Speculating Canada: Canadian Horror, Science Fiction, and Fantasy

June 2, 2018

First Couple of Rows Might Get Glittered

First Couple of Rows Might Get Glittered. A review of Buffy The Vampire Slayer the Musical: Once More With Feeling at The Theatre on King in Peterborough, Ontario. Produced by Eryn Lidster, directed by Samantha Mansfield. By Derek Newman-Stille. I fell in love with the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode “Once More With Feeling” when I was doing my undergraduate degree....

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May 28, 2018

Artificial

Artificial A Review of Jeff Lemire’s Black Hammer Vol 2: The Event (Dark Horse, 2017) By Derek Newman-Stille Nothing is quite what it seems in the perfect small town that superheroes Barbalien, Golden Gail, Abraham Slam, Talky Walky, and Colonel Weird, and Madame D have found themselves in. It is a town that is held apart from the rest of the...

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May 18, 2018

Who Said Unicorns Were Majestic?

Who Said Unicorns Were Majestic? A review of Katie Shanahan and Steven Shanahan’s Silly Kingdom: A New Steed Indeed (www.sillykingdom.com , 2105) People frequently portray unicorns as majestic, gentle, caring creatures… but not the Shanahans. In their comic Silly Kingdom: A New Steed Indeed, The Prince becomes obsessed with the fact that a neighbouring prince, Peatrid, manages to have a...

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May 15, 2018

A Necromantic Frankenstein

Check out my review of Kenneth Oppel’s “Such Wicked Intent”, a story of Victor Frankenstein’s early life experimenting with alchemy and the body. Also, while you are checking it, check out this other kickstarter for Frankenstein stories – We Shall Be Monsters at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1357195744/we-shall-be-monsters?ref=cijr21&token=126156be

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May 15, 2018

Wiley, Weird, and Wizardly

Wiley, Weird, and Wizardly A review of Katie Shanahan and Steven Shanahan’s Silly Kingdom: Alengrimrickshaw’s 211th Birthday (www.sillykingdom.com, 2011) By Derek Newman-Stille I just got back from the Toronto Comic Arts Festival (TCAF) and one of the first things that caught my attention was a short comic by Katie and Sreven Shanahan called Silly Kingdom. As adorable as it is...

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May 4, 2018

WONDERful

Wonderful A review of Cait Gordon’s A Night at The Rabbit Hole in Alice Unbound: Beyond Wonderland edited by Colleen Anderson (Exile, 2018) By Derek Newman-Stille Alice in Wonderland is a story that plays with identity, disrupting the power that normativity has on our society. Cait Gordon has tapped into that power that Wonderland has to resist normativity and creates...

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April 30, 2018

A War Across the Glass

A War Across The Glass A review of Patrick Bollivar’s “Operation: Looking Glass” in Alice Unbound: Beyond Wonderland Edited by Colleen Anderson (Exile 2018) By Derek Newman-Stille It turns out Wonderland isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Patrick Bollivar’s “Operation: Looking Glass” explores a group of people who are in a battle with Wonderland to get their sister back....

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April 18, 2018

O, wonder! How many goodly creatures are there here!

O, wonder! How many goodly creatures are there here! A review of Kate Story’s This Insubstantial Pageant (ChiZine Publications, 2017) By Derek Newman-Stille A fan of both Shakespeare and science fiction, Kate Story remaps the Bard’s play The Tempest onto the stars, exploring the otherworldly potential of the tale by placing it on another planet in a distant future. Frequently,...

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March 6, 2018

Bordered by Change

Bordered by Change A review of Shades Within Us edited by Lucas K Law and Susan Forest (Laksa Media Groups Inc, 2018) By Derek Newman-Stille Borders are complex spaces of change and uncertainty where identities are made and also complicated. Lucas Law and Susan Forest’s Shades Within Us: Tales of Migrations and Fractured Borders examines this complex space of border...

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February 27, 2018

Fitting In

Fitting In A review of Lisi Harrison’s Monster High (Hachette Book Group, 2011) By Derek Newman-Stille Lisi Harrison’s Monster High is a series adapted from the doll brand by Mattel of the same name. Her novel adaptation, aimed at a teen rather than pre-teen audience as the dolls would suggest illustrates the adaptability of narratives around dolls and toys. Although...

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