Our editor, Lareina Abbott, has a review of a new book. Visit her Review Page to see her comments on The Moon the Sun Forgot by B.J. Wagner, to be released March 4, 2025.

If you are a Canadian writer and you are considering submitting your work to On Spec,  the time is soon running out for this submission period. There’s one week remaining before we close to submissions  of fiction and poetry.

Please don’t wait until midnight January 31st!

If you are a first time submitter and haven’t already got an account on our site, you will first need to send us an email requesting to be added. 

We just received a review of our issue #130, from Victoria Silverwolf of Tangent Online.  Have a look. Dana Vickerson’s story, “Muddy Memories” has been posted on Tangent’s 2024 Recommended Reading List.

On Spec is now open to new submissions of Fiction and Poetry from Canadian writers only. The Submission period will end January 31, 2025.

See our Submissions Page for more details and instructions. The editors are all volunteers, and we cannot promise a quick turnaround for your work, but we will give every submission a fair reading and evaluation.

When we were starting On Spec, back in the pre-email dark ages, all submissions came to us on paper. One of us would visit the post office once a week or so, and empty the box of ten or fifteen thick brown envelopes. Cath, our trusty business manager, would open the envelopes, cover the author identifying details, and ultimately sort all the manuscripts for that quarter into batches to be distributed among the editors for reading and commenting. All the editors at that time were living in or near Edmonton, so it was relatively simple to hand off the completed batches from one editor to another, until all had been read, and we were ready for a face-to-face gathering that was affectionately known as “FIGHT NIGHT”.

Opening a new story was always a bit of a rush. Would I like it, would I be prepared to defend it, or would I immediately know that it simply would never be an On Spec story? And would I know from the very first line that it was a story we absolutely had to buy?

One story we received in 1992  has stuck with me over the years, especially around this season. The opening sentence read:

“There must have been some magic in that old silk hat they found, for when they placed it on his head, he began to curse and growl.”

Thus began the delightfully quirky tale of Jason Kapalka’s “Frosty”. It’s the story of a rather demonic snowman, trying his best to convince the local children that they needed to perform a special “ritchool”, presumably designed to kill their parents and release havoc upon the world. Fortunately, things don’t quite go Frosty’s way, and he meets his end in a similar way to the snowman in the beloved song. The demonic hat meets a sorry fate, I seem to recall, in the mouth of the family dog.

That story even made it into our “First Five Years” anthology, as an editor favourite. We published several of Jason’s other short stories over the early years, and each was a unique bit of fiction. He later went on to a more lucrative career, and his stories remain in our archives. Sadly, we don’t have digital versions of those early issues now, although I suppose it would be possible to do that.

Anyhow, as we go forward into the season, celebrating the Solstice and any of the other many year-end holidays and gatherings, I am reminded of that one magical snowman, whose evil plan for the world was thwarted.

Best wishes of the season to you all!

Diane Walton, Managing Editor, and the entire On Spec team.

Hi to our subscribers and contributors. VOL 34 No 4 -Issue #130 is currently with the designer. December is always such a busy season, with family events taking our time, so we hope that the new issue will be available in digital format by the end of the month, making the content creators eligible for 2024 awards in their respective countries.

A print version of the issue should be ready for our subscribers early in the new year, pending settlement of the Canada Post dispute with its employees.

The issue will have new work from Kevin Cockle, Sarah Totton, Cat Girczyc, and Mike Rimar, to name just a few. We also feature a new translated work in our ongoing story exchange with SOLARIS Magazine. Story by Pascal Raud and Paul Côté, with translation by Margaret Sankey.  Cover by Lynne |Taylor Fahnestalk.

The editors and staff of On Spec wish you all a happy and peaceful holiday season.

We have a couple of offers on the plate. Our member organization the Alberta Magazine Publishers Association (AMPA) is running a special campaign to encourage new subscribers to member magazines, of which On Spec is one. Select any TWO Alberta Magazines and save 50% from the subscription price. 

If you are a current On Spec subscriber, we’d love to keep you, especially if you bring us new readers.  For each new subscriber you bring us, either by gift or recommendation, we will gladly extend your current subscription by one issue. Just tell your friends to mention your name when they subscribe.

We are happy to let you know that VOL 34 No 3 Issue #129 is with the printer. Subscriber copies should be in your hands by early November.

If you aren’t yet a subscriber, begin now and we will send a complimentary digital copy of Issue #128.

Time to remind our readers and followers that a gift subscription to On Spec (before we raise our prices in 2025) makes a very easy holiday gift for friends and family.  We can send the recipient a gift card to let them know of your generosity.