| Title | : | Uncanny Magazine Issue 10: May/June 2016 |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | - |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Kindle Edition |
| Number of Pages | : | 161 |
| Publication | : | First published May 3, 2016 |
| Awards | : | Hugo Award Best Novelette for "You’ll Surely Drown Here If You Stay" (2017), Nebula Award Best Novelette for “You’ll Surely Drown Here If You Stay” (2016), Locus Award Best Novelette for “You’ll Surely Drown Here If You Stay” (2017) |
Featuring new fiction by Seanan McGuire, Kat Howard, JY Yang, Alyssa Wong, and Haralambi Markov, reprinted fiction by Kameron Hurley, essays by Foz Meadows, Tanya DePass, Sarah Monette, and Stephanie Zvan, poetry by Beth Cato, M. Sereno, and Isabel Yap, interviews with Kat Howard and Alyssa Wong by Deborah Stanish, a cover by Galen Dara, and an editoral by Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas.
Uncanny Magazine Issue 10: May/June 2016 Reviews
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“Shake, shake, yucca tree,
Rain and silver over me—”
I never imagined I’d enjoy this genre. I never knew this genre existed. What genre is it anyway? Weird-western-fantasy-horror-mythology? Sounds about right. And now going through the Hugo finalists has made me read works and genres I would have never discovered otherwise, and I couldn’t be happier!“Stormclouds, gather in the sky,
Mockingbird and quail, fly; ”
The novelette I finished right before this one,
The Tomato Thief, is in a similar setting and uses many of the same elements, but the two tales are so different in mood. Honestly, You’ll Surely Drown Here if You Stay is one of the most atmospheric pieces I’ve ever read. Saloons, coyotes, sands, shapeshifters, longing, trains, and the desert as a character herself, raising the bones of those who died there to make them fight for her. Horrific, and yet so beautiful.“My love, my love, come haste away!
You’ll surely drown here if you stay.” -
To say that Alyssa Wong can write is to say that the desert has dry bones.
What I really mean to say is that she can turn a whole town of the old-west dead into dancing corpses and then make you wonder if it is all in your very imaginative head... or whether you're really one of them, too.
Impossible, you say? Well, Wong has a knack for writing absolutely stunning fantasy that's both flashy (or in this case necromantic) and immense with importance while also writing on an entirely different level at the same time.
I love reading extravagantly fantastic fantasy like this. But wait! It could also easily be a purely psychological tale of grief and psychosis, of anger and coping after a mining accident takes out a whole desert community.
Woah.
Which do you want? Both are awesome. AND YET WE GET BOTH AT THE SAME TIME! YAY! :)
*mind blown*
Totally cool. :)
Nominated for '17 Hugo for best Novella. You might say I'm tempted to vote this way. :) -
“Marisol.” He says her name the way the desert says yours, like the heat crackling across the rocks. Marisol Heat crackles across your face, too, at the sound of it in his mouth. “A pleasure to make your acquaintance. Has Lettie told you why I’m here?”
Beautiful, complicated, a bit disturbing. Reminds me of Ursula Vernon's 'Jackalope Wives' and 'The Tomato Thief.' Self-discovery, too-old young people who have to become independent.
Read it at
http://uncannymagazine.com/article/yo... -
5 stars.
I'll read anything this woman writes. Someone give her a book deal! -
When the desert finally lets you go, naked and stumbling, your body humming with raw power and the song of dead things coiled under your tongue, you find Marisol waiting for you at the edge of the bluffs.
There's something about the desert that seems unknowable and enchanting, so in a novelette that uses the desert as its setting, I was expecting elements of magic and myths. I wasn't disappointed.
Following Ellis and Marisol, as they try to understand Ellis's powers and survive in the rundown town, the story uses poetry and lyricism to build vivid pictures of a sand kingdom that is both beautiful and brutal. This story is as dark as they come, involving necromancy, death and metamorphosis, yet it's also filled with hope.
The characters of Ellis, Marisol, Madam Lettie and William were detailed and well-developed, which is an admirable feat in a short story. I did, however, feel the plot was confusing at times and could have been written more lucidly without spoiling the mystery of Ellis's abilities. There were moments when scenes cut from one to the other quite jarringly, giving little away about what had transpired. While these transitions served to show Ellis's confusion, I think they could have been smoothed out to maintain fluidity.
Where Alyssa Wong excels is her narrative style. The writing is delectable; full of sibilance, crushing metaphors and wonderful descriptions, it gives us an unadulterated view into the word she has created. And what a world that is. Full of monsters and men trying to gain control over the desert, who will be controlled by no-one.
I'm not sure whether this novelette is own voices, as the characters' heritages are never mentioned, but it's certainly diverse. Ellis and Marisol are POC, and the only character who is explicitly stated to be white is William, described as 'fair-skinned' with 'blond hair'.
I will say that this is written in second person present tense, and I know this isn't everyone's cup of tea, so if you don't like that narrative style then this might not be for you. But the prose and mystery are pretty enthralling and it's a very quick read, so if you're looking to read more short stories then I'd definitely give it a go.
The story can be found here:
http://uncannymagazine.com/article/yo... -
review for the story "You’ll Surely Drown Here If You Stay" by Alyssa Wong
Dark fantasy horror Western, featuring necromancy, the scouring desert, shapeshifting, revenge, and young love. Beautifully written with a rich, carefully unspooled backstory, wonderfully creepy imagery, a realistically depicted Old West milieu, and a mythic quality to its often bizarre but also sympathetically depicted characters. Darkness with a heart. This is the best kind of short story: it made me wish it were much longer and it made me want to read much more by this author.
Read it for free! You really should.
https://www.uncannymagazine.com/artic...
the cover image is for Uncanny magazine and has nothing to do with the story. a preferable cover image:
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Review solely for “You’ll Surely Drown Here If You Stay”, by Alyssa Wong:
2017 Hugos nominee for Best Novelette, and it pairs oddly well with
The Tomato Thief in terms of being a Weird Western, all hot scorching desert and magic mingled together, with a side order of necromancy. It doesn't quite leave an impact on me, though, so my vote will go elsewhere, though this is still a very solid story. 3.5 stars rounded up for now. -
You’ll Surely Drown Here If You Stay by Alyssa Wong
A boy of the desert, necromancers, a sweet love story in the wild west - the 2nd person narration is magically enthralling. -
It is a mining town in some Wild West desert, where Ellis lives in a brothel. He was orphaned three months ago in a catastrophic mining event. Now, he slowly learns about his necromantic powers. A love story mixed with phantastic elements, mother desert, a preacher.
Somehow, the setting remembered me of Jackalope Wives. It is a story about doomed love, loyality, finding a place to fit in.
Beautiful prose in second person, nice gothic desert setting, believable characters. I feared that the story would go for the Cthulhu dark side, but it clearly was a story on the lighter side, though it was tense. Not to forget the very satisfying ending.
Highly recommended! -
Dark and intriguing read about the desert, the dead, and things we ken not what they be.
Read for free at
You'll Surely Drown Here If You Stay -
Imaginative, haunting short story set in a desert in the Old West. I loved the imagery, the characters and the strange desert magic. This is definitely my favorite of Wong’s stories so far.
When the desert finally lets you go, naked and stumbling, your body humming with raw power and the song of dead things coiled under your tongue...
http://uncannymagazine.com/article/yo... -
Not one of McGuire's best, unfortunately. She tells the tale of an alien encounter gone wrong, and while the twist as to why there was a miscommunication is interesting, the rest of it treads pretty common ground. Also, if the robots were equipped with all the languages of the world, did no one think to try a word OTHER than hello?
Merged review:
"You'll Surely Drown Here If You Stay" is a story that will take your breath away. Set in the strange, dry desert, Ellis is an odd boy. He can call dead things back to life or lose himself in the spirit of the desert. These are powers that are mighty interesting to some, and he becomes embroiled in power machinations that are not his own. It's a haunting story told through gorgeous, weighty prose. Alyssa Wong is an absolute powerhouse of a writer, and you'll just want to seep into this weird, wind-driven tale. -
Very well-written, but I viscerally disliked it: more horror than fantasy and too dark for my taste.
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For the last year I've noticed an increase in horror--particularly in the form of body horror (or perhaps flesh horror?)--in short stories, and this issue's short fiction delves into the many ways the body can be diseased, malformed, twisted, dying and dead, etc. While I am not a horror fan, these stories are less about creeping the reader out and more about exploring the horrific where it intersects with the human. They work great as a collection, for they explore the many other genres horror can be paired with--from alien invasion to western to fantasy. Definitely worth reading.
I also quite liked the essay by Foz Meadows, and should check out her blog. I do wish the essays delved more into literary criticism and book reviews.
P.S. The cover rocks!!
Fiction
“Ye Highlands and Ye Lowlands” by Seanan McGuire: The narrator helps create a tech that can send things to other planets, and her team sends robots to another planet to collect data and make contact with potential aliens. But then, consequences happen. Cool concept, but a bit repetitive, and difficult to pull off since it opens by telling exactly what the consequences are. 3.5/5
“The Sound of Salt and Sea” by Kat Howard: The dead rise from the sea once a year, and the bone horses round them up to return them, but require a rider. Haunting short story, that feels like it could be a novel. 4.5/5
“The Blood That Pulses in the Veins of One” by JY Yang: An alien flesh-eater is captured by scientists, and put under the scalpel. Body horror is not my cup of tea, but this one is well written. 4/5
“You’ll Surely Drown Here If You Stay” by Alyssa Wong: Novelette. In a brothel on the outskirts of the desert, a boy can make the dead dance, and the desert calls to him. He's inherited both his father's and his mother's powers, but when a group who own the desert mine come to town, he may have to learn to harness his powers fast. Interesting, well-written story. 4/5
“The Drowning Line” by Haralambi Markov: A family line is cursed, to drown in a lake as they once drowned the lake's ghost. But it's many generations after, and a man doesn't want to loose his daughter to the drowning. Odd story. I wonder if this is based on a folktale? 3/5
Reprint Fiction
“The Plague Givers” by Kameron Hurley: Novelette. Bet is a retired plague hunter, and when a shomon and another plague hunter arrive at her door in the swamp with a letter from the lover she thought was dead, she's forced to come out of her retirement. This was actually really good--I say 'actually' because I do not consider body horror my cup of tea, but this issue is surprising me in that respect overall. Love Bet. 4.5/5
Nonfiction
“Diversity: More Than White Women” by Foz Meadows: Engaging piece about women in current tv series and movies. Love the James Bond's Law. I wish I had Netflix so I could watch Jessica Jones; I've only heard good things. 5/5
“Where Do We Find Community as Gamers?” by Tanya DePass: Looks at safe communities for gay and POC gamers. I'm not a gamer, but seems like a good piece to read if you are and are interested in gamer communities. 3.5/5
“Ludo and the Goblin King” by Sarah Monette: 3/5
“In the Hands of the Goblin King” by Stephanie Zvan: 2.5/5
The last 2 essays were misses for me because the authors explorations the movie Labyrinth, which I have not seen since I was a child and it scared me so I never watched it again. It's been about 30 years, so at this point the only thing I remember about the movie is a puppet peeing off a labyrinth wall. It sounds like a movie I would like, so perhaps I should give it another try.
Poetry
“Deeper Than Pie” by Beth Cato: 4/5
“Brown woman at Safety Beach, Victoria, in June” by M Sereno: 3/5
“Alamat” by Isabel Yap: 4/5
Interviews
Kat Howard interviewed by Deborah Stanish: 4/5
Alyssa Wong interviewed by Deborah Stanish: 4/5 -
Alyssa Wong is the one to watch. She has a unique style in her storytelling. She knows how to hook readers from the first page and throw them headlong into a whirlwind of crazy movements of magic and fascinating characters. This tale of desert magic in the Wild West just won the Locus Award for Best Novelette. Go check it out.
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This was an unexpected read. Absolutely fantastic and interesting. Beautiful prose, beautiful imagery, and thoroughly engrossing and enjoyable. Definitely on the desert gothic side, which I adore.
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I must have read this wrong. I don't get it at all. Two, I'm an idiot, stars.
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Another great story from one of my very favorite authors...
In Ye Highlands and Ye Lowlands we learn that the world as we know it it’s ending and that the present situation is the direct consequence of a precise chain of events – indeed the words “things have consequences” keep resonating throughout the story, much like an ominous warning. Or a funeral dirge…
The main character, a mother with two teenaged kids, seeks some respite from what we understand is a long journey with little or no hope, and we learn through a series of flashbacks what happened before: the amazing discovery of a portal toward another world, the observation of this alien land where a few robotic probes have been sent in search for life, the encounter with an alien species – and the beginning of the end.
There is a painful dichotomy between the grim present, where people are running from certain death toward the few safe places – as long as they last, of course – and the hopeful, enthusiastic past, when people joked about the portal wanting to call it “the Stargate”, or when they sent the robot probes supplied with “every known human language—including Klingon”, in a giddy reach for contact with other forms of life that could not be disconnected from the number of fictional presentations that used to fire our imagination. There is even some commentary about the fickleness of the human soul, when even the images of an alien world stop making the news, because “..quickly people got over the magnitude of our discovery”.
I’m not going to reveal what the twist in the tale is, of course, but I feel comfortable in saying that it’s a painfully surprising one, and also a warning about the dangers of overconfidence, of putting one’s dreams above all else: “we’d been so busy wallowing in intellectual ideals that we’d never stopped to think”. Despite the grimness, despite the hopelessness, I enjoyed this story very much because no one like McGuire is able to deliver a tale of ultimate doom while keeping her readers engaged, enthralled by the way she weaves her words into a clear, mesmerizing picture.
Not a “happy” story, not by a long shot, but a powerful one that makes you think about the outcome of our choices, and the dangers of taking our customs and thinking processes for granted. Because, in the end
THINGS HAVE CONSEQUENCES
HELLO -
Overall I really liked this issue. I thought the interview with Alyssa Wong was great and the poetry was better than other issues. A lot of these stories had a horror or unsettling vibe which I loved.
Here are my ratings for the stories:
4 Stars
You'll Surely Drown Here If You Stay by Alyssa Wong - I really enjoyed the relationship between Marisol and Ellis in this short story. Their relationship was complicated in a good way that allowed them to be extremely close friends. I thought the magic in the story was highly imaginable.
Ye Highlands and Ye Lowlands by Seanan McGuire - I thought this would make an excellent movie if it was expanded some. I think it gave me an Arrival feel because it had to do with linguistics.
The Drowning Line by Haralambi Markov - I am definitely feeling the eerie feeling that this issue has done and this short really built upon that feeling
3 Stars
The Plague Gives by Kameron Hurley - I enjoyed this Hurley story quite a bit but it was missing something. I felt like it was very similar to a quest line in a video game. It was good, just didn't blow me away.
2 Stars
The Sound of Salt and Sea by Kat Howard - I just didn't connect to this story much.
1 Star
The Blood That Pulses in the Veins of One by JY Yang - I DNF'd this story due to the cannibalism elements.
Best essay:
Diversity: More Than White Women by Foz Meadows -
I shouldn't have read this one just after "The Tomato Thief". The two novelettes have nothing in common save for the setting - but comparisons are still inevitable. I believe, however, I'd be slightly disappointed nonetheless; Wong's writing is fabulous and confident as always, but the story didn't deliver the punch-to-the-gut I was hoping for after reading and rereading "The Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers".
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Locus award winner 2017
chouette nouvelle (un mixte de fantastique et d'ambiance western, tout en nuances et suggestions trop courte pour faire un commentaire mais à lire certainement !
En plus du thème bien exploité (nature versus homme) la belle surprise est l'écriture soignée et précise
on peut lire la nouvelle ici :
http://uncannymagazine.com/article/yo... -
This was my first Alyssa Wong story, and it certainly won't be my last. Not a perfect story for me..I felt like this would have worked better as part of a longer story, but the writing was great! I'd definitely like to read more from Wong in the future. Hopefully she will write a novel!
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A satisfactory short story found at:
Uncanny Magazine. Quick and well written! -
I liked the story, but can we stop linking asexual characters to death ?
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I think I liked it best of all the Alyssa Wong stories I've read so far. It was evocative and imaginative, and reminded me of Pretty Deadly, in a good way. There was some real emotion, although I think I'd have liked for the roots of the magic and its connection to the desert and landscape to be given more detail or explanation.
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En realidad solo quería leer "You'll Sure Drown Here If You Stay" de Alyssa Wong, ¡novela corta que me ha gustado un montón!
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You’d torn your hands to pieces, ripped the skin and flesh down to the bone, and the desert had built you back out of sand and briars, then pushed you rudely away from the entrance to the collapsed mineshaft. The wandering skeletons of slain cattle and men had stopped their nighttime shambling to watch through ant–eaten eyes. Stay away from this, child.
An incredibly tense short story. Hoo, I just held my breath for twenty minutes and can feel it.
Immaculate world-building. Characters drawn large with tiny details in the sentences, and the type of Western I really like: one that focuses on the ghost towns and the blood and death and raw fight against the desert that was necessary to build and lose fortunes. Ones where people don't pretend there's going to be a happy ending.
And this ending, while both happy and unhappy, felt delightfully appropriate. -
I am really just now delving into Alyssa Wong's short fiction and I have to say. It is some of the most beautiful short form that I have ever read! I really appreciate her use of language in this piece, the way she gives the dead life (ha! get it?) through her words. There is magic here, ancient and beautiful but also a curse in it's own way. No amount of power comes without a price here and I really love that she makes that very clear. No matter how strong that her characters get, they never stray outside of what makes them human to me, and that makes them so easy to get attached to. I can't wait to dive deeper into her catalog, hopefully soon they will give us an anthology/collection of her work!
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A dark fantasy of the old west, set in a dried out mining town, haunted by the mining catastrophe that killed many men, including Ellis' father. An adolescent, Ellis has inherited the power to move the dead from his father, and the power of the desert from his mother. And it appears everyone wants something from Ellis. Beautifully written story, with a great visual feel. Loved it.
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I thought Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers was good, but I didn't love it; this I did love. Second person POV that worked, a western setting, desert magic and necromancy. Basically nothing not to love. Also some beautiful writing and a not-happy, not-sad ending. Well done.
