Here’s a sneak peek at the new issue’s cover! Fabulous art by Fred Gambino!
Issue #115 coming soon
Our new issue is at the printer! You will see wondrous new fiction from Colleen Anderson, Greg Wilson, Virginia Elizabeth Hayes and others. Poetry from Colleen Anderson and Kim Whysall-Hammond, and a new Bot and cartoon from Lynne Taylor Fahnestalk.
Also featured is a guest editorial by former On Spec Editor Derryl Murphy, inspired by author Alan Dean Foster’s battle with the Mouse over royalties he is owed.
We also have author and artist interviews with Cat McDonald.
Our beautiful cover, soon to be revealed, is a work by Fred Gambino, an artist whose work we came across at the WorldCon art show’s virtual gallery this past summer.
Subscribers, watch your mail for issue #115! Patreon donors and digital subscribers, you will have your copy as soon as we complete the conversion to other formats.
Happy 2021! May good fortune and good health be with us all.
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Connections
Here’s a thought. If you read and enjoy On Spec, and you have a social media account, would you care to take a few minutes to Tweet or post on Facebook something that drew you to On Spec, and what keeps you reading our stories? We’d really appreciate the mention. And your followers will as well.
In fact, if someone subscribes and emails us (onspecmag@gmail.com) your name as their “gateway” to On Spec, we will extend your subscription by a copy for every new subscriber you send our way.
@OnSpecMagazine
FaceBook : Friends of On Spec
Don’t forget that if you give someone a Holiday gift subscription, we will include a complimentary back issue with their first copy, along with a lovely gift card illustrated by Leo and Diane Dillon.
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Interesting reading
Good day! You may think this is odd for us to be promoting another SF magazine, but have you heard of Augur Magazine? It’s an ambitious, Canadian SF Literary digital magazine run by an enthusiastic editorial staff. I’m especially interested by their website, which has a blog where the contributors can talk about topics of interest to them. It’s worth a look and the magazine is worthy of your support.
Next weekend, they are hosting a one day virtual SF convention for a very reasonable price. I’m looking forward to the experience. Give it a look and you may be intrigued enough to sign up.
Stay well, don’t touch your face and remember your mask.
Diane
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Review of Issue #114
Good day everyone!
We are happy to present a review of On Spec VOL 30 No 4, Issue #114 that is available on the web site for the wonderful Amazing Stories. After you read the review, we bet it will be very tempting to order a copy of the issue, so you can see for yourselves!
Just sayin’
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Planning your Holiday Giving yet?
Hello friends of On Spec! We expect many of you are figuring out how to safely face the challenges of holiday shopping for your friends and family. Well, here’s a hint….You can let us do some of the work for you!
A gift subscription to On Spec provides your recipient with several hours of reading enjoyment throughout the year, plus a gift they can re-gift to someone else if they wish. And if you buy a gift sub. for On Spec between now and Christmas, we will include a free back issue along with one of our lovely gift cards designed by the remarkable artist team of Leo and Diane Dillon.
Stay well.
The On Spec Team
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On Spec #114 now available!
We are pleased to announce the publication of On Spec #114, Vol. 30 No 4.
In this issue, you will find stories by Luke Murphy, Joanna Michal Hoyt, Sara C. Walker, James Van Pelt, Stephen Case, Erik Bundy, Gordon Linzner, Ethan S. Rodgers, and Marcelle Dubé. There’s poetry by Josh Pearce, and T.D. Walker, as well as a new cartoon and another creative ‘Bot by Lynne Taylor Fahnestalk. Cat McDonald interviews the cover artist Nikolina Petolas and our featured author, Erik Bundy.
Nikolina Petolas was a particularly delightful artist to work with, and we are thrilled to present her work to a new audience.
Editorial is by Managing Editor, Diane L. Walton, with a few thoughts about putting the magazine together during the pandemic.
After all the reading and proofing before the issue went to press, we still discovered that our usual page of contributor bio information had been neglected. We offer sincere apologies to the authors, and this page will be posted on the website soon.
Stay well and wear your mask!
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On Spec wins an Aurora!
OK, so yesterday, I just gave a totally unprepared speech to thank the Canadian SF&F community for voting On Spec this year’s Aurora Award for Best Related Work!
Many, many thanks to my absolutely fabulous team of editors, designers, social media folks and of course the amazing writers, poets and artists who have sent us their work over the years that On Spec has been in publication. We are proud beyond words to give them a respected showcase for their creations.
My thanks to the great folks on the Aurora committee for organizing everything over the years, and to the fabulous team at When Words Collide who made the online presentation of the Auroras a part of their great virtual convention. It has been a fabulous weekend.
And it goes without saying that we are grateful to the folks who voted for us. The other nominees in our category were equally deserving.
And a special thanks to author Cory Doctorow, a winner of this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award from the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Society. Cory, who has had an amazing writing career, was gracious enough to mention not once, but TWICE, that his first fiction sale was to On Spec.
Just wait until you see the cover and contents in our next issue. It’s with our designer even as I write this.
Live long and prosper,
Diane
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Welcome WWC Attendees!
We would like to welcome the attendees to this year’s When Words Collide to the On Spec Dealer table. Look at the ways you can purchase a subscription or single issue or digital copy of On Spec! And if you want to chat, just send an email to us at onspecmag@gmail.com or leave a note on the Contact Us page of the web site.
If you are a writer, just follow our blog for future announcements of when we open to new submissions.
And enjoy the weekend! These nice folks have been working hard to pull WWC together.
Stay well,
The On Spec Team
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Have you heard of SFCROWSNEST?
Good day! It’s a sunny, August day here in Alberta. Many of us are feeling down because this is the traditional weekend for the Edmonton Folk Music Festival. I used to go off and on over the years, especially when our daughter was young enough to carry along. Haven’t been there recently, because a little upstart convention in Calgary took over the weekend and it was always a toss-up to see what I chose.
But the Folk Festival was always deep in my heart. And I just finished watching a lovely documentary that was created by local filmmakers to celebrate the EFMF and its years of hard work and great music.
And then I checked my email to see the newest newsletter from the British fan site, SFCrowsnest. If you haven’t seen it or subscribed, you are missing something. Over the years, their kind reviewers have been great friends to us at On Spec, but I’m not biased. The site is just that good. So check them out.
Enjoy your August, and keep those masks on. We need to beat this thing.
Stay well,
Diane
