ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Materials on Canadian sf

Colombo, John Robert. Years of Light: A Celebration of Leslie A. Croutch. Toronto: Hounslow Press, 1982.: Only book on Canadian sf fandom
Ketterer, David. Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1992. 206 pp. ISBN 0-253-33133-6: Although some critics complained about the number of minor factual errors, a generally good overview of the field.
Northey, Margot. The Haunted Wilderness: The Gothic and Grotesque in Canadian Fiction. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1976.: I am not personally familiar with this book. Comments anyone?
[Weiss, Allan and Hugh Spencer.] Out of This World: Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature Comp. Andrea Paradis. Ottawa: National Library of Canada; Kingston: Quarry Press, 1995.: Contains a number of key essays covering a wide range of Canadian and Quebec sf.

Bell, John and Lesley Choyce. "Introduction" in John Bell and Lesley Choyce (eds.) Visions From the Edge: An Anthology of Atlantic Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Porters Lake, N.S.: Pottersfield Press, 1981.: An important pioneering collection, the introduction remains an influential essay on Canadian contribution to the genre.
Choyce, Lesley. "Introduction" in Lesley Choyce (ed.) Ark of Ice: Canadian Futurefiction Lawrence Town, N.S.: Pottersfield Press, 1992.: Introduction updates comments in Visions From the Edge
Colombo, John Robert "Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy -- Is There Any?" in John Robert Colombo (ed.) Other Canadas. Toronto: McGraw-Hill Ryerson, 1979.: As the first editor to attempt to collect and therefore to define Canadian sf (or the literature of the fantastic as he labelled it), Colombo's overview of Canadian sf to the late 1970s remained the basis of most popular analysis until the mid-1990s. In retrospect, his thematic analysis was tautological in that he chose what to define as Canadian based on the characteristics he then defined as a characteristic theme. In the event, most Canadian sf of the 1980s and 1990s turned out not to fit very well into the categories that he had identified.

Clute, John and Peter Nicholls (eds.). Encylopedia of Science Fiction London: Orbit, 1993. 1370pp ISBN 1-8723-124-4.: Canadian content is well represented in this volume, perhaps because Clute is himself a Canadian, though now living in London. Although a bit dated given the recent explosion of Canadian contributions to the genre, it remains one of the best references available, and a revised edition is eagerly awaited. Also available on CD ROM.
Clute, John and John Grant (eds.) Encyclopedia of Fantasy London: Orbit, 1997. 1076pp.: Companion volume to above, but in many ways an even more ambitious undertaking. . Although written in the standard style encyclopedic style of discrete entries, taken together one sees the evolution of Clute's analytical framework into the literary world's equivalent of unified field theory. Clute's major thrust is to be able to identify the elements that distinguish between formulaic drek and great literature, and in this volume he comes very close to the definitive statement of that theory.
Runté, Robert. ""Science Fiction and Fantasy" Readeršs Encyclopedia of Canadian Writing, William H. New, ed.(in press)
Sawyer, Robert J. "Science Fiction". Canadian Encyclopedia Edmonton: Hurtig, 1988. (p.1956 in the 2nd Edition)

Academic Conference on Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy (1997: Toronto, Ont.) Perspectives on the Canadian Fantastic. Proceedings of the 1997 Academic Conference on Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Allan Weiss, ed. 119pp.

Kulyk, Christine. "...And the Canadian Way?" The Monthly Monthly.: Christine Kulyk's seminal article defining Canadian sf, was widely reprinted in the 1980s, and is still available on-line. Although dated, it is fascinating to observe how closely Kulyk's predictions of what Canadian sf would look like if there were some came to be fulfilled in the Canadian sf explosion of the last two decades.

Colombo, John Robert, et al. CND sf&F. Toronto: Hounslow Press, 1979.: The first significant bibliography of Canadian sf. Critics complained it was too inclusive, counting as Canadian anyone who had (in the words of one reviewer) flew over Canada in a rocket. Nevertheless, remains a useful reference.
Colombo, John Robert. Blackwood's Books: A bibliography devoted to Algernon Blackwood. Toronto: Hounslow Press, 1981.#
Weiss, Allan. The Canadian sf Database. (Unpublished): Weiss has been at work for years on the definitive bibliography of Canadian sf, but it remains in manuscript.

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This page last updated: May 25, 2000