Tesseracts Nine: New Canadian Speculative Fiction

Douglas Barbour is a professor of English at the University of Alberta.
He is the author of Lyric/anti-lyric : Essays on Contemporary Poetry,
Breath Takes, and Fragmenting Body Etc.

Editors Hopkinson, Ryman, Wilson, and van Beldom have certainly lived up
to the standards of their predecessors in this long-running series of
anthologies of speculative fiction. However one thinks the concept of
nationality plays into or away from writing, the Tesseracts series has
provided both a proving ground and a continuing space for new writing by
Canadians. And it’s always contained a wide range of interesting work.

These latest two editions introduce a group of writers who fit in
perfectly with their better-known compиres. There is a breadth of
imagination, a range of storytelling, from fantasy through magic realism
to the hardest of science fiction, that will excite any reader of these
genres. What really impresses me about both volumes is the general high
quality of all the stories. The editors have done their jobs with care.
But it’s clear that the fame of the series has called out the very
best from its contributors.

So whether Ryman argues against Canadian identity or van Belkom insists
that it is central to the editorial approach of the series, what they do
agree on is how much good stuff they can now find to include in their
volumes. Perhaps Ryman’s conclusion makes the point best: “What
Tesseracts Nine proves is that there is no such things as Canadian
fantasy and science fiction. Which paradoxically, can only make it
better.” Hopkinson does find something specially Canadian in the kind
of humour that plays wildly through so much of the work she likes; but
she concludes that it’s “not monolithic, but as varied as the
writers who create it. What’s important is not the character of
Canadian science fiction. What’s important is that it is.” And that
so much of it is this good. If you like speculative fiction, you’ll
enjoy these two volumes.