A review by smblanc1793
Uncanny Magazine Issue 39: March/April 2021 by Chimedum Ohaegbu, Elsa Sjunneson, Michael Damian Thomas, Lynne M. Thomas

adventurous funny informative reflective medium-paced

4.25

Fiction:
“The Sin of America” by Catherynne M. Valente  ★★★★★

• Absolutely gorgeous prose and an interesting premise that builds tension like the world’s biggest, most eloquent slingshot then releases it in an eruption like Vesuvius if Vesuvius had covered Pompeii in butterflies and white guilt rather than lava. Fuck.

“The Perils of a Hologram Heart” by Dominica Phetteplace ★★★
“Colors of the Immortal Palette” by Caroline M. Yoachim ★★★★

• Dorian Gray vibes, but unlike Wilde, Yaochim doesn’t beat around the bush when it comes to the vampire vibes. Also some of the most beautifully described sex scenes I’ve ever seen, and an overall style that matches perfectly to the paintings and painters at the center of its narrative.

“The Book of the Kraken” by Carrie Vaughn ★★★

“Eighteen Days of Barbareek” by Rati Mehrotra ★★

• NGL, I DNF this one. It’s not you it’s me.

“Where Oaken Hearts Do Gather” by Sarah Pinsker ★★★★★

• Took me a while to get used to the feel of this narrative—told through an online chat board trying to decipher the real-life implications of an old folk song—but once I did, holy shit, I was in it for the long haul.

“They Shall Salt the Earth with Seeds of Glass” by Alaya Dawn Johnson ★★★

Nonfiction:
“Deadly Frocks and Other Tales of Murder Clothes” by Tansy Rayner Roberts ★★★★

• Killer clothes—what’s not to love. Makes me feel like a total wimp for whining about heels.

“Seduced by the Ruler’s Gaze: An Indian Perspective on Seth Dickinson’s Masquerade” by Sid Jain ★★★
“Protector of Small Steps” by Marieke Nijkamp ★★★
“Please Be Kind to the Singularity” by Jay Edidin ★★★★

• Since reading, I’ve thought about this piece a lot. I think it raises a lot of good questions about free will, about empathy, and what it means to be sentient.

Poetry:
“the most humane methods could involve a knife” by Tamara Jerée ★★★★

• My favorite poem of the bunch, but I’m not a poetry person, so that should come with a grain of salt. Considering my lack of reference, I don’t feel comfortable giving any poem less than 3 stars unless its truly some high-school-emo-phase shit which, as one would expect, none of these are.

“lagahoo culture (Part II)” by Brandon O’Brien ★★★

“Future Saints” by Terese Mason Pierre ★★★
“Of Monsters I Loved” by Ali Trotta ★★★