Author: Holly Schofield

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New issue of the Colored Lens

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Two SF Canada members have short stories in the Spring 2019 issue of The Colored Lens Speculative Fiction Magazine.

Kristin Janz’s “The Hungry Ghosts” contains an interesting mix of profanity, sex, Christianity, and a protagonist who’s already dead. The basis was Kristin’s application story for the esteemed Clarion West workshop in 2008.

Kristin writes within many genres and sub-genres with a particular fondness for high fantasy. As well as being a Clarion West alumni, she was a Writers of the Future finalist in 2015, and currently serves on the board of directors of SF Canada. She is the co-owner of Enigmatic Mirror Press (along with her husband Donald S. Crankshaw) which publishes the Mysterion online magazine.

Geoffrey W. Cole’s “The Memetic Vaccine” is a detective tale about a Koro epidemic catching in a lunar colony. To learn what Koro is, you might have to google it; however Geoff warns that googling Koro is one of the risk factors for contracting Koro — beware!

Geoff has a certificate in creative writing through The Writers Studio program at Simon Fraser University and a Masters of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia. He also has degrees in Biology, Mechanical Engineering, Beer Slinging, and Rock and/or Roll.

Purchase this issue of the Colored Lens today!

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And the nominees are…

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This year’s Aurora Award ballot has just been announced. Several SF Canada members are nominated as finalists (their names are in capitals below).

The Aurora Awards are nominated by members of the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association. Voting on this ballot runs from August 3th to September 14th. The awards ceremony will be held at Can-Con in October.

Congratulations to all nominees!

Best Novel
Armed in Her Fashion by Kate Heartfield, ChiZine Publications
Graveyard Mind by Chadwick Ginther, ChiZine Publications
One of Us by Craig DiLouie, Orbit
They Promised Me The Gun Wasn’t Loaded by James Alan Gardner, Tor
The Quantum Magician by Derek Künsken, Solaris Books and Analog Science Fiction and Fact
Witchmark by C. L. Polk, Tor.com Publications

Best Young Adult Novel
Children of the Bloodlands: The Realms of Ancient, Book 2 by S.M. Beiko, ECW Press
Cross Fire: An Exo Novel by Fonda Lee, Scholastic Press
The Emerald Cloth by Clare C Marshall, Faery Ink Press
Exit Plans for Teenage Freaks by ‘Nathan Burgoine, Bold Strokes Books
Finding Atlantis by J.M. Dover, Evil Alter Ego Press
Legacy of Light by Sarah Raughley, Simon Pulse
The Sign of Faust by Éric Desmarais, Renaissance Press
Timefall by Alison Lohans, Five Rivers Publishing

Best Short Fiction
A Hold Full of Truffles by Julie E. Czerneda, Tales from Plexis, DAW Books
Alice Payne Arrives by Kate Heartfield, Tor.com Publications
Critical Mass by Liz Westbrook-Trenholm, Shades Within Us: Tales of Migrations and Fractured Borders, Laksa Media
For A Rich Man to Enter by SUSAN FOREST, InterGalactic Medicine Show, Issue 62
Gods, Monsters, and the Lucky Peach by Kelly Robson, Tor.com Publications

Best Graphic Novel
Crash and Burn by Finn Lucullan and Kate Larking, Astres Press
FUTILITY: Orange Planet Horror by Rick Overwater and Cam Hayden, Coffin Hop Press
It Never Rains by Kari Maaren, Webcomic
Krampus Is My Boyfriend! by S.M. Beiko, Webcomic
Woman World by Aminder Dhaliwal, Drawn and Quarterly

Best Poem/Song
Echos by Shannon Allen, By the Light of Camelot, Edge
How My Life Will End by Vanessa Cardui, Shades Within Us: Tales of Migrations and Fractured Borders, Laksa Media
Osiris by Leah Bobet, Uncanny Magazine
Trips to Impossible Cities by SANDRA KASTURI, Amazing Stories Magazine, issue #2, Winter 2018
Ursula Le Guin in the Underworld by SARAH TOLMIE, On Spec issue 107 vol 28.4

Best Related Work
By the Light of Camelot edited by J. R. Campbell and Shannon Allen, Edge
Disabled People Destroy Science Fiction edited by DOMINIK PARISIEN and Elsa Sjunneson-Henry, Uncanny Magazine
Gaslight Gothic: Strange Tales of Sherlock Holmes edited by J. R. Campbell and Charles Prepolec, EDGE
Shades Within Us: Tales of Migrations and Fractured Borders edited by SUSAN FOREST and LUCAS K. LAW, Laksa Media
We Shall Be Monsters: Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein 200 years on edited by Derek Newman-Stille, Renaissance Press

Best Visual Presentation
Bao, written and directed by Domee Shi , Pixar Animation Studios
Deadpool 2, written and produced by Ryan Reynolds, Twentieth Century Fox
Murdoch Mysteries, 2018 episodes, Peter Mitchell and Christina Jennings, Shaftesbury Films
Travelers, Season 3, Brad Wright, Carrie Mudd, John G. Lenic, and Eric McCormack, Peacock Alley Entertainment
Wynonna Earp, Season 3, Emily Andras, Seven24 Films Calgary

Best Artist
Lily Author, cover art for Polar Borealis Magazine #8, Dragon Lab
Samantha M. Beiko, covers for Laksa Media
James F. Beveridge, cover art for Tyche books
Roger Czerneda, cover for Tales from Plexis, DAW Books
Dan O’Driscoll, covers for Bundoran Press
Lynne Taylor Fahnestalk, cartoons for Amazing Stories Magazine

Best Fan Writing and Publications
Adios Cowboy, Adam Shaftoe
Books and Tea, Christina Vasilevski
Constructing the Future, Derek Newman-Stille, Uncanny Magazine
Mars vs. Titan, RON S. FRIEDMAN, Quora
She Wrote It But…Revisiting Joanna Russ’ “How to Suppress Women’s Writing” 35 Years Later, KRISTA D. BALL
Travelling Tardis, Jen Desmarais, JenEric Designs

Best Fan Organizational
SANDRA KASTURI, chair Chiaroscuro Reading Series: Toronto
Derek Künsken and MARIE BILODEAU, co-chairs, Can*Con, Ottawa
Matt Moore, MARIE BILODEAU, and Nicole Lavigne, co-chairs, Chiaroscuro Reading Series: Ottawa
Randy McCharles, chair, When Words Collide, Calgary
Sandra Wickham, chair, Creative Ink Festival, Burnaby, BC

Best Fan Related Work
S.M. Beiko and Clare C. Marshall, Business BFFs (Podcast)
Kari Maaren, ChiSeries Toronto, monthly musical performances
Derek Newman-Stille, Speculating Canada
Joshua Pantalleresco, Just Joshing (Podcast)
EDWARD WILLETT, The Worldshapers (Podcast)

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Anathema: Spec from the Margins

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SF Canada member Richard Graeme Cameron reviews Anathema: Spec from the Margins in his latest Amazing Stories column.

Anathema is a free, online tri-annual magazine publishing speculative fiction (SF/F/H, the weird, slipstream, surrealism, fabulism, and more) by queer PoC/Indigenous/Aboriginal creators on every range of the LGBTQIA spectrum. The editors are keenly aware of the structural and institutional racism that makes it hard for the work of marginalized writers to find a home.

In his review, Graeme notes that “the editors demand more than old-fashioned transparent window fiction, as illustrated by editor Michel Matheson’s capsule description”:  Issue 7 is focused on two of our core aesthetics, evincing a balance between burning mirrors allegorically reflecting the nightmare realities of our own world, and the terrible, beautiful possibilities of revelation in the face of found love, hidden histories, and resisting oppression. But overarchingly, Issue 7 is an issue of internal understandings—of gnosis and acceptance.

Graeme concludes with “All in all, Anathema certainly stands out from the crowd. A remarkable magazine. Definitely worth reading. ”

Issues can be read for free at Anathemamag.com. Why not support this worthy initiative by purchasing an ebook of issue #7 or a subscription today!

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New issues of Polar Borealis!

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Numerous SF Canada members have work in the two most recent issues of Polar Borealis, edited by SF Canada member Richard Graeme Cameron.

Issue #9 (Feb-Mar 2019) includes cover art by Akem, a poem by Andrea Schlecht, and stories by Robert Dawson, Geoffrey Hart, and Robert Runté.

Issue #10 (Apr-May 2019) features poems by Rhea Rose, Neile Graham, and Colleen Anderson. Stories include works by Ron Friedman and Matthew Bin. And there’s an article by Robert Runté.

Download both issues for free at Polar Borealis and show your support of this Canadian SF magazine via the GoFundMe.

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Magpie’s Ladder by Richard A. Kirk

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SF Canada member Richard A. Kirk’s latest book, Magpie’s Ladder, comprises stories that came to him while he was working on his visual art. Recently released by PS Publishing, a UK-based specialist publisher producing high quality, collectable but affordable signed limited editions within the field of science fiction, fantasy and horror. This illustrated book is Richard’s first collection of short stories.

A researcher’s curiosity draws her to the dream realm of the Darkling Lands.

Condemned by his own crime, an engrosser plumbs the labyrinthine depths of his firm’s building to find that he is not alone.

A giant searches for his missing brother.

A young woman opens a sealed house atop a crumbling bridge.

A young academic moves into the house of a dead professor and finds himself trapped in a dark fairy-tale.

These are five stories of yearning, curiosity, and darkness. They explore the fragile and dangerous correspondence between people and monsters.

Richard is an author, illustrator and visual artist. His fiction includes the short fantasy novel, The Lost Machine (Radiolaria Studios, 2010), and Necessary Monsters (Arche Press, Resurrection House, 2o17). He says, “Books have always been central to my life. Thinking about my literary inspiration and literary heroes lead me to authors like K. J. Bishop, Michael Moorcock, Mervyn Peake, Borges, John Banville, Brian Catling and John Crowley. These writers illuminate with their prose, but never fear the dark, qualities I’ll always aspire to with my own work.”

Find Magpie’s Ladder at PS Publishing and find more of Richard’s work on his blog.

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Eye to the Telescope Issue 32 (Sports and Games)

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SF Canada member Lisa Timpf recently served as guest editor for the Sports and Games issue of Eye to the Telescope.

Eye to the Telescope, a quarterly online journal, began publishing science fiction, fantasy, horror, and other speculative poetry in 2011, under the auspices of the Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association.

Issue 32 leads off with SF Canada member’s Colleen Anderson’s “The Briar Witch”.

Lisa Timpf obtained a Bachelor of Physical Education degree from McMaster University, and subsequently attended Dalhousie University where she studied Sport History at the Master’s level, never quite managing to complete her thesis. Though knee problems have slowed her down, in her younger years, Lisa played a number of sports including hockey, field hockey, softball, volleyball, and ball hockey, to name a few. Lisa also enjoys games of strategy, like chess and Settlers of Catan. Just after she retired in 2014, List started writing speculative poetry and fiction. The opportunity to serve as editor of the “Sports and Games” issue of Eye to the Telescope allowed her to explore the intersection of two interests: sports and speculative poetry. Lisa’s own writing has appeared in a number of venues, including Star*Line, Neo-opsis, Liquid Imagination, New Myths, and Scifaikuest.

Colleen Anderson has been twice nominated for the Aurora Award in poetry. She has co-edited Tesseracts 17 and Playground of Lost Toys, which was nominated for a 2016 Aurora Award. Alice Unbound: Beyond Wonderland is her first solo anthology (Exile Editions, April 2018). Over 150 of her poems have seen print in such venues as Grievous Angel, Polu Texni, The Future Fire, Polar Borealis and many others. Her fiction collection, A Body of Work was published by Black Shuck Books, UK last fall, and her poetry chapbook Ancient Tales, Grand Deaths and Past Lives is available through Kelp Queen Press.