Augur Workshops | Summer 2023

Posted by Augur Blog
On July 5, 2023

This summer, we’re back again with a series of workshops for writers and artists! Coming off the success of our 2021 and 2022 workshops, we wanted to give back in a bigger way. That means twice as many workshops! Want to learn the ins and outs of submitting to literary and speculative journals? Or how […]

Challenges and Curiosity: Adventures in Editing SFF

Posted by Augur Blog
On August 15, 2022

In case you missed it, Uncanny Magazine is hosting its Year 9 Kickstarter: To Fifty … and Beyond! Friends and editors Chimedum Ohaegbu and Monte Lin dropped by for a guest post. Together, they discuss what’s it’s like to edit one of the leading magazines in the SFF community. And, of course, our favourite question: […]

Transmitting the Strange: A Conversation with Lydia Kwa

Posted by Augur Blog
On January 22, 2020

Interview by Yilin Wang I first heard Lydia read at the panel “Linking Past and Present: Writing about Language and Place” at Growing Room 2017. Since then, we have shared interesting conversations over tea or online, discussing a range of topics such as writing, martial arts, and folklore. After reading her novels Oracle Bone and […]

Best Books We Read in 2019

Posted by Augur Blog
On December 19, 2019

We love stories of all shapes and sizes. Here are the books the Augur team’s favourite book-sized reads of 2019! This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone I don’t often read books in one sitting anymore, but this one refused to be put down. How wonderful that a book […]

Why Speculative Fiction is an Important Genre to Me

Posted by Augur Blog
On December 4, 2019

By Jorie Rao In college when my Literature professors asked which books were most significant to me, I’d known they were looking for an answer like Pride and Prejudice or Anna Karenina because, of course they were. They wanted something with literary merit to prove that I was deep and scholarly. They expected something literary […]

5 Monsters We Don’t Want to Slay

Posted by Augur Blog
On October 1, 2019

By Lawrence Stewen Slaying monsters has gotten old. Rather, it was always old. Firstly, the act glorifies violence as a solution. Secondly, more often than not, it empowers the cis male protagonist while demonizing those whose bodies and minds do not conform to his society’s “norm.” Not a great look. While fictional violence can be […]

5 Most Anticipated Books of 2019

Posted by Augur Blog
On December 19, 2018

With 2019 fast approaching, Augur scoured the internet for the most anticipated speculative fiction releases. Behold! A list of five we are excited to read in the new year. Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James FICTIONRiverhead BooksFebruary 5, 2019 Ever wonder what a high fantasy book written by Jamaican Man Booker winner would look […]

Speculative Fiction On the Edge of History: An Interview with Terri Favro

Posted by Augur Blog
On December 12, 2018

Nuclear war, time travel and rewriting reality—Augur interviewed Terri Favro, whose debut novel, Sputnik’s Children, is as fascinating as it is engrossing. Sputnik’s Children is set in the Niagara region, wedged between the present, Cold War era, and an eerily familiar alternate version of history. Debbie, a famous comic book artist, is tasked with writing her character’s […]

Graphic Fiction and Cultural Inheritance: Float by Janice Liu

Posted by Augur Blog
On November 19, 2018

Graphic fiction occupies that elusive, in-between space in the imagination where story meets art. Often, it becomes a perfect portal into the speculative. Realism can easily slip into the surreal, via art, panel by panel. This is certainly true in “Float” by Janice Liu, which appears in Augur‘s issue 1.3. In “Float,” Essie encounters a […]

Welcome to the Augur Blog!

Posted by Augur Blog
On November 5, 2018

Ah, beginnings. Since the beginning, Augur Magazine has been dedicated to creating a literary space for the futures we need. Here’s another one. Today is the beginning of our blog — another space in which we invite like-minded people to create important conversations through the written word. Another space to celebrate uncommon perspectives, intersectional narratives, and […]