Masked Mosaic; Canadian Super Stories

Superheroes! Supervillains! Masked vigilantes, superpowered antiheroes, super scientists. Adventurers into the unknown, costumed crimefighters, mutant superterrorists . . . we want to see any and all permutations of the superhero genre, but with a uniquely Canadian perspective. Stories must involve a Canadian element — setting, politics, culture, history, characters, etc. Any genre-mashing goes: alternate history, crime, horror, romance, SF, fantasy, surrealism; we want a variety of tones, approaches, subgenres, cultural perspectives, etc. We’re especially interested in submissions where setting (a specific city, region, or province) plays an essential role, but we’re open to other types of stories, too.

The above was the "pitch" for Masked Mosaic, an anthology from Tyche Books scheduled to be available in February of next year.  Editors Claude Lalumiere and Camille Alexa have reviewed the submissions (the period for which opened June 1st and closed August 1st) and the following selections were announced early last week.

E.L Chen – Nocturne
Kristi Charish - Canadian Blood Diamonds
Silvia Moreno-Garcia – Iron Justice versus the Fiends of Evil
Jonathan Olfert – Never the Twain
Kevin Cockle – Circe and the Gunboat
David Nickle - Knife Fight
Derryl Murphy – On-to-Ottawa
D.K. Latta – The Secret History of the Intrepids
Emma Faraday – The Man in the Mask
Mike Rimar – A Bunny Hug for Karl
Emma Vossen – “Not a Dream! Not a Hoax! Not an Imaginary Story!” The Lost Years of Joe Shuster
Patrick T. Goddard – Giant Canadian Comics
A.C. Wise – Kid Wonder
Rhea Rose – Leaf Man
David Perlmutter – Octopi Bleakly Corners
Lisa Poh – The Seamstress without a Costume
Marie Bilodeau – The Kevlar Canoe
Rhonda & Jonathan Parrish – Sea and Sky
Chantal Boudreau – A Face in the Wind
Michael S. Chong – The Creep
Jason Sharp – Lonesome Charlie Johnstone’s Strange Boon
Alyxandra Harvey – The Shield Maiden
Michael Matheson – The Many Lives of the Xun Long
Jason S. Ridler – Revenge of the Iron Shadow: A Tale of Kingstonia

See Tyche Books' announcement for links to some of the writers' blogs, websites, etc.

Sounds like a rather eclectic collection.  I am not familiar with most of these writers so this should make for a good introduction to their work.

Along similar lines, finding out about this superhero anthology reminded me that Cloudscape Comics were planning one of their own.  There had been little news about their version of All-Canadian Comics in recent weeks, so I wrote to Cloudscape president Jeff Ellis to inquire as to its status.  Mr Ellis was kind to confirm that the project is still underway and to expect news soon.

Also, writer J. Torres has planned a similar anthology called True Patriot.  He first announced it last week and has begun naming some of the talent/characters involved.  This link will take you to the True Patriot tag on his blog so that you can follow the project's progress.  Torres plans an Indiegogo campaign next month in order to help fund the project.