Uncanny Magazine Issue 37

by Lynne M. Thomas

  As for the difficult part: the prose and what’s left implicit versus what is made explicit. I intended for this piece to be what we might call internal in its direction—written assuming readers who are familiar with some of the histories and spaces and concerns of queer cultures—rather than explaining to an outsider audience. But as all the people who’ve ever edited me can attest, sometimes I overshoot on the implicit to the point of opacity. (Or undershoot? Whichever.) Also balancing the poetics of desire with the politics of danger, dealing with the ambiguities of gender and sexuality, all of that. Several finicky, finicky prose-level decisions to make.

  Uncanny Magazine: This is a slow-building story, with information about the characters gradually revealed over the course of the story. Did you know everything about them when you started writing the story, or were there things about them that you discovered as you went along?

  Lee Mandelo: To get into the drafting weeds—I don’t tend to begin the actual writing process, particularly with short fiction, until I’m confident in the material. I sketch and journal and outline a lot before I get to the writing itself. But to answer from another angle, I understood Charlie and his gift and his stresses from the start—self-projection, we all do it—but developing from the image of the lover to him being a full person, though a person we don’t know much about, was more of a process. Writing about sex is also an intimate thing, so you’ve got to pull on some mental strings to unfold the feelings for the reader. So that was a form of discovery, in a way.

  Uncanny Magazine: The Signature Room features prominently in the story—have you ever been there? More generally, what drew you to Chicago for the setting?

  Lee Mandelo: Chicago is a beloved but kind of liminal place and space for me—I’ve never actually lived there but I’ve built a hell of an affinity for the city. For one thing, it’s the closest metropolis with a thriving queer scene to all the homes I’ve had in Kentucky. On a more personal level, one of my best friends lived in Chicago for several years during and after graduate school; while they were there, I visited as often as possible. So, the city has that “doesn’t belong to me but is a place I resonate with and miss when I’m not around” vibe. I’ve got friends and memories there, and I’d like to make more.

  As for the Signature Room: no, I haven’t been, but man I’d like to. Part of the research process for “The Span of His Wrist” was digging into the places I was already fond of, then seeing if those places existed in the early ’90s. Simultaneously, I was reading up on the restaurants and clubs that were in the news at the time—and realized this famous restaurant had also rebranded during the same year I was intending to set the story, so that made perfect sense.

  Uncanny Magazine: “The Span of His Wrist” examines the process of healing, and it has a lovely balance of sadness and beauty. Is this a common theme in your work? What ideas or elements do you find yourself returning to repeatedly?

  Lee Mandelo: Full disclosure, I’ve been circling this question for…like, several days. I agree that healing is a big part of “The Span of His Wrist,” and it’s a form of healing through, well—cruising and fucking as a form of communal care? I find that trauma and desire, sadness and beauty, tend to hold hands pretty tight. The passing of time itself, the privilege of surviving on but not knowing what adulthood is supposed to look like if we make it there, can be a thing of sadness and beauty for queer people. That’s part of this story, too.

  In broader strokes I’d also say I’m often concerned with relationality: how complicated our attachments to one another and the spaces we inhabit are, how impossible (or inadvisable) it is to flatten those things into a pleasantly simple narrative, how important it is to make room for ‘bad’ affects or rough feelings alongside our good feelings. It for sure gets uncomfortable to hold things in the heart or mind as both/and all the time, to stay in a space of multiplicity and wiggly contexts, but to me that’s where the potential for healing (and solidarity, and growth, and generative critique) comes from.

  Uncanny Magazine: What’s next for you?

  Lee Mandelo: Attempting to maintain some semblance of calm or functionality during pandemic time while the republic crumbles around us? But aside from that mess, on the good-news track, I’ve got a novel forthcoming from Tordotcom Publishing in fall 2021 called Summer Sons. It’s being described as a “sweltering, queer Southern Gothic” that mashes together The Sound and the Fury and The Secret History with The Fast and the Furious, and that sounds ambitiously cool to me so I’m stealing it.

  Uncanny Magazine: Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us!

  © 2020 Uncanny Magazine

  Caroline M. Yoachim is the author of the 2017 Hugo and Nebula finalist short story “Carnival Nine.” Her fiction has appeared in Lightspeed, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Uncanny, Fantasy & Science Fiction, Clarkesworld, and Asimov’s, among other places. Her debut short story collection, Seven Wonders of a Once and Future World & Other Stories, came out with Fairwood Press in 2016. For more about Caroline, check out her website at carolineyoachim.com.

  Thank You, Patreon Supporters!

  by Lynne M. Thomas & Michael Damian Thomas

  Uncanny Magazine would like to thank the following people for supporting us on Patreon. This magazine would not be possible without their support.

  Space Unicorn Ranger Corps RECRUITS

  Danielle, a pair of enchanted gloves, noellapin, Titus Fortner, Andrew Gregg, Nadine Noll, Anitra Heiberg Lykke, Andrew S. Fuller, Aleksi Stenberg, Karen, Damien Neil, Not_the_brain, james qualters, Gillian Daniels, Maria Schrater, Roy Ha, Leetmeister, Max Andrew Dubinsky, Kayti Burt, Hayley Klug, Amanda J. McGee, Dread Singles, Robin Hill, Liz Argall, S P, Ken Schneyer, Ryan Pennington, Neil Ottenstein, CathiBeaStevenson, Penny Richards, Elizabeth King, Josh Smift, Will Hindmarch, Jay Lofstead, Sidsel Pedersen, John Overholt, Annaliese Lemmon, fadeaccompli, Brooks Moses, Ai Lake, David Versace, Andrew and Kate Barton

  Space Unicorn Ranger Corps ENSIGNS

  Jana W., Sofia G, Kathrin, Ross Williams, Andrew McIntosh, Alec Ross, Beth Myers, Karen Young, Simon Hoerder, Melanie Savransky, Ailbhe Leamy, Pete Kirkham, John Atom, Chris Gates, Kim Park, Christine McCullough, Shaun Garvie, Kim Meric, Felicia Jordan, Jessica Lee, Meg Pontecorvo, Tracey Thompson, Ryan V Thummel, Shannon H, Jenn Brissett, Brian J. Sanderson, Lisa Cox, Sonja Pieper, Kelly Quantrill, Kristi Chadwick, Aditya Dubey, Kari Keeling, Taylor Alcantar, Goetz Kruppa, Jared Kelsey, Bonnie, Amit Gupta, Agnes, Peter Schmitt (Aragos), Douglas Dluzen, Hiu Gregg, Mary Brock, Chawin Narkruksa, Tuomas Pohto, Emily Goldman, Beth Hoffman, Alina Kanaski, Kate Coe, Matthew Bennardo, Brad Preslar, Fiona Parker, Alison Gilder, Writer Markus Regius, Natalie Boon, Luke, Caroline Pinder, Vicente JM, Ben Hammerslag, Tina Skupin, Eris Young, Andres Guevara, Chessa Hickox, machine_person, Laura, John, Alice Gauntley, Charlie Lindahl, Lauren Strenger, Carrie, Beth McMillan, Samantha, Sarah Jansen, Emily Kvalheim, Kel.shire@gmail.com, Leanne Kathleen Daniele, Sadie Slater, Andrew Hickey, Julia Struthers-Jobin, Tim Campbell, Michael Jeffries, Emma Whitney, Melissa Brinks, Nick Mazzuca, Maria Haskins, Craig, Sarah Elkins, Victor Eijkhout, Melissa Shumake, Melissa Martensen, Joe Iriarte, Selim Ulug, Jacqueline Rogoff, Sarah Bea, Amanda B Cook, Ellen Zemlin, David O Mahony, Risa Wolf, John Cetrone, Cynthia Murrell, SB Divya, Gina, Albert Bowes, Rachel Coleman, Wordsmith Lynn, Leslie Ordal, Gene Breshears, Ysabet MacFarlane, Erik DeBill, Emily, Paul Weymouth, Laura K, David Demers, Jeffrey, Ondrej Urban, John Klima, Emily Hogan, Paul Weimer, Renae Ensign, Marc Beyer, Lauren Vega

  Space Unicorn Ranger Corps LIEUTENTANTS

  Jane Hinsenkamp, julianna zdunich, Koa Webster, Sarah Hale, Randall Beeman, Danielle Weaver, Nicola Wanless, Alena Geffner-Mihlsten, Mr. Robin White, LInda Thompson, Ahsan A. Latif, David, Stephanie Novak, Rich Rubel, Sarah Trott, Haley N Cowans, A T-L, Margaret N. Oliver, Joan Combs Durso, Nancy Palmer, Elan Samuel, Sid J, Sarah Berriman, Rosier Cade, devorah hill, Josef D Prall, Sam Gawith, Kirby Li, Jeff Xilon, Declan Meenagh, Christi Clogston, Melissa Stahr, jenn northington, Gareth Morga
n, Ravian Ruijs, Bee Buehring, E, David Dagg-Murry, Raphaelle, Emma Osborne, Sarah Biz, Max G, Morgana Kay, Matt, George Hetrick, Todd Honeycutt, Thomas Marks, Derek Smith, R. Mark Jones, Erin Bright, michael smith, Ariana Dawnhawk, tatere, Adrian, Kaylan McCanna, Elena Gaillard, Lorelei Kelly, Emily Capettini, medievalpoc, Anna Evans, heather payne, Maria, Katherine Wagner, Devin & Stephanie Ganger, Phil Margolies, Brandi Blackburn, Cait Greer, Jen Talley, Ian Radford, Brian McNatt, Adam Israel, Aaron Roberts, Jennifer Melchert, John M. Gamble, Sarah L., John Chu, Clarissa R., Deborah Levinson, Didi Chanoch, Rebecca, Michael Lee, Adam Leff

  Space Unicorn Ranger Corps COMMANDERS

  Mel Fuentes, Gareth Jelley, Kelly Lester, Sally Pehrsson, Chip Roland, Camille Knepper, Lila Libby, Elizabeth Galliher, Mairin Holmes, Autumn, Justin, William T. McGeachin, Alex Eiser, Katherine Mead-Brewer, Alexander M Henderson, Scott Day, Crystal Huff, Kate O’Connor, Marzie Kaifer, Kevin Lyda, Edmund Schweppe, Nicole Fuschetti, Dain Unicorn, Jayme, Bliss Ehrlich, Daniel (a raven)

  © 2020 Uncanny Magazine

  Lynne and Michael are the Publishers/Editors-in-Chief for the four-time Hugo and Parsec Award-winning Uncanny Magazine.

  Nine-time Hugo Award winner Lynne M. Thomas was the Editor-in-Chief of Apex Magazine (2011-2013). She co-edited the Hugo Award-winning Chicks Dig Time Lords (with Tara O’Shea) as well as Whedonistas (with Deborah Stanish) and Chicks Dig Comics (with Sigrid Ellis).

  Along with being a six-time Hugo Award-winner, Michael Damian Thomas was the former Managing Editor of Apex Magazine (2012-2013), co-edited the Hugo-finalist Queers Dig Time Lords (with Sigrid Ellis), and co-edited Glitter & Mayhem (with John Klima and Lynne M. Thomas).

  Together, they solve mysteries.