Tag: James Alan Gardner

April 5, 2021

Ennui in Space

A review of James Alan Gardner’s Ascending (Open Road Media) By Derek Newman-Stille Ascending is James Alan Gardner’s discourse on boredom wrapped up in science fiction. Gardner’s narrator Oar is from a genetically modified species that at the age of 50 literally just becomes bored with the world and lays down to sleep for eternity…. and Oar has just reached...

Categories Fiction Book Reviews Comments: 0

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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May 21, 2020

Authors in Quarantine – James Alan Gardner

With this this series, I am hoping to capture how this cultural moment is affecting our speculative fiction authors and how our authors are surviving during the COVID-19 outbreak Spec Can: What have you been up to during the COVID 19 outbreak? James Alan Gardner: Writing, reading, and playing computer games. Lately, I’ve also been playing a lot of tabletop...

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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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November 28, 2018

Power Dynamics

Power Dynamics A review of James Alan Gardner’s All Those Explosions Were Someone Else’s Fault (Tor, 2017) By Derek Newman-Stille In All Those Explosions Were Someone Else’s Fault, James Alan Gardner creates a world of heroes and monsters to explore ideas of identity. In this world, the wealthy have bought the magical ability to become Darklings through a pact with...

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May 30, 2014

Speculating Canada on Trent Radio Episode 5: Disability in Canadian SF

How many spaceships are wheelchair accessible? Do office buildings create light shielding for the undead who might be singed by solar exposure? Can my guide dog be a werewolf? Does one need to simply WALK into Mordor… or can one wheel in instead? SF has an interest in the body, whether it is the augmented body of sci fi, the...

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March 6, 2014

Quote- Envying Freedom

“The best revenge is making them envy your freedom.” -James Alan Gardner – Expendable (Avon, 1997)

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November 22, 2013

The Pedagogical Power of Play – Teaching Canadian SF (okay, and other literature courses too)

The Pedagogical Power of Play by Derek Newman-Stille Play is an important way to help students (of any age) learn. When you evoke student emotions, they remember things more effectively since memory acquisition is linked to emotional responses. By using an element of play in your teaching, your students are also more willing to take bigger risks, and do things...

Categories Editorials/Teaching Comments: 2

September 9, 2013

Quote – Luck is Eerie

“I hated relying on luck. When it worked, it made me feel so damned eerie.” -James Alan Gardner – Expendable (Avon, 1997)

Categories Quotes Comments: 0