Tag: identity

August 20, 2024

An Interview With Rabbi Dr. Andrea (A.D.) Lobel

By Derek Newman-Stille Spec Can: Could you tell us a little bit about yourself? Andrea: Certainly! I’m a rabbi in the Jewish Renewal movement, a progressive Jewish group. I used to work full-time as an advertising copywriter, but decided to go back to school in 2002 to begin a career in religion, so I earned my M.A. and Ph.D., as well...

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June 21, 2024

An Interview with Clare Wall

I recently had the wonderful opportunity to bring Dr. Clare Wall’s voice to readers in an interview. Clare is a literary scholar and science fiction expert, focussing on climate fiction, apocalyptic fiction, and posthumanism. Dr. Clare Wall (she/her) is a contract professor in the Department of Humanities at York University in Toronto, Canada. She holds a PhD from York University in English Literature. Her research...

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December 28, 2023

An Interview of Jamieson Wolf

In this interview, Jamieson Wolf and I explore disability in SF, Queer identity, and how the two intertwine in the worlds Jamieson creates Jamieson Wolf has been writing since a young age when he realized he could be writing instead of paying attention in school. Since then, he has created many worlds in which to live his fantasies and live...

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December 6, 2023

An Interview of Sara Cleto and Brittany Warman About Folklore and Fairy Tales

Sara Cleto and Brittany Warman are both doctors of folklore and they run the Carterhaugh School of Folklore, and online school for teaching folklore in an accessible way. In our interview, we explore the diversity of folklore and fairy tales, examining things like shadow tales, the role of food in fairy tales, disability, and get a Folklore and Fairy Tales...

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November 17, 2023

An Interview with Jen Desmarais

In this episode of Speculating Canada, I interview Jen Desmarais. Jen is the author of Crushing It, co-author of Assassins! Accidental Matchmakers, a crafter, and ghost writer. We discuss Queer writing, the interrelationship between craft-making and writing, writing with a community, and writing with a partner. Jen Desmarais is the creator of the sex education game Blush and co-author of...

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March 26, 2021

Disability and Identity in a Changeable Universe

A Review of James Alan Gardner’s Hunted (HarperCollins, 2000). By Derek Newman-Stille Edward is a man with an intellectual disability who grew up being treated as a child by his sister and as an embarrassment by his father. He was taken under the claws of the queen of the Mandasars, a race of strictly hierarchical lobster-like aliens until their planet...

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July 11, 2020

An Interview with Terese M Pierre about her Book Look Makeovers and Poetry

Interviewed by Derek Newman-Stille Spec Can: To start our interview, could you tell us a little bit about yourself? Terese M Pierre: Sure! I’m a writer and editor, based in Toronto. At this point, I’m mainly writing poetry, but I also sometimes write essays, about my experiences in the writing community and my family. I’m also the senior editor of...

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May 20, 2020

An Experiment in Gender

A review of James Alan Gardner’s Commitment Hour (Eos, 1998) By Derek Newman-Stille I was originally trained as an anthropologist (for my Bachelor’s Degree and my Master’s Degree), so I always find books that explore the notion of anthropological researchers fascinating. James Alan Gardner’s Commitment Hour centres on a story of a scientist and his assistant visiting a small town...

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July 23, 2019

Secret Identities

Secret Identities A review of James Alan Gardner’s They Promised Me the Gun Wasn’t Loaded (Tor, 2018). By Derek Newman-Stille James Alan Gardner’s They Promised Me the Gun Wasn’t Loaded, a sequel to All Those Explosions Were Someone Else’s Fault, continues his exploration of the superhero. Gardner focusses his narrative on the perspective of another of his superheroes, Jools, whose...

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December 4, 2018

Skin Deep

Skin Deep A review of Nathan Caro Frechette’s “Skin” in Over the Rainbow: Folk and Fairy Tales from the Margins (2018, Exile) By Derek Newman-Stille Selkies are creatures from Scottish folklore (but also noted in the Orkneys and Shetlands) who are capable of transforming from seal to human by shedding their skin. In many selkie tales, female selkies are stolen...

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