Northern Suns

Some of Canada's leading authors present a new collection of outstanding speculative fiction by Margaret Atwood, W. P. Kinsella, Robertson Davies, Nancy Kilpatrick, John Clute, Scott Mackay, Geoff Ryman, and other notable writers. 15,000 first printing.

Gathering a stellar array of 22 SF stories penned by either native Canadians or writers who simply prefer to publish there, this is a worthy companion volume to Northern Stars (1994). Wesley Herbert displays a compelling cyberpunk sensibility in "Twilight of the Real," a futuristic, noirish story about a PI who discovers why Earth's few remaining humans are turning themselves into "mechniks." In the humorous horror tale "Farm Wife," Nancy Kilpatrick writes about a woman's pragmatic attitude to her husband's vampirism. Geoff Ryman ("Fan") shows how today's reclusive pop star may be tomorrow's elusive hologram, while in "Freeforall," Margaret Atwood foresees another reactionary society not too far removed from that of The Handmaid's TaleAone in which rampant sexual disease leads to arranged matings and contract marriages brokered by post-feminist "house mothers." Sally McBride offers a more romantic, if equally unsettling, tale ("The Fragrance of Orchids") that proves that redemption can be found in the arms of a stranger, even if it comes from light years away and isn't human. W.P. Kinsella presents a short and sweet meditation on the Japanization of North America ("Things Invisible to See"), while Michael Skeet unveils an alternate history set in the Civil War ("Near Enough to Home"). Like its predecessor, this volume, with stories reprinted from assorted books and magazines, showcases with style the best of Canadian SF.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

A companion volume to the 1994 hardcover collection of science fiction stories, Northern Stars (not reviewed), presenting 22 further pieces by Canadian authors``Canadian'' being defined in the loosest possible sense. This time, speculative fiction in very mixed modes takes over from SF, though the entries are drawn mostly from the middle and late 1990s. In Margaret Atwood's intriguing ``Freeforall,'' deadly STDs are rife, so that in order to prevent their spread, men become chattels or are abandoned to their fate; with its reverberations of The Handmaid's Tale, the tale reads like an SF novel-in-waiting. W. P. Kinsella offers an amusing short-short on the Japanese commercial invasion, while Karl Schroeder's recently settled planet is threatened by rogue colonists from space; Nancy Kilpatrick uncovers some nasty goings-on down on the farm; Robertson Davies entertains an odd, vinegar-swilling visitor; and Geoff Ryman's novella ``Fan'' is reprinted from Unconquered Countries. Critic John Clute wonders if theres a distinctive Canadian SF (no, but a particular conceptual approach, pioneered by A.E. van Vogt, may be close to it). Elsewhere, as you might expect, are three translations from French-language originals and several alternate-history variants involving Quebec having separated from Canada. Not to mention a solitary alien castaway (Sally McBride); a historical fantasy involving the astronomer Tycho Brahe (Scott Mackay); post-disaster surrealism (Ursula Pflug); acquisitive aliens (Cory Doctorow); and vampires, crash-test dummies, photography, and plague. Pleasingly eclectic and worth a try for story fans. -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Hartwell and Grant's second collection of Canadian speculative fiction (the first: Northern Stars, 1994) demonstrates again the extraordinary sf voices in a country too often considered a large, empty space just above Michigan. The anthology's diversity is great, beginning with the famous Robertson Davies, whose delicious pseudoscientific chiller "Offer of Immortality" seems right at home with lesser-known Cory Doctorow's "Craphound," about an alien garage-sale fiend. French Canadians are well represented, contributing alternate histories, comic musings on the perils of bilingualism, and, in the particularly memorable "Reve Canadien," the notion that all Canada is the dream of a powerful African shaman. W. P. Kinsella offers a streamlined, surreal story in which a man vacuums the last traces of Japan from a delivery of new cars, and Margaret Atwood writes of a grim future of considerably changed marriage customs. Every story is exceptional, as is John Clute's thoughtful closing essay on the nature of Canadian literature, which also brings new understanding of the special nature of speculative fiction. Highly recommended for all libraries. Roberta Johnson

An elderly matron voices a chillingly dispassionate description of a 21st-century dystopia in Margaret Atwoods Freeforall, while Alain Bergerons The Eighth Register provides a richly detailed chronicle of an alternate historical time line in this collection of 21 stories by Canadian authors, which serves as a companion volume to Northern Stars (Tor, 1994). Contributions from veteran authors, including Robertson Davies, Nancy Kilpatrick, and W.P. Kinsella, as well as newcomers such as Nalo Hopkinson and Robert Boyczuk demonstrate the vitality and eclectic thrust of Canadas brightest and best authors of speculative fiction. A good addition to most sf or short story collections.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.