On Spec: The Canadian Magazine of the Fantastic, Fall 2007 – A Review
I have been wanting to read On Spec: The Canadian Magazine of the Fantastic for a while, but kept putting it off. I wasn’t sure about spending money on a magazine I wouldn’t necessarily be able to submit to. I’m short of funds and they only accept hard copy submissions and I don’t have a printer (or again – funds to you know like pay for printing somewhere as well as postage to a foreign country), and you have to send International Reply Coupons with your SAE because, again, they can’t figure out their email and (and again – that takes more funds), BUT when a friend of mine had a story of hers appear in the Fall 2007 issue, I pretty much had to get myself a copy.
Reading through On Spec was, for the most part, a very pleasurable experience. But again – HELLO 21st CENTURY CALLING! Come on, On Spec! Start taking online submissions already! There are ways of safely accepting .rtf and .doc files and keeping track of what is spam and what is real without things falling into the cyber wasteland. Really. Even literary magazines like The Kenyon Review are doing it. If they can, you can, too.
On Spec is a perfect bound, 5×8 inch book with a good 1/2 inch margin around the text and easy to read serif type, 112 pages. I didn’t see any illustrations inside, but the cover is very nice, by Adrian Kleinbergen, and they did have photographs in back from their Pure Speculation Science Fiction and Fantasy Festival in October. They publish both poetry and fiction, and while they are a speculative fiction magazine, it tends to be of a more literary bent. If there are ever “sword and sorcery” stories in it (and there are) they are not your typical tales of knights and sorcerers. The first tale in this particular issue being a fine example of that.
FICTION
The Sorcerer’s Assistant by Leah Bobet
I would say this is a tale about choices. A man, Gerald, with little memory of who he is, comes to a sorceress’ tower out in the frozen wastes to the north. She is busy, but compassionate, so when he collapses on her doorstep she has her servants put him to bed, nurse him, feed him, and make him well. Meanwhile she goes back to reading and studying her spells. As she tells him later on, “they get fractious when ignored” (p.8 ). Though she doesn’t need a servant, Gerald makes himself useful in the tower. In the process of making himself useful in the Sorceress’ tower he learns much – about himself and about other things. There are several choices he has before him after obtaining this information. Some of those choices good and some bad. Some tread the middle gray road.
This was a good story to lead off with for the fall issue since it’s set in the cold wastes of the north (something people not Canadian probably associate with Canada). The ambivalence of the character Gerald is a subtle way of pulling the reader through the story. I appreciated this story, but I didn’t think it was the best in this issue. The editors, however, decided the author should be showcased and had an extended biography afterwards. Bobet is young, pretty, and has had an interesting life for such a young woman. Since On Spec began as a way of encouraging young writers, I suppose it makes sense to showcase her. Me, I like it better when middle-aged or older, crankier authors are showcased. Shows me there may be hope for me yet. I read about the young’uns and I just get bitter. But, it’s a well-crafted tale for all that.
The Night Visitor by Rose Hunter
In this tale, Hunter reminds us that the little tragedies and dramas of life coexist with the big disasters going on all around us. A young woman gets one of those annoying calls from a drunk acquaintance at 3 AM and has to deal with a younger man’s crush on her while also coping with a natural disaster. Hunter was clever in presenting the jaded protagonist and annoying boy, Rich, against the backdrop of a cheap walk up apartment and the televised disastrous events that repeat as they play out the small drama of the slightly older young woman and the younger man. In the end, compassion and the wisdom of foresight win out.
The characterization of the woman (who is never presented with a name, I think) and Rich is particularly well done. Her annoyance at his neediness is so very real. But one the elements I really liked in this story was how Hunter gradually revealed the setting throughout drama so that at the very end you truly understand the choice that is made.
The Pursuer by Scott Mackay
This story was well written, but not my cup of tea. Told from the first person view point of a sentient machine (or maybe it’s a close third person – it’s difficult to tell since it’s in machine-speak), it is about the machine’s fight for survival against a human. It’s very well done. I think it would have been difficult to constantly be in a coded mindset, which is what Mackay would have had to do to write from this viewpoint. The machine, Unit 724, makes choices as any “person” would do, though its choices are based on a different set of standards than a human might have.
This was an interesting read that made me feel as if my brain was being stretched. Not a bad thing. It’s good to exercise the brain every once in a while in directions we wouldn’t normally go, but this wasn’t a story that made me want to cozy up on the couch with a hot drink. Though well done, reading through it felt more like I was doing homework, like I needed to read it just to say I’d read it.
The Rainy Season by Chandra Rooney
Sometimes bad things just happen. And then again, sometimes good things just happen. There may or may not be any justification for either. They are just there and we, as sentient beings, have to deal with them and live through them and choose to grow or not grow with them. In this tale, Rooney writes about a young woman who is having a particularly miserable day, compounded by the fact that her cheap umbrella has sprung a leak right in the middle of a monsoon. We’ve all had those days. Sometimes, in the midst of them we are presented with something good. It could be very, very small – no more than the brush of a butterfly’s wing that we could choose not to see – but if we pay attention it could change our lives forever.
I’m going to say right out that I will be biased when reviewing this story because I know Chandra and I remember reading through the first drafts of this story when she was writing it. I absolutely love this story. I know the world she is writing in and I would like the rest of the “real” world to know about her world. This story, though brief, is packed full of raw emotion. Rooney is very good at painting in the small details such as the squeaky sneakers, or cheap white plastic umbrella handles, in such a way as to bring a punch to the larger big picture of the tale itself. Every time I read this story I cry. Diane Walton of On Spec appears to like it as well as she has nominated it for the Journey Prize, a Canadian literary award for emerging authors. Well done! Congratulations on the nomination, Chandra and good luck! I believe you deserve to win it.
Nine Sketches in Charcoal and Blood by Marie Brennan
A man of some notoriety passes on, leaving behind a life of mystery and several mysterious objects besides. At the auction of his property several people come together, connected by their relationship to this man, who have not seen each other in years. Their conversations take place in tense undertones and are punctuated by the genteel machinations of the auction. Why are they there? What are the objects that they deem so important?
This was a well written tale to curl up on a couch and read by the light of a single lamp and accompanied by a hot drink and classical music on the stereo. I would love to read more from this world that Brennan has created. The detail and the language were perfect. What happened before this story? What happened after? The characters she has created are solid, hard. You know that if you saw them in the hallway you would make room for them. They would be real and not figments of your imagination. And knowing they were real and what you have just read in her story, you would be scared silly, yet want to know more about who they are and what they are doing. I really enjoyed this story. If any of these stories should have been showcased, I would have chosen this one. I loved it. Made me want to read more of Brennan’s work.
…But With A Whimper by Greg Wilson
Someone of note is spending his final days puttering about his cottage and thinking back on past conquests. Though the reader is never told who this character is, they soon guess (though I had always assumed he’d been killed long before this). It’s no surprise then when an old enemy shows up for a final show down.
This was a clever tale. Wilson did a fine job of slowly revealing who the characters were and what was going to happen. It wasn’t my favorite, but it made me smile and chuckle to read it. Note: Never underestimate librarians.
A Coil of Thread by Trevor Morrison
Greek tragedy happens in the midst of every day life, and we can never tell where it’s going to come from or what form it will take. A nurse and her husband have a daughter with cancer who needs a bone marrow transplant and they have not been able to find any matches from donors. As the daughter’s life span appears to be nearing its end, the nurse’s work life appears to be taking on a weird life of its own.
This was an interesting story, well told. But what kept me reading was wondering what the author would do with it. There are several ways he could have chosen to go with this tale, but he only chose one. In discussing this story with a friend, we thought that this might be considered a truly Canadian tale because of the particular choice that was made. It was a poignant story.
The Blood of a Virgin is Hard to Come by Legitimately by Wesley Herbert
I really enjoyed this tale. Set in an alternate world that both does and does not mirror our own, a young woman who is NOT at the top of her class at school (at the beginning she is in fact cutting class), must take on a quest to save her father. I liked the detail of Herbert’s world, though it took a little getting into at first. And I really enjoyed the clever “homages” that the author paid to several science fiction, fantasy, and mythology traditions and stories. It was wittily and well done, I thought, and I was laughing by the end. Apparently Wesley Herbert used to be a regular contributor to On Spec before he was abducted by aliens. I hope he writes some more now that he’s back. I’d love to read more that came out of that brain.
POETRY
Falling by David Clink
Free verse that sort of behaves like stream of consciousness, this poem begins on the moon and ends up in your backyard. On the first read through, I didn’t like it. But after a couple more, I began to appreciate it more.
The Lullaby Stream by A.M. Arruin
I loved the use of words in this poem. I could see the trees and feel the cold stream slap itself against me. It was my favorite of the three in this issue.
It Being by Gary Pierluigi
In reading and rereading this poem, I am never sure I like it until the second to last line, which seems to make the parts before it that annoy me more worth while. The parts at the beginning still annoy me, but that second to last line is good.
And that, my good friends, is that. Another magazine review come to an end. I think if you choose to take a chance on this magazine (particularly this issue) that you’ll be glad you did.
on January 18th, 2008 at 2:38 PM
Thank you for your kind (biased) review, Rachel.
My favorite story in the issue was Marie Brennan’s, and I agree it should have been showcased. Odd that the published, well-establish novelist has been hidden in the middle of the magazine… but Leah Bobet is wonderfully prolific for such a young age, and I think ON SPEC has been publishing her stories for a while.
That’s odd about the poems. “Falling” was my favorite. Maybe because it was so freewrite-like.
on January 18th, 2008 at 3:43 PM
Poetry is so subjective out in the real world (as in – not in a college English class where you need to write a critical essay on one). Hard sometimes to pinpoint what you do or do not like about any one poem sometimes.
on January 18th, 2008 at 3:56 PM
Thanks for the comments, Rachel! “Nine Sketches” is one of my favorite stories I’ve written — perhaps because I don’t know the answers to those questions you ask. Writing it felt very much like stumbling across real people who only deigned to let me in on a small slice of their lives, keeping everything else unspoken. I’m glad to know that effect carries over to the reader, too.
on January 18th, 2008 at 4:41 PM
Thanks so much for dropping by and I really enjoyed that piece!
on January 19th, 2008 at 2:18 PM
Fantastic review, as usual. Really enjoyed it – I’m looking forward to reading the magazine for myself, one day. I’ve read an earlier draft of Chandra’s story, but am excited to see the finished version.
I like the sound of Marie Brennan’s story, Wesley Herbert’s and Leah Bobet’s. I agree with you about On Spec’s policy on submissions, too!
on January 19th, 2008 at 2:21 PM
I hope you’re doing well, Karen. How’s that writing coming along?
on January 21st, 2008 at 4:04 AM
Hmm… writing? er… not so well.
I’ve been reading LOTS, critiquing quite a lot and writing a very little. I think the job-hunting has eaten my brain.
on January 21st, 2008 at 12:41 PM
I hear ya on that one. I think I get so stressed out about whether or not there’s anything out there or if I’m doing enough to look for other work that the creativity gets scared away.
on January 21st, 2008 at 2:14 PM
*sigh* Yeah.
We’ll *both* get there, though. I sent off a job application today so am trying to think positive. Hope you’re feeling a bit better healthwise. It’s good to see you posting more.