Canadian SF in Orwell’s Year
by Rob - December 31st, 2024.Filed under: Uncategorized. Tagged as: Canadian SF.
Forty years ago, at the end of 1984, I put together this roundup of the year’s Canadian achievements in science fiction and fantasy. It was published in The Bakka Bookie Sheet, the newsletter of Toronto’s Bakka: A Science Fiction Bookstore.
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John Robert Colombo‘s Canadian Literary Landmarks (Hounslow, December) contains many references to writers of the fantastic.
Book 2 of Vancouverite Michael Coney‘s “Song of Earth” was issued by Houghton Mifflin in September. It’s called Gods of the Greataway.
Ace published the first two novels by Charles de Lint of Ottawa: The Riddle of the Wren in June and Moonheart in October. Forthcoming are the novels The Harp of the Grey Rose from Starblaze, Mulengro: A Romany Tale from Ace, and a story entitled “In the Valley of the Troll” in Swords and Sorceresses, edited by Marion Zimmer Bradley.
The Memoirs of Alcheringia, Part One of “The Erthring Cycle” by Wayland Drew of Bracebridge, Ont., was published in May by Del Rey.
Augustine Funnell of Fredericton, N.B., sold “Worms from Mars” to Twilight Zone. His “Marin’s Eyes, With Needles” will appear in either Volume 3 or 4 of Far Frontiers.
Vancouverite William Gibson‘s first novel Neuromancer was published as an Ace Special in July, with hardcover following from Gollancz in August. It was the most recommended book on the preliminary Nebula Award ballot. Gibson has two more novels under contract: Count Zero to Ace and The Log of the Mustang Sally to Arbor. His “New Rose Hotel” appeared in the July Omni.
“Barking Dogs” by Toronto’s Terence M. Green, from the May F&SF, is also high on the preliminary Nebula ballot. “Legacy” will appear in that magazine in March 1985 and “Point Zero” will follow later.
The Summer Tree, first volume of Guy Gavriel Kay’s “Fionavar Tapestry,” was published in the Fall by McClelland and Stewart.
The death of University of Toronto Professor Edward Llewellyn-Thomas was a great loss to Canadian SF. His fourth DAW Books novel, Salvage and Destroy, appeared in January. Two more DAW novels and a short story in Analog will be published posthumously.
Judith Merril is editing an anthology of Canadian SF for Press Porcepic. She’s also working on an SF novel under a Canada Council grant. She founded “Hydra North,” a Toronto-area professional SF association, on April 29. In August she, Andrew Weiner, and Robert J. Sawyer gave a panel on aging themes in SF at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association.
“Der Geist und die Maschine” by John Park of Ottawa had its first publication in Kopernicus 11, a West German anthology edited by H. J. Alpers and published by Moewig. His “The Software Plague” will appear shortly in Jim Baen’s new anthology series Far Frontiers.
The first publication of Melancholy Elephants by Halifax’s Spider Robinson was as a July Canadian trade paperback from Penguin.
The Quest for Cush, volume 2 in the “Imaro” pentalogy by Ottawa’s Charles R. Saunders, appeared from DAW in January. Volume 3, The Trial of Bohu, will be out in the second half of 1985. He also has a story in Bradley’s Swords and Sorceresses, slated for May from DAW.
Robert J. Sawyer of Toronto appeared in the Asimov, Carr, and Greenberg anthology 100 Great Fantasy Short Short Stories (Doubleday, April) with “The Contest.” He interviewed Donald Kingsbury in the Spring Science Fiction Review and reported on the Canadian computer graphics used in Search for Spock for the June 30 Toronto Star.
S. M. Stirling sold his first novel, Snow Brother, to Signet. It will be a March 1985 paperback original. Parts of an early version were in the Winter ‘81 and Spring ‘82 issues of the defunct Miriad.
Andrew Weiner‘s “Distant Signals” graced the May/June Twilight Zone and his “The Alien Station” appeared in October’s IAsfm. This Toronto writer profiled Phyllis Gotlieb, Donald Kingsbury, and Spider Robinson in the December 1 Financial Post Magazine. Keep an eye on IAsfm for his forthcoming “Klein’s Machine.”
CBC Radio’s Ideas bought 3 noteworthy triplets of hour-long radio documentaries. “Crimes of the Future” by Calgary’s Tom Keenan aired in October. “Black Water” by Alberto Manguel of Toronto was broadcast in December. “The Future Then and Now” by Robert J. Sawyer will air in 1985. Manguel adapted “Death and the Compass” by Jorge Luis Borges for CBC Radio’s Vanishing Point, which premiered in October.
Borderland, a dark fantasy semi-prozine appeared from Toronto in October, edited by R. S. Hadji and published by Raymond Alexander.