Speculating Canada: Canadian Horror, Science Fiction, and Fantasy

September 5, 2024

Haunting Lights

A review of Jen Storm’s “Little Moons”By Derek Newman-Stille Little Moons is a powerful exploration of the violence inflicted on the Indigenous community, particularly through missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and two-spirit people. It is an examination of grief and how grief shapes us, changes us, and can bring some of us closer to traditions while it may also...

Fiction Book Reviews Comments: 0

September 2, 2024

An Interview with Drs. John Moores and Jesse Rogerson

I recently heard about an amazing upcoming book called Daydreaming in the Solar System by Drs. John Moores and Jesse Rogerson that would explore Science education about the solar system through science fiction stories. I was so fascinated, I had to contact them for an interview. John and Jesse are both professors of space sciences at York University, and their...

Interviews/News/On Air Comments: 0

August 20, 2024

An Interview With Rabbi Dr. Andrea (A.D.) Lobel

By Derek Newman-Stille Spec Can: Could you tell us a little bit about yourself? Andrea: Certainly! I’m a rabbi in the Jewish Renewal movement, a progressive Jewish group. I used to work full-time as an advertising copywriter, but decided to go back to school in 2002 to begin a career in religion, so I earned my M.A. and Ph.D., as well...

Interviews Comment: 1

July 3, 2024

An Interview with Kim McDougall

I’ve been reading and adoring Kim McDougall’s Valkyrie Bestiary Series for a while now, enjoying the idea of a world where magic has ruptured into our world and magical creatures need to be dealt with by professional pest control folks. In this interview, Kim and I discuss magical creatures, world-building a magical world, and the power of urban fantasy. If...

Interviews/On Air/Uncategorized Comments: 0

June 21, 2024

An Interview with Clare Wall

I recently had the wonderful opportunity to bring Dr. Clare Wall’s voice to readers in an interview. Clare is a literary scholar and science fiction expert, focussing on climate fiction, apocalyptic fiction, and posthumanism. Dr. Clare Wall (she/her) is a contract professor in the Department of Humanities at York University in Toronto, Canada. She holds a PhD from York University in English Literature. Her research...

Interviews/Videos Comments: 0

May 29, 2024

An Interview with Una Verdandi

I had the wonderful opportunity to talk to Una Verdandi about her Norse-inspired speculative fiction work and was able to listen to some amazing Norse tales as we were chatting. I am excited to share Una’s brilliance with all of you Una Verdandi is a writer of science fiction and fantasy novels. When she is not exorcising her muses into...

Interviews Comments: 0

May 7, 2024

An Interview with Eric Desmarais

You may recall my recent interview of Jen Desmarais, who talked about collaborations with her partner, Eric. Now I’ve had the opportunity to talk to both of them. Eric and I talk about collaborative writing, uses of romance in speculative fiction, and the use of role-playing games as story generators. Éric Desmarais has had an eclectic career which ranges from...

Interviews Comment: 1

April 26, 2024

An Interview with MJ Lyons

I recently had a chance to chat with MJ Lyons about his ongoing speculative fiction writing and his exploration of fabulous smut. I think there is so much power in the ability to explore the fantastic and the unabashedly sexy, and am excited that I was able to hear from MJ about his work, including his latest work Queer Werewolves...

Interviews Comments: 0

April 12, 2024

An Interview with Melanie Marttila

I had the great opportunity to talk to Canadian poet Melanie Marttila just before the launch of her new poetry collection The Art of Floating. In today’s interview, we discuss speculative poetry, small local writing groups, and writing for a community. We talk about disability, ageing, and neurodiversity. Melanie Marttila (she/her) is an #actuallyaustitic SFF author-in-progress, writing poetry and tales...

Interviews Comments: 0

April 3, 2024

An Interview with Lydia M Hawke

In today’s interview of the brilliant Lydia M Hawke, we explore ageing, coming-of-age stories, parents in coming-of-age stories, paranormal fiction, gender and feminism. Lydia gives us some amazing insights into her Crone series. Lydia M. Hawke is an award-winning urban fantasy and paranormal women’s fiction author and a proud crone living just outside of Ottawa. When worlds collide or apocalyptic...

Interviews/On Air Comments: 0