moral ambiguity – Speculating Canada: Canadian Horror, Science Fiction, and Fantasy

February 13, 2019

The Religion of Mystery Literature

The Religion Of Mystery Literature By Derek Newman-Stille Like many people, I have a distinct love of mystery stories. I like the act of figuring out who did the crime. I like following the clues. I like believing that I can solve crimes before the investigators do. One thing that always frustrates me is the finality of a mystery tale,...

Editorials Comments: 0

June 17, 2014

Speculating Canada on Trent Radio Episode 8: An Interview with Marie Bilodeau and Karen Dudley About Myth and Canadian SF

In this interview, SF authors Marie Bilodeau, Karen Dudley, and I explore the mythic underpinnings of modern Canadian SF. Prepare for us to open up mythic worlds within all of those little corners of reality. Marie Bilodeau is an award-winning, Ottawa-based Science Fiction and Fantasy author and a professional storyteller. A modern mythographer, Marie creates worlds of wonder with pen...

Interviews/On Air Comments: 2

May 9, 2014

Speculating Canada on Trent Radio Episode 2: An Interview with Chadwick Ginther and Discussion of his Work

In this episode of Speculating Canada on Trent Radio, check out an interview with Winnipeg author Chadwick Ginther where he discusses his Thunder Road trilogy. In our interview we talk about notions of heroism and villainy, moral ambiguities, the interplay of Canadian legends and Norse myths, the landscape, urban fantasy and horror. After our interview, I get a chance to...

On Air Comments: 2

March 20, 2014

Escaping North – Zombified Canada

A review of Dead North: Canadian Zombie Fiction, edited by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Exile Editions, 2013) By Derek Newman-Stille In American zombie movies, Canada is a place of escape, a place to run to in the event of a zombie apocalypse to escape from the ravening hoards. I am not certain what sort of magical barrier our country’s border has, or...

Fiction Book Reviews Comments: 2

November 8, 2013

Hunger

A review of Tyler Keevil’s “The Herd” in Dead North: Canadian Zombie Fiction (Exile Editions, 2013). By Derek Newman-Stille Tyler Keevil’s “The Herd” reverses the hunter/hunted dynamic in zombie fiction. Zombies, often characterised by their herd mentality in fiction are treated like a herd of prey and hunted by a man who has acquired a taste for human flesh. Keevil...

Fiction Book Reviews Comments: 0

October 31, 2013

Quote – Blank Page With No Boundaries to Transgress

“Those who haven’t been here, and seen it, simply cannot imagine the endless expanse of white. It is stark and harsh as a blank page, or a map with no borders, no boundaries. No sense of right or wrong. In this blighted snowscape, anything is possible. Here you are free to cross over, to transgress. It is a map of...

Quotes Comments: 0

May 18, 2013

An Eldrich Digital Light

A review of Kent Pollard’s A Perfect Circle (in Misseplled edited by Julie Czerneda, Daw 2008) By Derek Newman-Stille Thorn was created to be evil, he was made to be an evil wizard… that’s the way he was designed. But, what happens when a wizard designed for a video game accidentally summons the overseer programme for the game? What happens...

Fiction Book Reviews Comments: 0

March 28, 2013

Superhero Complex(ity)

A review of Masked Mosaic: Canadian Super Stories (edited by Claude Lalumiere and Camille Alexa, Tyche Books LTD, 2013) By Derek Newman-Stille There has been a recent increase in the public interest in the superhero genre with increasing numbers of superhero movies, increasing numbers of people wearing superhero related merchandise and increasingly larger population groups getting excited about the figure...

Fiction Book Reviews Comment: 1

March 1, 2013

Speculating Canada on Trent Radio for Geek Day Today

Speculating Canada will be on Air at Trent Radio today for their Geek Day events. You can listen to a discussion between Derek Newman-Stille and Alissa Paxton today at 92.7 FM in the broadcast range or listen online to a broadcast stream at http://www.trentu.ca/org/trentradio/. We will be online at 10:30 AM and will be talking about the role of science fiction...

On Air Comments: 0

February 28, 2013

Interview With Julie Czerneda

An interview with Julie Czerneda By Derek Newman-Stille I want to thank Julie Czerneda for being willing to do this interview and for her enthusiasm for these questions. I am truly honoured that she took the time to participate in this interview. Ms. Czerneda’s work was an incredible source of inspiration to a friend and colleague of mine at Trent...

Interviews Comments: 11

Tag: moral ambiguity