“‘Always weird fiction, ghosts, aliens, all the good stuff,’ quips author Rebecca Campbell from a comfy chair overlooking Saanich Inlet. “But very much grounded in the Cowichan Valley, or on Saanich Inlet right out there.'” Trevor Marc Hughes presents an interview with fiction author Rebecca Campbell, filmed at Mill Bay.
The third book of a series — and a hybrid of poetry, fantasy, and epic — is partly set on “the western shore of the continent formerly known as North America.” “It’s an opera,” our reviewer writes, “Opera is dramatic, fantastical, over-the-top, and told through appearance and surface given depth by music. A fusion in other words, an extension of lyrical song into narrative. I recommend reading this book with that structure in mind.” —Harold Rhenisch reviews Bramah’s Discovery, by Renée Sarojini Saklikar (Gibsons: Nightwood Editions, 2026) $26.95 / 9780889714946
The opening volume of a speculative fiction trilogy ranges between Germany of the present decade and Canada of 2085. In spite of an intriguing set-up, the novel’s surfeit of plot threads and wildly unlikable characters diminished the book’s appeal. —Sophia Wasylinko reviews Gaia’s Revolution: Book 1 of the Icaria Trilogy, by Nina Munteanu (Calgary: Dragon Moon Press, 2026) $6.88 [ebook] / 9781774000762
An “exhilarating” sci-fi epic whose “each page is a gift.” —Zoe McKenna reviews Shadow Matter, by S.W. Mayse (Calgary: Tyche Books, 2023) $24.99 / 9781989407554
The Plague by Kevin Chong Vancouver: Arsenal Pulp Press, 2018 $19.95 / 9781551527185 Reviewed by Joan Givner First published March 21, 2018 * A classic French text invigorates a new tale of rats overtaking Vancouver. Joan Givner compares Kevin Chong’s The Plague, set in Vancouver, with Albert Camus’ work of the same name published seventy years…
Read more #269 A plague on our houses
The Mercy Journals by Claudia Casper Vancouver: Arsenal Pulp Press, 2017 $17.99 / 9781551526331 Reviewed by Joan Givner First published Jan. 20, 2017 * Claudia Casper’s new novel adds to a growing body of work designated as “cli-fi,” a genre distinct from sci-fi and fantasy, because the horrors described are not futuristic fantasies but predictions of…
Read more #76 Happy new year, 2047