Speculating Canada: Canadian Horror, Science Fiction, and Fantasy

September 25, 2013

Sci Fi Author in Space

A review of Gary W. Renshaw’s “Vacation” in OnSpec #92 Vol. 25, No. 1 By Derek Newman-Stille Most SF authors write from their offices or living rooms, venturing into space in the realms of the mind, touring imaginary landscapes…. but what happens when an SF author ends up on an alien world? According to Gary Renshaw’s “Vacation”, odds are he...

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September 24, 2013

Can Con October 4-6th in Ottawa

As many of you know, Speculating Canada has made the short list for a Prix Aurora Award. The awards will be announced this year at Can Con http://www.can-con.org/ in Ottawa on the weekend of October 4-6th. So, if there is any way that you can get out to Ottawa, you will have a great time and it would be great to...

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September 22, 2013

Upcoming Interview About Nelvana of the Northern Lights with Hope Nicholson and Rachel Richey on Friday September 27th

Have you ever heard of Nelvana of the Northern Lights? Did you know that Canada had one of the first superheroines, predating other women in superheroic roles like Wonder Woman, and paving the way for women in comics? Since so few people know about the history of Nelvana of the Northern Lights, Hope Nicholson and Rachel Richey were inspired to...

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September 20, 2013

Opening the Mysterious

A review of Randy McCharles, Billie Milholland, Eileen Bell, and Ryan McFadden’s The Puzzle Box (Edge, 2013) By Derek Newman-Stille When I first came across The Puzzle Box, the first image that came to mind was Hellraiser (1987), so I was prepared for my entire reality to be distorted and changed by opening the pages of this book. Like the...

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September 18, 2013

I Dream of Djinn

A review of Eileen Bell’s “Angela and Her Three Wishes” in The Puzzle Box (Edge, 2013) By Derek Newman-Stille The Puzzle Box overall is a collection of stories about the hidden within, and Eileen Bell creatively employs the notion of the puzzle box as a genie’s lamp, holding within it the power to grant wishes. Wishes open paths to our...

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September 16, 2013

Immortal Complacency

A review of Billie Milholland’s “Autumn Unbound” in The Puzzle Box (Edge, 2013) By Derek Newman-Stille The stories in The Puzzle Box tackle the subject of a box that holds secrets and produces changes in the world. It therefore makes sense that Billie Milholland explores the mythical figure most connected to a box in her “Autumn Unbound”. Pandora, tied to...

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September 14, 2013

Collecting Canada

A review of Imaginarium 2013: The Best Canadian Speculative Fiction Edited by Sandra Kasturi and Samantha Beiko (ChiZine Publications, 2013). By Derek Newman-Stille Imaginarium 2013 was even better than Imaginarium 2012. With more diversity of authors, I found myself introduced to a large number of authors I had never encountered before. The collection had a wider scope and included a...

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September 12, 2013

Hiding/Revealing

A review of Dominik Parisien’s “A Mask is Not a Face “ in Goblin Fruit (http://www.goblinfruit.net/2012/summer/poems/?poem=amaskisnotaface) By Derek Newman-Stille So much of our identity is attached to our face, our appearance. We construct ourselves and shape our interactions through the medium of visage. Dominik Parisien’s speculative poem “A Mask is Not a Face” explores the notion of a prosthetic face...

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September 11, 2013

Quote – Coping Out Of Responsibility

“I hate it. It’s like there’s no human beings in the chain of responsibility, just things-that-happen. It’s the ultimate cop-out. The system did it. The company did it. The government did it. What about the person who pulls the trigger?” -Cory Doctorow – Homeland (Tor, 2013)

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September 10, 2013

A Brush With Mythical Madness

A review of Ursula Pflug’s The Alphabet Stones (Blue Denim Press, 2013) By Derek Newman-Stille Ursula Pflug writes The Alphabet Stones with a mixture of rural Ontario accent and a transcendent poetic quality. Her work glitters with the cadences of rural ontario while evoking a deeply poetic quality and beauty of phrasing. The Alphabet Stones is a voyage of self...

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