Fourth Edition
Edited by Robert Runté

Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens

Tremendously prolific and market driven writers, they produced a significant body of work in Canada before moving to the United States. A review of Nighteyes is available.

Spider Robinson

Hugo and Nebula award winning author Robinson left the U.S. for Nova Scotia in 1973, at age 25, after marrying Canadian dancer, Jeanne. They moved to Vancouver in 1987. Robinson's many books include the indecently popular Callahan' series: ; Callahan's Crosstime Saloon; Callahan's Lady; Callahan's Secret; Callahan's chronicles, Callahan's Touch, Callahan's Legacy, Off the Wall at Callahan's, Time Travelers Strictly Cash and The Lady Slings the Booze; an unrelated collection of tall tales, User Friendly;a number of excellent novels such as Antinomy; Lifehouse, Melancholy Elephants; Mindkiller; Night of Power; Telempath; Time Pressure; and several collaborations with wife Jeanne: Stardance Starmind and Star Dancers.).

Esther Rochon

See francophon authors section.

Leon Rooke

A transplanted American now living in Victoria, Rooke has written a number of very strange books, the most famous of which is Shakespeare's Dog, which won the Govenor General's Award for Literature in 1983. Whether books like The Magician In Love or Fat Woman count as sf is open to debate, but then, one couldn't call them exactly mainstream either. In any event, he has had a number of sf stories published, starting with "Bats" in Tesseracts², and including my personal favorite, "More You May Not Expect From Runté", in Pairie Fire, vol.17, 4, (Winter) 1997.)

Rhea Rose

Has short stories in Tesseracts, Tesseracts², On Spec, and Christmas Forever, (Tor 1993).

Robert Runté, Ph.D.

Co-editor (with Yves Meynard) of Tesseracts⁵; also wrote the overview essay on Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy for Reader's Encyclopedia of Canadian Writing (William New, editor). One of his short stories "The Luck of Charles Harcourt" is available on line.Most Recent NCF Guide 4th edition.

Sean Russell

[Sorry -- computer has eaten this entry -- it is being reconstructed.] The Initiate Brother [1991], Gatherer of Clouds [1992] World Without End [1994] ]

Michelle Sagara

The name Sagara is primarily associated with the Sundered series: Into The Dark Land; Children of the Blood; Lady of Mercy; and Chains of Darkness, Chains of Light. but she has actually continued writing under the name Michelle West (see below). The Sundered series crosses over into the romance genre in places, but is nevertheless a fascinating reworking of the traditional struggle between good and evil. The second volume, Children of the Blood, stands out with a remarkable characterization of child abuse, and elevates the entire series above the routine.

William Sarjeant

See Antony Swithin

Charles Saunders

Ottawa author Saunders has three fantasy novels set in Africa: Imaro; The Quest For Cush: Imaro II; and The Trial of Bohu: Imaro III. Saunders was considerably annoyed when early editions of Imaro carried the caption "The Black Tarzan", since he had set out to write a more historically authentic alternative with which to bury Tarzan and its ilk.

Robert J. Sawyer.

One of the best known and most successful Canadian sf authors, he appears regularly on radio and television, and maintains a truly impressive presence on the web. This high media profile has undoubtedly helped his rise to sf superstar, complete with a trophy case full of Aurora, Hugo, Nebula, and International Awards, and advances routinely in six figures. Sawyer appeals to a mass audience because he is an excellent story teller and provides his readers with some very clever sf concepts. He is an "ideas" man, in the best tradition of hard core science fiction, and he writes for an audience in search of that sense of wonder, not literary pretentions.
Not only has he developed a significant body of work, he has been instrumental in developing the field as a whole. His long running columns in various publications (and now reprinted on his web site) have helped raise the profile of Canadian sf; he has served as both Canadian Regional Director and President of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America; he has always been unstinting in providing advice and help to new writers, and he has used his web, radio, and TV presence to help promote the entire field, not just his own work. Indeed, Sawyer's superb understanding of the media has significantly increase the visibility and respectability of the entire genre in Canada. He also wrote the sf entry in the Canadian Encyclopedia.
Since the complete details of his work and career are available in much greater depth on Sawyer's own web site I will only touch on the highlights here. Born in Ottawa and working as a science writer in Toronto, Sawyer's first big break was publication of his critically acclaimed "Golden Fleece" (originally in Sept. '88 issue of Amazing Stories, magazine, but subsequently published in book form and recently (1999) re-released.) He has never looked back, with 16 successful novels and more on the way. Two of his works are reviewed here: Factoring Humanity and Frameshift My personal favorites, however, remain the Quintaglio Ascension Trilogy: Far-Seer, Fossil Hunter, and Foreigner; though I still retain a special place in my heart for Golden Fleece . In 1997 Sawyer co-edited Tesseracts⁶ with poet and wife, Carolyn Clink. Most Recent: Hybrids (2003 hardcover, Nov 2004 paperback); third book in the Neanderthal Parallax trilogy [Hominids (2002); Humans (2003)]

Karl Schroeder

Aurora Award for Best Short Work in English, 1993 for short story, "The Toy Mill," (with Dave Nickle, in Tesseracts⁴). This was later expanded into the novel, The Claus Effect [Tesseract Books, 1997] (again, with David Nickle). Other stories are found in Tesseracts⁴, Tesseracts⁵, Aboriginal sf, On Spec, and On Spec: The First Five Years {Tesseract Books, 1995). Most Recent: forthcoming from Macmillan's Complete Idiot series is The Complete Idiot's Guide to Writing Science Fiction (with Cory Doctorow).

Daniel Sernine

See francophon authors section.

Mark Shainblum

Co-editor (with John Dupuis) of ArrowDreams (Nuage Editions, 1998), the first Canadian alternate history anthology. Better known, however, as writer and co-creator co-creator (with artist Gabriel Morrissette) of the Angloman, comic strip in Sunday edition of the Montreal Gazette which ran until #139, December 19, 1999. (Reprints are available from Nuage Editions.)

Alison Sinclair

Calgary pathologist Alison Sinclair has four sf books out: Legacies (1995, made Locus' Best of Year List), Blueheart (1996), Cavelcade (1998, shortlisted for the Arthur C. Clarke Award ). Most Recent: Throne Price (forthcoming from Edge sf, 2000, co-authored with Lynda Williams). She is currently working on a 4th solo novel Opel

Guy Sirois

See francophon authors section.

Michael Skeet

A professional journalist and former editor of MLR, one of the better incarnations of Canada's national sf newsletter, he went on to co-edit (with Lorna Toolis) Tesseracts⁴, and served for a time on the Tesseract Books Editorial Board. His own fiction includes "Rain" (in Tesseracts²)

Robin Skelton

Skelton is well known in literary circles as a poet and short story author. Many of his stories, such as "The Man Who Forgot Himself", contain fantasy elements. His first novel, Fires of the Kindred (Tesseract Books), is a shamanistic fantasy.

Arthur G. Slade

Slade was born in 1967 in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan and grew up on a ranch in Cypress Hills. He has three suspense horror novels out for teens from Orca Books Draugr, The Haunting of Drang Island and The Loki Wolf. All three novels are part of Slade's on-going Northern Frights series which incorporate Icelandic/Norse myth into modern settings.

Linda Smith

Alberta writer best known for The Freyan Trilogy, Wind Shifter. [Thistledown Press, 1995]. Sea Change [1999] and The Turning Time [2000] The triology follows the adventures Kerstin Speller, a 16 year old apprentice wizard. Recommended for young adults. Most Recent "Pilgrims at the Well", On Spec magazine, Winter 1999.

Jena Snyder

One of the On Spec editors, and dark fantasy novelist. Her short story, "Love Knot," (in the Spring '99 issue of On Spec)received an honorable mention in the Year's Best Fantasy & Horror

Heather Spears

Author of Moonfall trilogy:. Moonfall, The Children of Atwar, and The Taming.

Norbert Spehner

Founder of Solaris, the first and leading sf magazine in Quebec.

Hugh A. D Spencer

Curator of National Library's Exhibit on Canadian sf and long time sf critic, Hugh has also published short fiction in the Tesseract anthologies, On Spec, and elsewhere. His 1992 short story, "Why I hunt Flying Saucers" was nominated for an Aurora Award. Most Recent: "Strategic Dog Patterning", in Tesseracts⁸

Dale Sproule

Toronto horror author of 30 short stories, including Aurora nominees, "Memory Games", originally published in Tesseracts⁵, and "Fourth Person Singular" from Northern Frights 2 He is also an accomplished sf artist and founding co-editor of Transversions. Between his writing, editing and artwork, he has received 10 Aurora nominations. Most Recent:"When Children Misbehave" Parsec Summer 1999; and "Flushed", Northern Frights 5

Sean Stewart

The critically acclaimed author of Passion Play (Winner 1992 Aurora and Author Ellis Awards), Nobody's Son (Aurora Award, 1993 and Canadian Library Association Award), Resurrection Man, Clouds End, The Night Watch (Nebula and World Fantasy Award finalist, New York Times and San Francisco Chronicle "Best of Year" lists), and Galveston. Critic John Clute recently reviewed Galveston as one of the ten greatest fantasy novels of all time and ranked Sean Stewart as one of the two or three best fantasy authors now active. Sean grew up in Edmonton, Alberta.

Antony Swithin (William Sargeant).

William Sargeant is a professor of geology, winner of prize in geology, and folk musician. His passion for geology started when he saw Rockwell on a map, a lump of rock too small to count as an island or to be claimed by any country. He began to work out an elaborate history for this semi-imaginary place. The Quest for Lyonesse series has eight books including four released in North America: Princes of Sandastre.Fontana, 1990 The Lords of the Stoney Mountains, Fontana, 1991. The Winds of the Wastelands Fontana, 1992, and The Nine Gods of Safaddnª. Fontana, 1993.

S. M. Stirling

A Toronto lawyer, Stirling writes miltaristic sf. His first two novels, Snow Brothers and Marching Through Georgia The latter is an alternate world account of W.W.II. Another Canadian contributor to Larry Niven's universe, he has stories in volumes 2-5 of The Man-Kzin Wars Best known are probably his collarobations with David Drake in The General series: The Forge, The Hammer, The Steel, The Sword, The Chosen, etc, in which a general slowly conquors the world with the aid of a computer.

Peter Such

Former editor of Books in Canada and Associate Dean of Atkinson College (York University), Such studied under both Northrop Frye and Marshall McLuhan. He was a founding member of the Writers Union of Canada, and the founder/publisher of Impulse magazine, and founding VP of Canadian Magazine Publisher's Association. The Oxford Companion to Canadian Literature describes Such as "one of the group that revitalized Canadian Literature in the 1970s" and notes that "...no-one in Canadian Literature is as eclectic as Peter Such." At least part of that range crosses over into sf, including "The Dalai Lama's Pyjamas" in Tesseracts⁵. His fifth novel, Forevering is a near future dyspotia. He is currentlyAssociate Vice President of University College of the Fraser Valley (BC) and working on his sixth novel.

Darko Suvin

Suvin teaches English, Comparative Literature and East Asian Studies at McGill University. He is one of Canada's leading sf critics and one of the founding editors of Science-Fiction Studies. He has written extensively on Russian and socialist sf, utopian sf, and the history of sf. His anthology, Other Worlds, Other Seas: Science-Fiction Stories from Socialist Countries has been widely translated and reprinted.

This page last updated: May 23, 2000

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