At IntroSPECtion, we recognize that marginalised authors are under-represented in the speculative fiction genres. In this article, we compiled a list that highlights LGBTQ+ Canadian writers that have published books in the speculative fiction genre.
A. M. Dellamonica (they/them)
A.M. Dellamonica‘s first novel, Indigo Springs, won the Sunburst Award for Canadian Literature of the Fantastic. Their fourth, A Daughter of No Nation, won the 2016 Prix Aurora. Alyx Dellamonica has published over forty short stories for Tor.com, Strange Horizons, Lightspeed and numerous print magazines and anthologies. They were the co-editor of Heiresses of Russ 2016. Their most recent works are the solarpunk thrillers Gamechanger and Dealbreaker, written under the pseudonym L.X. Beckett, both of which take place in a near future grappling with the 21st century carbon crisis.
Alyx is married to author Kelly Robson; the two made their outlaw wedding of 1989 legal in 2003, when the Canadian Supreme Court conferred equality on same sex couples.
In Child of a Hidden Sea, twenty-four-year-old Sophie Hansa is in a San Francisco alley trying to save the life of the aunt she has never known. Suddenly, she finds herself flung into the warm and salty waters of an unfamiliar world. Glowing moths fall to the waves around her, and the sleek bodies of unseen fish glide against her submerged ankles.
The world is Stormwrack, a series of island nations with a variety of cultures and economies—and a language different from any Sophie has heard.Sophie doesn’t know it yet, but she has just stepped into the middle of a political firestorm, and a conspiracy that could destroy a world she has just discovered…her world, where everyone seems to know who she is and where she is forbidden to stay.
But Sophie is stubborn and smart, and refuses to be cast adrift by people who don’t know her, yet wish her to be gone. With the help of a sister she has never known, and a ship captain who would rather she had never arrived, she must navigate the shoals of the highly charged politics of Stormwrack, and win the right to decide for herself whether she stays in this wondrous world…or is doomed to exile!
Andrew Wilmot (they/them)
Andrew Wilmot (they/them) is a Toronto-based writer, editor, and painter. They have won awards for screenwriting and short fiction, with credits including myriad online and in-print publications and anthologies. Andrew is also on the editorial advisory board for Poplar Press, the speculative fiction imprint of Wolsak & Wynn, and is co-editor-in-chief of the two-time Ignyte-nominated magazine Anathema: Spec from the Margins. The Death Scene Artist, their debut novel, was released in 2018 under Wolsak & Wynn’s Buckrider Books imprint.
In the speculative horror novel, Withered, a non-binary student named Ellis moves with their mother to the disquieting town of Black Stone after reaching a low point with their mental health, only to find themselves living on the town’s most haunted property, embroiled in a decades-long spectral war. Withered is slated for publication in 2024.
Ashley Shuttleworth (they/them)
Ashley Shuttleworth is a young adult fantasy author with a degree in English literature and a slight obsession with The Legend of Zelda, Kingdom Hearts, and Final Fantasy. They currently live in Ontario, Canada, with their cat named Zack and a growing collection of cosplay swords. You can find them online at AshleyShuttleworth.com.
After thwarting the man behind the gruesome ironborn murderst,—and breaking several fae laws to do so—all Arlo wants is a quiet summer. As the deity of luck’s Hollow Star, capable of bringing about endless possibilities, this shouldn’t be too much to ask, right?
But someone is still trying to summon the mythical Seven Deadly Sins. All signs point to immortal meddling, and if this is the gods’ attempt at returning to the Mortal Realm, it’s Arlo they’re going to use to do it.
In A Cruel and Fated Light, Queen Riadne offers to host Arlo at the Seelie Summer palace and she jumps at the chance. She’ll get to see more of Vehan and Aurelian and perhaps even work out her complicated feelings for the gorgeous ex-Fury, Nausicaä. But no one trusts the infamous Queen of Light, even as Arlo wonders if she’s just been greatly misunderstood.
With the Summer Solstice quickly approaching, everyone expects Riadne to finally challenge the High King for his crown. And as Arlo struggles to get control of her powers and take charge of her destiny, she’ll soon be faced with a choice that won’t only change the fate of the Mortal Realm forever but could condemn it to a cruelty the likes of which the Courts have never known.
C. L. Polk (they/them)
C. L. Polk wrote the Hugo-nominated series The Kingston Cycle, including the WFA winning Witchmark. The Midnight Bargain was a Canada Reads, Nebula, Locus, Ignyte, and WFA finalist. They have worked as a film extra, sold vegetables on the street, and identified exotic insect species for a vast collection of lepidoptera before settling down to write fantasy novels. Polk lives in Calgary, which is on the traditional territories of the Blackfoot Confederacy, the Tsuut’ina, the Îyâxe Nakoda Nations, and the Métis Nation (Region 3). Their upcoming fantastical noir, Even Though I Knew the End is set to release with Tordotcom Publishing in November 2022.
Even Though I Knew the End explores power and love in the supernatural underbelly of 1940’s Chicago, as magical detective Helen Brandt will stop at nothing to ensure a future with the love of her life. Set in the dead of winter in Chicago, an exiled augur who sold her soul to save her brother's life is offered one last job before serving an eternity in hell. When she turns it down, her client sweetens the pot by offering up the one payment she can't resist–the chance to have a future where she grows old with the woman she loves. To succeed, she is given three days to track down the White City Vampire, Chicago's most notorious serial killer. If she fails, only hell and heartbreak await.
E. K. Johnson (she/her)
E. K. Johnston (she/her) is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of over a dozen YA novels, including the L.A. Times Book Prize finalist The Story of Owen and Star Wars: Ahsoka. Her novel A Thousand Nights was shortlisted for The Governor General’s Award. The New York Times called The Story of Owen “a clever first step in the career of a novelist who, like her troubadour heroine, has many more songs to sing” and in its review of Exit, Pursued by a Bear, the Globe & Mail called Johnston “the Meryl Streep of YA,” with “limitless range.” E. K. Johnston lives in southwestern Ontario.
Set on a family-run interstellar freighter called the Harland and a mysterious remote space station, E. K. Johnston’s latest novel, Leatherbound, is a story of survival and self-determination.
Pendt Harland’s family sees her as a waste of food on their long-haul space cruiser when her genes reveal an undesirable mutation. But if she plays her cards right she might have a chance to do much more than survive. During a space-station layover, Pendt escapes and forms a lucky bond with the Brannick twins, the teenage heirs of the powerful family that owns the station. Against all odds, the trio hatches a long-shot scheme to take over the station and thwart the destinies they never wished for.
Emily Victoria (she/her)
Emily Victoria is a Canadian prairie girl who writes young adult science fiction and fantasy. When not wordsmithing, she likes walking her overexcitable dog, drinking far too much tea, and crocheting things she no longer has the space to store. Her librarian degree has allowed her to work at a library and take home far too many books.
Eight years ago, everything changed for Devlin: Her country was attacked. Her father was killed. And her mother became the Whisperer of Aris, the head of the spies, retreating into her position away from everyone… even her daughter.
In Silver in the Mist, Dev joins the spy ranks herself, seeing her mother only when receiving assignments. She wants more, but she understands the peril their country, Aris, is in. The malevolent magic force of The Mists is swallowing Aris’s edges, their country is vulnerable to another attack from their wealthier neighbor, and the magic casters who protect them from both are burning out.
Dev has known strength and survival her whole life, but with a dangerous new assignment of infiltrating the royal court of their neighbor country Cerena to steal the magic they need, she learns that not all that glitters is weak. And not all stories are true.
Jes Battis (they/them)
Jes Battis is the author of the Occult Special Investigator series and Parallel Parks series (as Bailey Cunningham) with Ace. Their first novel, Night Child, was shortlisted for the Sunburst Award. Jes teaches queer and trans studies, medieval literature, and representations of disability/neurodiversity in pop culture at the University of Regina. They split time between the prairies and the west coast.
Arthurian legends are reborn in The Winter Knight, an upbeat queer urban fantasy with a mystery at its heart.
The knights of the round table are alive in Vancouver, but when one winds up dead, it’s clear the familiar stories have taken a left turn. Hildie, a Valkyrie and the investigator assigned to the case, wants to find the killer — and maybe figure her life out while she’s at it. On her short list of suspects is Wayne, an autistic college student and the reincarnation of Sir Gawain, who these days is just trying to survive in a world that wasn’t made for him. After finding himself at the scene of the crime, Wayne is pulled deeper into his medieval family history while trying to navigate a new relationship with the dean’s charming assistant, Burt — who also happens to be a prime murder suspect. To figure out the truth, Wayne and Hildie have to connect with dangerous forces: fallen knights, tricky runesmiths, the Wyrd Sisters of Gastown. And a hungry beast that stalks Wayne’s dreams.
The Winter Knight is a propulsive urban fairy tale and detective story with queer and trans heroes that asks what it means to be a myth, who gets to star in these tales, and ultimately, how we make our stories our own.
Kelly Robson (she/her)
Kelly Robson is a Canadian short fiction writer. Her novelette “A Human Stain” won the 2018 Nebula Award, and her short fiction won the 2022, 2019, and 2016 Aurora Awards. She has also been a finalist for the Hugo, Nebula, World Fantasy, Theodore Sturgeon, Locus, Astounding, Aurora, and Sunburst Awards. Kelly consults as a creative futurist for national and international organizations. Kelly lives in downtown Toronto with her wife, writer A.M. Dellamonica.
In High Times in the Low Parliament Lana Baker is Aldgate’s finest scribe, with a sharp pen and an even sharper wit. Gregarious, charming, and ever so eager to please, she agrees to deliver a message for another lovely scribe in exchange for kisses and ends up getting sent to Low Parliament by a temperamental fairy as a result.
As Lana transcribes the endless circular arguments of Parliament, the debates grow tenser and more desperate. Due to long-standing tradition, a hung vote will cause Parliament to flood and a return to endless war. Lana must rely on an unlikely pair of comrades—Bugbite, the curmudgeonly fairy, and Eloquentia, the bewitching human deputy—to save humanity (and maybe even woo one or two lucky ladies), come hell or high water.
Lindsay B-e (they/them)
Lindsay B-e is a writer and filmmaker. Their first full-length poetry collection, The Cyborg Anthology, is published by Brick Books. Their writing has previously appeared in Poetry is Dead, the League of Canadian Poets Poetry Pause, Geez Magazine, PeachMag, the SFU Writer’s Studio emerge Anthology and a chapbook from bird, buried press. Their films have played around the world at festivals such as The Planet in Focus Environmental Film Festival, The Cambridge International Super8 Film Festival, the Montreal World Film Festival and the Yorkton Film Festival. Lindsay has a BA in English and a BFA in Filmmaking from Simon Fraser University. They have a Creative Writing Certificate in Poetry from The Writer’s Studio at SFU, and are pursuing a Creative Writing Certificate in the Novel-Writing stream at the University of Toronto Continuing Studies. Lindsay B-e grew up in the village of Clavet, Saskatchewan (Treaty 6 territory) and currently lives in Toronto, Ontario (Treaty 13 territory). They have two kids, one dog, and three cats.
The Cyborg Anthology takes place in a future where there was a thriving world of Robots and Cyborgs living peacefully beside Humans, but a disaster destroyed all Robot and most Cyborg life. The book is organized like a typical anthology of literature, split into sections that include a biography of each poet and a sample of their poetry. It covers early Cyborg poetry, political, celebrity, and pop culture poets, and ends with the next generation of Cyborg poets.The narrative takes place in the time after a cataclysmic event, and the collection wrestles with this loss. Through the lives of the poets, the book chronicles the history of personhood for technological beings, their struggle for liberation, and demonstrates different ways a person can beCyborg. The poems and biographies together tell the story of a complex and enthralling world-to-come, exploring topics that are important in the future, and also urgent right now.
S. M. Beiko (she/her)
S.M. Beiko is a Winnipeg-based fantasy author and an award-winning graphic novelist. Her work includes The Lake and the Library, the Realms of Ancient trilogy, and the webcomic Krampus Is My Boyfriend! Beiko won the 2020 Best Graphic Novel Aurora Award and was nominated for the 2020 Joe Shuster Award.
Even the best intentions can bring down a mountain in The Stars of Mount Quixx…
Sent away for the summer, the Ivyweather sisters were promised a family vacation by their wealthy, indifferent parents. Two at-odds opposites — Constance an anxious society sweetheart and Ivory an adventure-struck rebel — the sisters aren’t sure what to make of the dangerously decayed town of Quixx and its creeping fog that never seems to lift.
When Ivory disappears after a spat with her sister, Constance tracks her to the mountain, where the Ivyweathers learn the town’s hushed talk of monsters is more than just a rumor. There, the sisters meet Derrek, a dapper and talented astronomer who also happens to be a spider-like creature with a scientific mind, the best of intentions, and a tragic past. Together, they all must find a way to lift the dangerous fog that has ensnared the town and return Quixx’s long-lost stars. But they soon discover that something far more monstrous than beasts lurks in Quixx, and it’s poised to crush this sleepy mountain town, along with the dreams of those in it.
Death and discarded memories haunt every corner of Quixx, but kinship, romance, and family — the one we choose — are at the heart of this cautiously optimistic, unabashedly queer modern monster story.
Xiran Jay Zhao (they/them)
Xiran Jay Zhao is the #1 New-York-Times-bestselling author of the Iron Widow series and Zachary Ying and the Dragon Emperor. Their books have been a finalist or winner of many awards, including the Nebula, BFSA, and Locus awards. A first-gen Hui Chinese immigrant from small-town China to Vancouver, Canada, they were raised by the Internet and made the inexplicable decision to leave their biochem degree to write books and make educational content instead. You can find them on Twitter for memes, Instagram for fancy outfits, TikTok for fun short videos, and YouTube for long videos about Chinese history and culture.
The boys of Huaxia dream of pairing up with girls to pilot Chrysalises, giant transforming robots that can battle the aliens that lurk beyond the Great Wall of China. It doesn't matter that the girls die from the mental strain of it.
When 18-year-old Zetian offers herself up as a concubine-pilot, it's to assassinate the ace male pilot responsible for her sister's death. But when she gets her vengeance, it becomes clear that she is an Iron Widow, a rare kind of female pilot who can sacrifice males to power up Chrysalises instead.
To tame her frightening yet valuable mental strength, she is paired up with Li Shimin, the strongest male pilot in Huaxia, yet feared and ostracized for killing his father and brothers. But now that Zetian has had a taste of power, she will not cower so easily. She will take over instead, then leverage their combined strength to force her society to stop failing its women and girls. Or die trying.
For more listicles spotlighting Canadian writers in Speculative fiction, check out our “Canucks in Space” series!
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