Publications and Announcements

Robert Runte’s short story “Al/ice” has been reprinted in the Queens in Wonderland anthology from No Bad Books.

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Polar Starlight Magazine (#13 – February 2024 issue) of Canadian Speculative poetry is now published online and available for free download!

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Polar Borealis Magazine #28 (January/February 2024 issue) is now published online and available for free download.

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Cait Gordon’s short story, “Courier of the Skies,” is included in Spring into SciFi 2024, published by Cloaked Press.

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Douglass Smith‘s final book in The Dream Rider Saga trilogy, The Lost Expedition, is now available.

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Claudiu Murgan‘s story, Knowledge Keepers, was published in the Immigrant Writers Association’s annual anthology, Reborn With Memories. Listen to the CBC Radio interview here.

Reviews

R. Graeme Cameron reviewed “Year’s Best Fantasy and Science Fiction, Vol. 1” edited by Stephen Kotowych, “Fusion Fragment Magazine #20,” and “A Blanket of Steel” by Timothy S. Johnston all on Amazing Stories.

Noah Chinn reviewed TROUBLE WORE RED by Chris Lewis.

Announcements and New Releases

“The Ninth Tentacle” by Geoff Hart won the 2023 long-form Kepler award. Congratulations!

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Melissa Yi celebrated the release of her new book, SUGAR AND VICE, a new Sze thriller about gluttony with fantasy elements.

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Ira Nayman’s “ePik Flayl Creates the Wor(l)d…Again” appears in the new anthology, Dreaming God.

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Graham J. Darling’s surreal medical horror story “Crash Cart” appears in Finnigan & Nickol Houston (eds.) “The Solar Press Horror Anthology”, Volume 1

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VAMPIRE DENTIST is a new novella by Christine J. Whitlock about a 24-hour dental office servicing humans during the day and vampires at night and how they clash.

Submission Calls

Super Canucks: An anthology of small-town Canadian superheroes is open for submissions. Check out the guidelines here.

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Year’s Best Canadian Fantasy and Science Fiction: Volume Two is now open for submissions! Full details can be found here: http://kotowych.com/yearsbest/ .

Interviews, Panels, and Podcasts

Douglas Smith has had a busy month with three new interviews:

• Speculating Canada interview — Activist, author, artist, editor, and educator Derek Newman-Stille interviews me on his award-winning Speculating Canada podcast about The Dream Rider Saga trilogy, including its themes of disability, income disparity, racial diversity, found family, and setting it in Toronto.
• The Richard Crouse Show — Canada’s most recognized movie critic interviews me on his nationally syndicated iHeart Radio Show about the release of The Lost Expedition: The Dream Rider Saga, Book 3; my writing process; and more. Note: it will open in SoundCloud. My segment starts at about 19:55, and is about 18 minutes long. You don’t need a SoundCloud account to listen, but you do need an account (and be signed in) if you want to skip ahead.
• CBC Radio’s Fresh Air — Fresh Air host, Ismaila Alfa, interviews me on being an indie author and the release of The Lost Expedition: The Dream Rider Saga, Book 3

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Small Publishing in a Big Universe interviews Robert Runté about the different types of editors and the most common mistakes that new authors make in their writing.

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Holiday Horrors: A Discussion of Strange and Unusual Holiday Folklore and Traditions with Graham J. Darling and the Horror Writers Association (HWA) Ontario Chapter

Reviews

Ephemia Rimaldi: Circus Performer Extraordinaire by Linda DeMeulemeester was reviewed in Quill and Quire.

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“Game On!” Anthology edited by Stephen Kotowych and Tony Pi was reviewed at Amazing Stories.

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Noah Chinn’s LOST SOULS was reviewed in On Spec.

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The British Columbia Review reviews Shadow Matter by S.W. Mayse

Free-to-Read Stories by Members

Cabin Fever by Robert Runté

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New Releases

Allan Weiss‘ “Firetrees” was published in “Diversity of Voices: A Global Storytelling History”

This is the first anthology that we have produced that reflects a conference since our 2018 conference in Lisbon. Even though we produced an anthology in 2020 with the theme of a conference, the conference itself was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. As noted in the Introduction, we also produced anthologies in 2021 and 2022, again without the pleasure of having attended a conference. Five years have gone by since our last “official” conference anthology. Needless
to say, we are all overjoyed to provide this one for our readers in 2023. This edition comes with the history of those five years, which includes almost all of the human experience. Everything from death, births, joy, sorrow, decadence, and elegance are reflected in these stories. In this edition, writers have displayed an incredible amount of knowledge about how humanity works, and especially the tremendous forces behind it. Critics will be pleased about discovering those
tenets of romanticism, naturalism, realism, and existentialism buried so skillfully within the stories published here. It is indeed intriguing, because these authors simply wrote about the human condition during a common global confinement, with none of these so-called “isms” in mind. Such is the nature of humanism. Please enjoy these “global storytelling histories.”

Amazon Link

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Noah Chinn has a new book out!

Out of fuel and captured by pirates in his beat up chimera of a ship, Maurice “Moss” Foote is having a bad day, until he gets a lead on the score of a lifetime. Easy pickings, if his crew doesn’t mind doing a bit of pirating themselves.

Moss certainly doesn’t. His ship’s computer, Violet, might. And his co-pilot, Hel, definitely will. But one tiny little lie might get them both on board.

What’s the worst that could happen?

Roy Herzog is having a worse day. He lost everyone he could stomach working with, then crossed paths with the Silver Legion, the very organization he deserted to become a pirate.

Unfortunately for him, the Legion does not forget, and does not easily forgive. But there might be a way out, and perhaps a shot at revenge against the pilot who nearly killed him.

A pilot who flies a chimera.

Check it out: https://www.noahchinnbooks.com/my-books/lost-cargo/

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Alexander Zelenyj has four new releases to announce:

1: My retrospective story compendium THESE LONG TEETH OF THE NIGHT is now available in digital format from Fourth Horseman Press, along with hardcover and trade paperback editions.

2: My story collection BLACKER AGAINST THE DEEP DARK is now available in a digital eBook edition from Eibonvale Press, along with hardcover and trade paperback editions.

3: My Bizarro limited edition mini-collection of flash stories/vignettes, HAMMER-FIGHTS, is due to be released in December 2023 from Somniatis Press.

4: My story “The Potato Thief Beneath Indifferent Stars”, has been published in French translation in SOLARIS #228. Translation by Pascal Raud.

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Michèle Laframboise’s “Banlieue-bonbon” is out in this December’s Géante Rouge 31.

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Edited by Stephen Kotowych, the e-book of Year’s Best Canadian Fantasy and Science Fiction: Volume One is now available

Year’s Best Canadian Fantasy & Science Fiction: Volume One showcases the powerful, award-winning fantastical fiction being written by Canadians today.

Discover the magic woven by more than three dozen of Canada’s finest established and emerging fantasy and science fiction writers, including Premee Mohamed, Peter Watts, Kate Heartfield, Ai Jiang, Eric Choi, and Suzan Palumbo, among others.

From hard science fiction that propels you through the cosmos to haunting fantasy that lingers in the recesses of your imagination, join these writers as they explore the wonderous, the contemporary, the futuristic, and what it means to be human—all through the lens of the fantastic.

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Ira Nayman’s short story “Non-evitable Extinction Event” has been published in the anthology Apocalyptales: The End is Nigh

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Issue #63 of Sirens Call contains three drabbles (p.334) by Robert Runtè –  “The Family Home” (original to this issue) and two reprints: “Staked to the Stars” originally published by Microfiction Monday and “Spellcheck” originally published by ScribesMicro. Siren’s Call is free to download. #63 is the Halloween issue.

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Candas Jane Dorsey’s novel He Wasn’t There Again Today is out!

 The nameless amateur sleuth of The Adventures of Isabel and What’s the Matter with Mary Jane? has often said that death is too good for Lockwood Chiles — who is in prison for killing her beloved partner, Nathan, and her close friend Pris — and makes no secret that she hates the man who massacred her shot at happiness. So when Chiles ends up dead in his cell, it’s no wonder she becomes a prime suspect. Meanwhile, a homeless man living in a tent behind the Epitome Apartments has been kicked to death by a gang of well-groomed thugs, and our nameless friend has foolishly promised to help find the killers. How many times can she be struck by this kind of lightning? Apparently, a lot.

Reviews

R. Graeme Cameron reviews “A God in Hiding” by Matthew Hughes and Pulp Literature Magazine #40.

Podcasts and Interviews

Noah Chinn is on Mythbehaving with Karai and Rob  to talk about science fiction, fantasy, “kids” cartoons, and our favorite quotes and scenes

New Releases

Down Finnegan’s Hollow by Darke Conteur

It started with a children’s song and turned into a nightmare.

When Madison Hart lost her grandmother, she lost the last chance to learn about the maternal side of her family, until she came across some old photos and a bill of sale for a house in the small town of Yorke Mills. Excited by the find, Madison embarks on an adventure of discovery, only to learn a dark secret connects the town with an old mine that lies submerged beneath a lake.

A malevolent entity dwells within Lake Finnegan’s waters, where the bodies of several young girls have been found over the decades. Madison is horrified to learn that the evil is set to return, and several young girls—her daughter included—are its intended victims. The entity is strong and bent on revenge, and the only person who has been able to keep it under control is too old to continue the fight.

As the days tick down to a rare Blue Moon, Madison searches for ways to break the curse and keep her daughter and future little girls of Yorke Mills alive.

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Shadow Matter by S. W. Mayse

The war is lost. Seren Qasri is on her way home, her memories of the final days of the war a disturbing blur. Her occupied homeworld of Claer is in ruins, her mother is missing, and her lost love Teak Kuhan survives only as an avatar. All Seren knows for certain is that she must report in with her data—information that could force a renegotiation of the peace treaty and free her homeworld.

But Seren’s commanding officers aren’t the only ones who want that data or knowledge of the events buried in her memory. Pursued by ruthless killers, Seren doesn’t know who she can trust.

As her memories of a diplomatic courier’s murder return in fragments, Seren strikes a truce with Tas Damou, the freelance who once betrayed her. They detest each other, but only Damou can help Seren stay alive long enough to carry out her task … and prevent another war from engulfing human space.

Check out the publisher’s website for buy links and a sample chapter!

https://tychebooks.com/shadow-matter

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Graham J. Darling has a new short story out this month. “JON CARVER OF BARZOON, YOU MISUNDERSTOOD” can be found in “Black Sheep: Unique Tales of Terror and Wonder, November 2023, Number 5”

Click here for the link. 

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Australia’s Antipodean SF #301 (Nov 1, 2023) has reprinted Robert Runté’s flash story “Fami’s Watch”,  which originally appeared in Polar Borealis #20, Dec 2021.

Click here for the link.

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Havok Publishing published Lisa Timpf’s flash fiction story “Cerby’s First Day,” a re-imagining of Cerberus’ first day in the Underworld.

Click here for the link.

Upcoming Events

SF Canada member Bernadette Gabay Dyer will be hosting an evening of Prose and Poetry on Dec 6th ; 6:30 to 8:00 at High Park Library located on Roncesvalles Ave in Toronto.

News

Terry Birdgenaw  won the 2023 Gold Medal for best YA Sci Fi novel from Readers’ Favorite International Book Awards for ‘Antuna’s Story’. ‘The Rise and Fall of Antocracy’ also got an Honorable Mention among Fiction – Environmental Thrillers

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Douglas Smith’s YA urban fantasy novel, The Hollow Boys, won the Indie Author Project award for Best YA Novel in the Ontario region.

Podcasts

Cait Gordon talks about her latest book: “Season One: Iris and the Crew Tear Through Space!”

Click here for the link.

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Ira Nayman talks about being an editor of Amazing Stories and also about being a writer.

Click here for the link.

Reviews

Robert Runté reviewed Chris Lewis’s Trouble Wore Red

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Lisa Timpf reviewed Jes Battis’ The Winter Knight for the The Miramichi Reader

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Robert Runté reviewed  State of the Ark: Canadian Future Fiction Edited by Lesley Choyce

It’s been a busy year for SF Canada member Robert Runte, so we’ve asked him to compile all of his publications thus far. As you can see, he’s been quite busy!

Forthcoming Short Fiction 

1. “Is There Any News?” in Don’t Be a Hero: A VILLAINthology (in press) TBA, 2024. [A Harcourt-family story].
2. “Schrodinger’s Train”, Dark Horses, TBA, 2024. [Reprinted from Lamp Lit Underground, November, 2019.]
3. “Memory Loss”, in Forgotten Fragments of Time, Adam Shove, ed. Dark Thirty Poetry, April 2024. Reprinted from Impspired #23, June 1, 2023.
4. “Garbage In, Garbage Out”, Scifi Lampoon, Nov 2023. [A Fami and Watch story]
5. “Ransom and the Open Window” Neo-Opsis Magazine (in press), TBA 2023. [A Ransom and Friends story. Originally appeared in First Line Literary Magazine Vol 20 #3, Fall, 2018. (Print only)]
6. “The Guy with the Shopping Cart”, Bullet Points, TBA 2023. [Military SF/Horror]
7. “Nine Peaks”, 99 Fleeting Fantasies, Pulse Publishing, Fall, 2023, pp. 112-114. [A Ransom and Friends story]
8. “The Family Home”, Siren’s Call #63, October, 2023.
9. “Staked to the Stars”, Siren’s Call #63, October, 2023. [Originally published in Micro Fiction Monday Magazine May 22, 2023.]
10. “Spellcheck”, Siren’s Call #63, October, 2023. [Originally published in Fairfield ScribesMicro #28]

Published Short Fiction 

1. “Fami’s Dissertation Defense”, Polar Borealis #26, 2023. [A Fami and Watch story. Originally appeared in Ripples in Space, Spring 2020.]
2. “An Isolated Case”, Occult Detective Magazine #10, September, 2023. (Print only)
3. “Julie and the Substitute Teacher”, Creativezine #7, Summer 2023, pp 10-12. [Reprinted from Every Day Fiction, October 14, 2020.]
4. Déjà Vu, Fairfield ScribesMicro #31, July 15, 2023.
5. Memory Loss, (poem) Impsired #23, June 1, 2023.
6. “Inuksuk”, Metastellar, May 31, 2023. [Originally published in Polar Borealis #15 (June 2020) pp 43-55.]
7. “First Day on Night Shift”, On Spec Magazine, Vol 33, #1, Issue #123, May, 2023, pp 6-16. (Print only)
8. “Staked to the Stars”, Micro Fiction Monday Magazine May 22, 2023.
9. “Disposable”, Fairfield ScribesMicro #29, May 15, 2023.
10. “Spell-Check”, Fairfield ScribesMicro #28, April 15, 2023.
11. “Day Three”, The Flash Fiction Podcast, Manawalker Studios, March 16, 2023. [Originally appeared in print in Pulp Literature 21, 2019, online in Metastellar Sept 3, 2021, and reprinted in Best of Metastellar July, 2022.]
12. “Speed Dating”, Fairfield Scribes Micro #26, February 2023.

Reviews 

1. Review of The Fragrance of Orchids and Other Stories by Sally McBride, Ottawa Review of Books, June 15, 2023.
2. Review of The Crystal Key (Book 2 of the Dream Rider Saga) by Douglas Smith, Ottawa Review of Books, May 15, 2023.
3. Review of Murdering Mr. Edwards by Shawn Bird, Ottawa Review of Books, April, 2023.
4. Review of New Empire by Alison McBain, Ottawa Review of Books, March 2023.
5. Review of Lost Souls by Noah Chinn. Ottawa Review of Books, February, 2023.
6. Review of Ghost Dreams by Matthew Hughes. Ottawa Review of Books, January 2023.

SF Canada member Lisa Timpf had a busy August in terms of publications! Here’s a sample of where you can find her latest work:

Article: “Harnessing the Power of Rejections,” Funds for Writers, Volume 23, Issue 33, August 25, 2023.

Review: The Astronaut Always Rings Twice, edited by Shannon Allen and JR Campbell, published in The Fifth Dimension, August 2023, Hiraeth Publishing. (The Astronaut Always Rings Twice, honored at the Auroras, is a collection of noir speculative detective stories. Recommended).

Short Fictional Humor: “The Art of Music Surfing,” Rhapsody of the Spheres, a Third Flatiron anthology, August 21, 2023.

Short fiction: “A Subtle Form of Combat,” published in Yay! They’re Here! Edited by Helen Davis and Elizabeth Davis, Dead Fish Books, August 2023. (Aliens discover Earth–and Hockey!)

Also, this poem appeared in July but may be of interest to some; accessible for free at The Future Fire: 

Mycelial,” The Future Fire, Issue 2023.66, July 2023, http://futurefire.net/2023.66/fiction/mycelial.html