Our Reviewer, Lorina Stephens, has a mea culpa with a twist. She’s reviewing books in a series out of order, but praising them both highly. Noah Chinn’s series is definitely something that science fiction fans should read. Check out her latest review.
New Book Review
We encourage you to check out the latest review of a Canadian SFF author’s work, by our reviewer, Lorina Stephenson. This time it is a new book by the amazing Premee Mohamed, a writer who continues to deliver top notch fiction.
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Alberta libraries have On Spec!
This is an initiative funded by Alberta Municipal Affairs that’s been going on for a couple of years, so here’s a reminder. If you are an Alberta resident with a library card, you can read several years’ worth of On Spec issues for FREE. Many other fine Alberta magazines are also available for your perusal.
Check this out!
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New book review
We’d love to draw your attention to Lorina Stephens’ newest book review of Noah Chinn’s Lost Cargo.
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More comments on AI
We have stated our policy on the use of AI tools to generate art or fiction or poetry, and we truly hope that nobody successfully pulls the wool over our eyes with submissions of any AI generated “art”. For your reading pleasure, writer Chuck Wendig has a very interesting blog post on the subject [LANGUAGE WARNING]. Take a few minutes to read it through to the end, especially the P.P.S. It’s worth it.
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New Teacher and Librarian Resource Added
In our issue #126, you will find a comprehensive article on the need for Solarpunk literature to ensure our youth can see beyond the dystopias and realize there can be a more optimistic view of the future of our planet.
The author, Jerri Jerreat, has also offered it to us as a new resource for teachers and librarians. Find it on the Teachers and Librarians tab. And please let your teacher and librarian friends know!
Happy New Year from all of us at On Spec!
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Deck those halls!
The amazing people who work to bring On Spec to our readers wish you all a healthy, peaceful and safe holiday season. May you celebrate being together with your families and friends, in person or in spirit. And may we all treasure the memories of those we have lost.
We’ll have more awesome stories and poems and art for you in 2024!
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Still shopping?
We’ve already told you what a good deal On Spec would be for a holiday gift, but in case you are interested in buying a Canadian book for a friend or family member, you should check Lorina’s review of Jann Arden’s The Bittlemores.
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Cranky editors
We are patient to a point. We love people who actually read the guidelines, and we are even rewarding the ones who tell us they’ve read the guidelines.
But when a writer DOESN’T read the guidelines and then tries to squeeze their story or poem in the SUBMISSION INFORMATION box that’s intended for a cover letter, and ignores the obvious place where they can upload their work as an attachment, we get cranky. It’s even in our guidelines in red bold print to make it unavoidable.
If you read the guidelines.
So far, about a dozen poems have been rejected and the writer told to re-submit and do it correctly or their work won’t be considered. And that is only until tomorrow’s deadline. After that, all bets are off, and we will simply decline the submission.
And we also have no patience with the people who ignore the “one at a time” rule and try to attach several poems at once.
Anyhow, for those poets, it’s a harsh lesson to be learned.
Submission guidelines are important.
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‘Tis the Season
How’s the gift-shopping going? There is still time for you to start a friend or family member with a gift subscription to On Spec! Just think– no long lineups and crowds at the mall!
We’ll mail them a copy of our current issue, and for a limited time, they will receive all four issues we publish in 2024 as well. Five copies for the price of four!
You can order with PayPal or e-transfer or pay upon receipt of an invoice from us. Just send us an email with the recipient’s name and mailing information and we will do the rest.
