Tag: questioning social conventions

July 25, 2013

The In-Between Space

A Review of Lynda Williams’ The Courtesan Prince (Edge, 2005). By Derek Newman-Stille The Reetions and the Gelacks, two branches of the human race that were separated from Earth due to temporary losses of space travel. The Reetions developed from the first group of people to leave Earth and settle in a colony. Connections to Earth were lost, and they...

Categories Fiction Book Reviews Comments: 2

July 19, 2013

Interview with James Marshall

An Interview with James Marshall By Derek Newman-Stille After reading Zombie Versus Fairy Featuring Albinos, I was fascinated with James Marshall’s different take on the figure of the zombie and his use of the zombie medium to question the zombie-like state of uncritical thought in our society. I appreciate that he was willing to have a conversation about his zombies...

Categories Interviews Comments: 0

July 17, 2013

Upcoming interview with James Marshall on Friday July 19th

On Friday July 19th, Speculating Canada will be interviewing James Marshall. James Marshall is the author of Ninja Versus Pirate Featuring Zombies and Zombie Versus Fairy Featuring Albinos (both available from ChiZine publications), as well as a guitar player. He has a very different take on the figure of the zombie, and I was curious to find out what inspired...

Categories Interviews/News Comments: 3

July 12, 2013

Zombie Versus Fairy Featuring Albinos Reading Questions

Some Book Club Discussion Questions for James Marshall’s Zombie Versus Fairy Featuring Albinos How did James Marhsall’s zombies differ from other zombies that you have read about or seen in movies? What did the idea of a depressed zombie add to the plot of this novel? How did Buck’s depression allow him to challenge the world around him? Why did...

Categories Reading/ Book Club Questions Comments: 2

July 10, 2013

Dead Depressed

A Review of James Marshall’s Zombie Versus Fairy Featuring Albinos (ChiZine Publications, 2013) By Derek Newman-Stille Zombies are normally pretty content – they groan, they chase, they eat, they shuffle… but what happens when a zombie becomes depressed? In James Marshall’s Zombie Versus Fairy Featuring Albinos, depressed zombies get promoted. No matter how much they tell their bosses they hate...

Categories Fiction Book Reviews Comments: 6

June 18, 2013

Quote – Like When SF Broadens Vision

“What I like is getting my head turned around. I get off on fresh perceptions, widening horizons, new thoughts, and I like them best when they occur as a process in my own mind, rather than an exposition at which I am a passive spectator/ receiver. What I look for in SF is the story (or verse – occasionallly film...

Categories Quotes Comments: 0

May 1, 2013

Blood on the Starscape

A review of Peter Watts’ Blindsight (Tor, 2006) By Derek Newman-Stille Life itself is strange, odd, and unordinary. We try to create ideas of normalcy to impose order on the world around us and end up limiting our perception and understanding of that world. We categorise, we cut things that we don’t think should belong, and we butcher reality to...

Categories Fiction Book Reviews Comments: 0

April 25, 2013

Quote – People Are Part of the Problem, People Need to be Part of the Solution

“The system was people, and I was part of it, part of its problems, and I was going to be part of the solution from now on.” -Cory Doctorow – Homeland (Tor, 2013)

Categories Quotes Comments: 0

April 19, 2013

Paranoia, Power, Politics, Police, and Protest

A Review of Cory Doctorow’s Homeland (Tor Teen, 2013) By Derek Newman-Stille Marcus was known as m1k3y when he was younger, a web protestor and advocate of human rights who exposed government corruption. In Homeland, Marcus is a young adult, just beginning life outside of university. He has all of the regular issues facing a young person – searching for...

Categories Fiction Book Reviews Comments: 0

April 15, 2013

300th Post and The Story of Speculating Canada

Dear readers, Today will be Speculating Canada’s 300th post!! Thank you for all of your support. I thought I would publish a bit about the story of Speculating Canada itself and reveal some of my hopes and dreams about where Speculating Canada is going. Speculating Canada grew out of my current research for my PhD in Canadian Studies at Trent...

Categories Editorials Comment: 1