Black Gate

Over at Tangent Online, reviewer Herbert M. Shaw weighs in on the May/June Uncanny, which features a lot of tales of the undead this issue.

“The Sound of Salt and Sea” by Kat Howard
When the ghost of a brash face from his past returns, it is up to an island’s mortal protector to right a recent wrong. Secluded to a tropical are where the dead rise at low tide, the protagonist describes his struggle as the sole protector with a wide array of metaphors and similes. Howard takes on the undead by fighting fire with fire in a story about friendships, family ties, and skeleton horseback riding.

“You’ll Surely Drown Here If You Stay” by Alyssa Wong
A second-person novella places the reader as the main character to become immersed in the mindset of a person capable of controlling the dead. Some call it witchcraft, some call it a family trait. Through deep understandings of the other character’s perceptions, Wong manages to create a sense of how dangerous and significant your power can be as you lead an expedition to an abandoned mine to rid it of its infestation.

“The Drowning Line” by Haralambi Markov
This issue’s trend of stories involving the undead and death by water culminates in a sort of ‘Freddy meets Jason’ myth held by one person. After a demon killed the father, it is up to the son to prevent it from coming for his newly teenage daughter on the cusp of womanhood. His journey is plagued by a past he cannot let go of for fear that being forgotten will not mean it is gone. As the only male writer in this month’s issue, Markov concludes these stories by unknowingly borrowing aspects of the previous four, those being family values, brash actions, facing the dead, and the ever-present environment of water.

Read Shaw’s complete review here. The magazine also includes fiction by Seanan McGuire, Kameron Hurley, and JY Yang, and non-fiction by Foz Meadows, Sarah Monette, Stephanie Zvan, and Tanya DePass, plus poetry, interview, and an editorial. All of the content became available for purchase as an eBook (PDF, EPUB, MOBI) on May 1, 2016.

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Okay, not technically the latest fiction, since I’m still getting caught up. Let’s say recent fiction, and leave it at that. We’ll start with “Your Orisons May Be Recorded” by Laurie Penny, a hilarious and poignant story of an angel working in call center, answering prayers. Her co-worker is a demon, and she’s not allowed to actually answer any prayers, but those aren’t her greatest concerns… far from it, as it turns out. “Your Orisons May Be Recorded” was edited by Patrick Nielsen Hayden and illustrated by Yuko Shimizu (above left). It was published March 15.

Caighlan Smith’s dark fantasy “The Weather” was edited by Ann VanderMeer, and illustrated by Keith Negley (above middle). It was posted on March 23rd. Here’s the description.

In the middle of a barren wasteland, a small town goes through the motions as if nothing’s changed. Lolly has school, a part time job, a senile grandmother that needs looking after. But everything has changed, and Lolly’s always one storm away from facing that.

Finally, we have “Freedom is Space for the Spirit,” a contemporary fantasy by Glen Hirshberg. It was edited by Ellen Datlow and published on April 6, 2016, with artwork by Greg Ruth (above right).

“Freedom is Space for the Spirit” by Glen Hirshberg is a fantasy about a middle-aged German, drawn back to Russia by a mysterious invitation from a friend he knew during the wild, exuberant period in the midst of the break-up of the Soviet Union. Upon his arrival in St. Petersburg, he begins to see bears, wandering and seemingly lost.

We last covered Tor.com with Alter S. Reiss’s epic fantasy “Recalled to Service.” For more free fiction, see our recent online magazine coverage.