An Interview with Rick Fehr About Canada’s Supernatural History

In this interview, academic and podcaster, Rick Fehr shares some of Canada’s supernatural history exploring some of the strange mysteries that have haunted Canada’s past. Rick Fehr‘s interest in the supernatural has been a longstanding part of his life. Growing up in a town known for an historic poltergeist, the paranormal was normal. Surrounded by good storytellers, Rick’s upbringing was...

An Interview with Chadwick Ginther About Shared World Fiction and Sword and Sorcery

I had a wonderful opportunity to revisit and chat with Chadwick Ginther about his recent work, especially focussing on his recent Sword and Sorcery Work, Lovecraftian horror, creating a shared world story, and creating magical geographies in his fiction. Chadwick Ginther is the author of two short story collections: Khyber: Sinister Tales of Sword and Sorcery in a Shared World...

An Interview with Simon Bacon About Vampires and the Monstrous

In this episode of Speculating Canada, I interview independent scholar and researcher Simon Bacon about the monstrous, and, particularly, about the figure of the vampire in folklore and popular culture. Simon Bacon is an independent scholar based in Poznań, Poland. He has written and edited 30+ books including Becoming Vampire (2017), Eco-vampires (2019), Nosferatu in the 21st Century (2023), 1000...

Re-membering Jewish History

A Review of Other Covenants: Alternative Histories of the Jewish People edited by Andrea D. Lobel and Mark Shainblum (Ben Yehuda Press, 2022) By Derek Newman-Stille Other Covenants reimagines Jewish history, tracing different possibilities and new paths forward. As a work of alternative history, it remaps the Jewish world and stories and traditions that were familiar become defamiliarized and reimagined....

Interview with Cait Gordon on Disability in Science fiction, Humour, and Space Opera

In this episode of Speculating Canada, I interview Cait Gordon, editor of Nothing Without Us and Nothing Without Us Too and author of Iris and The Crew Tear Through Space, Life In the ‘Cosm, and The Stealth Lovers. We explore disability in science fiction, the need for disabled stories, space opera, and humour fiction. Cait wants to remind the audience...