Review: On Spec: The Canadian Magazine of the Fantastic. #74 - Fall 2008, #75 - Winter 2008, #76 - Spring 2009

Lovers of speculative fiction would do well to reflect from time to time on the important contribution of semi-pro magazines towards developing talented authors. Given that the professional zines are more inclined to publish big names than take a punt on an unknown, especially in difficult times, it is the lot of the semi-pro and amateur press to nurture young writers. It’s rare for a writer to appear fully formed on the publishing scene; most have cut their teeth in the small press.

In Australia, Eidolon and Aurealis helped to develop home-grown talent like Greg Egan, Sean Williams, and Terry Dowling. The Canadian equivalent is On Spec, a digest-sized, perfect-bound magazine that’s been going for over twenty years and shows no sign of slowing. A no-frills zine with few illustrations and advertisements and weighing in at 112 pages, it consistently publishes high quality stories and verse by Canadian writers. To give you some idea of its influence, the Fall 2008 issue has interviews with celebrated SF author Cory Doctorow and young adult novelist Nicole Luiken, both of whom have published stories earlier (in Doctorow’s case, his first) in On Spec as long ago as 1990.

The Fall 2008 issue is a youth themed issue and publishes youth contest-winning stories of real quality. Edmonton twins Brittany and Ashlin McCartney each produced fantasy stories of real distinction. Brittany won the 15-18 category with a nicely wrought tale that draws from Arthurian legend, while Ashlin’s story “With Love” reads like an extract from a novel in-progress and made me want to read more. B. L. Trogen won the 19-23 category with “Burning Feathers”, an Asimov-inspired robot story with an interesting twist and a serious political message. Yuri Fabrikantov’s “The Finale” is a well-constructed ghost story that builds up to a brutal climax, but my favourite story in the issue was Seanah Roper’s “A Cat Named Wellington”, a whimsical fantasy that is at once funny and moving.

The standout story in the Winter 2008 issue was Ryan Laliberte’s “Every Single Round a Last Call”, a clever and happily satisfying tale of time travel and redemption set in a seedy bar. “Graveyard Orbit” by Jon Martin Watts and “Coolies” by Suzanne Church are two fairly conventional but well-written SF stories, the first set on a derelict space station/hotel, and the latter a future war story set in North America. “Taming the Beast” by Hannah Strom-Martin and “Glamour” by B. C. Holmes are fantasy tales that in different ways portray young women learning to assert their innate power and independence. “The Corrections” by Jared Young would make a perfect Twilight Zone episode and Alexander Curnow’s “Hesitant Ripples” is pure speculative fiction describing in minute detail the sensory impressions in the final seconds, and beyond, of a soldier whose skull is shattered by a sniper’s bullet.

My favourite piece in the Spring 2009 issue was Tony Pi’s “Come-From-Aways” about a Viking ship that washes up in a Newfoundland harbour with a single survivor on board. Tony Pi, a linguist by profession, handles the technical material well without swamping the reader, and the ending is up-beat and satisfying. Jack Skillingstead’s “Einstein’s Theory” is a thought-provoking alternative history piece in which the great physicist’s annus mirabilis of 1905 never happened, and he is still working in the Swiss patent office in his middle age. In J. Brian Clarke’s “Hell Ain’t What it Used to Be”, a recently deceased nasty-piece-of-work gets his just deserts in truly bizarre fashion. “The Lost Girls” by Khria Deefholts and “Last Man” by Matthew Jordan Schmidt are grounded firmly in gender studies, but didn’t do it for me, while E. E. Moxon’s “An Elephant in the Room” touches on the issue with imagination, tenderness, and insight.

Each issue of On Spec also has an author and artist interview, an editorial, and the occasional article. Barry Hammond’s article on Forry Ackerman in the Winter 2008 issue is a heart-felt tribute to a generous and funny man who made a lasting contribution to the fantastic arts. In the Spring 2009 issue, Robert Runte looks at the effect of the economic downturn on SF publishing, and observes, “there’s no bailout coming for the majors; it’s up to [the fans] to keep the new presses alive through the coming recession.” A point that applies as much to the Australian scene as anywhere else.

Copies of On Spec can be ordered here.

Review by James Doig.