Juliet Kemp

Jennery is floating on xyr back when Ocean speaks for the first time. Just three days away from freedom, all Jennery has ever wanted to do was become a musician -- because if you reach sixteen and Ocean hasn't spoken to you once, then you can pursue a different life instead of becoming a Communicator. But Ocean speaks to Jennery -- only to Jennery. And Ocean is angry. And when Ocean is angry, bad things happen to the humans who have colonized Ocean's world. Jennery must choose whether to listen or to swim away. A Glimmer of Silver is a novella about responsibility, growing up, and what happens after first contact.

A Glimmer of Silver

Tochi Onyebuchi

Marie Brennan

John Chu

Jordan Taylor

AnaMaria Curtis

K.S. Walker

Radha Kai Zan

The July/August 2022 issue of Hugo Award-winning Uncanny Magazine. Featuring new fiction by Marie Brennan, AnaMaria Curtis, Juliet Kemp, K.S. Walker, John Chu, Radha Kai Zan, and Jordan Taylor. Reprint fiction by Tochi Onyebuchi. Essays by Keidra Chaney, Gay Haldeman, Jim C. Hines, and Jeannette Ng, poetry by Brandon O'Brien, Sarah Grey, Sonya Taaffe, and Millie Ho, interviews with AnaMaria Curtis and Jordan Taylor by Caroline M. Yoachim, a cover by Kirbi Fagan, and editorials by Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas, and Meg Elison. About Uncanny Magazine Uncanny Magazine is a bimonthly science fiction and fantasy magazine first published in November 2014. Edited by 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 & 2020 Hugo award winners for best semiprozine, and 2018 Hugo award winners for Best Editor, Short Form, Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas, Meg Elison, and Chimedum Ohaegbu, each issue of Uncanny includes new stories, poetry, articles, and interviews.

July/August 2022

Uncanny Magazine Issue 47

Hope alone cannot withstand a rising flood A darkness writhes in the heart of Teren. The Academy is unleashing demons on dissenters, and refugees rush to leave the capital with nothing but their lives and a hope. That hope brings them to the city of Marek, Teren’s only major port, which harbours dreams of independence. But Marek is not as stable as it seems. Marcia, Heir to House Fereno, has spent the last two years fighting to keep Marek safe and prosperous – but with child, her relationship in ruins and the increasing threat of Teren to worry about, can she find her way through? The printing houses of the city run rabble-rousing polemic, penned by an increasingly frustrated majority who feel left out of the rule and riches of Marek. They demand change, and Marcia can’t help but agree with much of what they’re saying. On the other side of the bridge, the tiny group of Marek’s remaining sorcerers must negotiate their way through troubles of their own. Cato, Marcia’s exiled brother, and Reb, her ex-lover, are trying to train a new generation of sorcerers and both are having problems. Jonas simply won’t take ‘no’ for an answer from Cato; and Reb’s two students feel held back, both know that change, and strife, may be coming – and neither are ready to deal with it. But Reb cannot bring herself to move faster. Between them, the five sorcerers alongside Marek’s cityangel can expel a single demon. But Teren has many, and other fears loom on the horizon. Out-of-season storms rampage across the Oval Sea, threatening trade – and Jonas’ family, out plying the trade winds – and the unseasonable weather threatens Marek itself. Menaced by the distant capital, by dissension from within, and even by nature itself – will the rising flood lift all boats? Or will they be capsized? Book 3 of the Marek series “Fantasy politics with real nuance and believable uncertainty, characters whose richness and depth has developed over three books, and a growing threat that starts pulling together threads across the series make The Rising Flood a fantastic read, while Marek is a textured place that is a joy to return to.” Malka Older, author of the Centenal Cycle trilogy, Hugo Award finalist Cover artwork by Tony Allcock

The Rising Flood

Ian Tregillis

Gini Koch

James Enge

Esther Friesner

Patrick Hurley

Steven Harper

Jacey Bedford

Jaime Lee Moyer

Andrija Popovic

Violette Malan

F. Brett Cox

Kate Hall

John Linwood Grant

Jason Palmatier

PORTALS: What mysteries...or horrors...await you on the other side? The lure of an open doorway is hard to resist. What lies beyond? Where will it take you—and how will you be transformed? Will it lead to paradise...or a living hell? You’ll never know, unless you have the courage to take that first step. In this anthology you will find sixteen stories of portals to exotic destinations, whether it’s a doorway in the desert that appears out of thin air, a fairy ring of mushrooms in the backyard, a crack in the road, or a train headed straight to Hell. Science fiction and fantasy authors Nancy Holzner, Esther Friesner, Ian Tregillis, Jacey Bedford, John Linwood Grant, Kate Hall, Gini Koch, Violette Malan, Juliet Kemp, James Enge, Steven Harper, F. Brett Cox, Jaime Lee Moyer, Jason Palmatier, Andrija Popovic, and Patrick Hurley invite you to step through a host of doorways to other realities with infinite possibilities, some horrible, some comic, and some just plain weird. So take my hand—not too tight!—and let’s journey into another world. The door is open. The portal awaits.

Portals

Magic within the city-state of Marek works without the need for bloodletting, unlike elsewhere in Teren, thanks to an agreement three hundred years ago between an angel and the founding fathers. It also ensures that political stability is protected from magical influence. Now, though, most sophisticates no longer even believe in magic or the cityangel. But magic has suddenly stopped working, discovers Reb, one of the two sorcerers who survived a plague that wiped out virtually all of the rest. Soon she is forced to acknowledge that someone has deposed the cityangel without being able to replace it. Marcia, Heir to House Fereno, and one of the few in high society who is well-aware that magic still exists, stumbles across that same truth. But it is just one part of a much more ambitious plan to seize control of Marek. Meanwhile, city Council members connive and conspire, unaware that they are being manipulated in a dangerous political game. A game that threatens the peace and security not just of the city, but all the states around the Oval Sea, including the shipboard traders of Salina upon whom Marek relies. To stop the impending disaster, Reb and Marcia, despite their difference in status, must work together alongside the deposed cityangel and Jonas, a messenger from Salina. But first they must discover who is behind the plot, and each of them must try to decide who they can really trust.

The Deep and Shining Dark

This guide provides a month to month calendar for growing food on a balcony or in a container garden using permaculture principles.--From publisher description.

How to Grow Food in Small Urban Spaces

Permaculture in Pots

Although the city-state of Marek is part of Teren, the Thirteen Houses and Guilds have long been protective of their de facto independence. So Marcia, Heir to House Fereno, expects the annual visit for the Council opening by the Teren Throne's representative, the Lord Lieutenant, to be nothing more than the usual symbolic gesture. But this year the Lieutenant has been unexpectedly replaced by Selene. As Marcia is showing her the view from the top of Marekhill, she suspects that Selene has her own agenda. After all, Teren has politics too, just like Marek. In Marek, magic is mediated by the cityangel. But elsewhere in Teren magic is enabled by bloodletting. A Teren magician will invoke a demon to do their bidding and bind them with blood. But demons are devious and will take advantage of any flaw or loophole to avoid being bound. An unleashed demon is dangerous and sure to create havoc, and the Teren way to stop them involves the letting of more of the magician's blood - often terminally. But if a young magician is being sought by an unleashed demon, their only hope may be to escape to Marek where the cityangel can keep the demon at bay. Probably. Once again Reb, Cato and Jonas must work with Beckett to deal with a magical problem, while Marcia must tackle a serious political challenge to Marek's future. But of course magic and politics never seem to remain separate for long, especially when Teren politics are involved.

Book 2 of the Marek Series

Shadow and Storm

Juliet Kemp

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