linguana's review against another edition
2.0
2 maybe 2.5
Nice twist on werewolves but a little thin on story
Nice twist on werewolves but a little thin on story
mrsbluejay's review against another edition
5.0
I love Uncanny's Destroy! series, they are just some of the best and most interesting collections that I've read.
For me I enjoyed the short fiction and poetry a lot more than the interviews and essays, but that's because I read mostly for enjoyment and a lot less for information. I wouldn't want them to be excluded, so everything's fine.
For me I enjoyed the short fiction and poetry a lot more than the interviews and essays, but that's because I read mostly for enjoyment and a lot less for information. I wouldn't want them to be excluded, so everything's fine.
titusfortner's review against another edition
3.0
I only read (listened to the podcast of) Sarah Gailey's _ Away with the Wolves_
Interesting take on werewolves and disability.
Interesting take on werewolves and disability.
wanderlustlover's review against another edition
3.0
Hugo 2020 Nominations (Best Novelette);
"Away with the Wolves"
I am pleased to have learned on looking up the issue of this Uncanny, that it was entirely devoted to Sci-Fi/Fantasy Stories about (and by) differently-abled people. This story was an interesting one, but not as compelling as I wished it was.
This was the story of a disabled girl, whose body often caused her too much pain to function in the space of each single day after rising, but who has the ability to shift into the from of a wolf (a time she simply refers to as 'Away'). In her other form, she feels no pain, no guilt, and is able to live freely, in the moment. The work is about coming to terms with what actually works best for you, and being supported by those who love you best, who want your best life for you.
"Away with the Wolves"
I am pleased to have learned on looking up the issue of this Uncanny, that it was entirely devoted to Sci-Fi/Fantasy Stories about (and by) differently-abled people. This story was an interesting one, but not as compelling as I wished it was.
This was the story of a disabled girl, whose body often caused her too much pain to function in the space of each single day after rising, but who has the ability to shift into the from of a wolf (a time she simply refers to as 'Away'). In her other form, she feels no pain, no guilt, and is able to live freely, in the moment. The work is about coming to terms with what actually works best for you, and being supported by those who love you best, who want your best life for you.
crunden's review against another edition
These covers are always so beautiful. <3
I started with 'Monsters & Women—Beneath Contempt' by Roxanna Bennett.
Read it here.
I started with 'Monsters & Women—Beneath Contempt' by Roxanna Bennett.
Dismiss reversal of promises & missing curatives,
who notices holes in the old narrative
Read it here.
bookaneer's review against another edition
4.0
Rating and review only for Sarah Gailey's "Away with the Wolves" novelette, currently being nominated for the Hugos.
I listened to this via Uncanny spotify account, which is an alternative way to enjoy their stories. The narrator was really good, she brought the story to life. It's rather fascinating, the way the author related lycanthrophy with disability. The main character turned into a wolf regularly, while although her village tolerated her (as long as she paid the damage she caused) and she had a loving, supportive best friend, she still experienced struggle and chronic pain. One day, a goat was slaughtered and she was blamed. The story moved and we delved deeper into the MC's psyche. I savored it till the very end and thus I can understand why this was nominated.
It can be read here: https://uncannymagazine.com/article/away-with-the-wolves/
PS: This is the second wolf-themed story I really liked this year.
I listened to this via Uncanny spotify account, which is an alternative way to enjoy their stories. The narrator was really good, she brought the story to life. It's rather fascinating, the way the author related lycanthrophy with disability. The main character turned into a wolf regularly, while although her village tolerated her (as long as she paid the damage she caused) and she had a loving, supportive best friend, she still experienced struggle and chronic pain. One day, a goat was slaughtered and she was blamed. The story moved and we delved deeper into the MC's psyche. I savored it till the very end and thus I can understand why this was nominated.
It can be read here: https://uncannymagazine.com/article/away-with-the-wolves/
PS: This is the second wolf-themed story I really liked this year.
melusine7's review against another edition
Hugo 2020 voter packet
Listened to podcast
Listened to podcast
nataliya_x's review against another edition
2.0
This review is for Hugo-nominated novelette Away With the Wolves by Sarah Gailey:
In a nutshell, it’s about a shapeshifter Suss, a young woman suffering from disabling chronic pain from which she can escape by changing into the wolf form. But when she’s a wolf, she’s a bit of a nuisance for her village and must pay back for the havoc wreaked during the wolf adventures.
But everyone is quite understanding, and there’s a best friend with a heart of gold, and the only logical conclusion on how to escape the pain forever, and everyone is happy and content and heartwarming and no real issues or stakes or conflicts or any other engaging plot points need to interfere with the sweetness. It’s really like it’s an intro to a subsequent story where there are actually consequences or difficult choices or anything else that constitutes a story?
Yeah, cool. A happy ending to a bland beginning, skipping any possibly exciting middle bits.
Okay, dear, go take it all; and I’ll take a quick nap over here.
2 stars because of sheer boredom. Why the Hugo nomination?
———————
My Hugo and Nebula Awards Reading Project 2020: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3295830569
“I try to stay still for as long as I can. I try to swallow down the feeling of numbness. I know better than to hope, but I hope anyway—maybe today will be the day I get to keep that feeling. Maybe today will be the day nothing hurts.“
In a nutshell, it’s about a shapeshifter Suss, a young woman suffering from disabling chronic pain from which she can escape by changing into the wolf form. But when she’s a wolf, she’s a bit of a nuisance for her village and must pay back for the havoc wreaked during the wolf adventures.
“I know the joy of jumping at something big. I know what it’s like, feeling that I want it feeling that I swallow when I’m a girl. When I’m a wolf, I want it is almost always immediately followed by I do it.”
But everyone is quite understanding, and there’s a best friend with a heart of gold, and the only logical conclusion on how to escape the pain forever, and everyone is happy and content and heartwarming and no real issues or stakes or conflicts or any other engaging plot points need to interfere with the sweetness. It’s really like it’s an intro to a subsequent story where there are actually consequences or difficult choices or anything else that constitutes a story?
It’s done fine, sure, but I don’t quite see why or how I’m supposed to care. Everything is hunky-dory and the entire situation is win-win, and I kept thinking that I missed a whole section somewhere in the middle that had anything like an actual story? Everything is easy and obvious and consequences-free and has less stakes in it than a Lifetime channel flick.
“My mother was wrong, I think, because it turns out I’m not ruining anything by remaining a wolf. I haven’t lost anything of myself. Alger doesn’t seem to think it’s selfish of me to bring home rabbits for the stewpot, and Nan Gideon has gone from shaking her fist at me to giving me baskets of eggs from her chickens to bring home. I only go into the village when I want to, now, and so I never feel trapped and distracted and uncomfortable, and there hasn’t been an incident at the apothecary or the church or the blacksmith or the butcher.”
Yeah, cool. A happy ending to a bland beginning, skipping any possibly exciting middle bits.
“Everything is mine to have, if I want it. Finally, for the first time in my entire life, I feel like I can admit: I want it all.
And I will take it all.”
Okay, dear, go take it all; and I’ll take a quick nap over here.
2 stars because of sheer boredom. Why the Hugo nomination?
———————
My Hugo and Nebula Awards Reading Project 2020: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3295830569
kristamccracken's review against another edition
5.0
Favourites from this issue:
"Away With the Wolves" by Sarah Gailey (Fiction)
"The Tailor and the Beast" by Aysha U. Farah (Fiction)
"Building the Door, Hold the Door: Protecting the Citadel of Diverse Speculative Fiction" by Nicolette Barischoff (non-fiction)
"Fears and Dragons and the Thoughts of a Disabled Writer" by Day Al-Mohamed (non-fiction)
"Part of That World: Finding Disabled Mermaids in the Works of seanan McGuire" by Cara Liebowitz (non-fiction)
"The Thing In Us We Fear Just Wants Our Love" by Julian K. Jarboe (Poetry)
"Away With the Wolves" by Sarah Gailey (Fiction)
"The Tailor and the Beast" by Aysha U. Farah (Fiction)
"Building the Door, Hold the Door: Protecting the Citadel of Diverse Speculative Fiction" by Nicolette Barischoff (non-fiction)
"Fears and Dragons and the Thoughts of a Disabled Writer" by Day Al-Mohamed (non-fiction)
"Part of That World: Finding Disabled Mermaids in the Works of seanan McGuire" by Cara Liebowitz (non-fiction)
"The Thing In Us We Fear Just Wants Our Love" by Julian K. Jarboe (Poetry)
8bitlapras's review
4.0
Fiction
Away With the Wolves by Sarah Gailey: 4.5/5
Tower by Lane Waldman: 3.5/5
Seed and Cinder by Jei D. Marcade: 4/5
The Fifth Day by Tochi Onyebuchi: 2.75/5
This Is Not My Adventure by Karlo Yeager Rodriguez: 5/5 (REALLY good, my favourite of the issue)
The Tailor and the Beast by Aysha U. Farah: 4/5
Non-fiction
The Blind Prince Reimagined: Disability in Fairy Tales by Kari Maaren: 3.75/5
Sudden and Marvelous Invention: Hearing Impairment and Fabulist (non)Fiction by Gwendolyn Paradice: 5/5 (As someone who is hard of hearing, I could relate to the sentiments expressed in this essay extremely closely; it was pretty transcendent to read feelings that I've never been able to express written and subsequently validated by someone else)
Fears and Dragons and the Thoughts of a Disabled Writer by Day Al-Mohamed: 3.5/5
How to Send Your Disabled Protagonist on an Adventure in 7 Easy Steps by A. T. Greenblatt: 4.25/5
Part of That World: Finding Disabled Mermaids in the Works of Seanan McGuire by Cara Liebowitz: 4.75/5
The Visions Take Their Toll: Disability and the Cost of Magic by Dominik Parisien: 5/5
Poetry
The only poetry piece I really felt an emotional connection to in this issue was 'Eating disorder' does not begin to describe it by R. B. Lemberg.
Average rating: 4.16/5, rounded up to a 4.25/5.
Away With the Wolves by Sarah Gailey: 4.5/5
Tower by Lane Waldman: 3.5/5
Seed and Cinder by Jei D. Marcade: 4/5
The Fifth Day by Tochi Onyebuchi: 2.75/5
This Is Not My Adventure by Karlo Yeager Rodriguez: 5/5 (REALLY good, my favourite of the issue)
The Tailor and the Beast by Aysha U. Farah: 4/5
Non-fiction
The Blind Prince Reimagined: Disability in Fairy Tales by Kari Maaren: 3.75/5
Sudden and Marvelous Invention: Hearing Impairment and Fabulist (non)Fiction by Gwendolyn Paradice: 5/5 (As someone who is hard of hearing, I could relate to the sentiments expressed in this essay extremely closely; it was pretty transcendent to read feelings that I've never been able to express written and subsequently validated by someone else)
Fears and Dragons and the Thoughts of a Disabled Writer by Day Al-Mohamed: 3.5/5
How to Send Your Disabled Protagonist on an Adventure in 7 Easy Steps by A. T. Greenblatt: 4.25/5
Part of That World: Finding Disabled Mermaids in the Works of Seanan McGuire by Cara Liebowitz: 4.75/5
The Visions Take Their Toll: Disability and the Cost of Magic by Dominik Parisien: 5/5
Poetry
The only poetry piece I really felt an emotional connection to in this issue was 'Eating disorder' does not begin to describe it by R. B. Lemberg.
Average rating: 4.16/5, rounded up to a 4.25/5.