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A good collection that examines boundaries in society. Not as strong as previous issues, but I stil enjoyed reading it, and I highly recommend Barzak's "The Creeping Women."Short Stories:"The Virgin Played Bass" by Maria Dahvana Headley: This is one odd novelette! A white cat collects players for his band--an accordion player (the protagonist), Mary Magdalene who plays violin, the Virgin Mary who plays bass, and Lazarus Mary who plays trumpet. The band members all lost their families in the prev...
*** The Virgin Played Bass - MARIA DAHVANA HEADLEYAn odd retelling of "The Musicians of Bremen" with, perhaps, a bit of Puss In Boots thrown in - which all takes place during the Balkan conflict. A group of dispossessed persons wanders around, forming a musical band, singing for their supper and trying to stay alive. It's a good thing a 'cat' has nine lives, because in this war-torn land, they're going through them. As in the fairy tale, they're heading vaguely for Bremen, where things might be
Most of the stories in this issue were a little too far out there for me, or darker/weirder than I prefer. However, Christopher Barzak's "The Creeping Women" was excellent - a very effective retelling of "The Yellow Wallpaper".
It was the non fiction that called out to me in this issue, particularly LM Myles' search for her SF/F grandmother & Chris Kluwe's argument that sports fans & SFF fans are the same kind of people.
So this was my first time diving into Uncanny and I am very happy with the first foray. As always with this sort of thing you get a few you like, a few you don't and some middling stories so i am going to just post all of my currently-reading updates and expand upon them if necessary to show what I thought of each story as I went through this. Fiction'The Virgin Plated Bass' by Maria Dahvana Headley is a really weird story about a band of lying, cheating mercenaries based off of Jesus and Mary.
I preferred Maria Dahvana Headley's surreal fable "The Virgin Played Bass" to the other stories here. It is a little too giddy in its absurdity at times, but I could still taste the imagery and wordplay on my tongue well after I had finished it. It overshadows the rest of this otherwise decent issue of Uncanny. Christopher Barzak's "The Creeping Woman" is a nice variation on Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper", and worth reading whether or not you are familiar with that classic sto...
3.5 - Rated just for the lovely story Lotus Face and the Fox by Nghi Vo"When one found food, they all were fed, and they were all hungry alike. Death was nearly the first thing they found that they could not share."
Sweet, short, romantic epistolary that leaned heavily on very beautiful imagery. This is the first story I've read in the Birdverse (I'm going through the ones recommended by the author ahead of the Four Profound Weaves), so a lot of my experience was simply sorting out and interpreting the world-building and how this artisan magic works. Aside from that though, I loved how the two writers/artisans come from completely different places (desert vs northern woods) and consequently work from two di...
***The Virgin Played Bass by Maria Dahvana Headley****The Spy Who Never Grew Up by Sarah Rees Brennan****Lotus Face and the Fox by Nghi Vo****The Creeping Women by Christopher Barzak****The Desert Glassmaker and the Jeweler of Berevyar by Rose Lemberg***The Sincerity Game by Brit Mandelo
I liked the Creeping Woman best this issue.
"The Virgin Played Bass" by Maria Dahvana Headley - Very loosely based on "The Musicians of Bremen" folktale. Dream-like and mythical. One of my favorites this issue."Lotus Face and the Fox" by Nghi Vo - A young, orphan girl (the Fox) desperately turns to a mysterious, powerful woman (Lotus Face) for help. I really liked the setting for this one, but the ending was too abrupt and left me with too many questions."The Creeping Women" by Christopher Barzak - Well-done retelling of "The Yellow Wallp...
Such a beautiful, fascinating, achingly sad story. I enjoyed every word of it
'tended, tangled, and veined' by Kayla Whaley was beautifully intense and raw. It's a story in a poem and I love the imagery Whaley uses! she practiced her girlhood with heat–stricken hair, sheared nails, scrubbed skin.she baptized herself with fat wrung from beans and battered into butter.she oiled her joints with poise,scented her flesh with propriety,and clothed herself in performance.she practiced girlhood,but she never quite perfected it. I thoroughly recommend this poem and I can't wait...
'Creeping Woman' by Christopher Barzak was by far my favourite short fiction story in this issue. I loved this darker more honest and blatant retelling of 'Yellow Wallpaper'. Incredibly creepy and beautiful written.
The Sincerity Game by Brit Mandelo
The Virgin Played Bass - Maria Dahvana HeadleyThe Sincerity Game - Brit Mandelo
