The Friends of the Merril Collection

SOL Rising
Number 7, May 1991

Collection Receives Reprieve From Ill-Timed Move
Library Report
The Starr Chamber
UFOs Over Canada
Lois McMaster Bujold
The Almost Move: A Chronology Of Events
Northern Lights: Canadian Science Fiction News
Canadian Fiction 1990

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Collection Receives Reprieve From Ill-Timed Move

Over the past several months there has been concern on the part of the Friends of the Merril Collection that the Collection might have its building sold out from underneath it. However, at its meeting of February 25, 1991, Toronto City Council did not approve the sale of the 40 St. George St. property to a non-profit housing corporation but instead recommended that the property be sold to the University of Toronto with the provision that the University allow the Toronto Public Library Board to continue to use the building for the children's library and the research collections until such time as the new building at 239 College St. is complete.

During the last several months, members of the Friends have played significant roles in this latest crisis that threatened the research collections. Members have served on the Building Committee for the long, ten year (so far) process of finding a new home for the Merril Collection and other collections and services of the library which are housed at, 40 St. George St. The Building Committee has been very vocal in its prompting of the TPL Board to take positive action on this issue.

The Executive Committee of the Friends has written letters to all members of the TPL Board and Toronto City Council stating the Friends' position. The Executive Committee has written to members of the Friends keeping them informed of progress on the fight to save the building and asking their assistance. Larry Hancock, Chairman of the Friends, led deputations of members to the Board and to the Executive Committee of City Council.

The Friends of the Merril Collection position was clear from the beginning: any consideration of a sale of 40 St. George St. at this time is inappropriate. The only reason a sale is being considered at all is because the TPL Board will eventually be moving the collections and services currently housed there to a new location. But considerable obstacles still stand in the way of the proposed 239 College. St. site and a move is still a couple of years away (and even longer if still another new site must be found).

The Friends are not opposed to the use of the current library site for non-profit housing. They neither approve nor disapprove of any particular use of the site, once the TPL Board is done with it.

The Friends were also extremely concerned over possible damage to the Collection in such a move and whether the temporary location would allow for public access to the Collection.

For the time being, the crisis is averted and efforts can once again be returned to clearing obstacles to the new site at 239 College St. For more information, a chronology of events is included elsewhere in this issue of Sol Rising.

The Executive Committee would like to extend special thanks to those members of the Friends and other friends who took the time to make telephone calls and write letters In response to our urgent requests. Your efforts did make a difference.

Library Report

by Lorna Toolis, Head Of Collection

Staff News

Nancy Soltys resigned effective April 30, 1991 in order to stay at home with her son, Edward. The position has been posted internally in the Toronto Public Library, as required by TPL's contract and will be filled, probably before the annual general meeting.

Major Acquisitions

Recently, the Merril Collection has acquired two paintings by H. R. Van Dongen and a griffin sketch by Judy King Rienets. One Van Dongen was used as the cover piece for a 1959 issue of Astounding, the other as the cover to the 1977 Ballantine edition of Gordon R. Dickson's Mission to Universe. These will be added to the collection of original art already held, including pieces by Kelly Freas, Vincent di Fate, Grant Canfield, and Ed Emshwiller. The sketch by Judy King Rienets was used in a Cheap Street solstice chapbook, The Arimaspian Legacy by Gene Wolfe.

Periodically Clear

Patrons of the Merril Collection are familiar with the major periodicals in the field and consult them regularly. However, not all patrons are aware that the Merril Collection also subscribes to more specialized materials such as Future Survey, a bibliography of future studies material, Paperback Parade, dealing with popular culture as expressed through paperbacks, with articles for collectors in different areas, Air and Space, the Smithsonian's magazine dealing with aeronautics and the space sciences, Info Journal and The Fortean Times dealing with unexplained phenomena, The Skeptical Inquirer which surveys such phenomena with a jaundiced eye, The Journal of Popular Culture and Million: the Magazine of Popular Fiction, both dealing with popular culture as a whole and sf as a subset of that, Factsheet Five, a bibliography of special interest fanzines in North America, Cattoonist Profile for illustrators, Datazine, a bibliography of amateur fiction set in the various media universes, Time Screen, dealing with British media sf&f. Ask staff for other references.

Volunteers—Disaster Planning

The University of Toronto held a disaster planning workshop on April 5,1991. Loma Toolis attended for the Merril Collection, as the Toronto Public Library is becoming increasingly interested in this kind of planning.

The basic premise for disaster planning is simple: accidents happen. Even when you didn't plan on having something go wrong, the inherent perversity of mechanical objects is such that things go wrong, sometimes catastrophically wrong.

Disaster planning may be broken down into two sections, first those steps that can be taken to prevent disaster, mostly involving regular maintenance and safety checks and secondly, the steps that should be taken when the disaster has already happened. Activity under this heading includes preparing lists of people to notify in case of disaster, complete with telephone numbers, talking to local police and fire officials, arranging for space in an industrial freezer, etc. The emphasis was on planning for water damage; due to a number of disasters in the library community over the last two decades a great deal of experience has been gained in planning for and minimizing damage once it has taken place.

This is where the Friends come in. Staff are in the process of compiling a disaster manual for the Merril Collection. We need to know how many of the Friends will volunteer to come and help us pull water-soaked books out of steaming rubble. There is no danger involved, but it would involve getting a telephone call at some improbable hour of the late night or early morning and coming down to help staff salvage as much of the damaged material as possible. Anyone interested in volunteering should contact Merril Collection staff.

The Starr Chamber

By Jane Starr

Barry Hughart's first comic fantasy, Bridge of Birds (1984), won the World Fantasy Award for best novel. His second novel, The Story of the Stone (1988), also received rave reviews, and now he has produced a third novel, Eight Skilled Gentlemen (1991), and it's just as good.

All three novels are set in "an ancient China that never was," beautifully constructed of myth, folklore, history and imagination. They feature the venerable sage Li Kao (who has a slight flaw in his character) and his assistant, Number Ten Ox, a brawny (but not stupid) young peasant.

In Bridge of Birds Number Ten Ox hires Li Kao to discover the cause of and cure for a mysterious illness that has stricken the children of Ox's village. Master Li diagnoses poison and the only cure is the Great Root of Power, aka the Queen of Ginseng. However, the Queen is in the clutches of the evil Duke of Ch'in and to acquire her they must also solve the puzzle of the Princess of the Birds, enchanted a thousand years before. In their way are monsters, murderers, ghosts, gluttons, swindlers and Lotus Cloud, a girl who mysteriously inspires men to sell everything they have to give her pearls and jade.

The Story of the Stone (1988) sees Master Li and Number Ten Ox off to solve the murder of a monk, the theft of a remarkable document and the unwelcome (to say the least) return of the Laughing Prince (supposedly dead 750 years) and his ghastly Monks of Mirth. The key to the mystery is a stone of immense power, and Li and Ox are accompanied by the brilliant, incredibly handsome and rather promiscuous sound expert, Moon Boy, and by Grief of Dawn, the prostitute who keeps him from getting out of control. The path leads through all nine levels of Hell itself before they uncover the truth.

The Eight Skilled Gentlemen were shamans three thousand years ago. The story opens with an execution disrupted by the arrival of a vampire ghoul, and the phrase "monsters, mandarins and murder" follows Master Li and Ox to the Forbidden City, where someone is trying to hush up the death of a high official. Is the cover-up because the murder was committed by China's greatest living saint, or are the Eight Skilled Gentlemen and their demon servants back? Why are the demons stealing the ancient birdcages that once belonged to the Eight? Li Kao and Ox are helped this time by Yen Shih, a puppeteer, and his shaman daughter Yu Lan, and as usual, nothing is as it first appears.

It is almost hopeless to provide more than the lightest overview of Hughart's plots; they have more twists than a dragon and more memorable characters than there is room to mention. His portrayal of ancient China has a feel or reality that comes from internal consistency and a gift for description. Even when Number Ten Ox, as narrator, is lecturing it does not detract from the story, it adds to the picture of the world. The stories are fast, sly, very funny, occasionally poignant, sometimes gory, and always enthralling. Highly recommended.

Jane Starr is a librarian at the Alberta Agriculture Library and a regular reviewer for SOL RISING.

UFOs Over Canada

By John Robert Colombo

Over the last six months I have met and interviewed four UFO abductees. Perhaps a better way to express what I have been doing is to say that I have quizzed four men and women from Toronto who claim that, as children or as adults, or both in childhood and in adulthood, they have been abducted by aliens, taken aboard their spacecraft, minutely examined, and then returned to earth, strangely and subtly altered. The informants feel that they live "special" lives and remain in some way in one-way contact or two-way communication with alien beings.

What has prompted my investigation is my own curiosity, which is omnivorous at best, coupled with my long-standing wish to study and research and publish a book on the subject of ufology in this country. That book, UFOs over Canada , will be published later this year. It consists of the verbatim accounts of sixty witnesses. Their accounts range from an 18^th-century description of a marine vessel floating through the sky over Minas Basin, N.S., to highly detailed and circumstantial accounts of abductions that occurred last year in Toronto. For instance, one reported abduction took place from the bedroom of an apartment building on Spadina Road about a mile north of Boys and Girls House.

Most science-fiction readers are interested in ufology. It would be reasonable to expect to read a couple of accounts of UFO abductions in the balance of this column. The problem is that these accounts are invariably long and detailed, unlike the short and sketchy descriptions of simple sightings. The average abduction account that will appear in UFOs over Canada is about 3500 words in length. The accounts would be longer but for my desire to keep them of manageable length and readable in a single sitting.

It is quite easy to say that people who report UFO abductions are psychiatric patients who require the professional services of alienists (to employ the turn-of-the-century term for psychiatrists). After all, Budd Hopkins and Whitley Strieber and other proponents of the abduction scenario might well be full of hot air. And Philip J. Klass, the scientifically trained sceptic, might be right on target when he says that this alien abduction business is "a dangerous game".

Yet there is a medical doctor in Toronto who specializes in the treatment of patients who report the distressful symptoms of "anomalous trauma" associated with alien abductions. He publishes a newsletter to keep in contact with medical and paramedical colleagues in the field, including writers on anomalous phenomena like Hilary Evans and even public personalities who promote the notion of "conspiracies" like Stanton Friedman.

It is apparent to me, as it is to the good doctor, that the term "UFO," as expansive as it is, is simply not expansive enough to embrace the full range and depth of "the UFO phenomenon." What seems to be surfacing in the accounts of alleged abductees and in the public appreciation of them is a pattern of anomalistic behaviour in thought, feeling, and action that is consistent with the continuum of psychic episodes through the ages, yet especially characteristic of events and experiences associated with the inauguration of a new era—the feeling of anticipation and fulfillment coupled with the sense of strangeness and estrangement when faced with the deconstruction of a world that once was thought to be wholly ours.

After such thoughts what makes sense? From accounts of abductees, one may turn to experiences of witnesses of simple sightings-and do so with a sigh of relief. Here, from the book, are two accounts of sightings. In the simplest and most basic sense, UFOs are "mystery lights." In these accounts the witnesses describe their thoughts and feelings about lights unexpectedly and perhaps inexplicably observed in the day and night skies over Hamilton and Toronto.

A Platter of Light

Kamala Bhatia is an educator who was born in Bombay, India. From the University of Bombay she holds two bachelors' degrees (both honours) in Mathematics and in French and English. From the University of Punjab she received her master's degree in English and her bachelor's in Education. Thereafter she taught at various schools and served as the principal of the largest municipal girl's highschool in New Delhi.

She was awarded a Fulbright travel grant for 1954-55 to lecture throughout the United States. In 1965 she returned to the United States with her husband, the psychologist Baldev Bhatia. She taught at the State University of New York in Buffalo where she earned her master's and doctor's degrees in Education. The latter degree, awarded in 1970 for a critical study of the communications theory of Marshall McLuhan, was the first doctoral dissertation ever accepted on that subject. When Baldev Bhatia accepted an appointment in Psychology at Mohawk College of Applied Arts and Sciences, they moved to Hamilton, Ontario.

Dr. Bhatia designed and delivered the first course devoted to Multiculturalism ever given at any academic institution. The course, called "Multiculturalism," was introduced in the fall of 1976 at Mohawk College. The Department of the Secretary of State appointed Dr. Bhada the First Visiting Professor of Multiculturalism at any academic institution in 1979 and the appointment was renewed the following year.

Dr. Bhatia, the author of a number of textbooks, wrote the following account on 17 Nov. 1989.

"The long spell of intermittent showers all day was broken; it was about 7:30 p.m. on the 26th of September 1989, in Hamilton, Ontario, that I sat on the balcony of my apartment, after listening to the evening news. I gazed at the still, dark, and cloudless sky, scanning the firmament in vain for the Great Bear, Andromeda, Orion, and the Milky Way, but not even Venus was visible: This had been my favourite evening occupation many times in balmier climes and at lower latitudes.

"All at once, a few moments later, I saw a moving light in the southwest direction. It appeared to be heading in my direction. It proceeded swiftly, and gradually became larger. Apprehensions of a plane crashing on the tree-tops of the escarpment, or on the nearby building, filled my mind, and apparitions of impending disaster momentarily seized me, but no!

"As the flying object came closer, it appeared to be a large silvery bluish plane, as it were, and on closer observation, it was an aerial object in the shape of a very large solid soup plate. It resembled a platter of light. As it moved, it made no sound at all, as a plane would have. The light it emitted was a steady bright glow, and it steered a clear course above the towering oak and maple trees of the conservation area close by.

"It came nearer and nearer, and may have been less than six hundred yards away; it hovered and gradually seemed to stop over the trees, and then... it moved away, backwards, along in the same direction that it had advanced. It receded steadily into the southwest, large and luminous, but becoming smaller and smaller, and less distinct as it vanished slowly from my field of vision into the distant darkness.

"A strange and eerie feeling overcame me. I was dazed, bewildered, wondering, and gazing still, for I hoped the object may perhaps reappear. Was it a vehicle from some other planet? Were there beings like E.T.'s travelling on it?

"Suppose one of the E.T. creatures had landed on my balcony. What would he or she be like? What would I say? What language would I communicate in? Would we use gestures or sign language? But no... there were and are no answers to these questions. The solid, sparkling, luminous object never landed! The E.T. never came! Oh, my disappointment!"

A Strange Phenomenon in the Night Sky

Since time immemorial, man has raised his head to the heavens and described the strange sights he sees there. When man peers into the depth of the night sky, what he describes are strange lights.

"Mystery lights" is the broadest and most inclusive term to use to refer to some of the unexpected illuminations that play or appear to play across the heavens between dusk and dawn. Ben Viccari and his wife Anne experienced the display of such lights from the balcony of their Walmer Road apartment in Toronto.

Were the Viccaris alone in witnessing these four grey-white discs? There are, to date, no other reports of the play of lights in Toronto that night. Perhaps the spectacle was meant for the Viccaris alone.

Ben Viccari, a newspaperman by training, is the managing editor of Canadian Scene. This is a news and information service that takes the form of a biweekly bulletin which appears in fifteen languages and is supplied free of charge to the ethnic media across the country.

What is intriguing about this account is the fact that the play of lights persisted for some time after the Viccaris left the balcony. Had the display been psychic in origin, it is unlikely that the effect would have continued in their absence.

"On Monday, September 10, 1990, shortly after 9:00 p.m., my wife Anne stepped out onto the balcony of our apartment for a breath of air. We face south, toward Lake Ontario, and are located close to Bloor Street and Spadina Avenue. A few minutes after she had gone out she called me to look at a strange phenomenon in the night sky.

"It was already dark, about six days after the full moon, and I don't think the moon had yet risen that evening. It was a clear night of about average temperature for the time of year.

"What I saw were four large discs that l first took to be the terminal points of searchlights, but in an instant I realized that the discs were unconnected to any beams. And the discs were moving too fast to be searchlights. They were moving up and down and sideways and each disc appeared to be spinning on its own axis. The discs were very large and a milky grey-white in colour. At one and the same time they had the appearance of being flimsily opaque but not truly solid.

"The discs continued to move up and down, backwards and forwards ‑ always spinning ‑ and never colliding. It was quite an amazing display of aerobatics. Since nothing further happened, we went inside after about twenty minutes. Then, a short while later, I looked out again to see the discs still moving about. I looked out again a little later and they were gone. Though I kept checking until about 10:00 pm, they didn't reappear.

"Our conclusion was that the discs didn't appear solid enough to be aircraft of any kind, and that reflected light from objects on Earth or Lake Ontario had probably caused the phenomenon. But who can tell?"

John Robert Colombo is compiling two books about the paranormal for publication this year. These are Mackenzie King's Ghost and UFOs over Canada (both Hounslow Press). He is also the editor of The Dictionary of Canadian Quotations (Stoddart) to appear this fall.

Lois McMaster Bujold

By Michael Skeet

The hardest challenge faced by any writer working repeatedly with the same cast of characters is to keep those characters from becoming stale. Many a.series has foundered as its component novels degenerate into boring repetitions of the same characters performing insignificant variations on the same deeds.

Lois McMaster Bujold has been singularly successful at avoiding this fate. Her success, though, comes by dint of hard work: she never loses the strong focus of her stories, and she virtually reinvents her characters for each new book.

All of Bujold's books are set in the same universe. The most important—set aside her Nebula-winning Falling Free—focus on the same person: Piotr Miles Vorkosigan is destined to be one of the most memorable characters in popular fiction. What makes the Miles novels so successful—and such good reading—is more than just clever plotting or even a well-conceived character (though both of these things are nevertheless valid for the Miles books). What makes them work is Bujold's focus—er insistence on detailing for readers the price that must be paid as a character grows—and the way her characters defy not only time but chronology.

What sets Bujold's books apart is that they are written out of chronological sequence. This is what is meant by her characters "defying chronology": Bujold has to treat her continuing cast virtually as new characters in each book, because according to the author these novels are not being written to conform to any grandiose master plan. Bujold has only the sketchiest idea of how her protagonist's life is going to unfold.

This means that she has to take care to ensure that the Miles of The Vor Game (1990) knows less, and is less shaped by life, than the Miles of Brothers In Arms (1989) or "Borders of Infinity" (1987). Although written earlier, the latter two stories feature a Miles in his mid-20s, several years into a career that is just beginning in The Vor Game.

It makes for interesting reading. Bujold's style has clearly matured in The Vor Game and the linking chapters of Borders of Infinity (a "novel" that collects three unrelated Miles novellas, including the title work mentioned earlier). Nevertheless, even in the work written earliest it is possible to discern the differences between the younger and older Miles. The internal witticisms that are so characteristic of Bujold's style are less self-conscious, more shaped by experience in the elder Miles.

Add to her compelling characters Bujold's willingness to turn on its ear the sub-genre in which she works, and her popularity is even easier to understand.

Bujold writes space opera, a type of SF often maligned, especially by those who neither understand nor read it. On the surface, space opera is about heroes and roaming the galaxy. But in Bujold's hands, space opera is not so much about heroes as it is about heroism, and about the price of courage. In focusing on the price paid, Bujold plays on the reader's expectations and turns space opera around on itself.

Take Miles' first appearance. Still arguably the most enjoyable of the Miles novels, The Warrior's Apprentice is on the surface classic space opera. The tale of a young man, frustrated in his search for respect, who leaves home and under another name becomes a powerful leader, at first wouldn't have been out of place coming from Heinlein. But look closer. Miles is hobbled by physical limitations at the start of the novel. By the end…he's still hobbled. No matter how heroic he may believe himself to be, there are some things he can't overcome. And not only does he not excel in the physical side of combat, when he does finally have the opportunity to be a hero in battle, he's felled ‑ not by gunfire, but by a bleeding ulcer. And this happens while he's waiting to leave for combat, before he can even fire a shot.

To make matters even worse, somebody else gets the girl.

On one level, though, Miles' story in The Warrior's Apprentice satisfies all who love a hero. For if Miles has physical limitations, they're more than compensated for by the power of his mind. And the success that he achieves is the success of a young person discovering that opening the mind to its full capacity can be deeply rewarding ‑on a material as well as a spiritual level.

But there is a price to be paid for this. Even given the unusual nature of the protagonist, the Miles stories would be little more than golden-age space opera were it not for the fact that Bujold reminds us at every turn that heroism does not exist in isolation. Miles becomes a hero in The Warrior's Apprentice, but he does so at the expense of friends and family—and himself. People suffer emotional loss and even die as a result of his decisions, and Bujold makes certain that we see the impact this has on a seventeen-year-old.

She also, however, shows us that Miles learns from this. What's more, he takes responsibility for his actions—a process that over the course of these stories evolves into a matter of embracing responsibility.

Most definitions of science fiction eventually reduce down to its being a fiction of ideas. Bujold's work is no exception to this general rule. But what makes Bujold's fiction memorable is that, while it is entertaining us and teaching us about history and social structures, it is also teaching us something of ourselves.

A Lois McMaster Bujold Bibliography

Novels

Shards of Honor, Baen Books, June 1986

The Warriors Apprentice, Baen Books, August 1986

Ethan of Athos, Baen Books, December 1986

Falling Free, Baen Books, April 1988

Borders of Infinity, Baen Books, October 1989

Brothers in Arms, Baen Books, January 1990

The Vor Game, Baen Books, September 1990

Barrayar, Baen Books, forthcoming October 1991

Short fiction

"Barter", Twilight Zone, April 1985

"The Hole Truth", Twilight Zone, December 1986

"Aftermaths", Far Frontiers V, May 1986

"Garage Sale", American Fantasy, Spring 1987

"The Borders of Infinity", Freelancers, September 1987

"The Mountains of Mourning", Analog, May 1989

"Labyrinth", Analog, August 1989

"The Weatherman", Analog. February 1990

Michael Skeet's latest science fiction short story appears in Tessaracts³.

The Almost Move: A Chronology Of Events

The St. George St. Building Committee has been searching for a new home for the research collections, the children's library and an adult circulating library for the last ten years. The acquisition of 239 College St. by the City of Toronto for the library is almost complete, but significant obstacles could still kill this location and send the Building Committee back to square one.

This latest crisis for the Collection was first brought to the attention of the Executive Committee of the Friends by Mr. Chester Gryski, Chairman of the Friends of the Osborne and Lillian H. Smith Collections who received a telephone call from Mr. Les Fowlie, Chief Librarian, inviting him to attend the Toronto Public Library Board meeting of November 28, 1990. At that meeting Mr. Gryski heard Mr. Fowlie report to the Board that discussions were well underway with the City and with Lantana Non-Profit Homes Corporation (representing Metta Housing Co-operatives Inc.) for the sale of the St. George St. building. Several members of the Board raised concerns about the sale and asked Mr. Fowlie to gather further information.

Mr. Gryski contacted various members of the Building Committee and the Friends of the Merril Collection. All agreed that, during the ten year life of the Building Committee and plans for moving the research collections to new premises, this was the first time that these groups had been informed that the current home of the collections might have to be sold prior to moving to new premises.

At this same time, library staff were informed by the Chief Librarian to start planning for a move to a temporary location in early-spring 1991.

The major problem facing the Committee and Friends organizations at this time was a lack of information. Nobody could tell them who had instigated discussions for the sale of the property, nor who had the right to sell the property, or to order a sale of the property. Several weeks and several meetings later, the Friends were able to determine that the TPL Board owns the property, but must have the approval of Toronto City Council to sell any property. In turn, City Council could recommend to the Board that a particular property should be sold to a particular party; the Board would not likely refuse the recommendation, though it could, since the Board's members are appointed by City Council and the large majority of the Board's funding comes from the City.

More importantly, the Friends found it difficult to determine who had instigated discussions for the sale of the property, and what opinions various parties held on the matter. For example, did the TPL Board want to sell the property at this time?

At the December 8, 1990 annual Christmas reception of the Friends, Mr. Larry Hancock, Chairman of the Friends, circulated a letter to those members in attendance in which he asked members to contact the members of the TPL Board in order to support the position of the Friends, that being that the Friends "are totally and unequivocally opposed to any move from St. George St. prior to a move directly to the new building which is currently under discussion". Mr. Hancock contacted as many members of the Board as possible by telephone, and followed this up with copies of the December 8 letter to ensure that the Board was aware of the Friends' position.

On December 11, the Building Committee met to discuss the matter. All members of the Committee agreed that over its ten year existence the Committee had received repeated assurances from the TPL Board and its staff that the collections would remain at 40 St. George St. until the new building was built and ready for occupancy. The Friends' letter of December 8 was read to the Committee and endorsed by them, as were letters and opinions from other Committee members. The Committee expressed several major concerns over a move from St. George St. at this time.

First, there was a concern over possible damage to the research collections. Any move of the collections would result in some damage, though proper care could minimize the damage. Plans had always called for only one move, from St. George St. to permanent new quarters. A move to temporary quarters would be one extra move, and one extra chance for damage. And if further temporary moves became necessary, the problem would be compounded.

Second, no assurances were available that the temporary quarters would allow access by the public to the collections. In fact, no thought had yet been given to where the temporary quarters might be.

Most importantly, serious obstacles still stood in the way of the construction of the new building at 239 College Street. If the sale of 40 St. George St. was completed and then 239 College St. did not go ahead, the collections would find themselves in temporary quarters for an indefinite period of time, with no plans for a permanent home and a very bleak future before them.

The Committee appointed a special delegation which was directed to address the next meeting of the TPL Board and inform the Board of the Committee's recommendation that 40 St. George St. not be sold at this time.

Several members of the Friends and other friends of the collections did indeed contact members of the Board and Ms. Liz Amer, the city Councilor for the Ward in which the Collection is located. As a result of the heightened concern, two meetings were arranged: the Building Committee and Friends organizations were invited to send deputations to the December 12 TPL Board meeting and Councilor Amer invited all concerned parties to a meeting at her office on December 18.

At the TPL Board meeting, even before the deputations from the Building Committee and the Friends organizations had their turns to speak, the TPL Board made it clear to the deputations that the Board's position on the matter was the same as theirs, that the Board's preference was that the collections and services currently housed at 40 St. George St. should be moved directly to a new location, without any interim moves and that any sale of 40 St. George St. to any party must include the provision that the Library would continue to have use of the building until such a move could be made, no matter how long it would take.

Mr. Jack Kirchhoff of The Globe and Mail attended the Board meeting and reported on the issue in the December 14 issue of the newspaper. On December 19, Mr. Hancock wrote to the editors of the newspaper to respond to comments attributed to Councilor Amer in the article, but his letter was not printed.

At the afternoon meeting with Councilor Amer on December 18, it was made clear to the representatives of the Committee and the Friends organizations by Councilor Amer and the representative of Lantana that discussions on the sale of the property had progressed too far to stop and that, due to the fact that Lantana and Metta's government funding depended on demolishing the existing building in the spring of 1991, the collections would have to be moved almost immediately. Councilor Amer also made it clear that, in order for the City to purchase the College St. site, the St. George St. property must be sold first.

The Building Committee met that same evening and heard reports from members who had attended the afternoon meeting. The Building Committee passed a motion urging the TPL Board to reaffirm its position to Toronto City Council and, should it be directed to sell the property, to refuse to do so as it would not be in the best interests of the Board and its mandate. This position was stated to the TPL Board at a special Board meeting in January 1991.

Also at this time, the University of Toronto once again expressed interest in acquiring the St. George St. property. Discussions took place between the University, the staff of the Board and representatives of Lantana to reach an agreement under which the University would acquire the property and Lantana/Metta would acquire another suitable site from the University. unfortunately, these discussions were not successful.

In mid-January, the Friends learned that this matter would be coming before the Executive Committee of City Council on February 18 who would be asked to recommend to City Council that the St. George St. property be sold to Lantana/Metta for non-profit housing purposes.

On February 8, Mr. Hancock wrote to Mayor Art Eggleton and all members of City Council expressing support for the stated position of the TPL Board. At the February 16 reception for Tessaracts³, Mr. Hancock distributed a letter to the members who were present, again requesting their assistance, this time asking them to contact members of City Council.

This item had been allotted one-half hour on the agenda of the Executive Committee, but took almost three hours to resolve. Deputations were heard from both Friends organizations, the TPL Board, Lantana/Metta, the University of Toronto and many other interested parties. Half way through the discussions it became apparent that Councilor Amer and the Lantana representatives had decided that the acquisition of 40 St. George St. was a lost cause and their efforts appeared to be aimed at ensuring that another suitable location could be found for the co-operative.

The University of Toronto reiterated their desire to acquire the property and confirmed that they would reimburse Lantana/ Metta for costs incurred to date and would reach an agreement with the TPL Board allowing the collections to remain where they are until the new building is ready.

The Executive Committee approved a motion recommending to City Council that the TPL Board be asked to negotiate the sale of the property to the University, under the terms stated.

On February 25, City Council debated the item and approved the recommendation of the Executive Committee. However, they expressed concern that the new College St. site might not be the best available for the TPL Board's purposes and requested City staff to return at a later date with a report on possible alternate sites for the proposed new library building. This report has not yet been made to City Council.

In the meantime, the Planning Advisory Committee has recommended to the Land Use Committee that the Committee refuse the TPL Board's request for the new building to exceed current height restrictions. If the Land Use Committee accepts the recommendation, this would effectively kill the new building.

Members of the Friends are currently working with the TPL Board to ensure that this, and future, obstacles are overcome.

Copies of all correspondence referred to in this article are available to member of the Friends upon request.

Northern Lights: Canadian Science Fiction News

Ry Robert J. Sawyer

Canadian works are appearing in record numbers on American lists of the best Science Fiction and Fantasy.

The 1990 Preliminary Nebula Awards Ballot was issued on Sunday, January 6, 1991. There were five Canadian works on it. Far Best Novel, Golden Fleece by Robert J. Sawyer (Questar, with 13 recommendations [and, incidentally, the highest ranked first novel of 1990]) and Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay (Roc, 6 recommendations). For Best Novelette, "Eternity, Baby" by Andrew Weiner (Asimov's, November, 7 recommendations) and "River of the Dying" by Augustine Funnell (Universe 1, 5 recommendations). For Best Short Story, "Wolfrunner" by Mary Choo (Sword & Sorceress VI, 6 recommendations).

The Locus 1990 Recommended Reading List contains the following Canadian works: The Difference Engine by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling, and The Divide by Robert Charles Wilson (SF); Drink Down the Moon and Ghostwood, both by Charles de Lint, and Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay (Fantasy); Dark Matter by Garfield Reeves-Stevens (Horror); Golden Fleece by Robert J. Sawyer (First Novel); and Distant Signals by Andrew Weiner (Short Story Collection).

Science Fiction Chronicle's list of the Best Novels of 1990, as chosen by reviewer Don D'Ammassa, contains the following Canadian works: The Divide by Robert Charles Wilson; Ghostwood by Charles de Lint; Angel of Darkness by de Lint writing as Samuel Kay; Shifter by Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens; and Bloodshift by Garfield Reeves-Stevens.

The May 1991 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction gives reviewer Orson Scott Card's choice of the Best SF Novel of 1990: Golden Fleece by Robert J. Sawyer. The Divide by Robert Charles Wilson was one of three runners-up. Card's pick for the best fantasy novel of the year: The Little Country by Charles de Lint.

Penguin Canada has dropped its much-ballyhooed Canadian SF line, and let editor Laurel Bernard go.

Lynne Armstrong-Jones of London, Ontario, is the author of "N-Sisti's Solutions" and "Vegetable Matter" in the 1990 special short-short issue of Marion Zimmer Bradley's Fantasy Magazine. Her "Warrior's Oath" is in Sword and Sorceress VII. In the spring of 1991, her "The Lesson in the Foothills" was published in Renunciates of Darkover. Two of her poems will appear soon in Weird Tales: "Bewitching Lessons" and "Friday Night!" She has an interview with Robert J. Sawyer coming up in Sidetrekked, the newsletter of SF London.

John Robert Colombo of Toronto is writing the new entry on Canada for Peter Nicholls' revised Science Fiction Encyclopedia.

Last fall, Press Porcépic released Pallahaxi Tide (formerly Rax) by Michael G. Coney of Sidney, B.C., as a mass-market paperback.

Don H. DeBrandt of Vancouver has sold his first novel, Quicksilver, to Del Rey.

Barbara Delaplace of Vancouver has a short story called "Legends Never Die" in The Fantastic Robin Hood edited by Martin Harry Greenberg. It'll be out this summer. She also has "Choices" coming up in Alternate Presidents edited by Mike Resnick and Greenberg, to be published in January 1992. Barb is one of the sysops of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Forum on CompuServe, a commercial computer bulletin board service owned by H&R Block.

Tesseracts³, an anthology of science fiction and fantasy stories by Canadian authors, was released in December 1990 by Press Porcépic. Editors were Candas Jane Dorsey of Edmonton and Gerry Truscott of Victoria. A launch party was held at the Merril Collection on 16 February 1991.

Avon books re-released The Harp of the Grey Rose by Ottawa's Charles de Lint in February. His Spirit Walk—an omnibus of three short sequels to Moonheart—and an original fantasy have sold to Tor. Atheneum brought out his The Dreaming Place, as illustrated by Brian Froud, in hardcover this spring. He was interviewed in the March Locus, which ran a colour picture of him on the cover.

Dave Duncan of Calgary has four new fantasy novels out or just about to be out from Del Rey: Magic Casement (December 1990), Faery Lands Forlorn (April 1991), Perilous Seas (July 1991), and Emperor and Clown (September 1991). He also has an SF novel forthcoming from them: Hero (May 1991). He signed at White Dwarf Books, Vancouver, on March 9.

Donna Farley of Surrey, B.C., has sold "The Passing of the Eclipse" to Universe 2.

Prof. Peter Fitting of the University of Toronto was one of the judges for this year's Philip K. Dick Award (for best novel originally published as a mass-market paperback in 1990).

The Difference Engine, by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling, was published in hardcover by Gollancz (U.K.) in September 1990 and by Bantam Spectra (U.S.) in May 1991. Late last year, Gibson gave a talk about Cyberpunk at the "Mondi Virtuali" conference at the Fortuny Palace and Museum in Venice, Italy. Gibson sold U.K. rights to his Virtual Light for £110,000.

Scroll of Saqqara by Pauline Gedge of Alberta was a Science Fiction Book Club Selection in early 1991.

Phyllis Gotlieb is reviewing SF for The Globe and Mail.

The December Locus featured a profile of Toronto's Guy Gavriel Kay (page 6) and a picture of Judith Merril and her ex-husband Frederik Pohl (page 7). Guy's Tigana was a recent selection of The Science Fiction Book Club, and was the only Canadian title to have a general free mailing from its publisher to all SFWA members in 1990.

Children of the Rainbow by Toronto's Terence M. Green will be a Spring 1992 hardcover from McClelland & Stewart.

Tanya Huff’s next book out is Blood Price from DAW (May). She's sold three more books featuring the same characters. All are contemporary urban fantasies set in Canada. Tanya, Robert J. Sawyer, and Karen Wehrstein read from their novels Blood Price, Golden Fleece, and Lion's Heart at the Spaced Out Library on December 8, 1990.

A volume entitled Science Fiction and Fantasy by Montreal's David Ketterer is forthcoming from Oxford University Press's "Perspectives on Canadian Culture" series.

Shadow's Son by Toronto writers Shirley Meier, S. M. Stirling, and Karen Wehrstein will be released by Baen in November 1991.

Toronto's Judith Merril will be writer-in-residence at the University of Toronto in 1991-92.

Edmonton's Marianne O. Nielsen has a story, "Ice Cold Comfort," in the May 1991 issue of Pulphouse Press's hardback SF magazine.

John Park of Ottawa had a translated version of his "The Software Plague" published in Solaris 91. Jean-Louis Trudel did the translation.

They're old, but I haven't seen them recorded in any other SF bibliography, so I'll mention them here: Gustav A. Richar of Pointe-au-Baril, Ontario, had two SF short stories published in 1989: "The Dictionary" in Dandelion (out of Calgary), Volume 16, Number 1, 1989, and "Spring Fever" in Green's Magazine (out of Regina), Volume XVII, Number 3, 1989.

Photos of science fiction writers by Toronto's Tom Robe are cropping up in Locus and Science Fiction Chronicle with great regularity. The January Locus has his photo of Tanya Huff (page 8); the February Locus has his photo of Charles de Lint (page 9); and the March Locus has his shots of Garfield and Judith Reeves-Stevens, Spider and Jeanne Robinson, and Robert J. Sawyer (page 9). Different photos by Tom of Spider and Jeanne, Gar and Judy, and Rob also appear in the March SF Chronicle (pages 10 and 12).

Starseed by Vancouver's Spider and Jeanne Robinson, the sequel to Stardance is forthcoming from Ace as a hardcover. Spider has sold a sequel to Callahan's Lady to Ace and a short story collection called True Minds to Pulphouse.

John Rose, owner of Toronto's Bakka SF Bookstore, is chairperson of this year's Canadian Booksellers Association convention committee, to be held in Toronto in July.

Michael Rosenberg of Toronto, a member of The Friends of the Merril Collection, has announced a newsletter/journal entitled Computers, Evolution and Society. Subscriptions are $10 for four quarterly issues (cheques payable to Computers, Evolution and Society, 603 Castlefield Avenue, Toronto, M5N 1L9).

Michelle Sagara, manager of Bakka, has sold her first novel, a fantasy, to Del Rey. It's called Into the Dark Lands: The First Book of the Sundered. Michelle and Merril Collection staff members Mary Cannings, Lisa Shirley, and Lorna Toolis were quoted in an article by Henry Mietkiewicz entitled "Star Trends: The Next Generation," about SF readers, in The Toronto Star for Saturday, March 9 (page H1).

In an auction conducted in February by his agent, Richard Curtis, Robert J. Sawyer of Toronto sold two completed novels, Face of God and End of an Era to Ace. Rob gave a reading from his novel Golden Fleece at the main branch of the Richmond Hill Public Library on December 5, 1990, and autographed at Bakka on December 15, 1990. Under the auspices of the Writers Development Trust, he is a writer-in-electronic residence for Wired Writers, an on-line workshop for high school students across Canada administered through Simon Fraser University.

Karl Schroeder will be teaching a course on writing science fiction at George Brown College in Toronto later this year.

Baird Searles, former owner of New York City's Science Fiction Shop, editorial consultant to Warner Books, and book reviewer for Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, now lives in Montreal.

Toronto's S. M. Stirling is writing a collaborative novel with Anne McCaffrey set in the universe of McCaffrey's The Ship Who Sang. He's also got contracts for two more novels, including a fourth Draka book. He wrote the introductions to the stories in The Fantastic Civil War, coming in June. Also in June, a collaboration between Stirling and Jerry Pournelle, Go Tell The Spartans: A Novel of Falkenberg's Legion, will be released. His anthology Power will be published in November. All of Stirling's works are from Baen Books.

Jean-Louis Trudel of Toronto is a regular reviewer for The New York Review of Science Fiction, Solaris, and The Ottawa Citizen, and new co-editor (with Karl Schroeder) of SF Canada, the newsletter of the Speculative Writers Association of Canada.

In September 1990, Andrew Weiner of Toronto sold a short story called "A New Man" to The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. Movie rights to Andrew's 1987 novel Station Gehenna were optioned in January 1991 by Europa Productions in California.

Karen Wehrstein's first novel, Lion's Heart, was released by Baen in March. The sequel, Lion's Soul, will come out in July.

Lyle Weis of Edmonton has sold his first novel, No Problem, We'll Fix It, to General Publishing.

Dr. Allan Weiss of Toronto is teaching a course on Science Fiction at York University. Canadian books on the curriculum: Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, William Gibson's Burning Chrome, and selected stories from the anthology Tesseracts², edited by Phyllis Gotlieb and Douglas Barbour.

In April 1991, Toronto Hydra, an association of Science Fiction professionals, will hold its seventh anniversary meeting. The Hydra mailing list has 46 names currently, and about half of those turn out at any one meeting.

GEnie, the General Electric Network For Information Exchange, a commercial online computer bulletin-board system, has a lively Science Fiction and Fantasy "Roundtable" section. Category 3 of that section, "The Authors," has permanent message topics devoted to several Canadian writers: William Gibson (topic 26), Guy Gavriel Kay (topic 29), Spider Robinson (topic 68), Robert J. Sawyer (topic 8), S. M. Stirling (topic 37), and A. E. van Vogt (topic 9).

Science Fiction and Fantasy writers are well represented in The Writers' Union of Canada, one of the most-effective lobbying groups in the publishing industry. Margaret Atwood, Lesley Choyce, Michael Coney, Candas Jane Dorsey, Wayland Drew, Dave Duncan, Leona Gom, Phyllis Gotlieb, Monica Hughes, Eileen Kernaghan, Alberto Manguel, Alice Major, Judith Merril, Teresa Plowright, Robert Priest, Spider Robinson, Robert J. Sawyer, Robin Skelton, Élisabeth Vonarburg, and Andrew Weiner are all currently members.

Recent Canadian guests on TVOntario's Prisoners of Gravity include Mark Askwith, Leslie Gadallah, Terence M. Green, Tanya Huff, Shirley Meier, Marianne O. Nielsen, Spider and Jeanne Robinson, Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens, Robert J. Sawyer, S. M. Stirling, and Andrew Weiner. The series is produced and directed by Gregg Thurlbeck; hosted and written by Rick Green. The associate producer is Mark Askwith and story editor is Shirley Brady. Executive producer is Daniel Richler.

Canadian Fiction 1990

The following is a listing of the science fiction, fantasy and speculative fiction published by Canadians in 1990. This list has been derived from the nominations list for the 1991 Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy (AURORA) Awards. We welcome any additions or corrections. We welcome all authors, publishers, and other knowledgeable individuals to keep us informed of works in the sf field by all Canadians so that we may publish as complete and comprehensive a list as possible each year.

1990

Novels and collections - English language

Clarke, J. Brian, The Expediter, DAW
de Lint, Charles, The Dreaming Place, Atheneum
de Lint, Charles, Drink Down the Moon, Ace
de Lint, Charles, Ghostwood, Axolotl Press
de Lint, Charles, Philip Josè Farmer's The Dungeon #5: The Hidden City, Bantam Spectra
Côte, Denis, Shooting for the Stars, Black Moss
Dorsey, Candas Jane and Truscott, Gerry (editors), Tesseracts³, Press Porcépic
Duncan, Dave, Magic Casement Del Rey
Duncan, Dave, Strings, Del Rey
Gadallah, Leslie, Cat's Gambit, Del Rey

· Gedge, Pauline, Scrolls of Saqqara, Penguin/Viking

Gibson, William and Sterling, Bruce, The Difference Engine, Gollancz
Gom, Leona, The Y Chromosome, Second Story Press
Huff, Tanya, The Fire's Stone, DAW
Hughes, Monica, Invitation To The Game, Upton Collins
Kay, Guy Gavriel, Tigana, Penguin/Roc
Key, Samuel M., (de Lint, Charles) Angel of Darkness, Jove
loannou, Greg and Missen, Lynne (editors), Shivers: Canadian Tales of the Supernatural, Seal Books
Luiken, Nicole, The Catalyst, Tree Frog Press
Melling, O.R., Falling Out of Time, Penguin
Reeves-Stevens, Garfield, Bloodshift, Popular Library
Reeves-Stevens, Garfield, Dark Matter, Doubleday
Reeves-Stevens, Judy and Garfield, The Chronicles of Galen Sword #1: Shifter, Roc
Reeves-Stevens, Judy and Garfield, Star Trek: Prime Directive, Pocket Books
Robinson, Spider, True Minds, Pulphouse Press
Sawyer, Robert J., Golden Fleece, Warner/Questar
Sernine, Daniel, Argus Steps In, Black Moss, YRL 7
Sernine, Daniel, Scorpion's Treasure, Black Moss, YRL 2

· Semine, Daniel, The Sword of Arhapal, Black Moss, YRL 3

Sernine, Daniel, Those Who Watch Over the Earth, Black Moss, YRL 6
Stirling, S.M., Stone Dogs, Baen Books
Wilson, Robert Charles, The Divide, Doubleday/Foundation

Short work - English language

Anderson, Colleen, "Phoenix Sunset", Tesseracts³, Press Porcépic

· Armstrong-Jones, Lynne, "Commencement", Sword & Sorceress VI

Armstrong-Jones, Lynne, "Just A Touch...", Domains of Darkover, Spring 1990
Armstrong-Jones, Lynne, "N-Sisti's Solutions", Marion Zimmer Bradley's Fantasy Magazine, Summer 1990
Armstrong-Jones, Lynne, "Vegetable Matter", Marion Zimmer Bradley's Fantasy Magazine, Summer 1990
Barclay, Alan, "A Better Weapon", On Spec, Spring 1990
Begamudré, Ven, "Vishnu's Navel", Tesseracts³, Press Porcépic
Bell, Wade, "What Happened To The Girl?", On Spec, Spring 1990
Brysee, Keynyn, "Sea Maiden", On Spec, Winter 1990
Cairo & X, "1990", On Spec, Winter 1990
Choo, Mary, "Wolfrunner", Sword & Sorceress VI
Choyce, Lesley, "Final Instructions", Tesseracts³, Press Porcépic
Clarke, J. Brian, "Return of the Alphanauts", Analog August 1990
Clarke, J. Brian, "Transference", On Spec, Spring 1990
de Lint, Charles, The Fair in Emain Macha, Tor Double
de Lint, Charles, "Freewheeling", Pulphouse, Winter 1990
de Lint, Charles, "Merline Dreams in the Moondream Wood", Pulphouse, Spring 1990
Driedger, Elaine, "The Money Box", Shivers, Seal Books
Doctorow, Cory, "2,000 Year Check-up", On Spec, Winter 1990
Duncan, Dave, "Under Another Moon", Tesseracts³, Press Porcépic
Farley, Donna, "It Must Be Some Place", Catfantastic, DAW
Findlay, Jamie, "Reinach's Watch", On Spec, Spring 1990
Funnell, Augustine, "River of the Dying", Universe 1, Bantam Spectra
Gadallah, Leslie, "Hanging Out in the Third World Laundromat", Tesseracts³, Press Porcépic
Gardner, James Alan, The Children of the Crèche, Writers of the Future, Vol. VI, Bridge Publications
Gardner, James Alan, "Muffin Explains Teleology to the World at Large" On Spec, Spring 1990
Gertz, Christine, "Mother Earth", On Spec, Winter 1990
Gibson, William, "Darwin", Spin, April, 1990
Gibson, William, "Doing Television", Tesseracts³, Press Porchpic
Gom, Leona, "North of Whitehorse Station", Tesseracts³, Press Porcépic

· Gotlieb, Phyllis, "The Other Eye", Tesseracts³, Press Porcépic

· Graves, Kelly, "Against the Dust", Tesseracts³, Press Porcépic

Hargreaves, H.A., "Venerian Vector‑Transit Tales", On Spec, Spring 1990
Henighan, Tom, "She Announces...", Tesseracts³, Press Porcépic
Herbert, Gail, "Under the Elms", Shivers, Seal Books
Hughes, Monica, "And the Lucky Winner Is...". On Spec, Winter 1990
Hughes, Monica, "Sadie's Place". Take Your Knee Off My Heart, Methuen
Hunter, Sandra, "Prevailing Winds". On Spec, Fall 1990
Kochanski, Marissa, "Danvers", On Spec, Winter 1990
Kremberg, Rudy, "The Fighting Spirit", Shivers, Seal Books
Luiken, Nicole, "Upon Waking", On Spec, Winter 1990
MacGregor, Susan, "Mr. Moonlight", On Spec, Fall 1990
Mackay, Scott, "Iserman's Override", Tesseracts³, Press Porcépic
Major, Alice, "Dog's Life", On Spec, Fall 1990
Merkel, Cheryl, "God Rest Ye Merry", On Spec, Fall 1990
Mioduchowska, Anna, "A Matter of Perception", On Spec, Fall 1990
Park, John, "Spring Sunset", On Spec, Spring 1990
Pflug, Ursula, "The Water Man", Tesseracts³, Press Porcépic

· Reeves‑Stevens, Garfield, "August", Shivers, Seal Books

Reeves‑Stevens, Judith and Gar, "CHIPS", Shivers, Seal Books
Richar, Gustav, A., "The Dictionary", Dandelion Vol. 16 No. 1
Richar, Gustav, A., "Spring Fever", Green's Magazine Vol. XVII, No. 3
Robertson, Sandy, "Ed & Marion Go Into Business", On Spec, Fall 1990
Schroeder, Karl, "The Pools of Air", Tesseracts³, Press Porcépic
Sharpe, Susan, "Coals", On Spec, Spring 1990

· Silverman, Leah, "An Alien Sun", Tesseracts³, Press Porcépic

Skeet, Michael, "Breaking Ball", Tesseracts³, Press Porcépic
Tepper, Peter, "Maculate Conception", On Spec, Winter 1990
van Belkom, Edo, "Artistic License", Gent Magazine, July 1990
van Belkom, Edo, "The Basement", On Spec, Fall 1990
van Belkom, Edo, "The Zero‑G Spot", Gent Magazine, November 1990
Voss Peters, Karen, "Lavendar Lady", Shivers, Seal Books
Watts, Peter, "A Niche", Tesseracts³, Press Porcépic
Wehrstein, Karen, "O.R. 3", Shivers, Seal Books
Weiner, Andrew, "Eternity, Baby", Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, November 1990

Novels and collections ‑ French language

Aquin, Emmanuel, Incarnations, Boréal
Bélil, Michel, La Ville Oasis, Logiques
Bergeron, Bertrand, Transits, L'instant même
Bessette, Camille, Le Complice du retour impossibles, Fides
Billon, Pierre, L'Ultime alliance, Seuil
Boucher‑Mativat, La clé mystérieuse, CLF, Papillon 4
Boumeuf, Roland, Mémoires du demi‑jour, L'instant même
Brossard, Jacques, L' Oiseau de feu (2A), Leméac
Chabot, Vincent, Le Mai tre de Chichen Itza, Québec‑Amérique
Champetier, Joël, La Mer au fond du monde, Paulines, Jeunesse‑Pop
Côté, Denis, La Nuit du vampire, La courte échelle
Côté, Denis, Le Retour deslnactifs, Lacourte échelle
Côté, Denis, La Révolte des Inactifs, La courte échelle
Desrochers, Pierre, Le Canissimius, Québec/Amérique
Désy, Jean, La Saga de Freydis Karlsevni, L'Hexagone
Gagnée, Hélène, Le Secret de François, Pierre Tisseyre, Papillon 6
Gagnon, Alain, La Langue des abeilles, JCL
Gauthier, Philippe, L'Héritage de Qader, Paulines, Jeunesse‑Pop
Gévry, Gérard, L'Esprit en fureur, XYZ
Gravel, François, Zamboni, Boréal Jeunesse
Jacob, Louis, Les Temps qui courent, L'Hexagone
Julien, Susanne, Le Moulin Hanté, Pierre Tisseyre 8
Jutesu, Marjolaine, Le Pourvoir d'Oliver, Pierre Tisseyre 7
Kemp, Daniel, La Cité de CET, E=MC²
Lacasse, Lise, La Corde au ventre, Trois
Lauzon, Vincent, Bong! Bong! Bing! Bing!, Héritage
Leboeuf, Gaétan, Le Boudin d'air, Québec/ Amérique
Lévesque, Louise, Les Enfants d'Ydris, Québec/Amérique
Lévesque, Robert, Enigme à Mururoa, Compton
MacKenzie, Nadine, Le Sosie de Nijinsky, Éditions des Plaines
Marillac, Alain, La Nuit des Hougans, HMH Jeunesse
Marillac, Alain, Ovni à Matane, HMH Jeunesse
Massé, Johanne, Le Passé en peril, Paulines (Jeunesse‑Pop)
Paré, Marc‑André, Eclipses, Triptyque
Paré, Marc‑André, Le Mystère des borgs aux orielles vertes, Boréal Jeunesse
Pelletier, Francine, Monsieur Bizarre, Paulines (Jeunesse‑Pop)
Perrot‑Bishop, Annick, Les Maisons de cristal, Logiques
Porée‑Kurrer, Ph., Le Retour de l'orchidée, JCL
Ramsay, Richard, Le Roman de Tristehomme et Esseulée, Québec/Amérique
Robitaille, Louis‑Bertrand, La République de Monte‑Carlo, Denoël
Rochon, Esther, L'Espace du diamant, La pleine lune
Sanschagrin, Joceline, Le Karatéka, La courte échelle
Sernine, Daniel, Nuits blêmes, XYZ (L'Ère nouvelle 6)
Sernine, Daniel, Quatre destins, Paulines (Jeunesse‑Pop)
Somain, Jean‑François, La Nuit du chien loup, Pierre Tisseyre
Thériault, Marie José, Portraits d'Elsa, Quinze
Villeneuve, Jocelyne, Les Friperies, Prise de Parole
Vonarburg, Élisabeth, Histoire de la Princesse et du Dragon, Québec/Amérique

Short work ‑ French language

April, Jean‑Pierre, "Dans la forêt de mes enfances", imagine... 50
Bastien, France, "Ilétait une fois... une planète", RÉAT 6/4
Beaulieu, René, "L'Énergie des esclaves", Solaris 92
Bélil, Michel, "Spectacle pourune disparue", imagine... 50
Bellefeuille, M. de, "Casimir ou le portrait", Stop 118
Ber, André, "L'Oniriscopeo", imagine... 51
Bergeron, Bertrand, "Un analogie de la vie éternelle", Demain l'avenir, Éditions Logiques
Bergeron, Bertrand, "Le Monde aurait un nom", Le Sabord 25
Bergeron, Bertrand, "Failles", Transits, L'instant même
Bergeron, Bertrand, "La Soustraction", Denain l'avenir, Éditions Logiques
Bertrand, Charles, "Le Rituel du silence" Solaris 89
Bouchard, Guy, "L'Initiation", imagine... 50
Bouchard, Guy, "La Reproductrice", imagine... 52
Campeau, Éric, "Dans l'air du temps", Stop 115
Caron, Danièle, "Les Graves bleus", L'Écrit primal 9
Carpentier, André, "Carnet sur la fin possible d'un monde", L'Année de la Science‑Fiction et du Fantastique Québécois 1989, Le Passeur
Celles, Michel de, "Digamma", Possibles, Vol. 14, No. 4
Celles, Michel de, "Survie", imagine... 51
Celles, Michel de, "Tableaux d'une exposition", XYZ 21
Champetier, Joël, "À fleur de peau", Fusion 6
Champetier, Joël, "Ce que Hercule est allé faire chez Augias et pourquoi il n'y est pas resté", L'Année de la Science‑Fiction et du Fantastique Québécois 1989, Le Passeur
Champetier, Joël, "Coeur de fer", Solaris 93
Chouinard, Claire, "Quand le cristal creuse son ombre". En une ville ouverte, Atelier du Gué/L'instant même
Côté, Harold, "Sens dessus dessous", Solaris 90
Dandurand, Arme, "Libidineuse trinité", Outre Ciels, XYZ
Demers, Sylvie, "Un lendemain de guerre", Stop 117
Déri, Francis et Philippe Gauthier, "L'Être humain est vraiment fantastique", Solaris 89
Des Roches, Roger,"Le vertige des prisons", imagine... 50
Dion, Jean, "La promesse de Tom", imagine... 50
Dussault, Danielle, "Le Silence, là, tout près", En une ville ouverte, Atelier du Gué/L'instant même
Emiroglou, Patrick, "Bye Bye 1999", Elle (Janvier)
Ferguson, Jean, "Le joueur de flûte de Montréal", RÉAT 6/1
Ferguson, Jean, "La Peur" RÉAT 6/2
Frigerio, Victor, "Les Dernière heures (3)", imagine... 51
Frigerio, Victor, "Les Dernière heures (4)", imagine... 52
Frigerio, Victor, "Des brebis et des hommes", Demain l'avenir, Éditions Logiques
Gagnon, Daniel, "Les Avocatiers", Le Sabord 25
Gagnon, Fréderic, "Le Chien d'acier", L'Homme détesté de Dieu, JCL
Gévry, Gérard, "Le Cinq sous", L'Esprit en fureur, XYZ Éditeur
Gévry, Gérard, "Erreur sur la personne" L'Esprit en fureur, XYZ Éditeur
Gévry, Gérard, "Cou de cigogne", L'Esprit en fureur, XYZ Éditeur
Gévry, Gérard, "De l'autre côté", L'Esprit en fureur, XYZ Éditeur
Gévry, Gérard, "L'Esprit en fureur", L'Esprit en fureur, XYZ Éditeur
Girard, Jean Pierre, "Les Marcheurs", Silences
Karch, Pierre, "Le Chien d' Evora", Stop 117
Karch, Pierre, "Le Secret de Bottine" Outre ciels, XYZ Éditeur
Marquis, André, "L'Accroc", Le Sabord 25
Maritneau, Sylvain, "Qui sait?", Solaris 91
Meynard, Yves, "Nausicaä", imagine... 52
Meynard, Yves, "Une princesse de Serendip", Solaris 93
Paré, Marc‑André, "Apparition sur le Ponte Vecchio", Éclipses, Tryptyque
Paré, Marc‑André, "Un voyage chez les Zanthastou", Éclipses, Tryptyque
Park, John, "La peste logiçielle", Solaris 91
Péan, Stanley, "L'Aventure d'un cancrelat", Moebius 44
Péan, Stanley, "Déjà vu", Stop 116
Péan, Stanley, "Mal de mère" Stop 116
Pelletier, Francine, "Cocon en sous‑location", XYZ 22
Pelletier, Francine, "Promenons‑noun dans les bois", Le Sabord 25
Perrot‑Bishop, Annick, "Rêves sur un songe", Le Sabord 26
Pettigrew, Jean, "Derrière les barreaux", Solaris 92
Pettigrew, Jean, "Le Lendemain, on parlera de mort subite", L'Année de la Science Fiction et du Fantastique Québécois 1989, Le Passeur
Pigeon, Daniel, "Le Manteau d'acier", Stop 116
Pontaut, Alain, "L'Or de l'sutomne", L'Homme en fuite
Pontaut, Alain, "Marie des neiges", L'Homme en fuite
Provencher, Marc, "Game over", imagine... 50
Provencher, Marc, "Les Hommes de nuit", Demain l'avenir, Éditions Logiques
Thériault, Marie José, "Histoire de l'oiseau boulbour et du parfumeur juif", XYZ 23
Thérisult, Marie José, "L'Ours Gavamat", Portraits d'Elsa, Quinze
Tremblay, Danielle, "Éva Caron", Stop 117
Tremblay, Mario, "Les Chimères du destin", Stop 116
Trognée, André, "Flash I7", imagine... 52
Vaillancourt, Marc, "Le Pauvre bougre", Stop 118
Vaillancourt, Marc, "Planète avec vue sur Sirius", imagine... 51
Vonarburg, Élisabeth, "Ici, des tigres", Le Sabord 25

ADDITIONS TO 1989 CANADIAN FICTION LIST

The following additions to the Canadian Fiction (1989) list, as published in SOL Rising 6

(November 1990) were obtained from various sources.

Novels and collections - English language

· Choyce, Lesley, The Second Season of Jonas MacPherson, Thistledown Press

Czernecki, Stefan & Rhodes, Timothy, The Time Before Dreams, HYP
Hughes, Monica, The Promise, Stoddart

Short work - English language

Atwood, Margaret, "Homelanding", Elle, (UK edition)
Reeves‑Stevens, Garfield, "Masks", The Further Adventures of the Joker, Bantam
Weis, Lyle, "Riders on the Shore", Amelia Vol. 5 No. 3
Clarke, J. Brian, "Flaw on Serendip", Analog November 1989

ADDITIONS TO 1988 CANADIAN FICTION LIST

The following additions to the Canadian Fiction (1988) list, as published in SOL Rising 3 (June 1989) were obtained from various sources.

Short work - English language

Henighan, Tom, "Paolo to Francesca", Starline, Vol. 11, Jan - Feb 1988

Short work - French language

Rochon, Esther, "Canadola", Trois , Autumn 1989
Trudel, Jean-Louis, "Les Proscrits de Gehenna", Solaris 71

SOL Rising Number 7, May 1991

The Starr Chamber

SOL Rising
Number 7, May 1991