AEscifi.ca The Canadian Science Fiction Review

Always Let Your Dragon Fly First Class

Emryr pinches the boarding pass between her claws. Her ruby nostrils flare, and a wisp of smoke—fortunately not large enough to set off any alarms—emerges from one of them. “Economy? You promised this would be an adventure.”

Original artwork by Ashton Elliot

Featuring:

AE: The Canadian Science Fiction Review is free science fiction from Canadian and under-represented voices. AE is made possible by our donors and volunteers. Read more about us.

Editorial: / Paul Jarvey / Helen Michaud / D.F. McCourt / Matt Moore / J.J.S. Boyce / Bree Main / Erin MacNab / Jonathan Crowe + special help from David Zhang, Dylan Freeman-Grist, and Matt Bin

The Stag

Fiction
BY K.R. Horton

So I won.

Sunstroke

Fiction
BY Mark English

We’d ripped the Mess hall and all the barracks out of Orbital to make our Cathedral. We painted everything sky-blue, and mounted a Megawatt halogen lamp at the apex. Here we tremble, rock, cry, and imagine ourselves back on Earth, blessed under the true light.

Lightning Strikes

Fiction
BY Matthew Claxton

Spread her out on a dissection table, and you’d see the artifice, the strangeness. There’s always been as much of the eldritch as of the scientific in her kind, though her designers would never admit it in a peer-reviewed paper. Her bones are carved from mammoth ivory, those white teeth from the opalized fossil jaws of prehistoric crocodiles. Under that butter-smooth skin, she’s all strength and lurking danger.

Northern Cross

Fiction
BY David Baker

There was no way to tell where it came from. Sometimes the pillars descended from above; sometimes they rose from beneath the earth. They rarely stayed in one place for long. “It isn’t the one,” said Joel.

AE reviews: The Swarm by Frank Schatzing

Reviews
BY Paul Jarvey

What would the sentience of an eternal swarm organism be? Planning to outlive humanity as inexorably and inevitably as the currents of the sea.

AE Reviews Luna: Moon Rising by Ian McDonald

Reviews
BY Kyle Menken

The inevitable adaptation will be game of thrones in space.

extraordinary non-traditional narratives

An Exercise in Telling: Sylvain Neuvel’s Themis Files

Reviews
BY Jonathan Crowe

There are risks to attempting a atypical narrative form .... These books are proof that even in our field, which often disparages style in favour of idea, the execution of that idea—how you tell that tale—does in fact matter.

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When His Hydraulics Failed and Mighty Casey Did Strike Out: Sports Science Fiction

Editorial
BY J.J.S. Boyce

People spend years or decades of their lives, training and hoping for a chance to run a specific distance a few hundredths of a second faster than everyone else, to vault a centimetre or two higher. Is this monumentally impressive or embarassingly trivial? Neither? Both?

Island of Misfit Toys

Fiction
BY C.R. Beideman

Inside a black pantry in the lab among dismal powdered food stuffs, lit only by a red warning light that might never turn green, squatted a trembling human child wrapped in frayed hex-pattern synthetic, oxygen mask covering her gaunt face, who tried not to breathe, which could at any moment force a fit of coughing and give her away.

What Dungeons and Dragons can Teach Us About Storytelling

Editorial
BY Luc Rinaldi

She let out a guttural bellow. Still stunned, the ogre grunted in return. Watching Sylvan attempt to speak, I thought she must be hexed—or just a fool. I began calculating who could get to her first: me, to save her, or the ogre, to turn her into its next meal. But before I could move, I felt a hand on my shoulder, next to the strap of my quiver. “Don’t."

From One, Many; From Many, One

Fiction
BY Matt Moore

In the beginning, when the Creator had flowed His lifeblood into the first Adams, He had decreed that a Victor could only be harmed to create a new Adam. Needlessly killing one wasted His bounty, and needlessly wounding one rendered it an abomination of His perfect image.

Memory and Faded Ink

Fiction
BY B. Morris Allen

“Their memories are their pride,” she said, and kissed me. “I am hoping they will teach that trick to me.” I remembered that later, as I looked around our little mokhoro with its concrete floor and mud walls and absence of Tseleng.

I’m Sorry I Couldn’t Make It True

Fiction
BY Wendy Nikel

The look on his face as he stared down at me left no doubt that he was thinking the same thing. His eyes pleaded with me to just flick the dial, just a tiny bit... so I could make things right. So that we could be together, somehow.

Read more great scifi from the archives

Always Let Your Dragon Fly First Class

Emryr pinches the boarding pass between her claws. Her ruby nostrils flare, and a wisp of smoke—fortunately not large enough to set off any alarms—emerges from one of them. “Economy? You promised this would be an adventure.”

Featuring:

The Stag

Fiction BY K.R. Horton

Sunstroke

Fiction BY Mark English

Lightning Strikes

Fiction BY Matthew Claxton

Northern Cross

Fiction BY David Baker

AE reviews: The Swarm by Frank Schatzing

Reviews BY Paul Jarvey

AE Reviews Luna: Moon Rising by Ian McDonald

Reviews BY Kyle Menken

An Exercise in Telling: Sylvain Neuvel’s Themis Files

Reviews BY Jonathan Crowe

Support AE

When His Hydraulics Failed and Mighty Casey Did Strike Out: Sports Science Fiction

Editorial BY J.J.S. Boyce

Island of Misfit Toys

Fiction BY C.R. Beideman

What Dungeons and Dragons can Teach Us About Storytelling

Editorial BY Luc Rinaldi

From One, Many; From Many, One

Fiction BY Matt Moore

Memory and Faded Ink

Fiction BY B. Morris Allen

I’m Sorry I Couldn’t Make It True

Fiction BY Wendy Nikel

Fiction
BY K.R. Horton

Fiction
BY Mark English

Fiction
BY Matthew Claxton

Fiction
BY David Baker

Reviews
BY Paul Jarvey

Reviews
BY Kyle Menken

Reviews
BY Jonathan Crowe

Editorial
BY J.J.S. Boyce

Fiction
BY C.R. Beideman

Editorial
BY Luc Rinaldi

Fiction
BY Matt Moore

Fiction
BY B. Morris Allen

Fiction
BY Wendy Nikel