unfamiliar – Speculating Canada: Canadian Horror, Science Fiction, and Fantasy

February 8, 2015

Dreamy Horror

A Review of Emily Carroll’s “Through The Woods” (Margaret K. McElderry Books, Toronto). By Derek Newman-Stille “Through the Woods” is a modern day Grimm’s collection of horror tales, and it is wonderfully grim. Beautifully illustrated in an iconic fairy tale style, Through the Woods creates a sense of discomfort about the environments that we generally consider safe. From tales of...

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September 2, 2013

Shifts into the Weird

A review of Lydia Peever’s Pray Lied Eve: Tales of the Untoward (Hora Minor Productions, 2013) By Derek Newman-Stille Lydia Peever’s short story collection Pray Lied Eve is deeply psychological, exploring the inner recesses of her characters’ minds as their worlds are shifted slightly into The Weird. Her characters are whirled up in plots beyond them, motivated by forces outside...

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August 17, 2013

Haunted by Nostalgia

A review of Lydia Peever’s “Everyday” (in Pray Lied Eve, Hora Morior Productions, 2013). By Derek Newman-Stille Our houses are places where we are supposed to be safe, places of comfort and security… but what happens when that space is disrupted? Houses can become estranged fast when we are alone, and when changes happen to our dwellings that we know...

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July 29, 2013

Penning the Subtle Murmur of Death and Splash of Blood

A review of Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s This Strange Way of Dying (Forthcoming 2013, Exile Editions) By Derek Newman-Stille Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s This Strange Way of Dying is just one step abstracted from reality, with one foot in The Weird. Populated with monsters, magic, and folklore, her work is fundamentally about the human outsider experience, the deeper engagement with the world that comes...

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April 10, 2013

Depths

A Review of A.E. Van Vogt’s The Silkie By Derek Newman-Stille Van Vogt’s creation, the silkie is both human and fundamentally alien, integrating elements of “us” with the “Other”. Possessing senses beyond human understanding -enough to reframe the entire sensory network – the silkie sees the world through different eyes, yet it is forced to take a human mate and...

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September 28, 2012

Quote – Body Seems Strange.

“My proper body is strange to me. Everything about Home feels a single degree off centre. The universe seems odd. Even the organs of perception feel alien. The burrows of Home have a strangeness about them.” -Gary Eikenberry – Anthropology 101 (In Tesseracts)

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Tag: unfamiliar

Dreamy Horror

Shifts into the Weird

Haunted by Nostalgia

Penning the Subtle Murmur of Death and Splash of Blood

Depths

Quote – Body Seems Strange.