Tag: Landscape

July 19, 2020

What Big Teeth You Have

A review of Cherie Dimaline’s Empire of Wild (Random House, 2019) By Derek Newman-Stille A fascinating blend of Red Ridinghood, werewolf fiction, Greek myth, and Rogarou legends of Metis people from the Georgian Bay area, Cherie Dimaline’s Empire of Wild weaves together monstrous wolves into a book that is partially horror story and partially a call for social change. Like...

Categories Fiction Book Reviews Comments: 0

February 17, 2018

Story Gestation

Story Gestation A review of “Where Roots and Rivers Run as Veins” in Those Who Make Us: Canadian Creature, Myth, and Monster Stories edited by Kelsi Morris and Kaitlin Tremblay (Exile, 2016). By Derek Newman-Stille It is an incredible experience to view a story at its gestation, to be able to watch as the seeds of inspiration take root in...

Categories Fiction Book Reviews Comments: 0

April 20, 2016

Of Maps andMonsters

Of Maps and Monsters A review of Charlotte Ashley’s “La Clochemar” in Clockwork Canada: Steampunk Fiction, edited by Dominik Parisien (Exile Editions, 2016). By Derek Newman-Stille    In “La Clochemar”, Charlotte Ashley brings readers a tale of a North America filled with giant beings called the Mandimanidoo, a name that plays with the Anishinabee word for spirits “manitou”, which are...

Categories Fiction Book Reviews Comments: 0

April 12, 2016

Quote – People and Land Belonging to Each Other

“The innumerable spirits of creation – from the leaf-headed standing people and the lichen-spotted stone people, to the furred four-leggeds and the feathered ones who danced on wind and breeze – were woven together in this world, and they belonged to the land as much as the land belonged to them.” -Daniel Heath Justice – Kynship: The Way of Thorn...

Categories Quotes Comments: 0

October 31, 2015

A Spectacle of Beauty and Estrangement

A Spectacle of Beauty and EstrangementA review of Marie Bilodeau’s Nigh Book 3 (S &G Publishing, 2015) The third book of Nigh by Marie Bilodeau brings the reader into the realm of fairy itself, a land hostile to human life but simultaneously an object of desire. Bilodeau’s fairy realm is a land that is changeable between one moment to the next...

Categories Fiction Book Reviews Comments: 0

June 1, 2015

Speculating Canada on Trent Radio Episode 38: 1940s Comic Book Character Brok Windsor

For This episode of Speculating Canada on Trent Radio, we voyage back in time to explore a superhero from the golden age of Canadian comics. Brok Windsor was a comic created by Jon Stables and brought back to life this year by Hope Nicholson, comic book archivist. In this episode, we explore the history of Canadian comics, how the landscape...

Categories On Air Comments: 0

May 20, 2015

Misty Barriers of Time

A Review of Jon Stables’ Brok Windsor. Edited by Hope Nicholson (Bedside Press, 2015). By Derek Newman-Stille What sort of vehicle would a Canadian superhero adventurer from the mid 1940s travel in? That’s right, of course it is a canoe. Comic book superhero Brok Windsor was a creation of Jon Stables, writing under the pseudonym Jon St. Ables. The Brok...

Categories Fiction Book Reviews Comments: 0

March 19, 2015

You Are What You Eat

A review of Nalo Hopkinson’s “Slow Cold Chick” in Northern Frights 5 (Mosaic Press, 1999) By Derek Newman-Stille We are shaped by what we eat, by what we consume and Nalo Hopkinson’s “Slow Cold Chick” is an examination of the relationship between food, identity, and selfhood. Food is transformative. When Blaise finds rotting eggs and rotting hot sauce in her...

Categories Fiction Book Reviews Comments: 0

March 8, 2015

Not Tinkerbell… Welcome to the Fairypocalypse

A review of Marie Bilodeau’s Nigh (S&G Publishing, 2015) By Derek Newman-Stille There has been an incredible interest in apocalyptic scenarios. We are fascinated with the notion of “the end”. Whether zombies, environmental catastrophe, meteors, alien invasion, nuclear war… we are fascinated with the idea of an end of the story of human experience. Marie Bilodeau’s Nigh evokes creatures from...

Categories Fiction Book Reviews Comments: 0

February 5, 2015

Speculating Canada on Trent Radio Episode 28: Myth and Canadian SF

In this episode of Speculating Canada on Trent Radio, I talk about the way that myths and legends have influenced Canadian Speculative Fiction, focusing on the variety of different myths that have been brought to Canada. Myths have a power to inspire us, and to evoke thought and a sense of wonder about the world around us. In this episode,...

Categories On Air Comment: 1