Edmonton

Looking Down on Barcelona

/ Tracy Cooper-Posey

An aerial photograph of Barcelona’s Eixample district stopped me in my tracks. At first glance, all I could see was astonishing density—thousands of people living in an orderly grid that stretches to the horizon. Yet the longer I studied the image, the more questions it raised. Why can I find endless aerial photographs of Eixample, but almost no street-level views? What does life actually feel like inside those blocks and hidden courtyards? And what does this remarkable city reveal about our own assumptions regarding space, community, and how human beings should live together?

The City With No Spare Inch

/ Tracy Cooper-Posey

An entire capital city packed onto a single tiny island in the middle of the Indian Ocean, with barely an inch to spare. Looking at aerial photos of Malé, the capital of the Maldives, it’s impossible not to wonder about the fragility of cities, civilization, and the strange places human beings insist upon calling home.

Farewell to On Spec: A Pillar of Canadian SF Bids Goodbye

/ Cameron Cooper, Fantasy, Science Fiction

After 35 years, On Spec magazine is closing its doors—a loss not just for Canadian science fiction, but for the speculative fiction world at large. Based in Edmonton, On Spec championed stories with a uniquely Canadian voice and offered a home for emerging and established writers alike. Its final issue, The Final Voyage, marks the end of an era and raises the ever-relevant question: is this just another case of magazine churn, or a sign of the times?

Pretty But Wrong: The Problem With Fantasy Town Maps

/ Fantasy, Taylen Carver

Towns don’t just pop into existence because a hero needs a tavern. They grow around water, trade routes, resources—and they carry the scars of their own history. As a writer (and a lifelong map nerd), I can’t help studying fantasy town maps like archaeological sites. If the layout doesn’t tell me why the town exists, where it started, or how it grew, then something’s missing. Let’s talk about crooked streets, suspicious bridges, and why Hobbiton is pretty but perplexing.

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