Can it be? Not four weeks into the New Year and already a new Canadian Notes & Queries? A theme issue – "Writing in the Age of Unravelling" – it makes for some uncomfortable reading. Catherine Bush contributes an essay on representations of the climate crisis in fiction. Jacky Sawatzky writes on her memorial to the endangered giraffe. Jennifer Ilse Black and Waubgeshig Rice are interviewed. Andrew Forbes presents a cli-fi primer.
Credit goes to Guest Editors Patricia Robertson and Sharon English.
I jest. It's about the 2005 dystopian novel of the same title.
Political animals will remember Hotter Than Hell as the small press book the newly-elected Harper Conservatives made famous by silencing its author, government scientist Mark Tushington.
What intrigued me is that for all the coverage – The Globe & Mail, The New York Times, The Scientist, et al – no one appeared to have taken the time to read the damn thing.
Well, I've read it. And now you don't have to.
Here's a typical passage:
The Eighteenth Guard (Pennsylvania) and Eighth Guard (New York) divisions, supported by the 1st Marine and 57th Urban brigades were attacking, The First Guard Division was being badly defeated in every sector. The 28th and 29th regiments were quickly pushed out of Abany and up the length of the Mohawk Valley. It was only then that we retreated into Utica that my forces could hold. Because of the inactivity of the IV Corps, I took a supreme gamble and withdrew elements of the 6th Armored Brigade from covering Montreal.You're welcome.
Other contributors include:
The issue also features the annual Book Review supplement.Madhur AnandPeter AnsonNicholas BradleyYuan ChangmingStephen FowlerLise GastonRoger GreenwaldMahak JainJoanna LilleyJF MartelDavid MasonCatherine OwenSethRoz SpaffordErika ThorkelsonRM VaughanMary Lou Zeitown
Thirty-two pages of goodness, provided by:
Apparently, there's a sequel to Hotter Than Hell.Michel BasilièresSteven W. BeattieJeff BurseyAndreae CallahanLaura CameronPaige CooperTrevor CorkumAndré ForgetMonique GirouxJames GrangerBrett Josef GrubisicKatia GrubisicStephen HenighanDancy MasonRohan MaitzenRod Moody-CorbetRudrapriya RathorePatricia RobertsonMatthew D. RodriguesMark SampsonJonathan ValellyDerek WebsterBruce Whiteman
I'll leave it to others to explore.
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