Imaginarium 2013: The Best Canadian Speculative Writing
Ed. by Sandra Kasturi and Samantha Beiko
ChiZine’s Imaginarium anthology of the best Canadian speculative writing (a label that takes in SF, fantasy, horror, magic realism, and other oddities) shows up for its second year looking like it’s going to enjoy a long successful run. Tanya Huff opens things up with an introduction suggesting some characteristics of Canadian genre writing, including a greater sympathy for the darkness that feeds our national insecurity and paranoia. From there the collection heads straight off the beaten track (another Canadian quality Huff identifies is our fondness for experiment), into a wilderness of cultural diversity, filled with monsters, demons, witches, aliens, cyborgs, superheroes, deities, and other weird creatures.
Co-edited by Sandra Kasturi (who is joined by Samantha Beiko for this volume), the series is establishing its own identity with lyrical stories and poems that are energetic and playful. There’s an imaginative and formal liveliness at work throughout, which means you never know quite what to expect, except more good things to come.
Alex on SF 