Northern Suns is the second anthology of Canadian science fiction from Hartwell and Grant (following Northern Stars). Grant's introductory essay describes the anthology's 21 stories "ranging from hard science fiction to visionary fantasy, from the horrific to the hilarious. Plus an essay by John Clute, and an updated reference list of the winners of the major Canadian SF and fantasy awards." Writers include Margaret Atwood, Robertson Davies, and W.P. Kinsella, all of whom are better known for mainstream fiction; Nalo Hopkinson, Geoff Ryman, and Cory Doctorow, whose names are most connected with SF and fantasy; and writers like Eric Choi, Sally McBride, and Alain Bergeron, known to Canadians but not yet familiar to American readers.

Grant argues that Canadian SF is distinctive for three reasons. First, unlike British or American SF, Canadian SF didn't evolve from commercial pulp fiction but was published by literary presses. Second, French Canadian authors bring the influence of French and other European SF--"tending toward surrealism, allegory, and folktale"--to bear. And finally, because Canadian SF has been shaped equally by men and women. In his essay, Clute suggests that it's a genre of solitary survivors who transcend human boundaries, unanchored in communities or extrapolated science and technology. Certainly it provides well-written, genre-bending entertainment, which will leave the reader eager to sample more. --Nona Vero

From Publishers Weekly
Gathering a stellar array of 22 SF stories penned by either native Canadians or writers who simply prefer to publish there, this is a worthy companion volume to Northern Stars (1994). Wesley Herbert displays a compelling cyberpunk sensibility in "Twilight of the Real," a futuristic, noirish story about a PI who discovers why Earth's few remaining humans are turning themselves into "mechniks." In the humorous horror tale "Farm Wife," Nancy Kilpatrick writes about a woman's pragmatic attitude to her husband's vampirism. Geoff Ryman ("Fan") shows how today's reclusive pop star may be tomorrow's elusive hologram, while in "Freeforall," Margaret Atwood foresees another reactionary society not too far removed from that of The Handmaid's TaleAone in which rampant sexual disease leads to arranged matings and contract marriages brokered by post-feminist "house mothers." Sally McBride offers a more romantic, if equally unsettling, tale ("The Fragrance of Orchids") that proves that redemption can be found in the arms of a stranger, even if it comes from light years away and isn't human. W.P. Kinsella presents a short and sweet meditation on the Japanization of North America ("Things Invisible to See"), while Michael Skeet unveils an alternate history set in the Civil War ("Near Enough to Home"). Like its predecessor, this volume, with stories reprinted from assorted books and magazines, showcases with style the best of Canadian SF. Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
An elderly matron voices a chillingly dispassionate description of a 21st-century dystopia in Margaret Atwoods Freeforall, while Alain Bergerons The Eighth Register provides a richly detailed chronicle of an alternate historical time line in this collection of 21 stories by Canadian authors, which serves as a companion volume to Northern Stars (Tor, 1994). Contributions from veteran authors, including Robertson Davies, Nancy Kilpatrick, and W.P. Kinsella, as well as newcomers such as Nalo Hopkinson and Robert Boyczuk demonstrate the vitality and eclectic thrust of Canadas brightest and best authors of speculative fiction. A good addition to most sf or short story collections.Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Hartwell and Grant's second collection of Canadian speculative fiction (the first: Northern Stars, 1994) demonstrates again the extraordinary sf voices in a country too often considered a large, empty space just above Michigan. The anthology's diversity is great, beginning with the famous Robertson Davies, whose delicious pseudoscientific chiller "Offer of Immortality" seems right at home with lesser-known Cory Doctorow's "Craphound," about an alien garage-sale fiend. French Canadians are well represented, contributing alternate histories, comic musings on the perils of bilingualism, and, in the particularly memorable "Reve Canadien," the notion that all Canada is the dream of a powerful African shaman. W. P. Kinsella offers a streamlined, surreal story in which a man vacuums the last traces of Japan from a delivery of new cars, and Margaret Atwood writes of a grim future of considerably changed marriage customs. Every story is exceptional, as is John Clute's thoughtful closing essay on the nature of Canadian literature, which also brings new understanding of the special nature of speculative fiction. Highly recommended for all libraries. Roberta Johnson

From Kirkus Reviews
A companion volume to the 1994 hardcover collection of science fiction stories, Northern Stars (not reviewed), presenting 22 further pieces by Canadian authors``Canadian'' being defined in the loosest possible sense. This time, speculative fiction in very mixed modes takes over from SF, though the entries are drawn mostly from the middle and late 1990s. In Margaret Atwood's intriguing ``Freeforall,'' deadly STDs are rife, so that in order to prevent their spread, men become chattels or are abandoned to their fate; with its reverberations of The Handmaid's Tale, the tale reads like an SF novel-in-waiting. W. P. Kinsella offers an amusing short-short on the Japanese commercial invasion, while Karl Schroeder's recently settled planet is threatened by rogue colonists from space; Nancy Kilpatrick uncovers some nasty goings-on down on the farm; Robertson Davies entertains an odd, vinegar-swilling visitor; and Geoff Ryman's novella ``Fan'' is reprinted from Unconquered Countries. Critic John Clute wonders if theres a distinctive Canadian SF (no, but a particular conceptual approach, pioneered by A.E. van Vogt, may be close to it). Elsewhere, as you might expect, are three translations from French-language originals and several alternate-history variants involving Quebec having separated from Canada. Not to mention a solitary alien castaway (Sally McBride); a historical fantasy involving the astronomer Tycho Brahe (Scott Mackay); post-disaster surrealism (Ursula Pflug); acquisitive aliens (Cory Doctorow); and vampires, crash-test dummies, photography, and plague. Pleasingly eclectic and worth a try for story fans. -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Margaret Atwood, Robertson Davies, W. P. Kinsella. Not necessarily names one thinks of in connection with science fiction. But they, along with Geoff Ryman, John Clute, Scott Mackay, Nancy Kilpatrick, and sixteen others, here make up a second volume of the superlative speculative fiction that is alive and well and living in Canada. With this combination of world-renowned masters and bright new lights, Northern Suns is an adventurous mix of visionary futures, otherworldly fantasies, and strange histories that might have been.

FROM THE CRITICS

Library Journal

An elderly matron voices a chillingly dispassionate description of a 21st-century dystopia in Margaret Atwoods Freeforall, while Alain Bergerons The Eighth Register provides a richly detailed chronicle of an alternate historical time line in this collection of 21 stories by Canadian authors, which serves as a companion volume to Northern Stars (Tor, 1994). Contributions from veteran authors, including Robertson Davies, Nancy Kilpatrick, and W.P. Kinsella, as well as newcomers such as Nalo Hopkinson and Robert Boyczuk demonstrate the vitality and eclectic thrust of Canadas brightest and best authors of speculative fiction. A good addition to most sf or short story collections.

Kirkus Reviews

A companion volume to the 1994 hardcover collection of science fiction stories, Northern Stars (not reviewed), presenting 22 further pieces by Canadian authors—"Canadian" being defined in the loosest possible sense. This time, speculative fiction in very mixed modes takes over from SF, though the entries are drawn mostly from the middle and late 1990s. In Margaret Atwood's intriguing "Freeforall," deadly STDs are rife, so that in order to prevent their spread, men become chattels or are abandoned to their fate; with its reverberations of The Handmaid's Tale, the tale reads like an SF novel-in-waiting. W. P. Kinsella offers an amusing short-short on the Japanese commercial invasion, while Karl Schroeder's recently settled planet is threatened by rogue colonists from space; Nancy Kilpatrick uncovers some nasty goings-on down on the farm; Robertson Davies entertains an odd, vinegar-swilling visitor; and Geoff Ryman's novella "Fan" is reprinted from Unconquered Countries. Critic John Clute wonders if there's a distinctive Canadian SF (no, but a particular conceptual approach, pioneered by A.E. van Vogt, may be close to it). Elsewhere, as you might expect, are three translations from French-language originals and several alternate-history variants involving Quebec having separated from Canada. Not to mention a solitary alien castaway (Sally McBride); a historical fantasy involving the astronomer Tycho Brahe (Scott Mackay); post-disaster surrealism (Ursula Pflug); acquisitive aliens (Cory Doctorow); and vampires, crash-test dummies, photography, and plague. Pleasingly eclectic and worth a try for story fans. .