As the Earth Dreams: Black Canadian Speculative Stories, edited by Terese Mason Pierre
Reviewed by Lisa Timpf
As Terese Mason Pierre notes in her introduction to As the Earth Dreams: Black Canadian Speculative Stories, “Canadian speculative literature is only growing, becoming richer and more diverse each year,” Contributing to this growing diversity, As the Earth Dreams offers ten stories written by Black writers in Canada.
Relationships, connection, and healing are among the themes explored. Between the covers, readers encounter a medium summoning spirits, teenagers bonding over magic carpet flying practice, and cousins who share knowledge of a secret portal. There are hallucinations inspired by isolating from a new virus, and a woman who sells some of her most precious assets—her memories—in order to survive. Ancestral connections and the sense of a deeper magic brooding beyond the mundane world of the everyday resonate through some of the stories.
“The ten stories in As the Earth Dreams each resonate with their own unique voice, telling stories that take us to another place while at the same time offering observations about the world we live in.”
“Peak Day” by Suyi Davies Okungbowa was one of the stories I enjoyed the most. Written in an unusual format, “Peak Day” offers a chronology of events on Peak Day at Everything Co. as a supervisor orients a new employee. The story is told through the supervisor’s instructions and comments, making for a streamlined format that nonetheless provides enough just the right amount of detail to sketch out a compelling story.
In “Peak Day,” people on death’s door are given the opportunity to survive through the use of proprietary implant technology. But there are strings attached: they must then work to pay back the cost. One such individual, the new employee referenced in the story, is working off their debt at Everything Co. As the supervisor tells the new employee, if performance is not up to standard the implant can be turned off at any time, with disastrous consequences for the employee.
“Peak Day” is an engaging story, told with a distinctive voice. The story convincingly portrays a predatory corporation that is indifferent to the human cost of the relentless drive for profit.
Set in Saskatoon, “Just Say Garuka” by Aline-Mwezi Niyonsenga explores the immigrant experience. The story features two young women, Sophie-Ange and Akaliza. Akaliza, guided by her grandmother’s teachings, is learning to fly her magic carpet despite her parents’ disapproval. As Akaliza explains, “My mom wants me to fit in because she had to fit in.” The pressure to fit in is also felt by Sophie-Ange.
“The Hole in the Middle of the World” by Chinelo Onwualu is a poignant and powerful piece centering around sacrifice, memory, and relationships.
The ten stories in As the Earth Dreams each resonate with their own unique voice, telling stories that take us to another place while at the same time offering observations about the world we live in. Featuring stories by Trynne Delaney, francesca ekwuyasi, Whitney French, Aline-Mwezi Niyonsenga, Chimedum Ohaegbu, Suyi Davies Okungbowa, Chinelo Onwualu, Lue Palmer, Zalika Reid-Benta, and Terese Mason Pierre, As the Earth Dreams is an original and vibrant addition to the Canadian science fiction landscape.
About the Editor
Terese Mason Pierre is a Toronto-based writer and editor whose work has appeared in The Walrus, ROOM, Brick, Quill & Quire, Uncanny Magazine, and Fantasy Magazine, among others. One of ten winners of the Writers’ Trust McClelland & Stewart Journey Prize, she was named a Writers’ Trust Rising Star. Terese Mason Pierre is an editor at Augur, a Canadian journal of speculative literature, and the author of Myth (House of Anansi Press), a collection of poetry.
About the Reviewer
Ontario resident Lisa Timpf writes poetry, book reviews, short stories, and creative nonfiction. Her speculative poetry collections Cats and Dogs in Space (2025) and In Days to Come (2022) are available from Hiraeth Publishing in print and electronic formats. Lisa is a member of SF Canada and the Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association. You can find out more about her writing projects at http://lisatimpf.blogspot.com/. Lisa is also on Bluesky, @lisatimpf.bsky.social.
Book Details
Publisher: Spiderline (House of Anansi)
Publication Date: Oct. 14 2025
Language: English
Print length: 192 pages
ISBN-10: 1487012667
ISBN-13: 978-1487012663