Northern Suns: The New Anthology of Canadian Science Fiction

by David G. Hartwell (Editor), Glenn Grant (Editor)

A surprising cast of contributors graces this fascinating collection of scifi stories, including Margaret Atwood, Robertson Davis, W. P. Kinsella, Geoff Ryman, John Clute, Scott Mackay, and Nancy Kilpatrick, among others. Reprint.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Canada, Anthologies

384 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

David Geddes Hartwell was an American editor of science fiction and fantasy. He worked for Signet (1971-1973), Berkley Putnam (1973-1978), Pocket (where he founded the Timescape imprint, 1978-1983, and created the Pocket Books Star Trek publishing line), and Tor (where he spearheaded Tor's Canadian publishing initiative, and was also influential in bringing many Australian writers to the US market, 1984-date), and has published numerous anthologies. He chaired the board of directors of the World Fantasy Convention and, with Gordon Van Gelder, was the administrator of the Philip K. Dick Award. He held a Ph.D. in comparative medieval literature.

He lived in Pleasantville, New York with his wife Kathryn Cramer and their two children.

Reviews

[Rena Sherwood · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the sequel, of sorts, to an earlier anthology of Canadian writers called Northern Stars.
Writers who had been born outside of Canada but immigrated there were also classified as Canadian, as well as Canadian born writers who moved to other countries.

This is better than the usual sci-fi anthology, with a couple of outstanding works like"Halo", "Fan" and "Craphound." It also has some clunkers, especially the final selection, a forgettable essay. If you can overlook many of the stories being set in what is now the past, then this was overall a good read.

Selections:

* "Introduction: Another Music in a Different Kitchen" by Glenn Grant. Has some silly metaphors, but an interesting look at the history of Canadian science fiction, which was remarkably different from other countries.
* "Freeforall" by Margaret Atwood. The story is set on June 14, 2026 -- less than a year away, and so far, nothing like this has happened in Canada. Decent short story, told from the point of view of an eighty year old matriarch of Canada.
* "Divisions" by Eric Choi. Quickly moving alternative history story about Canada and Quebec separating into two different countries. The key problem in the separation negotiations? Satellite usage. Very sad to see that Choi thought the country could separate so swiftly, when the UK took years to get out of the EU.
* "The Eighth Register" by Alain Bergeron. Translated from the French by Howard Scott. Something must have been lost in translation, because this was an extremely difficult alternative history story, where the Roman Empire still was trucking along in the 21st Century. I still can't figure out what some of the slang meant, especially "historicographs".
* "Doing Time" by Robert Boyczuk. A vampire story, only the vampire can feed at the moment his victim has an orgasm. Jesus Christ.
* "The Fragrance of Orchids" by Sally McBride. A love gone wrong story about an alien and a human set mainly in 2023. (Oops.) Unfortunately for me, the alien looks like a dog, and even has a dog as a pet, so this was upsetting. There is mention of a program to make dogs smarter than a five year old human child. Newsflash, McBride -- ALL dogs are smarter than five year olds. Smarter than 65 year olds, even.
* "The Sages of Cassiopiea" by Scott Mackay. Alternative history story wondering what if Tycho Brahe's twin had survived. Unfortunately, this story of a major astronomer is flawed by some puzzling fantasy, which acts without reason.
* "Domestic Slash and Thrust" by Jan Lars Jensen. A designer of an electric knife is trying to make the knife safer, with chilling results. This has appeared in other anthologies and magazines.
* "Halo" by Karl Schroeder. Insanely good hard sci-fi story of a single mom on an off-world colony trying to do the right thing ... and discovering it might be the worst time of her life.
* "A Habit of Waste" by Nalo Hopkinson. There's not many Black writers in sci-fi, let alone Canadian sci-fi. Hopkinson is a Jamacian-born Canadian with real talent. Here, a Black woman who changed her body into a white one sees she might have made a costly mistake. Nice comment of a worker at a food bank looking down her nose at the clients.
* "Things Invisible to See" by W. P. Kinsella. Nice modern urban fantasy that is a more upbeat version of the Pandora myth.
* "The Dummy Ward" by David Nickel. Extremely insightful look at crash test dummies being programmed to think they are human. Notes that only the rich can afford health care -- even emergency care after a car crash.
* "Near Enough to Home" by Michael Skeet. Alternative history about the American Civil War seems to be a sub-genre in itself. Here, a Canadian is caught between the Confederates and the ... Federals. If you can't figure out who the colonel is, you're a moron.
* "Farm Wife" by Nancy Kilpatrick. A farmer and his sister catch a new wasting disease. The farmer's wife has to deal with it. There is a dog, who amazingly is still alive by the story's end.
* "Beyond the Barriers" by Charles Montpetit. Originally published in French. This is a revised version. Unfortunately, the crisis years covered in the story-scipt were more than 20 years ago. I'm not sure that the genetic condition described here is that big of a deal.
* "Bugtown" by Ursula Pflug. Although set in a Canada of the future, it has a timeless appeal. It's called Bugtown because of the cockroaches. Drug addicts try to escape the everyday horrors in various ways.
* "The History of Photography" by Darrel Murphy. Parts in this short story alternate between thd history of photography and the narrators personal life as a photographer. Interesting that he notes a "Crash of '07", which sounded reminiscent of the global recession in '08. He was accurate to predict that film would stop being made by Kodak (although they did start again.) He hints at global catastrophes and mass extinctions, but focuses on just the photography aspect of his life.
* "Craphound" by Cory Doctorow. This is a classic, found in several other anthologies. Aliens come to Earth to find the crap from the time before eBay, where you physically had to go to estate auctions, flea markets, jumble sales and thrift stores to find "treasures".
* "Twilight of the Real" by Wesley Herbert. The introduction, written by Herbert, was so fucked up that I thought, "This story better be worth it." Alas, it was not. It was an uninspured mash of William Gibson and Hunter S. Thompson. Pass.
* "Offer of Immortality" by Robertson Davies. This is a lighthearted spoof of Ye Olde Ghost Story, about a 450 year old Columbian offering immortality of sorts to a retiring college Master.
* "Reve Canadien" by Jean Pierre April. This was originally written in French, and lost a lot in translation. A Canadian working in Cameroon discovers that no one believes Canada exists, because of the work of a witch doctor ... I think. Your guess is as good as mine.
* "Fan" by Geoff Ryman. Great sci-fi is timeless. It not only imagines the future, but makes poignant comments on the past and present. It hurt that I read this 40 years too late. As the title suggests, a 16 year old British girl falls in love with the latest pop star -- an Irish monk.
* "Fables of Transcendence" by John Clute. This is a disappointing essay about sci-fi in general and A. E. Van Vogt in particular. It seems a bit tone-deaf to place this bit of fanboy fluff right after a story warning about the dangers of being a fan.

* Appendix: Canadian SF Awards. Unless you love reading lists of trivia, skip.

[Debbie J]

I tagged Northern Suns as "could not finish" because I only read one story in the book. This anthology proved to be the sole place I was able to find Margaret Atwood's 1985 dystopian tale, “Freeforall.”

As a longtime fan of Ms. Atwood, it pains me to admit I wasn't much impressed by “Freeforall.” Its scant plot seemed perhaps an idea she had decided against developing into a full novel.

During the 1980s, the early years of AIDS awareness and treatment, the uninformed public considered an HIV diagnosis the kickoff for a sped-up countdown to death. At the time, society legally treating STD-sufferers as lepers maybe felt closer to a real threat.

[Diana · Rating 2 out of 5]

Most of these did not resonate with me, bored me, or even disgusted me a bit. A few were nigh unreadable. However, there are one or two gems in here as well. As an American, it’s very possible I am just not the target audience and so I didn’t (or am not capable of) “getting it”.

[Brian Gaston · Rating 4 out of 5]

Northern Stars, the first book, was important to Canadian SF and this book is a worthy follow up. It has many of the top Canadian SF writers writing in their prime.

[Jeanette Greaves · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent collection of Canadian sf.

[Chris Duval · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good anthology of Canadian fiction. I read three of the stories long ago (by Hopkinson, Doctorow and Ryman) and am excluding them from my comments. Of the ones I just read I especially enjoyed Eric Choi's 'Divisions,' an alt-history with a mature view of law, politics and the administration of science; and Karl Schroeder's 'Halo.' Of the more comic stories, Jean Pierre April's Rève Canadien (translated by Howard Scott) was the best. Several other stories would probably be rated just as high by me had I read them in a different mood, or with different or fewer distractions.

[Ursula Pflug · Rating 5 out of 5]

Glenn Grant and David Hartwell did a super job on these anthologies. Many of those included have gone on to do very well north and south of the border. And the launch at the Arts and Letters Club was a swish affair.

[Lauren]

Note to self: contains the Margaret Atwood story "Freeforall."