Speculating Canada: Canadian Horror, Science Fiction, and Fantasy

March 30, 2016

Why should we put aside our childish things? They were our first teachers

A review of Playground of Lost Toys edited by Ursula Pflug and Colleen Anderson (Exile, 2015) By Derek Newman-Stille Playground of Lost Toys leads us up those creaking attic stairs to a toy trunk of abandoned memories, lost experiences, and secrets shared in a language we only knew how to speak when we were children. It is an anthology...

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March 27, 2016

What Makes Fairy Tales So Brilliant?

What Makes Fairy Tales So Brilliant? By Derek Newman-Stille Fairy tales always exist in multiplicity, in versions. There is never one TRUE version, but rather a fluid polyphonic group with multiple voices sharing different takes on the same tale. Fairy tales possess the magic of changeability. Born in oral narratives, they have the power to shift and change with each...

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March 26, 2016

Quote – You Might Not Get Everything I Say

“You might not get everything I say. But that doesn’t mean the story’s not there to understand. Can you listen before you hear?” -Hiromi Goto – Chorus of Mushrooms (NeWest Press, 1994)

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March 24, 2016

Quote – Wolves and Indigestion

“The way through the forest is walked by shapeshifters and wolves who suffer from indigestion, having eaten too many grandmothers.” -Sandra Kasturi – Chaos Theory (in The Animal Bridegroom)

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March 17, 2016

Disabling the Future

Disabling the Future A review of Accessing the Future (Ed. Kathryn Allan and Djibril Al-Ayad, Future Fire, 2015) By Derek Newman-Stille I have to admit that I was hesitant to review Accessing the Future because I wrote the afterward for it and I felt as though it would seem self-serving to review it, but as a disability scholar and...

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March 13, 2016

It Doesn’t Have to be ‘The Way it is’

One of the phrases that frustrates me most is “it is what it is”. As a speculative fiction scholar and fan, when I hear these words, I hear the closing down of opportunities and the reifying of the status quo. “It is what it is” tells me that people are frustrated with the existing state of things, but are unwilling...

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March 5, 2016

Quote – Tragedy as Columns of Type

“Inevitable? In hindsight tragedy always appears so. Somehow the concept of unavoidable destiny offers comfort to uniformed readers, those to whom tragedy is nothing more than oderly columns of black type.” -J.R. Campbell “To One Table” in Professor Challenger: New Worlds. Lost Places (Edge, 2015).

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March 3, 2016

Inevitability

Inevitability A review of “Expiration Date” Edited by Nancy Kilpatrick (Edge, 2015). By Derek Newman-Stille Nancy Kilpatrick’s “Expiration Date” is a collection of stories that investigate one of our closest companions, an ever-present voyager on our path through life: Death. From Vampires to Banshee to the Grim Reaper him/herself, “Expiration Date” is an exploration of that inevitable force that...

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March 1, 2016

Deadly Musings

Deadly Musings A review of Mary E. Choo’s “That Brightness” in Expiration Date, Edited by Nancy Kilpatrick (Edge, 2015) By Derek Newman-Stille Having a gift for artistic expression is a challenging thing. It tends to come with a heavy dose of “imposter syndrome” and the feeling that one is never doing enough or that one’s work is not good...

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February 22, 2016

Rejected Bodies

Rejected Bodies A review of Kelly Robson’s “Two Year Man” in Asimov’s Science Fiction, August 2015 By Derek Newman-Stille Kelly Robson’s “Two Year Man” is a tale that explores the idea of rejection, and, particularly, rejected bodies. Focused on a man named Mikkel, who carries out janitorial duties and partially survives by bringing home the discarded waste of wealthier people,...

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