Imaginarium 2013: The Best Canadian Speculative Writing is a reprint anthology to be published annually by ChiZine Publications, collecting speculative short fiction and poetry (science fiction, fantasy, horror, magic realism, etc.) that represents the best work produced by Canadian writers. Canadian speculative fiction has been increasingly recognized internationally for the calibre of its authors and their insight into the nature of social and religious identities, the implications of new technologies, and the relationship between humankind and its environments. We use the term “speculative fiction” in order to free ourselves from the associations of terms like “science fiction,” “horror,” and “fantasy.” At their best, these stories disrupt habits, overcome barriers of cultural perception to make the familiar strange through the use of speculative elements such as magic and technology. They provide glimpses of alternate realities and possible futures and pasts that provoke an ethical, social, political, environmental and biological inquiry into what it means to be human.
