ChiZine Publications and Tightrope Books unite in a joint venture to produce a yearly anthology of speculative short fiction and poetry (science fiction, fantasy, horror, and magic realism). Canadian speculative fiction has been increasingly recognized internationally for the calibre of its authors and their insight into the nature of social and cultural identities, the implications of new technologies, and the relationship between humankind and its environments. At their best, these pieces disrupt habits and overcome barriers of cultural perception to make the familiar strange through the use of speculative elements such as magic and technology. They provide glimpses of alternate realities and possible futures and pasts that provoke an ethical, social, political, environmental, and biological inquiry into what it means to be human.