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On Spec: The Canadian Magazine Of The Fantastic vol 17 no. 1 # 60 Spring 2005
01/11/2005 . Source: Donna Jones 
magazine: Copper Pig Writers Society. Price: $ 5.95 (CAN). ISSN: 0843-476X. Distributed in Canada by CMPA and the UK by BAR. Buy On Spec in the USA - or Buy On Spec in the UK  check out website: www.onspec.ca
What a truly fantastic front cover that greeted me when I turned to my latest copy of 'On Spec'. 'Catch Of The Day: Paleo Fishing Charters' by Ray Troll, had me scrutinising the picture for more than the moment it takes to peer at some other mags. Fishermen standing by their monstrous cathes has to bring a curious little grin to anyone's face!
As usual, this flavour of 'On Spec' is always happily present from the get go. Both the artwork and the fiction has that fabulous 'absurdist' feel to it that I love and wish I could read longer versions of.
'Apex Predator' by Kevin Cockle appears to be quite normal. Until the interviewee in the piece happens to mention that he and a work colleague fell into the ocean, only to become sharks and take a break from their stressful lives to find solace in the lifestyle of predatory appearances. What seems on face value to be a corny twist of psychological reasoning, soon finds its integrity by explaining what has happened by the man's medical condition.
Jess Stuart follows this with a poetic tale of after-the-fairy-godmother in 'The Ballad Of Cindy Charming', a giggle-inducing yarn which I thought was superb, not to mention a little disturbing.
Without a doubt, though, one story for me stood out from the rest. 'Yuhana Am' by David Redd captivated me from the first sentence and then played on my mind after I had closed the pages of this volume of 'On Spec'. It started out as Yuhana losing her finger to a turbine at the age of five and her subsequent life analysing what identity and the abstract nature of the soul really meant. It tied my head up in knots when I first tried to read it, but I loved it. A real risk-taking tale that worked on so many different levels.
This volume has added appeal for it takes some of the unpublished work from the 'Addictions' feature last quarter and lets them loose here. 'Taste Of Life' by Paul Bartel had the uncanny impression that the narrator was in fact the beast of cannibalism, but then made you sit and wonder if you hadn't stumbled to this conclusion too soon. Can an emotion or compulsion really have sentience? Even if it can't, Bartel certainly executes the possibility with a deft paw!
As always, I am highly impressed with every short story that I read. I make no apologies for loving 'On Spec'. It has to be the best fiction magazine around. I'm even getting into the weird and wonderful serving of poetry that entertains me in each one.
Make no mistake, people, if you're not reading it, you're missing out big time. Originality is priceless. 'On Spec' walks its own path that no other mag dares to follow and for that it deserves a bigger readership!
Donna Jones
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