It would be easier to account for the absence of a vibrant and distinctive body of science-fiction works in French-speaking Canada than it is to explain its existence. Few countries have spawned an autonomous science-fiction tradition able to stand the comparison with American imports. However, there is a francophone school of Canadian science fiction, and Daniel Sernine is one of the reasons that it exists. As an early witness to its evolution, as a writer who has devoted himself from the first to writing unabashed science fiction and fantasy, and as an editor who has nurtured a generation of younger writers, he has shaped the field as it exists today in French-speaking Canada.

Daniel Sernine was born Alain Lortie on 7 November 1955 in Montreal, Quebec, where he has spent his entire life, never straying for long from the western quarter of the city. His father, Paul-Émile Lortie...