Divine Realms: Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy

Jo-Anne McBride is a renewable resource specialist in Vancouver, B.C.

Various aspects of the spiritual world are dealt with in this excellent
collection of stories, many of which were originally published in ON
SPEC, a Canadian magazine that specializes in speculative writing. Some
stories deal explicitly with issues that might be considered part of the
spiritual realm, such as religious relics and the stigmata of a young
novice nun. One story is an exploration of faith from the viewpoint of a
fighter pilot in the Battle of Britain. In another story, an alien
observes a squabble between religion and science. All the stories are
good, but a few, such as “Body and Blood” by Louise Marley and “In
the Beginning, There was Memory” by Ven Begamudre, are standouts. The
book, however, deserved a much better cover.