Speculating Canada: Canadian Horror, Science Fiction, and Fantasy

April 23, 2014

Performing “Reality”, Living Fiction

A review of Kevin Harkness’ “Double Vision” from OnSpec # 95, vol 25, no 4. By Derek Newman-Stille Truth is painful, and seeing the truth is a huge responsibility. Kevin Harkness’ “Double Vision” peels back the layers of fiction in our society, exposing the social masks and lies we create for ourselves and others – an important part of this...

Fiction Book Reviews Comments: 0

April 21, 2014

OnAir on Trent Radio for the Summer : Mondays at 8:00 PM

Speculating Canada is going On Air on Trent Radio for the summer. I will be on air every Monday at 8:00 (EST) throughout the summer starting next monday (April 28th). The summer radio show will be a mixture of discussions of Canadian speculative fiction (horror, fantasy, science fiction, and the various speculative genres in between) and interviews with Canadian speculative...

News/On Air Comments: 2

April 19, 2014

The Religion of Blood Medicine.

A review of Rich Larson’s “Maria and the Pilgrim” in Apex Magazine Feb 4, 2014 (available online at http://www.apex-magazine.com/maria-and-the-pilgrim/ ) By Derek Newman-Stille Rich Larson’s “Maria and the Pilgrim” explores a future in which contagion has spread and a small group of people have applied religious meanings to the spread of disease. Seeing themselves as preserved by Jesucristo against a...

Fiction Book Reviews Comments: 0

April 17, 2014

Quote – Too Fantastic Not To Be True

“I believed everything I read. It was all too fantastic not to be true.” -Claude Lalumiere – The Door to Lost Pages (ChiZine Publications, 2011)

Quotes Comments: 0

April 15, 2014

An interview with Nick Rayner about The Tandem Region Times

An interview with Nick Rayner, Editor of the fictional newspaper The Tandem Region Times By Derek Newman-Stille Nick Rayner is in the process of creating a fictional, online horror-themed newspaper about an invented region called The Tandem Region. He is currently inviting participants in this project, which seeks to combine themes from horror and journalism, mixing reality with a fictional...

Interviews Comments: 0

April 14, 2014

Quote – Writers Need to Show Real Person

“The writer who flinches at exposure, who dares not show the depths of his fears and loves or show what truly matters above all else to him as a real person, will fail to capture any reader’s head or heart.” -Julia Czerneda – Introduction to Douglas Smith’s Chimerascope

Quotes Comment: 1

April 13, 2014

YOLO Deathwish

A review of R. Crowle Gray’s “The Revenant Threat” in OnSpec #94, vol 25 no 3 By Derek Newman-Stille We all have one of those friends who defies all of the theories of Darwinian evolution by making perpetually stupid decisions and still managing to survive. R. Crowle Gray appropriately names this frat boy type of character Darwin and in “The Revenant...

Fiction Book Reviews Comments: 0

April 11, 2014

Books for Kindling

A review of Andrew Bryant’s “Last Stand at Catesby’s Books” in OnSpec #94, vol 25 no 3 By Derek Newman-Stille For those of us who love books, love the touch, smell, and experience of them, there is something that eBooks can never replicate. The experience of going into a bookstore is transcendent, a venture into a place where tales, myths,...

Fiction Book Reviews Comments: 0

April 9, 2014

Hollow Signals

A review of Geoff Gander’s “White Noise” in AEscifi: The Canadian Science Fiction Review. By Derek Newman-Stille Our world is permeated with signals – radio waves, satellite transmissions… we are surrounded by sounds that only our electronic devices can hear. Geoff Gander’s “White Noise” pushes us into an electronic blackout, a loss of communication. After three days without radio or...

Fiction Book Reviews Comments: 0

April 7, 2014

My Cane is Not A Costume – Convention Exclusions and Ways to Think About Oppression at Cons

An editorial by Derek Newman-Stille On a regular basis at speculative and other fan conventions, I get knocked around, shoved, pushed out of the way. People assume that because I am using a cane, I am taking up more than my fair space, after all, I have THREE whole legs on the ground (two legs and a cane). I hope...

Editorials Comments: 10