On Spec magazine is closing its doors after thirty-five years. For those of us who grew up reading it—or publishing in its pages—or simply admired it as a stalwart of the Canadian science fiction and fantasy community, the news hits hard.
Based in my own city of Edmonton, On Spec wasn’t just a magazine. It was a voice. A platform. A mirror that reflected speculative fiction from a uniquely Canadian perspective—quirky, insightful, diverse, and often daring. It stood shoulder to shoulder with international publications, offering readers stories that pushed boundaries while staying grounded in a distinctly northern sensibility.
The final issue, appropriately titled The Final Voyage, is now available. If you’re someone who ever leafed through its pages or dreamed of seeing your name in its table of contents, it might be worth picking up a copy for old time’s sake—or as a collectible. A memento of a magazine that endured far longer than many.
Because let’s be honest: SF magazines come and go. That’s always been part of their DNA. Even now, only Analog and Asimov’s seem to survive the churn with any consistency, and they’ve had their own close calls. Publishing is a brutal business. Publishing a magazine? Even more so.
As someone who edits magazines myself, I’m well acquainted with the daily grind. The deadlines. The layouts. The subscriber management. And in the case of fiction magazines, the endless stream of submissions, revisions, rejections, and the careful curation that turns a pile of stories into a cohesive issue. It’s not a sprint. It’s a marathon. Repeated endlessly.
So the question that naturally rises—again—is this: Is this just another magazine ending its cycle, or is it a sign of something deeper? A shifting cultural landscape? A market that no longer supports these kinds of niche publications?
We ask this every time a beloved magazine shuts down. And every time, the answer seems both familiar and unsatisfying. Yes, it’s churn. But yes, also, it is a sign of the times. Digital fatigue. Shrinking attention spans. Disrupted funding models. The old model of the print magazine—and even many digital versions—is harder and harder to sustain.
But if magazines vanish entirely, where do we get our short fiction? Where will the next generation of writers cut their teeth, and the next generation of readers discover something new and unexpected? Anthologies help, of course. Online venues too. But there’s something about a magazine—recurring, evolving, a living thing—that gives a different experience. A curated conversation rather than a one-off statement.
It’s sad to see On Spec go. And it’s a reminder: never take any publication for granted. Not the giants. Not the indies. Not even the ones that have been with us for decades and seem like they’ll always be around.
Thank you to the On Spec team for holding the torch high for so long. You leave a legacy behind—one that will inspire and echo for years to come.
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