The Best of Uncanny

Hugo-winning editors Thomas and Thomas have assembled some of the most well known, internationally respected, and utterly evocative pieces from Uncanny’s five-year history into this substantial and impressive collection. With a wealth of diverse voices, topics, and themes, these pieces attest to the limitless creativity of Uncanny’s writers, encompassing N.K. Jemisin’s “Henosis,” a disorienting and disquieting contemplation of the dangers posed by fans and fame; Fran Wilde’s haunting poem “The Sea Never Says It Loves You”; and Charlie Jane Anders’s “Ghost Champagne,” a bubbly tale of comedy clubs, ghosts, and true love. Many stories exemplify the power of speculative fiction to challenge traditional notions of history (as Sam J. Miller does in “The Heat of Us: Notes Toward an Oral History,” reimagining the first moments of the Stonewall riot) and confront the horrors of reality (as both Brooke Bolander’s “Our Talons Can Crush Galaxies” and Delilah S. Dawson’s “Catcall” do with heartrending honesty). This is an enlivening, enlightening treasure for the magazine’s readers and any fans of the genre. Agent: Barry Goldblatt, Barry Goldblatt Literary. (Jan.)