As the Earth Dreams

Black Canadian Speculative Stories

Terese Mason Pierre

• Publisher: Spiderline
• Year: 2025
• Topic: Literature
• eBook ISBN:
  9781487012670
• Subtopic: Science Fiction
• Index: Literature

A CBC Best Book of 2025

A groundbreaking anthology of haunting stories by Black Canadian writers

Edited by esteemed poet Terese Mason Pierre, this bold and innovative anthology of speculative short fiction reveals and uplifts the spectacular imaginings, reveries, reflections, experiments, and hopes of Black writers in Canada. A masseuse attends her mother's fourth funeral, only to encounter family she's never met. A postdoc instructor navigates an almost-life in an Elsewhere realm of safety and comfort. After societal collapse, an immigrant leaves her precarious station, and her memories, behind. A woman isolating from a new virus starts hallucinating. A young nanny accepts a job with a peculiar employer in search of immortality. A medium is tasked with summoning a spirit that hits too close to home. And two teenagers test a friendship over magic carpet flying practice.

These ten breathtaking stories explore natural and urban landscapes, living and dead relationships, economic catastrophe, love, and desire—all while celebrating the persistent and ever-changing self, and envisioning beautiful Black futures.

Featuring stories by:
Trynne Delaney
francesca ekwuyasi
Whitney French
Aline-Mwezi Niyonsenga
Chimedum Ohaegbu
Suyi Davies Okungbowa
Chinelo Onwualu
Lue Palmer
Terese Mason Pierre
Zalika Reid-Benta

Table of contents

• Title Page
• INTRODUCTION, Terese Mason Pierre
• Ravenous, Called Iffy, Chimedum Ohaegbu
• The Hole in the Middle of the World, Chinelo Onwualu
• A Fair Assessment, Terese Mason Pierre
• Peak Day, Suyi Davies Okungbowa
• Hallelujah Here and Elsewhere, francesca ekwuyasi
• Playing Dead, Trynne Delaney
• Mother, Father, Baby, Lue Palmer
• deh ah market, Whitney French
• Paroxysm, Zalika Reid-Benta
• Just Say Garuka, Aline-Mwezi Niyonsenga
• About the Contributors