Canadian science fiction
Encyclopedia
A strong element in contemporary Canadian
culture is rich, diverse, thoughtful and witty science fiction
.
under the pseudonym
"Dyjan Fergus." Set in late 20th century Montreal
, it features an "electrical genius": a "learned Chinaman" who woos and wins a Canadian wife through his superior scientific knowledge as embodied in "the Electrical Kiss". It is of interest mainly because of its early publication date and female authorship; a microfiche reprint was issued in 1980.
In 1948, the 6th World Science Fiction Convention
, also called Torcon, was held in Toronto
. Although it was organized by members of a local science fiction fandom
group called "The Derelicts" and chaired by local fan Edward ‘Ned’ McKeown, the Guests of Honor, Robert Bloch
(pro) and Bob Tucker
(fan), were both Americans. Among those in attendance were Forrest J Ackerman
, Bloch, Leslie A. Croutch, E. Everett Evans
, James "Rusty" Hevelin
, David H. Keller
, Judith Merril
, Sam Moskowitz
, Chad Oliver
, George O. Smith
, Will Sykora, Tucker, and Donald Wollheim.
Like many aspects of Canadian culture
, Canadian science fiction emerged from a variety of isolated sources, including A. E. van Vogt
, the fantasy works of John Buchan, the poetry of Phyllis Gotlieb
, and a handful of other writers. In the late 20th century, political upheaval in the United States brought such talents as Spider Robinson
and Judith Merril
to Canada.
In 1973, the World Science Fiction Convention was held again in Toronto
, bringing a new generation of interest to writers like Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens
. This led to a range of activities and interest in the genre. Merril began hosting quarterly gatherings of authors in a loose group called "Toronto Hydra", a tradition she had brought from the New York SF community. In 1977, the Ottawa Science Fiction Society
was founded, providing a venue for writers such as Charles R. Saunders
and Charles de Lint
through their club fanzine Stardock, as well as sponsoring Maplecon in its early years.
In the early 1980s, the Ontario Science Fiction Club was set up by Robert J. Sawyer
, while the Bunch of Seven
became the first known science fiction writing circle in Canada, helping the success of authors like S.M. Stirling and Tanya Huff
, which later led to the Cecil Street Irregulars which included writers like Cory Doctorow
. De Lint, Huff and Guy Gavriel Kay
became notable for using Canadian settings in science fiction and fantasy, and William Gibson
pioneered the cyberpunk
subgenre with his novel Neuromancer
.
In Quebec, Élisabeth Vonarburg
and other authors developed a related tradition of French-Canadian SF. The Prix Boreal was established in 1979 to honour Canadian science fiction works in French. The Aurora Award
s (briefly preceded by the Casper Award) were founded in 1980 to recognize and promote the best works of Canadian science fiction in both French and English.
Regular annual science fiction conventions, notably Ad Astra
, brought fans and writers together to further broaden awareness and appreciation of science fiction literature in Canada.
By the 1990s, Canadian science fiction was well established and internationally recognized; mainstream authors such as Margaret Atwood
began including SF in their repertoire.
SF Canada
, Canada's National Association of Speculative Fiction Professionals, was established in 1992.
, John Clute
, Charles de Lint
, Cory Doctorow
, James Alan Gardner
, William Gibson
, Ed Greenwood
, Tanya Huff
, H.L. Gold, Nalo Hopkinson
, Guy Gavriel Kay
, Judith Merril
, Spider Robinson
, Robert J. Sawyer
, Karl Schroeder
, Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens
and A. E. van Vogt
.
at the CFTO studios in Scarborough. In the early 1990s, Toronto and Vancouver became prominent centres of television and film production, with shows like Forever Knight
and RoboCop
, then The X-Files
raised the profile of Canadian science fiction television much higher, although only Forever Knight was itself set in Canada. By the late 1990s, a significant fraction of science fiction and fantasy on television was produced in Canada. In the early 2000s, due to changes in tax laws, production companies shifted much of their operations from Toronto to Vancouver.
Some of the most popular science fiction movies and TV shows seen around the world are made primarily or entirely in Vancouver
or Toronto
, often called Hollywood North
, or elsewhere in Canada. Quebec
produces shows in French
. Canadian studios also produced a large volume of animation, notably specializing in 3D animation.
Canadian science fiction films of note include:
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
culture is rich, diverse, thoughtful and witty science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
.
History of Canadian science fiction
Possibly the first recorded Canadian work of science fiction is the 1896 Tisab Ting, or, The Electrical Kiss, a pseudonynous first novel by a Ida May Ferguson of New BrunswickNew Brunswick
New Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only province in the federation that is constitutionally bilingual . The provincial capital is Fredericton and Saint John is the most populous city. Greater Moncton is the largest Census Metropolitan Area...
under the pseudonym
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
"Dyjan Fergus." Set in late 20th century Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, it features an "electrical genius": a "learned Chinaman" who woos and wins a Canadian wife through his superior scientific knowledge as embodied in "the Electrical Kiss". It is of interest mainly because of its early publication date and female authorship; a microfiche reprint was issued in 1980.
In 1948, the 6th World Science Fiction Convention
6th World Science Fiction Convention
The 6th World Science Fiction Convention, also known as Torcon, was held July 3–5, 1948, at RAI Purdy Studios in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was the first time the convention was held outside the United States....
, also called Torcon, was held in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
. Although it was organized by members of a local science fiction fandom
Science fiction fandom
Science fiction fandom or SF fandom is a community or "fandom" of people actively interested in science fiction and fantasy and in contact with one another based upon that interest...
group called "The Derelicts" and chaired by local fan Edward ‘Ned’ McKeown, the Guests of Honor, Robert Bloch
Robert Bloch
Robert Albert Bloch was a prolific American writer, primarily of crime, horror and science fiction. He is best known as the writer of Psycho, the basis for the film of the same name by Alfred Hitchcock...
(pro) and Bob Tucker
Wilson Tucker
Arthur Wilson "Bob" Tucker was an American mystery, action adventure, and science fiction writer, who wrote professionally as Wilson Tucker....
(fan), were both Americans. Among those in attendance were Forrest J Ackerman
Forrest J Ackerman
Forrest J Ackerman was an American collector of science fiction books and movie memorabilia and a science fiction fan...
, Bloch, Leslie A. Croutch, E. Everett Evans
E. Everett Evans
Edward Everett Evans was an American science fiction author and fan.His works included the novels Man of Many Minds , The Planet Mappers , Alien Minds , and the posthumously-published collaboration with E. E. "Doc" Smith Masters of Space ; and the collection Food for Demons...
, James "Rusty" Hevelin
Rusty Hevelin
James "Rusty" Hevelin is a science fiction fan, fanzine publisher, collector and huckster. He has been an active member of the science fiction community since the 1930s, publishing his own fanzines such as H-1661, as well as contributing to many others. He has been Fan Guest of Honor and...
, David H. Keller
David H. Keller
David H. Keller was a writer for pulp magazines in the mid-twentieth century who wrote science fiction, fantasy and horror. He was the first psychiatrist to write for the genre, and was most often published as David H...
, Judith Merril
Judith Merril
Judith Josephine Grossman , who took the pen-name Judith Merril about 1945, was an American and then Canadian science fiction writer, editor and political activist....
, Sam Moskowitz
Sam Moskowitz
Sam Moskowitz was an early fan and organizer of interest in science fiction and, later, a writer, critic, and historian of the field.-Biography:...
, Chad Oliver
Chad Oliver
Symmes Chadwick Oliver was an American science fiction and Western writer and chair of the Department of Anthropology at the University of Texas at Austin...
, George O. Smith
George O. Smith
George Oliver Smith was an American science fiction author. He is not to be confused with George H. Smith, another American science fiction author.-Biography:...
, Will Sykora, Tucker, and Donald Wollheim.
Like many aspects of Canadian culture
Culture of Canada
Canadian culture is a term that explains the artistic, musical, literary, culinary, political and social elements that are representative of Canada and Canadians, not only to its own population, but people all over the world. Canada's culture has historically been influenced by European culture and...
, Canadian science fiction emerged from a variety of isolated sources, including A. E. van Vogt
A. E. van Vogt
Alfred Elton van Vogt was a Canadian-born science fiction author regarded by some as one of the most popular and complex science fiction writers of the mid-twentieth century: the "Golden Age" of the genre....
, the fantasy works of John Buchan, the poetry of Phyllis Gotlieb
Phyllis Gotlieb
Phyllis Fay Gotlieb, née Bloom BA, MA was a Canadian science fiction novelist and poet.Born of Jewish heritage in Toronto, Gotlieb graduated from the University of Toronto with degrees in literature in 1948 and 1950 .The Sunburst Award is named for her first novel, Sunburst...
, and a handful of other writers. In the late 20th century, political upheaval in the United States brought such talents as Spider Robinson
Spider Robinson
Spider Robinson is an American-born Canadian Hugo and Nebula award winning science fiction author.- Biography :Born in the Bronx, New York City, Robinson attended Catholic high school, spending his junior year in a seminary, followed by two years in a Catholic college, and five years at the State...
and Judith Merril
Judith Merril
Judith Josephine Grossman , who took the pen-name Judith Merril about 1945, was an American and then Canadian science fiction writer, editor and political activist....
to Canada.
In 1973, the World Science Fiction Convention was held again in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, bringing a new generation of interest to writers like Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens
Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens
Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens are a prolific husband and wife writing team, known mainly for their involvement with the Star Trek franchise. They have written several books both within and outside of Star Trek, and acted as executive story editors and co-producers on the fourth season of the...
. This led to a range of activities and interest in the genre. Merril began hosting quarterly gatherings of authors in a loose group called "Toronto Hydra", a tradition she had brought from the New York SF community. In 1977, the Ottawa Science Fiction Society
Ottawa Science Fiction Society
The Ottawa Science Fiction Society, Inc., or OSFS is a membership fan club in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Itis the oldest continuously operating science fiction club in Ontario.-Current activities:...
was founded, providing a venue for writers such as Charles R. Saunders
Charles R. Saunders
Charles R. Saunders also credited as Charles Saunders is an African American author and journalist currently living in Canada. During his long career, he has written everything from novels both fiction and non-fiction, to screenplays and radio plays.- Background :Saunders was born in Elizabeth,...
and Charles de Lint
Charles de Lint
Charles de Lint is a Canadian fantasy author and folk musician. He is also the chief book critic for The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction....
through their club fanzine Stardock, as well as sponsoring Maplecon in its early years.
In the early 1980s, the Ontario Science Fiction Club was set up by Robert J. Sawyer
Robert J. Sawyer
Robert James Sawyer is a Canadian science fiction writer. He has had 20 novels published, and his short fiction has appeared in Analog Science Fiction and Fact, Amazing Stories, On Spec, Nature, and many anthologies. Sawyer has won over forty awards for his fiction, including the Nebula Award ,...
, while the Bunch of Seven
Bunch of Seven
The Bunch of Seven is a group of science fiction and fantasy writers who met regularly in Toronto from March 28, 1985 until the early 90s to mutually critique manuscripts with the intention of helping each other turn professional—a goal in which several members succeeded.The group's founders were...
became the first known science fiction writing circle in Canada, helping the success of authors like S.M. Stirling and Tanya Huff
Tanya Huff
Tanya Sue Huff is a Canadian fantasy author. Her stories have been published since the late 1980s, including five fantasy series and one science-fiction series. One of these, her Blood Books series, featuring detective Vicki Nelson, was adapted for television under the title Blood...
, which later led to the Cecil Street Irregulars which included writers like Cory Doctorow
Cory Doctorow
Cory Efram Doctorow is a Canadian-British blogger, journalist, and science fiction author who serves as co-editor of the blog Boing Boing. He is an activist in favour of liberalising copyright laws and a proponent of the Creative Commons organization, using some of their licences for his books...
. De Lint, Huff and Guy Gavriel Kay
Guy Gavriel Kay
Guy Gavriel Kay is a Canadian author of fantasy fiction. Many of his novels are set in fictional realms that resemble real places during real historical periods, such as Constantinople during the reign of Justinian I or Spain during the time of El Cid...
became notable for using Canadian settings in science fiction and fantasy, and William Gibson
William Gibson
William Gibson is an American-Canadian science fiction author.William Gibson may also refer to:-Association football:*Will Gibson , Scottish footballer...
pioneered the cyberpunk
Cyberpunk
Cyberpunk is a postmodern and science fiction genre noted for its focus on "high tech and low life." The name is a portmanteau of cybernetics and punk, and was originally coined by Bruce Bethke as the title of his short story "Cyberpunk," published in 1983...
subgenre with his novel Neuromancer
Neuromancer
Neuromancer is a 1984 novel by William Gibson, a seminal work in the cyberpunk genre and the first winner of the science-fiction "triple crown" — the Nebula Award, the Philip K. Dick Award, and the Hugo Award. It was Gibson's debut novel and the beginning of the Sprawl trilogy...
.
In Quebec, Élisabeth Vonarburg
Élisabeth Vonarburg
Élisabeth Vonarburg is a science fiction writer. She was born in Paris and has lived in Chicoutimi , Quebec, Canada since 1973....
and other authors developed a related tradition of French-Canadian SF. The Prix Boreal was established in 1979 to honour Canadian science fiction works in French. The Aurora Award
Aurora Award
The Prix Aurora Awards are given out annually for the best Canadian science fiction and fantasy literary works, artworks, fan activities from that year, and are awarded in both English and French...
s (briefly preceded by the Casper Award) were founded in 1980 to recognize and promote the best works of Canadian science fiction in both French and English.
Regular annual science fiction conventions, notably Ad Astra
Ad Astra (convention)
Ad Astra is an annual science fiction and fantasy convention in Toronto. Major events of the convention include the Masquerade, Guest of Honour presentations, panel discussions, Art Show, and Dealer's Room, as well as a wide variety of privately-run room parties...
, brought fans and writers together to further broaden awareness and appreciation of science fiction literature in Canada.
By the 1990s, Canadian science fiction was well established and internationally recognized; mainstream authors such as Margaret Atwood
Margaret Atwood
Margaret Eleanor Atwood, is a Canadian poet, novelist, literary critic, essayist, and environmental activist. She is among the most-honoured authors of fiction in recent history; she is a winner of the Arthur C...
began including SF in their repertoire.
SF Canada
SF Canada
SF Canada was founded as an authors collective circa 1989 under the title Canada’s National Association of Speculative Fiction Professionals. Several Canadian science fiction authors have made public claim to be “founding members” of the organization, notably Phyllis Gotlieb, Candas Jane Dorsey,...
, Canada's National Association of Speculative Fiction Professionals, was established in 1992.
Canadian science fiction authors
Some of the most famous Canadian writers of science fiction include Margaret AtwoodMargaret Atwood
Margaret Eleanor Atwood, is a Canadian poet, novelist, literary critic, essayist, and environmental activist. She is among the most-honoured authors of fiction in recent history; she is a winner of the Arthur C...
, John Clute
John Clute
John Frederick Clute is a Canadian born author and critic who has lived in Britain since 1969. He has been described as "an integral part of science fiction's history."...
, Charles de Lint
Charles de Lint
Charles de Lint is a Canadian fantasy author and folk musician. He is also the chief book critic for The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction....
, Cory Doctorow
Cory Doctorow
Cory Efram Doctorow is a Canadian-British blogger, journalist, and science fiction author who serves as co-editor of the blog Boing Boing. He is an activist in favour of liberalising copyright laws and a proponent of the Creative Commons organization, using some of their licences for his books...
, James Alan Gardner
James Alan Gardner
James Alan Gardner is a Canadian science fiction author.Raised in Simcoe and Bradford, Ontario, he earned Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Applied Mathematics from the University of Waterloo....
, William Gibson
William Gibson
William Gibson is an American-Canadian science fiction author.William Gibson may also refer to:-Association football:*Will Gibson , Scottish footballer...
, Ed Greenwood
Ed Greenwood
Ed Greenwood is a Canadian writer and editor who created the Forgotten Realms. He invented the Forgotten Realms as a child, as a fantasy world in which to set the stories he imagined, and later used this world as a campaign setting for his own personal Dungeons & Dragons playing group...
, Tanya Huff
Tanya Huff
Tanya Sue Huff is a Canadian fantasy author. Her stories have been published since the late 1980s, including five fantasy series and one science-fiction series. One of these, her Blood Books series, featuring detective Vicki Nelson, was adapted for television under the title Blood...
, H.L. Gold, Nalo Hopkinson
Nalo Hopkinson
Nalo Hopkinson is a Jamaican science fiction and fantasy writer and editor who lives in Canada. Her novels and short stories such as those in her collection Skin Folk often draw on Caribbean history and language, and its traditions of oral and written storytelling.Hopkinson has...
, Guy Gavriel Kay
Guy Gavriel Kay
Guy Gavriel Kay is a Canadian author of fantasy fiction. Many of his novels are set in fictional realms that resemble real places during real historical periods, such as Constantinople during the reign of Justinian I or Spain during the time of El Cid...
, Judith Merril
Judith Merril
Judith Josephine Grossman , who took the pen-name Judith Merril about 1945, was an American and then Canadian science fiction writer, editor and political activist....
, Spider Robinson
Spider Robinson
Spider Robinson is an American-born Canadian Hugo and Nebula award winning science fiction author.- Biography :Born in the Bronx, New York City, Robinson attended Catholic high school, spending his junior year in a seminary, followed by two years in a Catholic college, and five years at the State...
, Robert J. Sawyer
Robert J. Sawyer
Robert James Sawyer is a Canadian science fiction writer. He has had 20 novels published, and his short fiction has appeared in Analog Science Fiction and Fact, Amazing Stories, On Spec, Nature, and many anthologies. Sawyer has won over forty awards for his fiction, including the Nebula Award ,...
, Karl Schroeder
Karl Schroeder
Karl Schroeder is an award-winning Canadian science fiction author. His novels present far-future speculations on topics such as nanotechnology, terraforming, augmented reality and interstellar travel, and have a deeply philosophical streak...
, Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens
Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens
Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens are a prolific husband and wife writing team, known mainly for their involvement with the Star Trek franchise. They have written several books both within and outside of Star Trek, and acted as executive story editors and co-producers on the fourth season of the...
and A. E. van Vogt
A. E. van Vogt
Alfred Elton van Vogt was a Canadian-born science fiction author regarded by some as one of the most popular and complex science fiction writers of the mid-twentieth century: the "Golden Age" of the genre....
.
Canadian science fiction in film and television
The Canadian Broadcasting Company began producing science fiction as early as the 1950s. CTV produced The StarlostThe Starlost
The Starlost is a Canadian-produced science fiction television series devised by writer Harlan Ellison and broadcast in 1973 on CTV in Canada and syndicated to local stations in the United States. The show's setting is a huge generational colony spacecraft called The Ark, which has gone off-course...
at the CFTO studios in Scarborough. In the early 1990s, Toronto and Vancouver became prominent centres of television and film production, with shows like Forever Knight
Forever Knight
Forever Knight was a Canadian television series about Nick Knight, an 800-year-old vampire working as a police detective in modern day Toronto. Wracked with guilt for centuries of killing others, he seeks redemption by working as a homicide detective on the night shift while struggling to find a...
and RoboCop
RoboCop
RoboCop is a 1987 American science fiction-action film directed by Paul Verhoeven. Set in a crime-ridden Detroit, Michigan in the near future, RoboCop centers on a police officer who is brutally murdered and subsequently re-created as a super-human cyborg known as "RoboCop"...
, then The X-Files
The X-Files
The X-Files is an American science fiction television series and a part of The X-Files franchise, created by screenwriter Chris Carter. The program originally aired from to . The show was a hit for the Fox network, and its characters and slogans became popular culture touchstones in the 1990s...
raised the profile of Canadian science fiction television much higher, although only Forever Knight was itself set in Canada. By the late 1990s, a significant fraction of science fiction and fantasy on television was produced in Canada. In the early 2000s, due to changes in tax laws, production companies shifted much of their operations from Toronto to Vancouver.
Some of the most popular science fiction movies and TV shows seen around the world are made primarily or entirely in Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
or Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, often called Hollywood North
Hollywood North
Hollywood North, an allusion to Hollywood, Los Angeles, United States, a notable film centre in the world, is a colloquialism used to describe film production industries and or film locations north of its namesake...
, or elsewhere in Canada. Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
produces shows in French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
. Canadian studios also produced a large volume of animation, notably specializing in 3D animation.
Canadian science fiction films of note include:
- eXistenZEXistenZeXistenZ is a 1999 body horror/science fiction film by Canadian director David Cronenberg. It stars Jennifer Jason Leigh and Jude Law....
- CubeCube (film)Cube is a 1997 Canadian science fiction psychological thriller/horror film directed by Vincenzo Natali. The film was a successful product of the Canadian Film Centre's First Feature Project....
- NothingNothing (film)Nothing is a 2003 Canadian film, directed by Vincenzo Natali. It stars David Hewlett and Andrew Miller.-Plot:The film tells the story of two good friends and housemates, Andrew , an agoraphobic travel agent who works from his home, and Dave , a loser who works in an office where he is treated with...
- Johnny MnemonicJohnny Mnemonic (film)Johnny Mnemonic is a 1995 cyberpunk film, loosely based on the short story "Johnny Mnemonic" by William Gibson. The title character, a man with a cybernetic brain implant designed to store information, is played by Keanu Reeves. The film portrays Gibson's dystopian view of the future with the world...
- ScannersScannersScanners is a 1981 science-fiction horror film written and directed by David Cronenberg and starring Jennifer O'Neill, Stephen Lack, Michael Ironside, and Patrick McGoohan...
- Screamers (1995)
- Last Night
Awards
- Prix Aurora Awards -- Canadian science fiction novels (English and French), administered by the Canadian Science Fiction & Fantasy Association
- Prix Boréal - Canadian science fiction awards for works in French
- Sunburst Award - annual juried award for Canadian speculative fiction novel in two categories: adult and young adult
- Constellation Award - given to actors, writers, and technical artists for excellence in science fiction film and television, as selected by the Canadian viewing public
External links
- SF Canada, Canada's national association of SF professionals
- Made in Canada comprehensive website about Canadian science fiction (No longer updated)
- Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy at the Library and Archives of Canada site
- SF Site - world-renowned resource on science fiction literature (based in Ottawa)
- The Merril Collection of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Speculation - major science fiction library collection, part of the Toronto Public Library system