The November/December issue of Uncanny is all about alien invasions and fairy tales. Here’s Bob Blough from his Tangent Online review, with some high praise for the stories within.

This is my first read of this magazine and I am impressed. By this small taste I can tell that the editors favor good writing and well-crafted prose.

Paul Cornell has written one of Britain’s “cozy catastrophes” in “Don’t You Worry, You Aliens.” In fact the catastrophe is never explained. Suddenly people seem to be moving away. The protagonist, the local librarian, states that before the BBC went completely off the air it commented that no virus or plague seemed to be the cause. In any case, the librarian – an old man – is left completely alone in a small village with no electricity, internet or telephone. This story is a day in his life as he putters around town feeding his neighbor’s dog, and checking his garden. It is an elegiac story told at the pace of the elderly and is a beautiful miniature of his life. I must admit it has stuck in my mind. A very compelling story…

In “Kamanti’s Child” Jennifer Marie Brissett drops us in media res in an alien battle between two races. I like that tactic as we have to really follow all the clues to understand where we are and what is happening. A quiet village living off the land is invaded by another group. Kamanti, a pregnant alien woman survives the attack. She decides to travel to a city of her own kind. Along the way we are introduced to her daughter telepathically from her womb and the invaders called hoomans. Even as we see that we are the attackers it is stated that all of this world is related. So, an Earth so far ahead that we have developed into different species? An alien planet that has developed us into different species? Still the mystery continues and we learn just enough to get through this story…

Read his complete review here

The issue includes all–new short fiction by Paul Cornell, Brooke Bolander, Jennifer Marie Brissett, Alex Bledsoe, Kat Howard, and Nalo Hopkinson, and a reprint by Amal El–Mohtar, plus nonfiction by Alyssa Wong, Monica Valentinelli, Navah Wolfe, Tansy Rayner Roberts, Keidra Chaney, and recent Hugo Award winner Hao Jingfang (translated by Ken Liu), plus poetry, interviews, and an editorial. All of the content became available for purchase as an eBook (PDF, EPUB, MOBI) on November 1, 2016.

Here’s the complete fiction contents:

“Don’t You Worry, You Aliens” by Paul Cornell
“Our Talons Can Crush Galaxies” by Brooke Bolander
“Kamanti’s Child” by Jennifer Marie Brissett
“White Hart, Black Knight” by Alex Bledsoe
“The Green Knight’s Wife” by Kat Howard
“Can’t Beat ‘Em” by Nalo Hopkinson
“Seasons of Glass and Iron” by Amal El–Mohtar (from The Starlit Wood: New Fairy Tales, 2016)

Poetry:

Rose Child by Theodora Goss
The Long Run by Neil Gaiman
Blue Flowers: Fragments by Sofia Samatar

Nonfiction:

Editorial: The Uncanny Valley by Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas
Thank You, Patreon Supporters! by Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas
A Saga of Ink and Tea: Welcome to the Woods by Navah Wolfe
They Love Me Not: How Fictional Villains Saved My Life by Alyssa Wong
We Have Always Been Here, Motherfucker by Monica Valentinelli
Thank You, Year Three Kickstarter Supporters by Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas
Living, Working, and Fangirling with a Chronic Illness by Keidra Chaney
I Want to Write A History of Inequality by Hao Jingfang, translated by Ken Liu
How the Avengers Killed the Justice League by Tansy Rayner Roberts
Interview: Jennifer Marie Brissett by Julia Rios
Interview: Alex Bledsoe by Julia Rios

The cover this month is Julie Dillon’s “Impact Crater.”

Issue #13 is cover-dated November/December 2016. Read the complete issue here.

We last covered Uncanny Magazine with Issue #12.

Uncanny Magazine is edited by Lynne M. Thomas, Michael Damian Thomas, and Michi Trota, and published bi-monthly. The issue is priced at $3.99, and is available as an eBook (PDF, EPUB, MOBI). eBook Subscriptions are available at Weightless Books.

Our Late November Fantasy Magazine Rack is here. See all of our recent fantasy magazine coverage here.