Monthly Archive: May, 2016

May 31, 2016

Putting the Punk Back in Steampunk

Putting the Punk Back in Steampunk A review of Clockwork Canada: Steampunk Fiction Edited by Dominik Parisien (Exile Editions, 2016) By Derek Newman-Stille Steampunk has often struck me as a genre that has tended toward overly rosey views of the Edwardian and Victorian Eras. The steampunk tales I have read have often uncritically represented colonialism as adventure, portrayed technology divorced...

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May 29, 2016

Speculating Canada on Trent Radio Episode 63: A Discussion of Queer Narratives with Cait P. Jones

In this episode of Speculating Canada on Trent Radio, I am joined in the studio by Cait P. Jones and the two of us discuss queer narratives, intersectionality, and the power of narratives to open up new possibilities. You can listen to this episode of Speculating Canada on Trent Radio at the link below.   This audio file was originally...

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May 27, 2016

Home is Where the Chicken Legs Are

Home is Where the Chicken Legs Are A review of Marika McCoola and Emily Carroll’s Baba Yaga’s Assistant (Candlewick Press, 2015) By Derek Newman-Stille Masha’s tale begins with stories from her grandmother about the witch Baba Yaga. Her grandmother was once kidnapped by Baba Yaga and had to outwit the witch in order to gain her freedom. Masha, delighted by...

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May 22, 2016

Languages Across Generations

Languages Across GenerationsA review of Hiromi Goto’s Chorus of Mushrooms (NeWest Press, 1994) By Derek Newman-Stille Chorus of Mushrooms is a beautifully written, poetic book that revels in the wonder and majesty of language while being fundamentally about silences. Hiromi Goto examines the multiplicity of silencings that occur in our world – the racialised, ageist, sexist structures that are created...

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May 11, 2016

SUPERficial Government Superhero Programmes

SUPERficial Government Superhero Programmes A review of Mary Pletsch and Dylan Blacquiere’s “The Island Way” in Tesseracts Nineteen: Superhero Universe. Edited by Mark Shainblum and Claude Lalumierer (Edge, 2016). By Derek Newman-Stille In “The Island Way”, Mary Pletsch and Dylan Blacquiere use the superhero format to explore island culture and the interactions between PEI and mainland Canada. The Federal Government...

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May 9, 2016

Multiverse History

A review of Patrick T. Goddard’s “Diary of a Teenage Grizzly” in Tesseracts Nineteen: Superhero Universe” Edited by Mark Shainblum and Claude Lalumiere (Edge, 2016). By Derek Newman-Stille In “Diary of a Teenage Grizzly”, Patrick T. Goddard brings together multiple different comic book and fan narratives. He addresses a letter to the editors of Tesseracts Nineteen: Superhero Universe in which...

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May 6, 2016

Putting Monsters on the Map

A review of Kate Story’s “Equus” in Clockwork Canada: Steampunk Fiction, edited by Dominik Parisien (Exile Editions, 2016)By Derek Newman-Stille  Fairy tale collides with steampunk in Kate Story’s “Equus”, where the past and ideas of futurity collide to create an uncertain present. Story narrates the experiences of Sir Sanford Fleming, an inventor known for proposing standard time zones and...

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May 4, 2016

A Seance Evoking Future Horrors

A Seance Evoking Future Horrors A review of Tony Pi’s “Our Chymical Seance” in Clockwork Canada: Steampunk Fiction edited by Dominik Parisien (Exile Editions, 2016) By Derek Newman-Stille With “Our Chymical Seance”, Tony Pi plunges us into a world of Victorian spiritualism, a world filled with mediums, ectoplasm, haunting devices, and complete with the obligatory skeptic who brings a rational...

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May 3, 2016

Bisclavret Reimagined

Check out this review I conducted of Canadian author Joanne Findon’s story “That Time of the Month” up on Through The Twisted Woods.

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May 2, 2016

Frozen Wooden With Steampunk Horror

Frozen Wooden with Steampunk Horror   A review of Kate Heartfield’s “The Seven O’Clock Man” in Clockwork Canada: Steampunk Fiction, edited by Dominik Parisien (Exile Editions, 2016) By Derek Newman-Stille As much a horror tale as it is a steampunk story, Kate Heartfield’s “The Seven O’Clock Man” evokes the powerlessness of youth. Heartfield constructs a community where the late mayor...

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