Speculating Canada: Canadian Horror, Science Fiction, and Fantasy

November 28, 2018

Power Dynamics

Power Dynamics A review of James Alan Gardner’s All Those Explosions Were Someone Else’s Fault (Tor, 2017) By Derek Newman-Stille In All Those Explosions Were Someone Else’s Fault, James Alan Gardner creates a world of heroes and monsters to explore ideas of identity. In this world, the wealthy have bought the magical ability to become Darklings through a pact with...

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November 12, 2018

Queerly Ever After

Queerly Ever After A review of Ricky Lima’s Happily Ever Aftr (Lime Press, 2018). By Derek Newman-Stille She grew up in a kingdom filled with toxic masculinity… perhaps that’s why she thought she could make a princess love her by kidnapping her. Happily Ever Aftr explores the traditional fairy tale motif of a princess locked in a tower… but adds...

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October 8, 2018

Magical Autobio

Magical Autobio A review of Ronnie Ritchie’s “Star Kid” in We’re Still Here: An All Trans Comic Anthology (Stacked Deck Press, 2018) By Derek Newman-Stille In the comic “Star Kid”, Ronnie Ritchie intertwines autobiography and ideas of magic. They use ideas of astology to understand themself, sharing their early fascination with sun and moon symbolism and the relationship between these...

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October 2, 2018

A Green Monster Who Isn’t Envy

A Green Monster Who Isn’t Envy A review of Morgan Sea’s “Abominatrix” in We’re Still Here: An All-Trans Comic Anthology (Stacked Deck Press, 2018) By Derek Newman-Stille In “Abominatrix”, Morgan Sea plays with the notion of Marvel Comics’ She Hulk and produces another gamma powered superhero. Sea’s hero is a Trans woman who adores She Hulk, and decides to take...

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September 3, 2018

Disability Tropes 101: Upgrade My Body

One of the Disability Tropes 101 series of posts I have been doing for the Spoonie Authors’ Network. In this post, I examine a particularly Speculative Fictional trope – “Upgrade my Body”

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June 25, 2018

Mute Power

Mute Power A review of Savannah Houston-McIntyre and Andrew Hewitt’s Amya Vol 1 (2014) By Derek Newman-Stille Amya Vol 1 is a fantasy tale of mystery and suspense, filled with secrets and magic. It is about two kingdoms on the brink of war and the possibility of the return of a divinity who may be able to save everything. This...

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June 22, 2018

Coming of Age With Super Powers

Coming of Age With Super Powers A review of Mariko Tamaki’s Supergirl: Being Super (DC Comics, 2018). By Derek Newman-Stille Canadian comic writer and artist Mariko Tamaki has frequently explored coming of age and that fascinating experience of being between childhood and adulthood in comics like Skim and This One Summer. She shows an incredible ability to draw her readers...

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June 20, 2018

Next Top Villain

Next Top Villain A review of Jeff Lemire’s Thanos Vol 1: Thanos Returns (Marvel Comics, 2017). By Derek Newman-Stille Canadian comic book writer and artist Jeff Lemire has worked on independent comics, but has also worked with the comic company giants DC and Marvel. He tends to take his Canadian interest in grey areas and ambiguous endings into his comics...

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June 6, 2018

Poor Monster

Check out my review of a Frankenstein story by Charles de Lint, set in his created city Newford. “Pity The Monsters” is a story that is as much about poverty, institutionalization, and family violence as it is about monsters.

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June 3, 2018

Not Grimm… But Grim

A review of White as Milk, Red As Blood: The Forgotten Fairy Tales of Franz Xaver von Schonwerth – a translation of the ‘lost’ fairy tales collected by Franz Xaver von Schonwerth, translated by Canadian scholar Shelley Tanaka and illustrated by Canadian illustrator Willow Dawson.

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