Speculating Canada: Canadian Horror, Science Fiction, and Fantasy

May 17, 2014

Quote – Stories Clothe Us

‘The stories could clothe us and our moments, and we were in a mine of never-ending supply.” -S.M. Beiko – The Lake and the Library (ECW Press, 2013)

Quotes Comments: 0

May 15, 2014

Haunting Disability

A review of Mark Leslie’s “Hereinafter Referred to as the Ghost” in Tesseracts Seventeen: Speculating Canada from Coast to Coast (Edge, 2013) By Derek Newman-Stille With our youth-obsessed culture, actors generally only have a very short period in which to be celebrated for their acting career before they are viewed as “old”, “tired”, and they begin to be passed over...

Fiction Book Reviews Comments: 0

May 13, 2014

Speculating Canada on Trent Radio Episode 3: An Interview with Greg Bechtel

As part of the Ontario leg of his tour for the collection Boundary Problems (Freehand Books), Edmonton author Greg Bechtel was able to swing by the Trent Radio studio to discuss his own work and some overall trends in Canadian Speculative Fiction. In our interview we postulate that reality is a set of social conventions, a creation and that therefore...

Interviews/On Air Comment: 1

May 11, 2014

Slippery Landscapes

A review of Kate Storey’s Blasted (Killick Press, 2008). By Derek Newman-Stille Steeped in the rich fairy lore of Newfoundland and a sense of longing for home, Kate Story’s Blasted is a novel about dislocation. Story’s stream of consciousness style of writing beautifully enhances the sense of temporal and special dislocation represented by movement through and slippage into fairy realms....

Fiction Book Reviews Comment: 1

May 9, 2014

Speculating Canada on Trent Radio Episode 2: An Interview with Chadwick Ginther and Discussion of his Work

In this episode of Speculating Canada on Trent Radio, check out an interview with Winnipeg author Chadwick Ginther where he discusses his Thunder Road trilogy. In our interview we talk about notions of heroism and villainy, moral ambiguities, the interplay of Canadian legends and Norse myths, the landscape, urban fantasy and horror. After our interview, I get a chance to...

On Air Comments: 2

May 7, 2014

Is it Literary if it has Social Commentary?

A review of OnSpec #95 vol 25 no 4 Edited by Diane L. Walton By Derek Newman-Stille This review is well- timed since I recently posted something about ableism, sexism, homophobia, and racism at fan conventions and have been thinking about ways to make SF fandom more inclusive. When reading OnSpec #95 vol 25 no 4, it occurred to...

Fiction Book Reviews Comments: 0

May 5, 2014

Tune in Tonight at 8:00 PM EST for the Second Speculating Canada on Trent Radio show

I had a chance to chat with Winnipeg author Chadwick Ginther and discuss the Thunder Road trilogy at the Toronto-based speculative conference Ad Astra. In our interview we talk about his upcoming stories, why Loki from Norse mythology is such a fascinating figure, the potential to blur gender boundaries in SF, bringing myths from elsewhere to the Canadian landscape, interconnections...

News/On Air Comments: 0

May 3, 2014

Speculating Canada on Trent Radio Episode 1: Canadian Zombie Fiction

In many American zombie narratives, people escape the zombie apocalypse by crossing the border into Canada. Is it our health care? Is it the cold? Is it the maple syrup? Whatever it is, American zombies don’t seem to like us very well… so, Canadians have created our own zombie fiction and we do something a little bit different with our...

On Air Comments: 0

May 2, 2014

Quote – Shades of Loss

“If loss was shaded by guilt or rage or relief, that did not mean that the loss was not real. To give a colour depth required darkness. It did not negate red to add black, it only made it a different kind of red.” -Nancy Baker – A Terrible Beauty (Penguin Books, 1996)

Quotes Comments: 0

April 30, 2014

A NecROMANTIC Disregard

A review of Toni Pi’s “The Marotte” from OnSpec # 95, vol 25, no 4 By Derek Newman-Stille The world looks very different after you are dead, particularly if you wake up in the body of a Marotte, a fool’s staff. From Lord Conjuror to the toy of the court’s fool, Vod is able to gain a new experience...

Fiction Book Reviews Comments: 0