On Spec
{{Short description|Speculative fiction magazine}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2022}}
{{Infobox magazine
| image_file = OnSpec Magazine winter 2006.jpg
| image_caption = OnSpec Magazine Winter 2006
| publisher = Diane Walton, Managing Editor
| frequency = Quarterly
| category = science fiction, fantasy
| founded = 1989
| country = Canada
| based = Edmonton, Alberta
| website = {{URL|https://onspecmag.wpcomstaging.com/}}
}}
On Spec{{cite web |title=On Spec Magazine |url=https://onspecmag.wpcomstaging.com/ |website=On Spec Magazine |access-date=16 April 2019}} is a digest-sized, perfect-bound, Canadian quarterly magazine publishing stories and poetry in science fiction, fantasy, and allied genres broadly grouped under the "speculative fiction" umbrella.
History and profile
Based in Edmonton, Alberta,{{cite news|title=On Spec magazine loses funding, reaches out to readers|url=http://www.mastheadonline.com/news/on_spec_magazine_loses_funding_reaches_out_to_readers/|access-date=22 February 2017|work=Masthead|date=18 August 2014}} On Spec was founded in 1989 by a small group of Edmonton writers who joined together to form The Copper Pig Writers Society.{{cite news|title=Andy Cox's Magazine Spotlight|url=http://www.dowse.com/spotlight-onspec.html|access-date=22 February 2017|work=dowse}} At the time, there was no paying market for English speculative fiction in Canada (though paying markets in French did exist). On Spec is Canada's longest-running, and according to author Robert J. Sawyer, most successful, English-language magazine in the field.[http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/science-fiction/ "Science Fiction"], The Canadian Encyclopedia
Much more like a traditional small literary magazine than the mass-market-styled American science fiction digests such as Analog and Asimov's, On Spec was founded to address the frustration that English-speaking Canadian SF writers faced having to "Americanize" their stories for the existing US markets.{{cite web | url=https://onspecmag.wpcomstaging.com/about-on-spec/ | title=About on Spec / Contact Us | date=8 July 2013 }}
Awards
- 1990, 1991, 1995, 1997, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2018, [https://www.csffa.ca/ Aurora Award] Best Work in English: Other.
- 2020, 2021 [https://www.csffa.ca/ Aurora Award] Best Related Work.
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{wiktionary|on spec}}
- [https://onspecmag.wpcomstaging.com/ On Spec Magazine Official Website]
- [https://albertamagazines.com/member-directory/on-spec/ Alberta Magazine Publishers Association]
- [https://www.patreon.com/onspecmag On Spec Magazine's Patreon]
- [https://www.facebook.com/groups/2395098260/ Friends of On Spec Facebook group]
- [https://twitter.com/onspecmagazine On Spec Twitter feed]
{{ScienceFictionMagazines}}
Category:1989 establishments in Alberta
Category:Magazines established in 1989
Category:Magazines published in Alberta
Category:Mass media in Edmonton
Category:Quarterly magazines published in Canada
Category:Science fiction digests
Category:Science fiction magazines established in the 1980s
Category:Science fiction magazines published in Canada
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