Science fiction and fantasy stories inspired by Manitoba

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 12/10/2018 (2839 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The predictably flat Manitoba landscape has been turned into an unknown territory teeming with dragons, killer insects and faery kings — all thanks to a book of short stories recently released by a pair from Manitoba.

Darren Ridgley and Adam Petrash came up with the idea to create a collection of speculative fiction short stories, with authors that were all connected to the province.

Entitled Parallel Prairies, there was a book launch held at the Brandon University library on Saturday.

The book combines elements of science fiction, fantasy and horror, and features 19 authors, with Ridgley and Petrash both working as editors.

“When Adam and I set out to make this we realized that it would be easy to put together a whole book that was just Winnipeg, Winnipeg, Winnipeg, but we wanted to represent the entire province,” Ridgley said. “In order to have that you have to have Brandon, you have to have rural stories and we were able to do that here.”

On hand at the library on Saturday were two local authors who had contributed to the book.

His short story in Parallel Prairies was based on parts of Manitoba, said author Patrick Johanneson, who graduated from Brandon University in 1994.

“This particular story is set at my grandparents farm, [located in the Fork River area] and Riding Mountain is the mountain I had in mind when I was writing it,” Johanneson said.

He now works at Brandon University, which has had some effect on his work, he said.

“It influenced me largely by providing me a day job so that I can write in my free time and not have to worry about paying the bills,” he said.

It was nice to contribute to the book and to feel a sense of community with the other writers, he said.

“I think it’s fascinating to see how many people there are in Manitoba that write speculative fiction, sometimes it feels like you’re the only one out there,” he said. “[So] it’s nice to see that there’s 18 others at least.”

Craig Russell also contributed to the book with his short story based in Brandon, and then in Winnipeg.

The retired lawyer felt that contributing to the book would be a great way to connect with people with a similar interest, and to share his story. He’s lived in Brandon for the part 30 years.

“I think the landscape really does influence how you think about your writing,” Russell said.

His story is about a woman who grew up in Brandon, but goes to the University of Manitoba to complete the degree she started as a young woman.

“She encounters a mysterious document in the University of Manitoba library, and it leads her on an unexpected adventure into the Northern Canadian shield where her courage and her sanity is tested by something from another world,” Russell said.

The event on Saturday at the library gave Brandon authors the opportunity to host a launch in their home territory, Ridgley said. They were also able to share parts of their story with the audience at the library.

The book will be available in the Brandon University bookstore and at Amazon and Chapters.

“It’s stories about the Prairies that are not the normal Prairies,” Ridgley said. “They contain the magical, the demonic and the far future science fiction, it’s a world within worlds, so this is Manitoba in a different universe where many different things happen.”

» mverge@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @Melverge5