is against a dark lord, of it it's cancer, it changes you, and you'll never be who you were before. "Through a Painted Door" hit upon one of my pet peeves of recent children's books. The past couple of years I've been trying to read as many dragon or unicorn books I could get my hands on, even if they were meant for toddlers. And you know what, something happened in the year 2000. We go from having books like The Unicorn and the Lake to books like Hello, My Name is Octicorn. WHY???? Why do we feel that children nowadays need really stupid/goofy/ugly artwork in their books? That they aren't worth the time and effort to make real art, or at least art that is better than what the child is capable of drawing themselves. Do we feel that if present them with something beautiful they'll feel bad that they can't draw that well? Or is it a way to save money since a quick doodle takes less time for the artist than a full page of detailed backgrounds? Or is it a theme I see in movies and TV shows too, where fart jokes take center stage? Compare the success of Lion King and the Little Mermaid with later flops like Tarzan and Hercules. The first two were beautiful, the latter two were too stlylized and silly. Fortunately with CG and movies like Moana and Frozen beautiful art is making a comeback, but we needed a computer to help us with that! Anyway, I can tell you that Michael Hague (illustrator for The Unicorn and the Lake) has defined what the unicorn looks like to me, and forever changed my view of fantasy art. While Octicorn will be probably forgotten by the end of the year (or maybe I will remember it, as one of the worst I've ever seen). I feel sorry for kids born after 2000 having to deal with these ugly books and they deserved better to send their imaginations soaring to amazing new lands and to play with creatures unseen. After all, if they wanted a book like they had drawn it, well, little kids are quite happy to draw their own!

Ok, rant over. Sorry about that, but really publishers! Give the kids some credit, they aren't dumb and they appreciate beautiful things, not just things that fart rainbows or burp fire.

"How to Swallow the Moon" is based on Phillipino folklore, a tale of the bakunawa, a Moon-Eater that devoured five moons before accepting a human bride in exchange for not eating the last one. A generation later, a young woman charged with the care of a binukot (a beautiful girl, not permitted outside except at night, not to be seen by anyone but her caretaker and her husband) discovers she is falling in love with the girl she is to groom to be a bride. Together they choose to escape, but her husband is not what he seems. A fairy tale that was beautiful to read.

"An Account of the Land of Witches" was confusing, as some short stories are. The first two pieces were beautiful, and drew me in, wanting to read more about this Land, only next thing I knew I was back in our world, our time, not sure what country, in the Middle East? There is some kind of war going on outside, and Sagal is researching the Land, trying to find out if it was real or not, but she's trapped in her brother's home. And the final section, which I can't place in time or space. And yet, it the language was lyrical and beautiful and I just wish I had understood it.

"The Rose MacGregor Drinking and Admiration Society" is a Hugo award nominee and I can see why. I was reading it while riding on the bus and had to try really hard not to start laughing in front of the other commuters. It was short, simple, and one of the most amusing stories I've ever read. Rose, you are an amazing woman!

"The Thing About Ghost Stories" is a Hugo award nominee and I can see why. We start with something that almost comes off as non-fiction, with our narrator explaining her research and telling us what ghost stories really mean and why we tell them. In the process of doing her researh her mother passes away, of course she doesn't believe in ghosts herself but on more than one occasion a medium points out to her there is someone sitting beside her, trying to tell her something. I think anyone who has ever lost a family member (or even a pet) had had some experience, as if maybe they had just left the room, or had them appeared in a dream. A story which makes you think about why do we tell ghost stories indeed.

"My Name Is Cybernetic Model XR389F, and I Am Beautiful" is a tale of sexual harrassment and of the place of women, wrapped up in an experiement by an engineer with a couple of his cyborgs. He programs the male one, Hal, to flirt with Alice. But Alice, being programmed to do little more than dispose of toxic materials, though she is shaped female, doesn't understand and is only able to calculate the odds in which she will be hurt by Hal. The engineer had wanted her to flirt back, because, well, doesn't any female like having her arm grabbed and yanked about while being told she is beautiful? She hasn't done anything wrong, but the engineer considers disassembly her since she didn't react the way he wanted.

"Monologue by an unnamed mage, recorded at the brink of the end" isn't so much a story as a vow. I'm not quite sure what's going on, seems the world might be ending, but there are a couple out there, in forbidden love, and that means more to them than what is happening around them, though one questions what is the point of going on if we lose our stories. It flowed nicely but this one didn't succeed in triggering any meaning in my brain.