So now it’s down to you: what should I be reading next?
© 2014 Tansy Rayner Roberts
Tansy Rayner Roberts is an Australian fantasy author, blogger, and podcaster. She won the 2013 Hugo for Best Fan Writer. Tansy has a PhD in Classics, which she drew upon for her short story collection Love and Romanpunk. Her latest fiction project is Musketeer Space, a gender-swapped space opera retelling of The Three Musketeers, published weekly as a web serial. Come and find her on Twitter!
The Short List: The Ten Best Science Fiction & Fantasy Shorts on the Web
by Christopher J Garcia
Storytelling is harder when you’re placed in a tight container. Short stories have long been where you could find some of the most innovative work, and the same can be said of short films. Once the dominant form of cinema, shorts have been somewhat hidden since the fall of the double feature in the 1960s, relegated to film festivals and specialty screenings. Only in recent years have we seen short films appear in greater numbers. YouTube, Vimeo, Funny–or–Die, Short of the Week, and various other sites have led to an explosion in the number of short films that gain an audience. For fans of science fiction and fantasy, short films offer fascinating new stories that will stand alongside the work of the best writers and filmmakers.
I’ve been lucky enough to program the Silicon Valley Science Fiction Short Film Festival, exposing me to hundreds of short films from around the world. While many of the best shorts I’ve found are not available online, there are many that you can watch without having to buy a festival pass!
Spoiler
If you love Mira Grant’s Newsflesh series, you’ll love Spoiler. Spoiler presents a near–future America after a zombie epidemic. What really struck me was how thoroughly the film delved into the world after the fall in just 17 minutes. They even deal with the bureaucracy that such a world would require. Amazingly well–made, with subtle effects and details that populate the finest storytelling. Little things like doors that seal themselves after an alert is sounded, or self–turning screws, make this the kind of film that you can watch over and over, and discover something every time.
The Centrifugal Brain Project
Fake documentaries are great, and they’re making big splashes right now on the festival circuit. In The Centrifugal Brain Project, Dr. Nick Laslowicz discusses the experiments he’s been undertaking. Experiments on the effects of centrifugal force on brain development that required the building of outlandishly complex medical devices that just so happen to make incredible amusement park rides. Just the images of the rides kicked my vertigo into overdrive. Wonderful effects combine with a script that has its tongue practically poking through its cheek!
The Missing Scarf
Of all the films nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film, only The Missing Scarf features George Takei. It’s a humorous tale of a squirrel, Albert, who has lost his scarf and asks his woodland friends if they’ve seen it. Of course, they haven’t, largely because they’ve been too wrapped up in their own thoughts to notice the world around them. This one gets into some deep thoughts and ends with just about the most final finality you can get. The visual style is simple and lovely, the voice acting wonderful, and the message darker than anything!
Sorry About Tomorrow
The 48 Hour Film Project is an amazing thing. Some marvelous films have come out of the Project, all less than ten minutes long. Sorry About Tomorrow might be the best, as it’s moved beyond the Project and onto the festival circuit, winning awards all over the place. The story of how our hero, Baldwin, assists young scientists Emily and Cricket in perfecting their time machine, is at once harried, heart–breaking, and fun. The direction of Motke Dapp is precise and the imagery stunning. It won Best Film at the Silicon Valley Science Fiction Short Film Festival.
The Fabulous Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore
Yup, this one won the Oscar for Best Animated Short Film a couple of years ago. It also debuted at Cinequest, where I’m one of the programmers. It’s an amazing fantasy story of a Buster Keaton–like guy who is tornadoed away into a colorful world where he is the caretaker of a great library of flying books. Without a doubt one of the most lyrical and beautiful short films ever made. I don’t mind saying I can’t watch it without tears flowing. There’s also an incredible iPad app to be downloaded. Moonbot Studios, who produced this wonderful film, is one of the big reasons Louisiana is becoming known as Bayouwood.
Cargo
The lengths a father will go to save his child are considerable, and Cargo is the best representation of this you’ll ever find in a zombie film. Bitten, and with only hours before he becomes one of the undead, our hero–monster sets off to save his infant child. It’s one of the most heart–breaking films ever made and has played at festivals around the world, winning many major awards. At less than eight minutes, it packs everything into as tight a film as you’ll ever find.
Glory at Sea
A survivor washes up on shore and the population of a Purgatory–like settlement believe him to be the Devil. He begins to build a boat from the wreckage and gathers the town to his vision. It’s incredibly moving, the kind of film you show to heartless wrecks if you really want to see them cry. The shooting, done in New Orleans, is some of the most effective you’ll find at any length. Beasts of the Southern Wild is immediately brought to mind by this incredibly moving short, which makes sense as they share the same director. Though it’s almost five years old, it still feels so very fresh.
The 1up Fever
Another faux–doc…maybe? The question as to how many levels of reality exist in our iPhone–connected world is central to The 1up Fever. It’s supposed to be a documentary about a Smartphone–based game played on the streets of Berlin. The game turns the city into a live–action Super Mario Brothers, only played for Bitcoins and run by a mysterious benefactor. The way it’s shot and edited recall the best documentaries of filmmakers like Wernor Herzog and D.A. Pennebaker, and the style reminds me of Run Lola Run. It had its North American premiere at the Silicon Valley Science Fiction Short Film Festival, and is now tearing up the festival scene. Whether or not it’s an actual document of an actual game becomes secondary because the questioning of what’s real only adds to the experience.
Requiem for a Robot
Sometimes, films turn on you. You think you’ve got them all figured out and then, suddenly, they’re not what you expect. The drunken robot has been a popular subject for comedic science fiction since before Bender showed up on Futurama. Meet Rob, a robot with a serious drinking problem and sadly, it’s a funny problem, until the film pulls back and shows you the rest of his world. At once hilarious and heart–breakingly sad, Requiem for a Robot tells its story in a lo–fi way that never once makes you question the existence of a cardboard robot.
Apollo—A 16mm Adventure to the Moon
Actual documentary is a field that’s not often included in discussion of science fiction and it’s probably that sticky “fiction” part of the term. In the case of Apollo—A 16mm Adventure to the Moon, it’s a shame because if Gravity is science fiction, then so is Apollo. The film uses archival footage from NASA along with period–style animation and a soundtrack that reminds me of what would happen if Wendy Carlos and Phillip Glass had a kid who wrote 1960s sci–fi scores. The editing is flawless with fast cuts and intense transitions that make this an amazing adventure indeed.
© 2014 Christopher J Garcia
Christopher J Garcia is a writer, fanzine editor, curator, filmmaker, and historian from Boulder Creek, California. He won the Hugo for Best Fanzine in 2011 for co-editing The Drink Tank. He’s made short films, produced documentaries, programmed film festivals, and edits the film journal Klaus at Gunpoint as well as Journey Planet (Hugo nominee – 2012-2014). He makes a living as a Curator at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA.
Kissing song
by Neil Gaiman
© 2014 Neil Gaiman
Neil Gaiman is the bestselling au
thor of books for adults and children. He has written poetry, songs, fiction, and non-fiction. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Hugo, Nebula, and the World Fantasy Award, and is the only author to be awarded both the Newbery and Carnegie medals for the same work, The Graveyard Book.
His most recent novel, The Ocean at the End of the Lane, was named the UK’s National Book Award 2013 Book of the Year. Born in the UK, he now lives in the US with his wife, the musician and writer, Amanda Palmer.
The New Ways
by Amal El-Mohtar
The old ways were lost on a dusty road between
Orion and Abora, sewn with the splintered skins of stars,
tracked in spirals, where once a small boy
fit Jupiter in his eye. It became a habit with him, the vast—an ocean fell
out of his mouth, and in it he rolled
the planets up with small green snakes,
made cormorants of his mistakes,
until his blood ran cold.
Three centaurs wearing bowls of glass
in a vision once I saw
they were a mesh of light and shade
and through the vastness whole they neighed
singing of bright Carina.
The new ways were found tucked inside a nautilus shell,
spat up from the swell—a missive white and tiger–striped,
a particle from waves. Cradled against the ear it spoke
old names in careful sequence, hummed
a path to walk in spirals, drummed
the silence ‘til it broke—and hatched
uncanny creatures mixed and matched
to thunder through the air, ablaze,
to toss their fractal hair, to raise
a thousand voices in a song
of praise, of wonder, loud and long—
the new ways will cost
they sang as they flew
but they flew so high.
(Editors’ Note: The Uncanny Podcast Episode 1 features “The New Ways” read by Amal El–Mohtar.)
© 2014 Amal El-Mohtar
Amal El-Mohtar is the Nebula-nominated author of The Honey Month, a collection of poetry and prose written to the taste of twenty-eight different kinds of honey. Her poems have won the Rhysling award twice and the Richard Jefferies Prize once, and have appeared in several venues including Stone Telling, Mythic Delirium, and Strange Horizons. Her short fiction has most recently appeared in Glitter & Mayhem, Lightspeed magazine’s Women Destroy Science Fiction special issue, and Kaleidoscope: Diverse YA Science Fiction and Fantasy Stories. She is a founding member of the Banjo Apocalypse Crinoline Troubadours, edits Goblin Fruit, a quarterly journal of fantastical poetry, and lives in Glasgow with her fiancé and two jellicle cats.
The Whalemaid, Singing
by Sonya Taaffe
Fathoms I voyage below you,
my hair the ship–snarling reach of sargasso,
my flukes speeding the moon’s rise to the shore.
Would you have me hooked from the water
like mackerel, light as krill and cold as whiting
to warm in a sailor’s arms?
I sing the depths and soundings,
the lightless stacks and the equatorial shallows,
the fish–breeding coasts and the ragged ice;
I bait my line for your ears
like the new moon fishes for spring tide.
Haul me into your boat and I will break it
as surely as I have nets, irons, and hearts
and leave you undrowned, gasping only air.
My shadow races galleons, whalers, islands.
The wake I leave is not a path for you.
(Editors’ Note: The Uncanny Podcast Episode 2 features “The Whalemaid, Singing” read by Amal El–Mohtar.)
© 2014 Sonya Taaffe
Sonya Taaffe’s short fiction and poetry can be found in the collections Ghost Signs (Aqueduct
Press), A Mayse-Bikhl (Papaveria Press), Postcards from the Province of Hyphens and Singing Innocence and Experience (Prime Books), and in anthologies including Aliens: Recent Encounters, Beyond Binary: Genderqueer and Sexually Fluid Speculative Fiction, The Moment of Change: An Anthology of Feminist Speculative Poetry, People of the Book: A Decade of Jewish Science Fiction & Fantasy, The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror, The Alchemy of Stars: Rhysling Award Winners Showcase, and The Best of Not One of Us. She is currently senior poetry editor at Strange Horizons; she holds master’s degrees in Classics from Brandeis and Yale and once named a Kuiper belt object. She lives in Somerville with her husband and two cats.
Interview: Maria Davhana Headley
by Deborah Stanish
Maria Dahvana Headley is a hurricane in a ballgown, a woman who spent a year saying “Yes” and writer who can spin truth into fairytales. Her Nebula and Shirley Jackson award–nominated short fiction has graced the pages of top SF/F publications and has been consistently featured in “Year’s Best of” anthologies. Her 2006 best selling memoir The Year of Yes was followed by a dark fantasy/alt–history novel (Queen of Kings); a co–edited anthology with Neil Gaiman (Unnatural Creatures); a novella, co–written with Kat Howard (The End of the Sentence), and a soon–to–be published YA novel Magonia (HarperCollins, 2015). She collects ideas and nuggets of fact, carefully hoarding them in a secret file of curiosities until they are ready to be polished into something magical. Her stories make you believe in the world you can only see out of the corner of your eye. But be careful if you’re offered a drink as you may be getting more than you bargained for. To learn more about Headley, visit her website at www.mariadahvanaheadley.com.
Editor’s Note: Headley provided photos to illustrate this interview. However, due to copyright issues we can only provide links to the websites featuring the photos. Do take a few moments to click—the facts behind this story are fascinating. Warning: Uncanny Magazine is not responsible for the hours that will be lost following this link trail!
Uncanny Magazine: “If You Were A Tiger, I’d Have To Wear White” is a wildly fantastical story peppered with real people, places, and history. What factual nugget first caught your attention and inspired you to spin this into a debauched fairytale?
Maria Dahvana Headley: It was the Mabel Stark part of it that first grabbed me—for those who don’t know, Mabel Stark was a real person. She had a checkered history, almost all of which is accurately depicted in the story. She was a wildcat trainer for over 50 years, was Mae West’s double in I’m No Angel, worked until she was 79, trained dozens of tigers, and was tremendously eccentric. She really did wear a custom–made white leather suit so that certain feline, um, raptures would look like mauling to the audience.
Photo Links:
Mae West and Mabel Stark, 1933
Mabel Stark at Jungleland with Satan the Tiger (really), 1967
I’m not sure how this happened exactly, but somehow my editor/collaborator boy and I were deep in another discussion and he said “It’s like the tiger lady and her sponge–cleanable white leather suit…” How had I not heard of this?! He showed me. I screamed. I thought of the title for this story, and then we both screamed, because it was clearly a story that needed writing. It started out being only about Stark and her tigers, but then I researched her later years at Jungleland and it grew into this half Jungle Book, half broken Hollywood fairy tale situation. Mr. Ed really lived there. So did all of the MGM lions, until 1969. I went pretty deep to find accounts of everything in this story—various anecdotes by children who went to Jungleland in the 50s, old circus brochures, the specifics of the auction that sold off the animals, and the various woeful overdose deaths of Mabel Stark, Bamboo Harvester (the horse actor that played Mr. Ed)…yeah. Also, there’s a lot of photographic evidence of the amazing weirdness of the place. It actually was a kind of retirement home for animal actors. Gable and Garbo really visited. The photos I describe in the story are real, though their context is not!
Photo Links:
G
reta Garbo and Leo the MGM Lion, 1926, Jungleland
Clark Gable at Jungleland with lion cubs, 1946
So, there’s the real stuff, the history…the debauched fairytale aspects came from me, obviously. Those are because I (of course) adore Angela Carter. The Courtship of Mr. Lyon and The Tiger’s Bride, well, they’re both obviously part of what got me going into this story. Carter is so dark and hot and strange, I wanted to do a riff like that, set in the late 60s, with black humor mixed into longing for a lost world, which frankly is exactly what was happening in the late 60s anyway. The back to the land situation, flower children—that’s always sounded very Ovidian. And so this is a bit Ovidian too.
Here’s what I usually hate about Beauty and the Beast: The Beast so often has to transform into a handsome human prince in order to stay involved with Beauty. Why? Fuck that transformation. The Beast stays beast in my versions of this kind of story (also in The End of the Sentence, which Kat Howard and I wrote together). Humans are beasts too. We’re ALL bloody beasts, damn it! (Forgive me while I hop onto my soapbox regarding not giving a damn about commercialized standardized prettiness.) I don’t think we have to be the same to love one another. (Note: I don’t literally think love affairs with tigers and lions are a good idea for humans either…) So I always want to write stories where the beasts stay themselves and wherein love is as complicated and beastly and bewildering and between opposites as, well, love is.
In The Tiger’s Bride, Beauty transforms. Here, no one does. Everyone is what they are, albeit all the animals are talkative. It’s an experiment. Sidebar: I love lost world stories and in this case, a retirement home for animal actors meant that I could have all these animal actors in a kind of surreal Sunset Boulevard scenario, lamenting the loss of their previous golden age fairy tale, even as Hollywood changed too. Now Jungleland is a shopping mall, and actors like Garbo and Gable? Come on. But this story is inspired by one part Angela Carter, one part Kipling. The third part, what can I tell you? That’s my own skewed head.
Uncanny Magazine Issue One Page 14
